This is one great end and design of trial, to exercise the grace of _patience_. There is nothing God loves better than _a waiting soul_. "_The Lord is good to them that wait for Him._"[81] "_I waited_ _patiently_," says David, in another Psalm, (or, as it is literally, "I waited, waited,") "_for the Lord_, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry."[82] "_I know thy works_," says Jesus, speaking of old, in the language of commendation, to His church at Ephesus: "_how thou hast_ BORNE, _and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not_ FAINTED."[83] How often has our way _appeared_ to be hedged up with thorns,--as if there were no possibility of egress! In sailing among some of our own Highland lakes and inland seas, where the mountains, in a thousand fantastic forms, rise abrupt from the shore, we frequently seem to be landlocked, and able to get no farther. Yet the vessel pursues its serpentine course; and as we double the first jutting promontory, the lake again expands; the same waters appear beyond, gleaming like a mirror of molten gold. We find what we imagined to be an impassable barrier, is only a strait, opening into new combinations of mountain majesty and beauty. So is it in the Voyage of life. Often, in its fitful turnings and windings, do we seem to be arrested in our way;--"Hill Difficulties" rising before us, and appearing to impede our vessel's course;--but as faith steers onwards, impediments vanish, new vistas and experiences of loving-kindness open up. Where we expected to be stopped by walls of frowning rock and barren mountains, lo! limpid waves are seen laving the shore, and joyful cascades are heard singing their way to the silver strand! [81] Lam iii. 45. [82] Psalm xl. 1. [83] Rev. ii. 3. And not only does God thus "command His loving-kindness" in disappointing our fears, but "in the night His song shall be with us." He will turn the very midnights of our sorrow into occasions of grateful praise! Yes! if not now, we shall come yet to see the "needs be" of every trial. We have only a partial view here of God's dealings--His half-completed, half-developed plan; but all will stand out in fair and graceful proportions in the great finished Temple of Eternity!