The reason of this difference is simple. The old Jews spoke of God's
night, such as we country folks may see, thank God, as often as we
will. St. Paul spoke of man's night, such as it might be seen, alas!
in the cities of the Roman empire. All those to whom he wrote--
Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, and the rest--dwelt in great cities,
heathen and profligate; and night in them was mixed up with all that
was ugly, dangerous, and foul. They were bad enough by day: after
sunset, they became hells on earth. The people, high and low, were
sunk in wickedness; the lower classes in poverty, and often despair.
The streets were utterly unlighted; and in the darkness robbery,
house-breaking, murder, were so common, that no one who had anything
to lose went through the streets without his weapon or a guard; while
inside the houses, things went on at night--works of darkness--of
which no man who knows of them dare talk. For as St. Paul says, 'It
is a shame even to speak of those things which are done by them in
secret.' Evil things are done by night still, in London, Paris, New
York, and many a great city; but they are pure, respectable,
comfortable, and happy, when compared with one of those old heathen
cities, which St. Paul knew but too well.

Again. Our own forefathers were afraid of the night and its terrors,
and looked on night as on an ugly time: but for very different
reasons from those for which St. Paul warned his disciples of night
and the works of darkness. Though they lived in the country, they
did not rejoice in God's heaven, or in the moon and stars which he
had ordained. They fancied that the night was the time in which all
ghastly and ugly phantoms began to move; that it was peopled with
ghosts, skeletons, demons, witches, who held revels on the hill-tops,
or stole into houses to suck the life out of sleeping men. The cry