Chief Joseph

“ Surely my Lord knows their device.
51 (The king) said: What was your affair when you sought to seduce Joseph? They said: Holy Allah! We knew of no evil on his part. The chief's wife said: Now has the truth become manifest. I sought to seduce him and he is surely of the truthful.
52 This is that he might know that I have not been unfaithful to him in secret, and that Allah guides not the device of the unfaithful.
* * *
53 And I call not myself sinless surely (man's) self is wont to command evil, except those on whom my Lord has mercy. Surely my Lord is Forgiving, Merciful. ”

“ Joseph deserves all the honor and influence he receives, for he saves the kingdom from a great calamity. He predicts seven years of plenty and seven years of famine, and points out the remedy. According to tradition, the monarch whom he served was Apepi, the last Shepherd King, during whose reign slaves were very numerous. The King himself had a vast number, as well as the nobles. Foreign slaves were preferred to native ones, and wars were carried on for the chief purpose of capturing and selling captives. ”

“ Furthermore he was a true type of Indian refinement and grace. He was modest and courteous as Chief Joseph; the difference is that he was a born warrior, while Joseph was not. However, he was a gentle warrior, a true brave, who stood for the highest ideal of the Sioux. Notwithstanding all that biased historians have said of him, it is only fair to judge a man by the estimate of his own people rather than that of his enemies.
The boyhood of Crazy Horse was passed in the days when the western Sioux saw a white man but seldom, and then it was usually a trader or a soldier. ”

“ If Joseph wished, therefore, to rise among his fellows, he must hew out his own path to greatness. By pluck and wisdom alone could he win a lasting place in the hearts of his people. As we tell his story, we shall see how he gathered strength and became a man of might and of valour.
CHAPTER II BATTLE OF LAKE GEORGE No one delighted more in the free and easy life of the frontier than did Colonel William Johnson. He was a typical colonial patroon, a representative of the king and a friend of the red man. The Indians trusted him implicitly. ”

“ Note, Our experiences of God's power and goodness in strengthening us hitherto, are our encouragements still to hope for help from him; he that has helped us will: we may build much upon our Eben-Ezers. See what Joseph may expect from the Almighty, even the God of his father. (1.) He shall help thee in difficulties and dangers which may yet be before thee, help thy seed in their wars. Joshua came from him, who commanded in chief in the wars of Canaan. (2.) He shall bless thee; and he only blesses indeed. Jacob prays for a blessing upon Joseph, but the God of Jacob commands the blessing. ”

“ Arimathaea.
6 The rulers hearing this, and
all the people, were glad, and
praised the God of Israel, because
Joseph was found, whom they had
shut up in a chamber, and could
not find.
7 And when they had formed a
large assembly, the chief priests
said, By what means shall we bring
Joseph to us to speak with him?
8 And taking a piece of paper,
they wrote to him, and said, Peace
be with thee, and all thy family,
We know that we have offended
against God and thee. ”

“ He left a family of nine, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
XXIII. Simon Joseph, seventeenth Lord Lovat, to whose health, as our chief, we have drained our glasses this evening. That he may have a long and happy life is our fervent prayer; and may God grant him wisdom and grace that he may be a useful and a prosperous chief; that he may add new lustre to the distinguished name he bears, and prove worthy of the ancestry of which he is the proud representative. ”

“ Monsieur Joseph's gay little room looked like anything but a haunt of conspirators; but his friends were earnestly discussing with him the possibility of raising the country, arming the peasants, marching on the chief town of the department, capturing the Prefect, as well as the General in command of the division, and holding them as hostages while the insurrection went on spreading through Anjou and the neighbouring provinces. ”

“ Now Potiphar, an Egyptian, who was chief cook to king Pharaoh, bought Joseph of the merchants, who sold him to him. He had him in the greatest honor, and taught him the learning that became a free man, and gave him leave to make use of a diet better than was allotted to slaves. ”

“ The chief element of David's distress is a painful consciousness of guilt. It is conscience that wrings the wormwood for him into every cup of sorrow. It is remorse for past transgression that turns his tears into gall and makes his persecutions intolerable. Pure and innocent, he might defy his enemies, he might glory in tribulations. But he is forced to regard the wicked as God's sword for the punishment of his sins; and in all his pleadings we hear the voice of the penitent—sad confessions, bitter self-reproaches, touching appeals to the mercy of Heaven. ”

“ CHAPTER XIV THE CHURCH BELL RINGS Joseph Brant had been a valiant warrior; he had dealt with the affairs of the Six Nations wisely and well. But he had never forgotten that one of the first duties of any ruler is to be, in some sense, a priest unto his people. From a lad, he seems to have been a devoted Christian. The alarms of war had drawn his mind for a period, it is true, to worldly considerations alone, but now that strife had ceased he became once more the friend of the missionary and sought to supply the spiritual needs of the tribes over which his influence was felt. ”

“ Hell from beneath moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth: it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us? ”

“ Over this fertile, favored, and civilized nation Joseph reigned,--with delegated power indeed, but with power that was absolute,--when his starving brothers came to Egypt to buy corn, for the famine extended probably over western Asia. He is to be viewed, not as a prophet, or preacher, or reformer, or even a warrior like Moses, but as a merely executive ruler. As the son-in-law of the high-priest of Hieropolis, and delegated governor of the land, in the highest favor with the King, and himself a priest, it is probable that Joseph was initiated into the esoteric wisdom of the priesthood. ”

“ And they said unto him: "Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies." And he said unto them: "Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come." And they said: "Thy servants are twelve brethren, sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not." And Joseph said unto them: "That is it that I spake unto you, saying, 'Ye are spies:' hereby ye shall be proved: by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. ”

“ A man may be a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator, and it may have nothing to do with his being the President of the Church. Suffice it to say, that Joseph was the President of the Church, as long as he lived: the people chose to have it so. He always filled that responsible station, by the voice of the people. Can you find any revelation appointing him the President of the Church? The keys of the Priesthood were committed to Joseph, to build up the Kingdom of God on the earth, and were not to be taken from him in time or in eternity ”

“ The present course and sufferings of Joseph were the means by which Providence was to work out a higher place and name than he had enjoyed in the house of Potiphar, captain of the guard.
Again abandoned and cast into the lowest depths of misery, even for his virtues' sake, Joseph is not left without succour. He, without whom a sparrow falls not to the ground, allows not this faithful one to fall without a purpose, nor to suffer without His care. "The Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison." ”

“ One day when she was calling him, the king happened to pass by, and hearing her call him thus, asked her: "Why do you call him Truthful Joseph?" "Because he never tells a lie." Then the king said that he would like to have him in his service, and set him to keeping his cows. Every morning Joseph presented himself to the king, and said: "Your Majesty's servant." The king answered: "Good morning, Truthful Joseph. How are the cows?" "Well and fat." "How are the calves?" "Well and handsome." "How is the bull?" ”

“ When Joseph and his two counselors, Sidney and Hyrum, who formed the First Presidency of the Church, were thrown into prison, the Saints, though in great trouble, were not without a leader. Brigham Young was President of the Twelve Apostles, the quorum next in authority to the First Presidency. He gathered about him the faithful Apostles and brethren and declared that he knew Joseph was a true Prophet. He called all those whose faith was still strong to join him in aiding the Saints. ”

“ Place me (in authority) over the treasures of the land; surely I am a good keeper, knowing well.
56 And thus did We give to Joseph power in the land -- he had mastery in it wherever he liked. We bestow Our mercy on whom We please, and We waste not the reward of the doers of good.
57 And certainly the reward of the Hereafter is better for those who believe and guard against evil. ”

“ He told Pharaoh of that strange experience, and the monarch promptly sent for this gifted young Hebrew. "Seest thou a man diligent in his business he shall stand before kings." Joseph had shown himself diligent in his business as a servant in the house of Potiphar, and as a prisoner he had made himself useful to the warden of the jail. Now he is summoned to stand before the ruler of all the land of Egypt.
He is the same man in name as when he walked across the fields of Dothan with his heart full of conceit, but how much he has learned! ”

“ As I looked upon their peaceful, smiling countenances, I seemed almost to hear them say,—"Mother, weep not for us, we have overcome the world by love; we carried to them the gospel, that their souls might be saved; they slew us for our testimony, and thus placed us beyond their power; their ascendency is for a moment, ours is an eternal triumph."
I then thought upon the promise which I had received in Missouri, that in five years Joseph should have power over all his enemies. The time had elapsed and the promise was fulfilled. ”

“ He then went on and preached a comforting discourse, after which he appointed a council to sit the next day, by which Sidney was tried, for having lied in the name of the Lord. In this council Joseph told him, he must suffer for what he had done, that he should be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan, who would handle him as one man handleth another, that the less Priesthood he had, the better it would be for him, and that it would be well for him to give up his license. ”

“ My first impression of Joseph nearly sixty years ago was that he was a true prophet, and I formed a love for him which increased with our acquaintance. I was with him in the state of Missouri during those trying scenes until his imprisonment in Liberty jail, and subsequently in Illinois, and with the bereaved family and thousands of Latter-day Saints shed a tear over his remains as he lay silently in death’s embrace. ”

“ They were able also to go forth in the power which He had restored, and thus once more among men was witnessed the mighty gifts that were characteristic of bygone ages, when God had a Priesthood on the earth, when He had prophets and apostles, and mighty men whom He clothed with a portion of His Spirit and power.
And when Joseph was taken, how was it then? Were the people left without some man or men to stand up in their midst to declare to them the counsel of their Almighty Father? No: the Lord did not leave His people without a shepherd. ”

“ Joseph threw open the doors, and taking a hint from the stratagem of his grandfather Mack, hallooed as if he had a legion at hand, in the meanwhile, giving the word of command with great emphasis; while all the male portion of the family, from the father down to little Carlos, ran out of the house with such fury upon the mob, that it struck them with terror and dismay, and they fled before the little Spartan band into the woods, where they dispersed themselves to their several homes. ”

“ The first thing that must strike every one on reading this mysterious language is, that Joseph was a type of the Lord Jesus; who is truly the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel. Jesus is He of whom every child learns to say, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want: He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me by the still waters: He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." Jesus Himself said, "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." ”

“ Brother McRae, who at once discovered his mistake, begged the Prophet’s pardon for undertaking to correct the word of the Lord.
In March, 1839, and less than one month before leaving the jail, Joseph received the word of the Lord, as follows:
“The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools shall have thee in derision, and hell shall rage against thee, while the pure in heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the virtuous, shall seek council, and authority, and blessings constantly from under thy hand. ”