Matt. vi. 22, 23. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye he siiigle, thy ivhole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall he full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee he darkness, how great is that darkness !
REASON is certainly the richest endowment of the hmnan mind. When regulated by the word and Spirit of God, it will direct our paths, and enable us to guard against every dangerous or important error;
but it is capable of being so warped by specious reasonings, and selfish considerations, as to become an engine of Satan, and an instrument of our more aggravated ruin : there is notliing, however unreason- able, which a perverse spirit will not do ; nor any thing, however criminal, which it will not justify. Hence our blessed Lord, in the passage before us, inculcated on his followers the necessity of having " a single eye," and of acting on all occasions with a well-informed and upright intention.
Let us consider, L The instruction here given us —
There is *^a light within us," which is to the soul what the natural eye is to the body ; and, if preserved in healthful exercise, will serve, in most instances, to direct our steps : but if it be vitiated and obscured by the film of vile affections, it will itself become as darkness.
But it may be asked. Can reason or conscience ever be so perverted as to become darkness ? I answer. Yes : and this is actually the case,
1. When, though it does shine, we will not follow
its direction —
[The eye, supposing it to be free from any defects, is capable of directing all the motions of the body. So reason or conscience, if freed from all undue bias, will serve in a great measure to regulate the active powers of the soul^ But as a person who should keep his eyes shut in order that he might not behold the light, would be in the same predicament with one who was really blind ; so the person, who either will not bring his reason and conscience to the light of God's word, or obstinately determines to persist in the paths of error, is, in effect at least, as much in darkness, as if he did not possess any such faculties — ]
2. When it is obscured by any defect in the organs of vision —
[As vicious humours will destroy the sight of our bodily eyes, so will sinful affections impair the powers of the mind. Prejudice, passion, or interest, will often blind us to such a degree, that we cannot discern the 'things that are most obvious
a Prov. XX. 27.