even unto Death which this Tragical Scene in the Garden sets before our Eyes How shall wicked Sinners bear the Fury of an incensed God smoaking in Vengeance against them when the Heat of it was so violent against his own most innocent and dearly beloved Son sustaining the Representation only of Sinners but who himself had never done any Sin How exquisite must be the Amazement how darting and raging the Pangs of Offences unpardoned when He whose Mind had nothing to reproach him with trembled and sunk under the Apprehensions of that Wrath which Others had provoked How insupportable must be that Load of Terror and Anguish How dire and dismal that Oppression of Spirit which wicked Men draw down upon their own Heads when He who in Kindness took the Burden which himself had in no degree deserved yet was almost crushed with the mighty Weight and with most vehement Importunity desired if it were possible a Release from the approaching Misery For so he manifestly does in those Words now propounded to your Consideration He withdrew from his Disciples he poured out his Soul to God he shewed him of his Terror and Trouble and kneeling down with all possible Submission with the utmost Earnestness humane Nature was capable of with all that even this present this unparallel'd Affliction could inspire he prayed saying Father if thou be Willing remove this Cup from me nevertheless not My Will but Thine be done In speaking to this Text I am not very sollicitous to compare and reconcile it with those differing Forms of Expression which the other Gospels have given us in this Matter All that is necessary of that Kind will fall in occasionally under some or other Head of my Discourse And That can be but little since the Substance of this Prayer is the same in all the Evangelists And any of the Terms they have left it us in will be equally serviceable to the Use I intend to make of it Now that is Two-fold I. First I shall lay before you some Considerations relating to the Prayer it self and the Circumstances of our Blessed Lord who made it II. Secondly I shall observe something from hence which may be applicable and useful to the Case of Christians in general I. I begin with some Considerations relating to the Prayer it self and the Circumstances of our blessed Master which put him upon it And I think there are Four which may very well deserve our Notice 1. First The Compellation or Manner of Address in that first Word Father 2. Secondly The Subject Matter of his Petition Remove this Cup from me 3. Thirdly The Reservation with which that request is preferred If thou be willing c. 4. Fourthly The free and entire Resignation of himself to God's Disposal in case his Wisdom should see fit not to grant this Request Nevertheless not My Will but Thine be done 1. First Here is the Compellation or Manner of Address Father O my Father as †Matth. 26. 39. St. Matthew Abba Father * Mark 14. 36. St. Mark Which Exclamation in the One and the Doubling of the Word in the Other add nothing to St. Luke's Sense but only import the Vehemence and Affectionate Application of the Speaker In our Lord's last dying Agonies upon the Cross we find him calling for Help under another Title * Matth. 27. 46. My God my God why hast thou forsaken me A Title denoting the unbounded Power of God and proper for such Extremity of Sufferings as nothing less than Omnipotence could be a sufficient Succour for But here before Matters were come to that Extremity and when the Design of his Supplication was rather for Prevention of an approaching Calamity than for a rescue out of Miseries which had almost overwhelm'd and swallow'd him up the Character of Father is made choice of as more agreeable to his Purpose For This implyed the Duty of a Son and that ready Obedience of which he was now about to give the last the most convincing the best becoming Proof This argued the Tenderness of that Relation Those Bowels so apt to relent in all the Sufferings of Them who derive their Nature and Being from us and are a part of our own Flesh and Substance That entire Affection which even the Brutishest of Men cannot but feel and the Best of Men find greater than can be exprest Much therefore need not be said to incline a Father's Pity who in himself is so disposed to compassionate the Afflictions of a good Child that it can hardly be imagined he should lay more upon such a one than is absolutely necessary to be endur'd Or that even Thus much should be imposed without wise and forcible Reasons and great degrees of Reluctancy and a Violence upon himself To all which if we add that the tenderest Resentments of Earthly Parents are but a very feeble Image of the Love this Eternal Father bears to this Only this Eternal Son there needs no more to satisfy us how significant this Endearing Term was in our Saviour's Circumstances and that if Any Consideration could this of God's being his Father such a Father of such a Son must have prevailed for the obtaining his Petition And what that was I come now to consider 2. Secondly As it is contained in that Clause Remove this Cup or as another Evangelist hath it * Matth. 26. 39. Let this Cup pass stom me I cannot think there is any Occasion to spend Time either in explaining this Metaphor or enlarging upon the Reason of it Scarce any Figure is more frequent in Scripture-Language than that of a Man's Cup being put for his Portion either of Prosperity or Adversity To this Purpose we read of God's being the Good Man's * Psal 16 6. and 23. 5. Cup and making his Cup to overflow when the Blessings and Comforts of Piety and Vertue are described And so likewise of a ‖ Psal 75. 9. Cup of Trembling and Astonishment of Red Wine and Bitter Dregs when Misery and severe Vengeance are denounced against bold and impenitent Sinners whom God hath marked out for exemplary Punishment or utter Destruction As little Reason is there to vindicate this Passage from that very foreign and strained Interpretation which Some have endeavoured to put upon it As if Christ here did deprecate not any Calamity that threatned his own Person but such sore Tryals as his Servants and suffering Members might afterwards be exposed to for the sake of God and their Duty For setting aside other Arguments our Lord 's own Words are a sufficient Guide to us in this Matter He when rebuking St. Peter's forward Zeal to rescue him from those Officers who came to apprehend him does it in these Terms * John 18. 11. Put up thy Sword into the Sheath the Cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it Now what Cup could it be that St. Peter endeavoured to prevent his Master's drinking but those Sufferings and that Death which the
Jews intended to bring upon him And therefore we have all the Reason in the World to believe that the same Sufferings and Death are meant by the Cup he begs his Father to remove in the Text Which yet upon mature Conviction that his Father did not think fit to remove he settles himself presently afterwards to drink with full Resolution and Contentment The Only Argument which prevailed with some Interpreters to seek out any other Construction for these Words seems to have been an Imagination that the betraying any degree of Fear or Unwillingness to dye in that cruel and ignominious Manner was a Weakness unworthy of our Blessed Saviour and inconsistent with his Design of coming into the World The Force of which Pretence I shall be led to examine under my Next Particular In the mean while taking it for granted that his approaching Passion and Death are the Calamities which he begs here to be delivered from I proceed to observe in the 3. Third Place With what Reservation he prefers this Petition to his Father exprest in those Words If thou be willing Father if thou be willing remove this Cup from me Or as it is in St. Matthew * Ch. 26. 39. O my Father if it be possible let this Cup pass from me By comparing which Two Passages together we are led to a right Understanding what sort of Possibility is there intended For absolutely speaking all things are possible with God and it would ill become Us peremptorily to pronounce that God could not remit the Sins of the World without requiring a Satisfaction and Equivalent Compensation for them by the inestimable Blood of his own Innocent and Divine Son But yet even this Assertion is capable of a very fair and true Sense For although God considered as a Sovereign and Almighty Being can do all things which do not imply a Contradiction And although Mercy be the undoubted Prerogative of a Supream Law-giver and may be extended to Whom and upon what Terms he shall think fit Yet if we consider God as a Wise and a Good Governor One who is concern'd for the Honour and Observance of his Laws and who in the Mysterious Work of Man's Redemption did principally design to discourage Sin and Disobedience and to promote Holiness and the vigorous Love and Practice of Virtue in the World Thus it is very easy to discern that when he had once fixed these Rules and Measures to himself it was not possible according to that Scheme of Things for this Cup to pass away from our Blessed Redeemer The Reason is because it is not possible for God not to make choice of the Best Means and such as may most conduce to the Wisest Purposes Such as are most Excellent in themselves and may be most Worthy of a Just and Good Governor Now no Man can suppose that Sin would have been so effectually discouraged if the Guilt of it had been released without any Consideration at all as it is now by so severe and Exemplary a Vengeance taken upon it in the Person of our common Representative and Proxy Christ Jesus God had not then so manifestly declared his Hatred and Resentment against all manner of Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of Men as now he hath by so terribly afflicting even his own Son when he vouchsafed to stand in the Place and sustain the Person of Sinners He had not instructed us so fully in the Value of our Souls had he not shewed us by this astonishing Instance how precious a Ransom he thought them worth purchasing at Nor had he bound us to the Love of Him and that Grateful Obedience to which all are now even * 2 Cor. 5. 14. constrained who consider the unspeakable Kindness of their God and Saviour had he saved us with that which cost him nothing had we wanted that most sensible that most powerful Engagement of not †Rom. 8. 32. sparing his own Beloved and only Begotten Son but giving him up for us all For This hath left us utterly inexcusable if we do not live to Him who did not grudge to dye for us Since therefore God intended to beget in Men a due Sense how exceeding offensive Sin was to him and to work them up to a just Dread of the Punishment due for it Since the Reformation of Manners and the Love of Him and Goodness were the Effects aimed at in this Dispensation Since the maintaining his Laws in just Reverence and Authority was a Design necessary and becoming a Just and Holy Governor And since Infinite Wisdom must needs carry on these Purposes by Methods most suitable and congruous to them It follows from hence that in some sense we may truly affirm there was no Possibility of Christ's being excused from suffering for Sinners That is Though in the Nature of the Thing and with regard to God's absolute Sovereignty and Dominion it was possible to have had the Sins of Mankind forgiven freely and without any Atonement yet with regard to the End and Measures which the Wisdom of God as a Governor of the World and a Law-giver to Men had set to himself we have Reason to think it was not possible Because those Ends so far as can appear to Us could not have been served so well any other way So that whethersoever of the Two Phrases we take in this Prayer If it be possible or If thou be willing the Sense comes all to one And by imploring that this Cup might be taken away if it were possible our Saviour means such a Possibility as is Conditional and depends upon the Will and Wisdom of God And since the Determinations of the Divine Will are not like those of Ours taken up in Humour or Passion or Partial Respects but constantly the Result of mature and steddy and unerring Wisdom Therefore the Importance of our Saviour's Request does in Effect come to thus much That if God saw any other Method of bringing about this great Work which might be of equal Efficacy with that of his enduring those bitter Things which were now approaching towards him he would in tenderness to His own Son make use of That rather and spare him all that Agony and Torture that Shame and Cruelty All the intolerable the unconceivable Anguish of Body and Mind which by his condescending to bear the Burden of his Father's Wrath due to sinful Men was even then already let loose and begun to be executed upon him Now here it will be seasonable to observe the true Reason of our Blessed Lord's addressing to his Father as we see he does upon this Occasion For it may be objected Was it possible that our Saviour should be ignorant what God had decreed to be done in this Matter Does he not declare that for * John 12. 27. that Cause he came to that Hour that he might glorify his Father by suffering Did he not in a very solemn and severe Manner reprove St. Peter for supposing that those Sufferings should
our Love and Thanks and He deserves them all To suffer other Objects to possess our Hearts in Opposition to or Competition with Him is a fault and to divide our Affections is to rob him Our Mind our Soul our Strength the Whole of These is his just Tribute and those Men are false unthankful and unjust who put the trifles of a perishing Life into the balance with their God and Duty For how reasonable soever our regards may be to these things when considered in themselves and with relation to our present Conveniences yet they lose all their value and cease to be of any Consideration when set against our Obedience to that Great King this Gracious Master this kindest of all Friends Would the Hungry and the Naked think you object that Work and Begging must be followed when sent for by his Prince allowed to tread his Courts and eat at his Table Yet such and greater is the Distance between Almighty God and all the Sons of Men. The poorest Begger and the meanest Slave is less beneath the Majesty of Monarchs Than even those Monarchs are below the Majesty of God Yet does this God invite yet does He importune us Such is the honour all his Servants have Well then may that great Master of the Feast be angry when such deny his favour and put him off with vain pretences He cannot but condemn them and they if they would reflect or think at all must needs condemn their own folly For which is more These Calls are not to our Duty only but to our Interest too as will appear if we now descend to consider 2. The Nature of the Feast it self and what is figured by it 2. When Men provide their dainty Meats some weightier Matters may come in between and hinder the paying our respects And in such case our loss is not very considerable A courser Meal at home instead of higher feeding which Nature misses not will serve the turn as well But here the Feast is very Sustenance and Life the only Thing by which our Souls subsist and They who do not come hither must look for nothing but Languishing and Death Despair and Misery For our Condition lies in wide Extremes it admits no middle State betwixt Heaven and Hell and they who do not eat Bread with Saints and Angels in the Kingdom of God are cast for ever into utter Darkness and pass infinite Ages in weeping and wailing and gnashing of Teeth in Regions of Horror and the dismal Society of Fiends and Devils When therefore this Proffer mentioned in the Parable is made to needy Man when He is called to sit and feed with God The invitation is to fill our Souls with all manner of Graces and Virtues now and with all the fullness of Eternal Bliss when Death translates them to another State This is to ask them if they will be Happy Happy beyond their desert beyond their comprehension beyond their largest wishes and desires It is to call to press them to it And Who in his right mind will deny such a proffer as this Who can suppose that Any engagement ought to obstruct him in the pursuit of it Who can excuse so unreasonable a refusal I do not say to God but to His own self Most certain it is All Men agree in this design of being Happy All seek the same End though they seek it by different means But 't is as certain too that He who made Us and our Happiness hath told us That in His presence alone is true Joy and They who do not feek They who do not accept it there whatever satisfactions else they may find or fancy all these will prove but flattering empty dreams at last and good were it for such men if they had never been born 3. The Causes Parallel to those assigned in the Parable for keeping Men away deserve to be closely considered For the Love of Riches the Incumbrances of a worldly Life and the Indulging of Sensual Delights are of very fatal Consequence to the Soul It may be alledged indeed in their vindication and excuse that the Parable supposes them to be only such Cares and such Pleasures as in their own nature are honest and unblameable But yet this does not acquit those of guilt who are too eager in the pursuit of them For it is the part of a Good as well as a Wise Man to carry his Eye forward to the Consequences of Things And the Christian Religion expects that we should no more addict our selves to those Passions and Engagements which are sure to have ill effects upon us than to those that have an inherent malignity and are downright vicious in themselves So that although the Concerns of a Man's Calling and the prudent contrivances of raising a Fortune fairly though every gratification of our fleshly Appetites Every recreating of the Mind be not absolutely forbidden yet when they exceed in their Measures when they get within us and gain upon our Affections when they loosen our Principles and detain us from matters of a higher and more lasting Importance they then become sinful And for this reason ought they to be used always with great Temper and Moderation because they are apt to betray us to these Inconveniences The Dangers rising from them are not the less but in some respects greater because the Things are lawful For of those Men who are not utterly abandoned to Wickedness and a Reprobate Mind More it is probable perish by the abuse of Innocent and Good things than by the Love or the Commission of things positively Evil. In these the Offence soon manifests it self Here Reproof Reason and Remorse of Conscience strike in and check an open breach of Duty There needs not much sagacity to discern things palpably unlawful But where the Fact it self or the Object we are conversant about does not fall under such plain Censure there it is easie to mistake in Circumstances and Degrees For here Men neither have nor can have any certain Rule to guide them The Measures of Business and Pleasure are not to be sixed but vary daily According to the Constitution of the Person The Necessities of his Condition The present face and juncture of Affairs and a thousand other unforeseen Emergencies So that more or less may be allowed to One Person or at One Time or upon One Occasion than can to another All the Direction this case is capable of is only that we avoid Irregularity and Excess but We are Judges still of that Irregularity and Excess for Christian Prudence is the only thing that can determine it And from hence proceeds the Hazard of such actions That Men are apt to be too partial to the side of the World and the Flesh They know these things are not directly sinful and This supports them in the love and practice of them This gives them Confidence and great Security and they are very hardly brought to acknowledge or to mend a fault or to impose severe restraints