Chapter XI.

FORTITUDE; OR DUTIES WITH REFERENCE TO UNAVOIDABLE EVILS AND SUFFERINGS.

There are, in almost every prolonged human experience, *privations and
sufferings to be endured, disappointments to be submitted to, obstacles
and difficulties to be surmounted and overcome*. From whatever source
these elements of experience proceed, even if from blind chance, or from
_fate_ (which denotes the _utterance_ or decree of arbitrary and
irresponsible power), the strong man will brace himself up to bear them;
the wise man will shape his conduct by them; the man of lofty soul will
rise above them. But the temper in which they will be borne, yielded to,
or surmounted, must be contingent on the belief concerning them. If they
are regarded as actual evils, they will probably be endured with
sullenness, or submitted to with defiance and scorn, or surmounted with
pride and self-inflation. Even in the writings of the later Stoics, which
abound in edifying precepts of fortitude and courage under trial, there is
an undertone of defiance, as if the sufferer were contending with a
hostile force, and a constant tendency to extol and almost deify the
energy of soul which the good man displays in fighting with a hard
destiny. If, on the other hand, physical evils are regarded as wise and
benign appointments of the Divine love and fatherhood, the spirit in which
they are borne and struggled against is characterized by tenderness,
meekness, humility, trust, and hope. It is instructive in this regard to
read alternately the Stoics and St. Paul, and to contrast their
magnanimous, but grim and stern resignation, with the jubilant tone in
which, a hundred times over, and with a vast variety of gladsome
utterance, he repeats the sentiment contained in those words, "As
sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." As ours is the Christian theory as to
the (so-called) evils of human life, we shall recognize it in our
treatment of the several virtues comprehended under the general title of
Fortitude.

Section I.

Patience.(16)

*Patience* is incumbent on us, only under inevitable sufferings or
hardships, or under such as are incurred in the discharge of manifest
duty, or for the benefit of our fellow-men. Needless sufferings or
privations we are bound to shun or to escape, not to bear. The caution and
foresight by which they may be evaded hold an essential place among the
duties