an arrow on such pitiful sparrows as you are; you are birds beneath my noble shot; I would not waste an arrow on you.” Thus he remains behind the rock and despises them all. His bow remains in strength.
10. Note well his quietness. His bow “remains.” It is not rattling, it is not always moving, but it remains, it is quite still; he takes no notice of the attack. The archers bitterly grieved Joseph, but his bow was not turned against them, it remained in strength. He did not turn his bow on them. He rested while they raged. Does the moon stop to lecture every dog that bays at her? Does the lion turn aside to rend each cur that barks at him? Do the stars cease to shine because the nightingales reprove them for their dimness? Does the sun stop in its course because of the officious cloud which veils it? Or does the river stop because the willow dips its leaves into its waters? Ah! no; God’s universe moves on, and if men will oppose it, it does not heed them. It is as God has made it; it is working together for good, and it shall not be stopped by the censure, nor moved on by the praise of man. Let your bows, my brethren, remain. Do not be in a hurry to justify yourself. God will take care of you. Leave it alone; only be very valiant for the Lord God of Israel: be steadfast in the truth of Jesus, and your bow shall remain.
11. But we must not forget the next word. “His bow remained IN STRENGTH.” Though his bow was quiet, it was not because it was broken. Joseph’s bow was like that of William the Conqueror, no man could bend it but Joseph himself; it remained “in strength.” I see the warrior bending his bow — how with his mighty arms he pulls it down and draws the string to make it ready. His bow remained in strength; it did not snap, it did not jump aside. His chastity was his bow, and he did not lose that: his faith was his bow, and that did not yield, it did not break; his courage was his bow, and that did not fail him; his character, his honesty was his bow; nor did he cast it away. Some men are so very particular about reputation. They think, “Surely, surely, surely they shall lose their characters.” Well, well, if we do not lose them through our own fault, we never need care about anyone else. You know there is not a prominent man but any fool in the world can set afloat some bad tale against him. It is a great deal easier to start a tale than to stop it. If you want truth to go around the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go around the world, it will fly; it is as light as a feather, and a breath will carry it. It is well said in the old Proverb, “A lie will go around the world while truth is pulling its boots on.” Nevertheless, it does not injure us; for if light as a feather it travels as fast, its effect is just about as tremendous as the effect of down, when it is blown against the walls of a castle: it produces no damage whatever, on account of its lightness and littleness. Fear not, Christian. Let slander fly, let envy send forth its forked tongue, let it hiss at you, your bow shall remain in strength. Oh! shielded warrior, remain quiet, fear no ill; but, like the eagle in its lofty eyrie, look down upon the fowlers in the plain; turn your bold eye upon them and say, “Shoot you may, but your shots will not reach half way to the pinnacle where I stand. Waste your powder upon me if you will; I am beyond your reach.” Then clap your wings, mount to heaven and there laugh them to scorn, for you have made your refuge God, and shall find a most secure abode.
12. III. The third thing in our text is the SECRET STRENGTH. “The arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.” First, notice concerning his strength, that it was real strength. It says, “the arms of his hands,” not his hands only. You know some people can do a great deal with their hands, but then it is often fictitious power; there is no might in the arm — there is no muscles, but of Joseph it is said, “the arms of his hands were made strong.” It was real potency, true muscle, real sinew, real nerve. It was not simply slight of hand — the power of moving his fingers very swiftly — but the arms of his hands were made strong. Now, that strength which God gives to his Josephs is real strength; it is not a boasted valour, a fiction, a thing of which men talk, an airy dream, an insubstantial unreality, but it is real strength. I would not like to fight with one of God’s Josephs. I would find their blows very heavy. I fear a Christian’s strokes more than any other man’s, for he has bone and sinew, and smites hard. Let the foes of the church expect a hard struggle if they attack an heir of life. Mightier than giants are men of the race of heaven; should they once arouse themselves to battle, they could laugh at the spear and the habergeon. But they are a patient generation, enduring ills without resenting them, suffering scorn without reviling the scoffer. Their triumph is to come when their enemies shall receive the due vengeance; then shall it be seen by an assembled world that the “little flock” were men of high estate, and the “offscouring of all things” were truly men of real strength and dignity.
13. Even though the world does not perceive it, the favoured Joseph has real strength, not in his hands only, but in his arms — real might, real power. Oh you foes of God, you think God’s people are despicable and powerless, but know that they have true strength from the omnipotence of their Father, a might substantial and divine. Your own shall melt away, and droop and die, like the snow upon the low mountain’s top, when the sun shines upon it, it melts into water; but our vigour shall abide like the snow on the summit of the Alps, undiminished for ages. It is real strength.
14. Then observe that the strength of God’s Joseph is divine strength. His arms were made strong by God. Why does one of God’s ministers preach the Gospel powerfully? Because God gives him assistance. Why does Joseph stand against temptation? Because God gives him aid. The strength of a Christian is divine strength. My brethren, I am more and more persuaded every day that the sinner has no power in himself, except that which is given to him from above. I know that if I were to stand with my foot upon the golden threshold of heaven’s portal, if I could put this thumb upon the latch, I could not open that door, after having gone so far towards heaven, unless I had still supernatural power communicated to me in that moment. If I had a stone to lift, to work my own salvation, without God’s help to do that, I must be lost, even though it were so little. There is nothing that we can do without the power of God. All true strength is divine. As the light comes from the sun, as the shower from heaven, so does spiritual strength come from the Father of lights, with whom there is neither variableness nor shadow of a turning.
15. Again: I would have you notice in the text in what a blessedly familiar way God gives this strength to Joseph. It says, “the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob.” Thus it represents God as putting his hands on Joseph’s hands, placing his arms on Joseph’s arms. In olden times, when every boy had to be trained in archery, if his father were worth so many pounds per year, you might see the father putting his hands on his boy’s hands and pulling the bow for him, saying, “There, my son, in this manner draw the bow.” So the text represents God as putting his hand on the hand of Joseph, and laying his broad arm along the arm of his chosen child, that he might be made strong. Like as a father teaches his children, so the Lord teaches those who fear him. He puts his arms upon them. As Elijah laid with his mouth upon the child’s mouth, with his hand upon the child’s hand, with his foot upon the child’s foot, so does God put his mouth to his children’s mouth, his hand on his minister’s hand, his foot to his people’s foot: and so he makes us strong. Marvellous condescension! You stars of glory, have you ever witnessed such stoops of love? God Almighty, Eternal, Omnipotent, stoops from his throne and lays his hand upon the child’s hand, stretching his arm upon the arm of Joseph, that he may be made strong!
16. One more thought, and I am finished. This strength was covenant strength, for it is said, “The arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob,” Now, wherever you read of the God of Jacob in the Bible, you may know that that respects God’s covenant with Jacob. Ah! I love to talk about God’s everlasting covenant. Some of the Arminians cannot bear it, but I love a covenant salvation — a covenant not made with my fathers, not between me and God, but between Christ and God. Christ made the covenant to pay a price, and God made the covenant that he should have the people. Christ has paid the price, and ratified the covenant, and I am quite sure that God will fulfil his part of it, by giving every elect vessel of mercy into the hands of Jesus. But, beloved, all the power, all the grace, all the blessings, all the mercies, all the comforts, all the things we have, we have through the covenant. If there were no covenant: if we could rip the everlasting charter up: if the