So it was
with Pharaoh of old. All God's pleading with him by the message of
Moses and Aaron, by the mighty plagues which God sent on Egypt, only
hardened Pharaoh's heart. The Lord God spoke to him, and his message
only lashed Pharaoh's proud and wicked will into greater fury and
rebellion, as a vicious horse becomes the more unmanageable the more
you punish it. Therefore, it is said plainly in scripture, that THE
LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart; not as some fancy, that the Lord's
will was to make Pharaoh hard-hearted and wicked. God forbid. The
Lord is the fountain of good only, and not He, but we and the devil,
make evil. But the more the Lord pleaded with Pharaoh, and tried to
bend his will, the more self-willed he became. The more the Lord
showed Pharaoh that the Lord was King, the more he hated the kingdom
and will of God, the more he determined to be king himself, and to
obey no law but his own wicked fancies and pleasures, and asked:
"Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him?"
And so it was with the Pharisees. When they found out that the
kingdom of God was within them, that God was the King of their hearts
and minds, and was trying to change their feelings and alter their
opinions, it only maddened them.
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