Christian Submission

    Christ said, "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" And it is the duty of his people to be freely willing to drink of every cup of affliction which their Father puts into their hand.

    We must check and chide ourselves into this frame. David did so: "Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." We should observe the motions of our spirits: our drawings back from the cross, quarrelling with it.

    We must pray ourselves into this willing frame. When you find corruption strong; the weakness of the flesh, prevailing against the willingness of the spirit; away to the throne of grace. Cry mightily to God for assistance and succour. As our Lord Jesus did: "And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him."

    We must reason ourselves by Scripture reasons into a willing frame. Particularly this one—that it is an article of our covenant with God, that we would lie at his feet, and resign ourselves wholly to be at his disposal. That as we would not pick and choose precepts, so we would not pick and choose providences. Was it upon any other terms that you made the bargain? Was it not a marriage covenant, for better for worse, for richer for poorer?

    We must press ourselves to it by Scripture precedents. We must find out the footsteps of the flock: the footsteps of the saints that have gone before you in this way of patient submission to the cross. Set the "cloud of witnesses" before you—Eli, David, Paul—and walk after it.

    We must believe ourselves into this frame. Certainly the more faith the more patience. Faith in the promises. There are many "precious promises" for faith to feed upon at such a time. Promises of assistance, of God's presence with us in our sufferings, and of the reward after suffering. Faith in Christ. Look unto Jesus. See him taking out the sting: the poison out of the cup. Why then should you not drink it? Look at his example. Look at unseen things by faith, 2 Cor. iv. 16—18: at an unseen heaven, and an unseen hell: both which will help to make us willing to drink of every cup. Blessed be God it is not hell.

    Whatever cup our Father puts into our hand we must drink it, whether we will or no. For "who has resisted his will?" Now, let us make a virtue of necessity. Let us not say—It is an evil, and I must bear it—but, It is an evil, and I will bear it. In Psa. lxxv. 8, we read of "a cup of mixture;" a cup mixed with love, with mercy; with a design to do us good. "But the dregs" —the unmixed wrath of God—are reserved for "the wicked of the earth." The saints have not the dregs of the cup to drink. They should, therefore, be freely willing to drink of every cup that is put into their hands.