which confifts in difinterested affection, do blind the mind to spiritual objects, and effectually fhut out that light and difcerning which is effential to faith in Chrift; and that they only whofe hearts are benevolent and humble, have the true light, and fee fpiritual objects as faith beholds them.

His

We are taught the fame thing by Chrift, when speaking exprefsly and particularly of illumination. words are, "The light of the body is the eye: If therefore thine eye be fingle, thy whole body fhall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee, be darkness, how great is that darkness."* Our divine teacher is here fpeaking of moral or fpiritual light and darkness, and fays, that these are as the eye of the mind is, and depend on the fingle or evil eye. If we attend to the fcripture, we may learn what is meant by the fingle and evil eye, Jefus Chrift fays, " From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetoufnefs, wickedness, deceit, lafcivioufnefs, an evil eye, blafphemy, pride, foolifhnefs. All thefe evil things come from within, and defile the man." From these words we learn, that an evil eye belongs to the heart, and is an exercife of the heart, as it cometh out of the heart. Therefore it is of a moral nature, and is itself criminal, as it is called an evil thing, and is ranked among other things, which are moral evils or fins, and defile men. We may infer from this with great certainty, that moral darknefs belongs to the heart, and not the intellect, as diftinguifhed from thatThat it confils in the exercife of the heart, and is in itfelf criminal, in every degree of it.

And it may with equal certainty be determined, from other paffages of fcripture, what is the particular nature of that difpofition and exercise which is called an evil

* Matth. vi. 22, 23. Mark vii. 21, 22, 23.

cfe,

eye, and in what this evil eye confifts. Our Lord represents the householder, who hired men to work in his vineyard, at different times in the day, and ordered his steward to give as much wages to thofe who had laboured but one hour, as to those who had laboured the whole day; as faying to one of the latter who complained of this," Is thine eye evil, becaufe I am good ?" Here a contracted, felfifh, envious fpirit, is called an evil eye; and is opposed to goodness of heart, or benevolence, which is here called a good eye; and must be the fame. with a fingle eye. An evil eye always means felfishness, and that affection of heart which is included in it, whenever it is mentioned in the fcripture. There are the following inftances of this. When God commands the Ifraelites to open their hand wide, and give liberally to their poor brethren, he adds the following words: "Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, faying, The feventh year, the year of release is at hand : And thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou giveft him nought, and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be fin unto thee."§ Here again, an evil eye is a selfish difpofition of heart, in oppofition to goodness or benevolence of heart. The fame thing is denoted by an evil eye in the following paffages: "Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye; neither defire thou his dainty meat. For as he thinketh in his heart, fo is he Eat and drink, faith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee." Here his evil eye confifis in the thoughts and difpofition of his heart, which are opposed to his generous benevolent expreffions, and really against this guest, which can be nothing but a selfish, covetous difpofition. "He that hafteth to be rich, hath an evil eye." Nothing but a felfifh, inordinate craving, and a covetous fpirit, will prompt men to make hafte to be rich.

PART II. Having found what an evil eye is; that it confifts in that difpofition and those exercises of heart which are evil and criminal; in that felf love which is contrary to benevolence and true goodness of heart, and fills the mind with moral darkness It is easy to determine what is meant by a fingle eye, viz. that difpofition of heart, which is oppofed to selfishness. It is an upright, good, benevolent heart, or true, difinterested, benevolent love. This is evident from the paffages of fcripture already mentioned. A liberal, benevolent difpofition, and a good eye, which is the fame, is fet in oppofition to an evil eye. fingle eye, is the fame with a bountiful eye, hath a bountiful eye fhall be bleffed: For he giveth of his bread to the poor."*

The

"He that

That the fingle eye confifts in benevolence and goodnefs of heart is evident (if any farther evidence be needed) in that the word in the original aλes, translated fingle, when a fubftantive, anλorns, is used for liberality, bountifulness, or benevolence. It is fo ufed in the following paffages of fcripture. "He that giveth, let him do it with fimplicity." [andorn] That is, with a liberal, bountiful heart.†

"How that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy, and their deep poverty, abounded unto the riches of their liberality." [anλornlos] "Being enriched in every thing, to all bountifulness." [sis macar amλoTla] "While, by the experiment of this miniftration, they glorify God for your profeffed fubjection unto the gofpel of Chrift, and for your liberal diftribution [anλorn} Tns xowvwvías] unto them, and unto all men."|| "Who giveth to all men liberally [anλws] and upbraideth not.”¶

It is easy to fee that this representation of a fingle and an evil eye agrees exactly with those paffages of fcripture which have been mentioned above, in which difinterested love, as opposed to selfishness, is spoken of as ef

* Prov. xxii. 9. + Rom. xii. 8. || Ver. 13.

‡ 2 Cor. viii. a. ¶ Jam. i. 5.

fential Chap. ix. 11.

fential to true light and difcerning, with respect to things of a moral nature; so that he who loveth, knoweth God, and he who loveth not, knoweth not God; and confequently has no true knowledge of the things of the moral world; but is in total darknefs. And that self love by which a man hateth his brother is moral darkness itself, and causeth him to walk in darkness. Herein the Apoftles perfectly agree with Jefus Chrift, when he says that a fingle eye, that is love, or a benevolent difpofition of heart, is that which illuminates the mind, and is moral light and difcerning: And that the evil eye, that is, felf ishness, is moral darkness, and holds the mind in this darkness, where it reigns. Love, or univerfal, difinterefted benevolence, which implies all moral goodness, or righteousness and holiness, is the fingle eye which illuminates the mind, and fills the heart with moral divine light. This fingle eye fixes on one grand object, the glory of God, which implies the greatest good of his eternal kingdom, and the best good of every individual creature, so far as it tends to promote the general good, or is confiftent with it. The evil eye is selfishness, and all that is implied in this, in which all moral evil or fin confifts. This is moral blindness, or spiritual darkness; and while the heart is under the dominion of this, all the light which is fet before the man, and all his fpeculations, will not in the leaft remove this darkness, but all the light that is in him, is darkness. And "how great is that darkness !"

The fame thing is afferted by Jefus Chrift in the following paffages. "Every one that doth evil," That is, is wholly selfish in all he does, "hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, left his deeds fhould be reproved. But he that doth truth," he that loveth, "cometh to the light."* "If any man will do his will, he fhall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak

of

*John iii. 20, 21.

PART II. of myself." He only doth the will of God who loveth. He shall know God and Chrift; he and he only has light and difcerning to fee and know the truth, and dif tinguish it from error.

St. Paul fets this point in the fame light, when he fays, "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more, in knowledge, and in all judgment."+ The word here tranflated judgment, fignifies tafle and fenfibility of heart, which is true moral light and difcerning. This knowledge and judgment, is here represented as confifting in love, or the concomitant or fruit of it.

The above fcriptural account of the moral darkness of the minds of depraved men, and of divine illumination or spiritual light and difcerning, is agreeable to reafon, and fupported by it; and is implied in what has been generally granted by thofe who have attended to the fubject. It has been generally if not univerfally conceded, and feems to be a plain dictate of reafon and common sense, that the inordinate lufts of men, when they prevail and govern, do blind their minds with refpect to moral objects; fo that thofe lufts and evil inclinations of men must be fuppreffed, and mortified, in fome degree, at leaft, in order to their difcerning these objects, and feeing them in a true and proper light. The man who gives himfelf up to covetoufnefs and worldly pursuits, to unrighteoufnefs or fenfuality, muft, by the reigning of any or all of these lufts, be blind to the beauty and excellence of fpiritual, moral objects, and truths, and thofe exercises of mind in which true virtue and holiness confifts. And there is no other way to recover fuch an one to a true and proper difcerning of the reality, importance, the beauty and excellence of the truths and objects of the moral world, including God, his law, Jefus Chrift, the gospel, the nature and excellence of true religion, but by an alteration in the taste, difpofition and

John vii. 17. + Phillip. i. 9.