Reader! in the awful character of Pharaoh, behold the dreadful history of every hardened transgressor; for in all instances, more or less, it is the same. The afflictions which tend not by divine grace to soften the heart, will tend without grace to harden. And the man that is not made better by corrections, like Pharaoh is made worse! Well may we cry out in that prayer of the church; "From hardness of heart and contempt of thy word and commandment, good Lord, deliver us!
REFLECTIONS
My soul; I charge it upon you as you value the divine favour, pause over this chapter, and take a careful survey of the Lord's sovereignty, in his justice toward his enemies, and his grace and mercy toward his people. And while a deep sense of sin impresseth the mind with a conviction, that all the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not, ariseth out of divine grace, not human merit; oh! that such views of heavenly mercy may serve to endear God in his covenant relationship to the heart; and direct the soul into the participation and enjoyment of the Father's love, the Redeemer's grace, and the Spirit's unremitting mercy.
Learn, my soul, the vast and infinite importance of having thy God and Saviour for thy friend at all times, and upon all occasions. If such small and inconsiderable instruments as frogs, flies, and vermin, may become so formidable to distress, when commissioned by the divine power; how needful is it to live always under the smiles of his favour, who alone can make thy blessings to become blessings indeed; or can at a moment convert thy very food into poison. If God be for us who can be against us. If he be our enemy it matters not who is our friend. Dearest and ever-blessed Jesus! thou who art the peace of thy people, be thou at peace with me, and then all thy creatures will be at peace with me also. For thou hast said, on that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.