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(TRANSLATED BY THE REV. S. THELWALL.)
I FULLY confess unto the Lord God that it has been rash enough,
if not even impudent, in me to have dared compose a treatise on
Patience, for practising which I am all unfit, being a man of no
goodness;[2] whereas it were becoming that such as have addressed
themselves to the demonstration and commendation of some particular
thing, should themselves first be conspicuous in the practice of that
thing, and should regulate the constancy of their commonishing by the
authority of their personal conduct, for fear their words blush at the
deficiency of their deeds. And would that this "blushing" would bring a
remedy, so that shame for not exhibiting that which we go to suggest to
others should prove a tutorship into exhibiting it; except that the
magnitude of some good things—just as of some ills too—is
insupportable, so that only the grace of divine inspiration is
effectual for attaining and practising them. For what is most good
rests most with God; nor does any other than He who possesses it
dispense it, as He deems meet to each. And so to discuss about that
which it is not given one to enjoy, will be, as it were, a solace;
after the manner of invalids, who since they are without health, know
not how to be silent about its blessings. So I, most miserable, ever
sick with the heats of impatience, must of necessity sigh after, and
invoke, and persistently plead for, that health of patience which I
possess not; while I recall to mind, and, in the contemplation of my
own weakness, digest, the truth, that the good health of faith, and the
soundness of the Lord's discipline, accrue not easily to any unless
patience sit by his side.[3] So is patience set over the things of God,
that one can obey no precept, fulfil no work well-pleasing to the Lord,
if estranged from it. The good of it, even they who live outside it,[4]
honour with the name of highest virtue. Philosophers indeed, who are
accounted animals of some considerable wisdom, assign it so high a
place, that, while they are mutually at discord with the various
fancies of their sects and rivalries of their sentiments, yet, having a
community of regard for patience alone, to this one of their pursuits
they have joined in granting peace: for it they conspire; for it they
league; it, in their affectation of[5] virtue, they unanimously pursue;
concerning patience they exhibit all their ostentation of wisdom. Grand
testimony this is to it, in that it incites even the vain schools of
the world[6] unto praise and glory ! Or is it rather an injury, in that
a thing divine is bandied among worldly sciences? But let them look to
that, who shall presently be ashamed of their wisdom, destroyed and
disgraced together with the world[7] (it lives in).
To us[8] no human affectation of canine[9] equanimity,
modelled[10] by insensibility, furnishes the warrant for exercising
patience; but the divine arrangement of a living and celestial
discipline, holding up before us God Himself in the very first place as
an example of patience; who scatters equally over just and unjust the
bloom of this light; who suffers the good offices of the seasons, the
services of the elements, the tributes of entire nature, to accrue at
once to worthy and unworthy; bearing with the most ungrateful nations,
adoring as they do the toys of the arts and the works of their own
hands, persecuting His Name together with His family; bearing with
luxury, avarice, iniquity, malignity, waxing insolent daily:[1] so that
by His own patience He disparages Himself; for the cause why many
believe not in the Lord is that they are so long without knowing[2]
that He is wroth with the world.[3]
And this species of the divine patience indeed being, as it were,
at a distance, may perhaps be esteemed as among "things too high for
us; "[4] but what is that which, in a certain way, has been grasped by
hand[5] among men openly on the earth? God suffers Himself to be
conceived in a mother's womb, and awaits the time for birth; and, when
born, bears the delay of growing up; and, when grown up, is not eager
to be recognised, but is furthermore contumelious to Himself, and is
baptized by His own servant; and repels with words alone the assaults
of the tempter; while from being" Lord" He becomes" Master," teaching
man to escape death, having been trained to the exercise of the
absolute forbearance of offended patience.[6] He did not strive; He did
not cry aloud; nor did any hear His voice in the streets. He did not
break the bruised reed; the smoking flax He did not quench: for the
prophet—nay, the attestation of God Himself, placing His own Spirit,
together with patience in its entirety, in His Son—had not falsely
spoken. There was none desirous of cleaving to Him whom He did not
receive. No one's table or roof did He despise: indeed, Himself
ministered to the washing of the disciples' feet; not sinners, not
publicans, did He repel; not with that city even which had refused to
receive Him was He wroth,[7] when even the disciples had wished that
the celestial fires should be forthwith hurled on so contumelious a
town. He cared for the ungrateful; He yielded to His ensnarers. This
were a small matter, if He had not had in His company even His own
betrayer, and stedfastly abstained from pointing him out. Moreover,
while He is being betrayed, while He is being led up "as a sheep for a
victim," (for "so He no more opens His mouth than a lamb under the
power of the shearer,")He to whom, had He willed it, legions of angels
would at one word have presented themselves from the heavens, approved
not the avenging sword of even one disciple The patience of the Lord
was wounded in (the wound of) Malchus. And so, too, He cursed for the
time to come the works of the sword; and, by the restoration of health,
made satisfaction to him whom Himself had not hurt, through Patience,
the mother of Mercy. I pass by in silence (the fact) that He is
crucified, for this was the end for which He had come; yet had the
death which must be undergone need of contumelies likewise?[8] Nay,
but, when about to depart, He wished to be sated with the pleasure of
patience. He is spitted on, scourged, derided, clad foully, more foully
crowned. Wondrous is the faith of equanimity! He who had set before Him
the concealing of Himself in man's shape, imitated nought of man's
impatience ! Hence, even more than from any other trait, ought ye,
Pharisees, to have recognised the Lord. Patience of this kind none of
men would achieve. Such and so mighty evidences—the very magnitude of
which proves to be among the nations indeed a cause for rejection of
the faith, but among us its reason and rearing—proves manifestly
enough (not by the sermons only, in enjoining, but likewise by the
sufferings of the Lord in enduring) to them to whom it is given to
believe, that as the effect and excellence of some inherent propriety,
patience is God's nature.
Therefore, if we see all servants of probity and right feeling
shaping their conduct suitably to the disposition of their lord; if,
that is, the art of deserving favour is obedience,[9] while the rule of
obedience is a compliant subjection: how much more does it behove us to
be found with a character in accordance with our Lord,—servants as we
are of the living God, whose judgment on His servants turns not on a
fetter or a cap of freedom, but on an eternity either of penalty or of
salvation; for the shunning of which severity or the courting of which
liberality there needs a diligence in obedience[1] as great as are the
comminations themselves which the severity utters, or the promises
which the liberality freely makes.[2] And yet we exact obedience[3] not
from men only, who have the bond of their slavery under their chin,[4]
or in any other legal way are debtors to obedience? but even from
cattle,[6] even from brutes;[7] understanding that they have been
provided and delivered for our uses by the Lord. Shall, then, creatures
which God makes subject to us be better than we in the discipline of
obedience?[8] Finally, (the creatures) which obey, acknowledge their
masters. Do we hesitate to listen diligently to Him to whom alone we
are subjected—that is, the Lord? But how unjust is it, how ungrateful
likewise, not to repay from yourself the same which, through the
indulgence of your neighbour, you obtain from others, to him through
whom you obtain it! Nor needs there more words on the exhibition of
obedience[9] due from us to the Lord God; for the acknowledgment[10] of
God understands what is incumbent on it. Lest, however, we seem to have
inserted remarks on obedience[11] as something irrelevant, (let us
remember) that obedience" itself is drawn from patience. Never does an
impatient man render it, or a patient fail to find pleasure[12] in it.
Who, then, could treat largely (enough) of the good of that patience
which the Lord God, the Demonstrator and Acceptor of all good things,
carried about in His own self?[13] To whom, again, would it be doubtful
that every good thing ought, because it pertains[13] to God, to be
earnestly pursued with the whole mind by such as pertain to God? By
means of which (considerations) both commendation and exhortation[14]
on the subject of patience are briefly, and as it were in the
compendium of a prescriptive rule, established.[15]
CHAP, V.—AS GOD IS THE AUTHOR OF PATIENCE SO THE DEVIL IS OF IMPATIENCE.
Nevertheless, the proceeding[16] of a discussion on the
necessaries of faith is not idle, because it is not unfruitful. In
edification no loquacity is base, if it be base at any time.[19] And
so, if the discourse be concerning some particular good, the subject
requires us to review also the contrary of that good. For you will
throw more light on what is to be pursued, if you first give a digest
of what is to be avoided.
Let us therefore consider, concerning Impatience, whether just as
patience in God, so its adversary quality have been born and detected
in our adversary, that from this consideration may appear how primarily
adverse it is to faith. For that which has been conceived by God's
rival, of course is not friendly to God's things. The discord of things
is the same as the discord of their authors. Further, since God is
best, the devil on the contrary worst, of beings, by their own very
diversity they testify that neither works for[18] the other; so that
anything of good can no more seem to be effected for us by the Evil
One, than anything of evil by the Good. Therefore I detect the nativity
of impatience in the devil himself, at that very time when he
impatiently bore that the Lord God subjected the universal works which
He had made to His own image, that is, to man.[19] For if he had
endured (that), he would not have grieved; nor would he have envied man
if he had not grieved. Accordingly he deceived him, because he had
envied him; but he had envied because he had grieved: he had grieved
because, of course, he had not patiently borne. What that angel of
perdition" first was—malicious or impatient—I scorn to inquire: since
manifest it is that either impatience took its rise together with
malice, or else malice from impatience; that subsequently they
conspired between themselves; and that they grew up indivisible in one
paternal bosom. But, however, having been instructed, by his own
experiment, what an aid unto sinning was that which he had been the
first to feel, and by means of which he had entered on his course of
delinquency, he called the same to his assistance for the thrusting of
man into crime. The woman,[1] immediately on being met by him—I may
say so without rashness—was, through his very speech with her,
breathed on by a spirit infected with impatience: so certain is it that
she would never have sinned at all, if she had honoured the divine
edict by maintaining her patience to the end. What (of the fact) that
she endured not to have been met alone; but in the presence of Adam,
not yet her husband, not yet bound to lend her his ears,[2] she is
impatient of keeping silence, and makes him the transmitter of that
which she had imbibed from the Evil One? Therefore another human being,
too, perishes through the impatience of the one; presently, too,
perishes of himself, through his own impatience committed in each
respect, both in regard of God's premonition and in regard of the
devil's cheatery; not enduring to observe the former nor to refute the
latter. Hence, whence (the origin) of delinquency, arose the first
origin of judgment; hence, whence man was induced to offend, God began
to be wroth. Whence (came)the first indignation in God, thence (came)
His first patience; who, content at that time with malediction only,
refrained in the devil's case from the instant infliction[3] of
punishment. Else what crime, before this guilt of impatience, is
imputed to man? Innocent he was, and in intimate friendship with God,
and the husbandman[4] of paradise. But when once he succumbed to
impatience, he quite ceased to be of sweet savour[5] to God; he quite
ceased to be able to endure things celestial. Thenceforward, a
creature[6] given to earth, and ejected from the sight of God, he
begins to be easily turned by impatience unto every use offensive to
God. For straightway that impatience conceived of the devil's seed,
produced, in the fecundity of malice, anger as her son; and when
brought forth, trained him in her own arts. For that very thing which
had immersed Adam and Eve in death, taught their son, too, to begin
with murder. It would be idle for me to ascribe this to impatience, if
Cain, that first homicide and first fratricide, had borne with
equanimity and not impatiently the refusal by the Lord of his own
oblations—if he is not wroth with his own brother—if, finally, he
took away no one's life. Since, then, he could neither have killed
unless he had been wroth, nor have been wroth unless he had been
impatient, he demonstrates that what he did through wrath must be
referred to that by which wrath was suggested during this cradle-time
of impatience, then (in a certain sense) in her infancy. But how great
presently were her augmentations ! And no wonder, If she has been the
first delinquent, it is a consequence that, because she has been the
first, therefore she is the only parent stem,[7] too, to every
delinquency, pouring down from her own fount various veins of
crimes.[8] Of murder we have spoken; but, being from the very beginning
the outcome of anger,[9] whatever causes besides it shortly found for
itself it lays collectively on the account of impatience, as to its own
origin. For whether from private enmities, or for the sake of prey, any
one perpetrates that wickedness,[10] the earlier step is his becoming
impatient of" either the hatred or the avarice. Whatever compels a man,
it is not possible that without impatience of itself it can be
perfected in deed. Who ever committed adultery without impatience of
lust? Moreover, if in females the sale of their modesty is forced by
the price, of course it is by impatience of contemning gain[12] that
this sale is regulated.[13] These (I mention) as the principal
delinquencies in the sight of the Lord,[14] for, to speak
compendiously, every sin is ascribable to impatience. "Evil" is
"impatience of good." None immodest is not impatient of modesty;
dishonest of honesty; impious of piety;[15] unquiet of quietness. In
order that each individual may become evil he will be unable to
persevere[16] in being good. How, therefore, can such a hydra of
delinquencies fail to offend the Lord, the Disapprover of evils? Is it
not manifest that it was through impatience that Israel himself also
always failed in his duty toward God, from that time when,[17]
forgetful of the heavenly arm whereby he had been drawn out of his
Egyptian affliction, he demands from Aaron "gods[18] as his guides;"
when he pours down for an idol the contributions of his gold: for the
so necessary delays of Moses, while he met with God, he had borne with
impatience. After the edible rain of the manna, after the watery
following[1] of the rock, they despair of the Lord in not enduring a
three-days' thirst;[2] for this also is laid to their charge by the
Lord as impatience. And—not to rove through individual cases—there
was no instance in which it was not by failing in duty through
impatience that they perished. How, moreover, did they lay hands on the
prophets, except through impatience of hearing them? on the Lord
moreover Himself, through impatience likewise of seeing Him? But had
they entered the path of patience, they would have been set free.[3]
Accordingly it is patience which is both subsequent and
antecedent to faith. In short, Abraham believed God, and was accredited
by Him with righteousness;[4] but it was patience which proved his
faith, when he was bidden to immolate his son, with a view to (I would
not say the temptation, but) the typical attestation of his faith. But
God knew whom He had accredited with righteousness.[3] So heavy a
precept, the perfect execution whereof was not even pleasing to the
Lord, he patiently both heard, and (if God had willed) would have
fulfilled. Deservedly then was he "blessed." because he was "faithful;"
deservedly "faithful," because "patient." So faith, illumined by
patience, when it was becoming propagated among the nations through"
Abraham's seed, which is Christ,"[6] and was superinducing grace over
the law,[7] made patience her pre-eminent coadjutrix for amplifying and
fulfilling the law, because that alone had been lacking unto the
doctrine of righteousness. For men were of old wont to require "eye for
eye, and tooth for tooth"[8] and to repay with usury "evil with evil; "
for, as yet, patience was not on earth, because faith was not either.
Of course, meantime, impatience used to enjoy the opportunities which
the law gave. That was easy, while the Lord and Master of patience was
absent. But after He has supervened, and has united[9] the grace of
faith with patience, now it is no longer lawful to assail even with
word, nor to say "fool"[20] even, without "danger of the judgment."
Anger has been prohibited, our spirits retained, the petulance of the
hand checked, the poison of the tongue[11] extracted. The law has found
more than it has lost, while Christ says, "Love your personal enemies,
and bless your cursers, and pray for your persecutors, that ye may be
sons of your heavenly Father."[12] Do you see whom patience gains for
us as a Father? In this principal precept the universal discipline of
patience is succinctly comprised, since evil-doing is not conceded even
when it is deserved.
Now, however, while we run through the causes of impatience, all
the other precepts also will answer in their own places. If our spirit
is aroused by the loss of property, it is commonished by the Lord's
Scriptures, in almost every place, to a contemning of the world;[13]
nor is there any more powerful exhortation to contempt of money
submitted[14] (to us), than (the fact) the Lord Himself is found amid
no riches. He always justifies the poor, fore-condemns the rich. So He
fore-ministered to patience "loss," and to opulence "contempt" (as
portion);[15] demonstrating, by means of (His own) repudiation of
riches, that hurts done to them also are not to be much regarded. Of
that, therefore, which we have not the smallest need to seek after,
because the Lord did not seek after it either, we ought to endure
without heart-sickness the cutting down or taking away. "Covetousness,"
the Spirit of the Lord has through the apostle pronounced "a root of
all evils."[16] Let us not interpret that covetousness as consisting
merely in the concupiscence of what is another's: for even what seems
ours is another's; for nothing is ours, since all things are God's,
whose are we also ourselves. And so, if, when suffering from a loss, we
feel impatiently, grieving for what is lost from what is not our own,
we shall be detected as bordering on covetousness: we seek what is
another's when we ill brook losing what is another's. He who is greatly
stirred with impatience of a loss, does, by giving things earthly the
precedence over things heavenly, sin directly[17] against God; for the
Spirit, which he has received from the Lord, he greatly shocks for the
sake of a worldly matter. Willingly, therefore, let us lose things
earthly, let us keep things heavenly. Perish the whole world,[1] so I
may make patience my gain! In truth, I know not whether he who has not
made up his mind to endure with constancy the loss of somewhat of his,
either by theft, or else by force, or else even by carelessness, would
himself readily or heartily lay hand on his own property in the cause
of almsgiving: for who that endures not at all to be cut by another,
himself draws the sword on his own body? Patience in losses is an
exercise in bestowing and communicating. Who fears not to lose, finds
it not irksome to give. Else how will one, when he has two coats, give
the one of them to the naked,[2] unless he be a man likewise to offer
to one who takes away his coat his cloak as well?[3] How shall we
fashion to us friends from mammon,[4] if we love it so much as not to
put up with its loss? We shall perish together with the lost mammon.
Why do we find here, where it is our business to lose?[3] To exhibit
impatience at all losses is the Gentiles' business, who give money the
precedence perhaps over their soul; for so they do, when, in their
cupidities of lucre, they encounter the gainful perils of commerce on
the sea; when, for money's sake, even in the forum, there is nothing
which damnation (itself) would fear which they hesitate to essay; when
they hire themselves for sport and the camp; when, after the manner of
wild beasts, they play the bandit along the highway. But us, according
to the diversity by which we are distinguished from them, it becomes to
lay down not our soul for money, but money for our soul, whether
spontaneously in bestowing or patiently in losing.
We who carry about our very soul, our very body, exposed in this
world[6] to injury from all, and exhibit patience under that injury;
shall we be hurt at the loss[7] of less important things?[8] Far from a
servant of Christ be such a defilement as that the patience which has
been prepared for greater temptations should forsake him in frivolous
ones. If one attempt to provoke you by manual violence, the monition of
the Lord is at hand: "To him," He saith, "who smiteth thee on the face,
turn the other cheek likewise."[9] Let outrageousness[10] be wearied
out by your patience. Whatever that blow may be, conjoined[11] with
pain and contumely, it[12] shall receive a heavier one from the Lord.
You wound that outrageous[13] one more by enduring: for he will be
beaten by Him for whose sake you endure. If the tongue's bitterness
break out in malediction or reproach, look back at the saying, "When
they curse you, rejoice."[14] The Lord Himself was "cursed" in the eye
of the law;[15] and yet is He the only Blessed One. Let us servants,
therefore, follow our Lord closely; and be cursed patiently, that we
may be able to be blessed. If I hear with too little equanimity some
wanton or wicked word uttered against me, I must of necessity either
myself retaliate the bitterness, or else I shall be racked with mute
impatience. When, then, on being cursed, I smite (with my tongue,) how
shall I be found to have followed the doctrine of the Lord, in which it
has been delivered that "a man is defiled,[16] not by the defilements
of vessels, but of the things which are sent forth out of his mouth."
Again, it is said that "impeachment[17] awaits us for every vain and
needless word."[18] It follows that, from whatever the Lord keeps us,
the same He admonishes us to bear patiently from another. I will add
(somewhat) touching the pleasure of patience. For every injury, whether
inflicted by tongue or hand, when it has lighted upon patience, will be
dismissed[19] with the same fate as, some weapon launched against and
blunted on a rock of most stedfast hardness. For it will wholly fall
then and there with bootless and fruitless labour; and sometimes will
recoil and spend its rage on him who sent it out, with retorted
impetus. No doubt the reason why any one hurts you is that you may be
pained; because the hurter's enjoyment consists in the pain of the
hurt. When, then, you have upset his enjoyment by not being pained, he
must needs he pained by the loss of his enjoyment. Then you not only go
unhurt away, which even alone is enough for you; but gratified, into
the bargain, by your adversary's disappointment, and revenged by his
pain. This is the utility and the pleasure of patience.
Not even that species of impatience under the loss of our dear
ones is excused, where some assertion of a right to grief acts the
patron to it. For the consideration of the apostle's declaration must
be set before us, who says, "Be not overwhelmed with sadness at the
falling asleep of any one, just as the nations are who are without
hope."[1] And justly; or, believing the resurrection of Christ we
believe also in our own, for whose sake He both died and rose again.
Since, then, there is certainty as to the resurrection of the dead,
grief for death is needless, and impatience of grief is needless. For
why should you grieve, if you believe that (your loved one) is not
perished? Why should you bear impatiently the temporary withdrawal of
him who you believe will return? That which you think to be death is
departure. He who goes before us is not to be lamented, though by all
means to be longed for.[2] That longing also must be tempered with
patience. For why should you bear without moderation the fact that one
is gone away whom you will presently follow? Besides, impatience in
matters of this kind bodes ill for our hope, and is a dealing
insincerely with the faith. And we wound Christ when we accept not with
equanimity the summoning out of this world of any by Him, as if they
were to be pitied. "I desire," says the apostle, "to be now received,
and to be with Christ."[3] How far better a desire does he exhibit! If,
then, we grieve impatiently over such as have attained the desire of
Christians, we show unwillingness ourselves to attain it.
There is, too, another chief spur of impatience, the lust of
revenge, dealing with the business either of glory or else of malice.
But "glory," on the one hand, is everywhere "vain;"[4] and malice, on
the other, is always[5] odious to the Lord; in this case indeed most of
all, when, being provoked by a neighbour's malice, it constitutes
itself superior[6] in following out revenge, and by paying wickedness
doubles that which has once been done. Revenge, in the estimation of
error,[7] seems a solace of pain; in the estimation of truth, on the
contrary, it is convicted of malignity. For what difference is there
between provoker and provoked, except that the former is detected as
prior in evil-doing, but the latter as posterior? Yet each stands
impeached of hurting a man in the eye of the Lord, who both prohibits
and condemns every wickedness. In evil doing there is no account taken
of order, nor does place separate what similarity conjoins. And the
precept is absolute, that evil is not to be repaid with evil.[8] Like
deed involves like merit. How shall we observe that principle, if in
our loathing[9] we shall not loathe revenge? What honour, moreover,
shall we be offering to the Lord God, if we arrogate to ourselves the
arbitrament of vengeance? We are corrupt [10]—earthen vessels.[11]
With our own servant-boys,[12] if they assume to themselves the right
of vengeance on their fellow-servants, we are gravely offended; while
such as make us the offering of their patience we not only approve as
mindful of humility, of servitude, affectionately jealous of the right
of their lord's honour; but we make them an ampler satisfaction than
they would have pre-exacted[13] for themselves. Is there any risk of a
different result in the case of a Lord so just in estimating, so potent
in executing? Why, then, do we believe Him a Judge, if not an Avenger
too? This He promises that He will be to us in return, saying,
"Vengeance belongeth to me, and I will avenge; "[14] that is, Leave
patience to me, and I will reward patience. For when He says, "Judge
not, lest ye be judged,"[15] does He not require patience? For who
will refrain from judging another, but he who shall be patient in not
revenging himself? Who judges in order to pardon? And if he shall
pardon, still he has taken care to indulge the impatience of a judger,
and has taken away the honour of the one Judge, that is, God. How many
mischances had impatience of this kind been wont to run into! How oft
has it repented of its revenge! How oft has its vehemence been found
worse than the causes which led to it!—inasmuch as nothing undertaken
with impatience can be effected without impetuosity: nothing done with
impetuosity fails either to stumble, or else to fall altogether, or
else to vanish headlong. Moreover, if you avenge yourself too slightly,
you will be mad; if too amply, you will have to bear the burden.[1]
What have I to do with vengeance, the measure of which, through
impatience of pain, I am unable to regulate? Whereas, if I shall
repose on patience, I shall not feel pain; if I shall not feel pain, I
shall not desire to avenge myself.
After these principal material causes of impatience, registered
to the best of our ability, why should we wander out of our way among
the rest,—what are found at home, what abroad? Wide and diffusive is
the Evil One's operation, hurling manifold irritations of our spirit,
and sometimes trifling ones, sometimes very great. But the trifling
ones you may contemn from their very littleness; to the very great ones
you may yield in regard of their overpoweringness. Where the injury is
less, there is no necessity for impatience; but where the injury is
greater, there more necessary is the remedy for the injury—patience.
Let us strive, therefore, to endure the inflictions of the Evil One,
that the counter-zeal of our equanimity may mock the zeal of the foe.
If, however, we ourselves, either by imprudence or else voluntarily,
draw upon ourselves anything, let us meet with equal patience what we
have to blame ourselves for. Moreover, if we believe that some
inflictions are sent on us by the Lord, to whom should we more exhibit
patience than to the Lord? Nay, He teaches[2] us to give thanks and
rejoice, over and above, at being thought worthy of divine
chastisement. "Whom I love," saith He, "I chasten."[3] O blessed
servant, on whose amendment the Lord is intent! with whom He deigns to
be wroth! whom He does not deceive by dissembling His reproofs! On
every side, therefore, we are bound to the duty of exercising patience,
from whatever quarter, either by our own errors or else by the snares
of the Evil One, we incur the Lord's reproofs. Of that duty great is
the reward—namely, happiness. For whom but the patient has the Lord
called happy, in saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is
the kingdom of the heavens?"[4] No one, assuredly, is "poor in
spirit," except he be humble. Well, who is humble, except he be
patient? For no one can abase himself without patience, in the first
instance, to bear the act of abasement. "Blessed," saith He, "are the
weepers and mourners."[5] Who, without patience, is tolerant of such
unhappinesses? And so to such, "consolation" and "laughter" are
promised. "Blessed are the gentle:"[6] under this term, surely, the
impatient cannot possibly be classed. Again, when He marks "the
peacemakers"[7] with the same title of felicity, and names them "sons
of God," pray have the impatient any affinity with "peace?" Even a fool
may perceive that. When, however, He says, "Rejoice and exult, as often
as they shall curse and persecute you; for very great is your reward in
heaven,"[8] of course it is not to the patience of exultation[9] that
He makes that promise; because no one will "exult" in adversities
unless he have first learnt to contemn them; no one will contemn them
unless he have learnt to practise patience.
As regards the rule of peace, which[10] is so pleasing to God,
who in the world that is prone to impatience[11] will even once forgive
his brother, I will not say "seven times," or[12] "seventy-seven
times?"[13] Who that is contemplating a suit against his adversary will
compose the matter by agreement,[14] unless he first begin by lopping
off chagrin, hardheartedness, and bitterness, which are in fact the
poisonous outgrowths of impatience? How will you "remit, and remission
shall be granted" you? if the absence of patience makes you tenacious
of a wrong? No one who is at variance with his brother in his mind,
will finish offering his "duteous gift at the altar," unless he first,
with intent to "re-conciliate his brother," return to patience.[16] If
"the sun go down over our wrath," we are in jeopardy:[17] we are not
allowed to remain one day without patience. But, however, since
Patience takes the lead in[18] every species of salutary discipline,
what wonder that she likewise ministers to Repentance, (accustomed as
Repentance is to come to the rescue of such as have fallen,) when, on a
disjunction of wedlock (for that cause, I mean, which makes it lawful,
whether for husband or wife, to persist in the perpetual observance of
widowhood),[1] she[2] waits for, she yearns for, she persuades by her
entreaties, repentance in all who are one day to enter salvation? How
great a blessing she confers on each! The one she prevents from
becoming an adulterer; the other she amends. So, to, she is found in
those holy examples touching patience in the Lord's parables. The
shepherd's patience seeks and finds the straying ewe:[3] for Impatience
would easily despise one ewe; but Patience undertakes the labour of the
quest, and the patient burden-bearer carries home on his shoulders the
forsaken sinner.[4] That prodigal son also the father's patience
receives, and clothes, and feeds, and makes excuses for, in the
presence of the angry brother's impatience.[5] He, therefore, who "had
perished" is saved, because he entered on the way of repentance.
Repentance perishes not, because it finds Patience (to welcome it). For
by whose teachings but those of Patience is Charity[6]—the highest
sacrament of the faith, the treasure-house of the Christian name, which
the apostle commends with the whole strength of the Holy
Spirit—trained? "Charity," he says, "is long suffering;" thus she
applies patience: "is beneficent;" Patience does no evil: "is not
emulous;" that certainly is a peculiar mark of patience: "savours not
of violence:"[7] she has drawn her self-restraint from patience: "is
not puffed up; is not violent;"[8] for that pertains not unto patience:
"nor does she seek her own" if, she offers her own, provided she may
benefit her neighbours: "nor is irritable;" if she were, what would she
have left to Impatience? Accordingly he says, "Charity endures all
things; tolerates all things;" of course because she is patient.
Justly, then, "will she never fail;"[9] for all other things will be
cancelled, will have their consummation. "Tongues, sciences,
prophecies, become exhausted; faith, hope, charity, are permanent:"
Faith, which Christ's patience introduced; hope, which man's patience
waits for; charity, which Patience accompanies, with God as Master.
Thus far, finally, of patience simple and uniform, and as it
exists merely in the mind: though in many forms likewise I labour after
it in body, for the purpose of "winning the Lord;"[10] inasmuch as it
is a quality which has been exhibited by the Lord Himself in bodily
virtue as well; if it is true that the ruling mind easily communicates
the gifts" of the Spirit with its bodily habitation. What, therefore,
is the business of Patience in the body? In the first place, it is the
affliction[12] of the flesh—a victim[13] able to appease the Lord by
means of the sacrifice of humiliation—in making a libation to the Lord
of sordid[14] raiment, together with scantiness of food, content with
simple diet and the pure drink of water[15] in con joining fasts to all
this; in inuring herself to sackcloth and ashes. This bodily patience
adds a grace to our prayers for good, a strength to our prayers against
evil; this opens the ears of Christ our God,[16] dissipates severity,
elicits clemency. Thus that Babylonish king,[17] after being exiled
from human form in his seven years' squalor and neglect., because he
had offended the Lord; by the bodily immolation of patience not only
recovered his kingdom, but—what is more to be desired by a man—made
satisfaction to God. Further, if we set down in order the higher and
happier grades of bodily patience, (we find that)it is she who is
entrusted by holiness with the care of continence of the flesh: she
keeps the widow,[18] and sets on the virgin the seal[19] and raises the
self-made eunuch to the realms of heaven.[20] That which springs from a
virtue of the mind is perfected in the flesh; and, finally, by the
patience of the flesh, does battle under persecution. If flight press
hard, the flesh wars with[21] the inconvenience of flight; if
imprisonment over- take[2] us, the flesh (still was) in bonds, the
flesh in the gyve, the flesh in solitude, and in that want of light,
and in that patience of the world's misusage.[3] When, however, it is
led forth unto the final proof of happiness,[4] unto the occasion of
the second baptism,[5] unto the act of ascending the divine seat, no
patience is more needed there than badly patience. If the "spirit is
willing, but the flesh," without patience, "weak,"[6] where, save in
patience, is the safety of the spirit, and of the flesh itself? But
when the Lord says this about the flesh, pronouncing it "weak," He
shows what need there is of strengthening, it—that is by patience—to
meet[7] every preparation for subverting or punishing faith; that it
may bear with all constancy stripes, fire, cross, beasts, sword; all
which prophets and apostles, by enduring, conquered!
With this strength of patience, Esaias is cut asunder, and ceases
not to speak concerning the Lord; Stephen is stoned, and prays for
pardon to his foes.[8] Oh, happy also he who met all the violence of
the devil by the exertion of every species of patience! [9]—whom
neither the driving away of his cattle nor those riches of his in
sheep, nor the sweeping away of his children in one swoop of ruin, nor,
finally, the agony of his own body in (one universal) wound, estranged
from the patience and the faith which he had plighted to the Lord; whom
the devil smote with all his might in vain. For by all his pains he was
not drawn away from his reverence for God; but he has been set up as an
example and testimony to us, for the thorough accomplishment of
patience as well in spirit as in flesh, as well in mind as in body; in
order that we succumb neither to damages of our worldly goods, nor to
losses of those who are dearest, nor even to bodily afflictions. What a
bier[10] for the devil did God erect in the person of that hero! What a
banner did He rear over the enemy of His glory, when, at every bitter
message, that man uttered nothing out of his mouth but thanks to God,
while he denounced his wife, now quite wearied with ills, and urging
him to resort to crooked remedies! How did God smile,[11] how was the
evil one cut asunder,[12] while Job with mighty equanimity kept
scraping off[13] the unclean overflow of his own ulcer, while he
sportively replaced the vermin that brake out thence, in the same caves
and feeding-places of his pitted flesh! And so, when all the darts of
temptations had blunted themselves against the corslet and shield of
his patience, that instrument[14] of God's victory not only presently
recovered from God the soundness of his body, but possessed in
redoubled measure what he had lost. And if he had wished to have his
children also restored, he might again have been called father; but he
preferred to have them restored him "in that day."[15] · Such joy as
that —secure so entirely concerning the Lord—he deferred; meantime he
endured a voluntary bereavement, that he might not live without some
(exercise of) patience.
So amply sufficient a Depositary of patience is God. If it be a
wrong which you deposit in His care, He is an Avenger; if a loss, He is
a Restorer; if pain, He is a Healer; if death, He is a Reviver. What
honour is granted to Patience, to have God as her Debtor! And not
without reason: for she keeps all His decrees; she has to do with all
His mandates. She fortifies faith; is the pilot of peace; assists
charity; establishes humility; waits long for repentance; sets tier
seal on confession; rules the flesh; preserves the spirit; bridles the
tongue; restrains the hand; tramples temptations under foot; drives
away scandals; gives their crowning grace to martyrdoms; consoles the
poor; teaches the rich moderation; overstrains not the weak; exhausts
not the strong; is the delight of the believer; invites the Gentile;
commends the servant to his lord, and his lord to God; adorns the
woman; makes the man approved; is loved in childhood, praised in youth,
looked up to in age; is beauteous in either sex, in every time of life.
Come, now, see whether[16] we have a general idea of her mien and
habit. Her countenance is tranquil and peaceful; her brow serene[17]
contracted by no wrinkle of sadness or of anger; her eyebrows evenly
relaxed in gladsome wise, with eyes downcast in humility, not in
unhappiness; her mouth sealed with the honourable mark of silence; her
hue such as theirs who are without care and without guilt; the motion
of her head frequent against the devil, and her laugh threatening;[1]
her clothing, moreover, about her bosom white and well fitted to her
person, as being neither inflated nor disturbed. For Patience sits on
the throne of that calmest and gentlest Spirit, who is not found in the
roll of the whirlwind, nor in the leaden hue of the cloud but is of
soft serenity, open and simple, whom Elias saw at his third essay.[2]
For where God is, there too is His foster-child, namely Patience. When
God's Spirit descends, then Patience accompanies Him indivisibly. If we
do not give admission to her together with the Spirit, will (He) always
tarry with us? Nay, I know not whether He would remain any longer.
Without His companion and handmaid, He must of necessity be straitened
in every place and at every time. Whatever blow His enemy may inflict
He will be unable to endure alone, being without the instrumental means
of enduring.
This is the rule, this the discipline, these the works of
patience which is heavenly and true; that is, of Christian patience,
not false and disgraceful, like as is that patience of the nations of
the earth. For in order that in this also the devil might rival the
Lord, he has as it were quite on a par (except that the very diversity
of evil and good is exactly on a par with their magnitude[3]) taught
his disciples also a patience of his own; that, I mean, which, making
husbands venal for dowry, and teaching them to trade in panderings,
makes them subject to the power of their wives; which, with feigned
affection, undergoes. every toil of forced complaisance,[4] with a view
to ensnaring the childless;[5] which makes the slaves of the belly[6]
submit to contumelious patronage, in the subjection of their liberty to
their gullet. Such pursuits of patience the Gentiles are acquainted
with; and they eagerly seize a name of so great goodness to apply it to
foul practises: patient they live of rivals, and of the rich, and of
such as give them invitations; impatient of God alone. But let their
own and their leader's patience look to itself—a patience which the
subterraneous fire awaits! Let us, on the other hand, love the
patience of God, the patience of Christ; let us repay to Him the
patience which He has paid down for us! Let us offer to Him the
patience of the spirit, the patience of the flesh, believing as we do
in the resurrection of flesh and spirit.
I.
(Unless patience sit by his side, cap. i. p. 707.)
Let me quote words which, many years ago, struck me forcibly, and
which I trust, have been blest to my soul; for which reason, I must be
allowed, here, to thank their author, the learned and fearless Dean
Burgon, of Chichester. In his invaluable Commentary on the Gospel,
which while it abounds in the fruits of a varied erudition, aims only
to be practically useful, this pious scholar remarks: "To Faith must be
added Patience, the 'patient waiting for God,' if we would escape the
snare which Satan spread, no less for the Holy One (i.e. in the Temp.
upon the Pinnacle)than for the Israelites at Massah. And this is
perhaps the reason of the remarkable prominence given to the grace of
Patience, both by our Lord and His Apostles; a circumstance, as it may
be thought, which has not altogether attracted the attention which it
deserves." He then cites examples;[1] but a reference to any good
concordance will strikingly exemplify the admirable comment of this
"godly and well-learned man." See his comments on St. Matt. iv. 7. and
St. Luke xxi, 19.
II.
(Under their chin, cap. iv. p. 709.)
The reference in the note to Paris, as represented by Virgil and
in ancient sculpture, seems somewhat to the point
"Et nunc ille Paris, cure semiviro comitatu.
Maeonia mentum mitra crinemq, madentem.
Subnixus, etc."
He had just spoken of the pileus as a "Cap of freedom," but there
was another form of pileus which was just the reverse and was probably
tied by fimbria, under the chin, denoting a low order of slaves,
effeminate men, perhaps spadones. Now, the Phrygian bonnet to which
Virgil refers, is introduced by him to complete the reproach of his
contemptuous expression (semiviro comitatu) just before. So, our
author—"not only from men, i.e. men so degraded as to wear this badge
of extreme servitude, but even from cattle, etc. Shall these mean
creatures outdo us in obedience and patience?"
III.
(The world's misusage, cap. xiii. p. 716.)
The Reverend Clergy who may read this note will forgive a
brother, who begins to be in respect of years, like "Paul the aged,"
for remarking, that the reading of the Ante-Nicene Fathers often leads
him to sigh—"Such were they from whom we have received all that makes
life tolerable, but how intolerable it was for them: are we, indeed,
such as they would have considered Christians?" GOD be praised for His
mercy and forbearance in our days; but, still it is true that "we have
need of patience." Is not much of all that we regard as "the world's
misusage," the gracious hand of the Master upon us, giving us something
for the exercise of that Patience, by which He forms us into His own
image? (Heb. xii. 3.) Impatience of obscurity, of poverty, of
ingratitude, of misrepresentation, of "the slings and arrows" of
slander and abuse, is a revolt against that indispensable discipline of
the Gospel which requires us to "endure afflictions" in some form or
other. Who can complain when one thinks what it would have cost us to
be Christians in Tertullian's time? The ambition of the Clergy is
always rebellion against God, and "patient waiting" is its only remedy.
One will find profitable reading on this subject in Massillon[2] de
l'Ambition des Clercs: "Reposez-vous sur le Seigneur du soin de votre
destinee: il saura bien accomplir, tout seul, les desseins qu'il a sur
vous. Si votre elccomplir, tout seul, les desseins qu'il a sur vous. Si
votre ubevation est son bon plaisir, elle sera, aussi son ouvrage.
Rendez-vous en digne seulement par la retraite, par la frayeur, par la
fuite, par Its sentiments vifs de votre indignite ... c'est ainsi que
les Chrysostome, les Gregoire, les Basil, les Augustin, furent donnes
indes a l'Eglise."