All the other texts speak of it as God's act. The thing is easily reconciled." — He then says : " The Jews first shut their own eyes, and hardened their own hearts. Thus behaving them- selves, God judicially gave them up to their own lusts, per- mitted their hearts to harden, and suffered them to close their own eyes, so that they could not repent, believe, or return. God did not infuse any malice into their hearts, but withdrew His grace from them."
Rollock makes the wise and deep remark, that "Darkness does not blind men so much as light, unless God renews their minds by His Spirit."
It is of course noteworthy that this quotation is not given literally and exactly as it stands in the Old Testament. But it is particularly mentioned by Surenhusine, in his book upon the quotations in the New Testament, that it was a common thing with the Hebrew doctors to abbreviate texts in quoting them, and to be content with giving the general sense. The abbrevi- ation, therefore, in the text quoted before us, would not strike John's cotemporaries as at all extraordinary.
Let us not fail to remark how "seeing, understanding, being converted, and being healed," are linked together.
41.— [These things... Esaias... his glory... him. ,] To see the full force of this verse we should read the sixth chapter of Isaiah in its entirety. We should there see a magnificent description of the Lord's glory, before which even the seraphim veiled their faces. We should observe their cry, " Holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts ! " We should mark how Isaiah says, " My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts." And then let us remember that John says, " Esaias saw Christ's glory, and spake of Christ ! " — How any one, in the face of this evidence, can say that Jesus Christ is not very God, it seems hard to under- stand.
Lightfoot thinks that Isaiah in this chapter had a view of the glory which our Lord would have when He came to punish the Jewish nation. He thinks this is pointed out by "the posts of the door being shaken;" by "the temple being filled with smoke ; " and by " the cities being wasted." (See Isaiah vi.)
42. — [Nevertheless... rulers... many believed him.'] Here St. John mentions a fact which he would have us take together with his account of the hardened unbelief of most of the Jews. There were some who were not so utterly hardened as the rest. They were in a different state of mind : not blind, but convinced ; not hardened against our Lord, but secretly persuaded that He was the Christ. Many even of the chief people at Jerusalem be- lieved, in their own secret minds, that Jesus was the Christ. This faith no doubt was only the faith of the head, and not of the heart. But they did believe.
Let us note that there is often far more going on in people's