The Government of the Thoughts, Chapter 13
CHAP. XIII. Of Impatience.
IMPATIENCE is a Distemper of the Mind, proceeding from several Causes, as Indignation, Anger, Envy, Sorrow, apprehension of Injuries, Affliction, deluded Hopes, and the like. As the diseased Body cannot endure Heat or Cold; so an impatient, and discontented Mind, cannot comply with Prosperity, or Adversity. Every present Estate seemeth uneasie, wanting a true relish to make it palatable; it is not only a Guilt, but a Punishment of the Sin of Ingratitude against God; Therefore the Almighty threatned to send them trembling Hearts, Sorrow of Mind, and pendulous Thoughts, and Fears, Deut. 28.65, 66, 67. In the Morning thou shalt say, would God it were Evening: and at Even thou shalt say, would God it were Morning.
2. SICK of this wayward Distemper was he, who being at Rome, lik'd Tyber best, but when at Tyber gave Rome the Preference; the sick Person shifteth Rooms and Beds, as the wounded Hart flieth from Brake to Brake, but can find no ease, whilst the fatal Arrow, that Messenger of Death sticks fast in his side. So it is observable Malecontents waver, between contempt of the present, and vain hopes of the future. But Coelum, non animum mut at, he transmueth the Air, not his Mind; that crosseth the Ocean. Wherever thy Progress is, thy Mind bears thee company, and according to its Malignancy, a proportionable Remedy must be applied.
3. TRIVIAL matters doth not perturb the the Healthy, but a small Accident discomposeth the Sick. The sound and strong Man can rest any where, but to the infirm, a Bed of Gold, or Wood, produces the same ease; and a rich Palace, or a poor Cottage, affords him equality of rest. So it is observable, a fixed and stable Mind will rest contented any where; he is become a Proficient, and can say with St. Paul, I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be Content, Phil. 4.11. And a Mind so serene and calm, is Health to the Sick, Enlargement to the Prisoner, and far excells a Kingdom to the Possessor; whereas the impeteous Mind is troubled and discomposed with every trifle. I do well, said pievish Jonah, to be angry even unto death, Jonah 4.9. And all this Morosety was but for a poor Gourd, when at that juncture he ought to have been more concerned at so many thousand Lives, which were near Destruction.
4. TO cure this, no Cataplasm Externally applyed can afford any Operation; but it must be a Catholicon Internally used, which must purge the Mind of these Malignant Perturbations which disaffect it, and to strengthen it by a right Informatio… of the Understanding, and rectifying th… distempered Affections, untill the Mind enjoy a Calm of Patience. And indeed Patience is a Magnanimous Vertue, and attended with a Train of …piritual Qualifications▪ First, It is Afflictions Cordial, and Despair Antidote, the Daughter and Nurse of Hope, Rom. 8.25. And the Saints Communio… with Christ, Rev. 1.9. It is the way to th… Inheritance, Heb. 12.1. The Seal of Salv… tion, 2 Pet. 1.10. A Symptome of Fait… and Hope in Christ, 1 Thess. 1.3. Patienc… is an Equanimity in bearing Adversity; an… a Fruit of Charity: And the Apostle gi… you this Certificate, That the Fruit of th… Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Ga… 5.22. And Charity suffereth long, 1 Cor. 13.4.
5. IMPATIENCE is a Perturbation of the Mind, a Self-corroding, Tormenting bitterness of the Soul, proceeding from Impotency, or Levity of Mind: A secret contest with, and repining at the Providence of God. It is the absurdity of Rich Men, and the vexation of the Poor: The Mother of Despair, and sad fury of the Internal habitation; every Room, and Recess thereof, it disturbeth with hideous Cries, like Ziim and Ohim, doleful Beasts in the Desolations of Babylon, Isai. 13.21.
6. IT is a folly and sober distraction, wherein the deseased Mind rejecteth all wholesome Prescriptions; it Rebelleth against the Physician, and lacerateth open its own Wounds; it is an Heart-corroding canker, the internal Man's Woolf, which devoureth that which feedeth it; the Worm which gnaweth the Soul, which Prometheus-like, cherisheth the Vulture which afflicteth it, and delighteth in that which grieves it: Nor is the best of Men free from this Distemper, for David with his Soul made this inquest, Why art thou so sad, O my Soul, and why art thou so disquieted within me, Psal. 43.5.
7. OUR Blessed Saviour, who was free from Sin, who bare all our Sorrows, in the sense of his Father's wrath, acknowledged, that his Soul was heavy to the death: And wrestling with that most unknown Passion, cryed out upon the Cross, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He could no otherwise be sensible of Hell Torments, (due to us) in his Humane Soul, than by losing the present sense of the Deities Assistance, duplicate page duplicate page which wheresoever it is, makes Eternal Happiness: He lost in that Agony a present sense, not an Indeficient Interest: For even then, he called God, his God; which Demonstrated a vast distance between the Impatience, of Desperate and Irrecoverable Sinners, and the Estate of those Good Men who are under Tribulation for the Infirmity of their Souls: The just Man may be compared to the Israelites, marching with the Egyptians through the Red-Sea, where there is a way opened to their Promised Rest, but the Waters return with a full force and drown the Enemy.
8. AS to this Malady we must not plead ignorance, but be sensible that it groweth Gradually: First, In unadvised Anger mix… with Sorrow; which are the Seminaries of Impatience: Next, it goes forward, to a dislike of every Accident and Estate; from thence to an internal Repining: So like a Gangren, it invadeth the Souls Vitals, Hope, Content, and a Cheerful dependance upon God's Providence, and then marches forward to violent Despair; so that it behoves a Man highly to prevent this danger by checking its Primitive Motions; and learning to make a Prudent use of every Affliction, and to Expel all those discomposed Thoughts which nourish it; likewise to practise in the whole Course of Life, that Christian Patience, and Moderation, which becometh those, who depend on the Providence of God: Some Motives to it, I shall shew in the next Chapter.