My God and My Country

Afternoon/Evening Reflection

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 OEcolampadius 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.