St. Tammany farmer., 1903-04-04
Human Failing Which Robs the Soul
of Victory and Blessing.
Spiritual Impatience as Dfstin-
guished from Impatience of the
Flesh-SermOn by the "HiXh-
way and Byway'' Preacher.
copyright, 1903, by A. N. Kellogg News
paper Col


ceiyed. If unbelief is the mist which
shuts out the face Of God from the
soul and blinds. it to the only safe. path
in Christ Jesus, impatience is the spade
wherewith man digs the grave into
which are cast his peace of mind and
sometimes his hope of Heaven. Pa
tience is virtue of such glorious
beauty as to make God willing to be
called God of patience. Impatience
is vice which sputters and flashes in
the human heart and life and causes
more unhappiness and skaters more
nerves than any other one thing. AS
the emery put into the Oil will soon
grind out the finest bearings and ruin
the most costly machinery, SO impa-
tience injected into the machinery OF
home, social and business life will cut
the smooth surfaces and create dis
cord and, trouble where harmony be-
fore prevailed. Patience is construc-
tive, but impatience is relentlessly de-
structive.. Gods word declares that
patience worketh experience, but the
impatient man or woman or child with
shut eyes and fingers pressed into the
ears rushes madly into the face of ex-
perience and never learns. Patience is
to the human life what the conserving
forces of nature are to the. earth and
the universe. Patience prevents waste
fulness of energy and power; it guards
against destructive violence and disin-
tegrating processes. Patience is the
safety valve that keeps the boiler OF
human dynamics under safe pressure
and prevents the destructive explosion.
Patience is the great flywheel that
keeps the engine of the daily existence
running true and steady. Patience is
a sum in addition, and according to Pc
ter's formula adds, to itself godliness
or Godlikeness. But in this on-rushing.
restless age the feverish hand of man
has woven into the fabric OF his life
the unhappy word "impatience." He
has chiseled the same word in the
archway which spans the entrance to
business and industrial life, and as he
moves about he exhales an atmosphere
which is heavy with the deadly miasma
VI LII pa l10ASC.
Scripture which speaks of God as a
God of patience calls attention to the
patience of Jesus Christi to the pa
thence of Job, and Paul refers to his
own patience. The prophets are held
up as examples of patience, and the
churches at Ephesus. Thyratira and
Philadelphia were commended for
their patience. Even the patience of
the Scriptures is declared. This last
is rather a peculiar expression, but is
full of deep spiritual meaning. It is
most natural to speak of the patience
of Jesus Christ, as we think of His
1s years at the carpenter bench and of
His three years of faithful ministry
while He faced the accursed' death
upon the cross. We do not consider
it out of place for Paul to refer to his
own patience, as we follow him in his
tedious and perilous missionary tours
and see how in every place he first
sought out the Jews and preached to
them Jesus, despite their bitter hostil-
ity and persecution. When James
speaks of the prophets as examples of
patience we can but say amen as we
recall their long-suffering patience in
delivering the message of God to a
wayward and perverse nation. When
Job is raised to the pinnacle of human
attainment by the same inspired
writer and is held out as the great ex-
emplar of patience outside Of Christ
Himself, simple justice comedies him
the place without argument. But
when God speaks of the patience of
the Scriptures, the expression at once
challenges attention. What does it
mean? 1t means that Gods marvellous
secret of the redemption of man has
been gradually unfolded to the mind
and heart of man as fast as it was
safe so to do. The first promise i'll
Genesis that the seed of the woman
should bruise the serpent's head held
within it's simple phrase the germ:
from which was to spring the glori-
Gus plant of salvation. AS the first
faint blush of the dawning morn
prepares one for the coming of the
glorious sun, so this promise spread
a rose tint over the horizon of man
which awakened in his heart the
hope of coming light. And each
new promise sent out it's CLEAN of
light and prepared his vision for the
full blaze of glory of the Son of
Righteousness as He rose with heal
ing in His wings. And herein is
manifested the patience of the Scrip
lures, in that they have so grad
ually, step by step, led man from the
deep valley of death in sin outside
the Garden of Eden, up. up, over the
way blazed by Enoch, Noah. Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, Moses, David and
the prophets, until Calvary's heights
are scaled and the full glory of the
cross bursts upon the human vi
sion.
The patient in the darkened room
would have his restored eyesight
burned out forever if suddenly the
full light of the MONDAY sun were
to stream into the room. The
doctor knows that the eyes must
gradually become accustomed to the
full light of day. and so when the
bandages are removed the greatest
care is exercised. Each day sees .
little more light admitted to the
patients room, and after days and
days of patient waiting, at last the full |
glow of the glorious sunlight is al
lowed to stream into the room. So it |
is with the unfolding of the Scriptures. |
How patiently through the centuries
did the Holy Spirit brood over the Di-
vine secret, and paint in each color un-
~ Po{h1ohor, tho nrocc |