The Israelites, under the protection of the Almighty, were uninjured. Again, in his consternation and despair, Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. "I have sinned this time," said he; "Jehovah is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Entreat Jehovah, (for it is enough,) that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer." The reply of Moses, who doubtless in this instance, and in the other similar ones, had been instructed by the Almighty what to do, was in these words: "As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto Jehovah; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know that the earth is Jehovah's. But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear Jehovah, who is God." Moses went out of the city, fearless and unhurt, amid the storm that was raging around him, and, spreading out his hands towards heaven, besought the Lord in behalf of Pharaoh and his people. His prayer received an immediate answer. The thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth." ९९ But wonderful infatuation in sin! As soon as the king saw that the judgment was removed, " he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants, neither would he let the children of Israel go." The divine message was to be repeated, and new tokens of the vengeance of God to appear in the presence of Pharaoh and his people. One reason assigned for this is, that the Israelites might rehearse to their children, and they to theirs, and so on to the latest posterity, the wonders which God had wrought in Egypt, and the signs which he had done among them, that they might know that he was Jehovah. In obedience to the divine injunction, "Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, "Thus saith Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to-morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast. 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. And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy ser vants, 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." After uttering this threatening, Moses immediately left the presence of Pharaoh. The principal men who were about him, his nobles and counsellors, then said to the king, in great apprehension of what might yet come upon them, "How long shall this man be a snare unto us?" That is, how long shall Moses, in what he does, prove the cause of leading us into fresh calamities? "Let the men go, that they may serve Jehovah their God: knowest thou not yet, that Egypt is destroyed?" Hast thou not yet been made fully acquainted with the calamities experienced, especially the ravages of the late hail-storm, that it has spread desolation and ruin throughout the land? Pharaoh appeared to yield to their solicitations, and Moses and Aaron were brought before him. "And he said unto them, Go, serve Jehovah your God: but who are they that shall go ?" "We will go," answered Moses, "with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will wego; for we must hold a feast unto Jehovah." The reply of Pharaoh was mingled with derision and a keen irony. "Let Jehovah be so with you, as I will let you go." May you have as much of the blessing of God in your projected enterprise, as you will obtain of my consent to engage in it,which you will find me far enough from being willing to give. Look well to what you are endeavoring to do. "For evil is before you." You are forım ing some bad design, and the consequences shall be fraught with evil to your whole people. You wish to take your women and children with you. But it shall not be so. These must be left behind as hostages, that I may be sure of your returning again. "Go now, ye that are men, and serve the Lord; for that ye did desire; "-that must have been the true meaning of your request, when you asked for permission to sacrifice unto Jehovah. Moses and Aaron could not consent to such a proposal, "and they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence," probably with great indignation and rage on his part. As God had threatened, the new and fearful judgment came. "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. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt." When we consider what Pharaoh and his people Moses. 8 + had already suffered, in the various plagues that were inflicted upon them, this additional one must have been terrible indeed. It seemed to fill up the measure of their calamity. The dearth and desolation were now complete. We may be aided in forming some conceptions of what they endured, (though, after all, such conceptions must be faint and imperfect,) by attending, for a moment, to an account of these insects, as given by a traveller, about two hundred years since. He was in the Canary islands; and the locusts were brought thither, by a strong wind, from off the coast of Barbary. "I cannot better represent their flight to you," says the author, "than by comparing it to the flakes of snow in cloudy weather, driven about by the wind; and when they alight upon the ground to feed, the plains are all covered, and they make a murmuring noise as they eat, and in less than two hours they devour all close to the ground; then rising, they suffer themselves to be carried away by the wind; and when they fly, though the sun shines ever so bright, it is no lighter than when most clouded. The air was so full of them, that I could not eat in my chamber without a candle; all the houses being full of them, even the stables, barns, chambers, garrets, and cellars. I caused cannon-powder and sulphur to be burnt to expel them, but all to no purpose; for when the door was opened an infinite number came in, and the others went out, |