LIGHT is represented in the Scriptures as the immediate result and offspring of a divine com mand (Gen. i. 3). The earth was void and dark, when God said, Let light be, and light was. This is represented as having preceded the placing of 'lights in the firmament of heaven, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night : Ile made the stars also' (Gen. i. 14, sq.) Whatever opinion may be entertained as to the facility with which these two separate acts may be reconciled, it cannot be questioned that the origin of light, as of every other part of the universe, is thus ieferred to the exertion of the divine will : as little can it be denied that the narrative in the original is so simple, yet at the same time so majestic and impressive, both in thought and dic tion, as to fill the heart with a lofty and pleasurable sentiment of awe and \yonder.
The divine origin of light made the subject one of special interest to the Biblical nations—the rather because light in the East has a clearness, a brilliancy, is accompanied by an intensity of heat, and is followed in its influence by a largeness of good, of which the inhabitants of less genial climes can have no conception. Light easily and naturally became, in consequence, with Orientals, a repre sentative of the highest human good. All the more joyous emotions of the mind, all the pleasing sensations of the frame, all the happy hours of domestic intercourse, were described under ima gery derived from light (I Kings xi. 36; Is. lviii. ; Esther viii. 16 ; Ps. xcvii. 1). The transition was natural from earthly to heavenly, from corpo real to spiritual things ; and so light came to typify true religion and the felicity which it im parts. But as light not only came from God, but also makes man's way clear before him, so it was employed to signify moral truth, and pre-eminently that divine system of truth which is set forth in the Bible, from its earliest glearnings onward to the perfect day of the Great Sun of Righteousness. The application of the term to religious topics had the greater propriety because the light in the world, being accompanied by heat, purifies, quickens, enriches ; which effects it is the peculiar province of true religion to produce in the human soul (Is. V111. 20 ; Matt. iv. 16 ; Ps. cxix. Jos ; Pet. i.
19 ; Eph. v. 8 ; Tim. ro ; I Pet. ii. 9).
It is doubtless owing to the special providence under which the divine lessons of the Bible were delivered, that the views which the Hebrews took on this subject, while they were high and worthy, did not pass into superstition, and so cease to be truly religious. Other Eastern nations beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in bright ness, and their hearts were secretly enticed, and their mouth kissed their hand in token of adora tion ( Job xxxi. 26, 27). This iniquity ' the
Hebrews not only avoided,. but when they con sidered the heavens they recognised the work of God's fingers, and learnt a lesson of humility as well as of reverence (Ps. viii. 3, seq.) On the con trary, the entire residue of the East, with scarcely any exception, worshipped the sun and the light, primarily perhaps as symbols of divine power and goodness, but, in a more degenerate state, as them selves divine ; whence, in conjunction with dark ness, the negation of light, arose the doctrine of dualism—two principles, the one of light, the good power; the other of darkness, the evil power: a corruption which rose and spread the more easily because the whole of human life, being a chequered scene, seems divided as between two conflicting agencies, the bright and the dark, the joyous and the sorrowful, what is called prosperous and what is called adverse.
When the tendency to corruption to which we have just alluded is taken into account, we cannot but feel both gratified and surprised that, while the Hebrew people employed the boldest personi fications when speaking of light, they in no case, nor in any degree, fell into the almost universal idolatry. That individuals among them, and even large portions of the nation, did from time to dine down to the Babylonish captivity forget and desert the living God, is very certain ; but then the nation, as such, was not misled and corrupted ; witnesses to the truth never failed; recovery was never impossible — nay, VMS more than once effected ; till at last affliction and suffering brought a changed heart, which never again swerved from the way of truth.
Among the personifications on this point which Scripture presents we may specify-1. God. The Apostle James (i. 17) declares that every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning;' obviously referring to the faithfulness of God and the constancy of his good ness, wbich shine on undimmed and unshadowed. So Paul (t Tim. vi. 16) : God who dwelleth in thc light which no man can approach unto.' Here the idea intended by the imagery is the in comprehensibleness of the self-existent and eternal God.
2. Light is also applied to Christ : The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light' (Matt.
iv. 16 ; Luke ii. 32); The light of men ;" He was the true light ;" I am the light of the world' (John i. 4, seq. ; V111. 12 ; xii. 35, 36).
3. It is further used of angels, as in 2 Cor. xi. 14 : Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.' 4. Light is moreover employed of men : John the Baptist was a burning and a shining light ' (John v. 35); Ye are the light of the world' (Matt. v. 14; see also Acts xiii. 47; Eph.
v. S).—J. R. B.