Page:The Story of Joseph and His Brethren.djvu/9

6 determined by their own general character, and their conduct towards their children. This is a result that cannot be entirely prevented. One of the great blessings of pure religion is that it makes both parents and children, who are desirous to learn, worthy examples of parental and filial love. And my young readers have reason to thank their Divine Lord and Heavenly Father for blessing them with parents, who strive to do every thing that God requires to make them worthy of their children's love, and to make their children so good, that love for their parents will be a delight as well as a duty.

If we attend carefully to Joseph's history we may learn much that will be useful to us in this and all other respects. For I may remark, further, that all persons, young and old, high and low, rich and poor, may gain wisdom by studying Joseph's history and character. The child and the man, the son and the servant, the captive in the dungeon and the king on the throne, may all study Joseph's history with advantage. Kings may learn of him how to rule; for it was when Joseph was next to