_Christian patience_ adds to this a sweet, childlike resignation to God's holy will, in the affliction, whatever it may be. All merely natural or philosophical patience is cold, gloomy, sullen, and unprofitable. Though it may refrain from tears, it cannot smile; for it hath no faith, no love, no Saviour, no covenant, no God! Christian patience "endures, as seeing Him who is invisible;" that is faith. Heb. xi. 1. It looks up to the rod in the hand of a chastening Father. Heb. xii. 6. It considers One that endured such contradiction against himself, and arms itself with the same mind. 1 Pet. iv. 1. It beholds every pang disposed according to a covenant transaction. 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. And it bows to all, however distressing, as ordered by the infinite wisdom, justice, and goodness. Lam. iii. 37-40. Therefore it is, that the stoutest and hardest of worldly sufferers falls so far below the feeblest of Christ's lambs, when laid under heavy trials. Though pangs of anguish must now and then extort a sigh, tear, or groan, the child of God still turns to him, when smitten, and kisses the paternal hand. It is again _faith_, believing that God doth it, and that all he doth is wisest and is best. It is _submission_, yielding the neck to the yoke (Lam. iii. 27), bowing down under the Omnipotent hand, (1 Pet. v. 6), and prostrating itself beneath the infinite and eternal will, (Gen. xviii. 25.) It is _resignation_, giving the whole matter into the best hands, that He may undertake, (Isa. xxxviii. 14), and undoubtingly referring every future event unto the God of the lilies and the birds. Matt. vi. 26. It is _humility_, owning itself little, and dependent, and mean, and unworthy, and therefore willing to suffer. And it is _penitence_, bewailing sin, pleading for mercy, wondering that it suffers so little, and remembering how light are these pains compared with the agonies of the lost, or the vicarious sorrows of the Lord our righteousness. All this, and much more, is present in every case of truly sanctified Christian affliction; and this sheds a light through the curtains of evangelical sorrow, which is altogether unknown to the most resolute of stoical heroes.