conviction upon their minds, and to shew them, that they were indulging prejudices against him in spite of all they had heard respecting him; and that, if they yielded to their un- belief, they would constrain him to withhold his blessings from them, and even to send them to the Gentile world in preference to them.]
This was the true ground of all their rage —
[They saw the drift of his discourse: but they hated the light ; and therefore sought immediately to extinguish it. They were not disposed to contend with him in a way of argument ; for they saw that the truth was against them. They resorted therefore to clamour and persecution, the usual substitutes for truth and reason. But to reject him merely, was not sufficient; nor could they be contented even with expelling him from the city: no; nothing but his blood would satisfy them ; and there- fore, forgetting the sanctity both of the synagogue and of the sabbath, they rose up with one consent, and thrust him out of the city to an eminence, that they might despatch him in a moment. Probably in executing thus, what they would have called, the judgment of zeala, they thought they were doing an acceptable service to their God ; so blinded were they by their own passions, and " captivated by the devil at his will."]
The inspired historian has declared to us,
II. The manner in which our Lord escaped its effects —
Our blessed Lord on different occasions withdrew himself from those who loved, and from those who hated himb. His escape from them at this time may be considered,
1. As it respected them —
[His withdrawment from them was miraculous, as much as if he had beaten them all down with his wordc, or smitten them with blindnessd, or struck them dead upon the spote. The precise mode of his withdrawment is not specified ; but it seems that he rendered himself invisible, and thus escaped from their hands.
It was also merciful, both as it tended to convince them of his miraculous power, and especially as it prevented them from executing their murderous purposes. What a mercy did David esteem it, when by the interposition of Abigail he was kept from destroying Nabalf! Much more, if they ever received grace to repent of their wickedness, was it a mercy to those
a Numb. xxv. 7 — 13. b Luke xxiv. 31. John viii. 59.
c John xviii. 6. d Gen. xix. 11. 2 Kings vi. 18.
e 2 Kings i. 10, 12. f 1 Sam. xxv. 32, 33.