A
Discourse On Meekness and Quietness of Spirit
Abridged
from the Rev. Matthew Henry
Edited
by R.P. Woitowitz Sr.
A
meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. 1
Peter 3:4
Published
by the American Tract Society
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 (a) 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, [Read Matthew 11:30].Wisdom's
ways are not only pleasant, but pleasantness itself, and all her
paths are peace. [Read Job 12:12-13, 16]. 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,
(See Revelation 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 practice. 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, (See
Matthew 5:9); those that are for peace, as David professes himself to
be, in opposition to those that delight in war. (See Psalm 120:7).
Now, if charity be for peace-making, surely this "charity begins
at home,"(b) 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.
We
must be quiet as the air is quiet from winds. Disorderly
passions are like stormy winds in the soul, [Read James 1:6] 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 fulfill his word. A brisk gale is often useful,
especially to the ship of desire, as the Hebrew phrase is in (See 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. (c)
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
[Read Proverbs 10:23], 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, (See 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.
We
must be quiet as the land is quiet from war. It was
the observable felicity of Asa's reign[Read 2 Chronicles 14:2-6],
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.
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.
(a)
Intermission of labor, as upon the Sabbath; rest
(b)
Note – This isn't from the bible but it is so near to being so that
it is reasonable to describe it as biblical. The notion that a man's
family should be his foremost concern is expressed in 1 Timothy 5:8
(c)
– We are herein reminded of the Savior's thoughts of building upon
faith. If we fix our faith upon Him, and Him alone, we are, as He
stated, like the man building his foundation, upon solid rock.
Wherein, when storms to arise, He shall not be moved. To find peace
in the storm, is likewise to finding the quality of meekness within.
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