drops of blood, falling down to the ground"?[1] How plainly also did He speak to His disciples concerning the conflicts which He sustained, and the triumphs which He won? When "the seventy returned with joy, saying. Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name, He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you: but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."[2] Surely, these were phenomena beyond the scenes of ordinary humanity in the natural world. The narrative plainly recognises the cruel bondages into which mankind had fallen, and the heavenly liberty that was in the process of being restored. "For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil:"[3] Hence Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And He closed the book, and began to say unto them, this day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears."[4] Here, among other purposes of His mission, are expressly enumerated the "deliverance of the captive," and the "setting at liberty them that are bound:" but the captivity and bonds referred to were not those of the body; for from these we do not read that he liberated any. He spake of the captivity and bondage of the souls of men; it is these that are precious
