The Ordinances of Heaven: Day and Night, Summer and Winter
Of the ordinances of heaven day and nighty summer and xvinter, seed time and harvest; their order and succession, established by God, are the effect of infinite wisdom and goodness. What they teach us»
When I consider the beginning of another year, I can hardly avoid reflecting on its several parts, summer and winter, spring and fall, day and night, and their alternate turns. This calls me to observe and admire his eternal power and Godhead, mdota and truth, who is the great Author of this admirable variety; who hath fixed the earth with his foot, and hanged it on nothing, and settled the luminaries of heaven for excellent ends: “The sun to rule by day, and the moon by night;” thereby to distinguish times and seasons, to separate day and night, winter and summer, and consult the convenience of man and beast, by their due succession. The day is thine, the night also is thine, thou makest summer and winter:” how wonderful is -their order, beauty, and constant course; that, when the sun and the shadows of the evening cover the earth with darkness, to conclude the day, the moon and stars supply the place of the absent sun during the night. And, that though they differ in length, yet gradually lessen, till they are both equal at the year’s end, and have made the same circuit! How excellent a work of God is that quick succession to one another! The supposition of a perpetual night is a dismal gloomy thought. Oh, what will the everlasting darkness of the infernal prison be! The sun by day enlightens the earth, directs our motions, guides our way, governs our travel, assists conversation, awakens industry, warms the earth and air, gives life, and vigour, and fruitful ness, to all things under the sun, and makes the whole inferior creation to rejoice. An emblem of God’s universal goodness, who is kind to all his creatures. How admirable is its lustre! how glorious is its light! how loudly doth it proclaim his power and wisdom, who made this and the other lights of heaven, by his powerful word, and preserves them hitherto by his daily providence!
If Ood be now so glorious, contemplated in his rdrks) considered in the lustre of the created sun, iewed only through the windows of sense, how Quch more glorious will he appear hereafter, when ve shall see him face to face, and nothing interpose letwixt us and his incomparable light! If mine yes dazzle to look upon the meridian sun, in what naccessible light must he dwell who is the Father pf lights I If this lower world, the common reeepacle of his friends and enemies, have so much of lis glory vouchsafed them by the heavenly bodies, [)h what a place will heaven be, where shall be no jun or moon, nor need of any, “but the glory of 3od shall lighten it, and the Lamb be the light :hereof!”
While I thus consider the sun and the day, Inust not think the night is useless, which discovers mother part of the heavens, not discernible by day, lamely, the stars and planets,’ refreshing the earth, jooling the air, giving necessary rest to the creaures, &c. Their order, motions, aspects, opposiions, influences, are all useful and instructive. The igreeable mixture of light and darkness, the regular luccession of day and night, within a few hours, are exceedingly wonderful and advantageous. In other )arts of the world, where the sun-beams are more lirect, and its heat excessive, God hath made imends by the length of the night, (under the jqainoctial line it is always twelve hours,) atid in ;he more norttiern parts, where the influence of the tun is weaker, the days are proportionably longer. So good is God to all bis creatures, in all parts of the world! As the morning and evening an%^et to the day of twenty-four hours, so do spring and autumn to the twelve months of the year, that we may not pass immediately from one extreme to another, but gradually be disposed for so great a change as Ts between summer and winter, and winter and summer. So merciful and gracious, and infinitely wise, is God in all his works! so that we cannot say one part of the year is tnore necessary than the other. The winter is as useful, for the good of the universe, as the summer. In this we are supplied with what is necessary to maintain us in that. And the admirable situation of the sun, seems much to contribute to it. If it had been at a farther distance from us, our earth would have been in a manner desolate; because the influence of the sun could not have been considerable. And, if it had been nearer, the planets would have wanted light, and this earth under been burnt up. The excellent order which it hath now obeyed for almost six thousand years is also wonderful. The sun never stood still but once, and that by a miracle; though much inferior to that of its daily progress. What a subject is here to admire the power, goodness, wisdom, and faithfuhiess, of God! Lord! what is man, for whom thou dost all this! And, because I find every year that the day dies into night, the summer into winter, and herbs and plants lose their beauty and verdure, and shed their blossoms; may I not hence learn to consider, and prepare for my own approaching change! In prosperity, health, and ease, and life, to expect, and make provision for, trouble, sickness, pain, and deaths as every wise man in summer would do for winter! and work with all my might, while it is called to-day, while the light continues; because the night of darkness is at hand, when none can work.