UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 295 



full speed ! I again crept into the thicket, and in 

 a few minutes I heard the voices of my compa- 

 nions, who were in search of me, armed with 

 flaming pieces of wood. I had felt much in- 

 censed against them for firing but I found that 

 they had not been to blame, a branch had struck 

 the lock of one of their guns, which went off, and 

 theyhad been exposed to as much danger as 

 myself." 



20th. " And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, 

 that he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord 

 had said."* My uncle told us to-day that this 

 passage should be expressed thus : " And the 

 heart of Pharaoh ivas hardened, so that he heark- 

 ened not unto them; as the Lord had foretold." 

 It is so rendered, he says, in the ancient versions ; 

 and the most judicious modern commentators 

 agree that this is the proper meaning. 



** Indeed," said my uncle, <f in allowing it to 

 be inferred that the Lord had purposely hardened 

 Pharaoh's heart, the translators of the Bible 

 have acted inconsistently with their own view 

 of the phrase in several other places. | This 

 is very striking in the following chapter, where 

 it is said ' Pharaoh hardened his heart at this 

 time also/ which plainly implies that his re- 

 sistance after the former plagues had proceeded 



* Exodus vii. 13. f Exod. vii.22, viii. 19 &32, ix. 7. 



