Exodus 8:19

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"And he hearkened not unto them." Exodus 8:19 .

The man spoken of is Pharaoh, and the men to whom reference is made were his own magicians. There came a time in the spiritual history of Pharaoh when he declined the teaching of his own monitors in this matter. Paganism has its difficulties as well as Christianity. It must not be supposed that the Christian is the only religion which is disbelieved: Pharaoh gave up his own magicians. Men sometimes give the lie to nature, disobeying every one of her laws, and seeking to invent universes of their own. It is not uncommon also for experience to be dismissed by men who have imagined that its lessons are narrow and insufficient or hesitating in their moral deductions. Not only have nature and experience been thus deposed, but history itself has been treated as an idle tale. When nature, experience, and history have had to suffer these things at the hands of their supposed followers, what wonder if the men who have treated such teachers so should have treated the Gospel message with contempt and spurning? When a man treats all teachers in so high-handed a manner, he assumes practical godhead. We are not at liberty to conduct our own education without hint or service from others. If we take to this course, we shall conduct ourselves towards exhaustion. The wise learner looks outward, upward, Godward, insisting that his earth shall be warmed by no meaner fire than the sun.