Abridged from the Rev. Matthew Henry
A
meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. 1 Peter
3:4
CHAPTER 1
THE NATURE OF MEEKNESS AND QUIETNESS OF SPIRIT
Meekness
and quietness seem to import much the same thing, but the latter having something
of metaphor in it, will illustrate the former, and therefore we shall speak
of them distinctly.
We
must be of a MEEK spirit. Meekness is easiness of spirit: not a sinful easiness
to be debauched, as Ephraim's, who willingly walked after the commandment
of the idolatrous princes; nor a simple easiness to be imposed upon and deceived,
as Rehoboam's, who, when he was forty years old, is said to be young and tender-hearted;
but a gracious easiness to be wrought upon by that which is good, as theirs
whose heart of stone is taken away and to whom a heart of flesh is given.
Meekness accommodates the soul to every occurrence, and so makes a man easy
to himself and to all about him. The Latins call a meek man mansuetus, which alludes to the taming
and reclaiming of creatures wild by nature, and bringing them to be tractable
and familiar. James 3:7, 8. Man's corrupt nature has made him like the wild
ass used to the wilderness, or the swift dromedary traversing her ways. Jer.
2:23, 24. But the grace of meekness, when that gets dominion in the soul,
alters the temper of it, submits it to management; and now the wolf dwells
with the lamb, and the leopard lies down with the kid, and a little child
may lead them; for enmities are laid aside, and there is nothing to hurt or
destroy. Isa. 11:6, 9.
Meekness
may be considered with respect both to
God and to our brethren; it
belongs to both the tables of the law, and attends upon the first great commandment,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God; as well as the second, which is like unto
it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; though its especial reference
is to the latter.
I.
There is MEEKNESS TOWARDS God, and it is the easy and quiet submission of
the soul to his whole will, according as he is pleased to make it known, whether
by his word or by his providence.
1.
It is the silent submission of the soul
to the word of God: the understanding bowed to every divine truth, and
the will to every divine precept; and both without murmuring or disputing.
The word is then an "engrafted word," when it is received with meekness,
that is, with a sincere willingness to be taught, and desire to learn. Meekness
is a grace that cleaves the stock, and holds it open, that the word, as a
shoot, may be grafted in; it breaks up the fallow ground, and makes it fit
to receive the seed; captivates the high thoughts, and lays the soul like
white paper under God's pen. When the dayspring takes hold of the ends of
the earth, it is said to be turned as clay to the seal. Job 38:14. Meekness
does, in like manner, dispose the soul to admit the rays of divine light,
which before it rebelled against; it opens the heart, as Lydia's was opened,
and sets us down with Mary at the feet of Christ, the learner's place and
posture.
The
promise of teaching is made to the meek, because they are disposed to learn:
"the meek he will teach his way." The word of God is gospel indeed,
"good tidings to the meek;" they will entertain it and bid it welcome.
The "poor in spirit" are evangelized; and Wisdom's alms are given
to those that with meekness wait daily at her gates, and like beggars wait
at the posts of her doors. Prov. 8:34. The language of this meekness is that
of the child Samuel: "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth;" and
that of Joshua, who, when he was in that high post of honor, giving command
to Israel, and bidding defiance to all their enemies—his breast filled with
great and bold thoughts—yet, upon the intimation of a message from heaven,
thus submits himself to it: "What saith my Lord unto his servant?"
and that of Paul—and it was the first breath of the new man—"Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do?" and that of Cornelius: "And now we are
all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of
God;" and that of the good man I have read of, who, when he was going
to hear the word, used to say, "Now let the word of the Lord come; and
if I had six hundred necks, I would bow them all to the authority of it."
To receive the word with meekness, is to be delivered into it as into a mould:
this seems to be Paul's metaphor in Rom. 6:17, that "form of doctrine
which was delivered you." Meekness softens the wax, that it may receive
the impression of the seal, whether it be for doctrine or reproof, for correction
or instruction in righteousness. It opens the ear to discipline, silences
objections, and suppresses the risings of the carnal mind against the word;
consenting to the law that it is good
[1]
and esteeming all the precepts concerning all things to
be right, even when they give the greatest check to flesh and blood.
2.
It is the silent submission of the soul to the
providence of God, for that also is the will of God concerning us.
1.
When the events of Providence are grievous
and afflictive, displeasing to sense and crossing our secular interests,
meekness not only quiets us under them, but reconciles us to them; and enables
us not only to bear, but to receive evil as well as good at the hand of the
Lord; which is the excellent frame that Job argues himself into: it is to
kiss the rod, and even to accept of the punishment of our iniquity, taking
all in good part that God does; not daring to strive with our Maker, no nor
desiring to prescribe to him, but being dumb, and not opening the mouth, because
God does it. How meek was Aaron under the severe dispensation which took away
his sons with a particular mark of divine wrath. He "held his peace."
God was sanctified, and therefore Aaron was satisfied, and had not a word
to say against it. Unlike to this was the temper, or rather the distemper
of David, who was not like a man after God's own heart when he was displeased
because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, as if God must have asked David
leave thus to assert the honor of his ark. When God's anger is kindled, our
must be stifled; such is the law of meekness, that whatsoever pleases God
must not displease us. David was in a better frame when he penned the 56th
Psalm, the title of which, some think, bespeaks the calmness and submissiveness
of his spirit when the Philistines took him in Gath. It is entitled, The silent
dove afar off. It was his calamity that he was afar off, but he was then as
a silent dove—mourning perhaps, Isa. 38:14—but not murmuring, not struggling,
not resisting, when seized by the birds of prey; and the psalm he penned in
this frame was Michtam, a golden psalm. The language of this meekness is that
of Eli, "It is the Lord;" and that of David to the same purport,
"Here am I; let him do to me as seemeth good unto him." Not only,
He can do what he will, subscribing to his
power, for who can stay his hand? or, He may
do what he will, subscribing to his sovereignty, for he gives not account
of any of his matters; or, He will
do what he will, subscribing to his unchangeableness, for he is of one mind,
and who can turn him? but, Let him do
what he will, subscribing to his wisdom and goodness, as Hezekiah, "Good
is the word of the Lord, which thou hast spoken." Let him do what he
will, for he will do what is best; and therefore if God should refer the matter
to me, says the meek and quiet soul, being well assured that he knows what
is good for me better than I do for myself, I would refer it to him again:
"He shall choose our inheritance for us."
2.
When the methods of Providence are dark
and intricate, and we are quite at a loss what God is about to do with
us—his way is in the sea, and his path in the great waters, and his footsteps
are not known, clouds and darkness are round about him—a meek and quiet spirit
acquiesces in an assurance that all things shall work together for good to
us, if we love God, though we cannot apprehend how or which way. It teaches
us to follow God with an implicit faith, as Abraham did when he went out,
not knowing whither he went, but knowing very well whom he followed. It quiets
us with this, that though what he doeth we know not now, yet we shall know
hereafter. John 13:7. When poor Job was brought to that dismal plunge, that
he could no way trace the footsteps of divine Providence, but was almost lost
in the labyrinth, Job 23:8, 9, how quietly does he sit down with this thought:
"But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come
forth as gold."
II.
There is MEEKNESS TOWARDS OUR BRETHREN, towards "all men." Tit.
3:2. Meekness is especially conversant about the affection of anger: not wholly
to extirpate and eradicate from the soul the holy indignation of which the
Scriptures speak, for that were to quench a coal which sometimes there is
occasion for, even at God's altar, and to blunt the edge even of the spiritual
weapons with which we are to carry on our spiritual warfare; but its office
is to direct and govern this affection, that we may be angry and not sin.
Eph. 4:26.
Meekness,
in the school of the philosophers, is a virtue consisting in a mean between
the extremes of rash excessive anger on the one hand, and a defect of anger
on the other; a mean which Aristotle confesses it very hard exactly to gain.
Meekness,
in the school of Christ, is one of the fruits of the Spirit. Gal. 5:22, 23.
It is a grace wrought by the Holy Ghost both as a sanctifier and as a comforter
in the hearts of all true believers, teaching and enabling them at all times
to keep their passions under the conduct and government of religion and right
reason. I observe that it is wrought in the hearts of all true believers,
because, though there are some whose natural temper is unhappily sour and
harsh, yet wheresoever there is true grace, there is a disposition to strive
against, and strength in some measure to conquer such a disposition. And though
in this, as in other graces, an absolute sinless perfection cannot be expected
in this present state, yet we are to labor after it, and press towards it.
More
particularly, the work and office of meekness is to enable us prudently to
govern our own anger when at any time we are provoked, and patiently to bear
the anger of others, that it may not be a provocation to us. The former is
its office especially in superiors, the latter in inferiors, and both in equals.
1.
Meekness teaches us prudently to govern
our own anger whenever any thing occurs that is provoking. As it is the
work of temperance to moderate our natural appetites in things that are pleasing
to sense, so it is the work of meekness to moderate our natural passions against
those things that are displeasing to sense, and to guide and govern our resentments.
Anger in the soul is like mettle in a horse, good if it be well managed. Now
meekness is the bridle, as wisdom is the hand that gives law to it, puts it
into the right way, and keeps it in an even, steady, and regular pace; reducing
it when it turns aside, preserving it in a due decorum, and restraining it
and giving it check when at any time it grows headstrong and outrageous, and
threatens mischief to ourselves or others. It must thus be held in, like the
horse and mule, with bit and bridle, lest it break the hedge, run over those
that stand in its way, or throw the rider himself headlong. It is true of
anger, as we say of fire, that it is a good servant but a "bad master;"
it is good on the hearth, but bad in the hangings. Meekness keeps it in its
place, sets banks to this sea, and says, Hitherto thou shalt come, and no
further; here shall thy proud waves be stayed.
In
reference to our own anger, when at any time we meet with the excitements
of it, the work of meekness is to do these four things:
1.
To consider the circumstances of
that which we apprehend to be a provocation, so as at no time to express our
displeasure but upon due mature deliberation. The office of meekness is to
keep reason upon the throne in the soul as it ought to be; to preserve the
understanding clear and unclouded, the judgment untainted and unbiassed in
the midst of the greatest provocations, so as to be able to set every thing
in its true light, and to see it in its own color, and to determine accordingly;
as also to keep silence in the court, that the "still small voice"
in which the Lord is, as he was with Elijah at mount Horeb, may not be drowned
by the noise of the tumult of the passions. A meek man will never be angry
at a child, at a servant, at a friend, till he has first seriously weighed
the cause in just and even balances, while a steady and impartial hand holds
the scales, and a free and unprejudiced thought adjudges it necessary. It
is said of our Lord Jesus, John 11:33, he troubled himself; which denotes
it to be a considerate act, and what he saw reason for. Things go right in
the soul, when no resentments are admitted into the affections but what have
first undergone the scrutiny of the understanding, and thence received their
pass. That passion which comes not in by this door, but climbs up some other
way, the same is a thief and a robber, against which we should guard. In a
time of war—and such a time it is in every sanctified soul, in a constant
war between grace and corruption—due care must be taken to examine all travellers,
especially those that come armed: whence they came, whither they go, whom
they are for, and what they would have. Thus should it be in the well-governed,
well-disciplined soul. Let meekness stand sentinel; and upon the advance of
a provocation, let us examine who it is that we are about to be angry with,
and for what. What are the merits of the cause; wherein lay the offence; what
was the nature and tendency of it? What are likely to be the consequences
of our resentments; and what harm will it be if we stifle them, and let them
go no further? Such as these are the interrogatories which meekness would
put to the soul; and in answer to them it would abstract all which passion
is apt to suggest, and hear reason only as it becomes rational creatures to
do.
Three
great dictates of meekness we find put together in one scripture: "Be
swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;" which some observe to be
couched in three proper names of Ishmael's sons, Gen. 25:14; 1 Chr. 1:30—which
Bishop Prideaux, in the beginning of the wars, recommended to a gentleman
that had been his pupil, as the summary of his advice—Mishma, Dumah, Massa;
the signification of which is, hear,
keep silence, bear. Hear reason, keep passion silent, and then you will
not find it difficult to bear the provocation.
It
is said of the Holy One of Israel, when the Egyptians provoked him, he weighed
a path to his anger; so the margin reads it from the Hebrew, Psa. 78:50. Justice
first poised the cause, and then anger poured out the vials. Thus the Lord
came down to see the pride of the Babel-builders before he scattered them,
and to see the wickedness of Sodom before he overthrew it—though both were
obvious and barefaced—to teach us to consider before we are angry, and to
judge before we pass sentence, that herein we may be followers of God as dear
children, and be merciful, as our Father which is in heaven is merciful.
We
read of the "meekness of wisdom;" for where there is not wisdom,
that wisdom which is profitable to direct, that wisdom of the prudent which
is to understand his way, meekness will not long be preserved. It is our rashness
and inconsideration that betray us to all the mischiefs of an ungoverned passion,
on the neck of which the reins are laid which should be kept in the hand of
reason, and so we are hurried upon a thousand precipices. Nehemiah is a remarkable
instance of prudence presiding in just resentments: he owns, "I was very
angry when I heard their cry;" but that anger did not at all transgress
the laws of meekness, for it follows, "then I consulted with myself,"
or as the Hebrew has it, my heart consulted in me. Before he expressed his
displeasure he retired into his own bosom, took time for sober thought upon
the case, and then he rebuked the nobles in a very solid, rational discourse,
and the success was good. In every cause when passion demands immediate judgment,
meekness moves for further time, and will have the matter fairly argued, and
counsel heard on both sides.
When
Job had any quarrel with his servants, he was willing to admit a rational
debate of the matter, and to hear what they had to say for themselves; for
says he, "What shall I do when God riseth up?" And withal, "Did
not He that made me in the womb, make him?" When our hearts are at any
time hot within us, we should do well to put that question to ourselves which
God put to Cain, Gen. 4:6. Why am I wroth? Why am I angry at all? Why so soon
angry? Why so very angry? Why so far transported and dispossessed of myself
by my anger? What reason is there for all this? Do I well to be angry for
a gourd, that came up in a night and perished in a night? Jonah 4:9. Should
I be touched to the quick by such a sudden and transient provocation? Will
not my cooler thoughts correct these hasty resentments, and therefore were
it not better to check them now? Such are the reasonings of the meekness of
wisdom.
2.
The work of meekness is to calm the
spirit, so as that the inward peace may not be disturbed by any outward
provocation. No doubt a man may express his displeasure against the miscarriages
of another, as much as at any time there is occasion for, without suffering
his resentments to recoil upon himself, and throw his own soul into a fury.
What need is there for a man to tear himself—his soul, as it is in the Hebrew—in
his anger? Job 18:4. Cannot we charge home upon our enemy camp without the
wilful disordering of our own troops? Doubtless we may, if meekness have the
command; for that is a grace which preserves a man master of himself while
he contends to be master of another, and fortifies the heart against the assaults
of provocation that do us no great harm while they do not rob us of our peace,
nor disturb the rest of our souls. As patience in case of sorrow, so meekness
in case of anger keeps possession of the soul, as the expression is in Luke
21:19, that we be not dispossessed of that freehold. The drift of Christ's
farewell-sermon to his disciples we have in the first words of it, "Let
not your hearts be troubled." John 14:1. It is the duty and interest
of all good people, whatever happens, to keep trouble from their hearts, and
to have them even and sedate, though the eye, as Job expresses it, should
"continue" unavoidably "in the provocation" of this world.
"The wicked"—the turbulent and unquiet, as the world primarily signifies—"are
like the troubled sea when it cannot rest;" but that peace of God which
passeth all understanding, keeps the hearts and minds of all the meek of the
earth. Meekness preserves the mind from being ruffled and discomposed, and
the spirit from being unhinged by the vanities and vexations of this lower
world. It stills the noise of the sea, the noise of her waves, and the tumult
of the soul; it permits not the passions to crowd out in a disorderly manner,
like a confused, ungoverned rabble, but draws them out like the trained bands,
every one in his own order, as wisdom and grace give the word of command.
3.
Meekness will curb the tongue, and
"keep the mouth as with a bridle" when the heart is hot. Even when
there may be occasion for a keenness of expression, and we are called to rebuke
sharply—cuttingly, Titus 1:13—yet meekness forbids all fury and indecency
of language, and every thing that sounds like clamor and evil-speaking. The
meekness of Moses was not at hand when he spoke that unadvised word "rebels,"
for which he was shut out of Canaan, though rebels they were, and at that
time very provoking. Men in a passion are apt to give reviling language, to
call names, and those most senseless and ridiculous—to take the blessed name
of God in vain, and so profane it. It is a wretched way by which the children
of hell vent their passion at their beasts, their servants, any person, or
any thing that provokes them, to swear at them. Men in a passion are apt to
reveal secrets, to make rash vows and resolutions, which afterwards prove
a snare, and sometimes to slander and belie their brethren, and bring railing
accusations, and so do the devil's work; and to speak that "in their
haste" concerning others, Psalm 116:11, of which they afterwards see
cause to repent. How brutishly did Saul in his passion call his own son, the
heir-apparent to the crown, the "son of the perverse rebellious woman."
"Racca" and "thou fool" are specified by our Saviour as
breaches of the law of the sixth commandment; and the passion in the heart
is so far from excusing such opprobrious speeches—for which purpose it is
commonly alleged—that really it is that which gives them their malignity:
they are the smoke from that fire, the gall and wormwood springing from that
root of bitterness; and if for "every idle word that men speak,"
much more for such wicked words as these, must they give an account at the
day of judgment. And as it is a reflection upon God to kill, so it is to curse
men that are made after the image of God, though ever so much our inferiors;
that is, to speak ill of them, or to wish ill to them.
This
is the disease which meekness prevents, and is in the tongue a "law of
kindness." It is to the tongue as the helm is to the ship, Jas. 3:4,
not to silence it, but to guide it, to steer it wisely, especially when the
wind is high. If at any time we have conceived passion and thought evil, meekness
will lay the hand upon the mouth—as the wise man's advice is, Prov. 30:32—to
keep that evil thought from venting itself in any evil word reflecting upon
God or our brother. It will reason a disputed point without noise, give a
reproof without a reproach, convince a man of his folly without calling him
a fool, will teach superiors either to forbear threatening, Eph. 6:9, or,
as the margin reads it, to moderate it; and will look diligently lest any
root of bitterness, springing up, trouble us, and thereby we and many others
be defiled.
4.
Meekness will cool the heat of passion
quickly, and not suffer it to continue. As it keeps us from being soon
angry, so it teaches us when we are angry to be soon pacified. The anger of
a meek man is like fire struck out of steel—hard to be got out; and when it
is, soon gone. The wisdom that is from above, as it is "gentle,"
and so not apt to provoke, so it is "easy to be entreated" when
any provocation is given, and has the ear always open to the first proposals
and overtures of satisfaction, submission, and reconciliation; and thus the
anger is turned away. He that is of a meek spirit will be forward to forgive
injuries and affronts, and has some excuse or other ready wherewith to extenuate
and qualify the provocation, which an angry man, for the exasperating and
justifying of his own resentments, will industriously aggravate. It is but
to say, "There is no great harm done; or if there be, there was none
intended; and peradventure it was an oversight;" and so the offence,
being looked at through that end of the perspective which diminishes, is easily
passed by, and the distemper being taken in time, goes off quickly, the fire
is quenched before it gets head, and by a speedy interposal the plague is
stayed. While the world is so full of the sparks of provocation, and there
is so much tinder in the hearts of the best, no marvel if anger come
sometimes into the bosom of a wise man; but it rests only in the bosom of fools. Eccl. 7:9. Angry thoughts as other
vain thoughts may crowd into the heart upon a sudden surprise, but meekness
will not suffer them to lodge there, nor let the sun go down upon the wrath,
Eph. 4:26; for if it do, there is danger lest it rise bloody the next morning.
Anger concocted becomes malice; it is the wisdom of meekness, by proper applications,
to disperse the humor before it comes to a head. One would have thought, when
David so deeply resented Nabal's abuse, that nothing less than the blood of
Nabal and all his house could have quenched his rage; but it was done at a
cheaper rate; and he showed his meekness by yielding to the diversion that
Abigail's present and speech gave him, and that with satisfaction and thankfulness.
He was not only soon pacified, but blessed her, and blessed God for her that
pacified him. God does not contend for ever, neither is he always wroth; "his
anger endures but a moment." How unlike him are those whose sword devours
for ever, and whose anger burns like the coals of juniper! But the grace of
meekness, if it fail of keeping the peace of the soul from being broken, yet
fails not to recover it presently, and make up the breach; and upon the least
transport, brings help in time of need, restores the soul, puts it in frame
again, and no great harm is done. Such as these are the achievements of meekness
in governing our own anger.
2.
Meekness teaches and enables us patiently to bear the anger of others, which property of meekness we have especially
occasion for in reference to our superiors
and equals. Commonly that which
provokes anger is anger, as fire kindles fire; now meekness prevents that
violent collision which forces out these sparks, and softens at least one
side, and so puts a stop to a great deal of mischief; for it is the second
blow that makes the quarrel. Our first care should be to prevent the anger
of others by giving no offence to any, but becoming all things to all men,
every one studying to please his neighbor for good to edification, Rom. 15:2,
and endeavoring as much as lies in us to accommodate ourselves to the temper
of all with whom we have to do, and to make ourselves acceptable and agreeable
to them. How easy and comfortable should we make every relation and all our
intercourse if we were but better acquainted with this art of obliging. Naphtali's
tribe, that was famous for giving goodly words, Gen. 49:21, had the happiness
of being satisfied with favor, Deut. 33:23; for "every man shall kiss
his lips that giveth a right answer." In the conjugal relation it is
taken for granted that the care of the husband is to please his wife, and
the care of the wife is to please her husband, 1 Cor. 7:33, 34; and where
there is that mutual care, enjoyment cannot be wanting. Some people love to
be unkind, and take a pleasure in displeasing, and especially contrive to
provoke those they find passionate and easily provoked, that—as he that giveth
his neighbor drink, and putteth his bottle to him, Hab. 2:15, 16—they may
look upon his shame, to which, in his passion, he exposes himself; and so
they make a mock at sin, and become like the madman that casts firebrands,
arrows, and death, and says, "Am not I in sport?" But the law of
Christ forbids us to provoke one another, unless it be "to love and good
works;" and enjoins us to "bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil
the law of Christ."
But
because they must rise betimes who will please everybody, and carry their
cup even indeed who will give no offence, our next care must be so to behave
ourselves when others are angry, that we may not make bad worse. And this
is one principal thing in which the younger must submit themselves to the
elder; nay, in which all of us must be "subject one to another,"
as our rule is in 1 Pet. 5:5. And here meekness is of use, either to enjoin
silence or indite a soft answer.
1.
To enjoin silence. It is prescribed
to servants to please their masters well in all things, "not answering
again," for that must needs be displeasing: better say nothing than say
that which is provoking. When our hearts are hot within us, it is good for
us to keep silence, and hold our peace: so David did; and when he did speak,
it was in prayer to God, and not in reply to the wicked that were before him.
If the heart be angry, angry words will inflame it the more, as wheels are
heated by a rapid motion. One reflection and repartee begets another, and
the beginning of the debate is like the letting forth of water, which is with
difficulty stopped when the least breach is made in the bank; and therefore
meekness says, "By all means keep silence, and leave it off before it
be meddled with." When a fire is begun, it is good, if possible, to smother
it, and so prevent its spreading. Let us deal wisely, and stifle it in the
birth, lest afterwards it prove too strong to be dealt with. Anger in the
heart is like the books stowed in cellars in the conflagration of London,
which, though they were extremely heated, never took fire till they took air
many days after, which giving vent to the heat, put them into a flame. When
the spirits are in a ferment, though it may be some present pain to check
and suppress them, and the headstrong passions hardly admit the bridle, yet
afterwards it will be no grief of heart to us.
Those
who find themselves wronged and aggrieved, think they may have leave to speak;
but it is better to be silent than to speak amiss, and make work for repentance.
At such a time he that holds his tongue holds his peace; and if we soberly
reflect, we shall find we have been often
the worse for our speaking, but seldom the worse for our silence. This
must be especially remembered and observed by as many as are under the yoke,
who will certainly have most comfort in meekness and patience and silent submission,
not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. It is good in such
cases to remember our place, and if the spirit of a ruler rise up against
us, not to leave it, that is, not to do any thing unbecoming; for yielding
pacifieth great offences. Eccl. 10:4. We have a common proverb that teaches
us this: "When thou art the hammer, knock thy fill; but when thou art
the anvil, lie thou still;" for it is the posture thou art cut out for,
and which best becomes thee.
If
others be angry with us without cause, and we have ever so much reason on
our side, yet oftentimes it is best to adjourn our own vindication, though
we think it necessary, till the passion be over; for there is nothing said
or done in passion, but it may be better said and better done afterwards.
When we are calm, we shall be likely to say it and do it in a better manner;
and when our brother is calm, we shall be likely to say it and do it to a
better purpose. A needful truth spoken in anger may do more
hurt than good, and offend rather than satisfy. The prophet himself forbore
even a message from God when he saw Amaziah in a passion. Sometimes it may
be advisable to get some one else to say that for us which is to be said,
rather than say it ourselves. However, we have a righteous God, to whom, if
in a meek silence we suffer ourselves to be injured, we may commit our cause,
and having his promise that he will "bring forth our righteousness as
the light, and our judgment as the noonday," we had better leave it in
his hands than undertake to manage it ourselves, lest that which we call clearing
ourselves, God should call quarrelling with our brethren. David was greatly
provoked by those that sought his hurt, and spoke mischievous things against
him; and yet says he, "I, as a deaf man, heard not; I was as a dumb man,
that openeth not his mouth." And why so? It was not because he had nothing
to say, or knew not how to say it, but because "in thee, O Lord, do I
hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God." If God hear, what need have I to
hear? His concerning himself in the matter supersedes ours, and he is not
only engaged in justice to own every righteous cause that is injured, but
he is further engaged in honor to appear for those who, in obedience to the
law of meekness, commit their cause to him. If there be any vindication or
avenging necessary—which infinite Wisdom is the best judge of—he can do it
better than we can; therefore "give place unto wrath," that is,
to the judgment of God, which is according to truth and equity; make room
for him to take the seat, and do not you step in before him. It is fit that
our wrath should stand by to give way to his, for the wrath of man engages
not the righteousness of God for him. Even just appeals made to him, if they
be made in passion, are not admitted into the court of heaven, being not duly
presented; that one thing, error, is sufficient to overrule them. Let not
therefore those that do well and suffer for it, spoil their own vindication
by mistiming and mismanaging it; but tread in the steps of the Lord Jesus,
who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened
not; but was as a lamb dumb before the shearers, and so committed himself
to Him that judges righteously. It is indeed a principal part of self-denial
to be silent when we have enough to say, and provocation to say it; but if
we do thus control our tongues out of a pure regard to peace and love, it
will turn to a good account, and will be an evidence for us that we are Christ's
disciples, having learned to deny ourselves. It is better by silence to yield
to our brother who is, or has been, or may be our friend, than by angry speaking
to yield to the devil, who has been, and is, and ever will be our sworn enemy.
2.
To indite a soft answer. This Solomon
commends as a proper expedient to turn away wrath, while grievous words do
but stir up anger. When any speak angrily to us, we must pause a while and
study an answer, which, both for the matter and manner of it, may be mild
and gentle. This brings water, while peevishness and provocation would but
bring oil to the flame. Thus is death and life in the power of the tongue;
it is either healing or killing, an antidote or a poison, according as it
is used. When the waves of the sea beat on a rock, they batter and make a
noise, but a soft sand receives them silently, and returns them without damage.
A soft tongue is a wonderful specific, and has a very strange virtue in it.
Solomon says, "It breaks the bone," that is, it qualifies those
that were provoked, and makes them pliable; it "heaps coals of fire upon
the head" of an enemy, not to burn him, but to melt him. "Hard words," we say, "break no bones;"
but it seems soft ones do, and yet do no harm, as they calm an angry spirit
and prevent its progress. A stone that falls on a wool-pack rests there, and
rebounds not to do any further mischief; such is a meek answer to an angry
question.
The
good effects of a soft answer, and the ill consequences of a peevish one,
are observable in the stories of Gideon and Jephthah: both of them, in the
day of their triumphs over the enemies of Israel, were quarrelled with by
the Ephraimites, when the danger was past and the victory won, because they
had not been called upon to engage in the battle. Gideon pacified them with
a soft answer: "What have I done now in comparison of you?" magnifying
their achievements and lessening his own, speaking honorably of them and meanly
of himself: "Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than
the vintage of Abiezer?" In which reply it is hard to say whether there
was more of wit or wisdom; and the effect was very good: the Ephraimites were
pleased, their anger turned away, a civil war prevented, and nobody could
think the worse of Gideon for his mildness and self-denial. On the contrary,
he won more true honor by his victory over his own passion, than he did by
his victory over all the host of Midian; for he that hath rule over his own
spirit is better than the mighty. The angel of the Lord has pronounced him
a "mighty man of valor;" and this his tame submission did not at
all derogate from that part of his character. But Jephthah, who by many instances
appears to be a man of a rough and hasty spirit, though enrolled among the
eminent believers, Heb. 11:32—for all good people are not alike happy in their
temper—when the Ephraimites in like manner quarrel with him, rallies them,
upbraids them with their cowardice, boasts of his own courage, and challenges
them to make good their cause. Judg. 12:2. They retort a scurrilous reflection
upon Jephthah's country, as it is usual with passion to taunt and jeer: "Ye
Gileadites are fugitives." From words they go to blows, and so great
a matter does this little fire kindle, that there goes no less to quench the
flame than the blood of two and forty thousand Ephraimites. All which had
been happily prevented, if Jephthah had had but half as much meekness in his
heart as he had reason on his side.
A
soft answer is the dictate and dialect of that wisdom which is from above,
which is peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated; and to recommend it
to us, we have the pattern of good men, as that of Jacob's conduct to Esau.
Though none is so hard to be won as a brother offended, yet, as he had prevailed
with God by faith and prayer, so he prevailed with his brother by meekness
and humility. We have also the pattern of angels, who, even when a rebuke
was needful, durst not turn it into a railing accusation, durst not give any
reviling language, not to the devil himself, but referred the matter
to God: "The Lord rebuke thee;" as that passage in Jude 9 is commonly
understood. Nay, we have the pattern of a good God, who, though he could plead
against us with his great power, yet gives soft answers: witness his dealing
with Cain when he was wroth and his countenance fallen, reasoning the case
with him: "Why art thou wroth? If thou doest well, shalt not thou be
accepted?" With Jonah likewise when he was so discontented: "Doest
thou well to be angry?" This is represented, in the parable of the prodigal
son, by the conduct of the father towards the elder brother, who was so angry
that he would not come in. The father did not say, "Let him stay out
then;" but he came himself and entreated him, when he might have interposed
his authority and commanded him, saying, "Son, thou art ever with me."
When a passionate contest is begun, there is a plague broke out: the meek
man, like Aaron, takes his censer with the incense of a soft answer, steps
in seasonably, and stays it.
This
soft answer, in case we have committed a fault, though perhaps not culpable
to the degree that we are charged with, must be penitent, humble, and submissive;
and we must be ready to acknowledge our error, and not stand in it, or insist
upon our own vindication; but rather aggravate than excuse it, rather condemn
than justify ourselves. It will be a good evidence of our repentance towards
God, to humble ourselves to our brethren whom we have offended, as it will
be also a good evidence of our being forgiven of God, if we be ready to forgive
those that have offended us; and such yielding pacifies great offences. Meekness
teaches us, as often as we trespass against our brother, to "turn again
and say, I repent." An acknowledgment, in case of a wilful affront, is
perhaps as necessary to pardon, as, we commonly say, restitution is in case
of wrong.
So
much for the opening of the nature of meekness, which yet will receive further
light from considering more particularly what is implied in—
QUIETNESS OF SPIRIT.
Quietness
is the evenness, the composure and the rest of the soul, which speaks both
the nature and the excellency of the grace of meekness. The greatest comfort
and happiness of man is sometimes set forth by quietness. That peace of conscience
which Christ has left for a legacy to his disciples, that present sabbatism
of the soul which is an earnest of the rest that remains for the people of
God, is called "quietness and assurance for ever," and is promised
as the effect of righteousness. So graciously has God been pleased to intwine
interests with us, as to enjoin the same thing as a duty which he proposes
and promises as a privilege. Justly may we say that we serve a good Master,
whose "yoke is easy:" it is not only easy, but sweet and gracious,
so the word signifies; not only tolerable, but amiable and acceptable. Wisdom's
ways are not only pleasant, but pleasantness itself, and all her paths are
peace. It is the character of the Lord's people, both in respect to holiness
and happiness, that, however they be branded as the troublers of Israel, they
are "the quiet in the land." If every saint be made a spiritual
prince, Rev. 1:6, having a dignity above others and a dominion over himself,
surely he is like Seraiah, "a quiet prince." It is a reign with
Christ, the transcendent Solomon, under the influence of whose golden sceptre
there is "abundance of peace as long as the moon endures," yea,
and longer, for "of the increase of his government and peace there shall
be no end." Quietness is recommended as a grace which we should be endued
with, and a duty which we should practise. In the midst of all the affronts
and injuries that are or can be offered us, we must keep our spirits sedate
and undisturbed, and evidence by a calm and even and regular behavior that
they are so. This is quietness. Our Saviour has pronounced the blessing of
adoption upon the peacemakers, Matt. 5:9; those that are for peace, as David
professes himself to be, in opposition to those that delight in war. Psalm
120:7. Now, if charity be for peace-making, surely this "charity begins
at home," and is for making peace there in the first place. Peace in
our own souls is some conformity to the example of the God of peace, who,
though he does not always give peace on this earth, yet evermore "makes
peace in his own high places." This some think is the primary intention
of that peace-making on which Christ commands the blessing: it is to have
strong and hearty affections to peace, to be peaceably-minded. In a word,
quietness of spirit is the soul's stillness and silence from intending provocation
to any, or resenting provocation from any with whom we have to do.
The
word has something in it of metaphor, which admirably illustrates the grace
of meekness.
1.
We must be quiet as the air is quiet
from winds. Disorderly passions are like stormy winds in the soul, they
toss and hurry it, and often strand or overset it; they move it "as the
trees of the wood are moved with the wind;" it is the prophet's comparison,
and is an apt emblem of a man in passion. Now meekness restrains these winds,
says to them, Peace, be still, and so preserves a calm in the soul, and makes
it conformable to Him who has the winds in his hands, and is herein to be
praised that even the stormy winds fulfil his word. A brisk gale is often
useful, especially to the ship of desire, as the Hebrew phrase is in Job 9:26;
so there should be in the soul such a warmth and vigor as will help to speed
us to the desired harbor. It is not well to lie wind-bound in dulness and
indifference; but tempests are perilous, yea, though the wind be in the right
point. So are strong passions, even in good men; they both hinder the voyage
and hazard the ship. Such a quickness as consists with quietness is what we
should all labor after, and meekness will contribute very much towards it;
it will silence the noise, control the force, moderate the impetus, and correct
undue and disorderly transports. What manner
of grace is this, that even the winds and the sea obey it! If we will
but use the authority God has given us over our own hearts, we may keep the
winds of passion under the command of religion and reason; and then the soul
is quiet, the sun shines, all is pleasant, serene, and smiling, and the man
sleeps sweetly and safely on the lee-side. We make our voyage among rocks
and quicksands, but if the weather be calm, we can the better steer so as
to avoid them, and by a due care and temper strike the mean between extremes;
whereas he that suffers these winds of passion to get head, and spreads a
large sail before them, while he shuns one rock, splits upon another, and
is in danger of being drowned in destruction and perdition by many foolish
and hurtful lusts, especially those whence wars and fightings come.
2.
We must be quiet as the sea is quiet
from waves. The wicked, whose sin and punishment both lie in the unruliness
of their own souls, and the violence and disorder of their own passions, which perhaps will not be the least of their eternal
torments, are compared to "the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose
waters cast up mire and dirt;" that is, they are uneasy to themselves
and to all about them, "raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own
shame;" their hard speeches which they speak against God and dignities
and things which they know not, their great swelling words and mockings, Jude
13, 18, these are the shame they foam out. Now meekness is a grace of the
Spirit, that moves upon the face of the waters and quiets them, smooths the
ruffled sea and stills the noise of it; it casts forth none of the mire and
dirt of passion. The waves mount not up to heaven in proud and vainglorious
boasting; they go not down to the depths to scrape up vile and scurrilous
language: there is no reeling to and fro, as men overcome with drink or with
their own passion; there is none of that transport which brings them to their
wits' end; but "they are glad because they are quiet; so he bringeth
them to their desired haven." This calmness and evenness of spirit makes
our passage over the sea of this world safe and pleasant, quick and speedy
towards the desired harbor, and is amiable and exemplary in the eyes of others.
3.
We must be quiet as the land is quiet
from war. It was the observable felicity of Asa's reign, that "in
his days the land was quiet." In the preceding reigns there was no peace
to him that went out, or to him that came in; but now the rumors and alarms
of war were stilled, and the people delivered from the noise of archers at
the place of drawing waters, as when the land had rest in Deborah's time.
Such a quietness there should be in the soul, and such a quietness there will
be where meekness sways the sceptre. A soul inflamed with wrath and passion
upon all occasions, is like a kingdom embroiled
in war, in a civil war, subject to continual frights and losses and perils;
deaths and terrors in their most horrid shapes walk triumphantly, sleep is
disturbed, families broken, friends suspected, enemies feared, laws silenced,
commerce ruined, business neglected, cities wasted: such heaps upon heaps
does ungoverned anger lay, when it is let loose in the soul. But meekness
makes these wars to cease, breaks the bow, cuts the spear, sheathes the sword,
and in the midst of a contentious world preserves the soul from being the
seat of war, and makes peace in her borders. The rest of the soul is not disturbed,
its comforts not plundered, its government not disordered; the laws of religion
and reason rule, and not the sword; neither its communion with God nor with
the saints interrupted; no breaking in of temptation, no going out of corruption,
no complaining in the streets; no occasion given, no occasion taken, to complain.
Happy is the soul that is in such a case. The words of such wise men are heard
in quiet, more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools, and this "wisdom
is better than weapons of war." This is the quietness we should every
one of us labor after; and it is what we might attain to, if we would but
more support and exercise the authority of our graces, and guide and control
the power of our passions.
4.
We must be quiet as the child is quiet
after weaning. It is the Psalmist's comparison: "I have behaved,"
or rather, I have composed, "and quieted myself as a child that is weaned
of his mother; my soul is even as a weaned child." A child, while it
is in the weaning, perhaps is a little cross and froward and troublesome for
a time; but when it is perfectly weaned, how quickly does it accommodate itself
to its new way of feeding. Thus a quiet soul, if provoked by the denial or
loss of some earthly comfort or delight, quiets itself, and does not fret
at it, nor perplex itself with anxious cares how to live without it, but composes
itself to make the best of that which is. And this holy indifference to the
delights of sense is, like the weaning of a child, a good step taken towards
the perfect man, "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."
A child newly weaned is free from all the uneasiness and disquietude of care
and fear and anger and revenge: how undisturbed are its sleeps, and even in its dreams it looks pleasant and smiling. How easy its
days; how quiet its nights. If
put into a little pet now and then, how soon it is over, the provocation forgiven,
the sense of it forgotten, and both buried in an innocent kiss. Thus, if ever
we would enter into the kingdom of heaven,
we must be converted from pride, envy, ambition, and strife for precedency,
and must become like little children. So our Saviour has told us, who, even
after his resurrection, is called "the holy child Jesus." And even
when we have put away other childish things, yet still "in malice"
we must be children. And as for the quarrels of others, a meek and quiet Christian
endeavors to be as disinterested and as little engaged as a weaned child in
the mother's arms, that is not capable of such angry resentments.
This
is that meekness and quietness of spirit which is recommended to us: such
a command and composure of the soul that it be not unhinged by any provocation
whatsoever, but all its powers and faculties preserved in due temper for the
just discharge of their respective offices. In a word, put off all wrath and
anger and malice, those corrupted limbs of the old man; pluck up and cast
away those roots of bitterness, and stand upon a constant guard against all
the exorbitances of your own passion: then you will soon know, to your comfort,
better than I can tell you, what it is to be of a meek and quiet spirit.
THE EXCELLENCY OF MEEKNESS
The
very opening of this cause, one would think, were enough to carry it; and
the explaining of the nature of meekness and quietness should suffice to recommend
it to us. Such an amiable sweetness does there appear in it upon the very
first view, that if we look upon its beauty, we cannot but be enamoured with
it. But because of the opposition of our corrupt hearts to this, as well as
the other graces of the Holy Spirit, I shall endeavor more particularly to
show the excellency of it, that we may be brought, if possible, to be in love
with it, and to submit our souls to its charming power.
It
is said, that a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit. Prov. 17:27.
Tremellius translates it, he is of a cool spirit; put them together and they
teach us that a cool spirit is an excellent spirit, and that he is a man of
understanding who is governed by such a spirit. The Scriptures tell us—what
need we more?—That it is in the sight
of God of great price, and we may be sure that is precious indeed which
is so in God's sight: that is good, very good, which he pronounces so; for
his judgment is according to truth, and sooner or later he will bring all
the world to be of his mind; for as he has decided it, so shall our doom be,
and, he will be "justified when he speaketh, and clear when he judgeth."
The
excellency of a meek and quiet spirit
will appear, if we consider the credit
of it, and the comfort of it—the
present profit there is by it, and the
preparedness there is in it for future blessings.
I.
Consider how CREDITABLE a meek and quiet spirit is. Credit or reputation all
desire, though few consider aright what it is, or what is the right way of
obtaining it; and particularly it is little believed what a great deal of
true honor there is in the grace of meekness, and what a sure and ready way
mild and quiet souls take to gain the approval of their Master, and of all
their fellow-servants who love him and are like him.
1.
There is in it the credit of a victory.
What a great figure do the names of high and
mighty conquerors make in the records of fame! How are their conduct, their
valor and success cried up and celebrated! But if we will believe the word
of truth, and pass a judgment upon things according to it, "he that is
slow to anger, is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit, than
he that taketh a city." Behold, a greater than Alexander or Caesar is
here; the former of whom, some think, lost more true honor by yielding to
his own ungoverned anger, than he got by all his conquests. No triumphant
chariot so easy, so safe, so truly glorious, as that in which the meek and
quiet soul rides over all the provocations of an injurious world with a gracious
unconcernedness, no train so splendid, so noble, as that train of comforts
and graces which attend this chariot. The conquest of an unruly passion is
more honorable than that of an unruly people, for it requires more true courage.
It is easier to kill an enemy without, which may be done at a blow, than to
chain up and govern an enemy within, which requires a constant, even steady
hand, and a long and regular management. It was more to the honor of David
to yield himself conquered by Abigail's persuasions, than to have made himself
a conqueror over Nabal and all his house. A rational victory must needs be
allowed more honorable to a rational creature than a brutal one. This is a
cheap, safe, and unbloody conquest, that does nobody any harm; no lives, no
treasures are sacrificed to it; the glory of these triumphs are not stained,
as others generally are, with funerals. Every battle of the warrior, says
the prophet, "is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood;"
but this victory shall be obtained by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. Nay,
in meek and quiet suffering we are "more than conquerors," through
Christ that loved us: conquerors with little loss, we lose nothing but the
gratifying of a base lust; conquerors with great gain, the spoils we divide
are very rich—the favor of God, the comforts of the Spirit, the foretastes
of everlasting pleasures; these are more glorious and excellent than the mountains
of prey. We are more than conquerors; that is, triumphers: we live a life
of victory; every day is a day of triumph to the meek and quiet soul.
Meekness is a victory over ourselves and the rebellious
lusts in our own bosoms; it is the quieting of intestine broils, the stilling
of an insurrection at home, which is often harder than to resist a foreign
invasion. It is an effectual victory over those that injure us, and make themselves
enemies to us, and is often a means of winning their hearts. The law of meekness
is, If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, not only give him drink—which
is an act of charity—but drink to him, in token of friendship and true love
and reconciliation; and in so doing thou shalt "heap coals of fire upon
his head," not to consume him, but to melt and soften him, that he may
be cast into a new mould; and thus, while the angry and revengeful man, that
will bear down all before him with a high hand, is overcome of evil, the patient
and forgiving overcome evil with good; and forasmuch as their "ways please
the Lord, he makes even their enemies to be at peace with them." Nay,
meekness is a victory over Satan, the greatest enemy of all;
and what conquest can be more
honorable than this? It is written for caution to us all, and it reflects
honor on those who through grace overcome, that "we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and the rulers of
the darkness of this world." The magnifying of the adversary, magnifies
the victory over him: such as these are the meek man's vanquished enemies;
the spoils of these are the trophies of his victory. It is the design of the
devil, that great deceiver and destroyer of souls, that is baffled; it is
his attempt that is defeated, his assault that is repulsed, by our meekness
and quietness. Our Lord Jesus was more admired for controlling and commanding
the unclean spirits, than for any other cures which he wrought. Unruly passions
are unclean spirits, legions of which some souls are possessed with, and desperate,
outrageous work they make; the soul
becomes like that miserable creature that cried and cut himself, Mark 5:5;
or that, who was so often cast into the fire, and into the waters. Mark 9:22.
The meek and quiet soul is, through grace, a conqueror over these enemies;
their fiery darts are quenched by the shield of faith; Satan is in some measure
trodden under his feet; and the victory will be complete shortly, when "he
that overcometh" shall sit down with Christ upon his throne, even as
he overcame, and is set down with the Father upon his throne, where he still
appears in the emblem of his meekness, "a Lamb as it had been slain."
And upon Mount Zion, at the head of his heavenly hosts, he appears also as
a Lamb. Rev. 14:1. Such is the honor meekness has in those higher regions.
2.
There is in it the credit of beauty.
The beauty of a thing consists in the symmetry, harmony, and agreeableness
of all the parts: now what is meekness but the soul's agreement with itself?
It is the joint concurrence of all the affections to the universal peace and
quiet of the soul, every one regularly acting in its own place and order,
and so contributing to the common good. Next to the beauty of holiness, which
is the soul's agreement with God, is the beauty of meekness, which is the
soul's agreement with itself. "Behold how good and how pleasant a thing
it is" for the powers of the soul thus to "dwell together in unity;"
the reason knowing how to rule, and the affections at the same time knowing
how to obey. Exorbitant passion is a discord in the soul; it is like a tumor
in the face which spoils the beauty of it: meekness scatters the humor, binds
down the swelling, and so prevents the deformity and preserves the beauty.
This is one instance of the comeliness of grace, "through my comeliness,"
says God to Israel, "which I had put upon thee." It puts a charming
loveliness and amiableness upon the soul, which renders it acceptable to all
who know what true worth and beauty is. He that in righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost, that is, in Christian meekness and quietness of
spirit, "serveth Christ, is acceptable to God and approved of men."
And to whom else can we wish to recommend ourselves?
Solomon,
a very competent judge of beauty, has determined that it is "a man's
wisdom" that "makes his face to shine;" and doubtless the meekness
of wisdom contributes as much as any one branch of it to this lustre. We read
in Scripture of three whose faces shone remarkably, and they were all eminent
for meekness. The face of Moses shone, and he was the meekest of all the men
on earth. The face of Stephen shone, and he it was who, in the midst of a
shower of stones, so meekly submitted, and prayed for his persecutors. The
face of our Lord Jesus shone in his transfiguration, and he was the great
pattern of meekness. It is a sweet and pleasing air which this grace puts
upon the countenance, while it keeps the soul in tune, and frees it from those
jarring discords which are the certain effect of an ungoverned passion.
3.
There is in it the credit of an ornament.
The apostle speaks of it as "an adorning" much more excellent
and valuable than gold, pearls, or the most costly array. It is an adorning
to the soul, the principal, the immortal part of the man. That outward adorning
does but deck and beautify the body, which at the best is but a sister to
the worms, and will ere long be a feast for them; but this is the ornament
of the soul, by which we are allied to the invisible world: it is an adorning
that recommends us to God, which is in his sight "of great price."
Ornaments go by estimation: now we may be sure the judgment of God is right
and unerring. Every thing is indeed as it is with God: those are righteous
indeed, that are righteous before God; and that is an ornament indeed, which
he calls and counts so. It is an ornament of God's own making. Is the soul
thus decked? It is he that has decked it. By his Spirit he hath garnished
the heavens, and by the same Spirit has he garnished the meek and quiet soul.
It is an ornament of his accepting; it must needs be so, if it be of his own
working; for to him who has this ornament, more adorning shall be given. He
has promised that he will "beautify the meek with salvation;" and
if the garments of salvation will not beautify, what will? The robes of glory
will be the everlasting ornaments of meek and quiet spirits. This meekness
is an ornament that, like the Israelites' clothes in the wilderness, never
waxes old, nor will ever go out of fashion while right reason and religion
have place in the world: all the wise and good will reckon those best dressed
that put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and walk with him in the white of meekness
and innocency. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these
lilies of the vallies, though lilies among thorns.
The
same ornament which is recommended to wives, is by the same apostle recommended
to us all. "Yea, all of you be subject one to another:" that explains
what meekness is; it is that mutual
yielding which we owe one to another, for edification and in the fear
of God. This seems to be a hard saying; how shall we digest it? an impracticable
duty; how shall we conquer it? Why, it follows, "Be clothed
with humility." Which implies, 1. the fixedness of this grace: we must gird it fast to us, and not leave
it to hang loose, so as to be snatched away by every temptation: watchfulness
and resolution in the strength of Christ must tie the knot upon our graces,
and make them as the girdle that cleaves to a man's loins. 2. The comeliness and ornament of it; put it on
as a knot of ribbons, as an ornament to the soul: such is the meekness of
wisdom; it gives to the head an ornament of grace, and, which is more, a crown
of glory. Prov. 1:9; 6:9.
4.
There is in it the credit of true courage.
Meekness is commonly despised by the grandees of the age as cowardice and
meanness, and the evidence of a little soul, and is posted accordingly; while
the most furious and angry revenge is celebrated and applauded under the pompous
names of valor, honor, and greatness of spirit. This arises from a mistaken
notion of courage, the true nature whereof is thus stated by a very ingenious
pen: "It is a resolution never to decline any evil of pain, when the
choosing of it, and the exposing of ourselves to it, is the only remedy against
a greater evil." And therefore he that accepts a challenge, and so runs
himself upon the evil of sin, which is the greater evil, only for fear of
shame and reproach, which is the less evil, is the coward; while he that refuses
the challenge, and so exposes himself to reproach for fear of sin,
[2]
he is the valiant man. True courage is such a presence
of mind as enables a man rather to suffer than to sin; to choose affliction
rather than iniquity; to pass by an affront though he lose by it, and be hissed
as a fool and a coward, rather than engage in a sinful quarrel. He that can
deny the brutal lust of anger and revenge, rather than violate the royal law
of love and charity, however contrary the sentiments of the world may be,
is truly resolute and courageous; the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of
valor. Fretting and vexing is the fruit of the weakness of women and children,
but much below the strength of a man, especially of the new man that is born
from above. When our Lord Jesus is described in his majesty, riding prosperously,
the glory in which he appears is "truth and meekness and righteousness."
The courage of those who overcome this great red dragon of wrath and revenge
by meek and patient suffering, and by not loving "their lives unto the
death," will turn to the best and most honorable account on the other
side the grave, and will be crowned with glory and honor and immortality,
when those that caused their terror in the land of the living fall ingloriously,
and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit. Ezek. 32:24.
It
has the credit of a conformity to the
best patterns. The resemblance of those that are confessedly excellent
and glorious, has in it an excellence and glory. To be meek is to be like
the greatest saints, the elders that obtained a good report, and were of renown
in their generation. It is to be like the angels, whose meekness in their
converse with, and ministration to the saints, is very observable in the Scriptures;
nay, it is to be like the great God himself, whose goodness is his glory,
who is "slow to anger," and in whom "fury is not." We
are then followers of God, as dear children, when we "walk in love,"
and are kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another. The more
quiet and sedate we are, the more like we are to that God who, though he be
nearly concerned in all the affairs of this lower world, is far from being
moved by its convulsions and revolutions; but, as he was from eternity, so
he is, and will be to eternity, infinitely happy in the enjoyment of himself.
It is spoken to his praise and glory, The Lord sits upon the floods, even
when the floods have lifted up their voices, have lifted up their waves. Such
is the rest of the eternal Mind, that he sits as firm and undisturbed upon
the movable flood as upon the immovable rock, the same yesterday, to-day,
and for ever; and the meek and quiet soul that preserves its peace and evenness
against all the ruffling insults of passion and provocation, does thereby
somewhat participate of a divine nature. 2 Pet. 1:4.
Let
the true honor that attends this grace of meekness recommend it to us: it
is one of those things that are honest and pure and lovely and of good report;
a virtue that has a praise attending it—a praise not perhaps of men, but of
God. It is the certain way to get and keep, if not a great name, yet a good
name; such as is better than precious ointment. Though there be those that
trample upon the meek of the earth, and look upon them as Michal upon David,
despising them in their hearts; yet if this is to be vile, let us be yet more
vile and base in our own might, and we shall find, as David argues, that there
are those of whom we shall be "had in honor;" for the word of Christ
shall not fall to the ground, that they "who humble themselves shall
be exalted."
II.
Consider how COMFORTABLE a meek and quiet spirit is. What is true comfort
and pleasure but a quietness in our own bosom? Those are most easy to themselves
who are so to all about them; while they that are a burden and a terror to
others, will not be much otherwise to themselves. He that would lead a quiet,
must lead "a peaceable life." The surest way to find rest to our
souls is to "learn of Him who is meek and lowly in heart." Let but
our moderation be known unto all men, and "the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, will keep our hearts and minds." Quietness is the
thing which even the busy, noisy part of the world pretend to desire and pursue:
they will be quiet—this is their
claim—yea, that they will, or they will know why; they will not endure the
least disturbance of their quietness. But verily they go a mad way to work
in pursuit of quietness; greatly to disquiet themselves inwardly, and put
their souls into a continual tumult, only to prevent or remedy some small
outward disquietude from others. But he that is meek finds a sweeter, safer
quietness, and much greater comfort than that which they in vain pursue. "Great
peace have they" that love this law of love, for "nothing shall
offend them." Whatever offence is intended, it is not so interpreted,
and by that means peace is preserved. If there be a heaven anywhere upon earth,
it is in the meek and quiet soul that acts and breathes above that lower region
which is infested with storms and tempests, the harmony of whose faculties
is like the famed "music of the spheres"—a perpetual melody. "Mercy
and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other."
A
meek and quiet Christian must needs live very comfortably, for he enjoys himself, he enjoys his friends, he enjoys his God, and he puts it out of the reach of his enemies to disturb him in these enjoyments.
1.
He enjoys himself. Meekness is very
nearly allied to that "patience" which our Lord Jesus prescribes
to us as necessary to the keeping possession of our own souls. How calm are
the thoughts, how serene are the affections, how rational the prospects, and
how even and composed are all the resolves of the meek and quiet soul! How
free from the pains and tortures of an angry man, who is disseized and dispossessed
even of himself, and while he toils and vexes to make other things his own,
makes his own soul not so: his reason is in a mist; confounded and bewildered,
it cannot argue, infer, or foresee with any certainty. His affections are
on the full speed, hurried on with an impetus which is as uneasy as it is
hazardous. Who is that "good man who is satisfied from himself?"
Who but the quiet man that needs not go abroad for satisfaction, but having
Christ dwelling in his heart by faith, has in him that peace which the world
can neither give nor take away. While those that are fretful and passionate
rise up early and sit up late, and eat the bread of sorrow in pursuit of revengeful
projects, the God of peace gives to "his beloved sleep." The sleep
of the meek is quiet and sweet and undisturbed; those that by innocency and
mildness are the sheep of Christ, shall be made to "lie down in green
pastures." That which would break an angry man's heart will not break
a meek man's sleep. It is promised that "the meek shall eat and be satisfied."
He has what sweetness is to be had in his common comforts; while the angry
man either cannot eat, his stomach is too full and too high, as Ahab, 1 Kings
21:4, or eats and is not satisfied, unless he can be revenged, as Haman: "All
this avails me nothing," though it was a banquet of wine with the king
and queen, "as long as Mordecai is unhanged."
It
is spoken of as the happiness of the meek, that they "delight themselves
in the abundance of peace;" others may delight themselves in the abundance
of wealth, a poor delight, that is interwoven with so much trouble and disquietude;
but the meek, though they have but a little wealth, have peace, abundance
of peace, peace like a river, and this such as they have a heart to enjoy.
They have light within: as Œcolampadius said, Their souls are a Goshen in
the midst of the Egypt of this world; they have a light in their dwelling
when clouds and darkness are round about them: this is the joy with which
a stranger doth not intermeddle. We may certainly have—and we should do well
to consider it—less inward disturbance, and more true ease and satisfaction,
in forgiving twenty injuries than in avenging one. No doubt Abigail intended
more than she expressed, when, to persuade David to pass by the affront which
Nabal had given him, she prudently suggested that hereafter "this shall
be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart"—not only so, but it would
be very sweet and easy and comfortable in the reflection. Such a rejoicing
is it, especially in a suffering day, to have the testimony of conscience,
that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the
grace of God, particularly the grace of meekness, we have had our conversation
in the world, and so have pleased God and done our duty. He did not speak
the sense, no, not of the sober heathen, that said, "Revenge is sweeter
than life;" for it often proves more bitter than death.
2.
He enjoys his friends; and that
is a thing in which lies much of the comfort of human life. Man was intended
to be a sociable creature, and a Christian much more so. But the angry man
is unfit to be so, that takes fire at every provocation; fitter to be abandoned
to the lions' dens and mountains of the leopards, than to go forth by the
footsteps of the flock. He that has his hand against every man, cannot but
have, with Ishmael's character, Ishmael's fate, "every man's hand against
him," and so he lives in a state of war; but meekness is the cement of society, the bond of Christian communion: it planes and
polishes the materials of that beautiful fabric, and makes them lie close
and tight, and the living stones which are built up a spiritual house, to
be like the stones of the temple that Herod built, all as one stone, whereas,
"Hard upon hard," as the Spaniard's proverb is, "will never
make a wall." Meekness preserves among brethren that unity which is like
the ointment upon the holy head, and the dew upon the holy hill. Psa. 133:1, 2. In our present state of imperfection,
there can be no friendship, correspondence, or conversation maintained without
mutual allowances; we do not yet dwell with angels or spirits of just men
made perfect, but with men subject to like passions. Now meekness teaches
us to consider this, and to allow accordingly; and so distance and strangeness,
feuds and quarrels are happily prevented, and the beginnings of them crushed
by a timely care. How necessary to true friendship it is to surrender our
passions, and to subject them all to the laws of it, was perhaps intimated
by Jonathan's delivering to David his sword and his bow and his girdle, all
his military habiliments, when he entered in a covenant with him.
3. He enjoys his God; and that is most comfortable
of all. It is the quintessence of all happiness, and that without which all
our other enjoyments are insipid; for this none are better qualified than
those who are arrayed with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which
is in the sight of God of great price. It was when the psalmist had newly
conquered an unruly passion and composed himself, that he lifted up his soul
to God in that pious and pathetic breathing, "Whom have I in heaven but
thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee."
We enjoy God when we have the evidences and the assurances of his favor, the
tastes and tokens of his love—when we experience in ourselves the communication
of his grace, and the continued instances of his image stamped upon us; and
this those that are most meek and quiet have usually in the greatest degree.
In our wrath and passion we give place to the devil, and so provoke God to
withdraw from us. Nothing grieves the Holy Spirit of God, by whom we have
fellowship with the Father, more than "bitterness and wrath and anger
and clamor and evil-speaking." But to this man does the God of heaven
look with a peculiar regard, even to him that is poor, poor in spirit, Isa.
66:2: to him that is quiet, so the Syriac—to him that is meek, so the Chaldee.
The great God overlooks heaven and earth to give a favorable look to the meek
and quiet soul. Nay, he not only looks at such, but he "dwells"
with them; noting a constant intercourse and communion between God and humble
souls. His secret is with them; he gives them more grace; and they that thus
dwell in love, dwell in God, and God in them. The waters were dark indeed,
but they were quiet when the Spirit of God moved upon them, and out of them
produced a beautiful world.
This
calm and sedate frame very much qualifies and disposes us for the reception
and entertainment of divine visits; sets bounds to the mountain on which God
is to descend, Exod. 19:12, that no interruption may break in; and charges
the daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and the hinds of the field—those sweet
and gentle and peaceable creatures—not to stir up or awake our love till he please. Song 2:7. Some think
it was for the quieting and composing of his spirit, which seems to have been
a little ruffled, that Elisha called for the "minstrel," and then
"the hand of the Lord came upon him." Never was God more intimate
with any mere man than he was with Moses, the meekest of all the men on the
earth; and it was required as a needful qualification of the high priest,
who was to draw near to minister, that he should have compassion on the ignorant,
and on them that are out of the way. "The meek will He guide in judgment"
with a still small voice, which
cannot be heard when the passions are loud and tumultuous. The angry man when
he awakes is still with the devil, contriving some malicious project; the
meek and quiet man when he awakes is still with God, solacing himself in his
favor. "Return unto thy rest, O my soul," says David, when he had
reckoned himself among the simple, that is, the mild, innocent, and inoffensive
people. Return to thy Noah, so the word is—for Noah had his name from
rest—perhaps alluding to the rest which the dove found with Noah in the ark,
when she could find none anywhere else. Those that are harmless and simple
as doves, can with comfort return to God as to their rest. It is excellently
paraphrased by Mr. Patrick, "God and thyself," my soul, "enjoy;
in quiet rest, freed from thy fears." It is said that "the Lord
lifteth up the meek;" as far as their meekness reigns they are lifted
up above the stormy region, and fixed in a sphere perpetually calm and serene.
They are advanced indeed that are at home in God, and live a life of communion
with him, not only in solemn ordinances, but even in the common accidents
and occurrences of the world. Every day is a Sabbath-day, a day of holy rest
with the meek and quiet soul, as one of the days of heaven. As this grace
gets ground, the comforts of the Holy Ghost grow stronger and stronger, according
to that precious promise, "The meek also shall increase their joy in
the Lord, and the poor among men shall
rejoice in the Holy One of Israel."
4.
It is not in the power of his enemies
to disturb and interrupt him in these enjoyments. His peace is not only
sweet but safe and secure; as far as he acts under the law of meekness, it
is above the reach of the assaults of those that wish ill to it. He that abides
quietly under "the shadow of the Almighty" shall surely be delivered
"from the snare of the fowler." The greatest provocations that men
can give would not hurt us if we did not, by our inordinate and foolish concern,
come too near them. We may therefore
thank ourselves if we be damaged. He that has learned with meekness and quietness
to forgive injuries and pass them by, has found the best and surest way of
baffling and defeating them; nay, it is a kind of innocent revenge. It was
an evidence that Saul was actuated by another spirit, in that, when children
of Belial despised him and brought him no presents—hoping by that contempt
to give a shock to his infant government—he "held his peace," and
so neither his soul nor his crown received any disturbance. Shimei, when he
cursed David, intended thereby to pour vinegar into his wounds, and to add
affliction to the afflicted; but David, by his meekness, preserved his peace,
and Shimei's design was frustrated. "So let him curse;" alas, poor
creature, he hurts himself more than David, who, while he keeps his heart
from being tinder to those sparks, is no more prejudiced by them than the
moon is by the foolish cur that barks at it. The meek man's prayer is that
of David, "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I," Psa. 61:2;
and there I can, as Mr. Norris expresses it,
—smile
to see
The
shafts of fortune all drop short of me.
The
meek man is like a ship that rides at anchor—is moved, but not removed: the
storm moves it—the meek man is not a stock or stone under provocation—but
does not remove it from its port. It is a grace that, in reference to the
temptations of affront and injury—as faith in reference to temptation in general—quenches
the fiery darts of the wicked: it is an armor of proof against the spiteful
and envenomed arrows of provocation, and is an impregnable wall to secure
the peace of the soul, where no thief can break through to steal; while the
angry man lays all his comforts at the mercy of every wasp that will strike
at him.
So
that, upon the whole, it appears that the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit
is as easy as it is comely.
III.
Consider how PROFITABLE a meek and quiet spirit is. All are intent on gain.
It is for this that they break their sleep and spend their spirits. Now it
will be hard to convince such, that really there is more to be obtained by
meekness and quietness of spirit, than by all this tumult and confusion. They
readily believe that "in all labor there is profit:" but let God
himself tell them, "In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness
and in confidence shall be your strength;" they will not take his word
for it, but they say, "No; for we will flee upon horses, and we will
ride upon the swift." He that came from heaven to bless us has entailed
a special blessing upon the grace of meekness: "Blessed are the meek;"
and his saying they are blessed makes them so; for those whom he blesses are
blessed indeed—blessed, and they shall be blessed. Meekness is gainful and
profitable, as it is,
1.
The condition of the promise: the
meek "shall inherit the earth:" it is quoted from Psa. 37:11, and
is almost the only express promise of temporal good things in all the New
Testament. Not that the meek shall be put off with the earth only, then they
would not be truly blessed; but they shall have that as an earnest of something
more. Some read it, They shall inherit the land, that is, the land of Canaan,
which was not only a type and figure, but to them that believed, a token and
pledge of the heavenly inheritance. So that "a double Canaan," as
Dr. Hammond observes, "is thought little enough for the meek man; the
same felicity in a manner attending him which we believe of Adam, if he had
not fallen—a life in paradise, and thence a transplantation to heaven."
Meekness is a branch of godliness which has, more than other branches of it,
"the promise of the life that now is." They shall inherit the earth;
the sweetest and surest tenure is that by inheritance, which is founded in
sonship: that which comes by descent to the heir, the law attributes to the
act of God, who has a special hand in providing for the meek. They are his
children; and if children, then heirs. It is not always the largest proportion
of this world's goods that falls to the meek man's share; but whether he has
more or less, he has it by the best title—not by a common, but a covenant
right: he holds in Capite, in Christ
our head, an honorable tenure.
[3]
If he has but a little, he has it from God's love, and with his blessing, and behold all things are clean and comfortable to him. The wise man has determined it: "Better is a dry morsel, and quietne