poses and hopes, you may have been studying the prophets, watching the signs of the times and the flight of the missionary angel, and looking earnestly for the approach of the predicted millennium; but your signs, it may be, have failed, and your calculations proved fallacious; the world still lieth in wickedness, and gross darkness covereth the people. Or, tired of life and its vain pursuits, oppressed with the infirmities of age, and, in your own humble view, useless to society and a burthen to your friends, established in faith and possessing a sure hope of a blessed immortality, you may have long wished to be absent from the body and present with the Lord, where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest; and yet wearisome days and nights are still appointed unto you; and the chariot-wheels of your Master seem to be slow in their movements, and your expected deliverance, to be long delayed.

Now in all these cases, "the patience of the saints" is necessary to preserve the serenity of your mind and the composure of your spirits. In all these cases, you are in danger of repining under the disappointment, or sinking into a state of despair. In all these cases, therefore, it becomes you to follow after patience, and beseech the Lord to direct your hearts into the patience of Christ, that your integrity and confidence may remain unshaken, that you may be kept from despondency and complaint, that in patience you may possess your soul. "Take, therefore, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction and of patience." "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him." "For one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promises; but is long suffering to us

ward;" he will not too long delay; he will fulfil all his promises, and accomplish all his purposes of mercy in their time.

III. We come now, as was proposed, to point out the foundation, on which Christian patience must be built, and the means by which it may be improved. And this will constitute the application of the subject.

It is, however, little more than a repetition of our text, to observe that this Christian grace, like all others, must rest for support on Christian faith. Where there is no confidence in the authority of the Scriptures, no reliance on the testimony of God, no faith in the atonement and mediation of Christ, we should in vain attempt to enforce the exhortation, to cultivate and exercise patience. Patience, wherever it exists, as a part of the Christian temper, must be added to faith. For faith, as we observed in a preceding lecture, is among the Christian graces, what the key-stone is to the arch; it sustains the whole. If, therefore, you would enjoy the serenity and equanimity of a patient mind, you must possess, cherish, and exercise Christian faith; and to this end you must attend to the evidences of Christian truth, and open your heart to receive the truth in the love of it. If you would possess your soul in patience, your faith must be steadfast and unwavering. The foundation must be laid deep and strong, or the superstructure cannot be raised to its proper height.

But that patience may have its perfect work in us, we must not only see that it is added to faith, but we must diligently use all proper means for its improvement. These in general, comprehend all the common means of grace. It would, however, have a peculiar tendency to increase our patience, to meditate often on the extent of the divine government, in con

nection with the divine promises. The more frequently we contemplate the fact, that every creature and every event, even to the falling of a sparrow, are under the direction of Heaven; and the more fully and habitually we feel the persuasion, that all things will thus conspire to promote the final happiness of those who love God, the better surely shall we be prepared to bear affliction and meet disappointments with patience and submission.

Let it never be forgotten, however, that such meditations should always be accompanied with prayer. "If any man lack wisdom," says an apostle, "let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not." Our meditations on the divine character and government will never produce a calm, humble and patient mind, without the enlightening and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit; and these come in answer to prayer. It is prayer that gives a right direction to our thoughts, a proper cast to our temper; while it pleads the promises of the Father, relies on the mediation of the Son, and secures the aid of the Holy Spirit. Wherefore pray for patience. As often as you find your heart inclined to distrust the goodness of God, and disposed to murmur at the allotments of his providence; as often as you discover a restless spirit, or a peevish temper, springing up in your bosom, so often retire from the world and pray, humbly and earnestly pray for grace, and devoutly beseech the Lord to direct your heart into the patience of Christ.

Finally; let those who have neither patience, nor that faith on which alone it can be built, consider its importance to their present peace and future happiness; and be led to the inquiry, what they must do to be saved. And let those who now possess a portion

of this sanctified and sanctifying principle, endeavor to increase and improve it, by every method in their power; and exercise it on every occasion of trial. Let them learn patience of the husbandman, who labors and toils and waits long for the fruits of earth. Let them strive to acquire the patience of the saints; following them, who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Let them especially imitate the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great pattern of patience, who meekly endured the contradiction of sinners; who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; who was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

LECTURE VIII.

CHRISTIAN PIETY.

2 PETER I. 5—7.

GIVING ALL DILIGENCE, ADD TO YOUR FAITH VIRTUE, AND TO VIRTUE KNOWLEDGE, AND TO KNOWLEDGE TEMPERANCE, AND TO TEMPERANCE PATIENCE, AND TO PATIENCE GODLINESS, AND TO GODLINESS BROTHERLY KINDNESS, AND TO BROTHERLY KINDNESS CHARITY.

Ir cannot be too deeply impressed on our minds, that the various exercises of heart and habits of life, which constitute the Christian character, all spring from the same fundamental principle, and terminate in one grand result; all spring from faith and terminate in love. For the moment we forget this primary maxim of the gospel, we are exposed to one of two practical errors; we are liable to self-deception on the one hand, or uncharitable judgment on the other. Let a man forget, or in his examinations of himself neglect, the consideration, that Christian faith is the great principle of the divine life in the soul, that men are justified and saved by faith alone, that faith is inseparable from genuine repentance, and essential to true obedience, that it is the foundation of holiness, and therefore a necessary qualification for heaven; let a man, I say, forget or neglect this consideration, and he will be exposed to self-deception, and liable to indulge false hopes; he will be in danger of resting satisfied with the mere form of godliness without the