SARK; XXX[x3 OR R,EMEDtES AGAS.1PßT FILAR. .. I:i But perhaps some of these things may come as natu- rally also under the head of passive valour and, courage : And. indeed the most active valour of the greatest heroes is built upon that which is passive. It is on this account they dare venture to expose their :flesh to wounds, their names to reproach, or their bodies to death, because they can bear the wounds, the reproaches, or death itself with a noble serenity and fortitude of soul. All the ac- tive boldness inthe world is but rashness and folly where such a hardiness and patience are utterlywanting. -Ofthis passive valour I shall mention but two particu- lar cases wherein christians:must exert themselves. I. When we are ,called to bear sickness, pain, shame, losses, disappointments, all the sorrowful changes of life,. or death itself from the mere hand of-God. This is to be done with a steadiness of spirit, with a firmness of soul, with Christian fortitude, with a sacred and serene calm 'upon all our powers and passions, without fretting or vex- ing, or inward disquietude. It is a sign of a weak mind to be overset with every blast of wind. ". If thou faintest in the day of adversity, thy strength is but small, Prow. xxiv. lo." We must not indeed despise the chasten- ing of, the Almighty, nor must we faint when we are re- buked of hire," Heb. xii. ,5. Let the,.men of this world that know not Christ, that are not acquainted with the gospel, and have not felt the powers of the world to come, let them fret and, grow peevish at every disappointment that falls upon them in their earthly comforts, or when their flesh is visited with sore pains : But it does not become a christian to be sour and fretful;under the afflicting hand of God, for it is the hand of his heavenly Father. To be, overwhelmed and. almost distracted with the crosses we meet with in the world, is not becoming the character ofa child of God, one that is high-born, that has his. birth, from heaven, and his family there , it is a shame for him to growwild with impatience, or to run into, desperate courses for relief., This is not courage, but mere cowardice of soul, to put an .end .to our own life in order to escape from our sor- rows. The wisest among the heathens reproved it as a meanness of spirit; and surely it is much more unbecom- ing the religion of Christ, and that divine fortitude that every christian should be endued with. We are not to be 5
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