“THIS ADVICE SHOULD NOT NEED much pressing. ‘Submit yourselves unto God’—is it not right upon the very face of it? Is it not wise? Does not conscience tell us that we ought to submit? Does not reason bear witness that it must be best to do so?

“’Submit yourselves unto God.’ Should not the creature be submissive to the Creator, to whom it owes its existence, without whom it had never been, and without whose continuous good pleasure it would at once cease to be? Our Creator is infinitely good, and his will is love: to submit to one who is ‘too wise to err, too good to be unkind,’ should not be hard. If he were a tyrant it might be courageous to resist, but since he is a Father it is ungrateful to rebel. He cannot do anything which is not perfectly just, nor will he do aught which is inconsistent with the best interests of our race; therefore to resist him is to contend against one's own advantage, and, like the untamed bullock, to kick against the pricks to our own hurt.

“’Submit yourselves unto God’—it is what angels do, what kings and prophets have done, what the best of men delight in—there is therefore no dishonor nor sorrow in so doing. All nature is submissive to his laws; suns and stars yield to his behests, we shall but be in harmony with the universe in willingly bowing to his sway.

“’Submit yourselves unto God’—you must do it whether you are willing to do so or not. Who can stand out against the Almighty? For puny man to oppose the Lord is for the chaff to set itself in battle array with the wind, or for the tow to make war with the flame. As well might man attempt to turn back the tide of ocean, or check the march of the hosts of heaven as dream of overcoming the Omnipotent. The Eternal God is irresistible, and any rebellion against his government must soon end in total defeat.”

Charles Spurgeon, “Unconditional Surrender,” a sermon delivered on Sunday morning, January 30, 1876