morning," saying to GOD, Now shall I sleep in the dust, and Thou shalt seek me in the morning. vii. 21. Whom doth He seek, but them whom He doth know, i.e. the just? 4thly. Job calls the heavenly state of the blessed morning, saying, "Thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away, and thine age shall be clearer than the noon-day; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning." xi. 17. The escape from misery into a haven of safety and happiness is called "morning." And Job by saying that the light of that morning shall arise above the noon-day,' clearly shows that the morning he speaks of is not of this world, but of the next, where they need no light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light. Rev. xxii. 5. 19. Job uses the word morning in a general sense, to signify a change for the better, a promise of good things to come. In his description of Leviathan, (that is, of the congregation of our enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil;) Job saith, that the enemy does promise us good things, like as the serpent promised Eve, saying, Ye shall be as gods. Job saith of 'Leviathan what S. Paul said of Satan, that he promises us Light, (a false light for the true ;) S. Paul says, Satan is transformed into an angel of light. There is an appearance of bettering our condition which S. Paul here calls light. And Job calls that appearance an imitation of THE MORNING: saying, "By his neesings, by the breath of his mouth giving out promises, a light doth shine, a light of sensual pleasure. And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning." them, i.e. are an imitation of them. xli. 18. The eyes are the heart's intentions. The eyes of Leviathan are 1 Marginal reading. Are like the intentions of the ungodly, their intentions are towards bettering their condition by sensuality; this is their seeming morning, their would-be escape from trouble. But there is only one True Morning, only one who out of tribulation can bring joy that One is the Spirit of CHRIST glorifying His redeemed. 20. From all these Scriptures we gather that Scripture gives us leave to say that the morning of the first six days was the appearance of that Light of the world, the Son of GOD.1 21. Consider what gain we have by this prophetical use of the word morning. We gain in point of language, and in point of moral improvement. In point of language, we express in one word four actions, the appearance of the SON, His judgment, restitution, and covenant of sure mercies. In point of morals we gain, because every morning of our lives may remind us of those four realities for which we live. Above all, we gain theologically, for the same name Morning which is CHRIST's name, is the name also of our consummation in CHRIST: the name marks whose we are, and in whom we live. 1 Compare S. Irenæus, 1. xviii. 1. φῶς λέγειν, καὶ ἡμέραν, καὶ νύκτα, στερέωμά τε, καὶ ἑσπέραν, καὶ ὃ καλεῖται πρωΐ, ξηράν τε, καὶ θάλασσαν, ἔτι τε βοτάνην, καὶ δεκάτῳ τόπῳ ξύλον. S. Irenæus is quoting from Gnostics, but makes no objection to the phrase. Lecture H. SELF-EXAMINATION. CONTENTS:-1. Morning, the perfect condition of the creature. -2. Evening, imperfection of matter.-6. Evening, GOD's hiding His presence.-7. The history of the six judgments.-8. The duty of self-examination.-10. The time of self-examination.11. The benefits of it.-17. Why examination is called morning. GEN. I. 8. "AND THE EVENING AND THE DAY." MORNING WERE THE SECOND 1. We have seen that the word Morning expresses not only a particular appearance of light, but also a particular condition of the things of creation which belong to that day. Thus, when the condition of the firmament was such, that GoD called the firmament Heaven, was the second morning. When on the fourth day GoD saw the lights in the firmament that they were good, then was there morning. When GOD blessed the produce of the waters, then was the fifth morning, and so through all six days. 2. From the word Morning we come to the word Evening. Whatever the morning is, the evening is understood to be its opposite. The morning is the perfection of the creature: the evening therefore is its imperfection. Evening before morning is the imperfect state of the creature growing towards perfection. So S. Augustine (vol. iii. 111,) suggests, “ut vesperæ vocabulo significetur informis materia, quæ quamvis ex nihilo facta est, est tamen, et habet capacitatem specierum atque formarum. The word evening may signify unshapen matter, made out of nothing, yet having existence, and a capacity of taking sorts and shapes." 3. This interpretation is confirmed by other Scriptures which speak of morning and evening of evening not going before the morning, as here it does, but following the morning. This sequence is another kind of day, opposite to that which GOD makes. From morning till evening is the Prophet's description of life which begins with promise, and ends in disappoint ment. 4. The wise man says of sinners' life, that however it may begin with jollity and mirth, like a morning, yet it continually becomes more and more gloomy, fading into darkness. Thus he introduces the wicked bewailing themselves too late, and saying, "we, as soon as we were born, began to draw near to our extinction." (Wisd. v.) Therefore Job describes the day of mortal man in this phrase, "they are destroyed from morning to evening." (Job iv. 20.) The whole passage is," Behold, He put no trust in His servants, and His Angels He charged with folly: how much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth; they are destroyed from morning to evening; they perish for ever without any regarding it. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die even without wisdom." They, saith he, who are |