Patience! Patience! Patience!

(William Plumer, "Vital Godliness: A Treatise
on Experimental and Practical Piety" 1864)

"But the fruit of the Spirit is . . . patience." (Galatians 5:22)

"With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love." (Ephesians 4:2)

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience." (Colossians 3:12)

"Patience has various OBJECTS. Towards God it is resigned, and says, 'I will bear the indignation of the Lord.' Towards Christian people, who justly reprove us, it is meek, and says, 'Let the righteous smite me!' Towards wicked and unreasonable people, who love to see others afflicted, it says, 'Rejoice not against me, O my enemy.' Towards the trials under which we are called to suffer, it is not uneasy and rebellious, but rather gives them a kind reception. Under provocation it is gentle and not resentful." Plumer

"Christian patience blesses and curses not. It bears insults and injuries without malice. It is 'patient toward all men.' Under affliction it is quiet and submissive. It will use no wicked measures to relieve even great distresses. It is 'patient in tribulation'--even the most extreme sufferings. Under delays it is still and uncomplaining. It loves to leave everything in the hands of the Father!" Plumer

"Patience is that calm and unruffled temper, with which a godly man bears the evils of life." Buck

"Patience is that virtue which qualifies us to bear all conditions and all events, with such persuasions of mind, such dispositions and affections of heart, such external deportments and practices of life--as God requires, and good reason directs." Barrow

"Christian patience is a disposition that keeps us calm and composed in our frame, and steady in the practice of our duty under the sense of our afflictions, or in the delay of our hopes." Evans

"In regard of God, patience is a submission to his sovereignty. To endure a trial, simply because we cannot avoid or resist it, is not Christian patience. But to humbly submit because it is the will of God to inflict the trial, to be silent because the sovereignty of God orders it--is true godly patience." Charnock

"Christian patience is not a careless indolence, a stupid insensibility, mechanical bravery, constitutional fortitude, a daring stoutness of spirit--resulting from fatalistic thinking, human reasoning, or pride. Christian patience is gift and grace of the Holy Spirit, nourished by heavenly truth, and guided by scriptural rules." Mason

"Insensibility of God's hand inflicting trials, is as different from Christian patience, as a deathly coma is different from the quiet, soft sleep of health. Nothing kindles God's anger more, than neglecting His direct agency in sending the trial. It is a symptom of a wretched state of soul." Bates