A Practical Commentary on the Epistle of Jude

5. The darkness of sin is punished with the darkness of misery. The light whereby we are directed and perfected is the same; the state of grace is a marvellous light, 1 Pet. 2. 9 and the state of glory, the inheritance of the Saints in light. Col. 1. 12. So sin is but darkness begun. Hell is called utter darkness, Matth. 8. 12. [Greek or Hebrew], a darkness beyond a darkness; as Augustine ⟨p. 304⟩glosseth in his Homilies, In tenebras ex tenebris in foeliciter exclusio, the damned are but thrust out of one darkness into another; from ignorance to sin, from sin to torment: 'tis very observable, when Solomon compareth the way of the just and the way of the wicked, he compareth the one to light the other to darkness, Prov. 4. 18. 19. The way of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day; and the way of the wicked is as darkness. By the rule of contraries, as one is a growing light, so the other is an increasing darkness: from twi-light to star-light, from star-light to thick darkness: they quench the light of nature, choose worldly happiness, grow regardless of eternity, are hardened in their way, and at length given up to everlasting horror and confusion of faces, to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever, 2 Pet. 2. 18. Mists of error are justly punished with mists of darkness. The men there spoken of, were clouds and mists in the Church; and therefore the mists of eternal darkness are kept for them, as a fit and proper portion.

5. The darknesse of sin is punished with the darknesse of mis•ry. The light whereby we are directed and perfected is the same; the state of grace is a marvelous light, 1 Pet. 2. 9 and the state of glory, the inheritance of the Saints in light.