(3) Faith. — Patience is not merely passive endurance; it contains also an ingredient of active service. A firm, bright, working faith in the moral government of God, and in the ulti- mate triumph of righteousness, girds the soul with quiet strength, and constitutes the ground of self-control ; while the exercise of self-control in the very teeth of adverse circumstance issues in that reposefulness of spirit, that fine poise of disposition, which the word patience connotes.
^ All lovers of literature are familiar with Richter's Dream of the t/niverse. You remember how^, with a mighty angel for guide,
' B. Wilberforce, Sanctificatioii by the Truth, 161. JAS.-JUDE — 12
178 THE UNFOLDING OF CHARACTER
he was launched without sound or farewell upon the infinite deeps of space. With the solemn flight of angel-wings they passed through Saharas of darkness, through wildernesses of death, separating worlds of life and light. On and on they flew, through starry fields and forests of gleaming suns, past rushing comets and wheeling planets and the changing splendours of a thousand waxing and waning moons. One heaven after another opened up before them as they approached, and rolled up behind them as they passed. System after system, galaxy after galaxy, constella- tion after constellation piled themselves up in awful altitudes, opened out into glittering corridors that dazzled the vision, and then faded into distance as they rushed on in never-ceasing flight. At length the human heart within the man was overburdened with infinity, and yearned for some narrow cell in which to hide. Turning to his attendant angel he cried, "Angel, I will go no farther, for the spirit of man acheth with this infinity. Let me lie down in the grave and hide me from the oppression of the infinite, for end I see there is none." Then from all the listening stars that shone around issued a choral voice, "End there is none." " Then," to quote the dreamer's own words, " the mighty Angel became invisible, or vanished to his home in the unseen world of spirit. I was left alone in the centre of a universe of life, and I yearned after some sympathizing being. Suddenly from the starry deeps there came floating through the ocean of light a certain planet. Upon it there stood a woman whose face was as the face of a Madonna, and by her side there stood a Child whose countenance varied not, neither was it magnified as it drew nearer. This Child was a King ; for I saw He had a crown upon His head, but the crown was a crown of thorns. Then also I per- ceived that the planet was our unhappy earth ; and as the earth drew near, this Child, who had come forth from the starry deeps to comfort me, threw upon me a look of gentlest pity and unutterable love, so that in my heart I had a sudden rapture of joy such as passes all understanding, and I woke in a tumult of happiness."
Now, under cover of this wonderful dream, Eichter conveys the truth for which we are contending. If the soul of man is to have the patience to wait and the strength to endure, it must know that eternity is something more than infinite duration, and that immeasurable space is more than a vast and vacant solitude. Only let it be sure that all time and space are suffused with a Personal Presence, with a Mind that thinks and plans, and a Heart that feels and loves, then nothing will be too great to do, nothing too hard to bear. Let it doubt this, and it has no adequate inducement to hold on. Hence, as we have seen, it is
2 PETER I, 5-7 179
written of Moses, " he endured as seeing Him," not " it," but " Him " who is invisible ; not a someivhat but a Some one, who upholds all things by the word of His power, but also redeems all souls by the word of His love.^
Thou gavest unto me
No sign ! I knew no loving secret, told
As oft to men beloved, and I must hold
My peace when these would speak of converse high;
Jesus, my Master, yet I would be nigh
When these would speak, and in the words rejoice
Of them who listen to the Bridegroom's voice.
Thou gavest unto me
No goodly gift, no pearl of price untold,
No signet-ring, no ruby shut in gold,
No chain around my neck to wear for pride,
For love no token in my breast to hide;
Yea! these, perchance, from out my careless hold
Had slipped, perchance some robber shrewd and bold
Had snatched them from me ! so Thou didst provide
For me, my Master kind, fivm day to day ;
And in this world. Thine inn, Thou bad'st me stay,
And saidst, — " What thou spendest, I will pay."
I never heard Thee say,
"Bring forth the robe for this My son, the best;"
Thou gavest not to me, as unto guest
Approved, a festal mantle rich and gay;
Still singing, ever singing, in the cold
Thou lea vest me, without Thy Door to stay;
Now the Night draweth on, the Day is old.
And Thou hast never said, — " Come in, My friend," — •
Yet once, yea twice, me thinks Thy love did send