the tempter, nor can it be frightened by the
clamour of his onslaught. With steady hand it parries his deadliest
thrusts, and assuming the offensive is able in its turn to inflict
mortal wounds upon the power of Satan wherever it may be manifested.

VI. _The Practice of Patience_

Patience is also a necessary virtue that has constantly and assiduously
to be cultivated if we would be ready always for the battle.

(1) We are to be patient with God, biding His time, tarrying His
leisure,[8] awaiting whatever He may send in the conflict, assuring
one's heart always that He rules and overrules, and that all things
work together for good to those who love Him.[9]

(2) We know the necessity of patience with our fellow-men. Our daily
experience show us how large a proportion of temptation arises from
failure to bear with those among whom we live, {102} not infrequently
those who hold the first place in our hearts. A wholesome remedy for
impatience with those about us is to remember ourselves. "Endeavour to
be patient in bearing with the defects and infirmities of others of
what sort soever they be: for thou also hast many which must be borne
with by others. If thou canst not make thyself what thou wouldest, how
canst thou expect to have another to thy liking? We are glad to see
others perfect; and yet we mend not our own faults. We will have
others severely corrected: and will not be corrected ourselves. The
large liberty of others displeases us: and yet we will not have our own
desires denied us. We will have others restrained by laws: but will
not in any way be checked ourselves. And thus it appears: how seldom
we weigh our neighbour in the same balance with ourselves."[10]

(3) All these things we have just been considering are doubtless
familiar to us, but perhaps the thought of patience with ourselves is
not so common a one, although there is no more important a factor in
all the Christian warfare.

Patience must be exercised towards oneself as towards a weak and
wayward child. We are not to expect too much of ourselves. To turn
upon oneself angrily or bitterly because we cannot {103} immediately
drive away some persistent temptation, or because we have yielded,[11]
is an act of spiritual pride. It shows that we thought ourselves quite
able to cope with the tempter; prided ourselves indeed upon our
spiritual powers; and are now in a state of surprise and indignation
that we should have failed; when al