The former are content to have
the light cast upon their way; the latter will have it in their eyes,
and cannot: if they had, it would but blind them. For them to know more
would be their worse condemnation. They are not fit to know more; more
shall not be given them yet; it is their punishment that they are in
the wrong, and shall keep in the wrong until they come out of it. 'You
choose the dark; you shall stay in the dark till the terrors that dwell
in the dark affray you, and cause you to cry out.' God puts a seal upon
the will of man; that seal is either his great punishment, or his
mighty favour: 'Ye love the darkness, abide in the darkness:' 'O woman,
great is thy faith: be it done unto thee even as thou wilt!'
What special meaning may be read in the different parts of magistrate,
judge, and officer, beyond the general suggestion, perhaps, of the
tentative approach of the final, I do not know; but I think I do know
what is meant by 'agree on the way,' and 'the uttermost farthing.' The
parable is an appeal to the common sense of those that hear it, in
regard to every affair of righteousness.
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