hrases, such as
that all are wicked; just as Pharaoh, although he would have scoffed at
the notion of any national volition except his own, said, "I and my
people are sinners." Above all, they are much more anxious for the
removal of the rod than for the cleansing of the guilt; and if this can
be accomplished through the mediation of another, they have as little
desire as Pharaoh had for any personal approach to God, Whom they fear,
and if possible repel.

And by these signs, every experienced observer expects that if they are
delivered out of trouble they will forget their vows.

Moses was exceedingly meek. And therefore, or else because the message
of God implied that other plagues were to succeed this, he consented to
intercede, yet adding the simple and dignified protest, "As for thee and
thy people, I know that ye will not yet fear Jehovah God."[17] And so it
came to pass. The heart of Pharaoh was made heavy, and he would not let
Israel go.

Looking back upon this miracle, we are reminded of the mighty part which
atmospheric changes have played in the history of the world. Snowstorms
saved Europe from the Turk and from Napoleon: the wind played almost as
important a part in our liberation from James, and again in the defeat
of the plans of the French Revolution to invade us, as in the
destruction of the Armada. And so we read, "Hast thou entered the
treasuries of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail,
which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of
battle and war?" (Job xxxviii. 22-3).

FOOTNOTES:

[16] The passage in Deuteronomy had not this event specially in mind, or
it would have used the same term for a furnace. The word for ashes
implies what can be blown upon the wind.

[17] Except in one passage (Gen. ii. 4 to iii. 23) these titles of Deity
are nowhere else combined in the books of Moses.

CHAPTER X.

_THE EIGHTH PLAGUE._

x. 1-20.

The Lord would not command His servant again to enter the dangerous
presence of the sullen prince, without a reason which would sustain his
faith: "For I have made heavy his heart." The pronoun is emphatic: it
means to say, 'His foolhardiness is My doing and cannot go beyond My
will: thou art safe.' And the same encouragement belongs to all who do
the sacred will: not a hair of their head shall truly perish, since life
and death are the servants of their God. Thus, in the storm of human
passion, as of the winds, He s