' " Si quis per naturte vigorcm evangclizanti predicationi nos consentire posse con-
firmet absque illuminatione Spiritus Saucti; hssretico fallitur spirit'^.-' Cone. Af-aJ.-"
sic. ii. can. 7. '
246 COERUPTION OR DEPRAVATION [BOOK III.
turn them from darkness." Eph. v. 8, "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord." What is the change and altera- tion made in the minds of men intended in this expression will afterward appear; but that a great change is proposed none can doubt. Col. i. 13, " Who hath delivered us from the power of dark- ness;" as also 1 Pet. ii. 9, " Who hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light." And the darkness which is in these testi- monies ascribed unto persons in an unregenerate condition is by Paul compared to that which was at the beginning, before the crea- tion of light : Gen. i. 2, " Darkness was upon the face of the deep." There was no creature that had a visive faculty; there was darkness subjectively in all; and there was no light to see by, but all was objectively wrapped up in darkness. In this state of things, God by an almighty act of his power created light : Verse 8, " God said, Let there be light : and there was light." And no otherwise is it in this new^ creation : " God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shines in the hearts of men, to give them the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ," 2 Cor. iv. 6. Spiritual darkness is in and upon all men, until God, by an almighty and effectual work of the Spirit, shine into them, or create light in them. And this darkness is that light within which some boast to be in themselves and others !
To clear our way in this matter, we must consider, — first, the nature of this spiritual darkness, what it is, and wherein it doth con- sist; and then, secondly, show its efficacy and 'power in and on the minds of men, and how they are corrupted by it. ■ First, The term " darkness" in this case is metaphorical, and borrowed from that which is natural. What natural darkness is, and wherein it consists, all men know ; if they know it not in its cause and reason, yet they know it by its effects. They know it is that which hinders men from all regular operations which are to be guided by the outward senses. And it is twofold : — 1. When men have not light to see by, or when the usual light, the only exter- nal medium for the discovery of distant objects, is taken from them. So was it with the Egyptians during the three days' darkness that was on their land. They could not see for want of light; they had their visive faculty continued unto them, yet having " no light," they "saw not one another, neither arose any from his place," Exod. X. 23: for God, probably, to augment the terror of his judgment, re- strained the virtue of artificial light, as well as he did that which was natural. 2. There is darkness unto men when they are blind, either born so or made so: Ps. Ixix. 23, "Let their eyes be darkened, • thSb ■tii5"^--See not." So the angels smote the Sodomites with blindness, GeiiTxiXj- 1.1 ; and Paul the sorcerer, Acts xiii. 11. Hoav-
CHAP. III.] OF THE MIND BY SIN. 247
ever tlie sun shineth, it is all one perpetual niglit unto them that are blind.
Answerable hereunto, spiritual darkness may be referred unto two heads; for there is an objective darkness, a darkness that is on men, and a subjective darkness, a darkness that is in them. The first consists in the want of those means whereby alone they may be enlightened in the knowledge of God and spiritual things. This is intended, Matt. iv. 16. This means is the word of God, and the preaching of it. Hence it is called a "light," Ps. cxix. 105, and is said to " enlighten," Ps. xix. 8, or to be " a light shinmg in a dark place," 2 Pet. i. 19; and it is so termed, because it is the outward means of communicating the light of the knowledge of God unto the minds of men. What the sun is unto the world as unto things natural, that is the word and the preaching of it unto men as to things spiritual ; and hence our apostle applies what is said of the sun in the firmament, as to the enlightening of the world, Ps. xix. 1-4, unto the gospel and the preaching of it, Rom. x. 15, 1 8.
And this darkness is upon many in the world, even all unto whom the gospel is not declared, or by whom it is not received, where it is or hath been so. Some, I know, have entertained a vain imagina- tion about a saving revelation of the knowledge of God by the works of creation and providence, objected^ to the rational faculties of the minds of men. It is not my purpose here to divert unto the con- futation of that fancy. Were it so, it were easy to demonstrate that there is no saving revelation of the knowledge of God unto sinners, but as he is in Christ reconciling the world unto himself; and that so he is not made known but by the word of reconciliation committed unto the dispensers of the gospel. Whatever knowledge, therefore, of God may be attained by the means mentioned, as he is the God of nature ruling over men, and requiring obedience from them ac- cording to the covenant and law of their creation, yet the knowledge of him as a God in Christ pardoning siu and saving sinners is attain- able by the gospel only. But this I have proved and confirmed elsewhere.^