in order to convince them of his Almighty Power. B. I do fo, and cannot tell how any Man could refift fuch Evidence: And I think their disappointment in attempting the fourth Miracle, ferv'd the better to perfwade them, that the foregoing ones could not be wrought by Art Magick, for if they could, they might have ftill gone on; for I say again, that to turn Duft into Lice, has nothing greater, nothing more apt to deterr from undertaking it, than the turning Rods into Serpents, or Water into Blood. But the being stop'd, might only convince them, that the Power which had hitherto af fifted them, would no longer do it. A. Methinks, you quickly turn thefe Magicians into very good Men. B. Not fo faft I beseech you, for there is no need of thinking better of them, than that coming with impious and diabolical Intentions to overthrow the Authority of Mofes, they were foon convinc'd both by his, and their own Miracles, that the great God was the Author of them, and went and told the King as much: I know not of any farther Influence these things had upon their Minds. And we find Ch. ix. 11. that thefe Magicians were themselves plagued plagued with the Boils, and could not ftand before Mofes, fo that tho' they acknowledged the Power of God, yet they were not thereby made the better Men. You know it is no new thing, for God to ferve himself of his Enemies, and to constrain them to confess his Power and Majefty. But this is all the difference betwixt me and other People, that they make those Enchanters acknowledge the Power and Finger of God, in the turning Duft into Lice; and I make them acknowledge them for that, and all the Works that went before it ; for those they wrought themfelves, as well as thofe that Mofes And you Mofes wrought. muft ftill remember, that I call all this but a ConjeЯure, and am only guessing what Reasons might move God to fuffer thefe Enchanters to work three Miracles: And this I thought might pass forone, that they might thereby be convinc'd of his Almighty Power, and Superiority over all the Laws of Nature, that Moses might find Credit with them, and the Hebrews be fuffered to depart, as God commanded. But if this Reafon be displeasing or unfatisfactory, let us see what we can make of another, which I will alfo call but a Conjecture; and that is, that God God might permit these Sorcerers to work these three Miracles, to harden Pharaoh's Heart,and make him still more obftinate in his Resistance and Refusal to let the People go. A. To tell you the truth, I should be very much troubled, that you should make this good, it looks so strangely (to fay no worse) on God's part: But I know not how to reject a Truth, (if it can be plainly made out) for the fake of an untoward Confequence. B. It is not for you or me, to make what Truths we like, but to make the beft Ufe we can of what we find made to |