he hardened his heart. God might have overthrown him at once, might have struck him down at an instant, "cut him off from the earth;" for each beat of his heart depended on the will of God. But God did not do this. He first spoke to him by the harmless miracle of the serpents; he then changed into blood the waters of the Nile. He did not inflict upon him at first any permanent harm, either in his person or in his property. At a later period God sent him plagues of a humiliating kind, swarms of frogs, vermin, and various insects, which destroyed the produce of the ground. It might, then, have been God's will to cause Pharaoh to have suffered cruelly, and to cry for mercy in anguish and grief. But no; even still he only punishes him in things not personal-in his wealth, by the mortality among his horses, asses, camels, and

oxen.

We are told that there was a very grievous plague upon the cattle of Egypt, but "of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one." The expression "all the cattle of Egypt died," cannot mean that not an animal remained, since we are told, at a later period, that some of them perished by the hail; it means only that some animals of every kind were destroyed. Pharaoh sent messengers to visit the pasture grounds of the Israelites, and satisfied himself that their flocks had been spared. He ought then to have reflected deeply, and have given thanks that the God who showed himself so mighty had only struck dead his cattle, without touching the lives of his people, or his own life. But no; the unhappy man hardened himself more and more, and realised to the letter the terrible sentence which was afterwards pronounced by the

wisdom of the Holy Spirit, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."1

Then a new plague appeared. God commanded the two brothers to go once more to Pharaoh, not with a rod, as formerly, but with "handfuls of ashes from the furnace." Probably they were ashes from one of the very furnaces at which the unfortunate Israelites were compelled by blows to labour; and it is with these few handfuls of ashes that God will now bring the great Pharaoh, his proud magicians, and all his people, into a most humiliating and suffering condition. "Moses

sprinkled it up toward heaven, and it became a boil breaking forth with blains, upon man and upon beast." The Egyptians swallowed the infection with the very air that they breathed; as in the time of the cholera, and the plague of yellow fever, people breathe in the pestilence with the air. Behold the Egyptians, and probably the great Pharaoh himself on his throne, seized with this terrible disease. And what, then, did the magicians do? Did they still try to imitate Moses? No; we are told they could not even stand before him because of the boils, for the boil was upon the magicians. They were obliged to humble themselves, and to acknowledge their nothingness before God.

An objection has been made to this part of the history which has been already answered; but we will return to it again. "Was it just," it has been asked, "that all Egypt should be punished for the sins of its king?" But the truth is, the people had a large share in these sins; for example, when they threw the poor

1 Eccles. viii. 11.

little Hebrew children into the river; and consequently it was just that the river should be changed into blood, since they themselves had committed murder in it. You have also been told that, instead of worshipping the true God, the Egyptians worshipped the Nile, oxen, dogs, and other animals; so that it was just that God should change into corruption this river which they turned into a god, and that he should strike with death these animals which they made their gods.

We ought to take good heed of this when we make idols of our money, of our reputation, of the favour of men, of our husbands, of our wives, of our children; that is to say, when we place all our happiness and all our affections on any created thing; then it is just that God should strike these beings which we have made our gods, that he should take them away from us, or so change them as to make them sources of bitterness to us.

XIX.

The Obstinacy of the King.

(EXODUS ix. 13-23.)

E have now to consider what God is pleased to reveal concerning his judgments on rebellious and impenitent men. His words are addressed to the guilty and unhappy Pharaoh, and they are quoted by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans.

We are here told of the mighty thunderstorm which rolled over Egypt, and the terrible hailstorm which fell

from the clouds like showers of stones, killing men and beasts, and breaking down the trees of the field. We are told that the lightning was so terrible that, to use the expression in the verse, "the fire ran along the ground." Imagine what a terrible spectacle this must have been. What must have made the storm more terrific to the Egyptians is that such storms at that season of the year were almost unknown to them. Thus the Lord continued his destroying work, preparing on one hand for the well-deserved ruin of the guilty Pharaoh, and on the other for the unmerited deliverance of the people of Israel, and this by repeated blows, each severer than the last.

One might have thought that, after such severe warnings and judgments, the wicked hearts of Pharaoh and his people would have been softened and humbled. Had they not seen the defeat of their priests and magicians, who had so long led them astray, but who were now forced themselves to submit to the judgments of the Lord? These imposters, who are named by St. Paul Jannes and Jambres, had already yielded in a degree when covered with disgusting vermin, and, having attempted in vain to imitate the miracle, they had said unto Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." But now they are more humbled still; their haughty air and audacious looks have disappeared; they are covered with boils and ulcers, so that they cannot even stand before Moses. Let this incident lead us to think how great will be the anguish and confusion of wicked men and persecutors when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come again to earth, and when the light of God shall shine upon them. Then the corruption of their unconverted souls will openly appear, and they will not dare

to show themselves before the holy angels, and before the redeemed, who are covered with the robe of Christ's righteousness.1

Only imagine what would become of any of us if for every evil thought, every wicked word, every falsehood, every slander, every angry word, an ulcer or a boil were to appear on our faces? If it were to happen to us, for example, as to Miriam the sister of Moses, who, as the punishment of her pride and angry words to her brother, became all at once a leper white as snow, that is to say, covered with a disgusting disease. How horrible we should seem if all the pollutions of our souls were to appear outwardly on our bodies! It is well for us to think occasionally of such things, to examine the sins of our hearts, to humble ourselves before God, and to feel more deeply the need of being washed in the blood of Christ which "cleanseth from all sin." 992 It is our Lord Jesus Christ alone who can present to himself his church (that is, the assembly of his redeemed people) glorious and pure, "not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish."3

After such manifestations of God's judgments as we read in this chapter, and after having heard the confessions of the magicians themselves, it might have been expected that the heart of Pharaoh would be humbled and softened. But no; it was the will of God to permit us to see in this man's character to what a length the pride and hardness of man's heart may go. And Pharaoh hardened his heart still, or rather, we are told, "the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh." Until this time we have been repeatedly told that it 2 1 John i. 7. 3 Eph. v. 27.

1 Rev. vi. 16.