"Shall I refuse to drink the cup of sorrow which the Father has given me to drink?" (John 18:11.) (Weymouth)
God takes a thousand times more pains with us than the artist with his picture, by many touches of sorrow, and by many colors of circumstance, to bring us into the form which is the highest and noblest in His sight, if only we receive His gifts of myrrh in the right spirit.
But when the cup is put away, and these feelings are stifled or unheeded, a greater injury is done to the soul that can ever be amended. For no heart can conceive in what surpassing love God giveth us this myrrh; yet this which we ought to receive to our souls' good we suffer to pass by us in our sleepy indifference, and nothing comes of it.
Then we come and complain: "Alas, Lord! I am so dry, and it is so dark within me!" I tell thee, dear child, open thy heart to the pain, and it will do thee more good than if thou wert full of feeling and devoutness. --Tauler.
"The cry of man's anguish went up to God,
'Lord take away pain:
The shadow that darkens the world Thou hast made,
The close-coiling chain
That strangles the heart, the burden that weighs
On the wings that would soar,
Lord, take away pain from the world Thou hast made,
That it love Thee the more.'
"Then answered the Lord to the cry of His world:
'Shall I take away pain,
And with it the power of the soul to endure,
Made strong by the strain?
Shall I take away pity, that knits heart to heart
And sacrifice high?
Will ye lose all your heroes that lift from the fire
White brows to the sky?
Shall I take away love that redeems with a price
And smiles at its loss?
Can ye spare from your lives that would climb unto Me
The Christ on His cross?"
五月二十日
“耶稣就对彼得说，收刀入鞘罢，我父给我的那杯，我岂可不喝呢”。（约十八：11）
神塑造我们，比艺术家作画要辛苦千倍，要经过许多充满悲痛的笔法，加以各种色调的背景，才把我们造成他心目中最高贵的形式。而在我们方面，只要以正当的精神接受他所赐的“没药”。
但若把那杯推开，抹煞或漠视这些充满悲痛的感情，对于灵魂就会造成比以往所能修补者更大的伤害。没有人能想象神以何等超越的爱，把没药赐给我们，我们应该接受这对灵魂有益的恩赐。然而我们却让它在不注意的疏忽中过去，于是从它那儿得不到什么。
口中却抱怨起来，说道：“主啊，我是如何地饥渴，心中是如何地黑暗！”亲爱的孩子，我告诉你，你要打开心扉接受神所赐的苦药，这比仅有情感和虔诚，对你更为有益。——陶勒
世人向神发出悲惨的呼吁：
“求主把我们的苦痛除去，
还有你所制造的阴影，
请代之以永远的阳光和煦，
去掉桎梏我们心灵的锁链，
压住我们翅膀的重负，
求你去除你所给的一切痛苦，
使世人对你更为爱慕“。
神答复世人的呼吁道：
“你们的见识，何其渺小，
要我除去苦痛吗？
苦痛增加你的耐力，
使你的灵魂坚如城堡，
你要我除去怜悯之心，
它却结成心心相印的同情，
也发展了人间高度的牺牲。
他们曾从烈火中锻炼出坚贞。
你要我除去爱与笑吗？
这些都从苦痛的磨炼中产生。
你们的生命要追随我，
难道能免除基督到十架的旅程”？