"He refused to be a called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." You all
Now I have nothing but the simplest things to say about them. I shall only try to enforce upon you the greatness of the things Moses did, and the principle on which he did them. And then perhaps you will be better prepared for the practical instruction which the verses appear to hold out to every one who will receive it.
May the Holy Ghost bless the subject to us all! May He give us the same spirit of faith, that we may walk in the steps of Moses, do as he did, and share his reward!
I. First, then, I will speak of what Moses gave up and refused.
Moses gave up three things for the sake of his soul.
He felt that his soul would not be saved if he kept them, so he gave them up. And in so doing, I say that he made three of the greatest sacrifices that man's heart can make.
1. He gave up rank and greatness.
"He refused to be a called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." You all know his history. The daughter of Pharaoh had preserved his life, when he was an infant-adopted him and educated him as her own son.
If writers of history may be trusted, she was Pharaoh's only child. Men go so far as to say that in the common order of things Moses would one day have been king of Egypt. That may be, or may not-we cannot tell. It is enough for us to know that, from his connection with Pharaoh's daughter, Moses might have been, if he had pleased, a very great man. If he had been content with the position in which he found himself at the Egyptian court, he might easily have been among the first-if not the very first-in all the land of Egypt.
Think, reader, for a moment, how great this temptation was.