CONTEMPLATION IV.

ON

THE SUN.

YOND

NDER comes the glorious king of day, in stately steps of Majesty, from his chambers in the east, like a bridegroom, as the Pfalmift beautifully defcribes him, or as a ftrong man rejoicing to run his race, Pfal. xix. 5. Dame nature, glad at his approach, welcomes his return with a cheerful countenance, and spreads wide her blooming arms to receive his falutary embraces, and dries up the dewy tears from her lovely cheek, which she has shed in his absence during the night, and now smiles pleasantly around. From the

F

time he returns to her with his lengthened day at the vernal equinox, his fructifying beams make her prolific, till he again in Autumn retires beyond the line, to perform his winter's journeys: then the becomes barren, unless through her laxededness a few untimely births appear in our fields and gardens; I except the fnow-drop and crocas, these stated harbingers of fpring.

And is all creation, both animate and inanimate, glad at the rifing of the fun? What infinitely more reafon hath the new creation, even all true believers, to rejoice, when to them the Sun of righteoufnefs arifeth with healing under his wings?

When that fun arofe, I beheld the mifts of the morning difpelled from the hills, and all the fky became clear. In like manner, when the Sun of righteoufnefs fheds forth his benign beams in the heart of finners, the mifts which Satan raised there quickly evanish, and all the foul becomes clear and ferene. The joy which the believer experiences in fuch a feafon, who hath been long under the hidings of God's counte

nance, is only known to himself, and can

not fully be described:

When the fun arifes, the royal Pfalmift tells-us, "The beafts of prey gather them"felves together, and lay them down in "their dens and man goeth forth unto his "work and to his labour until the even*6 ing," Pfal: civ: 22, 23. So when the Sun of righteousness fhineth into the heart of a finner, Satan, who is compared to a roaring lion, that goeth about continually, feeking whom he may devour, 1 Pet. v. 8: (and greatly doeth fo in the fad night of defertion) is compelled by his cheering beams, to withdraw from the poor foul, with unbelief, hard thoughts of God, and defpair, which are incomparably more cruel than beafts of prey and the man goeth to work the works of God, even to believe in Chrift Jefus whom he hath fent, John .vi. 28, 29. whom to know is life eternal, John

xvii. 3.

When the fun arifes, men fee clearly around them, and every object appears in its native dye. In like manner, when the Sun of righteousness arifeth on the foul of

a finner, the eyes of the understanding are enlightened to behold fin in its proper colours; that it is highly offenfive to God, and that which only he abhors; truly hateful in itself, and eternally deftructive in its confequences; alfo the justice of God, the purity of the law, and man's utter inabili ty to keep it; his loft and undone state by nature, and the remedy which God hath provided for him, namely, the blood and furety righteousness of Chrift, who is not only a fun to enlighten, warm, and cherish, but also a fhield of protection from the wrath of God, and defence against all his enemies, who will "give grace and glory, "and no good thing will he withhold "from them that walk uprightly," Pfal.

lxxxiv. 11.

By the beams of the fun the earth is made warm, and fhe, like a tender mother, nourishes the infant fpring: the grafs and herbs grow up together; and the daifies of the field, with the reft of the early flowers, look forth with a feeble, yet pleafing countenance, declaring the winter is past. So by the falutary beams of the Sun of righteoufnefs, the affections are warmed with gra

titude to God, and all the graces of the Spirit grow up and flourish; and faith and hope in lively exercise, fhew the fad winter of defertion is over.

It is by the light of the fun alone that man can see that glorious luminary; fo it is only by the light which the Sun of righteousness imparts, that the finner can fee HIM: All that reafon which is fo much boasted of, which even the wifest philofophers among the heathen poffeffed, of itself is as unavailing to difcover him, and the way of falvation through him, as the light of a candle would be to difcover the natu ral fun.

Though I enjoy the light, and feel the warming beams of that fun, this pleasant morning, yet millions do fo as well as I, and yet my enjoyment of him is nothing impaired thereby; for I have as much of his benign influence as if there was not another man on the earth but myself. In like manner, though the Sun of righteouf nefs fhine upon all true believers, yet every individual among them, enjoys him to that degree, as if it had been for him alone: he

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