The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Thessalonians — Section 132

without the common slgna which could be discerned by ordinary oblenation. To possess them would be to walk by eight. They are not given In order that faith may be exeroieed. (2) The world at large is better without these signs. They would dis- arrange all the necessary pursuits of life. Some would cry abjectly for mercy without really repenting at heart. Some, as when plagues raged in cities, would fling off all restraints and plunge into a reckless course of debauchery. Some would coldly calculate the time allowed for sinning before they would need to bethink them of preparing for the end. II. THE DAY OJ' THE LoBD WILL NOT OOJIB UPON THE ENLIGHTENED AS A THIEll'. St. Paul makes an important distinction here--one that is not always recognized: "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." l. No men are enlightened a, lo the date of the aecond advent. Even Christ did not know it. Thla he distinctly aeye (Mark xiii. 32). 2. CJhri8twn, are enlightened aa to the fact<m<l lhe clw.ructer oflheWXYnd advent. (1) They know that Christ will come again, which is more than the unbelieving world knows. They have Christ's own promise to rely upon (Matt. uiv. 30). (2) They know that Christ will come unexpectedly. At least, they ought to know this if they read the teachings of Scripture on the subject. J. The tmlightenment of <Jhriatian, will prevent the second advent from ooming upon them 1'1" 11 thief. When we are prepared for a surprise, it is no longer a. surprise. If we know a thing may happen at any time, its occurrence will not give us the shock of an unexpected event. Christ, longed for, eagerly desired, fondly expected, will come at an hour when his people know not, but not when his true disciples are unprepared to welcome him.-W. F. A. Vere. 6---a.-Night <m<l r/,a,y. St. Panl writes of two classes of people whoee con- ditions oorrespond respectively to night and day. Many associations of gloom and evil and ignorance gather round the image of night, while their opposites-brightness, goodness, knowledge, eto.-are suggested by the idea of day, One advantage of the metaphorical language of Scripture is that it gives to us richer and more suggestive ideas than could be conveyed by bare abstract phrases. Subsidiary notions, like chro- matic chords in music, give tone and richneSB to the main idea impressed upon us by a manifold and significant image. This is apparent with the 1188 of the images light and darkneSB by St. John. St. Paul would have us think that the unspiritua.l and godleu world is in general like a people of the night, while the Church is like a city of light. But probably the enlightenment of revelation, the daylight of spiritual know- ledge, is the prominent thought in the mind of the apostle. For we find that in previoua verses he hea been referring to the shock of surprise to the world which will not be shared by enlightened Christillll8, On the fact of their greater enlightenment he now founds an exhortation to conduot worthy of it. The fuller light demands the holier life, Sons of the day have not the excuses of children of night. I. TBll: OHILDBEN OJ' THE NIGHT. 1. These are mdarknes,. The darkness la not confined to the illiterate. Nor is it confined to the inhabitants of heathen lands. People in Christian countries, who are familiar with the language of the New Testament, may be totally ignorant of its spiritual thought. Such people, though they sit in university chairs as professors of divinity, are blinded with midnight blackness. Was not Faust in the night? 2. Some of the children of the night ,leep. These are the thoughtl888 and carelese. They may be awake to seonlar business. But they slumber over moral and spiritual aubjeots. If they think of them at all it is with dreamy unconcern. 3. Others of the children of the night are 11wake only to evil. They spend the night in drunkennese. They hide shameful practices under the cloak of darkness. 4. The guilt of the children of the night is mitigated just in proportion as their benlglating i, noC wilful. If it arises from their unhappy circumstances, these unfortu- nate people cannot be condemned to the same doom as that of men who sin with their eyes open, or as that of those. who wilfully put out their eyes because they love darkness. II. TBE SONS OJ' TBB J>.A.Y. 1. These are enlighttmed. They may not be brilliantly intellectual nor highly educated. The_v may be illiterate in human lore .. But the "eyes of their hearts" (Eph. i. 18) are opened. By faith and love and obedience they have come to know what God has revealed through his Spirit. 2. Sollll of the day are expected to be wakeful. It ii natural to sleep in the night. Sleep in the day betokens  182 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [os. v. 1-28.