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Almighty, for we read in the 27th verse, that for the first time Pharaoh acknowledged, "I have sinned; the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked." We have thus seen this proud monarch humbled, step by step; contesting, if we may so express it, every inch of ground with the Omnipotent, and always obliged to recede, baffled and subdued; first, driven to recognise God's power; then to deprecate his wrath; next to yield a constrained and half obedience to his commands; and now to acknowledge his own utter inferiority, by confessing himself a sinner. Pharaoh's confession, however, like the repentance of Judas, was only another step in the broad. path which leadeth to destruction; as the transient "sorrow of the world," of which the apostle says, "Godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death." Let us learn from it this awful and improving truth, which may well accompany the encouraging lesson which has been drawn from the same incident, that we may humble ourselves before God, and yet never be reconciled to him, for so did Ahab; we may confess our sins, and yet never repent and forsake them, for so did Judas; we may be the subject of God's chastening, but not the subject of his love, and the object of the prayers of his people, and even preserved by them from immediate destruction, for so was Pharaoh; and yet never advance one step the nearer to God, or possess one Scripture hope that we shall be numbered among the heirs of salvation. All these things, if unaccompanied by a renewed and converted heart, a changed and holy

life, the fruits of a union with the Lord Jesus Christ, daily applications to his cleansing blood and sanctifying Spirit, are, as regards the coming eternity, vain, worthless, profitless; and though, as in the case of Pharaoh, they may be permitted to purchase a temporary alleviation of temporary sufferings, they will be followed only by ruin the most fatal, and destruction the most overwhelming and complete.

EXPOSITION XXVI.

EXODUS X. 1—11.

1. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him:

2. And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the Lord.

3. And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.

4. Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to-morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast:

5. And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field:

6. And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon

the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh.

7. And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?

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8. And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the Lord your God: but who are they that shall go?

9. And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds, will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the Lord.

10. And he said unto them, Let the Lord be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before

you.

11. Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.

However it may have been left doubtful, in some of the former portions of Scripture that we have read, whether the Almighty was actually interfering, in a positive manner, to harden the heart of Pharaoh, or only negatively, by withholding the softening influences of his grace; on the present occasion, and after what we have just read, it can no longer admit of a question. We are distinctly told, by God himself, "I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him." Plainly, then, is it marked, that there is a period when the rebellion and obduracy of man call down the condign vengeance of God; and fearful is the reflection to every individual, who is living without God in the world, that this may be at any point of a long career of hardening guilt, although as little known, or suspected by the object of it, as in this in

stance by Pharaoh. It was well said by one of old, "It is written over heaven's portal, "To him who knocks, it shall be opened." But it is written upon no impenitent sinner's forehead, This man, whensoever he pleases, shall have grace to knock." "For if we sin wilfully," says the apostle, "after that we have received the knowledge of the truth;" not, indeed, in the love of it, but received it, as Pharaoh evidently received it, when leaving his infidelity, he not only acknowledged the power of God, but deprecated his wrath, and even confessed himself to be a sinner, although he went no farther. "If we sin wilfully;" continue in a course of habitual, premeditated sin; "After that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries."

Pharaoh had been, in every previous instance of coming judgment, content to humble himself, at least for the moment, before Moses and Aaron, and hypocritically to promise every thing, although he intended to perform nothing. But he now dispenses even with the flimsy veil, in which vice so often disguises herself, out of respect for virtue. He no longer condescends to play the hypocrite, but affecting to have misunderstood their original request, he drives them out of his presence with contempt and derision.

There could not have been a more certain proof of the additional hardening of Pharaoh's heart than this. He who has brought himself to contemn the message, will, as a following consequence, ere long,

hate the messenger: he who despises the king, will not long honour the ambassador. There cannot be a more alarming proof of a fatal hardness of heart, than a habit of ridiculing or despising God's ministers. In these days, when that false and dangerous proposition, that "Ridicule is the test of truth," appears again to possess, to a certain extent, a practical influence, it is most important to caution all, but especially the young, against its destructive fallacy: to teach them to treat God's word, God's messengers, and, whatever be their peculiarities, God's people, with respect; being assured that a contrary line of conduct will tend, almost more than any thing else, to close their ears to his offers of mercy, to harden their hearts against his rebukes, and, in the end, to place a fearful gulf between them and the presence of his glory.

EXPOSITION XXVII.

CHAP. X. 12-29.

12. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left.

13. And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.

14. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before

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