When Moses entered upon his arduous commission, Jehovah told him, that the king of Egypt would refuse to let his people go. The words of our text contain a reference to this circumstance. When Pharaoh saw there was respite, he hearkened not to them, as the Lord had said. It may be laid down as a general principle, that nothing can be certainly foretold that is not perfectly foreknown. It seems scarcely conceivable, that a doubt can arise concerning this principle or maxim. But I affirm, that the omniscience and unchangeableness of God do not destroy, or in any degree lessen, the freedom and accountableness of man. It may be sometimes difficult for us to reconcile these things; but they must be cheerfully admitted on the single ground of the divine testimony. And when we touch on a subject which has produced so much angry feeling and bitter controversy, this ground is to be preferred to every other. Here, the philosophy of the schools has, during many ages, laboured hard and yet effected nothing. Without clearing away one cloud from the doctrine, it has raised dust enough of its own to blind and bewilder many an anxious inquirer. Who can plunge into metaphysical abstractions, without some danger of being lost in the dark abyss? Let, us then, keep close to our infallible guide, the sacred Scriptures. It is plain in the Bible, that all things past, present, and future, are at once before the eyes of the infinite and eternal God; and yet the actions of the worst men are entirely voluntary and unconstrained, and therefore they must answer for them at the bar of future judgment. The Lord meant to give a bright display of his own adorable perfections, by permitting the despotic king of Egypt to run such lengths in sin and presumption. For the Scripture saith to Pharaoh, "Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth," Rom. ix. 17. But the tyrant himself thought of nothing but the gratification of his pride and passion. How near was he to perdition, when he arrogantly said, "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them!" So the Jews took the Lord Jesus, and with wicked hands put him to death; while it is expressly declared, that this was done according to the determinate council and foreknowledge of God. They had no thought of accomplishing the purpose of Jehovah; but were solely actuated by envy, hatred, and malice, and therefore deserved to reap the fruit of their own doings. How dread One very solemn reflection rises out of this subject. ful a state is it, for men to be left to the hardness of their own hearts! I can conceive of no condition in this world, more forlorn and wretched, than to be totally left of God! Ah! what avails wealth and honour, to persons so abandoned? Opulence is but a specious gilding of their woe. Deaf to warning, and insensible of danger, the corrupt and evil passions of nature hurry them onward in the road to everlasting ruin! Such was the condition of the antediluvians, or people who lived before the general flood. God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Yet the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, and gave frequent and solemn warning. But divine forbearance had its limit; and he that said, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man," after the lapse of one hundred and twenty years, carried his awful threatening into execution. How strange was the infatuation, how brutish the stupidity, of the people! Though wrath hung over them in a gathering storm, neither secular business, nor luxurious pleasure, was suspended. They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the deluge came and swept them all away! The privi Such, too, was the condition of the ancient Israelites. leges bestowed upon them were of the highest order, and of the greatest value. They had divine ordinances, and prophets raised up to admonish and instruct them. Jehovah wrought extraordinary deliverances for them, and distinguished them by a profusion of his peculiar favours; but they made returns of base ingratitude, and rushed headlong into the vilest abominations. "I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people would not hearken to So I gave them up my voice; and Israel would none of me. unto their own heart's lust; and they walked in their own counsels. Oh, that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone," Ps. viii. 10. Hos. iv. 17. What can be conceived more dreadful, than for men to follow a course of crime and sin, till they are abandoned to judicial blindness and stupidity? Those Jews who had stoned the prophets sent to them, at last filled up the measure of their iniquity by rejecting and condemning the Son of God: "When he drew near to Jerusalem, he beheld the city, and wept over it; saying, Oh, that thou hadst known, even in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace: but now are they hid from thine eyes!" This is also the unhappy condition of many who have lived under the bright and blessed dispensation of the gospel of Christ. Some are warped into the dark mazes of infidelity: others, while they own the truth of revelation, act in opposition to its dictates, till the approach of death closes them round with despondency. Several such cases I have known, and others could be readily adduced. One instance shall be here given :-The Rev. James Hervey was called to visit on his death-bed, one who had been a man of gaiety and pleasure ;-he bitterly bewailed his folly, and exclaimed, "Oh, if the righteous Judge would try me again ;-if he would but reprieve me, and spare me a little longer; in what a spirit would I spend the remainder of my days!-I would know no other business, aim at no other end, than perfecting myself in holiness: whatever contributed to that, every means of grace, every opportunity of spiritual improvement, should be dearer to me than thousands of gold and silver. But, alas! why do I amuse myself with fond imaginations? The best resolutions are now insignificant, because they are too late. The day in which I should have worked is over and gone; and I see a sad, horrible night approaching, bringing with it the blackness of darkness for ever. Woe is me! When God heretofore called, I refused; when he invited, I was one of them that made excuse now, therefore, I receive the reward of my deeds; fearfulness and trembling are come upon me. I smart, and am in sore anguish already; and yet this is but the beginning of sorrows. It doth not appear what I shall be; but, sure, I shall be ruined, undone, and destroyed with an everlasting destruction!" Do you now ask, what are the signs by which it may be known, that any man is given up to hardness of heart? It is certainly a serious and spirit-stirring inquiry. If there are any such black marks, we should know them, and tremble at the appearance of them, as a man shudders who sees the spots of a plague, in his house, or on his person. 1. It is a dark sign that the heart is desperately hardened, when men sin on knowingly and deliberately. A crime is deeply aggravated, which is committed with the full consent of the will, in defiance of the clearest dictates of the understanding and the conscience. Pharaoh at first was ignorant, but after his magicians had been so confounded, that they could not stand before the miracles of Moses, he was chargeable with invincible prejudice and presumption. It is an awful thing for any one to transgress the Divine commands, and oppose the King of heaven, with his eyes open. Are there not some of you, who habitually curse and swear, and lie, and profane the Sabbath? It cannot be in ignorance that you do these things. God in his word has expressly forbidden them and you know when in the very act of sinning, as well as any one knows when he intentionally insults a fellow-creature. Do not others among you live in : drunkenness and lewdness; and go deliberately to seek your unlawful gratifications, even when the threatenings of the Almighty are ringing in the ear of conscience? And when other means fail to supply your lusts and passions with their customary indulgence, have you not recourse to fraud and dishonesty? Such conduct is determined resistance to light and truth, systematic rebellion against the glorious Majesty of heaven and earth! 2. It is a dark sign that the heart is desperately hardened, when men hate and shun those who faithfully warn and reprove them, and affectionately labour to reclaim them. The king of Egypt grew refractory and resentful, when the servants of the true God carried message after message to him, and by their continual importunity disturbed his repose. At last his anger broke out into rage and violence, and he said to Moses, "Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in the day thou seest my face, thou shalt die." Is there to be no cessation to the trouble you give me? must I and my court be wearied and tormented to death by such daring intruders? I will bear it no longer; but rid myself of future plagues, by destroying the authors of them. So we find wicked Ahab saying of Micaiah, "I hate him, for he never prophesieth good of me, but always evil." Bad men wish to be soothed and flattered, rather than searched and tried. Are there none here who dislike and shun those who have zealously and faithfully laboured to instruct and admonish them ;—who shew a decided preference for doctrine which leaves out every thing pointed and practical? Does not the man become your enemy, who fearlessly yet feelingly tells you the truth? Is not your patience exhausted and worn out, by reiterated appeals to the conscience? Ah, if you cannot bear the light of counsel and reproof, it is because your deeds are evil. 3. It is a dark sign that the heart is desperately hardened, when the very intervals and opportunities which mercy gives for repentance, are perverted to the purpose of adding sin to sin. Pharaoh entreated the prayers of Moses; but it was only while the thick darkness wrapt him in its gloomy shades; or while the thunder rolled, the lightning flashed, and the hail descended. No sooner did the sun reappear, and the tempest cease, than he changed his tone and temper. Are there not some of you, who have been brought under the scourge of God's afflicting hand? How was it with you then? Laid on a bed of sickness, you were surrounded by a fearful gloom, a darkness which was felt as an intolerable oppression to the mind. The threatenings of the word thundered in your ears, and the lightnings of wrath blazed before your eyes. But your malady departed, and with it your convictions and fears. How ungratefully have you abused the tender patience and long-suffering of God! Remember, it is written, "He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall be suddenly destroyed, and that without remedy." "To The examples of those who have perished as the victims of presumption, are set up as beacons to warn others. "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." Beware that you do not trifle with sacred things. The Holy Ghost saith to you, day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Count not on that future time which may never be granted to you. Venture not into the perilous paths of temptation. Renounce the world and its vanities; resist the devil and his assaults. "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." My object in this discourse has not been to distress any tender and serious mind, conscious of innate depravity, and struggling against it; but to arouse the carnally secure, and admonish the careless. It is possible, indeed, that pain and uneasiness may have been excited where there was no intention to excite them. This, however, I will say for the encouragement of such persons, that the very fear of being left to hardness of heart is itself a preservative from it. Contrition, humility, vigilance, and devotion, are always seasonable and always necessary. "Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; but to this man will I look, even to him who is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." We are commanded to watch and pray, lest we enter into temptation. No proficiency in knowledge, holiness, and comfort, can supersede the necessity of this precept. We are in an enemy's country; our path is full of snares and perils; mischief lurks under a thousand fair and fascinating forms: our resources are in Immanuel, the Lord of life and glory. At every stage of our pilgrimage, we may say, "Without are fightings, within are fears." Yet our case is not singular; it is the common lot of God's people. Patriarchs and prophets, evangelists and apostles, confessors and martyrs, are held up to view as examples for imitation. cowardice is treason to the interests of the immortal soul: "Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith; who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising Sloth or |