V. 7.— Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared. In the days of his fleshy during his abode in this world, John 1:14 :, he offered up most earnest supplications and prayers to him with whom are the issues from death, Psalms 68:20, with strong crying and tears, as we find in the Garden of Gethsemane, and was heard in that he feared; hearing prayer implies receiving a favorable answer. 1 John 5:16; 1 John 5:18. No man took the life of Jesus from him, he laid it down of himself. To the last he asserted his power to rid himself of his enemies. His death was an act of obedience to his Father, as indeed was every action of his life and every word that he spoke. John 12:49. My doctrine, says he, is not mine, but His that sent me. In John 8:16 it is said, To Him that was able to save him from death. If we understand this to mean to prevent him from dying, the Lord’ s prayer was not heard, for he actually tasted death. When he said, “ Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour,” he adds, “ but for this cause came I unto this hour.” John 12:27. He knew that he came forth from God and was going to God, and that the Son of Man was to be glorified and that his death was essential to this consummation, for he says: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24. When, therefore, we read of his supplications and tears to be delivered from death, we cannot understand him as meaning that he might not die, for the Father heareth him always, and had not his death been perfectly voluntary he would not have died; but his being saved from death refers to his resurrection, being brought from the fearful pit and miry clay. Psalms 40:2. He knew that his soul was not to be left in Hades, nor was the Holy One of God to see corruption. In the regions of death, the path of life was to be shown him, and at his Father’ s right hand he was to enjoy pleasures for evermore. We have an account of his agony in the garden, and the supplications and prayers which he offered up, but these are to be found more fully in the Book of Psalms,— a book by which we are admitted into our Redeemer’ s closet and learn his entire submission to his Father’ s will, together with the keenness of his feelings when, as the surety and representative of his people, he bore the sins of his people, which, as a heavy burden, were too heavy for the man Christ Jesus, and brought him to the dust of death. But he could not be held under the power of death, and his resurrection to the power of an endless life was the pledge of his having magnified the law and made it honorable, having finished transgression, made an end of sin, made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness. With his dying breath he exclaimed, it is finished or perfected, and his Father re-echoed the declaration by raising him from the dead and crowning him with glory. His resurrection is ascribed sometimes to the power of the Father, sometimes to his own power, and sometimes to the power of the Spirit. These three are one in operation, whatever is done by one is done by all. We especially see their unity in the plan of salvation, each taking a share: " Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-6. While the subsistence of the Eternal Jehovah in three persons, who are one, is an unfathomable mystery, it is essential to the right understanding of the plan of salvation, which indeed is founded upon it. The Father chooses his people and gives them to the Son, whom he sends to deliver them from condemnation, and, as their head and representative, to communicate to them a new and endless life. The Son takes part with them in flesh and blood, thus becoming a member of Adam’ s fallen race, and having the right of redemption as the near kinsman of the children whom God has given him. The Spirit is given to him without measure, and as the precious oil poured on the head of Aaron ran down to the skirts of his garments, so the Spirit is through him communicated to all whom he is not ashamed to call brethren. They are all accepted in the beloved, are saved with an everlasting salvation, and thus the eternal purpose of God, the manifestation of his manifold wisdom, is accomplished.