1 Hugh Black, Comfort. 24.
^ Annie Matheson, Maytime Hongs, 17.
The Choice of Moses.
Literature.
Banks (L. A.), On the Trail of Moses, 12. Bell (C. D.), The Roll-Gall of Faith, 178. Brandt (J. L.), Soul-Saving, 219. Brown (C), The Birth of a Nation, 95. „ (J.), Sermons with Memoir, 159. Carroll (B. H.), Sermons, 126. Chadwick (G. A.), Tlie Book of Exodus, 34. Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Women and Children, v. 365. Dewey (0.), JFcrks, 716. Ho}ikins (E. H.), Hidden yet Possessed, 53, 60. Mackintosh (H. R.), Life on God's Pkui, 15. Meyer (F. B.), Moses the Servant of God, 17. Neville (W. G.), Sermons, 290. Norton (J. N.), Golden Truths, 341. Peabody (F. G.), Mornings in the College Chaj)el, ii. 133. Peake (A. S.), The Heroes and Martyrs of Faith, 99. Penn- Lewis (Mrs.), Face to Face, 25. Plumptre (E. H.), Theology and Life, 147. Punshon (W. M.), Sermons, ii. 42. Ramsey (D. M.), in Hie Southern Baptist Pulpit, 314. Rawlinson (G.), Moses : His Life and Times, 51. Ryle (J. C), Faith's CJioice, 1. Selby (T. G.), The God of the Patriarchs, 163. Smith (J.), The Permanent Message of the Exodus, 16. Whitehead (H.), Sermons, 73.
Cambridge Review, ix. Supplement No. 216 (E. H. Bickersteth). Christian World Pulpit, xxxix. 225 (F. "VV. Farrar). Contemporary Pulpit, 2nd Ser., vi. 309 (F. W. Farrar)''. Homiletic Review, xlvi. 33 (J. H. Jowett) ; Ivi. 229 (G. E. Reed).
The Choice of Moses.
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather to be evil entreated with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt : for he looked unto the recompense of reward. — Heb. xi. 24-26.
" When I turn," says Dr. J. H. Jowett, " to this great Epistle to the Hebrews, I feel as though I were in the inspiring spaces of some great cathedral, as though I were moving about Westminster Abbey ; in fact, I have ventured to call the Epistle to the Hebrews the Westminster Abbey of the Bible. There are some beautiful little side chapels, where a weary soul can bend in quiet and reverent prayer and praise ; some most winsome light breaks through quite unexpected windows, as you move about in the august place ; again and again you hear the sound of an anthem raising melodious songs of praise to the great God ; and you are never allowed to get far away from Calvary and the cross. When I come to chapter xi., I always feel as though I were turning into the nave of the great cathedral, and I find it is occupied by monuments which have been erected to commemorate saintly men and women who were distinguished by their faith — a monument to Abraham, a monument to Isaac and Jacob, a monument to Sarah, one to Eahab. I stand now before a monument which commemorates an old patriarch statesman, and I ask why this man is commemorated in the abbey ? What did Moses do to entitle him to a place in the nave ? "
The answer to Dr. Jowett's question is the whole life of Moses. But that which determined the life of Moses was the choice which he made when he reached manhood. That choice is our subject. We have it brought before us in the text in some fulness. We shall speak first of the Choice itself; next of the Faith which prompted it ; and then of the Motive which inspired it.
426 THE CHOICE OF MOSES
I.
The Choice.
Viewing his situation from the outside, we might declare no one so uuHkely as Moses to be confronted with a crucial decision. Egypt at that day boasted of an advanced civilization ; and all its luxury, all its culture, were poured into his cup. He had been trained, they say, in the most famous college in the land, and had proved himself already a statesman and a soldier. His foot was on the step of the loftiest throne on earth ; in the judgment of his peers there lay open before him a career of the most enviable brilliance. It seemed as if one success had but to follow another : to-morrow would be as yesterday, and much more abundant. And then came God — God, who had a plan of loving wisdom for this man, and was but biding His time.
The choice involved two things — a refusal and an acceptance,
i. The Refusal.
One of the chief features of Moses' character is here put before us : " Moses refused." That implies a strong temptation, impelling him to accept — influences operating in such a way that it was by no means easy to the natural man to refuse. God was testing him, and by that test preparing him for higher service. Moses, by God's grace, stood the test. His mind seems to have been thoroughly made up. He refused the prospect of princely magnificence — he rose superior to the temptation, and this, we are told, because he acted by faith.
1. The act of renunciation was itself an act of unusual keen- ness of perception, for there was so much that might have been urged on the other side. It is generally not difficult to find specious reasons for doing something which we very much want to do. It so often happens that the intellect is the slave of the will, and we can make out an excellent case for following the bent of our desires. And in the case of Moses the arguments against the course he adopted were really cogent. There was the general principle that it is usually best to stay where Providence