Darkness

Gen. i.DARKNESS, Obscurity. Darkness was upon the face of the deep; that is to say, the Chaos was plunged in thick Darkness, because hitherto the Light was not created. One of the most terrible sorts of Darkness was that which Moses brought upon Egypt as a plague to the inhabitants of it. It was so thick, as to be, as it were, palpable, and so that no one could discover any object; so horrible, that no one durst to stir out of his Exod. x. 21, 22.place; and so lasting, that it endured three days and three nights¹. The Author of the Book of Wisdom describes it thus: ” The Egyptians were ” shut up in their houses, the prisoners of ” darkness, and fettered with the bonds of ” a long night … . . The corner that held ” them did not keep them from fear: but Wisd. xvii. 1, 3, 4, &c.” noises, as of waters falling down, sounded ” about them, and sad visions appeared ” unto them with heavy countenances. No ” power of the fire might give them light, ” neither could the bright flames of the ” stars endure to lighten that horrible ” night. Only there appeared unto them ” a fire kindled of itself, very dreadful: ” for being much terrified, they thought ” the things which they saw to be worse ” than the sight they saw not.”

The Darkness which happened at our Saviour’s death, began at the sixth hour of the day, that is to say, at noon; and ended not till the third hour, that is to say, at three a-clock in the afternoon. Thus it lasted for the whole time almost of our Saviour’s being upon the cross, he having been crucified a little before the sixth hour, and dying a little after the ninth. Compare St. Matthew, chap. xxvii. v. 45. with St. John, chap. xix. v. 14. and with St. Mark, chap. xv. v. 25. and see the Commentators and Authors of Concordances on these places. Origen on St. Matthew, Maldonat, Erasmus, Vatablus, and several others were of opinion, that this Darkness covered Judæa only, which is sometimes mentioned by the name of the whole earth. St. Chrysostom, Euthymius, Theophylact, and some others, assert that it extended over our whole Hemisphere, or at least over the greatest part of it. Origen says, that it was caused by a thick mist, which deprived men of the sight of the sun; and it is certain that we can scarce conceive it otherwise, since the moon being then at the full, the eclipse of the sun was naturally impossible.

Julius Africanus, Eusebius, and St. Jerom, in their several Chronicles, refer that eclipse of the sun, which Phlegon mentions, to the time of our Saviour’s death. This author says, it was the greatest eclipse that till then had been seen, since at noon-day the stars were discernible in the heavens. This happened in the fourth year of the hundred and second Olympiad, which is the year of Jesus Christ’s death. Tertullian refers the Heathens to the publick Archives for an account Tertull. Apolog. c. xxi.of that Darkness which happened at noon upon the day of Jesus Christ’s death. The Author known by the name of DionysiusDionys. Areop. Ep. 7. ad Polycarp. the Areopagite says, that being in Egypt, and seeing the eclipse which happened at that time, against all the rules of Astronomy, Allophanes, who then studied with him, cried out, These, my dear Dionysius, are supernatural and divine changes. Suidas in Dionys.Suidas makes St. Dennis himself say the same thing upon this occasion: God either suffers, or com passionates one who is suffering. Concerning this event, see the Commentators on St. Matthew xxvii. 45. the Ecclesiastical Historians, such as Baronius, M. de Tillemont, and our Dissertation on the Darkness which was observable at our Saviour’s death, printed in the new Collection of our Dissertations.

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