Part I. M E T A p H 0 R s FROM TIME. The Parts of the Da~ art the Morning, Noon, and Evening, Pfal. lv. i7. Evening, and Morning and at Noon wilt I pray, &c. The Morning Seaion metaphorically denotes Diligence Sed ulity and Care, becaufe Men nfe early ro go about fuch Bufinefs as they are ~areful of.•. and have much upon thei.r Hearts, Job viii. ~:. Pfal. v. 3· xci. 2. and ci. 8. Prov. vut. 17. 2 Chron. xxxvr. 15. Jer. xxxv. 4· Zeph. Ill. 5, 7· lfa. xxu. 12. 'J'be Watchman faid, the Morning cometh, and alfo the Night, &c. !:.ome underfiand that the Morning is here put for Profperit;•, as if he had faid to Dumah or the Idumeans, ']'he Y oke of the Ifraelites being jhaken off of thy Neck (as .it is faid, Gen. xxvii. 42.) 'J'houjhalt enjoy Liberty, Profperity, and Pknty of good Thrngs : But another Calamity. hangs over thee from the .ll.!Jjrian by whrch, as wtth the Darknefs of N rght thou fhalt be obfcurcd. Others take the Word Morning properly, but not unlike the former Senfe; the Morning indeed comes, (as ye afk, Verfe 1 t: Watchman what ofthe Night? that is when fhall the Uay-dawn come? And what will happen then?) But to"ether with i(, that Night comes, which is more dark and terrible. For when the Days are calamitous, there arifes with the Sun, as it were, a new Light, yet ending in a Night more full of Calamity than the former. Illyricus fays, ./!!though the Morning properly takm will come, yet the metaphorical Morning will not come, but it will be a metaphorical Night. The Chaldee takes it metaphorically but applies it more generally; thus it para. phrafes the whole Verfe. The Prophet faid there is a Reward provided for the Jufi, and Vengeance for the Wicked, if you will repent, do it, while you may. !fa. xlvii. 1 1. Therefore jhall Evil come upon thee, the Morning thereof thou kno·wefl not, fo the Hebrew, that is, whofe fudden Coming or Beginning thou that fhalt not at fi rf\ mind, as in the Morning betimes, the Sun riles, ant1 darts out its Beams upon a fudden . Some think th.1t the Prophet derides the Vanity of the Cha!dean A£l:rologers. Others thus, the. Morning or Day-break gives an Indication of the Sun's Coming, fo this Evil that was to come upon Baby/on was not Without Its Marks and Tokens that went before it, which were as illufirious as the Dawn that ulhers in or harbingers the Day. But not known to Baby/on becaufe of its Blindnefs and conceited Security, Hof. x. 15. In a Morning jhall the King of Baby/on be utterly cut off, that rs, fwiftly and fiid– denly. He fpeaks of Hofta the Son of Elah, 2 Kings xvii. 1, 5· &c. This Term moreover denotes Divine Grace to Believers, beC?.ufe of the Beauty and Sweetnefs of the fpringing and ltriving Light. For as the Morning brings the Begin– ning of Day-light after the tedious Sadnefs of a dark Night, and is no little Comfort to them, efpecially if f1ck, that are weary of Darknefs, and earnefily long for Day, fo the Grace of Divine Confolation does wonderfully recreate and refrefh the Hearts of fuch as are troubled and afflicted, &c. Of which take two. Examples, Pfa!. ex. 3 • From the Womb of the Mormng, thou haft the Dew of-Of wh1ch Place many have faid many Things. It is certainly to be expounded by a Metaphor, denoting the Grace of God given in his "Word, which is compared to the Morning, lfa. lviii. 8. Hofea vi. 3 . A Womb is attributed to the Morning, becaufe of the M yfiery of God in his fpiritual begetting of his Children. The unfolding of this 'I'rope is thus, as the Dew by a wonderful and mv1Gble Way 1s, as It were, born of the Womb of the Morning, that is, it plentifully falls at that Time, without any Help or Allifiance of Man, Job xxxviii. 2 8. So by the Grace and Mercy of God, and by the Power of his heavenly Word, (but in a far more abfirufe and myf\ical Manner) the Youth of the Mejjiah, that is, that willing People in the Day of his Power, and in the Beauties of Holinef1, of which the Pialmil\ fpeaks in the fame Verfe. See Pfal. xxii. 30, 31. and lxxxvii. 4, 5· lfa. liii. 10. and liv. 1. M.icah v. 7· John i. 12, 13, and iii. 5, 8. Jam. i. 18, &c. The other Place is !fa. viii. 20. where the Morning is put for the Grace of God and that Comfort and Peace of Spirit which flows from it, the Words in Hebrew are: becaufe there is no A1ourning in him; but Interpreters do not agree whether this is to be ttnderf\ood of Men, or the perverfe DoCtrines of fuch as conful•ed them that pretended to foretell Things to come, by a devililh or familiar Spirit. If it be referred to Mm it bears this Senie. 'To the Law and to the 'J'eflimony: Ifthey fpeak not accordino- to thi~ W ord, they fhall have no Morning that is true Light. This is true in itfelf, "but the L etter of the Text is not altogether conformable to it, for it is not in the Plural to them, bur
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