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BE PATIENT

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Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 14, 1860

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 16, No. 13.

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BE PATIENT.

By J. Clarke

SUPPOSE your brother does try your patience. Perhaps he is right and you are wrong; or both may be somewhat to blame; or he may be altogether to blame; In either of these cases, you had better be patient, and if you are right, he will see by your patience that he has no chance of conquering you, and he will cease to molest you if he is wicked; and if he is true-hearted, he will be led by the good Spirit to repentance.
If you are a little or a good deal to blame, patience will open the way for God to show you your fault, and you will be helped much by being very candid and even severe with yourself; be sure to maintain your integrity if you have any, but do not imagine you have a large amount of that article unless the proof is clear.
The Bible calls all men liars, and Daniel had but little conceit of himself before the angel, and Isaiah calls himself a man of unclean lips, and Paul calls himself the chief of sinners; and if these good men, so pure, so beloved, had so poor an opinion of themselves, perhaps this idea of maintaining your own integrity, and this bolstering yourself up in an idea of your own dignity may, after all, be without as good a foundation as is desirable.
For one, it would be a great pleasure to me if I could suppose you to be as faultless as you imagine yourself to be; but we must decide upon evidence, and your lack of patience is rather against you; still with patience, and a prayerful, candid spirit, you may attain to a knowledge of yourself, which is the first step in the path to perfection; and should you discover that you had been mistaken in the high estimate you place upon yourself, still with a humble spirit you may hope to finally attain to a much higher standard of character, than that now before your mind.
God leads his children in strange paths—strange to us; and we make strange discoveries; and christianity is something very different from what we supposed it to be before we experienced it; the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and every step in the life of the christian is new. It often surprises and amazes the godly man to see how God cares for him, and how he leads and teaches him. Only be patient, and wait on the Lord, trust him, and lean not to thine own understanding.
Do not think you must do this and that because your heart says so. Do not run to Bro. this or that for advice on every point (advice is good in need), but get in a habit of going to the Lord, humbly, meekly, in faith. Do not doubt him, but wait patiently, and he will make his promise good. Be patient.
What if you should lose a little, or a good deal of self-conceit? You will gain in real solid attainments at every such period, when you throw off the weights that encumber you. Be patient. Go to the Lord. Out of his mouth cometh wisdom. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. Go to him for wisdom, to him for character, to him for understanding, his gifts are liberal, they are permanent. Do not think they will not be yours; for they will be yours forever if you are faithful.
Do this before you try to get the mote out of your brother's eye, and when all the beams are out of your own eyes, you will wonder that you could have been so blind, and will set little by the integrity you so valued before. This new integrity, just from glory, will so outshine the old, yet you will so value it, that you would not dare boast of it, or dare defend it, lest it should be tarnished in the dispute; but so much will you value it, you will keep it safe, by placing it under the protection of Him who conferred it, and is able to defend it for you.
Then how agreeable it will be, when you, instead of maintaining your own cause, can with rapture say, Blessed is the man whose hope the Lord is, that trusteth in the name of the Lord; when instead of pleading your own integrity, you can have a counsellor, Jesus, the Wonderful, the Counsellor. Be patient, lay self aside, have no dignity, but that which is built up in humility,and godly fear. Be patient, and wait on the Lord, and if you have any righteousness, he will clear it all up, bright as the noon-day sun. Only be anxious to get it. Leave the rest with God. J. CLARKE.