choice that Moses made,-you must prefer God before the world.
affliction lasting but for a moment, reproach rolled away, and ending in everlasting honour, and the despised people of God reigning as kings with Christ in glory.
And, reader, was he not right? Does he not speak to us, though dead, this very day? The name of Pharaoh's daughter has perished; the city where Pharaoh reigned is not known; the treasures in Egypt are gone: but the name of Moses is known wherever the Bible is read, and is still a standing witness that whoso liveth by faith, happy is he.
IV. And now let me wind up all by trying to set before you some practical lessons, which appear to me to follow from this text.
What has all this to do with us? some men will say. We do not live in Egypt, we have seen no miracles; we are not Israelites, we are weary of the subject.
Stay a little, reader, if this be the thought of your heart, and by God's help I will show you that all may lean here, and all may be instructed.
1. For one thing, if ever you would be saved, you must make the choice that Moses made,-you must prefer God before the world.
Reader, mark well what I say. Do not overlook this, though all the rest be forgotten. I do not say that the statesman must throw up his office, and the rich man forsake his property. Let no one fancy that I mean this. But I say, if a man would be saved, whatever be his rank in life, he must be prepared for tribulation; they must make up his mind to choose that which is evil, and to give up and refuse that which seems good.
I dare be sure this sounds strange language to some who read these pages. I know well you may have a certain form of religion, and find no trouble in your way. There is a common worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough-a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no
sacrifice, which costs nothing, and is worth nothing. I am not speaking of religion of this kind.
But if you really are in earnest about your soul, if your religion is something more than a mere fashionable cloak, if you are determined to live by the Bible, if you are resolved to be a New Testament Christian, then, I repeat, you will soon find you must carry a cross, you must endure hard things, you must suffer because of your soul, as Moses did, or you cannot be saved.
The world in the nineteenth century is what it always was. The hearts of men are still the same. The offence of the cross is not ceased. God's true people are still a despised little flock. True evangelical religion still brings with It reproach and scorn. A real servant of God will still be thought by many a weak enthusiast and a fool.
Reader, do you wish your soul to be saved? Then remember, you must choose wham you will serve. You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot be on two sides at once. You cannot be a friend of Christ, and a friend of the world at the same time. You must come out from the children of this world, and be separate; you must put up with much ridicule, trouble, and opposition, or you are lost for ever. You must be willing to think and do things which the world considers foolish, and to hold opinions which are only held by a few. It will cost you something. The stream is strong, and you have to stem it. The way is narrow and steep, and it is no use saying it is not. But depend on it, there can be no saving religion without sacrifices and self-denial.
Now, reader, are you doing anything of this kind? I put it to your conscience in all affection and tenderness, are you, like Moses, preferring God to the world, or not? I beseech you not to take shelter under that dangerous word "we,"-"we ought," and "we hope," and "we mean," and the like. I ask you plainly, what are you doing yourself? Are you willing to give up anything which keeps you back from God? or are you clinging to the Egypt of the world, and saying