incidents and temptations of life, are often obliged to encounter the storms of persecution, to bear the forfeiture of our estates, and the imprisonment of our persons; to hazard and expose our lives, to be manacled and fettered, and to undergo with firmness of faith and patience, whatsoever our adversaries can devise or execute against us, by fire and sword, and the rage of those beasts, to which they so often cast us. Our Lord hath accordingly forewarned us of this usage, saying, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." If we therefore, who have renounced the world and the devil, are thence to expect the more violent assaults from both; certainly we have the more reason thence to forearm ourselves with the higher degrees of patience, which is the best provision we can make against them. Excellent to this purpose is our Saviour's counsel to us, saying, "He that endureth to the end, shall be saved." And again, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

8. Our perseverance, my beloved brethren, and our patience, are absolutely necessary to perfect that state of liberty and truth, whereupon we are entered; our religion at present is a state of faith and hope, which can never attain their respective

ends without the help of patience. The glory we aim at is not present, but future; as the apostle hath well reminded us, saying, "We are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." Wherefore 'tis plainly necessary that we should wait with patience, in order to perfect what we have begun; and that we may obtain through the mercies of God, what we believe and hope for, we are admonished not to be weary of well doing, not to give up in the midst of our glorious struggle, through any pressures of temptation, or any softness in yielding to the force of them; lest by leaving our work unfinished, we should lose the fruits of our preceding labour. We are also elsewhere directed, to "hold that fast which we have, that no man take our crown." In which words we are exhorted to continue stedfast in our duty with constancy and courage; that so pressing forwards to that glorious crown, and being almost in sight of it, we may not finally be disappointed; but that our perseverance, in the conclusion, may assure it

to us.

9. Now patience, my brethren, not only consigns to us very many and great advantages, but rescues us also from many fatal mischiefs. It not only favours the suggestions of the Holy Spirit, and teaches us a steady adherence to the things of

God; but enables us likewise to struggle successfully with the desires of the flesh, and to mortify the deeds of the body, which are so apt to weigh down and oppress the mind; and to entrench ourselves securely within the fortress of those virtues which it teaches us. To instance in a few of many particulars which might be named, and from thence to form a judgment of the rest-Adultery, forgery, and murder, are crimes, we know, of the deepest dye: but let patience have the possession and government of the soul, and then the body, which hath once been consecrated to God, and become his temple, will never be polluted with the sin of adultery; forgery will never harbour in that breast which hath been solemnly dedicated to righteousness and true holiness; nor will the hand be defiled with blood, which hath once held in it the sacred body of Christ. Charity is the grand cement of our christian corporation; the support of that peace and unity which, according to the apostle's estimate, is greater and more considerable than either our faith or hope; which hath the precedency of all good works, nay even of martyrdom itself, as being indeed to abide with us for ever in the kingdom of heaven. But take away patience from it, and it will never singly maintain its ground; remove from it the ability to bear and to endure, and you sap its very foundation; so that it will have nothing left for its support. Wherefore the apostle, when he was speaking of charity, very

properly and fitly joined patience and long-suffering with it. "Charity suffereth long, and is kind charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." He intimates that charity is enabled to persevere in the several duties required from her, by knowing how to endure all things. And again, where he uses the following words: "Forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace;" he plainly enough declares his opinion, that peace and unity can never be preserved among brethren unless they will be persuaded to forbear one another in love, and by such mutual forbearance to preserve the bonds of peace inviolate.

10. Then, again, as to what is required of us, not to swear, not to speak evil, to bear the loss of what is our own, without insisting upon an exact reparation; when we are smitten on one cheek to offer the other; to forgive our offending brother, not only unto seventy times seven, but even as oft as he shall offend, without any limitation; to love our enemies, and to pray for them who shall despitefully use us and persecute us: I say as to all these several instances of duty, how can we imagine it will be ever possible for us to perform them, except we fortify our minds by inuring them to an habitual

firmness and patience? We may observe these virtues shining with great advantage in the behaviour of Steven; who, when the Jews were stoning him to death, had no thought of revenge, but begged of God the forgiveness of his murderers, saying: "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." The whole procedure was suitable to the character of the first martyr of the christian church; who, being the forerunner of all who were to follow him in his glorious sufferings, was not only to publish the passion of Christ, but to imitate his patient submission to it. Were I to proceed in examples, wrath, contention, and discord, are vices which no christian should harbour. Now if patience be suffered to abide in him, these will find no place with him; or if they should attempt to gain admission, they would soon be dispossessed, and so his heart would become a peaceable habitation, where the God of peace might delight to dwell. The apostle hath well admonished us, saying: "Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice." For surely if the christian hath escaped from the pollutions of the world, and hath put into the haven of Christ, where all is serene and calm, and safe from boisterous tempests, he should not endure the approaches of rage and contention to his breast, who is not allowed to hate