Chapter 7—Lives of Great Men
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.”
Sacred history presents many illustrations of the results of true
education. It presents many noble examples of men whose characters
were formed under divine direction, men whose lives were a blessing
to their fellow men and who stood in the world as representatives of
God. Among these are Joseph and Daniel, Moses, Elisha, and Paul—
the greatest statesmen, the wisest legislator, one of the most faithful of
reformers, and, except Him who spoke as never man spake, the most
illustrious teacher that this world has known.
In early life, just as they were passing from youth to manhood,
Joseph and Daniel were separated from their homes and carried as
captives to heathen lands. Especially was Joseph subject to the temp-
tations that attend great changes of fortune. In his father’s home a
tenderly cherished child; in the house of Potiphar a slave, then a confi-
dant and companion; a man of affairs, educated by study, observation,
contact with men; in Pharaoh’s dungeon a prisoner of state, condemned
unjustly, without hope of vindication or prospect of release; called
at a great crisis to the leadership of the nation—what enabled him to
preserve his integrity?
No one can stand upon a lofty height without danger. As the
tempest that leaves unharmed the flower of the valley uproots the tree
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upon the mountaintop, so do fierce temptations that leave untouched
the lowly in life assail those who stand in the world’s high places of
success and honor. But Joseph bore alike the test of adversity and
of prosperity. The same fidelity was manifest in the palace of the
Pharaohs as in the prisoner’s cell.
In his childhood, Joseph had been taught the love and fear of God.
Often in his father’s tent, under the Syrian stars, he had been told the
story of the night vision at Bethel, of the ladder from heaven to earth,
and the descending and ascending angels, and of Him who from the
throne above revealed Himself to Jacob. He had been told the story of
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