Patience! Patience! Patience!
(William Plumer, "Vital Godliness: A Treatise
on Experimental and Practical Piety" 1864)
"But the fruit of the Spirit is .
. . patience." (Galatians 5:22)
"With all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another in love." (Ephesians 4:2)
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion,
kindness, humility, meekness, and patience." (Colossians 3:12)
"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." Plumer
"Christian patience 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!" Plumer
"Patience is that calm and unruffled temper, with which a godly man
bears the evils of life." Buck
"Patience is that virtue which qualifies us to bear all conditions and
all events, 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." Barrow
"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." Evans
"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." Charnock
"Christian patience is not a careless indolence, a stupid
insensibility, mechanical bravery, constitutional fortitude, a daring
stoutness of spirit--resulting from fatalistic thinking, human
reasoning, or pride. Christian patience is gift and grace of the Holy
Spirit, nourished by heavenly truth, and guided by scriptural rules." Mason
"Insensibility of God's hand inflicting trials, is as different from
Christian patience, as a deathly coma 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 a symptom of a wretched state
of soul." Bates