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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
also , after he was seized by the officers and soldiers-, he reproved Peter , for having wounded a servant of the high-priest in rash-Jy attempting to rescue him , by saying : « The cup which my Father hath given me , shall I notdrink it ? " i . e . shall I not willingly submit to suffer that death which God hath appointed me ? Hence I belive our Lord hath commonly been understood as imploring from his Father in this petition , to be exempted from those sufferings , and that death on the cross- which were now
near approaching , provided it might be rendered consistent with the purposes of his divine wisdom and benevolence , and the redemption and salvation of mankind could be effected in any other way ; however , he humbly referred it to his Father's goodpleasure . It is supposed also , that he was induced to offer up this petition through the strong and innocent reluctances of human nature against sufferings and death .
But I cannot help thinking , ( with Dr . Whitby on the place ) , that this interpretation conveys in it something infinitely diminishing to our Lord's character , and inconsistent with his whole preceding disposition and conduct in relation to the expectation
he always had of the sufferings and death appointed him ; and moreover , it imputes to him ( what one would be very unwilling to impute to him , though but for a moment only ) , a want of fortitude and consistency , and a compliance with the infirmities of animal nature ( which however innocent in themselves * and
as a necessary result of our constitution , do certainly betray us into guilt when they prevail on us to draw back from our known duty , and from compliance with a command of God ) , beyond what several of his followers have shewn under the expectation and in the suffering of violent deaths for his sake . Our Lord
perfectly well knew , that the whole plan of the divine counsels for the redemption and salvation of mankind was-founded in , and dependant on his approaching public death . and resurrection : consequently , he knew , that it was not possible , consistently with the execution of this plan , that he could be exempted from
them ; and therefore , we cannot suppose , that he could for one moment entertain a desire , much less offer up a prayer to his Father for such an exemption . We , know , he had always before spoken with the most perfect calmness and steady resolution about enduring them , as of a matter absolutely determined on within himself : and in the space of a few minutes after the
offering up of this very petition to his Father , we find him speaking to Peter , in relation to his last sufferings and death , with the same spirit and in like manner , as he was wont . " The cup , *' said be , ** which my Father giveth me-, shall I not drink it ?*
Untitled Article
486 Our Lord ' s Agony in the Garden *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1807, page 486, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2384/page/34/
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