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IX.

THE CUP OF PATIENCE.

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IX.

THE CUP OF PATIENCE.

H

"BE PATIENT TOWARDS ALL MEN. "9

WE who has taken the name of the "God

of Patience," who himself bears long with

the errors and faults of his children, expects them in turn to bear in the same spirit with the infirmities and errors of each other. This rare and precious cup, the humble disciple, conscious of the tender compassion of the Master towards himself, rejoices to present to his fellow-disciples. In the various inequalities of life, amid all the differences of disposition, education, and consequently of character and sentiment, which exist in our fallen state, he sees its need, and appreciates its value. As the expressions of the divine forbearance and love, under the unceasing provocations of the sinner, show themselves in every form, in the sunlight and rain, in daily physical comforts, and all social and civil privileges, more than all, in the offers of salvation: so must

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the follower of God endure the contradiction of sinners with a gentle, long-suffering spirit, not returning railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing; not overcome of evil, but overcoming evil with good.

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Suffer it to be so now," said the meek and lowly Jesus, who, with all might at his control, permitted the powers of darkness for the time to triumph. So, following his example, we may endure evil, holding out the cup of patience with a quiet serenity of demeanor unto all our erring, perverse, sinful brethren. So we may suffer wrongs which we can not redress, bear with evils which we can not remove, and, while protesting against sin, may love and tolerate and help the sinner.

"Thy gentleness hath made me great," said the Psalmist. In this patience possessing our souls, are we not armed with a twofold power in the cause of God? What gives the truest strength to the reformer? What crowns with the brightest success the Christian philanthropist? What makes the Church of Christ "terrible to her enemies as an army with banners"? Is it not the omnipotence of love, love which can bear opposition without anger, tolerate error without disgust, and suffer long with sin, without hatred and malice? This is indeed the corner-stone of Christ's kingdom; the principle which gives stabil

ity, aggressive force, and resisting strength to Christianity. The love which led the Son of God, "though rich, to become poor, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich," while we were yet enemies to die for us, and to continue his pleadings with and for the sinner, notwithstanding long and stubborn rejection of his grace, is sure to conquer. Armed with the same mind that was in him, we, too, may ride triumphant over all evil to a final and glorious victory.

The angel that led the choir over the fields of Bethlehem was named Love. Take away love from Christianity, and you have taken away its life, - love not alone to the just and the holy, but to the sinner; to the pale Magdalene, to whom no one but the King of men and of angels will deign to speak; to the poor publican, and the hated leper, and the raving maniac. It was at the voice of Christianity that modern philanthropy awoke, and it is in this alliance that we regard it with hope. Christianity gives us these fundamental truths of philanthropy, that sin can be hated and the sinner loved, and that love will be the end of all.

We must have a motive in our war with evil that

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