The Origin of Faith and Patience

FAITH AND PATIENCE

(History of The Origin of All Things - Vol 2 - Appendix V)

Faith leads to patience, for without faith man must be impatient. faith is a sure leader to patience because to him who has it patience is but an exercise of faith, and to him who has it not it is an exercise of trust in something future which is analogous to faith, though perhaps not true spiritual faith itself. In the progress of a soul to union and harmony in God and with God, man is often required to be patient. God's time is the true time for the performance of any work, but how often do we find men entering upon a good work in their own time? God is the director of every work He wills to have accomplished, and all else than such must end in confusion to the undertaker and disappointment to its projectors. God chooses sometimes to try His servants' patience very severely, for they sometimes think the way is plain and the opportunity the best that can occur. But all know or may know by reflection, that if the work be not of God it must fail, whereas if it be of God it shall not be arrested but shall fulfill God's object.

Faith worketh patience and patience worketh charity or love, says Paul, though he speaks particularly of the trial of faith. But it is the faith that gives the patience, and if the trial of faith does not find it patient, it may well be questioned whether faith has or had an existence. Faith and patience are inseparably connected, and the latter is the consequent of the former. so the exercise of patience is not only a proof of our trial but of our maintenance of faith. Be, then, attentive to your work, listen to the voice of God within you calling you to be ready to work, to be willing to surrender all to God and to the work He calls you to do. When you have made yourself all ready and can say: Here am I, O Lord, ready to do what Thou hast called me to do, and willing to be used in Thy will whenever and wherever Thou art pleased to have me act, and willing to wait for Thy time to act, even if that time should be far distant, and should not come to me in the body but should be delayed until my entrance into the second or third sphere of my existence--thus submitting to God's will and awaiting His time, be patient, and He will bless you and reward you as a faithful servant who has fought the good fight with the powers of his own free-will and submitted all to God, as one who has worked for the great cause of salvation by saving his own soul, which is all a man can do even with God's help. All that is done must be done by God for the man's own soul, for God only can save souls and be the Redeemer of the world.

Have faith, then; let your faith work patience; and let your patience work charity and love. Patience is not an end but a means, a work of progress even when you seem most inactive. Cultivate patience, the waiting upon God for His guidance and help, and the everlasting Father of men will reward you openly for your quiet heart-rendered obedience and advance you to more active duties, call you to greater sacrifices, greater patience, and the most arduous tasks shall seem trifles to him who has God on his side.