APPENDIX. 217 our patience we possess our souls ;" Luke xxi..10. Whatever else we lose, we lóse not ourselves. He that keepeth his faith, and hopp, and love, by patience, keepeth hiesoul : but the impatient lose themselves, as if their other losses werenot enough. A poor man singeth that gets his living only by his daily labor; when a lord or knight would be tormented with sorrow, if he were reduced to his degree. Striving under our yoke and burden maketh it gall the more : and we cannot so hopefully or comfortably pray for deliver- ance from the pain which we make ourselves,-as from that which òod layeth on us; though also there, we must pray for the grace that must save us from our own impatience. Patience preventeth many sins which impatience éauseth ; bard thoughts of God, if not hard and unseemly words : " Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly : " impatience tempteth men to think that . piety and prayer are in vain, and to 'condemn the generation of the just, and to leave offduty, and, say, ' Why should I wait on God any.longer ? ' Yea, and to venture on false and sinful means, in hopes of deliverance and ease. Were it to men, we have much to allay our impatience; but im- patience against Goti hath nojust excuse. Infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, can do nothing that deserveth blame: we have God's premise that all things shall work together for our good ; and is he not to be trusted ? Or is the means of our good to be accused? Impatience is unseemly for them that believe that heavenly rest and glory are at hand; where all their pains and sorrows will end. Were a man on the rack, and were sure to have all that he desir- ed after it, he would the-more easily endure it. Why else did the martyrs so patiently suffer? It is incongruous to complain of any thing that brings a man to heaven. Christ, himself was innocent, and yet accused not God for his. sufferings. But we suffer justly for our faults ; and it is so much less than they deserve, that the sins which we suffer most for are said to be forgiven us, in. that the everlasting punishment is for- given. Should we so often sinfully please the flesh, and yet must it not smart? Shall we so often grieve the Spirit of God, and not be grieved? Shall we lose our time, neglect our duty, forget our home, fall in love with the world, -and yield to temptations, and defile our souls with filth and vanity, and must not correction tell us of our sinful folly ? " If we suffer for our faults, and bear it patiently, it is not thankworthy ; " 1 Pet. ii. 20. Our merciful Father doth use to shame us for our impatience, by the blessed end of our afflictions. , The end that God made with Job .showed the reasonableness of his patience. When our afflictions are over, do not all believers see cause of thankfulness vor. tt. 28
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