e Dan. vi. 22. ^ Acts v. 19. s Acts xii. 8 — 10.
!> Luke iv. 29, 30. John viii. 59. » John xviii. 6.
k 2 Kings i. 10, 12.
1 Computing a legion at six tliousand, " twelve legions" would be seventy-two thousand.
m Ps. ii. 1 — .3. " Ps. xxii, 12, 16.
o Ps. xli. 9. and Iv. 12, 13. with John xiii. 18.
deliver himself from themP: that, instead of resisting them in any respect, he should go like a lamb to the slaughter i; and that his Disciples, oifended at his apparent weakness, should forsake him"".
Now if these Scriptures were not fulfilled, one essential circumstance would be wanting to prove his divine mission
Moreover, if he should persist in withstanding the
malice of his enemies, the eternal purposes of his Father would be frustrated ; the very ends for which he had become incarnate would be defeated; and the whole world would be left to perish, notwithstanding all he had both done and suffered for their sal- vation But these were evils greater in our Lord's esti- mation than ten thousand deaths ; and therefore he would not for one moment delay the accomplishment of these Scriptures, when once the proper season for it had arrived.]
On this subject we may ground some profitable
1. We can be in no trouble, from whence the voice of prayer cannot extricate us —
[Prayer, if it accord with the will and purpose of Jehovah, shall prevail as much for us, as ever it prevailed for any of the saints of old. However imminent our danger be, or however desperate our condition, the pursuing foe shall be diverted from his purpose % or the voracious wiiale be forced to disgorge his prey upon the dry land*. Prayer should, if necessary, bring all the angels in heaven to our support. Prayer is, in a sense, omnipotent; for it interests the Almighty God in our behalf. O let us have worthy thoughts of the power and efficacy of prayer ! And if Satan tempt us at any time to give up the contest, let us reprove him in the words of our Lord, *' Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he will send me more than twelve legions of angels" to defeat thy malice ?]
2. We should be contented to go to heaven in the way that God has marked out for us —
[Our frail nature is fond of ease. But soldiers are called to endure hardships : and this is the path marked out for us ; it is " through much tribulation that we are to enter into the kingdom of heaven." In this way our Lord himself walked : " though he was a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered," and was at last " made perfect through sufferings." In these things he Was our example, whose steps
P Isai. 1. 5, 6. 1 Isai. liii. 7-
>■ Zech. xiii. 7. with Matt. xxvi. 31. ^ 1 Pet. ii. 19—23.
^ Jonah ii. 10.