The great duty of resignation to the divine will in afflictions enforced from the…

THE GREAT DUTY OF Resignation:

Matth. 26. 39. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this Cup pass from me; Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.

THE Words are our Saviour's Prayer at his private Passion in the Garden. In Paradise was the first Scene of Man's Sin, and in a Garden the ⟨p. 2⟩first Scene of Christ's Sorrows.

He was now in the near view of his extreme Sufferings; the fatal hour approached when he was to die with all the concurrent circumstances of Shame and Cruelty. His Nature was Humane and Holy, and therefore apprehensive of Misery and the Wrath of God. In this Exigency He fell on his Face, a posture of humble Reverence, and with earnestness prayed, saying, O my Father, an expression of his steadfast Trust in the Love of God: If it be possible, not with respect to his Absolute Power, for by that he could easily have preserved him; but with respect to his Sovereign Pleasure, and Eternal Decree: Let this Cup pass from me, that implies a complete Deliverance from the rage of the ⟨p. 3⟩