Part II (continued, part 4)
will sanctify and cleanse her by the washing of water, till I have presented
it glorious to myself, that I may delight in her for ever.
And so much for the third head. The last that I shall mention is
IV. TJw consequent of Adam s marriage; which was
1. A union ; and the story of Adam s marriage affords us such a union as no
marriage else besides. Both became one flesh ; and not only so, she was not
only one flesh with him because of her relation of wife, and as man and wife
afterwards were, and now are ; but she was one flesh with him too, because
she came out of him. She was both caro una, and she was also de carne, or
ex came, she was both one flesh with him, and she was out of his flesh also. Our children, they are out of our flesh ; but they are not caro nostra, as wives
are, they are not our flesh. And wives, they are our flesh ; but they are not
ex carne, and e.r osse, out of our flesh, and out of our bone. But so it is here
in Adam s marriage, Eve, she is united to him in both the nearest and dearest
relation ; Adam is both a husband to her, and a father.
* shall a man leave father and mother. Did not Christ do so ? John xvi 28,
2. For this cause, saith Gen. ii.,
* I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world. Christ was
* in the bosom of his Father, 1 John i 17, 18, and he left his Father, and took upon him the form of a servant,
Phil. ii. G, came and dwelt amongst us, served for his church as Jacob did
for Rachel. Christ was a lover, he did it out of love to his church, U :
Father. Nay, not only so, but his Father forsook him ; My God, my why hast thou forsaken me ? And he left his mother too, when he was here below. When those
to him that he was to die for, and his mother sent for him, saith he, Who is my mother, and my brethren, but those that hear the won I of ( i 1. and keep it? And when hU mother sought him, ami was rar.Tul about him.
t thou not know that I was about my IV
business? And wlun he hung i;;.--u th<-
.EPH. V. 30-32.] THE LPISTLI; TO THE EPHKSIANS. 42>
(to die for his church,) to be taken care of by John. When he was thirtythree years old, lie left her in the world, and went to heaven to take care of his church. And thus he left father, and he left mother also, for his church.
And, my brethren, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as he is married thus to his church, he will shew himself the most fond and perfect lover that ever was. As he is the Saviour of his church, which is his body, so he will come and fetch her at the last unto himself.
^ I might be very large in this, but I have confined myself, not only to what nseth from the state of every man s marriage, but what was proper and peculiar to Adam s, held forth in Gen. ii., to which the Apostle here alludcth when he saith, This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and his church. And so I have done with the allusion and with this text, and have in some measure shewn that in the story of Adam is contained a typo and shadow of the story of Christ and of the gospel.
PATIENCE AND ITS PERFECT WORK,
UNDER
SUDDEN AND SOEE TEIALS;
BEING AN EXPOSITION OF JAMES I. 1-6.
FOR a striking account of the occasion of this remarkable Treatise, see Memoir of Dr Goodwin, by his son, ante, p. Ixxiv. It was published
anonymously in a small volume (ISmo), and is one of the rarest of all Goodwin s pieces. As an evidence of its extreme scarcity, besides the
very high price it fetches, equivalent to the cost of the entire Works of (toodivui in this Series, it may be mentioned that it is usually spoken of
by bibliographers and others as a Sermon merely, shewing that they had
never seen it. For the use of the copy from which our reprint is given, we are indebted to the rich Puritan collection of the Rev. A. B. GROSART,
Kinross,
PATIENCE AND ITS PERFECT WORK.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations ; knowing this, that the trying of your faith ivorketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work*that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ash of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not ; and it shall be given him. JAMES I. 1-J.
CHRISTIAN patience is my subject, and the perfect work of patience, ver. 4 ; but as an introduction thereunto, I must first open some things of the words in ver. 1, 2.
1. As to the persons he writes to, they were the twelve tribes scattered, that had been and were bereft of their inheritance in their native country, and quitting that, had betaken themselves to banishment ; multitudes of them, I do not say all, as appears, Acts viii. 1, And at that tune there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem ; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And, Acts xi. 10, we find them travelled as far as Phenice, Cyprus, Antioch; who went from thence afterwards into other countries. The other Apostle who wrote to the same persons, comforts them with this 1st Epistle i. 4 that they were begotten again to a better in heritance than that of Canaan, which now they were deprived of.
2. I observe that though these had been made thus sufficiently destitute -and desolate already, and driven from house and home to seek their liveli hoods, with their families, in foreign countries, that yet still great and press ing troubles and miseries did follow them, as one wave doth after another : they were continually felling into divers and sundry temptations of all sorts. God tries us every moment, as in Job vii. 18; we are chastened every morning, Ps. xxxvii. 13; and killed - that is, in danger of death all day long, as Rom. viii. God had not yet done with these.
3. He utters the strangest paradox upon this occasion that ever was or .can be uttered ; and begins with it, ver. 2, My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. Thus bluntly and abruptly, without any mollifying preface or sweetening introduction, unless that of my brethren, to make way for it. The fore-part, count it all joy, seems to carry a moral contradiction in the face of it unto the latter part, when ye fall into divers
430 :II:XCE AND IT-
teutations; and this i ms to put an impossibility upon the former, which is the duty exhorted unto. Let us consider every \\oid of each. 1. Were it simply that they are called upon to rejoice, how uncouth is this to men in that posture and circumstance they are suppled fallen int.. : Well, but yet count it joy, says he : not only moderate, keep in, and smother your contrary passions, which was the highest lesson that philosophy and the Stoics, the best of philosophers, had taught, but the gospel calls upon ns therefore, <fcc., or for and upon these temptations, to rejoice. Count it joy; that is the first
2. All joy; the highest joy, for so all joy must needs be supposed to be.
3. And this, not when they should see by experience the glorious issue and event these temptations do produce ; but to account it all joy bH oivhand, as if they were possessed of what God promiseth shall be the assured and expected end, Jer. xxix. 11 ; and to be beforehand as sure of it as if they had it already.
4. It is not when they are assaulted with troubles, but when temptations are actually broken in upon them, and they lie under them.
5. Nor yet when they are led into them by steps, or had met with them as in their way ; but when they fall into them. It is a downfall he s[ of, and that suddenly, at once, and utterly unexpected by them.
G. Xot when you fall into one or two, but into many temptations ; as, elsewhere, the word divers here is translated, 1 Peter i 6, manifold: * and many is imported in manifold.
7. And those not of one sort or kind, but divers, and so of several sorts, as in good name, reproach, revilement : divers also as to their bodies, souls ; their relations and families, friends, wives, children ; inward, outward man.
. When you fall (^s^ee^re) into them, as into a pit and snare, and so they felling round about you ; so as you have nothing to stand or lean upon, but all about you falls with you and under you, so as in all outward appearance ye are sunk and overwhelmed with the ruins.
In this case to count it all joy, to shout as men in harvest, or that have gotten great spoils ; when their miseries are so great that they cannot be endured, that yet their joy must be so great as more cannot be expressed ; this is the hardest duty that ever was required of the distressed hearts of men. And yet God would not require it if it were not attainable ; and it is attainable by no other principles but of Christianity. And argues that our Christian religion, which is the only true wisdom, ver. 5, hath so spiritful and sovereign a virtue in it that it is able to raise spirits up unto thus 1 and glorious a pitch and i>erfection in this life. But they might say, You have propounded this hard and strange duty to us ; what ground is there that may rationally and effectually persuade and bring our hearts to it ? What considerations that may procure us this joy, and how may we be wrought up to it ? For God never gave any command ment bat there was a full and sufficient ground and reason to<enforce it. He gives them two grounds : one at the 3d and 4th verses, Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. This is a ground from what follows in this life. The other is at the ll tli verse, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation ; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life. This is the reward that follows in the life to come, in the hope and expectation of which you may count it all joy thai * Ei/ rrotiAo<f the same word here and there.
PATIENCE AND ITS PERFECT WORK. 431
now you are tried ; for the end and issue of them is a crown of glory, which
these do work, as 2 Cor. iv. 17, For our light affliction, which is but for a
moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
I begin with the first, what ground there is in this life to cause us to
* Knowing -
rejoice in such temptations. This, in the 3d and 4th verses,
that is, deeply considering and weighing this principle of our Christian pro
fession that the trying of your faith works patience. That is one and
the first, in which the Apostle tacitly supposeth this maxim, and builds upon the supposition of it ; it lies at the bottom, and yet is enough implied. It
is this : That to have our graces, especially to have our faith and patience
tried and drawn forth and exercised in us, to the glory of God, is the greatest blessedness of a Christian in this life.
That this is the bottom ground is evident. For why else should he pro
pose and hold forth this of all other, with a /or, or particle, that gives the
reason of what he had now said ? That seeing their faith and other graces,
as patience, &c., would be tried thereby, that therefore they should count
it all joy. My brethren, if we had eyes to see and to consider it, we might
know, that as to have grace that accompanies salvation is the greatest mercy can befall any one in the world ; so to have that grace tried and exercised
and drawn forth to the utmost, is a thing of the greatest moment, the greatest
spiritual privilege that can come to us after that we have that grace. And
therefore/ when trials come, we are to think with ourselves, Now will my
graces be tried, now is that befallen me which will do it ; this ought to be
matter of the greatest joy to me. For from this ground and reason it is
that the Apostle bids them count it all joy. And hereupon it is, for no
other doth he mention here, this alone being the greatest advantage that a
Christian is capable of in this life ; and in this life only it is that grace is
exercised.
And the reason of it lies in this, that for grace to approve itself to God
in a way of the greatest well-pleasing to him, and so as to come to be ap
proved of by God ; and for a man s sincerity to have God s approbation and
testimony, as to Abraham, Now I know thou fearest me, this is the
greatest privilege a saint can have, and this ought to be matter of the greatest
comfort. And it is our greatest glory, according unto that, 2 Cor. x. 17, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord; which he there speaks in
reference unto what follows in ver. 18, For not he that commendeth him
self is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. Both which the Apostle
spake as that which he comforted himself withal, yea, and gloried in, even
the Lord s approving of him. Job also comforted himself with this : chap,
xxiii. 10, When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. The Apostle
saith, The trial of your faith is more precious than gold ; and he speaketh
it of the very instrument or means by which your graces are tried : the very
calcining pot, or the fire, whereby it is tried ri &ox/piov* his word is even
that is more precious than gold. Then much more the graces that are tried. And therefore the Apostle by his rb doKipiov intends and means these very
afflictions and tentations by which we are tried. They are the refiner s pot and fire. You would rejoice if you had so much gold given you. Then
rejoice that you have so much affliction to try your gold. That your graces
are so highly valued by God is the reason why he tries them ; he would not
be at the pains and cost of it else. And they being tried, and holding to be
* Ao/a
/uo!> est id per quod fit exploratio, (Grotius in rerba :) and so it differs from
SOKIM, which notes the issue, the experiment, or fruit upon trial, (see the same Grotius
on Rom. v. 4,) even as Kpirrjpiov from Kpivis.
PATIENCE AND IT-
1 true gold indeed, tiKY ha\v tluivupon his approbation upon that
: and he Mfel his royal Towor stair.}) and mark upon them, seeivtlv in
life, and tlie same will openly appear to all tinworld Jit latter day ;
* Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the
so, in 1 Pet i. 6, 7,
trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishoth, though it be tried with lire, might be found unto praise and honour and
glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. It will be found unto praise then ; but it is unto praise before God now, as much as it will be then.
He mentions faith for the trial of your faith in the first and chief place, as that grace which is the most tried ; and as that which, being tried, sets
all the rest on work. I need not much insist on it. It is faith that shall be counted for honour and glory at that day, having been tried. It is faith which bears, and by which we bear, the stress of all tcntations. It is faith by which we overcome : 1 John v. 4, 5, This is the victory which we have over the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world ? He that believeth, &c. A second .and more particular principle or maxim, which concerns this
life, and should cause us to rejoice, is, that faith, being tried, works patience ; and that if patience have its perfect work, it will make us perfect Christian*.
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
He cnlargcth no further upon faith ; only gives it the honour that it is the mother grace, and of patience especially, when itself is tried But he had no sooner mentioned patience but he runs out upon that, and falls upon the greatest encomium and praises of it : Let patience have its perfect work, and it will make you perfect. Now there is no occasion, or room, or work for patience, unless there be tentations. And patience, its work is but
KO far as the affliction proves to be. 80 then, his second argument runs
upon this principle, that the full work of patience in our souls is, of all other
graces, the highest perfection of a Christian : and therefore, count it all joy to fall into tentations ; for thereby you will have that grace drawn forth to the fullest length, wound up to the highest peg, which is not done unless
tentations be answerable. And in all your trials let it but have its sv.
its perfect work, and it will make your persons perfect, that is, as perfect as
in this life you can be made.
Quest. But in what respect doth it make us perfect 1 A ns. Not only in this sense for there is a double sense of that speech either as if when we had exercised all other graces, but yet have not had
occasion for this one, that when this shall be added, that then they should be perfect Christians. But this is not the meaning, for this may be said <>!
: as if a man hath exercised all other graces, if he begii exercise any one new grace, it may be said there is a perfection in this
any other grace
respect. As when he says to the Corinthians, As you have abounded in
every other grace, so abound in this also, 2 Cor. viiL 7. But there is another
sense, and that is his scope here, which is not to extol a perfection in com mon with other graces, but a singular perfection to be attributed to patience
: Let patience but have its perfect work, and that alone will make you emi
nently perfect. And his scope is to comfort them against tinnaU and occurrences of their lives tentations/ And therefore a siiunilar and
M -omium i.s attributed herein unto patieiu
. which ithe .shield
Against th.-m.
My brethren, to give the full sense of this, I will make a
PATIENCE AND ITS PERFECT WORK. 433
Suppose a Christian to have had the privilege to have lived in the exercise
of all graces in a way of acting, or of an active life, as to have lived in sweet communion with God, and to have walked in the light of God s countenance
all the day, Ps. Ixxxix. 15 ; and withal to have had the opportunity of
doing good, and accordingly to have done much good in an active way, as
having been abundant in good works, holy duties, praying, reading, holy
conferences, &c. ; but yet all this while with a freedom from suffering, so as he hath not had the suffering part yet, so as there hath been no need for, or
use of patience. Suppose another Christian, who hath been obstructed and
hindered and kept from such an active life of doing good with that freedom
spoken of, but the dispensation of God hath disposed him to a suffering life
all his days, and confined him thereunto, and therein his patience hath been
exercised under all sorts of tentations ; and then withal, suppose that
patience, with all those gracious dispositions of heart that are proper to it, hath had its free and full passage through his heart, such as I shall here
after describe, hath had its operations all sorts of ways, according as his
afflictions have been : this alone would so draw out and exercise all graces, and head them, that you would say, This man is a perfect Christian ; shall I
say more perfect than the other ? At least the text says that this makes him a perfect man.
Or again, if you will suppose one that hath been very active in the fore
gone part of his life, and done God great service, with an enlarged heart : and that at last, after he hath done the will of God, further to crown all, God will exercise this man s patience with great sufferings, and draweth it
forth according to these his trials, that man is perfect every way, and he
lacked till then that which is his greatest perfection, and he was not before
every way accomplished.
For proof that patience is the eminent perfection of a Christian
1. Take the instance of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. "What was
Christ s perfection 1 He had been perfect in all active obedience, complete in all graces, yet the glory of his perfection is put upon his sufferings and his
patience, Heb. ii. 10, For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. This of patient enduring was
that which enhanced and exalted his obedience so : Phil, ii., He humbled
himself, and was obedient to death, &c. This of patient enduring was obe
dience learned : Heb. v. 8, Though he was a son, yet he learned obedience
by what he suffered. The active part of obedience was natural to him, he
being, as the natural Son, the Holy One of God ; having the law of God in
his heart, and it was his delight, his meat and drink, to do his will, Ps. xl.
8, Heb. x. ; that is, this was natural to him. But for him to suffer who
was the Son, and so to be patient in suffering, who was so great a person,
this was to be learned, as that which was improper for such a person, the Son. And yet, as I may say, this perfected the natural accomplishments of him ;
this was a lesson out of the road, utterly uncouth and extravagant. He
must go to school, therefore, to learn this. For so that text implies ; this
he was to learn, as that which would perfect him above all. And so, indeed,
to this purpose it follows in ver. 9, Being made perfect, that is, by what
he suffered, as in the verse before, and chap, ii., he had also said, and as
that which did perfect him, more than all his other obedience, and rendered him more acceptable to his Father. Now it was his patience and enduring wherein that his obedience principally lay ; which accordingly is so often
VOL. ii. 2 E
434 PATIENCE AND ITS PERFECT WORK.
spoken of him, as Heb. xil, He endured the cross, vcr. 2; and He
endured such contradiction of sinners, ver. 3 ; the same word that here is
* Enduring is put to
used for patience ; that the verb, this the noun.
express patience, and is the word used up and down the New Testament, and in this epistle most, to express patience by, as chap. i. 1 2, chap. v.
8, 10, 11. Now Christ did so endure. He was led as a sheep to the
slaughter ; he opened not his mouth. Hogs cry, but sheep make no din when led to the slaughter, or when their throats are cut. And this was
Christ s proper and super-perfection, who is therefore proposed as an example of suffering and patience to us, and likewise of that glorious end and issue of
it, in these words of that chap. v. 11, Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord, namely of the Lord Christ, which
many of these Jews he wrote to had seen with their eyes, or it was trans
acted in their times, and so in their view ; they saw him suffer, and now
they see him crowned with glory and honour, Heb. ii. That was the end of
our Lord, and his sufferings, which made him perfect.
2. And as it was Jesus Christ s perfection, so it was of the most eminent
saints. Look again into this epistle, chap. v. 11, and you find the primi tive principle that was in vogue to be, Behold, we count them happy which
endure, it is still the same word which is used for patience, as was said r that is, We Christians generally esteem them the happiest men in the
world that are most exercised with sufferings, and armed with patience to
endure them. They are happy to a behold ! and so to a perfection, in our common esteem. Behold, we count them happy! It was a common cried-
up maxim amongst them in those times, and the thing itself in greatest
request. Then
3. Take the prophets for an example/ says he, chap. v. 10. He com mends them also for their patience, as well as for their prophecies. And
though he describes them by this character and periphrasis, that have
spoken in the name of the Lord, yet that was but to set out and celebrate
the example of their sufferings and patience the more. He sets the crown
upon the head of that grace. Nor doth he mention any of the good they had done ; nothing of that, but their sufferings only. And then by name he
instanceth in Job. God boasted of him to Satan for his former active life
in holiness ; but you have no mention of that by the Apostle, nor in the New Testament, but he cries him up for his suffering and his patience only, as that which had endeared him to God more than all the former part of his
life.
Lastly, Take the apostles. The Apostle in the Revelation puts it into
his coat of arms as a piece of his nobility, and a part of his heraldry. I
John, who am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the king dom and patience of Jesus Christ, Kev. L 9. Now, upon all these grounds, if you be true and right Christians, and
know, as the Apostle s word is, how to put a due estimate upon what is
your greatest interest and privilege in this life, viz., the proof and trial of
your graces, and of this grace of patience above all, as the highest perfection of a Christian, yea, of Christ himself, and which was the most eminent
praise of prophets and apostles, if you value your being rendered most
pleasing unto God, then count it all joy when you thus fall into tentations. For now you have God and Christ, the great, the chief master or.K-ivr and
!> using himself to behold how \aliantly, \\i>-ly, and gallantly you lu-hav :m.l .v
designer of these conflicts, setting his most gracious eye upon yn. ]
yourselves. He sits in heaven as the great spectator of these jousts and
PATIENCE AND ITS PERFECT WORK. 435
tournaments, which are to him as spectacles which arc sports to us ; to which
the Apostle alludes, 1 Cor. iv. 9, For I think that God hath set forth us
the apostles last, as it were appointed to death : for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. Rejoice therefore, as good
soldiers would, to enter into these lists, in the sight of their great general and emperor, whom they have given themselves up to please. Thus, 2 Tim.
ii. 4, No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life,
that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. Therefore
get your hearts free and loose from all those entanglements that arise from
adherency to the things of this world ; from inordinate passions that cleave
unto the things of this life, which will hinder and weaken you as to a
patient bearing the losses and crosses you meet with in it : knowing also
that you cannot please the captain of your salvation, nor approve your
selves more to him than by a patient endurance ; which is, in the words
before that passage, in that place to Timothy, exhorted to, ver. 3, * There
fore endure hardness as a good soldier of Christ. And in its coherence
this follows, it pleaseth your general to see it. And in Col. i., he first,
in the general, prays, ver. 10, that they might walk worthy of the Lord
unto all pleasing; which pleasing, as it consisteth in fruitfulness in good
works, or the active life of a Christian, being fruitful in eveiy good work,
in the same verse, so in being strengthened with all might, unto all
patience and long-suffering, as that which is the second, and chiefest, and
>
most glorious part that a Christian is to perform, to consummate the other; and which, therefore, requires a more glorious power to work it than the
former, the active part, did, as ver. 1 1 shews Strengthened with all might,
according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering.
Thus much for the opening of the words, in order to that I am more
setly to handle, which followeth.
PATIENCE AND ITS PERFECT WORK-
SECTION IL
I HAVE three general heads to treat of :
I. What jxitience if. IL How patience is wougJit. TIT. What it is for patience to have a perfect work,
IST GENERAL HEAD.
What the grace of patience is.
Take it at large, that is, in the full comprehension of it, it is a constant
persisting, whether to do the will of God without fainting, or to suffer the
will of God with submission, and quietness, and cheerfulness, to the end of
a man s days. And thus taken, it respects doing as well as suffering. The
good ground is said to bring forth its fruit, all its fruit, with patience, in the
parable of the sower. It respects 1
First, Doing the loill of God : Rom. ii. 7, To them who by patient con
tinuance in well-doing the Greek is, the patience of a good work
1 seek for glory and honour, <tc. And the reason why patience is required to every good work is because
there is a difficulty that accompanies every duty; and to the putting forth
of every grace, that we need have patience to perform the duty constantly,
and to continue in the practice of that grace.* There is a difficulty, not
only from our own corruption, unto which the commands of God are
grievous, but from the circumstances of times, places, persons we live in
and amongst, though they should not persecute ; as not to run into the same
excess of riot, to speak or do what we know doth not please the company we are in. Thus, to be chaste in Sodom was to Lot a trial : to condemn
the world by a different carriage, as in being stricter than others on the
Lord s day or in family duties, fcc., to cross the stream : to be singular,
Matt. v. 47, and the like. Heb. xii. 12, Lift up the hands which hang
down, and the feeble knees: wherein I observe that in doing good in
any kind, we are not only lame creatures, and walk as those that halt, which
breeds an awkwardness unto any duty ; but further, we are apt by reason
thereof to turn out of the way, as there, if nigged. The members we should
walk withal are feeble ; our hands we should act with are hanging down ;
and so the performance hath a difficulty. To go up the hill of good duties
(though private and personal) without weariness, to keep straight patln.
not to pick and choose our way, and not to baulk the way or work which
God finds us to do, Eccles. ix. 10 ; especially not to faint towards the end, when we come to the brow of the hill ; these all liava weariwmcn(
! to a11 thw
th. in. N.,w, that whirh piinripally
st, ut nullum prseceptum obirc quis posait a
; ..,-, .;., .( > .
PATIENCE AND ITS PERFECT WORK. 437
is patience, as in ver. 1 he had prefaced, Let us run with patience the race that is set before us ; we need patience for every step of it, in doing as well as in suffering. And in the verse immediately before that exhorta tion now opened, (it is ver. 11,) the Apostle puts and devolves an even and
quiet walking upon patience, obtained first by suffering, in these words, Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. So as a quiet, resolute, and strong performance of all the duties of righteousness is from patience, and is much the fruit of that patience we get by chastisements. The suffering life helps and contributes much to the active life ; for as there is a patience required in doing God s will, so suffering his will fits the heart for it.
But this of patience in well-doing is not, in strict sense, that patience which is here in my text to be understood.
Patience is therefore, secondly, the suffering the will of God in any kind. And this doth patience eminently respect. And that is the renowned
patience which we almost everywhere meet with, and which the text calls
for; such as when sudden and unexpected trials and tentations, which
they faU into, fall out, as ver. 2. And so is not meant of the difficulties that accompany our ordinary constant way of personal walking, in perform ing the duties of our holy profession.
Obj. But you will say, My sufferings are not for the gospel, as theirs here intended were, but they are mere providential accidents that have fallen upon me, out of common providence, and but such as befall wicked men. They are not from outward persecution, for Christ s sake or my profession, but from God s hand.
Ans. I shall answer this, here, once for all.
1. The words of this very text may somewhat relieve us herein; for it is tentations at large that are spoken of, and tentations arising from sudden downfalls into miseries, and so of any kind. He cloth not altogether re strain it to temptations by persecution, though they are mainly intended, but it may, and ought to be, extended to other providential occurrences ; and the word wofAovvi, used for patience, signifieth a remaining under any pressures unbroken and whole, be they of what kind soever. It respects, indeed, afflictions mainly for the gospel, yet not exclusively to afflictions in common.
2. In the prosecution of this argument, the Apostle doth manifestly carry in his eye other tentations or sufferings than from persecution, as ap pears from the examples he allegeth to press them to this patience. For among others, and above all others, he brings the instance of Job and his, by name only, as well as of the prophets in general, whom, Christ says, they persecuted, Matt. v. 12. Thus, chap. v. 11, Ye have heard of the patience of Job. His alleging the prophets is but a general
: ver. 10, Take the
prophets not naming any for an example of suffering and of patience. But that of Job singularly, and by name. Now, surely he would not cite his most eminent example, to confirm his exhortation to this patience he in
tended, of one whose case did not come within the compass and dint of his exhortation. Let us, therefore, have recourse to Job s case and story. His losses were but providential from God. The Sabeans and Chaldeans plun dered him of his goods, and slew his servants. And the fire of God, or from God, is fallen from heaven, so his messengers tell him, chap. L 16. It is true it was the devil, out of spite, that moved them that did it; but they did it, not in a way of persecution, but as common enemies, as
438 PATIENCE AND ITS PERFECT WORK.
when the clans of one country break in upon another. But it was God and
the devil agreed it togetlu T ; via, and it was God gave first occasion to the
devil to move him to have leave to do it. So as that was not for the
gosjHjl s sake in way of persecution. Nor did Job at all know of thai trans
action between God and Satan, not all that while his patience was in tho
exercise of it, but took all as the hand of God, though extraordinary.
If you now ask a description of patience, as it thus respects suffering the
will of God, we must give it as it is in the word of God in the height, for
that is the rule itself that directs to it, and not lown it to what is found in our hearts. And yet that which afterwards follows, and will confirm every
tittle of it, is drawn mostly from examples of the saints, either in the Old or New Testaments, which shew that it is attainable, though with allowance to
defects, which accompany all graces in this life.
It is a constant, thankful, joyful enduring, with perseverance to the end
of a man s life, all the trials that are grievous, how great, how long, how
hoj>eless soever as to coming out of them ; mortifying and compescing the
inordinacy of opposite passions, as fear, grief, care, anxiety, which will arise
upon such afflictions ; with submitting to God s will, for God s glory, and
his good pleasure s sake; still blessing and sanctifying God in all, waiting on God, and relieving one s self by faith in what is to be had in God, and from God, in communion with him, and from his love, in this life ; in expec tation also of that glory which is the reward after this life ended.
I might, in this place, confirm every word and tittle of this description, either out of examples of holy men or the rules which the word gives. But
I omit the set collection of such proofs here, because that, scatteredly, up and down, in the particulars that follow, this will be found performed.
SD GENERAL HEAD. How patience is wrouyld.
Brethren, while I shew you how patience is wrought, I do withal shew
you the way and means to obtain it ; for by the same it is wrought, by the same it is nourished and maintained. And I shall not go out of the text
for this.
There are two principles here that work patience. The first is faith : ver.
3, Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. And
because, in GaL v. 6, it is said, faith worketh by love, that is, faith work
eth by love whatever it worketh, therefore we must find also that love works patience. And that you have in ver. 1 2 too, Blessed is the man
that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Why doth he put in
* to them that love him, whilst he speaks of him that en dureth tentations, but because it is love enables a man to endure tempta tion?* So that faith in the first place, and then faith working by love in
the second place, works patience or enduring.
And the confirmations of these two will give proofs to the latter parts of
that description I gave of patience ; to wit, those of the soul s relieving itself
by faith, by what is to be had in God, kc.
I. How doth faith work patience ? Ans. First, in the general, faith is the substance of things hoped for, and
Admonet victorca omnium tentitioniim fore, <i"i Doum arnant. N
turn aninio defici cum tentamur, niai quia prevalot muudi amor. Calrin in
PATIENCE AKD ITS PERFECT WORK. 439
indeed of all things that are revealed in the word; that is, it makes them subsistcnt and real to a man s soul. Faitli does this, as the eleventh to the Hebrews shews. And thereupon faith hath all the motives and considera
tions that the whole word affords, all which it brings in to the soul, and makes them subsistent to it, to support it in trials. All is let in by faith ; that is the tunnel that fills the vessel. And by thus bringing home to a man s soul all the considerations the word affords, which may induce a man to patience, it works it. This is but general. These considerations in the word are infinite, and I cannot stand to in
stance ; I will only give what are most proper to faith.
First of all, Faith hath a privative, emptying work. It empties the soul of
all its own worth, and righteousness, and excellency in its own eyes, and gives a thorough sight unto the soul of the sinfulness of sin, of its spiritual sins, and
-contrarieties of all in itself unto holiness and faith ; and withal fully convinceth it of its just deservedness to be utterly destroyed, and therefore much more of its due desert of all or any afflictions whatever, they being any or all of them far less than destruction itself. And in the sight and sense of these
faith lays the soul a poor, empty, naked, wretched creature in all spiritual
respects, both in the sight and presence of God and in its own eyes. And
this helps greatly towards working patience. You shall observe, in that
golden chain of graces, whereof each latter link depends upon the former, Matt. v. 3-5, how poverty of spirit is placed first : Blessed are the poor in
spirit, that is, that are emptied of themselves, look upon themselves as hav
ing nothing, deserving nothing, able to do nothing spiritually. And this
true poverty of spirit they have from faith wrought ; for blessedness is only pronounced of them that believe, and of the fruits of faith in them, accord
ing to that, Rom. iv. 7-9. Then, secondly, follows, Blessed are they that
mourn, namely, for their sins ; that in the second place. And then, thirdly, 1 Blessed are the meek, that is, those who, in the sight of their poverty and
sinfulness, lie at God s feet, so subdued and affected as God may do what he
will to them or with them. Thus it is with them when they are thus emp
tied, which is when they have seen their sins and deservedness to be de
stroyed, and are humbled for them and mourn for them. These foregoing
dispositions work meekness, submission to God. They have nothing to say
against whatever he shall do, but to justify God in all, and to condemn themselves. And all these make them willing and patient to take any thing well at the hands of God. It is an excellent speech, to our purpose, of
-the church in that humbled frame of heart you find her in, Lam. iii. 39, * Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his
sins ? The church expresseth it as the most brutish, improper incongruity, unbecoming a man, such as there could not be imagined a greater. What I
for a man to complain and think much at the punishment of his sins 1 a man to murmur, as the word is, against God ! a sinful man against the holy God, his righteous judge! And it is certain that thinking much is the
ground of all impatiency ; and, on the contrary, a submiss temper of spirit unto God is the ground of all patience. But why doth she put in, besides, to convince such a one of the folly, injustice, and iniquity of it, that he is a
living man; Why doth a living man complain
? Art thou alive 1 Art a
living man still in this world ? Then hast thou little cause to complain, whatever thy misery be. Whilst thou art alive, thou art not destroyed. Consider how hell and destruction is thy portion, and the due punishment of
thy sins ; and so thou hast infinitely less than thou deservest, and therefore thou hast no reason to complain. The church, out of her own sense and ap-
440 ruir.vr. AND i , r WORK,
prehension of this, had said before, ver. 2-, It is of the Lord s hut we are not consumed. She suith nut, that cur i^u-ds aiv not consumed, or
that our houses are not burnt ; for indeed that was the chnivh s very case when she spake this. Jerusalem was burnt, their women ravish. -.1. their
goods plundered, their bodies famished, as you read in the sain. Lamenta
tions almost everywhere. But yet there was a remnant of persons who were
not consumed ; and this, said she, is of the Lord s mercies, of his tender mer
cies, out of his bowels, as the word there is. And this being less than de
struction, or being consumed, is her reason for that expostulation fore-men
tioned, ver. 39. As also of that her so great submission, from that ver. - 1
unto the 39th verse. You find the very same to this, as a ground of patience,
expressed elsewhere, after the captivity ended : Ezra ix. 13, Thou our God
hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, say they, and for our great trespasses. Shall, then, a living man complain for the punishment of his sin, when it is so infinitely far less than he deserves ? This consideration works patience, as it hath
reason. If a man deserves to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, and he is but burnt in the hand, shall this man complain ? Let that man down on his knees at the bar, and thank the judge or prince that he had not his due de
sert, the gallows. And the consideration of this is that also which mak man accept the punishment of his iniquity, as you have it in Lev. xxvi. 41,
1 If ye accept the punishment, ike. ; that is, if yc kiss the rod. And what makes a man come to accept the punishment of his iniquities ? Oh ! the
punishment of my iniquity is infinitely far less than I deserve, for, thinks he, damnation is my portion. This is the first tiling that works patience, the
consideration of our own deservediiess to be destroyed, and this is from tho
emptying work of faith.
Secondly, Faith brings home to a man s soul the dominion of God, and
the sovereignty of that dominion over a man s soul and person, to do wh.it
he will with them ; and that may very well hush and quiet a man. In Job ix. 12, Behold, he taketh away, (destroys a city, a nation, suppose, as in chap. xii. 23, He increaseth the nations, and destroys them ; enlargeth the nations, and straitens them again, ) and
* who can hinder him V as in
that chap, ix., and who will say unto him, What dost thou V As it follows,
* If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers stoop under him ;
* the helpers of strength, as in the margin, they bow under him. He
or,
took away your goods, and who could hinder him 1 The fire burnt this city,
notwithstanding all the inhabitants that were interested, and able to have
quenched it; yet the strong helpers stood helpless, looking on, weeping,
shaking their heads, and crying, Alas ! For why ? Who could hinder h
They all bowed under him. And again, Job xxxiv. 31, Surely it is meet
to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any n
For, as ver. 33, Should it the evil or the good he is pleased to brin
thee be according to thy mind V (Heb., Should it be from with tii
that is, from what is in and with thee. Must he ask counsel first of
thee, and know what thy mind is? He will recompense it, or di
as he pleaseth, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose, th,
ther thy mind be for or against it, and not I. (This is
< >i Klihu
: b
in the person of God, and on his behal) That is, ShmiV -e of
all these things for me, and not I my iv and mu.-t
silence all an. n, as \\.-il ai it did .1
anything to say an : th :hu k""
tobtCOnfci -ut to be wholly submitted to.
PATIENCE AND ITS PERFECT WORK. 441
But, my brethren, faith brings home to the heart a message of a higher sovereignty, even of love from God borne to you, and tells all you that sin cerely profess an interest in God, that God hath shewn his absolute dominion already towards you in saving your souls. It is an absolute dominion that, as Kom. ix. shews. And what else is the meaning of that speech I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful V It is a speech of dominion. Well, hath God shewed his dominion in saving thy soul with difference ? hath he shewn it on this, the good side ? Then truly thoti mayest very well give him leave to exercise his dominion over all else that thou hast ; thou mayest very well be content he shew his dominion upon thy lumber and thy appurtenances. He might have shewn his dominion in destroying both your goods and souls too, as he did the Sodomites when he burnt their city.
But, thirdly, Faith brings home the love of God, the soul s interest in God, with a communion and fellowship with God, which may well serve to strengthen patience in the greatest distresses. This you see in David at Zik-
lag, when the city was burnt, I therefore instance in it, and his goods all plundered, and his wives carried away. And David was greatly distressed, the people talking of stoning him. Then it is said, but David encouraged
in the Lord his God. His interest in him, and the coming in of Ms love, as being his God, did hearten and strengthen him against all, 1 Sam. xxx. 6. Likewise, in extremity of famine, when there was not bread, nor
(himself
oil, nor wine, nor meat to eat, this wrought the like, Hab. iii. 17, 18, Al though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no more herd in the stalls ; here are all those things enumerated as wanting that are the means to sup port life and nature, and it is the want of food and raiment for you and yours that you fear in the loss of your goods, and loss of your livelihoods ; yet, says he, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my sal vation. A man hath all in God before him still. And faith brings home all in God, or carries the heart out unto God, to fetch in comfort from him, in these the greatest extremities. There are two things there distinct. He first says he will rejoice in the Lord, even in what the Lord is in himself : a God blessed for ever, Amen ! And if God be happy and blessed for ever more, I cannot be miserable, says that soul that can rejoice in this, that however God enjoys a perfect blessedness ; and I do so rejoice in that, that whilst God continues to be God, and these apprehensions and disposition of heart do but continue in me, I have enough. The second is, that he is my God, the God of my salvation ; so Habakkuk, I will joy in the God of my salvation. And then to be sure, while he is happy, I shall be happy indeed. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, Lam. iii., in the midst of those troubles. The Lord help us to faith ! My brethren, the love of God brought in by faith will help a man to bear up under any condition. You know that place, Rom. viii. ; he had triumphed in the^love of God, ver. 31, If God be for us, who can be against us f And ver. 35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ 1 shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or sword 1 Mark his reso
lution, expressed thereupon, in ver. 37, Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. That speech, Nay, in all these things, &c., is a triumphant slighting of all he had reckoned up, and it was all any way formidable, or that might be judged opposite to our com forts in this world, which he had reckoned up ; and yet speaks at that rate as if faith on the love of God and Christ scorned such low and weak and
PATIENCE AND ITS PERFECT WORK.
poor adversaries, as not enough, or not of might enough for them to try their
:n#h upon ; and is as if he had said, Are thcs^ all that come out against .ml threaten to hurt us? But are these all indeed 1 Nay then, says he,
it these be all, we are safe enough ; we are more than conquerors in all these. But how comes this to pass ? It is added, through him that loved us.
.Not only in that he, loving us, joins his strength to ours to support us, l>ut
it is also meant objectivZ, that the love of God and Christ coming in fresh
upon our hearts, the apprehension of that is sufficient ; and in that respect he says, through him that loved us. It is objective spoken of Christ s love, as it is the object of our faith, and not assisteiiter. We are more than con
querors through his love taken in by us, and shed abroad in our hearts ; and by reason that his love comes in and supports us under all, and helps us to conquer all. As faith hath all in God to rejoice in, and so helps the
soul to patience ; so especially it hath its love, in all sorts of distresses.
Fourthly, Faith tells us that there will be a good issue of all as to the other world ; yea, and in this world also, in such things that relate to that world, Luke xxl 18, 19. He had spoken before in that chapter of the greatest dis
tresses that could befall men, as, if you read the verses before, appeal eth, and also of such as should fall upon the people of God amongst them per
sonally, as well as upon the nation of the Jews in their final desolation. And
besides that common calamity which befell the people of God, with the rest
of that nation, he says, over and above, they shall first lay their hands on
you, ver. 12, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and
into prisons, and shall put some of you to death ; it is in all three Evange
lists and in ver. 1C, Ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends ; and ye shall be hated of all men for my name s
sake. But, says he, comfort yourselves with what will certainly be
the issue: ver. 18, There shall not a hair of your head perish. How] Not a hair of your head perish
! What a strange saying is this, when he had said just before they should be persecuted and put to death ! How
doth he say then, Not a hair of your head shall perish? Why, because the
issue shall be such as should make amends for every hair. The soul shall
say, I have not lost a hair. Nay, besides, those of you they cannot put to
death shall have a hundred-fold, and that in this life, as elsewhere, in
spiritual blessings. And faith, eyeing these things, relieves the soul. Ob
serve but what follows there as to our purpose in hand, for which I quote
this place, in ver. 19, the very next verse, In your patience possess your souls ; the meaning from the coherence is, You may well possess your souls
in patience, for I have told you the issue will be most blessed and glorious.
Fifthly, Faith brings in lieaven as tlie reward of patient enduring ; thus,
* Blessed is the man that endureth tempta
in chap. L 12 of our Apostle,
tion : for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord
hath promised to them that love him. And this is the conclusion of his
* When he is tried, that is, whi-n
present discourse about patient enduring.
his trials are finished and gone through with ; and his faith hath all along
wrought patience in his course. It is persevering patience, or end u ram ,
receives this crown. Other graces strive, but faith and patience, tln-y in
crowned.* And further, in proportion it holds that as a man s trials and
temptations have been, and his patience suitable, such shall tin- ,-n -atness of
his reward be, and accordingly im-aMiivd forth unto him. And faith in the
K<-ni. v. Faith having caused us
intu. that glory heartens patience,
Omnes virtute* certant, sola patientia vincit et corouatur.
PATIENCE AND ITS PERFECT WORK.
rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, ver. 2, causeth us also to
first to
<
< glory in tribulations, ver. 3, in the strength of our hope in that glory. Which hope is said further to be increased in us, through tribulations work
patience works experience/ ver. 5, that is,
ing patience, ver. 4. As thus,
many a fresh experiment of our own graces and God s dealings m those
<
trials ; and those experiences do work up a hope or assurance of glory (as
1 John iii. 2) to that degree of firmness that maketh us not ashamed, not in
respect only of the real disappointment of that glory at death, but not in a
man s own hope thereof in his own heart, for in respect to that hope of his
this is spoken, because that over and above, and besides those tores
experiments, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost himself immediately, who is given to us; which shedding, &c o)
God s love is no other than the earnest and prelibation of that glory. Anc
this is given as the reward of our patience and tribulations, which are but
the loss of things earthly, in exchange for which we receive this hope and
beginning of glory. If thou hadst had all the brass and pewter that was m
thy house, and hath been melted by this fire, therewithal turned into gold
and the stones that paved thy yards, or the bricks or lime that raise
walls, all changed into precious stones; thy glass windows, that were dis
solved converted into diamonds, thou hadst little cause to complain at the
< O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest,
loss Now read Isa. liv. 11, 12,
an<
not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy
foundations with sapphires ; I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gate
of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And :
o-otten any increase of grace by these losses, then hath much of this in L
been truly and spiritually fulfilled in thee. And these repairs are in this
< Thou hast a building made without hands, eter
life. But besides that,
in the heavens, 2 Cor. v. 1, which stands ready for thee. Those believing
Hebrews might well suffer the spoiling of their goods with joy, whilst they
found sealed, and put into their hearts, bills of exchange to receive all again
in eternal treasures in heaven. But this was their very case : Ye took joy
fully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have :
heaven a better and an enduring substance, Heb. x. 34. And this happy
lot will come to be thine, if thou exercisest upon thy losses faith and patience.
It follows in that Heb. x., the following verses, Cast not away there
fore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward,
have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might
receive the promise. This for faith s working patience.
II. Our love to God works patience. Love to God in us works pa
tience, or faith by love, as I shewed out of ver. 12. Love to God makes
us cleave to God, and so to follow him through all weathers and endurances.
That great convert, in whom at his conversion faith and love were so abun
dant, as 1 Tiin. i. 14, his heart, through love to the name of Christ, caused
him in the highest passion to utter, What mean you to weep and break
my heart 1 for I am not ready to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem,
for the name of the Lord Jesus, Acts xxi. 13. It was love to that name
that fired him; yea, Ids love was wrought up to such an intense degrees he
could have wished to have been accursed from Christ for God s glory m the
conversion of his brethren, Horn. ix. I wonder how he would have done for
patience under that curse, if in hell. But that love which wished that curse
would have wrought it; and so thought he, or he would never have wished
this. Upon the like account of love to this name, those two apostle
444 PATIENCE AJJD ITS PERFECT WORK.
iced to suffer shame for his name/ as Acts v. 41. Love makes the
glorifying of God and C hrist, and the will of God, which is always i;,r his
glory, dearer than all things to us. Yea, that God should have his will, fur his own glory, if it be the will of God, says the Apostle, of our sufferings, abundantly stills the heart in all It is true, I may be punished in my alHi
tions for my sin, and I humble myself for that But beyond that, it i
good pleasure of God so to have it ; and I rejoice in that, says love, that his
will is done, as truly that it is done upon me, as that by me. And good is the word of God in both; and hallowed be his name ! In that Rom. viii., where, as you heard,
* we are more than conquerors in all these things through him that loved us, that love of his to us is alone indeed openly or ex
pressly mentioned, yet withal it is our love to him that tacitly is insinuated to be a concurrent cause therewith; you must take that in too. For the intent of those very words is, that the soul apprehending his love who is that
lover, roD a^ctrrr^avTOi, as that word imports, out of a reciprocated love to him again, doth hearten us in the conflict unto tliis conquest. And yet there is one small word put in that further argues this ; it is in ver. 36,
1 For thy sake we are killed all the day long, our lives being in jeopardy every hour, and we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. And this for
* As it is
thy sake you have in Ps. xliv., and he quotes it out from thence ;
l For thy sake, &c. Now therefore it is evidently the love that is in us to him, and our cleaving to him therewith, that is there held forth as that which makes us willing to suffer and endure, in that it is for
written, says he,
his sake. And although the Apostle in his discourse runs upon the magni fying God s love and Christ s love to us, as that which, apprehended and taken in by us, doth principally work this effect; yet the Psalmist, on the other side, sets out the love of the church to God as the concurrent cause :
* All this is come upon us ; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. And, ver. 18-22, Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way ; though thou
ver. 17,
hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the sha dow of death. If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god ; shall not God search this out 1 for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day
long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. If faith and love once but say, It is for thy sake, O God; Why then, says patience, I can bear
it, yea, rejoice in it, for his sake that loved me. And look, as the Apostle says he could do all things through Christ that strengthened him, so love can do all things for Christ that loved him, and gave himself for him.
And, to conclude this
If love to our brethren, which springs from love to God, works so great a patience towards them ; as in that scripture,
4 Love suffereth long, and is kind ; envieth not, rejoiceth not in evil ; bears all things, hopes all things, en dures all things, 1 Cor. *iii r ; all which is spoken, as in those words, of our
love to man ; though it was our love to God that is urged and spoken of in
all the words before, and is the spring of this our love to man. Now if love, I say, unto man works so much patience in things, perhaps th;
injurious to us, and not only burdensome, from them, and in a manner all
those elogies of love there do run upon and speak patinirr; that patience
being the proper fruit of that love ; what else do -utl. i ing long, bearing and
enduring all things, with the rest, sound and tln-n inin-h more, I
ay, will love unto God, the cause of this love to our brethren. ( liable us to
PATIENCE AND ITS PERFECT WORK. 445
do the like towards him who can do us no wrong nor hurt, but is holy and righteous in all his works ; and all whose ways and goings forth to us are mercy and truth ; and for whose sake also it is that we bear so with our brethren; and who hath loved and given his Son for us. It was a great speech of a holy soul, in an unkindly trial from man : That man should deal thus with me, I should have much ado to bear it, (as David said, Ps.
Iv. 12,) but it is God, and I can take anything well at his hands. And this for the second general head.
-HO PATIENCE AND ITS PEKFECT WOEK.
SECTION IIL
3o GENERAL HEAD.
What is tJie perfect work of patience,
IN general, a thing then is perfect when all the parts that belong to it are
finished. As then the creation of the world is said to be perfect when, as
Gen. ii. 1,2, The heavens and the earth were finished, and the host of them.
80 when all the whole of the work of patience in its several parts, <fcc., is
accomplished, then patience hath its perfect work.
There are four branches of this head that complete it :
1 . Its privative work.
2. Its positive acts.
3. Its positive fruits.
4. TVs adjuncts ofperfection. All which go to make patience perfect. And the proofs thereof will con
firm every tittle of the fore-part and body of that description I gave of
patience, page 438.
First Branch. Its privative work.
I begin with its privative work. And that lies in this : when faith by
patience doth mortify turbulent passions that still arise, and are opposites
thereto. And as love, when perfect, casts out fear, 1 John iv. 18, so then
patience is perfect when it expels those contrary passions; or else likewise,
too intense thoughts, or porings upon our misery and crosses, so as our
minds are chained and tied to those objects, and taken off from all other.
I take thoughts in, because Christ says, Luke xxiv. 38, Why do thoughts
arise in your hearts ? Why are you troubled V For when troubles sink deep,
they send thoughts up fast ; as when weights are hung upon a clock or jack,
they make the wheels run swiftly. And so inordinate affections cause an