Of Patience. 185 virtue I am explaining. The lamentations of SERM. Jeremiah defcribe as great a calamity, and VII. as bad a Rate of things as we canwell imagine, 1/4"--y"3 yet even in that cafe it is reprefented as the duty of good men, Rill to retain their confi- dence in God as the only foundation upon which they can poffefs any meafure of inward tranquility, chapter iii. 26. It is good for a man both to hope, and quietly to wait Jr o the falvation of the Lord; and the Pfalmi/l, from his own experience, gives this advice to all the fervants of God, even in their deepeft diftreffes * : Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he (hall flrengthen thine heart; wait, I fay, on the Lord. Again, as under the aEtual incumbency of aflíiftion fome give up themfelves to utter .difcouragement and impotence of mind, fo there are timorous fpirits which continually diftra t and perplex themfelves with the ap- prehenfions of evil to come. Of all the pafl:l_ ons which frail human nature is liable to, none is more confounding, or attended with greater perturbation than fear. It fills the foul with vexing and difquieting thoughts, is perpetually prefenting dangers to it, from every quarter, and, iuftead of roufing it to its defence, fo * Pfait xxvii. 44. enervates
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