Editorial October 3, 1908 Issue

ENDURANCE

Annie M. Knott

There is no grander idea than that expressed in the word endurance, which is defined as "the ability to bear and continue under destructive forces; patient fortitude," etc. It is given great prominence in the Bible, the psalmist declaring that divine truth "endureth to all generations," and Christ Jesus says, "He that endureth to the end [of the error] shall be saved."

The human sense is apt to shrink from the experience which calls for endurance, but James presents the subject in quite another light, when he says, "Behold, we count them happy which endure." After Paul had spent several years as a prisoner in the Roman garrison at Cesarea, he wrote to Timothy, "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." How he himself had endured for Truth's sake we learn from his own words: "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness."

When we read these words we should remember that no one has ever accomplished anything of value to the world or to himself who did not "endure," and in many cases the experience has been far more prolonged and severe than that of the early Christian martyrs. The example of all who have endured in order to demonstrate the truth of being should serve to arouse the heroic spirit in us, and make us ashamed of whining over the trial of our faith when complete relief does not come quickly. Impatience may be the very thing which delays our complete emancipation—and this is no plea for submission to evil of any sort, but rather for a calm determination to endure to the end of the error, to win at any cost.

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