knows he is in darknesse and is sensible of the danger Therefore it falls out ordinarily that he scapeth and preventeth danger because he is so sensible of the same what I feare most is like to do me least hurt for it is likely I am prepared for prevention It is not so with a man walking in ignorance and darknesse of minde He goes on boldly and confidently according as the proverb is he discernes no danger he cannot fear it The former by his carefulnesse may not fall The latter by his ignorant carelesenesse must needs fall it is not possible to be otherwise The former if he fall he will surely rise again for he knoweth he lieth not where he would The other falling lieth still and can never rise again till a light appeare unto him the one knoweth where he is and what he doth the other knoweth nothing as he ought to know There is one we may call that one as Satan called himself Legion for that one is many who holdeth ignorance to be the mother of devotion but that one is the mother of fornications and thence it is that she prevaileth with them and deceives so many for as she hath gained so she holds all she hath gained by the tenure of ignorance There is a farre greater difference betwixt a well knowing and conscientious man and an ignorant person then is betwixt a man walking in the Sun and working by it and another walking in the night when neither Moon nor Starre appeares The one clearely setteth forth the other he that worketh by the Sunne seeth all cleare about him where he is and what he doth and why he doth it he that is in darknesse discerneth nothing nor can do any thing as he ought to do and yet which is much worse living in the darknesse of ignorance he discerneth not his danger He that doth in any part understand what ignorance is and the fearfull effects of the same this ignorant man doth not will pray for himself and his as they who were upon the sea and in great danger They wished for the day m Acts 27. 29. Send forth Lord thy light and thy truth through thy tender mercie let the Day-spring from on high visit us Thus he wisheth for the day And now This Day-spring from above hath visited us we that once walked in darknesse have seen a great light and the glory thereof we have seen as the glory of the onely Sonne of God upon us who dwelt in the shadow of death hath this light shined Oh happy are the people then that are in such a case how blessed are they to whom the Sun of righteousnes hath appeared they are children of the day and of the light it is day with them alwayes day though neither Moon nor Starres appeare that is though they finde no influence from the earth or regions bordering thereupon But clean contrary it is with them to whom this Sunne of Righteousnesse appeareth not or against whom they shut their eyes as some will do though as the proverb is we should shew them the n Lact. 7. 1. Nec si Solem in manibus gestemus fidem commodabunt ei doctrine Sun in our hands seeing but will not see How miserable are the people that are in such a case they sit in darknesse as they do on the other side of the globe when the Sun is with us nay worse then so they dwell in a land dark as Aegypt was even in the land of the shadow of death For though they have the Moon and Starres upon them I mean the confluence of all outward things yet they sit in darknesse in deep darknesse For as the Sun is to this outward world so is the Lord Christ the Sun of Righteousnesse to the world of beleevers without Him it is all dark with Him it is still light like the land of Goshen happy are the people that are in such a case blessed are the people whose God is the Lord Send forth thy truth Lord and thy light and through the tender mercy of our God let the Day-spring from above visit us This may take up our thoughts very seasonably when the darknesse of the night is past and the comfort of the day is come And it may set an edge upon our desires after the principall thing o Eccles 2. 13. knowledge wisdome understanding For wisdome excelleth folly as light excelleth darknesse And the wise-mans eyes are in his head but the fool walketh in darknesse Knowledge in the minde is as the eye in our little world or as the Sun in the great Thus much by way of Analogie or agreement betwixt the eye or great light of the world and the true light Note we now wherein they disagree and their operation is contrary for it yeelds a great lesson The great eye of the world doth lighten those who have eyes and by a naturall power can apprehend that light They whose eyes are dark have no benefit by it But the true Light lightneth them p Lege Cal. Inst 2. 2. 25. who have no principle of light within them them and them onely who are all darknesse and know themselves so to be and for such who think themselves lightsome and seeing men they are left to the vanitie of their own thoughts If q John 9. 41. ye were blinde ye should have no sinne but now ye say we see therefore your sinne remaineth It is of high g use and specially requires our consideration 2. The day is come and the sunne appeareth so the Creatour thereof hath appointed that it should know its rising and thereby to renew and and refresh the face of things The instruction is touching the might of His power and the riches of His grace creating light in the Soul who at the first brought it out of the wombe of darknesse and causing the light of comfort to arise unto His servants in the darkest night of affliction for it is He also that curneth the shadow of Death into the Morning r Amos 5. 8. And this affordeth a righteous people an hint for a glorious dependance they know that as sure as the morning follows the night so the Sun of righteousnesse will appeare with healing under his wings for if the Sun know his appointed time much more the Lord knoweth His and the Sun of righteousnesse His season when and how to comfort those that wait for Him as they that wait for the morning 3. The appearance of the Sun instructs us touching the glory of His appearance and the exceeding joy the righteous shall be filled with all at that Day For if it be so comfortable to see the light how comfortable will it be to see Him that is the Light of that light If this elementary Sun be so glorious and full of light what then is the Sun of Righteousnesse And if it be so comfortable to see this light how ravishing Å¿ Lege Basil Hex Hom. 6. will that joy be
heated above its proportion how then wilt thou everlasting burnings how will thy heart endure this perishing for ever And consider this with it which that Father hath in the same place here if thy body be burnt or otherwise hardly used the soul will out it will forsake its dwelling k Nemo pervaldé dolere diu aut extinguetur aut extinguet Sen. ep 78. but if the body fall into these rivers of brimstone the soul must abide by it there is no getting forth as they were I mean the body and the soul joyned together like brethren in iniquitie so must they suffer together and no change shall they finde no ease in their suffering not so much as a sick man findes in changing of his bed or what a tyred man findes in changing his postures or his sides This present life is well called a vale of miserie for here are pains perils gripings c. But our death here may be as well called a shadow of death But a shadow in reference to that death where we still are dying but never die where we shall seek and wish for death but death flyeth from us But a shadow that to this Think we here-on and then we think on a short day spent in pleasures and of an eternall night to be spent in sighes And this is the first consideration which may make us well to husband and improve the day of our peace because a night must follow the day of our peace as the night follows the day and at the end of time a night which shall never have day or a day which shall never have night 2. It is very considerable that as sensuall pleasures continue not long so the longer they continue the more they satiate but the lesse they satisfie They run one after another and in their changes they are most pleasing the eare is not satisfied with the same tune be it never so sweet but quickly it desires another so the eye in seeing so our taste in relishing all our senses saith the Father l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysost Tom. 1. Hom. 30. p. 338. have their measure which will be soon at the top and quickly satiated though never satisfied And contrary things become most pleasant by their vicissitude and change What is sweeter then rest to the wearied man But if the rest exceeds its proportion but some few houres this rest grows wearisome and restlesse What more pleasant then the light yet such is our frail condition here that if we should have it long in our eye it would not be delightfull What more comfortlesse then the darknesse yet as our case is ordinarily we shut out the light that it may be more dark about us So long as we inhabit flesh varietie delighteth and still the same dulleth satiates yea quickly killeth Mr Dearings words are notable to this purpose m Lect. 14. All delights must have their change and the greater the pleasure is the nearer is satietie in any whatsoever appertaineth unto the body Wouldst thou never so fain sell thy self to serve any thing thou shalt finde nothing that will give thee a perpetuall pleasure to buy thy service hunger and thirst are soon satisfied the heavy eye-lid is easily filled with sleep Labour hath wearinesse and rest is soon tedious all play and pastime which so many make the crown garland of their life this also is dulnesse in a little while and this garland is as withered hay another thing must come to take this up or rather then this should be still we would never play while we lived Blessed be God that He hath given a day and night the day maketh the night welcome and the night the day so like ringers we are best pleased with changes n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Eâ—râ—p Orest p. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herc. sur p. 4. or like tyred men a little refreshed with shifting their beds their sides and their postures Oh how should we avoid these paths of death which leade to that place where there is no change but from torment to torment And how earnestly should we set our faces towards those heavenly Mansions where the Saints shall with open face behold the glory of the Lord and shall have no other change but a changing into the same Image from glory to glory o 2. Cor. 3. 18. 3. It is of use to consider what darknesse is and what the bounds of the same the resolution is short we shall finde it to be no positive thing but a meer privation and as boundlesse it is as the light was for it is but the absence thereof If I take a candle out of a room I do not put darknesse into the same room but in taking away the candle I leave the room dark Thus of the great candle of the world it doth not make this side of our globe dark but withdrawing it self from our side it leaves us in darknesse This is of use to informe us That there is no efficient cause of darknesse either in our great world or in our little but a deficient altogether p Vide August de civit lib. 12. cap. 6 7. which cause is understood by the same way that darknesse is seene or silence is heard we heare silence by hearing nothing so we see darknesse by seeing nothing Shut the eye and behold darknesse Our enquiry is nought touching the efficient cause of an evill will or of a dark minde saith Mornaeus q Male quaeritur unde malâ—m efficiatur for there is no such cause thereof If light withdraw it self either from our world without or from our world within there needs no more to leave all darke r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Basil Hâ—x Hom. 2 pag 18 19. yea and to expose us to the power of darknesse and to lead us to the houre of temptation The usefull enquiry then is Who is that fountain of Light Which lighteth every man that cometh into the world And we must acknowledge here if there be truth in us and say contrary to that which the Fathers of old said in an opinion of themselves we see not nor can we see Nay we shall ever sit in darknesse and in the very shadow of death untill this Light this Day-spring from on high shall visit us who at the first caused the light to shine out of darknesse and made the aire light before He gave the Sun And this is that Sun of Righteousnesse We must acknowledge farther That as we have many wayes to shut out of our roomes this light in the aire but no way to shut out darknesse so there is an heart in us which can oppose this fountain of Light shutting our eyes against it and thrusting it from us so resisting the Holy Ghost but for darknesse we are held and chained in it and against that we have no power A consideration if put home that will hide pride from us
and humble us to the dust that from thence we may present this great request To the Hearer of prayers Lord that we might receive our sight Å¿ Mark 10. 51. Lord that thou wouldest give unto us the spirit of wisdome and revelation in the knowledge of Him the eyes of our understanding being enlightned that we may know what is the hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints c. Ephes 1. 17 18 c. 4. It is considerable how small a thing doth make the place about us light supplying the want of that great body which is now with the other side of our globe What the Sun cannot do saith Chrysostome a little candle can t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad Ephes Hom. 12. for not to speake of the starres those great lights which then shew clearest when the night is darkest a rush-candle a Glow-worm the bones of a fish a rotten piece of wood will dart you out a light which though the faintest all the power of that darknesse we properly call night cannot withstand But here we must remember a darknesse which we reade of so thick and palpable that it over-powered the fire and candle it put both out neither could burne the while As Philo Iudeus tells us as well as the Apocrypha u Wisd 17. 5. This tells us first that He who is the God not of some but of all consolations can take away some comforts and supply us with other-some which may not be so full in our eye but yet as satisfying more contentfull He can put our acquaintance farre from us He can suffer the divell to cast some into prisons and into dungeons where the enemy thinks there is no light to be expected so wise they are in their generation and so prudently they have contrived But the enemy is mistaken for He who formeth light and createth darknesse He that made the light to shine out of the wombe of darknesse He that makes a candle supply the want of the Sun He that turneth the shadow of death into the morning He that doth these great and wonderfull things He it is that gives His children light in darknesse and songs in their night As Peter found it for behold to him a light shined in the prison x Act. 12. 7. so shall it be with all that truely feare the Lord A light shall arise to them in darknesse * Isa 58. 10. Psal 112. There is some cranny left whereby to let in light and a way open with the Lord for deliverance from all the expectation of the enemy though all the wayes be blocked up to man both in respect of the prison and the Iron-gate y Act. 12. 11. The children of Israel children of the day and of the light ever had in despight of the enemy and ever shall have light in their dwellings z Exod. 10. 23 though these dwelling are prisons caves and dungeons which the enemy calleth and indeed seeme to be like the shadow of death This meditation may be more enlarged for if nature be so solicitous as was said * Preface p. 19. in recompensing what is wanting much more then so will the God of nature do He takes from Moses a distinct and treatable voice He Himself will be a mouth to Moses He takes away Iohn a great light to His Church He gives the Lord Christ The Light of that Light He takes away Christ His bodily presence He leaves them not orphans comfortlesse He gives His Church a fuller measure of His Spirit He takes away strength of body He gives strength of faith establishment of heart He takes away a deare childe by that sorrow as by a sanctified meanes He formeth Christ in the heart It is of high use to consider how God doth supply in one kinde what He takes away in another as He doth make the little candle to supply the absence of the great Sun Lastly when we lye down we are to be taught as to recount the mercies of the day so to call to minde the dangers of the night Houses are marked out in the day-time and broke open in the night houses also are fired in the night And how helplesse is man amidst these casualties and dangers If a sleep the theefe findes him bound to his hand and if fire take his chamber he is fewell for it such sad examples we have known our eyes have seene The destroying angel but one of Gods guard hath set forth in the night and before the morning hath executed his commission our adversary wil do that to us sleeping which he cannot waking many have gone to bed well and before morning have made their appearance before the Iudge of the whole world and then as they lay down so they rise up and so provided or so destitute there is no time for provision then when we are summoned to appeare Naturally all things seeme black unto us in the night and if we see no danger nor see any reason of danger yet our fancy can create dangers unto us The Lords second comming is often mentioned in the sacred Scripture and as often in the night which defines not the time but shews the manner of His coming As a thiefe in the night as a snare suddenly when by the most least expected All these considerations should teach us to watch over our hearts and to take a strict account of our wayes at our lying down and to lift up our eyes to the Keeper of Israel that His eyes may be upon us for good appointing a sure Guard about us in the night As we cannot tell what a day may bring forth so nor can we know how our feares may increase before the next morning we cannot no not the wisest of men look forward a few houres to tell what may happen before the day-dawn a Imminentium nescius Tac. de Paeto 15. 2. which should engage â—ur heart to Him who changeth not And that it may be so we must remember our prayers and our praises these being performed in a right manner do secure us touching protection in the night prayer will help us against carefulnesse notwithstanding our dangers are so many as we have heard it will suck out the heart of our feares and sorrows b Preces hirudo curarum Melanch so as they shall not hurt us nor dismay us but that we may lye down in peace But then we must remember what prayer is It is saith Luther The unutterable groaning of those who despaire of any strength in themselves c Precatio est gemitus inenarrabilis desperantium de se Luther in Gen. It is not every prayer which secureth us there is a prayer which more provoketh uttered only from the lips in such a manner as would not be accepted before our Governour d Melac 1. 8. We must remember our tribute of praise too great reason That we should praise