they did as the Lord had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

11. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

12. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.

13. And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.

In all instances where it has pleased the Almighty to vouchsafe any new directions, and to deliver new truths to his people, he has seen fit to accompany them with miraculous power, that his messengers might be able to appeal to it as our Lord did, when he said, "If ye believe not me, believe the works." So it was in the case of Moses, and upon this first visit of the prophet to the monarch, after his refusal to accede to his request, he is told (as it were) to spread before Pharaoh his credentials, in the shape of the miraculous transformation of his rod into a serpent. But, alas! for Pharaoh, such power had the evil spirit over him and his people, that "the magicians of Egypt did in like manner with their enchantments," and consequently his heart was hardened, and "he hearkened not unto Moses, as the Lord had said." In fact, he saw

nothing wonderful, nothing convincing, in what could be so easily imitated.

How often is this

the case, even at the present day, that many of the wonderful effects of the great power of God, and his religion, more especially its comforts and consolations, are so cunningly counterfeited by Satan and the world, that the poor deluded soul rejects the only real comforter, mistakes the empty, heartless joys produced by the enchantments of these deluders, for that peace which the world can never give, and throws itself into the arms of the destroyer. There for a time satisfied with his vanishing pleasures, and transitory and worthless consolations, it never discovers the cheat, until, perhaps, the day for grace and mercy has passed away, and the day of the vengeance of the Lord is at hand.

EXPOSITION XVIII.

CHAP. vii. 14-25.

14. And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.

15. Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the

river's brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.

16. And thou shalt say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto, thou wouldest not hear.

17. Thus saith the Lord, In this thou shalt know that. I am the Lord: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.

18. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the water of the river.

19. And the Lord spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.

20. And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

21. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank; and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

· 22. And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the Lord had said.

23. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to this also.

24. And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.

25. And seven days were fulfilled, after that the Lord had smitten the river.

In the last verse of the preceding portion, where our translation renders it, "And he hardened Pharaoh's heart;" in the original, it is simply, "And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened," leaving it doubtful whether this was done by himself, or by any positive act of divine power; while the word translated "hardened " in the first of the verses we have just read, is quite a different expression from the former, and means "stupid," "heavy," "insensible." We mention this, since it probably is intended to describe rather the process which Pharaoh, by hardening his own heart, was adopting, to render himself obnoxious to the judgments of the Almighty, and which, as we have before observed, God had so plainly predicted, than that latter state of resolute and determined rebellion, when the Almighty interfered, and positively by his divine power hardened the heart which had long closed itself voluntarily against the softening influences of his grace.

But we pass from this as a matter more of probability than of certainty, to the consideration of the first of those ten fearful judgments by which God made manifest his name JEHOVAH, to the nations of the earth, "with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments."

The first, then, of these ten plagues, was, as we have just read, the turning of the waters of "the rivers," i. e., of the Nile, into blood. Not that it was to be confined to this single stream, although it is spoken of as the first and chiefest object of the curse, but it was to extend to all the streams and ponds and pools, and even to the very water in the vessels of wood and stone in their houses, in fact, to everything except the wells, to which the commission of Moses does not appear to reach. Indeed, had it done so, in such a climate, and for such a length of time as is here spoken of, viz., seven days, human life must have become extinct.

There seems something particularly appropriate in this first manifestation of the divine power making itself conspicuous upon the great deity of the Egyptians. Probably there was nothing in the whole land of Egypt which they regarded with so much veneration and gratitude, and respect and reverence, as the "Sacred Nile; " for even to this very day, so travellers tell us, mothers