Joist

“ Little Joseph now stood at the side of the New Road, looking carelessly at the crowds passing before him, watching the tired omnibus horses dragging their heavy loads—alas! that mercy, if not religion, should not give them their one day’s rest! There were hawkers, and sellers of sweetmeats behind their tempting stalls, little thinking, poor and often ignorant as they are, that they are doing the work of the Evil One, by leading others to sin! What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? ”

“ So little is worldly judgment to be relied upon. But nobody believed it, and if they had, I shouldn’t have cared, no more than I should have cared for the murmurin’ of the summer breeze. When the conscience is easy, the mind is at rest. I knew there was three that knew the truth on’t: the Lord, Elder Judas Wart, and myself. I count Josiah and me as one, which is lawful, though Josiah says that I am the one the biggest heft of the time. ”

“ For behold, you should not have feared man more than God, although men set at nought the counsels of God, and despise his words; yet you should have been faithful and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary; and he would have been with you in every time of trouble. Behold, thou art Joseph, and thou wast chosen to do the work of the Lord, but because of transgression, if thou art not aware, thou wilt fall. ”

“ Know not ye that there is no man like to me in the science of knowledge? To whom Judah answered: What shall we answer to thee, my lord; or what shall we speak or rightfully desire? God hath found and remembered the iniquity of us thy servants, for we be all thy servants, yea, we and he at whom the cup was found. Joseph answered: God forbid that I should so do, whosoever stole the cup shall be my servant, and go ye your way, for ye shall be free and go to your father. ”

“ All those that love God are the same, and there is neither class nor wealth, only love, Joseph answered passionately. That is the teaching of the new prophet Jesus, Philip replied, his yapping voice assuming an inveigling tone or something like one. I was in Magdala yester evening, and spent the night in my debtor's house, and as we were figuring out the principal and interest a neighbour came in, and among his several news was that you were seen walking with Jesus by the lake in the direction of Capernaum. ”

“ What a striking contrast between Josiah, with contrite heart, exercised conscience, and rent garments, bowing down under the mighty action of the word of God, and our modern skeptics and infidels, who, with appalling audacity, dare to sit in judgment upon that very same Word! Oh that men would be wise in time, and bow their hearts and consciences in reverent submission to the word of the living God before that great and terrible day of the Lord in the which they shall be compelled to bow, amid "weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth." ”

“ How could the eyes of my spectacles ever see jest how fur down into the depths of that soul shone the Divine Ideal, the holy, stainless image of what we pray to be,—and jest how fur the mists that rise up from our earthly soil darken and blind that light? Good land! I couldn’t do it, nor Josiah, nor nobody.
We are blind creeters, the fur-seein’est of us; weak creeters, when we think we are the strong-mindedest. Now, when we hear of a crime, it is easy to say that the one who committed that wrong stepped flat off from goodness into sin, and should be hung. ”

“ A symbol of humanity—in a certain way my work was entitled to this secret opinion of itself. After all, from the original and simple, the typical and canonical it led to the complicated, involved, late:; the way from Canaan to the Egypt of the New Kingdom is the way from the piously primitive, the God-creating, God-contemplative idyl of the archfathers to a highly developed and sophisticated culture with its luxuries and absurd snobberies, in a land of the grandchildren, a land whose atmosphere is so much to Joseph's taste because he is himself a grandchild and a late soul. ”

“ As Joseph was a walking
he heard angels sing,
'This night there shall be born
our heavenly king.
'He neither shall be born
in house nor in hall,
Nor in the place of Paradise,
but in an ox-stall. ”

“ And he expected a prediction like to that of the cupbearer. But Joseph, considering and reasoning about the dream, said to him, that he would willingly be an interpreter of good events to him, and not of such as his dream denounced to him; but he told him that he had only three days in all to live, for that the [three] baskets signify, that on the third day he should be crucified, and devoured by fowls, while he was not able to help himself. Now both these dreams had the same several events that Joseph foretold they should have, and this to both the parties ”

“ And they said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food." And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.
And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, "Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come."
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." ”

“ The story of Joseph, ranging from the pastoral life of a wandering tribe to the life and government of a settled kingdom, passing, as it follows the fortunes of Joseph, through a multitude of events, characters, and types of men, and holding in it the fates of the Jewish people, is one of the great stories of the world, and worth an epic treatment, Charles Wells did not feel the world-wide elements in it, but he felt its varied and profound humanity, and naturally, feeling one side more than another, he chose to make of it a drama, not an epic. ”

“ Accordingly, by sunset the next day, we were all seated, and Joseph commenced telling us the great and glorious things which God had manifested to him; but, before proceeding, he charged us not to mention out of the family that which he was about to say to us, as the world was so wicked that when they came to a knowledge of these things they would try to take our lives; and that when we should obtain the plates, our names would be cast out as evil by all people. Hence the necessity of suppressing these things as much as possible, until the time should come for them to go forth to the world. ”

“ But what seems to me very remarkable here is this, that when Josephus, in imitation of the Greeks and Romans, for whose use he wrote his Antiquities, did himself frequently he into their they appear, by the politeness of their composition, and their flights of oratory, to be not the real speeches of the persons concerned, who usually were no orators, but of his own elegant composure, the speech before us is of another nature, full of undeniable facts, and composed in a plain and unartful, but moving way ”

“ Now when Abbâ Poemen, who happened to be there, heard that Abbâ Joseph had spoken differently to that Theban, he rose up and went again to Abbâ Joseph, and said unto him, “Abbâ, I have believed in thee as in God, and I have revealed unto thee my thoughts, and behold, thou hast spoken unto that Theban in one way, and to me thou hast declared the opposite.” The old man said unto him, “Dost thou not know that I love thee?” And he answered and said unto him, “Yea, I do.” The old man said unto him, “Didst thou not say unto me, Tell me as if thou wast telling thyself? ”

“ Also, when your spiritual thoughts tell you that you ought always to obey the demands of duty, your natural thoughts will tell you that it is better to follow the calls of inclination. There is, indeed, in every mind that has any religion a conflict between the natural and the spiritual thoughts; for as the Scriptures say—"The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh." Now this conflict was represented by the brethren of Joseph hating and persecuting him. ”

“ Thou, that my prince in beauty art, a steward [8] hast, whose rule Aggrieves me and a chamberlain [9] that doth me foul upright.
He lies who says, “All loveliness in Joseph was comprised.” How many a Joseph is there not within thy beauty bright!
The Jinn do fear me, whenas I confront them face to face; But when I meet with thee, my heart doth tremble for affright.
I feign aversion unto thee, for fear of slanderous tongues; The more I feign, the more my love to madness I excite. ”

“ It is common for friendly monitors to be looked upon as enemies. They that hate to be reformed, hate those that would reform them, Prov. 9. 8. [2.] It is common for those that are beloved of God, to be hated by the world; whom heaven blesses, hell curses; those whom God speaks comfortably to, wicked men will not speak peaceably to. It is said here of Joseph, the lad was with the sons of Bilhah; some read it, and he was servant to them, they made him their drudge.
5. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. ”

“ Three times, at different stages of my life, have I lived under the prolonged tension of tasks, which had a certain affinity to greatness: at the age of twenty-five, when I tried my hand at the novel of the German bourgeoisie Buddenbrooks, at the age of fifty, when in the Magic Mountain I made a friendly alter ego pass through the adventures of European intellectual controversies, and between sixty and seventy, when I told mankind's fairy tale of Joseph and his brothers. ”

“ Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. 20. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins. ”

“ The fresh, warm, healthy vital force which filled Joseph's body to the last embranchment of every nerve and vein— the hum of those multitudinous spirits of life, which, while building their glorious abode, march as if in triumphant procession through its secret passages, and summon all the fairest phantoms of sense to their completed chambers—constituted, far more than he suspected, an element of his disturbance. ”

“ May they sink down into our ears and into our hearts. Josiah felt it to be his high and holy privilege to conform to the divine standard, notwithstanding all the errors and evils which had crept in from age to age. God's truth must stand forever. Faith owns and acts on this precious fact, and reaps accordingly. Nothing can be more lovely than the scene enacted on the occasion to which we are now referring. Josiah's strict adherence to the word of the Lord is not more to be admired than his large-hearted devotedness and liberality. ”

“ They may complain and say, "Really brother Joseph, we have been good Saints all the time," and Joseph will reply, "Come here and let me anoint your eyes," then he will touch their eyes, and they will turn round and exclaim, "Let us be doorkeepers, or do anything else, that we may stay with you. Now we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand; we see that we have been fools." ”

“ Still Joseph was silent.
"It is not too late! Your fault, I fear, is that you attach merit to works, as if works could save you! You look to a cold, barren "morality for support, and imagine that to do what is called 'right' is enough for God! You shut your eyes to the blackness of your own sinful heart, and are too proud to acknowledge the vileness and depravity of man's nature ”

“ Joseph; but God's choice of him for the office he was to fulfil near the blessed Virgin Mary and her Son reveals the nature of the man. He is described to us as "a just man," one whose judgment would not be swayed by prejudices, but who would be open to the consideration of any case upon its merits: a man who would not view events in the light of their effect upon himself and his plans, but who can calmly consider what in given circumstances is due to others. ”

“ See how apt those that are themselves at ease, are to forget others in distress. Perhaps it is in allusion to this story, that the prophet speaks of those that drink wine in bowls, and are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph, Amos 6. 6. Let us learn hence to cease from man. Joseph perhaps depended too much upon his interest in the chief butler, and promised himself too much from him; he learned by his disappointment to trust in God only. We cannot expect too little from man, nor too much from God. ”

“ She felt perfectly sure that he would father it. When I came to Joseph and showed him the paper, he said: 'Yes, that is a genuine revelation.' I said to the prophet: 'But in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants there is a revelation just the contrary of this.' 'Oh,' said Joseph, 'that was given when the church was in its infancy, then it was all right to feed the people on milk, but now it is necessary to give them strong meat' We talked a long time about it, finally our discussion became very hot and we gave it up. ”

“ The woman present at the sale of Joseph, holds her hand in her veil like many a stately figure in Roman art, but the meeting of Joseph with his old father is quite modern in its emotional force, the old man tremblingly totters forward into the arms of his stalwart young son, and one cannot help feeling irritated at the bystanders’ conventional gestures as they gaze on such a touching scene. ”