of mercy being made known to him, but he is emphatically condemned, because he has rejected this revelation of mercy; "because he has not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God;" trampling, as he does, at once on the authority of God, as manifested in the commandment which he has given to believe on his Son, and on the grace of God, as manifested in his "not sparing his Son," but giving him for us on the cross, and to us in the Gospel; not only is he condemned, inasmuch as he continues in condemnation in consequence of his unbelief, but he is condemned, inasmuch as he incurs a new condemnation on account of it. 1

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He is condemned " already." That may signify, either ' he is even now condemned; in not believing, he contracts guilt; he subjects himself to punishment;'-or, 'he is already sentenced to punishment. Not only will he be condemned at last, but the sentence of condemnation is already passed; and if it be not reversed, the judgment of the last day will only confirm that sentence.' It may be said, where is the doom of the unbeliever to be found? we reply, it is to be found in that book, according to which, the sentences of the great day will be regulated. "He that believeth not shall be damned.”3

Proceeding still on the principle that " condemn" means here sentenced to punishment, the 19th verse must be considered as explanatory of the Divine judicial sentence announced in the 18th verse, and a vindication of it from every imputation of undue severity or injustice. "And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world,

1 "Henceforward, he who is condemned must not complain of Adam and his inborn sin: "the seed of the woman," promised by God to "bruise the head of the serpent," is now come, and has atoned for sin, and taken away condemnation : but he must cry out against himself, for not having accepted and believed in this Christ, the devil's head-bruiser and sin-strangler. If I do not believe the same, sin and condemnation must continue: because he who is to deliver me from it is not taken hold of; nay, it will be a doubly great and heavy sin and condemnation that I will not believe in the dear Saviour by whom I might be helped, nor accept his redemption."-LUTHER.

2 Præteritum verbi tempus iugatrizes posuit, quo melius exprimeret de omnibus incredulis actum esse.-CALVIN. 3 Mark xvi. 16.

and that men have loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." According to this mode of interpretation, "condemnation " is equivalent to the cause of condemnation: this is the reason why the unbeliever is condemned. "Light"—that is, truth, and its evidences-holy benignant truth, calculated to make men wise, and good, and happy—this " has come into the world;" a plain and well accredited revelation has been made of it. It appeared, embodied in the person of the incarnate Son, "God manifested in flesh," the revealer of truth, the author of salvation; and of him, as the image of God, we have an accurate representation “in the word of the truth of the Gospel.”

If men, to whom this revelation comes, continue in ignorance, and guilt, and depravity, and misery, it is not because they have not the means of obtaining knowledge and wisdom, the favour, the image, the fellowship of God. These are brought very near them, and pressed on their acceptance. The true account of their conduct is, "they love darkness rather than light;" and it shows that, however miserable they are, and are likely to be, they themselves are the authors of all that misery, by obstinately refusing what the Divine kindness has provided for them; they prefer ignorance to knowledge, error to truth, sin to holiness; and, in effect, misery to happiness.

It is added, as the reason why they act so irrational as well as wicked a part, "because their deeds are evil.” "Deeds" here are not to be restricted to external actions, nor are we to suppose that the persons referred to by our Lord are exclusively the openly wicked and notoriously profligate. The word "deeds" is to be interpreted with a reference to that law to which man is subject, which is spiritual, "a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart;" and includes evil desires and affections, as well as what are more properly denominated "deeds." Paul enumerates, among the "works" or deeds of the flesh, "hatred, wrath,

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envy." "The old man and his deeds" is descriptive of the whole frame of habits, whether internal or external, which characterise our fallen unchanged nature. When our Lord says "their deeds are evil," it is equivalent to, they are depraved and unholy;' and, consequently, the words are a declaration that all unbelief of the Gospel has a moral cause, and that that cause is evil; that, if men do not believe it, it is not at all because the statements it contains are unintelligible, or the evidence on which they rest defective, but it is because they love sin, and are determined to live in it.1

Such is the mode in which these words have been ordinarily interpreted, and it must be admitted that the sense thus brought out is coherent and important, perfectly harmonious with the general scheme of doctrine taught in the New Testament, and well-fitted to serve the purpose which our Lord had in view in his discourse to Nicodemus.

At the same time, I am inclined to think that it does not exactly express our Lord's meaning. I apprehend that, throughout the whole discourse, our Lord uses the word "condemn" as equivalent to 'punish.' He employs it as an antithesis, not to pardon' or 'acquit,' but to "save." "For God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn," that is, not to punish, "the world, but to save the world;" not to inflict evil, but to confer happiness. In the 36th verse, "to be saved," as the certain effect of believing in Christ, is described as "having everlasting life;" and what is here called "judgment" or " condemnation," the effect of unbelief, is described as "having the wrath of God abiding on a person." This variety of signification not unfrequently belongs to the word as employed in the New Testament." On this principle of interpretation, which, upon the whole, we prefer, our Lord's meaning may be thus expressed: 'He that believeth is not punished; he does not perish; no: he

I earnestly recommend to the reader's perusal, Dr Wardlaw's illustration of these verses, in his able little work, entitled "Man Responsible for his Belief." * Acts vii. 7. 2 Thess. ii. 12. Heb. xiii. 4. Rev. xvi. 5.

is "saved," "he has everlasting life." By his faith he enters on the enjoyment of the salvation which the Gospel announces. But he who does not believe, he is "punished," " already punished.

Some would interpret the word "already" as equivalent to 'he is as sure of punishment as if he were already punished;' as we say of a man condemned to death, or labouring under an incurable disease, he is a dead man.' I rather think the meaning is, in not believing the Gospel, he punishes himself.' A state of unbelief is necessarily a state of perdition. He shuts himself out from the enjoyment of true happiness, which is to be obtained by man only in the faith of the truth. It is true that he will be punished more severely by and by; but he is even now punished, "because he does not believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God."

"And this is the condemnation," or rather 'punishment.' In this consists the misery, "Light has come into the world." Light is the emblem of knowledge, in opposition to ignorance; truth in opposition to error; holiness in opposition to depravity; happiness in opposition to misery. "Light has come into the world," is just equivalent to, 'the means of obtaining knowledge, wisdom, pardon, holiness, and happiness have been furnished to men.' But "men loved darkness rather than the light." The unbeliever obstinately refuses to avail himself of these, and punishes himself by excluding himself from the enjoyment of all these blessings. He prefers ignorance to knowledge, error to truth, sin to holiness, and thus, in effect, misery to happiness. Is not such a person "punished already" in the necessary consequences of his wilful unbelief? For it is wilful. The cause is not, that the revelation is too obscure to be understood, too weakly supported to be credited; it is, that "their deeds are evil," the whole frame of their sentiments, and dispositions, and habits, is depraved.

How this operates in preventing men from believing the

Gospel is explained by our Lord in the 20th and 21st verses. "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God."

In these verses, our Lord refers, I apprehend, directly to the different reception his Gospel was to meet with from different classes of his countrymen. Such of them as were entirely carnal in their desires and expectations in reference to the Messiah, would reject him and his doctrine. They would not "come to the light lest their deeds should be reproved" or exposed. They would not embrace-nay, they would not even examine-a system which, instead of promising to gratify their fond carnal expectations, required them to relinquish them; and which offered only a holy spiritual happiness, for which they had no relish. They had no desire to be awakened from their dreams; and, therefore, they tried to extinguish the light which threatened to break their repose. On the other hand, those among the Jews who "did truth," that is, whose characters were formed, and whose conduct was guided, by that comparatively obscure revelation of truth which they had received; such men as the apostles, who with the exception of Judas, seem all, however imperfect and incorrect their notions might be, to have been looking for something more in the Messiah than a merely temporal deliverer; who were "Israelites, indeed, in whom there was no guile;" men, whose knowledge and faith were very limited, but who lived under the influence of the will of God, so far as they knew it; such men would gladly hail "the day-spring from on high visiting them," and "come unto the light, that their deeds might be made manifest, that they were wrought in God,”1 that is, in conformity to God's will. They would readily avail themselves of the means of discovering how far they were right,

1 It is an ingenious thought of Campbell, that these words were intended as a mild rebuke to Nicodemus for coming "by night."

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