Vital Godliness: A Treatise on
Experimental and Practical Piety
CHAPTER 22
Pacience
“But the fruit of the
Spirit is . . . patience,” (Gal. 5:22).
“With all humility and
gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,” (Eph. 4:2).
“Put on then, as God’s
chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and
patience,” (Col. 3:12).
In the Greek Testament are two words which we translate
Patience. One of these is rendered
by Robinson—forbearance, long-suffering, patient endurance. In Scripture it is
used to express the forbearance or patience of God towards sinners in delaying
their just punishment, (Rom. 2:4; 9:22; 2 Pet. 3 15). It also expresses human
forbearance, or the patience of one man towards another, (Matthew 18:26, 29;
Eph. 4:2). The verb from which it is derived is used to express the delay of God
to deliver his persecuted people, (Luke 18:7). And another signification is,
that of man’s quietly and confidently awaiting blessings from God, as Galatians
5:22. In general this patience is opposed to all hastiness of spirit towards God
or man.
The other word in the Greek Testament rendered patience is
perhaps of still more frequent use, and signifies endurance, perseverance or
constancy. It often occurs in the epistles of the New Testament. In many cases
it clearly conveys the idea of perseverance in duty at all risks and
hazards—with hope towards God.
Buck
defines patience to be “that calm and unruffled temper, with which a godly man
bears the evils of life.”
Barrow
says, “Patience is that virtue which qualifies us to bear all conditions and all
events, by God’s disposal incident to us, with such persuasions of mind, such
dispositions and affections of heart, such external deportments and practices of
life, as God requires and good reason directs.”
Evans
says, “Christian patience is a disposition that keeps us calm and composed in
our frame, and steady in the practice of our duty under the sense of our
afflictions, or in the delay of our hopes.”
Charnock
says, “In regard of God, patience is a submission to his sovereignty.” “To
endure a trial, simply because we cannot avoid or resist it, is not Christian
patience. But to humbly submit because it is the will of God to inflict the
trial, to be silent because the sovereignty of God orders it—is true godly
patience.”
Mason
says, “Christian patience is not a careless indolence, a stupid insensibility,
mechanical bravery, constitutional fortitude, a daring stoutness of spirit,
resulting from fatalism, human reasoning, or pride. Christian patience is gift
and grace of the Holy Spirit, nourished by heavenly truth, and guided by
scriptural rules.”
Bates
says, “Insensibility of God’s hand inflicting trials, is as different from
Christian patience; as a deathly lethargy is different from the quiet, soft
sleep of health. Nothing kindles God’s anger more than neglecting his direct
agency in sending the trial. It is equally provoking, as the despising of his
love; it is a symptom of a wretched state of soul. If there proceed no sighs and
groans, no signs of grief from the sense of God’s displeasure, it is a sad
evidence there is no spiritual life. Indolence under the effects of God’s anger
is like the stillness of the
From what has been said it appears that
patience has various
Objects. Towards
God it is resigned, and says, “I
will bear the indignation of the Lord.” Towards
Christian people, who justly
reprove us, it is meek, and says, “Let the righteous smite me.” Towards
wicked and unreasonable people,
who love to see others afflicted, it says, “Rejoice not against me, O my enemy.”
Towards the trials under which
we are called to suffer, it is not uneasy and rebellious, but rather gives them
a kind reception. Under provocation
it is gentle and not resentful. It blesses and curses not. It bears
insults and injuries without malice. It is “patient toward all men.” Under
affliction it is quiet and submissive. It will use no wicked measures to relieve
even great distresses. It is “patient in tribulation”—even the most extreme
sufferings. Under delays it is still and uncomplaining. It loves to leave
everything in the hands of the Father.
To this Paul refers when he says, “You have need of patience,
that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. For
yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry,” (Heb.
10:36, 37).
The
duty of patience is Illustrated in
the Scriptures by several different similes. The
first is that of the
Farmer.
“Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the
farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until
it receives the early and the late rains,” (
Another mode of representing patience is by the life and
habits of a city
Watchman.
Thus the psalmist says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I
hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than
watchmen for the morning,” (Ps. 130:5, 6). The night may be dark and long and
stormy, but the longest night has its morning, the darkest night has the
day-spring coming after it, and the most stormy weather is followed by calm and
sunshine. The weather-beaten watchman knows that he will be allowed to cease his
rounds and at last rest in his bed. He rejoices in hope of sure release. He
longs for the time to come. Yet he frets not because it seems to tarry. He knows
he cannot hasten it. If he could do away with night altogether, it would but
spoil his business. If he could materially abbreviate it, he would but diminish
his gains. So he enters upon his beat and its duties with firmness and
constancy.
A third mode of representing this patience is by the duties
and habits of a
Servant.
“Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the
eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord
our God, until he has mercy upon us,” (Ps. 123:2). The context shows that the
state of mind here described had special reference to the state of the righteous
as called to endure the contempt and scorning of the proud.
A quiet patient spirit is also set forth in God’s word by the
behavior of a
Weaned
Child. David says, “Surely I have behaved and quieted myself as a child
that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child,” (Ps. 131:2).
This process, when first commenced, produces wakefulness, restlessness,
fretfulness; but when completed, it produces quietness and submission. An
illustration so familiar to all parents needs no further explanation.
Job uses another simile to set forth the same thing, that of
a hired man, who watched the lengthening shadows of the evening, and longed for
his reward. He had too much principle to desert his work or to attempt to
defraud his employer. But at the going down of the sun he looked for pay. This
seems to be a favorite mode of expressing the views of life entertained by Job
in the time of his great and sore afflictions, (Job 7:1, 2; 14:6).
When
Examples
of patience are demanded, we can be at no loss. James says, “Take, my
brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example
of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy who
endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the
Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”
Time would fail us to tell of Isaiah royally descended, who
for his fidelity is said to have been nailed up in a box and sawn asunder; of
Jeremiah and all his suffering in the slimy pit and elsewhere; of Daniel in the
lions’ den; of the faithful Hebrews in the fiery furnace; and of all those great
sufferers for the truth and honor of God in ancient times. Look also at our
forefathers in
But the apostle James selects
Job as a special example. And
indeed he was the most patient of all merely human sufferers. What did he not
lose without one sinful word? Seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five
hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, a great retinue of servants, seven
sons and three daughters, and bodily health—were all taken, yet in all this his
patience seems not once to have failed. His grief was heavier than the sand of
the sea. The arrows of the Almighty were within him, and their poison was
drinking up his spirits. Yes, the terrors of God set themselves against him. Yet
more than fifteen hundred years afterwards James points to him as the brightest
example of patience among the ancient servants of God.
The most illustrious sufferer and the best pattern of
patience was Jesus Christ. None
suffered so greatly—and none suffered so patiently. He endured mockery,
contradiction, scourging, and death at the hand of man. He also bore the wrath
of God. The violence of men and the wrath of God, treachery and desertion by his
disciples, and the hiding of his Father’s face—all came on him at once. Yet he
bore it all in a blameless manner. “When reviled, he reviled not again; when he
suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him who judges
righteously.” “For this cause,” says he, “came I to this hour.” “Not my will,
but your will be done.” None can be at a loss for a safe guide, if he will but
turn his eyes to Christ. There all is perseverance, forbearance, quiet,
unmurmuring endurance, unflinching obedience—human nature indeed lifting up both
hands in terror and amazement, but principle and piety triumphing over all
temptations. Blessed be God, our Guide and Pattern has left us a perfect
example.
This
patience is the fruit of God’s Spirit. Paul prayed
that his Colossian converts “might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing,
being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience
and long-suffering, with joyfulness,” (Col. 1:10,11). Every good gift comes from
heaven. Human nature is impatient, self-willed, restless, turbulent. Men must be
taught of God, or they never will know anything to purpose. Accustomed as men
are, to some kinds or degrees of inconvenience, conscious as they ought to be
that they deserve far worse than ever befalls them—yet all this is to no purpose
until God by his Spirit gives them affections and principles which are quite
above the measure and strength of nature.
That this grace
enters into the essentials of Christian character, is certain from the
fact that it is twice so catalogued. In 1 Timothy 6:11, Paul exhorts Timothy to
“follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.” And in
Galatians 5:22, 23, he says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” He who dares erase
from either catalogue a single word, takes great liberties with sacred things,
and brings his soul into jeopardy. It is also obvious from the very nature of
holiness, and from the nature of heavenly things. Would not a fiery, impatient
spirit, be every way as unlovely and as unfit for the society above, as the
spirit of revenge, of pride, or of covetousness?
If we have an impatient temper, occasions and temptations
will not be lacking to elicit it. The world is full of evil-doers and
evil-doings, of evil-speakers and evil-speeches, of evil-surmisers and
evil-surmisings. “Do not be agitated by evildoers; do not envy those who do
wrong. For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender green plants.
Refrain from anger and give up your rage; do not be agitated—it can only bring
harm,” (Ps. 37:1,2,8). Sometimes the power of wicked men is fearful, and wielded
in the most causeless and oppressive manner. The beast which rose out of the
sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon
his heads the name of blasphemy—has always had a mouth speaking great things and
blasphemies; and has often had power to make war with the saints, and to
overcome them; and all whose names are not written in the book of life of the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, do at times worship him. And he
carries God’s people into captivity, and he slays them with the sword. In such a
state of things as this, we see “the patience and the faith of the saints,”
(Rev. 13:10). As a roaring lion, Satan goes about seeking whom he may devour.
Doubtless there is a just anger—a righteous indignation
against wrongs and wrong-doers. It is based on a sense of justice. But anger
which results from our evil tempers, which is violent or perpetuated, does no
good. It torments him who exercises it. It grieves his best friends; it
terrifies his dependents. It makes fellowship with him a source of misery. It is
commonly followed by dreadful reproaches of conscience. It drives away many who
would otherwise delight to do one a service. It mends no mistakes, relieves no
pains, repairs no losses. And it is infectious, and in turn communicated to
those around us.
A time of sickness
generally tries one’s patience. There is always much sickness in the
world. No man can entirely escape it but by a sudden death, which in a moment
calls him into eternity. Some sicknesses waste the frame without beclouding the
mind. Others beget stupor, which destroys sensibility to pain. But generally
sickness renders men less capable of reasoning soundly and feeling kindly, than
before. To him who is of a patient spirit, sickness may, without a miracle, be a
means of great enjoyment. It enables a good man to test his principles. The
severer the sickness in such cases, the richer the blessings following. Probably
the happiest person in many a large city in Christian lands is some child of
God, whose bodily health makes him a stranger to sound sleep, and a stranger
also to the house of God. There is still living a man who says he has seen four
very happy days. One was the day of his conversion; another was the day of his
marriage; the other two were days spent in a sick-bed far from home.
The church has had few brighter ornaments than the celebrated
Andrew Rivet. As a student, a writer, a preacher, a professor, he was full of
life and energy; yet he said he “had learned more divinity in ten days sickness
than in fifty years study.” The pious Halyburton, in a state of great weakness
and pain, said, “Verily there is a reality in religion. The close acquaintance I
have had with God within these two days, has been better than ten thousand times
the pains I have all my life been at about religion. These fourteen or fifteen
years I have been studying the promises; but I have seen more of the book of God
this night than in all that time. If I had my students about me now, I would
give them a lesson of divinity.”
In 1826, one of my classmates was taken sick. His illness
became extreme. His life was in great peril. At times his pains were
excruciating. He was not at ease one moment. Yet all who visited him were
witnesses of his patience and joy. Their report led others to his sickbed. Many
a fellow-student dropped his books every day, and said, “I will now turn aside
and see this great sight.” This good man died not then, but lived to proclaim
for several years the unsearchable riches of Christ. He bore with patience many
trials, and carried with him through life, a sweet savor of Christ, and has now
fallen asleep in Jesus. This happy sufferer was Jacob Beecher.
Every pastor sees cases of this kind. Every evangelical
church furnishes them. If God so blesses us in sickness, we need not dread its
sharpest pangs. They prepare us for sweet mercies. Even if we have no
transports, we may yet have quietness. Though we may not exult, we may endure.
God may appoint to us wearisome nights and days of vanity, scaring us in
visions, or holding our eyes waking. Our bed may not comfort us, nor our couch
ease our complaints. For a time God may hide his face from us, or our
consolations may be small. Yet it is a
very great attainment to lie passive in God’s hands, and know no will but his.
Some are impatient respecting the
future. Their faith is perhaps
weak, their nerves are not strong, their circumstances not easy, and they have
great anxiety. Indeed most men have alternate hopes and fears concerning coming
days. It would greatly tend to check such thoughts if we would remember that the
future, which we so much dread, may never come to us.
There is nothing more certain than
death, and nothing more uncertain than the time when death may overtake us.
The human mind easily grows weary when prying into the future. A wise man
can do nothing better than look up to God, and say, ‘My times are with you. I
cannot see far; I am very blind. But God sees the end from the beginning. He is
wise and mighty. Outcomes are with him; duty is mine. If I can do what God
requires, I need not fear results. Times may change; revolution may swiftly
follow revolution; friends and scenes and seasons may change; I myself may
undergo many changes; but God, his word and plans and counsels, never change.
They are all holy and perfect.”
To do one’s duty and leave results with God is scriptural.
“Trust in the Lord—and do good.” “Offer the sacrifices of righteousness—and put
your trust in the Lord.” What better can a man do? What else can he do—unless he
frets and sins? A great means of curing impatience is a close attention to
present duties, some of which are always instant and urgent. One of these is the
maintenance of a devout spirit. He who has no heart to pray and praise, to read
God’s word, to meditate on divine things, and to try his own ways—has not begun
to do his duty, and lays himself open to the assaults of impatience.
Whatever is unfriendly to a spirit of devotion is dangerous.
We all need fire, fire from heaven, to consume our sacrifices. The love of
Christ must be shed abroad within us. If prayer were always “the key of the day;
and the lock of the evening,” we would have far fewer impatient speeches. The
man who finds God’s words and eats them, who meditates on divine things in the
night-watches, who searches his heart as with candles, who is in the fear of the
Lord all the day long, who praises the Lord seven times a day—cannot be under
the sway of impatience.
Let a man also set himself to the imitation of Christ, whose
example is perfect and lovely; let him follow the Lamb wherever he leads; let
him walk in the footsteps of his great Forerunner; let him be careful to do this
with exactness and alertness, and impatience shall not be his master. Let him
delight in the law of God after the inward man, let him esteem God’s precepts
concerning all things to be right, let him love the Scripture which reproves his
sins, let him take it as a rule for all his thoughts, words, and deeds, and he
will have so much to do that he will find impatience yielding before a hearty
performance of duty.
Let him watch his own heart, let him see to it that he is not
merely “converted from the sins of men—to the sins of devils,” as from
drunkenness, gluttony, and lewdness—to envy, malice, and spiritual pride. But
let him see to it that he is turned from sin to holiness, from Satan unto God,
and he will by degrees gain a sure victory over impatience.
Let him die unto the world, let him die daily; let it be his
rule, “I will not commit myself to worldly matters.” Let him leave the world
before the world leaves him. Let him learn that the world is a cheat and a liar,
not by always seeking to it, but by obeying the lessons of past experience and
the teachings of God’s word—and his impatience concerning the future will give
way.
Let him learn to avoid the habit of complaining, let him
labor to take cheerful views of things, so far as this can in truth be done. Or
if the sorrow of the mind be great, let him go chiefly to God with it. A man may
complain to God, but let him never complain of God. Let him never tire in his
Master’s service, always making Christ’s righteousness his righteousness, God’s
will his will, God’s Son his bright and morning star. Let him consent to be
nothing, that God may be all and in all. Let him live by faith, and walk by
faith. Let him diligently run the race that is set before him, and he will find
sinful impatience leaving him more and more, until at last it shall be a
vanquished foe, and he shall rise to dwell with God. Above all things, look to
God himself.
Perhaps old age
has begun to come upon you, and you find there comes with it a certain
spirit of impatience. It is sometimes said that the old are liable to
peevishness. Great changes have taken place in the world since their habits were
formed. Such conduct is often exhibited before them as makes them feel that
others wish their place or their property. They see but little reverence for
grey hairs. They have many infirmities. They are often kept from the house of
God. Disappointment sometimes sorely tries their temper. They often see mean
advantages taken of their age or weakness. Sometimes they have no means of
occupying their time. They cannot see to read, or they did not form the habit of
reading when young, and so cannot now enjoy it. Early in life Hall wrote, “There
is nothing more odious than fruitless old age. And as no tree bears fruit in
autumn, unless it blossoms in the spring, so that my old age may be profitable,
and laden with fruit, I will endeavor that my youth may be studious, and
flowered with the blossoms of learning and observation.”
It is a great thing for old people to love reading. If the
Bible alone is their companion and joy, they will surely find “solitude
sweetened.” It is a great matter for any, and especially for the aged, to learn
to control their tongue and temper; to be economical without stinginess, liberal
without prodigality, cheerful without levity, humble without baseness, strict
without bigotry, devout without fanaticism, and obliging without laxity of
principle. The angry passions by all men, especially by the aged, should be kept
under strict control. Earnestly cry to God for guidance, support, and comfort in
old age. No wit, no learning, no renown in early life, can of themselves
preserve one from contempt in old age.
Dean Swift
was a great student, scholar, and wit; in old age he
became stupid, helpless, senseless. He was fed like a child, and was actually
exhibited by his servants for reward, as a show to visitors. No man ever made a
deeper impression on
God alone and God only can protect the aged from all harm.
Look to him. “Trust in the Lord and do what is good; dwell in the land and live
securely. Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act, making your
righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noonday. Be silent
before the Lord and wait expectantly for Him,” (Ps. 37:3-7). He will ensure that
the hoary head of the righteous, shall be a crowned with glory. If you are old,
remember that as long as you live, one of your most solemn duties is to set an
example of cheerfulness and patience; that as memory fails, it needs to be often
refreshed by the perusal of God’s word; that as your time on earth is short, you
should be careful that none of it run to waste; that your sufferings on earth
will not last long; and that God’s promises to pious old age are very full and
gracious.
Listen to his words: “Your life will be brighter than
noonday; its darkness will be like the morning,” (Job 11:17). “They shall
still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; to show
that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in
him,” (Ps. 92:14). Again he says, “Even when you’re old, I’ll take care of you.
Even when your hair turns gray, I’ll support you. I made you and will continue
to care for you. I’ll support you and save you,” (Isa. 46:4). Surely with such
promises we may safely trust an unseen God even in the midst of the trials and
weaknesses of age. How memorable that saying of an eminent servant of God, “I
have had six children, and I bless God that they are either with Christ or in
Christ, and my mind is at rest concerning them. My desire was that they should
have served Christ on earth; but if God will rather choose to have them serve
him in heaven, I have nothing to object to it.”
Are you a teacher
of the young? Are you endeavoring to form the minds of others to virtue
and knowledge? Be patient. Rule your own spirit; teach the same lesson over and
over again; do not upbraid others for their dullness. Persevere. Be pleasant.
Are you laboring for the conversion of others, and do they seem very dull and
obstinate? Be patient with them. As long as God spares them, there is hope. Who
can tell but the Lord will be gracious in the last extremity? Hope and plead
with them. Hope and pray to God. Never cease your endeavors until life is
extinct.
Are you slandered?
Do not be revengeful. Jesus Christ was more reviled and misrepresented than you
have ever been. Make him your pattern. It is better to be slandered than to be a
slanderer. It will do you more harm to lose your temper and fall into sin, than
to have all manner of evil spoken against you falsely.
Are you poor?
Jesus Christ was more so. Be patient under trials. Christ passed through many
worse trials. If men despise you for your poverty, it may drive you to the
mercy-seat; and will not that be good for you?
Have you bodily pain?
Learn to distinguish between those effects which show sinful impatience and
those which are purely physical. A man may indulge very sinful impatience
towards God, and yet not utter a sigh or a groan. Another may be in a state of
mind highly pleasing to God, and yet every breath may be a groan or a sigh. It
is not sinful for men to give natural expression to their sense of pain.
The
Motives which may properly be
urged upon us to exercise patience are many and strong.
1.
The impatient man is unhappy, and nothing can
hinder his being so, but a change of temper. He doubles all his sorrows. Those
around him are apt to imitate him, and their impatience reacts on him. In both
prosperity and adversity, he is destitute of solid peace of mind.
2.
The impatient man brings on himself every sort of evil, and especially great
guilt in the sight of God. “He who has no rule over
his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls,” (Prov.
25:28). That is, he lies open to the invasion of all evils; he is protected
against none of them. In a thousand respects, “the patient in spirit is better
than the proud in spirit,” (Eccl. 7:8).
3.
However sharp our pains and great our sufferings may be, they will not last
always. The apostle says, “Be patient; establish
your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draws near.”
4.
Patience is one link in the golden chain which holds us safe on earth in the
midst of enemies and perils. Nor is there a
brighter link in that chain. Paul says, “We also rejoice in our afflictions,
because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven
character, and proven character produces hope. This hope does not disappoint,
because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who
was given to us,” (
5.
God has mercifully condescended to instruct us on this whole subject by divine
example. To his enemies how amazingly patient is
God. How he bears with sinners, and forbears to punish them. Indeed, ungodly men
in all ages have hardened themselves in sin because God was so good. They have
long and blasphemously cried, “Where is the promise of his coming? for since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were.” How long did the
patience of God wait in the days of Noah. How many thousands of offences, even
open and daring sins, do multitudes commit, and yet God spares them, giving them
time for repentance. Even the worst criminals are commonly permitted to live
long enough to repent, if they have a heart to do so. Shall God show patience
under such fearful provocations, and shall we be impatient under any wrongs
committed against us? Oh let us “be imitators of God, as dear children.”
6.
Especially has our Lord Jesus Christ left us an illustrious example of
forbearance, meekness, and patience. “He was
brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before her shearers is
silent, so he opened not his mouth.” His forbearance towards his enemies when on
earth, was amazing. Legions of angels would have fought his battles with men, if
he had bid them do so. But his hands and his heart were both full of blessings,
not curses. He bore all, he endured all, he murmured not, he fretted not, he
said no harsh things, he felt no unkindness, he was all gentleness and love. In
all this he left us an example, that we should follow his steps. “If we suffer
with him, we shall also reign with him.”
7. “Now finally,
all of you should be like-minded and sympathetic, should love believers, and be
compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult
but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that
you can inherit a blessing. For the one who wants to love life and to see good
days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit, and he
must turn away from evil and do good. He must seek peace and pursue it, because
the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are open to their
request. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. And who will
harm you if you are passionate for what is good? But even if you should suffer
for righteousness, you are blessed,” (1 Pet. 3:8-14). “If when you do well, and
suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God,” (1 Pet.
2:20). “For it is better, if the will of God be so, that you suffer for
well-doing than for evil-doing,” (1 Pet. 3:17).
Every wise man has found affliction good for him.
Lord Campbell, Chief-justice of
In God’s plan, to descend is first; to ascend comes
afterwards. We must sink that we may rise. Good old Berridge says, “Afflictions,
desertions, and temptations are as needful as consolations. Jonah’s whale will
teach as good a lesson as Pisgah’s top. A man may sometimes learn as much from
being a night or a day in the deep, as from being forty days in the mount. I see
Jonah come out of a whale cured of rebellion. I see Moses go up into the mount
with meekness, and come down in a huff and break the tablets of stone. Further,
I see three special disciples attending their Master into the mount, and falling
asleep there. It is well for you to be clothed in sackcloth while you tarry in
the wilderness. Look upward, and press forward. Heaven’s eternal hills are
before you, and Jesus stands with arms wide open to receive you. One hour’s
sight and enjoyment of the Bridegroom in his palace above, will make you forget
all your troubles on the way.”
Three remarks are offered in
Conclusion.
1.
We see the unspeakable value of Christian truth. It
is a stay and a joy when all comforts and resources of earth fail. Even wicked
men have often confessed its power. Before his own mind was influenced by pious
hopes or principles, Richard Cecil made the following observations: “I see two
unquestionable facts. 1. My mother is greatly afflicted in circumstances, body,
and mind, and yet she cheerfully bears up under all by the support she derives
from constantly retiring to her closet and to her Bible. 2. My mother has a
secret spring of comfort of which I know nothing; while I, who give an unbounded
sway to my appetites, and seek pleasure by every means, seldom or never find it.
If, however, there is any such secret in religion, why may I not attain to it as
well as my mother? I will immediately seek it from God.” Indeed, so cold, so
barren is infidelity, so destitute of consolatory power, that many have borne a
testimony like that of Cecil, and these not merely the weak, but also the
strong.
The prince among German historians was Niebuhr. He was not
merely a great skeptic, he was an infidel. He was a rationalist, and received
nothing as true in revelation except what he chose. This man had a son, whose
happiness lay near his heart. Did he wish him to be educated an infidel? Had he
found his own system full of consolation? No. He says that he intends his boy
“shall believe in the letter of the Old and New Testaments, and I shall nurture
in him from his infancy a firm faith in all that I have lost or feel uncertain
about.”
2.
Of course it is very important to study God’s word.
Would that we had once more a race of great Bible readers.
There have been such, and they have been fat and flourishing. Jerome seems to
have had the whole Scripture stored in his memory. Erasmus says of him, “Who has
ever learned by heart the whole Scriptures, or imbibed or meditated on them—as
he did?” After his conversion, Tertullian was occupied day and night in reading
God’s word. He committed much of it to memory. That great divine Witsius was
able without a concordance to recite almost any passage of Scripture in the
original words, and tell the book, chapter, and verse. A few years ago, I had an
acquaintance on the bench of the Supreme court of his own state, who quoted
Scripture with readiness and accuracy, which showed that the word of God dwelt
in him richly. In fact, eminent Christians the world over are characterized by
constant and profound meditation on God’s word.
Oh that men would be persuaded to make God’s testimonies
their constant delight! Locke says, “If any man will obtain a true knowledge of
the Christian religion, let him study the holy Scriptures, especially in the New
Testament. Therein are contained the words of eternal life. It has God for its
author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its
matter.”
3.
Let us follow Christ. Let us be content to live and
suffer with him. Robertson says, “We hear in these days a great deal respecting
rights—the rights of private judgment, the rights of labor, the rights of
property, and the rights of man. Rights are grand things, divine things in this
world; but the way in which we expound those rights, alas, seems to me to be the
very incarnation of selfishness. I can see nothing noble in a man who is forever
going about calling for his own rights. Alas, alas for the man who feels nothing
more grand in this wondrous, divine world—than his own rights. Two thousand
years ago, there was One here on this earth who lived the grandest life that
ever has been lived yet—a life that every thinking man, with deeper or shallower
meaning, has agreed to call divine. I read little respecting his rights, or of
his claims of rights; but I have read a great deal respecting his duties. Every
act he did, he called a duty. I read a very little in that life respecting his
rights; but I hear a vast deal respecting his wrongs—infinite wrongs—wrongs
borne with a majestic, godlike silence. His reward? His reward was the reward
that God gives to all his true and noble ones—to be cast out in his day and
generation, and a life bringing crucifixion at last—those were his rights!”
