Gen. i. 5.NIGHT. The ancient Hebrews began their artificial Day in the Evening, and also ended it the next Evening1; so that the Night preceeded the Day, whence it was said, Factum est vespere & mane dies unus. They allowed twelve Hours to the Night, and as many to the Day. The Hours of the Day and those of the Night were not equal, but only in the Equinox. At other Times, when the Hours of the Night were long, those of the Day were short; and contrarywise, when the twelve Hours of the Night were very short, as it happen’d at Midsummer, the Hours of the Day were long in Proportion.
Psal. xvii. 3.Night is put for the Time of Affliction and Adversity. Thou hast proved mine Heart, thou hast visited me in the Night, thou hast tried me; that is, by Adversity and Isai. xxi. 12.Tribulation. And Isaiah, the Morning cometh, and also the Night. The Morning is come, and behold the Night; we expected Peace, and we are overwhelmed with Troubles and Disasters.
Night is also put for the Time of Death. Joh. ix. 4.The Night cometh wherein no Man can work. ‘Tis Christ that speaks to us. I must fulfil the Duties of my Mission while it is Day, and while I am yet alive. And St. Paul says, that the Day of the Lord comes as a Thief in the Night. ‘Tis thought the End of the World, and the Day of Judgment, will come in the Night-time2.
Children of the Day, and Children of the Night, in a moral and figurative Sense, denote good Men and wicked Men, Christians and Gentiles. The Disciples of the Son of God are the Children of Light. They belong to the Light, they walk in the Light of the Gospel-Truths; they shine as the Stars, by the Brightness and Exemplariness of their Lives. On the contrary, the Children of the Night walk in the Darkness of Ignorance and Infidelity, Jer. xxv. 3. xxvi. 5. xix. 19. xliv. 4.and they perform only Works of Darkness. Ye are all the Children of the Light, and the Children of the Day; we are not of the Night, nor of Darkness.
We have observed elsewhere, that the ancient Patriarchs, as also the Heroes in the Heroical Ages, rose very early in the Morning, and even by Night, before the break of Day. Whence it is, that to rise in the Night to do any Business, is put for being careful and diligent. God says, that he rises early to call his People, by the Voice of his Prophets; that is to say, that he has omitted nothing that might reform them. The Reader may consult what we have before said upon the Article DARKNESS.
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