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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 in
the
world
is
but
rashness
and
folly
where
such
a hardiness and patience are utterly
wanting.
-Of
this 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 of
a
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