Or, again, you read of Joseph, stoutly refusing the safe indulgence of a forbidden pleasure, under a heartfelt conviction of required sanctity, and present accountability, which found its vent in those memorable words, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against GOD?” And then you find him, after shining thus brilliantly as a saint, patiently, religiously bearing the treatment of a sinner. Or you read of Abraham, giving up at a word’s bidding the comforts of home, the ties of kindred, and the means of support; wandering henceforth throughout his life in a strange land, apparently coming no nearer to the promised rest and blessedness, yet cheerfully, hopefully, thankfully, admitting and feeling that all was, and would be right and well for him. Or you read of Moses, refusing the honours, the pleasures, the riches of a court life, and choosing to be a wanderer, to endure all kinds of hardships and reproaches, that he might avoid sin and serve GOD. Or you read of Job, subjected to concentrated miseries and undeserved chastisements and rebukes, and blessing the Hand which had imposed them, or at least had not interfered to ward them off. Or you read of David, weeping over a forgiven sin, setting it always before him, making frequent mention of it in his prayers, accepting often reverses as the due chastisement of it, and thanking GOD for them. Or you read of Stephen, cruelly maligned, savagely beaten to death, and yet spending his dying breath, not in protesting, not in invoking vengeance, but in praying, “LORD, lay not this sin to their charge.” Or, once more, you read of Paul, testifying that to die is gain, and, in the least adverse circumstances of his converted life, coveting to depart. You read, I say, of these things; you consider under what feelings and hopes they were borne and encountered, and you sadly exclaim, “Where, in me, in deed or feeling, in aim or restraint, in perseverance or patience, is the religion of Joseph, of Abraham, of Moses, of Job, of David, of Stephen, of Paul? Do I thus resist temptations to unlawful pleasures? Do I set loose my natural affections, give up my worldly goods, go forth into unknown and unguessed-at circumstances at Divine bidding? Do I refuse proffered honours, riches, pleasures, not because they are in themselves sinful, but because they _may_ possibly lead me into sin? Do I patiently and thankfully endure even merited chastisements? Do I struggle with myself and with GOD to prevent past sins from escaping out of my remembrance? Do I seek to bless those who revile or injure me? Do I feel that to die is gain; and do I covet to depart?”