EDITOR’S NOTE: In 2012, the SBTS Archives acquired 21 volumes of manuscripts handwritten by Morgan Edwards (1722 – 1795), notable Baptist preacher and religious historian. Transcribed here are excerpts from his sermon “Add to your faith — patience” (2 Peter 1:5– 6) preached on Oct. 10, 1756:

When Christians are bid to add patience to their faith, it is taken for granted, that faith may exist without that patience. The apostle observed some among those he wrote to who had, held, and professed the faith, and yet were deficient in patience. And a little observation on Christians of the present age shows (that) not only faith may be actually does stand destitute of this necessary endowment.

It is also taken for granted here that adding patience to faith is necessary; so necessary that to have faith and not to have patience is (in effect) to have nothing to purpose. They therefore whose province it is to watch over you in the Lord, cannot be faithful if they know and believe this, and yet do not urge the exhortation add to your faith — patience. …

Christians considered merely as men have all the need of patience that other men have and men considered as Christians have more need. And therefore Christ and his apostles have made patience a more considerable topic of both their ministry and writings; few things are by them mentioned oftener, and recommended and inculcated more industriously.

What patience is, you all know: it is the bearing of evils with resignation and calmness. The bearing of evils whether they be pains, sickness, persecution, or poverty, or delays of our wishes, or disappointments of our expectations or the like; it stands opposed to fretfulness … or a turbulent and boisterous temper and conduct. This is the storm; and patience is the calm. …

Patience supposes evils, for they alone furnish us with opportunities of showing it; persons that are not affected with any evils may be calm, serene and even; but this is not patience; nor is it in the power of such to exercise it. He alone is patient who bears evils calmly and serenely, and if he does not exercise such a temper at such times and in such circumstances he has no patience at all; for (as I said before) a serene temper without trails is not patience. …

Deferring and delaying our hopes and wishes are other trials of patience, and how common is it in the trials for men to show that they are not endowed with any. When God or man defers what excites our strong hopes we too often grow angry by resolve to wait no longer. When our warm wishes are not granted us when we would have them how often do we take yet a distaste, and have no patience to wait longer. … This was once the fault of Jonah: “And it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry and said, ‘I do well to be angry even unto death.’” …

The difficulty and tediousness of working out our own salvation try our patience; and some stand the proof: they neither desist nor slacken their application, that they know it then to be a thing for life. But great many have no patience to persevere and so they give over all their duties and efforts, and become as they were before such as neglect so great salvation. …

Does God make bodily sickness and pains the trials of your patience? He does one time or another to every man. And will you not consider them as trials, and tests? The crisis when you must be declared patient or impatient? And will you act so as yet God must pronounce you impatient then? I hope not, what inducements can you have to be peevish murmuring and querulous? Will impatience heal your sickness? Will it assuage your pains? No, but the contrary. Fretting increases the sickness, impatience inflames the pains and makes them more poignant; By impatience then we do ourselves a double prejudice. … Again, do our sickness and pains come by chance? Does sickness come forth of the dust and pains spring out of the ground? Or do they not rather proceed from God? Does he not lay them upon us out of love to us? And does he not intend our good by them? Yes surely our faith tells us so, and we profess to believe all this. Should we not then yield to his wholesome discipline? Resign to his will and be dumb before him? If our faith teaches us this doctrine, and yet we are impatient we do manifestly deny faith by our practice, and become infidels. …

The usefulness of afflictions is frequently taught in Scripture, and our own observations afford proofs of that truth. … They do more than all of preaching they heard before could do and surely this is another reason for patience under sickness and pains. “It is good for me to be afflicted,” saith David, “before I went astray, but now I keep Thy law.” “Our afflictions tho’ grievous for the present,” saith Paul, “work for us an eternal weight of glory.” Therefore, my brethren, be patient when proved by any kind of affliction. …

Are thy warm wishes and strong desires deferred and delayed? And do these make thee impatient and distracted? Remember that God sees reason for refusing thee thy wishes or delaying them. Were God to give us all we desire of him, and when we would have them, our very wishes would be our destruction as they were the destruction of the Jews (Num. 11:38). Earthly parents know that their children cry for things that would greatly hurt them. And for that reason they refuse them what they cry for; so it is with regard to our heavenly parent. Shall we then be impatient when he denies us any thing, or refuses to give what we ask till he sees proper? Especially since we are assured that he refuses us nothing that will be good for us; nor defers our hopes for a moment if it be a proper time to grant. …

An impatient Christian is a contradiction for if we are Christians who hold the Christian faith we must be patient, because yet faith requires it, and gives sufficient grounds for it. If we are not patient then have we not yet faith and consequently are not Christians. Let an impatient man assert continually that he has the Christian faith, he only asserts one thing in words and denies the same thing in his actions. May I not then hope as you all are jealous of reputation for being Christians and not Deists, Jews, or heathens. May I then hope that you will regard the advice in the text and hence forth give all diligence to add to your faith — patience; and more especially for the connexion that patience hath with your eternal salvation.