7 and appear at Night, is very deducible from, if not literally mentioned in it. Their's is the Land of Darkness, and the Shadow of Death; They are reserved under Chains of Darkness to the Judgment of the great Day; and we know that every one that doth Evil naturally hateth the Light: They therefore love Darkness rather than Light, because their Deeds are Evil. The Night therefore, in a more especial Manner, seems to be their Hour, and the Power of Darkness. This was the opinion of the Jews, as may be learned from the Fear of the Apostles, when they saw our Saviour about the fourth Watch of the Night, coming to them upon the Waters: * they were affrighted and cryed out, supposing they had seen a Spirit. Doctor Whitby upon this Place, says, "That the Jews "had then an Opinion of hurtful Spirits walking in the Night, is evident from the seventy, who render'd," from the Pestilence walking in Darkness; + From the Fear of the Devils that walk in the Night. 66 66 And that this was also the Opinion of the ancient Christians, is evident, not only from * Matt. xiv. 25. † Apo pragmatos diaporeuomenou en skotei. F their their dividing the Night into four Watches, the Evening, Midnight, Cock-crowing, and the Morning; which were the Military Divisions of the Night, and which they * observed to guard their Souls from the silent Incursions of evil Spirits, as the others did those of the Enemy but also from their many Relations of such Appearances. Cassian in giving an Account of the Watching of the ancient Monks, and their being assaulted with Midnight Spirits, tells us, "That at the Beginning of the Monkish Life, † the Rage of the Midnight Spirits was so great, that but few, and these too Men of Age and unshaken Resolution, were able to endure the Life in the Desart. For such was their Fierceness, that where Eight or Ten had been together in a Monastery, they would have made frequent and visible Incursions: Insomuch, that they * Si quidem & in Nocte Stationes, & Vigilia Militares in quatuor partes divisa ternis horarum spatiis secernuntur. Isi dore, Lib. 1. de Eccle. Offici. Cap, 19.. † Tanta namq; erat eorum feritas, ut vix pauci.- -Tolerare habitationem solitudinis possent.Ita eorum atrocitas grassabatur, & frequentes ac visibiles sentiebantur aggressus, ut non auderent omnes pariter noctibus obdormire, sed vicissim aliis degustantibus somnum, alii vigilias celebrantes, Psalmis & Orationibus, seu Lectionibus in hærebant. Cassian. Coll. 7. Cap. 23. never all slept at the same Time, but took it by Turns; some watching the Rest, and exercising themselves in singing Psalms, in Praying and Reading. And St. Athanasius in his Life of Anthony the Hermit, tells, Of many Conflicts that good Man had in the Night with the Powers of Darkness, whilst they endeavoured to batter him from the strong Holds of his Faith. And what can our Church chiefly mean in the Collect for Aid against Perils; but that GOD would send us Protection from all the Spirits of Darkness, these Midnight Wanderers of the World: And for this Reason, every good Man, when he lies down to sleep at Night, desires the great Keeper of Israel, who never slumbereth nor sleepeth, to send his holy Angels to pitch their Tents round about him, and banish from him the Spirits of the Night. So far then this Tradition is just and good, that there are at Midnight Spirits who wander about the World, going too and fro in the Earth, seeking whom they may devour. Let us now in the next Place enquire, what Truth there is in the other Part of it; namely, That they always fly away at Cock-crow. This opinion, whatever Truth there may 1 be in it, is certainly very ancient. We have it mentioned by the Christian Poet Prudentius, who flourished in the Beginning of the fourth Century, as a Tradition of Common Belief: His Words are these, Ferunt Vagantes Dæmones Invisa nam Vicinitas, Hoc esse signum præscii They say the wandering Powers, that love The approaching salutary Morn, The Approach divine of hated Day, They They know that this an Emblem is, Cassian also, who lived in the same Century, giving an Account of a Multitude of Devils, who had been Abroad in the Night, says, * That as soon as the Morn approached, they all vanished and fled away. By this we see, that this was a current Opinion at this Time of Day; but what Reason they had for it, except some Relations of the disappearing of Evil Spirits at that Hour, I never yet have met with: But there have been produc'd at that Time of Night, Things of very memorable Worth, which might perhaps raise the pious Credulity of some Men to imagine, that there was something more in it, than in other Times. It was about the Time of Cock-crowing when our Saviour was born, and the Angels sung the first Christmas-Carrol to the poor Shepherds, in the Fields of Bethlehem. Now it may be presum'd, that as the Saviour of the World was then born, and the heavenly Host had then descended to proclaim the * Aurora itaque superveniente, cum omnis hæc ab oculis. evanisset Dæmonum multitudo. Cass. Coll. 8. C. 16. |