The Rejection of Gospel-light, 2
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IV. What is the REASON of this absurd preference, that men love darkness rather than light?
The melancholy reason of this is easily discovered, and has been partly anticipated; and it is this: that men love ease and peace of mind—rather than fear and anxiety. They are really obnoxious sinners, under the dreadful displeasure of almighty God, and on the slippery brink of everlasting destruction! Now to have a full conviction of this—would alarm their fears, embitter their pleasures, dampen their eager pursuits after the world, and cast their minds into a ferment of anxiety and terror! But to be blindto all these miserable prospects, to be elated with hopeful expectations of the contrary, to have all serene and calm within, to be charmed with all the fine delusions of a flattering imagination; to be ignorant of danger, and pleased with themselves; this is a state they naturally delight in! In this state they will lull themselves asleep at all hazards, regardless of the consequence!
And as darkness is the most proper attendant of sleep, therefore they choose it. But the light of the gospel let into the conscience would give them quite another view of things! It would:
overturn all their towering hopes;
set the terrors of the Lord in array against them;
open such shocking prospects in the ways of sin—
that they could no longer dare to walk in them; would constrain them to indulge the sorrows of a broken heart, and to long, and pant, and look, and cry for a Saviour! This would be a very painful exercise to them; and therefore they hate and shun the light, which would force the unwelcome convictions upon them!
"But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." John 3:21. Such a one is willing to be searched. The trial is in his favour, and will turn out to his honour.
This is the reason which Christ himself assigns for some men's loving darkness, rather than light. "But everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light—for fear that his deeds will be exposed." John 3:20. It is the fear of this 'exposure' which makes him afraid of the light; for he cannot but be conscious that his evil deeds deserve divine punishment: and to be thus 'exposed' will yield him pain.
"But since they have such favourable thoughts of themselves, and entertain such high hopes—why are they afraid of the light? Must they not rather presume its discoveries will be in their favour? And if so, why do they hate it?"
I answer, that notwithstanding all their high sentiments of themselves, they have often a secret suspicion that they are not well grounded, and that the light would make some dreadful discoveries concerning themselves! And hence they will not venture to trust themselves in the light, lest their secret suspicion should be confirmed, and rise into a full conviction.
It is really so evident that they are guilty, unholy creatures, unfit for heaven, and their consciences sometimes give them such hints of this alarming secret—that they cannot keep themselves altogether ignorant of it. They therefore try to evade the trial, lest the sentence should go against them. I appeal to your own hearts, my friends, whether this is not the true reason why youare so unwilling to examine yourselves, and submit to the severe scrutiny of the light of Scripture? What is the true reason why you are averse to the light of self-knowledge, and the means that would obtrude it upon you? Is it not because you cannot but pre-judge the matter even against yourselves—in spite of all the arts of self-flattery? And if there are such strong evidence against you—that even yourselves cannot but dread a trial at the tribunal of your consciences—then is it not evident, that your chosen darkness is your only guard against conviction, and that your case is really bad? And if so, how sorry a relief is it to avoid the discovery! Since all your preposterous care to avoid it—will but aggravate your condemnation! Which naturally introduces the last inquiry:
V. In what respects, that the light's coming into the world, and men's loving darkness rather than light—is their own condemnation.
Here I have only to illustrate two particulars already hinted at; that this furnishes them with matter for self-condemnation now—and will be the occasion of their more aggravated condemnation in the eternal world.
1. This furnishes them with matter of self-condemnation in the PRESENT state. It is hard, perhaps impossible, for sinners under the meridian light of the gospel—to avoid all conviction of their guilt and danger. That light is very penetrating, and will dart its rays through the thickest glooms of ignorance! "For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword—it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart!" Hebrews 4:12.
Such of you, my friends, as are resolved to shun the mortification of self-knowledge, live in a situation very unfavourable to your design. You have had "burning and shining lights" among you, who have shone as the sun; (Davies may here be alluding toJonathan Edwards, president of Princeton College—who had recently died). But, when they were translated to a higher sphere, the gospel has not left you—but still shines around you; and you will find it very difficult, I hope, impossible, to wrap up yourselves inEgyptian darkness in such a Goshen—such a land of light. In Japan, India, or some savage region of darkness—you might have lived in contented ignorance, and avoided those unacceptable blazes of light which will now break in upon you, in spite of all your vigilance; for under the faithful and solemn preaching of the gospel, your consciences will often be disturbed, and you will find yourselves unable to go on in sin boldly and fearlessly. And though in the thoughtless gaiety of health, and the hurry and din of business—you may drown the clamours of conscience—yet in a retired hour, upon a sick bed, and in the near views of death and eternity—then conscience will speak, and constrain you to hear! And thus you will live as unhappy, self-condemned creatures in this world, until you are condemned by the righteous sentence of God in the world to come! Therefore consider,
2. Your loving darkness rather than light, will occasion your more aggravated condemnation in the ETERNAL world. It was in your power to receive warning, and discover your danger in time! Nay, it cost you some pains to avoid the discovery, and despisethe warning. And what a fruitful source of self-tormenting reflections will this be! How will you then fret, and vex, and accuse, and condemn yourselves—for acting so foolish a part! How will you then exhaust and spend yourselves in eager, fruitless wishes—that you had admitted conviction, while the danger was avoidable! But, O! it will then be too late!
HELL is a region of darkness too—but not of that soothing, peaceful darkness of ignorance, which you now prefer to the light of the gospel—but a dreadful, tremendous, tormenting darkness, which will forever hide every bright and pleasing prospect from your eyes! And yet, this darkness of hell will be the proper medium for revealing sights of woe and terror! It will be a thick darkness, occasioned by the everlasting eclipse of the Sun of righteousness and the light of God's countenance, who will never dart one ray of comfort or of hope through the sullen gloom!
In this blackness of this hellish darkness—you, who now love darkness rather than light—must dwell forever! And O! how will yourconsciences haunt and terrify you—in that black, cheerless, stormy, eternal night!
Your guilt will also appear great in the sight of God, as well as to your own consciences, and therefore he will inflict the greater punishment upon you. You have despised the richest blessings that even infinite goodness could bestow upon sinful men; I mean, his gospel and his Son! You have made light of His gospel in the most open and audacious manner. He knows you were even afraid to discover your duty towards him; he knows you would not regard your own consciences when they were his advocates, and that you were unwilling to admit so much conviction as would render you sorry for your offences against him. Nay, he knows that your being convinced, that this or that was an offence against Him—was no restraint to you from the commission of it!
In short, he knows that you spent your lives either in sinning against knowledge—or in avoiding that knowledge which would have prevented your sinning. And while he views you in this light—what obstinate, wilful, daring offenders must you appear in his eyes! And what aggravated punishment must he judge to be your just recompense! He also knows that you blinded yourself, and struggled against your own salvation, and hated that light which would have shown you the way to everlasting life! And must he not think you worthy of that dreadful eternal destruction which you have voluntarily chosen—and refuse you admittance to that eternal happiness which you wilfully refused?
This is the representation which the holy Scriptures uniformly give us, of such as love darkness rather than light. "If I had not come and spoken to them," says the blessed Jesus, "they would not have sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin." It shall be more tolerable in the day of judgement—for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, though most notorious for all manner of wickedness and debauchery—than for the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, in which Christ's mighty works were done, and the light of his gospel shone so brightly! Matthew 11:21, 24.
And this is perfectly agreeable to the eternal rules of justice and righteousness: that much should be required—where much has been given; and that the degree of guilt should be estimated by the degrees of obligation, and advantages for obedience.
And now, my dear hearers, upon a review of this subject, you see your own circumstances: the light has come among you—itshines all around you! And, I doubt not but at times it finds some openings through which it forces its way even into your unwilling minds. You have light to distinguish between truth—and error; between sin—and duty to God; between the way to heaven—and the way to hell. You are warned, admonished and instructed. You have the strongest inducements to a life of holiness—and the strongest dissuasives from a course of sin. I leave you therefore to determine what your guilt and punishment must be—if you choose darkness rather than light; if you refuse light so clear, so reviving, so beneficial, so divine!
This alarming subject is very pertinent to us all, and we should all apply it to ourselves. But it is so peculiarly adapted to the residents of this college, that I must direct my address particularly to you, my dear pupils, who have had the light shine so brightly around you.
There is not one in a thousand people—who enjoy your spiritual advantages. Light, human and divine, natural and supernatural, ancient and modern; that is, knowledge of every kind—shines upon you, and you are every day basking under its rays. You have nothing to do but to polish your minds, and, as it were, render them luminous.
But let me put you in mind, that unless you admit the light of the glorious gospel of Christ to shine in your hearts—you will still be the children of darkness, and confined in the blackness of darkness forever! This is intolerably shocking, even in supposition: Suppose any of you should be surrounded with more light than others—for no other purpose but that you may have a stronger conflict with conviction, and that your consciences may with greater force raise tumults and insurrections within you! Suppose your sins should be the sins of men of learning and knowledge, the most daring and gigantic sins on this side of hell! Suppose you should turn out to be sinners of great abilities, fine geniuses, like the fallen angels, those vast intellects; wise but wicked; wise to do evil; but without knowledge to do good! Suppose it should be your highest character, that you can dispute well, that you know a few dead languages, that you have passed through a course of philosophy; but as to that knowledge which sanctifies all the rest, and renders them useful to yourselves or others; that knowledge which alone can make you wise to salvation, and guide you to avoid the paths of eternal destruction—you shun it, you hate it, and choose to remain contentedly ignorant in this important respect!
Suppose your parents, who have financed your education; your friends, who have entertained such high and pleasing expectations concerning you; church and state, which look to you for help, and depend upon you to fill stations of importance in the world; and your godly instructors, who observe your growing improvements with proportional pleasure; suppose, that after all this sincere labour, and all these pleasing prospects, they should see you at last doomed to everlasting darkness, for your voluntary abuse of the light you now enjoy!
Suppose these things, and the consequences of these suppositions are so dreadful—that I am not hardy enough to mention them. And O! shall they ever become matters of fact!
Therefore, my dear pupils—admit the light, love it, and pursue it, though at first it should make such discoveries as may be painful to you; for the pain will prove medicinal. By discovering your danger in time—you may be able to escape it. But never expect to remove the painful discovery—by the silly expedient of shutting your eyes to the light! Be impartial inquirers after truth as to yourselves—and no longer attempt to put a cheat upon yourselves! Alas! how childish and foolish—as well as wicked andruinous—would such an imposture be!
The gospel, in this particular, only requires you to be honest men; and surely this is a most moderate and reasonable demand. Therefore, be children of the light and of the day, and walk as such—and then you will be a blessing to the world and to yourselves.
Finally, let us all remember the terror of this friendly warning: "And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light—for fear that his deeds will be exposed!" John 3:19-20
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