1. To escape troubles by running away from duty. Jonah once made the experiment, but it did not succeed. Therefore, manfully meet and overcome the difficulties and trials to which the post assigned you by God's providence exposes you. 2. To become a Christian of strength and maturity without undergoing severe trials. What fire is to gold, such is affliction to the believer. It burns up the dross, and makes the gold shine forth with unalloyed luster. 3. To form an independent character, except when thrown upon one's own resources. The oak in the middle of the forest, if surrounded on every side by trees that shelter and shade it, runs up tall and comparatively feeble; cut away its protectors, and the first blast will overturn it. But the same tree, growing in the open field, where it is continually beaten upon by the tempest, becomes its own protector. So the man who is compelled to rely on his own resources forms an independence of character to which he could not otherwise have attained. 4. To be a growing man by looking to your position in society for influence, instead of bringing influence to your position. Therefore prefer rather to climb up the hill with difficulty than to be steamed up by a power outside yourself.