Evening
Reflection
And
now, have we not reason to lament the want of the ornament of a meek
and quiet spirit among those that profess religion, and especially in
our own bosoms? If this be Christianity, how little is there of the
thing, even among them that make great pretensions to the name!
Surely, as one said in another case, either this is not gospel, or
these are not gospel professors. And oh, how bare and uncomely does
profession appear for want of this adorning! When the Israelites had
stripped themselves of their ornaments to furnish up a golden calf,
it is said they were "made naked to their shame." How naked
are we—like Adam when he had sinned—for want of this ornament. It
is well if it be to the shame of true repentance. I am not teaching
you to judge and censure others in this matter; there is too much of
that to be found among us: we are quick sighted enough to spy faults
in others, the transports of whose passions we should interpret
favorably. But we have all cause, more or less, to condemn ourselves,
and confess guilt in this matter. In many things we all offend, and
perhaps in this as much as in any, coming short of the law of
meekness and quietness. We are called Christians, and it is our
privilege and honor that we are so: we name the name of the meek and
lowly Jesus, but how few are actuated by his spirit, or conform to
his example! It is a shame that any occasion should be given to
charge it upon professors, who, in other things, are most strict and
sober, that in this they are most faulty; and that many who pretend
to conscience and devotion, should indulge themselves in a peevish,
froward, and morose temper and conversation, to the great reproach of
that worthy name by which we are called. May we not say, as that
Mahommedan did when a Christian prince had perfidiously broke his
league with him, "O Jesus, are these thy Christians?" It is
the manifest design of our holy and excellent religion to smooth and
soften and sweeten our temper; and is it not a wretched thing that
any who profess it should be soured and embittered, and less
conversible and fit for human society than others? He was looked upon
as a very good man in his day, and not without cause, who yet had
such an unhappy temper, and was sometimes so transported with passion
that his friend would say of him, "He had grace enough for ten
men, and yet not enough for himself." The disciples of Jesus
Christ did not know "what manner of spirit they were of,"
so apt are we to deceive ourselves, especially when these
extravagances shroud themselves under the specious and plausible
pretense of zeal for God and religion. But yet the fault is not to be
laid upon the profession, or the strictness and singularity of it in
other things which are praiseworthy; nor may we think the worse of
Christianity for any such blemish: we know very well that the wisdom
that is from above is peaceable and gentle, and easy to be entreated,
and all that is sweet and amiable and endearing, though she is not
herein justified of all who call themselves her children. But the
blame must be laid upon the corruption and folly of the professors
themselves, who are not so perfectly delivered into the mold of
Christianity as they should be; but neglect their ornament, and
prostitute their honor, and suffer the authority of their graces to
be trampled upon. They let "fire go out of the rod of their
branches, which devoured their fruit;" so that there is no
meekness as a strong rod to be a sceptre to rule in the soul, which
is "a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation." And
yet, blessed be God, even in this corrupt and degenerate world there
are many who appear in the excellent ornament of a meek and quiet
spirit; and some whose natural temper is hasty and choleric, yet have
been enabled, by the power of divine grace, to show in a good
conversation their works with meekness and wisdom. It is not so
impracticable as some imagine to subdue these passions, and to
preserve the peace of the soul, even in a stormy day. But that we may
each of us judge ourselves and find matter for repentance herein, I
shall only mention those instances of irregular deportment towards
our particular relations which evidence the want of meekness and
quietness of spirit.
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