rebels, that they could not get free from them, either by bathing, or anointing themfelves with oil. Even at this day, it is faid, the remains of thofe vermin are found, which the people of the country call Pharaoh's lice. They are a round infect, of a greyifh brown colour; fhining, and of the fize of a nut; they are greedy of blood, and their bite is intolerable, in a fhort time extenuating both men and beasts. We may eafily conceive, that they in nowife resemble thofe animals that are engendered by reafon of uncleanliness; we cannot but fuppofe, that thofe of Egypt were raised up by the hand that governs nature. Let us examine more particularly, the circumstances of this prodigy. I. Aaron was ordered to ftretch forth his rod, in order to perform it. Is it to be fuppofed, that he wrought this miracle, folely by the virtue of his rod? 2. Aaron ftruck the duft of the earth, and transformed it into lice. It is a fact, now well-known to every naturalift, that duft is incapable of producing any living thing. Not only is it incapable of producing infects, but it is hurtful to them. We fee quadrupeds and birds roll themselves in the dust, in order to get quit of the vermin that prey on them. 3. It is remarkable, that in all the land of Egypt, the duft fuffered this change, at the moment that Aaron executed his orders. Now, though the multiplication of vermin is at all times rapid, yet, that they fhould extend over the whole country of a large kingdom, that they fhould attack all the inhabitants, from the king to the meaneft of his fubjects, and that they fhould not fpare even animals of every kind, is a circumftance, quite beyond the ordinary operations of nature. 4. If, as David fays, the whole country fwarmed with thefe infects, does it not appear aftonishing, that the neighbouring regions fhould be free from them? 5. The magicians themselves confeffed the impotence of their art, and acknowledged the power of that Mafter who controled

controled them. God might have chaftifed Egypt, by abandoning it to the voracity of lions, tygers, wolves, and other wild beafts; but he chose to avenge himself by the vileft of animals; he chole that the Egyptians, who proftrated themfelves before altars dedicated to infects, fhould fall under the fcourge of their own contemptible idols; he chofe to confound the artifices of Satan, deftroy his works, and teach Pharaoh, by the mouths of his own magicians, that there is nothing in the universe, that can withstand his almighty power.

The fourth plague of Egypt differs from the third, only in this, that inftead of one infect, there were various kinds. It is faid in Exob. viii. 20. "And the Lord faid unto Mofes, rife up early in the morning and ftand before Pharaoh, (lo, he cometh forth to the water,) and fay unto him, Thus faith the Lord, let my people go, that they may ferve me; elfe, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will fend fwarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy fervants, and upon thy people, and into thy houfes; and the houfes of the Egyptians fhall be full of fwarms of flies, and alfo the ground whereon they are. And I will fever in that day, the land of Gothen, in which my people dwell, that no fwarms of flies fhall be there; to the end that thou mayft know, that I am the Lord in the midt of the earth. And I will put a divifion between my people and thy people; tomorrow fhall this fign be. And the Lord did fo: and there came a grievous fwarm of flies into the houfe of Pharaoh, and into his fervants houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reafon of the fwarm of flies. And Pharaoh called for Mofes and for Aaron, and faid, Go ye, facrifice to your God in the land. And Mofes faid, it is not meet fo to do; for we fhall facrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God;

Lo,

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Lo, fhall we facrifice the abomination of the Egyp tians before their eyes, and will they not ftone us? We will go three days journey into the wilderneís, and facrifice to the Lord our God, as he fhall command us. And Pharaoh faid, I will let you go, that ye may facrifice to the Lord your God in the wildernefs; only you fhall not go very far away; intreat for me. And Mofes faid, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will entreat the Lord, that the fwarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his fervants, and from his people to-morrow; but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more, in not letting the people go, to facrifice to the Lord. And Mofes went out from Pharaoh and entreated the Lord. And the Lord did according to the word of Mofes; and he removed the fwarm of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained not one." David alfo certifies this event, in these words of PSALM lxxviii. 46. "He gave alfo their increase unto the caterpillar,and their labour unto the locuft." Jofephus confirms the fame truth, and fays, that God fent upon the Egyptians, a number of different infects, the like of which, no body before had feen, and that the whole country was filled with them. This calamity has all the characters of a miracle. 1. Mofes is informed, the evening before, of the time and place where he would find Pharaoh to fpeak to him, which fhews the prefcience of the Deity. 2. The punishment exactly followed the threat; every thing was overfpread with infects, except the land of Gofhen, which marks the abfolute power which God exercises over the earth. 3. The next day, Mofes delivered Egypt from this plague; an evident fign of the almighty power of God. 4. The infects were brought in the fpace of one night, to a place, in which they are not fpontaneously generated, except by degrees. Their eggs must have a certain time before they are hatched, and the caterpillars

undergo

undergo different changes, at different intervals, and lye for many days in the state of a nymph, before they can become perfect flies. This fhews, that Nature was no way concerned in the working of this miracle. 5. To create millions of infects, and to deftroy them, almost as foon as they were created, certainly could not be the work of men, but of that Being, in whom refides the power of annihilating the bodies, which he alone can bring into existence.

Locufts were the eighth plague which afflicted Egypt. We fhall relate it at length from the tenth Chapter of Exodus. "And the Lord faid unto Mofes, go into Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his fervants; that I might fhew these my figns before him: And that thou mayst tell in the ears of thy fon, and of thy fons fon, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my figns which I have done amongst them; that you may know that I am the Lord. And Mofes and Aaron came in, unto Pharaoh, and faid unto him, Thus faith the Lord God of the Hebrews, how long wilt thou refufe to humble thy felf before me? Let my people go that they may ferve me. Elfe if thou refufe to let my people go, behold to morrow will I bring the locufts into thy coaft. And they fhall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to fee the earth, and they fhall eat the refidue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and fhall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field. And they fhall fill thy houfes, and the houses of all thy fervants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, which neither thy father, nor thy father's father have feen, fince the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himfelf, and went out from Pharaoh. And Pharaoh's fervants faid unto him, how long fhall this man be a fnare unto us? Let the men go, that they may ferve

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the Lord their God: knoweft thou not yet that Eygpt is destroyed? And Mofes and Aaron were brought again unto Pharoah: and he faid unto them, go, ferve the Lord your God, but who are they that shall go? And Mofes faid, We will go with our young, and with our old, with our fons, and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the Lord. And he said unto them, Let the Lord be fo with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it, for evil is before you. Not fo, go now ye that are men, and ferve the Lord, for that you did defire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's prefence. And the Lord faid unto Mofes, ftretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locufts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left. And Mofes ftretched 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 locufts, and the locufts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coafts of Egypt, very grie vous were they, before them, there were no fuch locufts, as they neither after them will be fuch, for they covered the face of the whole earth, fo that the land was darkened, and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees, which they had left and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the fields through all the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh called Mofes and Aaron in hafte, and he said I have finned against the Lord your God, and againft you; now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my fin only this once, and intreat the Lord your God, that he may take away from me this death only. And he went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the Lord, and the Lord turhed a mighty ftrong weft wind which took away the

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