humbling Himself in the dust. We see the King of heaven disrobing Himself of all His glory, and clothing Himself in the mean garments of fallen manhood.

"Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, . . . and humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name above every name." His humiliation was the great cause of His exaltation. If we humble ourselves, we also may hope to be exalted.

V.

Pharaoh's Confession.

"And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Entreat the Lord, for it is enough, that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail, and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer."Ex. ix. 27, 28.

OUR apostasy from God, though we have lost by it all disposition to perform any of the duties we owe Him, has materially increased the number of those duties. All the obligations which were originally laid on us as creatures still remain in their full force, while as sinners we have brought on ourselves new and more arduous duties. Amongst these is the confession of our guilt, a duty so frequently and so solemnly inculcated in the Scriptures, that no man who has any regard for their authority has ever denied its necessity or doubted its importance. But this, as well as every other fruit of the Spirit, has its counterfeit. There is a spurious confession of sin as well as a spurious repentance-not merely formal and hypocritical, but sincere and heart-felt-which is not acceptable to God, and brings down no forgiveness from His throne.

This assertion may appear to some of us harsh and unfounded, but the text confirms its truth. It contains

as sincere an acknowledgment of sin as ever proceeded from any of ourselves, while we know that he who made it lived the daring enemy of God, and died impenitent and hardened. Mindful then of our liability to self-deception, and striving in God's help against it, let us consider

1. The resemblance which the confession of Pharaoh bears to true confessions of sin.

2. Its difference from it.

3. The lessons which it is calculated to teach us. First. a. The resemblance of the confession before us to the language of true contrition is striking and close. It was open, made not to a friend or partisan, in the secrecy of retirement, but to Moses and Aaron in public; to the very men whose presence was likely to fill the sinner with the greatest shame, and to require of him the most mortifying concessions.

b. It was accompanied with a sense of guilt, and that not confined to one transgression only, but extending to the general conduct of himself and subjects. Like Judas, he says, "I have sinned this time," but he does. not, like Judas, end here. He goes farther, and in language similar to that of the penitent David and the contrite publican says, "I and my people are wicked."

c. It is remarkable too, that, like David, he considers his guilt as an offence against God. In the sixteenth verse of the following chapter we find him declaring that he had sinned against the Lord as well as against His servants, and again beseeching Moses and Aaron to entreat the Lord their God for him, and to supplicate the removal of His judgments.

d. But this was not all. The confession of Pharaoh

included in it an acknowledgment of the justice of God in inflicting those judgments." They were great and heavy, but he does not complain of their severity. He complains only of his own sins, which had so justly drawn them upon his head. What he says is, "The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.” And does he not herein resemble the true penitent? Such a man is not only conscious that he has incurred the wrath of God, but he feels that this fearful wrath is only the first desert of his offences; that were he cast into the lot he has deserved, he could still only exclaim, "True and righteous are Thy judgments, O Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints." "O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day, because we have sinned against Thee."

These are not the expressions which the world generally uses. When we are in shame, our chief concern usually is to clear ourselves, not to vindicate a chastising God. So far from considering our sin as great, we think it such that a few tears and a confession or two ought to clear us. Surrounded by the signs of a fallen creation, we yet think and speak as if sin had no curse attached to it, and the terrors of another world no meaning.

e. There were also some good resolutions attached to this confession of Pharaoh. He determined, and the determination appeared sincere, that he would no longer oppose the departure of the Israelites, nor repeat the sin, which had provoked the Lord God of Israel to wrath. "Entreat the Lord " (he says)" that there be no more mighty thunderings and hail, and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer."

f. Thus far, all is well. We have in this sinner's case a sincere and open confession of sin, accompanied with a sense of guilt; an open acknowledgment that this guilt was an offence against God, with a vindication of His righteous judgments, and a fixed resolution to provoke Him to anger no longer. Nay, this confession seems to go still further, and to include in it a conviction of the divine mercy. We see not in this awakened transgressor the wild fear of Cain, nor the despair of Judas. On the contrary, he remembers that there is mercy with God, and intimates his belief that He is ready to hear and to answer the prayers of His

servants.

All these things are connected with repentance; but they do not prove that the repentance is sincere. Pharaoh was not a penitent, though he bore a strong resemblance to one. His confession was sincere, but it was not genuine. It resembled the language of true penitence, but at the same time it differed essentially from it.

2. a. In attempting to trace out this difference, we may observe that it was a forced repentance and confession, extorted by sufferings in the past and the fear of greater in the future. It was the confession of a detected criminal awaiting the due reward of his crimes. When the troubles of life press heavy upon us, when lover and friend are put afar off, when fear cometh as a desolation, and we feel that God is contending with us, then we are constrained to cry with alarmed Pharaoh, "I have sinned!" But grief and contrition which is genuine needs no judgments to call it into exercise. It is free and spontaneous, flowing from the heart, through the power of the Holy