Captain Self-Denial

"In the face of threatening danger, there is no more effective ally to the soul than the principle of self-denial. Self-indulgence is not the spirit of martyrs; it needs a stronger principle to enable a man to resist the blood-men of persecution.
Self-denial is the discipline of the Christian man; he has to fight the good fight, therefore he must be bred and inured to hardships; he has to sail the voyage of life, and must therefore be strong to face the tempests, and brave the billows of the deep. Self-denial is the medicine of the soul—not always sweet, but most frequently bitter. Self-denial is the foundation of manly heroism and of all heroic virtues—'seeking not her own.' This is a cross-bearing place, even to the mount of sacrifice. Self-denial thinks more of tomorrow’s sunshine than of the tempest of today. It provides for the time to come at the cost of the time now present; and walks by faith of future glory, and not by sight of present suffering—'choosing rather to suffer affliction—having respect unto the recompense of the reward.' Martyrs have always been self-denying men."[2]