"Question: How does faith work patience? Answer: Faith argues the soul into patience. Faith is like that town clerk in Ephesus who allayed the contention of the multitude and argued them soberly into peace, (Acts 19:35, 36). So when impatience begins to clamour and make a hubbub in the soul, faith appeases the tumult and argues the soul into holy patience. Faith says, 'Why are you disquieted, O my soul?,' (Psa. 42:5).
"Are you afflicted? Is it not your Father who has done it? He is carving and polishing you and making you fit for glory. He smites that He may save. What is your trial? Is it sickness? God shakes the tree of your body so that some fruit may fall, even 'the peaceable fruit of right-
eousness,' (Heb. 12:11). . . . Do you suffer reproach for Christ's sake? 'The spirit of glory and of God rests upon you,' (1 Pet. 4:14). Thus faith argues and disputes the soul into patience."
