ic.
But--and this is the point--the power that sent that rough hireling
band reeling backward to the ground could easily have held them there,
or plunged them as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, into living graves. "One
flash came forth to tell of the sleeping lightning which He would not
use"; and then, having revealed the might, which could have delivered
Him from their puny arms, He returned to His attitude of willing
self-surrender. Who, then, shall say that our Saviour's death was not
His own act and deed?

(2) When that rabble crew were again on their feet, confronting Jesus,
He asked them a second time, _Whom seek ye_? Again they replied,
"Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus answered, "I have told you that I am He;
if, therefore, ye seek me, let these go their way." And, forthwith, He
put forth such a power over His own as secured their freedom from
arrest.

It is evident that it was no part of His foes' purpose beforehand to
let them go; for, on their way back they arrested a young man, probably
Mark himself, whom curiosity had drawn from his bed, and whom they took
for one of His disciples. He escaped with great difficulty from their
hands. It is hardly doubtful that if some special power had not been
exerted over them, they would have treated the whole of the followers
of Jesus as they sought to treat Him. Is it not evident, then, that
the power which secured the safety of His disciples could have secured
that of the Master Himself; or that He might have passed away through
the midst of them, as He did through the infuriated crowd which
proposed to cast Him headlong over the precipice near Nazareth at the
commencement of His ministry? Every arm might have been struck
nerveless, every foot paralyzed with lameness. Who, then, shall deny
that Christ's death was His own act?

(3) But again, when Jesus had spoken thus there seemed some wavering
among His captors, perhaps a hesitation as to who should first lay hand
on Him. At this juncture, when the whole enterprise threatened to
miscarry, Judas felt that he must, at all hazards, show how safe it was
to touch the person of his Master; so, though the bold challenge of
Jesus had made the preconcerted signal needless, he resolved still to
give it, that the spell of that presence might be broken. The traitor,
therefore, stepped up and kissed the Lord.

Encouraged by this sacrilegious act, His myrmidons now laid hands on
Jesus, grasping His sacred person as they might