justice, permit sin at all: he must impose an irresistible restraint on all, and cease to deal with us as persons in a state of probation.
Again, it was righteous in God to suffer such a concurrence of circumstances as should give scope for the exercise of his cor- ruptions. God is no more bound to destroy man's free agency by his providence, than he is by his grace. Was it unrighteous in him to let Cain have an opportunity of executing his mur- derous project against his brother Abel ? or has he been unjust, as often as he has permitted others to accomplish their wicked purposes ? Doubtless he has interposed, by his providence, to prevent the execution of many evils that have been conceived in our minds f: but he is not bound to do so for any one ; nor could he do it universally, without changing the nature of his government, and the whole course of the world.
Moreover, it was righteous to give Satan liberty to exert his influence over Pharaoh. Pharaoh chose to believe the agents of Satan rather than the servants of the Most High God ; and to obey their counsels rather than his. Why then should God continue to restrain Satan, when Pharaoh desired nothing so much as to yield to his temptations ? When Ahab sent for all his lying prophets to counsel him and to foster his delusions, God permitted " Satan to be a lying spirit in the mouth of all those prophets," that they might all concur in the same fatal advice6. Was this unjust? Was it not agreeable to Ahab's own wish; and was not the contrary counsel of the Lord's prophet rejected by him with disdain? Pharaoh wished to be deceived; and God permitted it to be according to his own heart's desire.
On the whole then, if men are to be left to their own free agency, instead of being dealt with as mere machines; and if God have ordered the general course of his providence agree- ably to this rule, resisting the proud while he gives grace to the humble; then was he fully justified in suffering this impious monarch to harden his already proud and obdurate heart11.]
2. It was merciful, as it respected the universe at large —
[We form erroneous conceptions of the divine government, because we view it on too contracted a scale. God, in his deal- ings with mankind, consults, not the benefit of an individual merely, but the good of the whole. Now this conduct towards Pharaoh was calculated exceedingly to promote the welfare of all succeeding generations. It has given us lessons of instruc- tion that are of the greatest value.
It has shewn us the extreme depravity of the human heart. Who would have conceived that a man, warned as Pharaoh was
f Hos. ii. 6. s 1 Kings xxii. 21 — 23.
h Compare Deut. ii. 30. and Josh. xi. 20.
70. j GOD HARDENING PHARAOH'S HEART. 351
by so many tremendous plagues, should continue, to the last, to set himself against the God of heaven and earth ? But in him we see what men will do, when their pride, their passions, and their interests have gained an ascendant over them : they will defy God to his face ; and, if softened for a moment by the severity of his judgments, they will soon, like metal from the furnace, return to their wonted hardness.
It has shewn us our need of divine grace. Widely as men differ from each other in their constitutional frame both of body and mind, they all agree in this, that " they have a carnal mind, which is enmity against God ; and which neither is, nor can be, subject to his law1." We may all see in Pharaoh a striking portrait of ourselves : and if one be enabled to mortify the evils of his heart, whilst others continue in bondage to their lusts, he must say, " By the grace of God I am what I am." If we have no more grace than Pharaoh in our hearts, we shall have no more holiness in our lives.