Much edification may the Christian gather from the narrative before us; and happy would it be for the Christian world, if the principle, here so splendidly illustrated, were in fuller operation. It might indeed be thought, that with the superior knowledge we enjoy, of the transcendent mercy and goodness of God, of the extent and bounty of His providence, as well as the riches of his grace; that, with the clear revelation of the divine will, the glorious manifestation of gospel light, to us so abundantly vouchsafed; that, taught as we have been to look upon God as our reconciled Father in Jesus Christ, as the “author and giver of every good gift” in this world, and the spring of all our blissful hopes of an inheritance in the brighter world to come; it might have been thought, under these superior advantages and means of grace, that in all the events of life, in every temptation and trial, our affections would be certainly raised, above every earthly consideration, to the high and holy God; that, when we are pressed with the solicitations of evil, it would immediately occur to our minds and enter into our hearts, how abhorrent the offence must be to that perfect and glorious Being, in whose image we are professedly recreated; how grievous to that Holy Spirit, in whom we ought to live and walk; how disgracefully and basely unworthy of those spiritual privileges, to which we have been restored; of the great mercies we have already received; and the still greater we are yet expecting, from the redemption which hath been wrought for us by the ever blessed Jesus; it might be concluded, that Christians, when tempted to injury and evil, would immediately refer the matter to the blessed word and will of their divine master, and exclaim, with a pious and grateful feeling, “how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”
Yet, is it not notorious, that a great, an overwhelming portion of the inhabitants of this enlightened land, are governed in a very small, if in any degree, by this pure sense of spiritual and religious obligation? Commonly, when they are solicited to sinful gratifications and pursuits, “God is not in all their thoughts:” whether they yield or not, depends partly upon the strength of their natural inclination; partly upon the light in which the sin may be regarded by the world around them; upon the extent to which it may affect their worldly reputation; upon what they may calculate to gain or lose by their conduct. The law of custom has manifestly a greater influence than the law of God; nay, what are called the _rules of honour_, which, in many instances, are flagrantly repugnant and opposite to the divine will, (and might rather be called the rules of _dishonour_,) are appealed to, in a Christian country, as the arbiters of right and wrong; while the “honour that cometh from God only” is totally disregarded and forgotten. And even of those, who are unacquainted with the precise terms of these fallacious rules, what multitudes are there, whose practice and conduct are determined by considerations merely human; who will be guided by a feeling of gratitude to an earthly benefactor, and yet have no sense or remembrance of the favour of an all-merciful God; who will be deterred from evil by the dread of offending an earthly superior, that has power only over the body, and yet possess in their hearts no fear whatever of Him, “who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.” Where there are no better guides, no higher inducements than these, “to refuse the evil and to choose the good,” we cannot be surprised at the licentiousness and corruption, which so unhappily prevail; nor even at the flagrant and shameless commission of that calamitous sin, which Joseph rejected with such holy disdain. Against the impetuous desires and cravings of the flesh; the assiduous entreaties of wicked companions; and the beguiling charms, which Satan so well knows how to spread over all the ways and works of evil; against all these combining together, it cannot be expected, that any human motives or maxims, any earthly feelings alone, should be able successfully to stand.