It is impossible not to see in the history before us that our Lord had a mysterious influence over the minds tnd wills of all around Him, whenever He thought fit to use it. Nothing else can account for the effect which His approach to Jerusalem had on the multitudes which accompanied Him. The}' seem to have been carried for- ward by a secret constraining power, which they were obliged to obey, in spite of the disapproval of the leaders of the nation. In short, just as our Lord was able to make winds, and waves, and diseases, and devils obey Him, so was He able, when it pleased Him, to turn the minds of men according to His will.
For the case before us does not stand alone. The men of Nazareth could not hold Him when He chose to " pass through the midst of them and go His way." (Luke iv. 30.) The angry Jews of Jerusalem could not detain him when they would have laid violent hands on Him in the Temple ; but, " going through the midst of them, He passed by." (John viii. 59.) Above all, the very soldiers who apprehended Him in the garden, at first " went backward and fell to the ground." (John xviii. 6.) In each of these instances there is but one explanation. A Divine influence was put forth. There was about our Lord during His whole earthly ministry a mysterious " hiding of His power." (Hab. iii. 4.) But He had almighty power when He was pleased to use it.
Why, then, did He not resist His enemies at last? Why did He not scatter the band of soldiers who came to seize Him, like chaff before the wind? There is but one answer. He was a willing Sufferer in order to pro- cure redemption for a lost and ruined soul. He had undertaken to give His own life as a ransom, that we might live forever, and He laid it down on the cross with all the desire of Hi'; heart. He did not bleed and