upon that as a condition of surrendering myself to you, which you may easily perceive I could refuse if I thought fit. And this he said, that the saying he uttered before might further be illustrated and accomplished, Of those whom thou, my heavenly Father, hast given me, I have lost and will lose none.*

"And then, as he was speaking this, they that were sent to apprehend him, came and laid their hands upon Jesus and took him prisoner, without his making any manner of resistance. Now, upon this, when his disciples saw that they had seized him, and began to apprehend what would be the consequence of these things, they said to him, Lord, shall we smite these impious wretches with the sword? for we doubt not, but as few as we are, thou canst render us victorious over this armed multitude; and without staying for his answer, behold one of them that were with Jesus, even Simon Peter,† having a sword, stretched out his hand and drew it with a rash, inconsiderate zeal, and smote a servant of the high priest, whose name was Malpeared a strong engagement upon them to have waited for that fair dismission which our Lord seemed about to give them."

x 66

Jansenius justly observes, that it was a remarkable instance of the power of Christ over the spirits of men, that they so far obeyed his word, as not to seize Peter when he had cut off the ear of Malchus, or John while he stood by the cross, though they must know them to have been of the number of his most intimate associates."

+"(Even Simon.) None of the evangelists but John mentions the name of Peter on this occasion, which perhaps the others omitted lest it should expose him to any persecution; but John writing long after his death, needed no such precaution."

chus, who was one of the forwardest, and seemed peculiarly officious in seizing Christ; * and he struck full at his head, intending to cleave him down; but the stroke glanced a little on one side, so that he only cut off his right ear.

"Then Jesus, being determined to surrender himself into the hands of his enemies, and still to show that such a surrender was the effect not of compulsion but of choice, said unto Peter, Return thy sword into the sheath again; for I will not have recourse to this or any other method of defence-and indeed all who take the sword shall perish by the sword and they that are most ready to take up arms, are commonly the first that will fall by them;-which might be intended as an intimation that the Jews, who were now drawing the sword against him, should ere long perish by it in a very miserable manner, as they quickly after did in the Roman war; and that the sword of divine vengeance, in one form or another, would quickly find out all his enemies. And besides, Peter, dost thou think that I want the aid of thy feeble arm, and that I

* 66 (Smote a servant of the high priest.) Yet one would have thought, as Bishop Hall observes, he should rather have struck Judas; but the traitor, perhaps, on giving the signal, had mingled himself with the crowd; or Peter might not understand the treacherous design of his kiss; or seeing Malchus more eager in his attack than the rest on Christ, he might postpone all other resentments to indulge the present sally of his indignation. Though this might seem a courageous action, it was really very imprudent, and had not Christ, by some signal influence, overawed their spirits, it is very probable, as the pious Sir Matthew Hale observes, that not only Peter but the rest of the apostles would have been cut to pieces."

cannot now entreat my Father, and have such an interest with him, that he would presently furnish me with a celestial army for my guard, marshalled in dreadful array, and consisting of more than twelve legions of angels.* But how then, if I should thus stand on my own defence, shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, even the very prophecies which I came to accomplish, which have so expressly foretold that thus it must be? Or how should I approve my submission to him that sent me? You only look at second causes, and have but an imperfect view of things; but I consider all the sufferings I am now to meet as under a divine direction and appointment, and regard them as the cup which my Father has given me; and when considered in that view, shall I not willingly submit to drink it? shall I not acquiesce in what I know to be his will? or would it be the part of a dutiful and affectionate Son to dispute the determination of his paternal wisdom and love?

"Then without any opposition he surrendered himself into the hands of those who came to apprehend him; and all uniting in their enmity against him, the band of Roman soldiers, with the captain at their head, and the Jewish officers that came with them, seized Jesus as a malefactor,

* 66 (More than twelve legions of angels.) The Roman armies were composed of legions, which did not always consist of the same number of men, but are computed at this time to have contained above six thousand; and twelve legions were more than were commonly entrusted with their greatest generals. How dreadfully irresistible' would such an army of angels have been, when one of these celestial spirits was able to destroy 185,000 Assyrians at one stroke! (2 Kings xix. 35.)"

and presently bound him, to prevent his escape. But as they were binding him, Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye at least that I may have my hands at liberty thus far, and stay but for a moment, while I add one act of power and compassion to those I have already done; and calling Malchus to him, he touched his ear, and immediately healed him.* Then Jesus said in that same hour to the chief priests and to the captains of the temple-guard,† and to the elders of the people, or to those members of the Sanhedrim who (as was said before) were so forgetful of the

* 66

(He touched his ear and healed him.) As this was an act of great compassion, so likewise it was an instance of singular wisdom, for it would effectually prevent those reflections and censures on Jesus which the rashness of Peter's attack might otherwise have occasioned."

"(The captains of the temple.) There was indeed a Roman guard, and commanding officer, which attended near the temple, during the time of the great feasts, in order to prevent any sedition of the Jews. See Josephus' Antiquities, lib. xviii. cap. 4. [al. 6.] s, 3, and Bell. Jud. lib. v. cap. v. [al. vi. 6.] s. 8. And this appears to be the band and captain mentioned here by John, ver. 12, where the word in the original is xλiapxos, which plainly shows it was a Roman officer, and in the title given to Lysias, Acts xxi. 31, who was commander of the garrison kept by the Romans in the castle of Antonia, from whence there were detachments sent at the time of the feasts, and posted in the porticoes of the temple, to suppress any tumults among the people, when such great numbers flocked together. But for those captains of the temple spoken of by Luke, there is no doubt but they were Jewish officers, who are said by John to have attended with the former; of whom it is to be observed, that as the priests kept watch in three places of the temple, and the Levites in twenty-one, so their leaders were called σrparηyou Tov iepov, or captains of the temple; and Josephus more than once speaks of one of the Jewish priests by that title."

dignity of their character, as to come to him themselves, with the dregs of the populace, at this unseasonable time, and on this infamous occasion: to these he said, and to the multitude that now surrounded him, For what imaginable reason are you come out against me, as against a robber that would make a desperate resistance, armed in this way with swords and staves, as if you came to seize me at the hazard of your lives? When I was with you every day, as I have been for some time past, and publicly sat teaching in the temple, you had opportunities enough to have secured me, if there was any crime with which you could have charged me; yet then you did not apprehend me, or offer to stretch out your hands against me; but I know the reason better than yourselves do: you have hitherto been kept under a secret restraint, which is now removed; and this is your hour, in which God has let you loose against me, and the power of darkness is now permitted to rage with peculiar violence; for it is under the instigation of Satan and his infernal powers that you now act, with whatever pious names you may affect to consecrate the deed. (And though you are left to your own free agency, yet Omniscience foreknows that you would at this very time so act as to accomplish events most contrary to your own schemes, and that all this is done that those scriptures of the prophets, given by inspiration of God, through his foreknowledge of all that ever comes to pass, past, present, and to come, might be illustriously fulfilled) I therefore resign myself into your hands,