The Fountain of Life Opened

By the passing of the cup from him, understand his exemption from suffering that dreadful and horrid wrath of God, which he foresaw to be now at hand. For as the coming of the cup to a man doth in Scripture phrase note his bearing and suffering of evil, as you find it, Lam. 4.21. Rejoice and be glad O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the Land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and make thy self naked. Which is an ironical reproof of the Idumeans, the Jews deadly enemies, who wickedly insulted over them, when the cup was at their mouths, as if the Lord had said, you have laughed and jeered at my people, when my hand was on them; you rejoiced to see their calamities. Well, make your selves merry still if you can: the cup shall pass through unto thee. Thy turn is coming: then laugh it thou canst. So on the contrary, the passing away of the cup ⟨p. 285⟩notes freedom from, or our escaping of those miseries. And so Christs meaning in this conditional request is, Father, if it be thy will excuse me from this dreadful wrath, my soul is amazed at it. Is there no way to shun it? Cannot I be excused? O if it be possible spare me. This is the meaning of it. But then here's the difficulty, how Christ who knew God had from everlasting determined he should drink it, who had compacted and agreed with him in the covenant of redemption so to do, who came (as himself acknowledges) for that end into the world. Joh. 18.37. Who foresaw this hour all along; and professed when he spake of this bloody baptism, with which he was to be baptised; that he was straitened till it was accomplished, Luk. 12.50. How (I say) to reconcile all this with such a petition; that now when the cup was delivered to him, it might pass, or he be excused from suffering: this is the knot, this is the difficulty.

By the passing of the cup from him, understand his exemption from suffering that dreadful and horrid wrath of God, which he foresaw to be now at hand. For as the coming of the cup to a man doth in Scripture phrase note his bearing and suffering of evil, as you find it,