UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 309 



ments*" ; and these events had doubtless a use- 

 ful influence, though not a lasting one, on the 

 minds of the Israelites, to whom the gods of the 

 Egyptians must at that time have appeared very 

 contemptible. 



" I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail :" 

 this judgment, he told us, was also particularly 

 adapted to the Egyptians. The rain and hail 

 that were foretold must have appeared of all 

 things most incredible to the Egyptians ; for in 

 Egypt little or no rain ever falls, the want of it 

 being supplied by dews and by the overflowing 

 of the Nile ; and when they witnessed this storm 

 of hail, " such as had not been in Egypt since 

 the foundation thereof, 1 ' and accompanied by 

 " mighty thunderings," and fire that ran along 

 the ground, what dread and amazement they 

 must have felt ! Pharaoh had received warning 

 of these terrific prodigies, which the deities of 

 Egypt could not avert ; and even the fire and 

 water, which had been held sacred by the Egyp- 

 tians, were now employed they found as pas- 

 sive instruments of their punishment. Besides 

 the formation of the hail, which was so uncom- 

 mon in that country, its falling so miraculously 

 on the day, and in the district foretold, must have 

 overwhelmingly convinced them of the impotence 

 of the creatures which they worshipped, and of 

 the boundless power of the Almighty. 



* Numbers, xxxiii. 4. 



