should not be burnt; and many other declarations of the same kind, in Jeremiah particularly. The remaining expressions concerning Pharaoh need not be particularized; because, if the above observations are founded on right principles, they will apply to the whole conduct of that obstinate though vacillating prince, as described by the same historian, Exod. ix. 34. "And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, and the hail, and the thunderings were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened; neither would he let the children of Israel go." The same obstinacy returned on the prince and his people 18, when they saw the prey escaped from their fangs, and rendered them blind to the gulf before them, into which they desperately plunged. Which vicious temper, the phrases of the same kind used in the latter part of the story, no more than in the former, prove the Deity to have caused. Reason and religion both revolt at the thought of charging him with it: "Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil; neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed ". "

18 The king and the Egyptians seem to have changed their minds of their own will, Exod. xiv. 5, 6.; the hardening clearly refers, ver. 3, 4, to their blindness to the consequences, ver. 8, 9. 17.

19 James i. 13, 14.

The same expression is afterwards used respecting Sihon, king of the Amorites; for which there seems to have been no other reason, than that it was their ordinary method of speaking in all great events, where the Lord had particularly favoured their nation. For his case does not differ from that of all the other nations whom the Jews subdued, except in having first the request made to him that he would let the Israelites pass through his country. This he refused to do, and came out against them to battle; in which the Lord gave the Israelites a decided victory and the possession of his land by right of conquest: but the transfer was not intended if he had not attacked them. As the alternative was offered him, it was of course supposed that he might close with the offer, and his refusal is expressed as the determination of his own will, Sihon would not less us pass by him.» The event however being taken into God's hand and disposed by him, the historian speaks of that which was contingently determined by him, as if the obstinacy itself, which turned upon the actor, were as much the impression of the Deity as the mischief with which he was punished. Of the other nations it is said, Jos. xi. 20. "For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts," and yet the Gibeonites separated themselves from the rest and were not hardened neither was Rahab. The Philistines

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say, 1 Sam. vi. 6. "Wherefore then do ye

harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?" In short, as in all other cases, the controlling providence of God is not distinguished from his positive operation. The apparent objection, as if the determination to destroy Sihon were communicated to Moses before the proposal was made to him to let the Israelites pass through, is of no weight. Deut. ii. 26. The Hebrew language having but one form for all the modifications of past time, that verse may with equal propriety be rendered, as indeed the consistency of the narrative requires, "For I had sent messengers

out of the wilderness unto Sihon with words of peace."

The form of expression which we have been considering, is not more remote from our own than many other idioms of Oriental languages, which might be mentioned. It is indeed a mode of speaking very far from unnatural to those, who are impressed with awful notions of God's care of all his creatures; his especial providence over-ruling every event; and his attention to the prayers of his faithful servants. But to suppose that he should, in any respect, directly or indirectly, be the efficient cause of sin in any of his creatures, or drive them on to their destruction, while he was professing to pardon them, if they would desist from their

evil ways, is so inconsistent a conduct, that the least thought of it cannot be for a moment entertained by a mind, which will take into its consideration the general tenor of Scripture in the interpretation of it; instead of tenaciously adhering to the letter of those passages, in opposition to the grand scheme of the whole. Yet those passages seem sometimes to be explained, as if they attributed a kind of indirect causality to the Almighty, as if he took advantage of his superior knowledge and power, and purposely enticed his creatures into situations, in which he knew they would commit the crimes for which he meant to punish them. On the contrary, nothing can more recommend the Scriptures to the study of inquiring unbelievers, than to shew, that it countenances no notions of the Supreme Governor of all, which must shock the ideas which moral men entertain of rectitude and good faith: nor does any thing conduce to give more confidence in the ultimate award of the Great Judge, than the persuasion that he pursues one uniform rule of mercy, justice, and truth, without deviating into the obliquities of human policy, the intemperance of human vengeance, or the partiality of human affection.

CHAPTER II.

Connection of Prophecy with the event.-Masora.Hardening the hearts of the people.-Sufferings of Christ.

THE next passage which we shall consider, has occasioned similar perplexity to that, which we have endeavoured to unravel in the expressions used in the story of Pharaoh. The quotations of it in the New Testament have added to the difficulty by the apparent assertion, that the events were brought to pass in order to fulfil the prophecy. Let us first take the passage itself as it lies in our translation of Isaiah, and then pursue it as quoted by the Evangelist'. Isaiah vi. 9, 10. The Lord says to Isaiah, "Go and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." In this there is no intimation that God was the cause of their stupidity and inattention; nor is there any power or command given to the prophet to occasion it, but an indignant permission, literally agreeing with the

1 See the discussion of this passage by Whitby, Five Points, p. 11-20.