Of Patience. 173 is fuch an important branch of religious per- SERM. fecîion, that it is evident where it is not at- VII. tained, there is fomething effential wanting to the integrity of the chriftian character. Patience, generally, is underftood in fo flri t a fenfe as to relate only to of fictions. That virtue whereby we bear our adverfities with a religious equanimity and chearful fub- miffion to the will of God ; that calmnefs, contentment, and all thofe dutiful affections and becoming behaviour under trials, which he requires : but we will find that the fcrip- ture ufes it in a larger extent, and applies it to our doing our duty, as well as bearing the crofs ; to our expectations of a future di- ílant reward, as well as enduring the cala- mities which attend our expecting flate. Thus, * Patience is the character of well - doing, and of a perfevering continuance in it. And our Saviour, in his parable of the fower -., thus explains the fimilitude of the good ground, they which in an honefl and good heart, hav- ing heard the word keep it, and bring firth fruit zcith patience. So that in an active life, fruitful in the works of righteoufnefs, this virtue is a neceffary ingredient. If we con- fider the commands of Chrift in that light * Rom. ii. 7. f Luke viii. 15. wherein
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