men's hatred of the light.
John iii. 19 — 21. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 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.
IT appears strange to many, that the everlasting happiness or misery of the soul should be made to depend on the exercise of faith. The declaration of our Lord, That " he that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned," is regarded by them as a " hard saying;" they see no proportion between the work and the reward on the one hand, or between the offence and the punishment on the other. In the words before us we have a solution of the difficulty. We are taught that faith and unbelief are not mere operations of the mind, but exercises of the heart ; the one proceeding from a love to what is good ; the other from a radical attachment to evil. Our blessed Lord had repeatedly inculcated the ne- cessity of believing in him, in order to a participation of his proffered benefits. He had also represented unbelievers as " already condemned," even like cri- minals reserved for execution. To obviate any ob- jection which might arise in the mind of Nicodemus
264 JOHN, III. 19 — kJI. [1012.
in relation to the apparent severity of this sen- tence, he proceeded to shew the true ground of it, namely, That, in their rejection of him, men are actuated by an invincible love of sin, and by a con- sequent hatred of the light which is sent to turn them from sin.
In opening the words of our text, we shall shew, I. What is that light which is come into the world —
Christ is called " The light of the world," " The true light," " The Day-star," and " The Sun of right- eousness that arises with healing in his wings." But,
It is the Gospel which is here said to have " come
into the world" —
[The glad tidings of salvation were now published by Christ himself; and both the manner in which that salvation was to be effected, and the manner in which it was to be received, were clearly revealed. Our blessed Lord had in this very discourse with Nicodemus declared, that " the Son of Man was to be lifted up upon the cross, as the serpent had been in the wilderness," in order that all who were dying of the wounds of sin might look to him and be healed. He had repeated again and again this important truth, on which the salvation of our fallen race depends. This mystery had from eternity been hid in the bosom of the Father; but now it was made fully manifest. This " light was now come into the world."]
The Gospel, in this view of it, is fitly designated under the metaphor of "light" —
[Light is that, without which no one thing can he discerned aright. And how ignorant are we, till the light of the Gospel shines in our hearts ! We know nothing of ourselves, of God, of Christ, or of the way to heaven. We cannot even appreciate the value of the soul, the importance of time, the emptiness of earthly vanities. We may indeed give our assent to the state- ments which we hear made upon these subjects ; but we can- not have an experimental and abiding sense, even of the most obvious truths, till our minds are enlightened by the Gospel of Christ.
Light causes all other things to be seen in their true colours. Thus does also the Gospel : in setting forth the Son of God as dying for our sins, it shews us the malignity of sin ; the justice of God which required such an atonement for it; and, above all, the wonderful love of God in giving us his only dear