man, too frequently seeks to do him harm; by teaching them, that the spirit of the world is at enmity with God, and that pure and undefiled religion consists in keeping themselves unspotted with its vices, in forgetting the selfishness of momentary gratification, and in the sincere desire of doing the whole will of God towards his creatures; by sapping the foundation of pride, and by shewing the necessity for humility; by exemplifying the truth, that the only real liberty consists in obedience to the commands of God, according to their spirit; by obviating the influence of avarice and ambition; by moderating the pretensions of envy; by calling into action, that delicate sensibility of feeling, which prompts its possessor to receive a benefit with modest pleasure, and to repay it with unmingled delight; and by enforcing the evil nature of this vice, and the miseries to which its indulgence inevitably leads.

SECTION VI.-On Patience-Impatience-Meek

ness.

a. Patience.

PATIENCE is a virtue, the exercise of which enables us to bear afflictions and calumnies, with constancy and calmness of mind, and with a ready submission to the will of God; it teaches

us to yield to the higher privations of life, without a murmur; gives cheerfulness and equanimity when the will is crossed, when our hopes are blasted, or intentions defeated, and our designs contravened; it fortifies us to support disappointment without vexation, and to bear the contumely of the world, the calumnies of acquaintance, and the unkindness of friends without an angry feeling; it preserves us from envying the lot of those who appear more fortunate in this world's goods; it enables us to exercise that charity which beareth all things; defends us from restlessness in sickness, from irritability in pain, from excessive anxiety in sorrow, from the torment of selfishness under narrow circumstances, from the blast of penury, the storms of adversity, and the winter of destitution; it supplants anger, places a tight rein upon ambition, reconciles conflicting passions, dissipates the vapours of ennui, and leaves no room for the exercise of the gloomier forms of disgust, hatred, resentment, and vengeance. Patience should be exercised on the lesser, as well as on the more important occasions of life; on those lighter instances of every day occurrence which provoke irritability and fretfulness, without being of sufficient importance to develop a more powerful passion. The employment of this virtue is essentially connected with peace of mind; for "tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope." Romans v. 3, 4.

Patience is universal in its application, and energetic in its influence; " be patient towards all men,” (1 Thessalonians v. 14,) rendering to all their due, and taking care that it should have its perfect work. Patience moderates the desires, and leads us to look forward though they be not immediately gratified; and to pursue those which are lawful with unwearied energy, and undaunted perseverance; and still to hope for their accomplishment. Lo, the husbandman

"waiteth for the precious fruits of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain." James v. 7. In the night of distress, even in the deepest affliction ; when the hand of Providence has removed our greatest comforts; when unexpected accident or disease has snatched from us our nearest relatives; when the hedge about ourselves, and our houses, and all that we have appears to have been broken down; when our oxen, and our asses, and our sheep, and our camels, and our servants have been destroyed, or we have been deprived in some way or other of all that we have; then it is that we should bless the name of the Lord; then it is that we should "take the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience;" then it is that we should "count them happy which endure;" then it is, that having heard" of the patience of Job," and " having seen the end of the Lord;" that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy," (James v. 10, 11,)

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we too should be inspirited to persevere in well doing; then it is, that we should hope for deliverance, and "wait with patience for it;" (Romans viii. 25;) then should “ patience have her perfect work," that we may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing;" (James i. 4;) and that we "through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Romans xv. 4.

Again, patience forbids the employment of unlawful means to extricate ourselves from difficulties, pecuniary straights, or embarrassments, and untoward circumstances of every kind: all forbidden methods of obtaining money, every species of gambling, and game of hazard, every appeal to chance, every kind of lottery; every sinister agency; the employment of the wicked to compass our plans; in fact, every deviation from the strict law of rectitude, is expressly proscribed, for "I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. And when they shall say unto you, seek unto them which have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter; should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And they shall pass through it hardly bestead and hungry and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the

earth, and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish, and they shall be driven to darkness.' Isaiah viii. 17, 19—22.

One of the greatest trials of patience, consists in the calumny of those around us, and in their suspicion of our actions, but above all in the misconstruction of our motives, even by the good; and yet under these circumstances we should "rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him;" we should not be impatient, because of "man who prospereth in his way," "because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass,' (Psalm xxxvii. 7,) but we should wait" patiently for the Lord who has inclined to us, and will hear our cry;" (Psalm lx. 1;) we should acquiesce in his dispensations, who will bring forth "our righteousness as the light, and our judgment as the noon-day:" and in all circumstances of trial, and difficulty, and temptation; when our wishes, and inclinations, and present ease, and worldly prosperity, and advantageous connexion, and the good opinion of the many, and the advancement of ourselves, and our friends, must all be sacrificed to a sense of duty; and when we must pursue a long course of conduct most adverse to our feelings, and therefore painful; and "when the youths shall faint, and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: they that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint."