THE FROG. 179 



not, however, swept away like the locusts which succeeded them, 

 but destroyed, and left on the face of the ground. They were not 

 annihilated, nor resolved into mud, nor marched back into the riv- 

 er from whence they had come ; but left dead upon the ground, to 

 prove the truth of the miracle, that they had not died by the hands 

 of men, but by the power of God ; that the great deliverence was 

 not like the works of the magicians, a lying wonder, but a real in- 

 terposition of Almighty power, and an effect of Divine goodness. 

 The Egyptians were, therefore, reduced to the necessity of collect- 

 ing them into heaps, which had the effect of more rapidly disenga- 

 ging the offensive effluvia, and thus, for a time, increasing the 

 wretchedness of the country. Their destruction was probably fol- 

 lowed by a pestilence, which cut off many of the people, in addi- 

 tion to those that died in consequence of the grievous vexations 

 they endured from their loathsome adversaries ; for, in one of the 

 songs of Zion, it is said, ' He sent frogs, which destroyed them' 

 (Ps. Ixxviii. 45) ; laid waste their lands, and infected themselves with 

 pestilent disorders. 



The frog was chosen by the Spirit of inspiration, to represent in 

 vision, the false teachers, and other agents of antichrist: * I saw,' 

 said John, 'three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth 

 of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the 

 mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirit of devils, work- 

 ing miracles,' Rev. xvi. 13, 14. These impure and mischievous 

 emissaries are generated and reared in the puddle of moral deprav- 

 ity ; like the frog, they disturb the peace, and impair the happiness 

 of all around them. Their unceasing loquacity is not less annoying 

 than the perpetual croaking of the impure animal to which they 

 are compared. Their complaints and reproaches ; their accusations 

 and curses ; their pride and vanity ; and their constant and eager 

 exertions to stir up the subjects, kings, and princes of the earth to 

 mutual slaughter, under the pretence of maintaining the cause of 

 religion, are still more painful and mischievous than the obstrep- 

 erous clamors, the mournful complaints and mutual reproaches, 

 the shameless impudence and the vain-glorious inflations, which 

 the frogs are accused of indulging, in their native marshes. 



