and comfort of Pharaoh's court, and openly took part with the
He would not have Egyptian treasures. He turned his back upon them. He refused them. He gave them up.
Such were the things that Moses refused-rank, pleasure, riches, all three at once.
Add to all this that he did it deliberately. He did not refuse these things in a hasty fit of youthful excitement. He was forty years old. He was in the prime of life. He knew what he was about. He weighed both sides of the question.
Add to it that he did not refuse them because he was obliged. He was not like the dying man, who tells us "He craves nothing more in this world;" and why?-Because he is leaving the world, and cannot keep it. He was not like the pauper, who makes a merit of necessity, and says, "He does not want riches;" and why? Because he cannot get them. He was not like the old man, who boasts "that he has laid aside worldly pleasures;" and why? Because he is worn out, and cannot enjoy them. No! reader. Moses refused what he might have kept, and gave up what he might have enjoyed. Rank, pleasure, and riches did not leave him, but he left them.
And then judge whether I am not right in saying that his was one of the greatest sacrifices mortal man ever made. Others have refused much, but none, I think, so much as Moses. Others have done well in the way of self-sacrifice and self-denial, but he excels them all.
II. And now let me go on to the second thing I wish to set before you. I will speak of what Moses chose.
I think his choice as wonderful as his refusal. He chose three things for his soul's sake. The road to salvation led through them, and he followed it; and in so doing he chose three of the last things that man is ever disposed to take up.
1. For one thing he chose suffering and affliction. He left the ease and comfort of Pharaoh's court, and openly took part with the