When God sent a judgment on Pharaoh, to subdue him and lead him to repentance, he promised to repent and let the children of Israel go; but then hardened his heart, broke his promise and refused to let them go. This was repeated ten times on him, and every time he broke his promise and he became still more hardened, and God permitted him thus to go on till his overthrow, thus making the power of God known in all the earth, and making the hardened monarch of Egypt an example to all the nations to follow. No doubt God hardens men now in the same sense as he did Pharaoh, subdues and leads others to repentance as he did the Ninevites, who repented at the preaching of Jonah. OUR CENSUS. In an age when people compare themselves with their neighbors, look at the comparative size of their hymn books, the size, splendor and elegance of the temples in which they meet, the amount of money they raise, their church organs, festivals, choirs, popular preachers and numerical strength, the census is looked to with great concern; but where people are greatly devoted to the Lord, diligently striving to please him and be accepted of him in the great day, they are led to think of the piety of the people, their purity, their culture; their faith, and hope and love; their efforts to save men and build up the kingdom of God, and not to be troubled seriously about how they shall appear in the _census_. We are vastly more concerned about maintaining the purity of the gospel, the faithfulness of the preaching, the discipline and order of the church, the pure worship as prescribed in the law of God, than we are about the _census_. We are more concerned about how we appear before the Lord than we are how we appear before man. We are perfectly contented and satisfied with the things of God as set forth in Scripture. We are contented and satisfied with the very words and forms of speech in which God speaks to man. We love the lowliness, simplicity and humility of Jesus. It is the manifestation of infinite wisdom and goodness. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise that they are vain.” He takes the wise in their own craftiness. TRUE MISSIONARIES.