Transcriber's Notes:Transcriber's Notes:
Blank pages have been eliminated.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in theoriginal.
BY
JAMES W. ALEXANDER, D. D.
"Let patience have her perfect work."—James i. 4.
PHILADELPHIA:
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION,
No. 265 CHESTNUT STREET.
Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year 1852, by
Alexander W. Mitchell, M. D.
In the office of the Clerk of the District Court for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The following meditations on Patience,though once delivered in substance to aChristian assembly, were written as a pastoralgift to an esteemed friend, who hadbeen more than two years confined to herdwelling by a dangerous, lingering, andsometimes exceedingly painful malady. Maythe good Lord carry his truth with a blessingto other chambers of trial!
Some words which are often in ourmouths are, nevertheless, but little understood;and some virtues which weare continually praising, are hardlyever put in practice. This is as true ofpatience as of any thing else. Everyman needs it, every man knows hewould be the better for it, yet everyman falls short of it. This, I suppose,was one reason why the apostle Jamesteaches so emphatically concerning it,
"Let patience have her perfect work." James i. 4.
It would seem that the "twelvetribes scattered abroad," to whom thisapostle wrote, were in trials and neededcomfort. For the very first words[6]of his letter are as if he stood overthem and said, Be of good cheer!"My brethren," says he, "count it alljoy, when ye fall into divers temptations,"i. e., trials. These troublestried their faith (v. 3,) and "untriedfaith is uncertain faith." The resultof these trials of faith is patience.The very word is derived from "suffering,"[1]and if there were no painthere could be no patience. If thenpatience is good, trials are good. Andthe great caution to be observed undersuch dispensations is, that we losenot the fulness of the benefit; that wecontent not ourselves with half themercy; that we stop not short of theentire grace; for we may suffer andyet not profit; therefore, says the inspiredteacher, "Let patience haveher perfect work."
[1] In Latin patientia, from patior.
[7]I. Patience is a certain temper ofmind under suffering. As we all areappointed to suffer, and some of usto suffer greatly and suffer long, weshould do well to learn more of thisheavenly art, concerning which somuch good is spoken in Scripture.
In its simplest form, patience is acalm and unshaken state of mind,strongly bearing up against a presentburden of distress. This may existwithout religion. A Stoic or a westernsavage may endure pain withouta murmur. Malefactors have stoutlyfaced the torments of their penal death.In respect to this, the natural temperamentof human beings differs. Somecan naturally bear more than others.They have more rigid fi