You meet with many things now that disturb and disquiet you, and
as a powerful allay to all sinful and intemperate heats, as Eph. 5:2; Phil. 2:5, etc. Those who would demonstrate the meek and humble life of Christ in their mortal bodies, must bear about with them continually "the dying of the Lord Jesus." The ordinance of the Lord's supper, in which we show forth the Lord's death and the new testament in His blood, must therefore be improved by us for this blessed end, as a love-feast, at which all our sinful passions must be laid aside; and a marriage-feast, where the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is a considerable part of the wedding-garment. The forgiving of injuries, and a reconciliation to our brother, is both a necessary branch of our preparation for that ordinance, and a good evidence and instance of our profiting by it.
9. Converse much in your thoughts with the dark and silent grave. You meet with many things now that disturb and disquiet you, and much ado you have to bear them: think how quiet death will make you, and how incapable of resenting or resisting injuries, and what an easy prey this flesh, for which you are so jealous, will shortly be to the worm that shall feed sweetly on it. You will, before long, be out of the reach of provocation, "where the wicked cease from troubling," and where their envy and their hatred is forever perished. And is not a quiet spirit the best preparation for that quiet state? Think how all these things, which now disquiet us, will appear when we come to look death in the face: how small and inconsiderable they seem to one that is stepping into eternity. Think, "What need is there that I should so resent an affront of injury, that am but a worm today, and may be the food of worms tomorrow?"
A little sprinkling of the dusk of the grave, upon the brink of which we stand, would do much towards quieting our spirits and ending our quarrels. Death will quiet us shortly; let grace quiet us now.
When David's heart was hot within him, he prayed, "Lord, make me to know my end."
To conclude, I know no errand that I can come upon of this kind to you, in which methinks I should be more likely to prevail than in this; so much does meekness conduce to the comfort and repose of our own souls, and the making of our lives sweet and pleasant. If you are wise here, you shall be wise for yourself. That which I have been so intent upon in this discourse, is only to persuade you not to be your own tormentors, but to govern your own passions so that they may not be furies to yourselves. The ornament I have been recommending to you is confessedly excellent and lovely; will you put it on and wear it, that by this all men may know you are Christ's disciples? and you may be found among the sheep on the right hand, at the great day, when Christ's angels shall gather out of His kingdom everything that offends. Everyone will give meekness a good word; but in this, as in other instances, honesty is applauded, yet neglected.
Love is commended by all, and yet the love of many waxes cold; but let all that would not be self-condemned, practice what they praise. And as there is nothing in which I should more expect to prevail, so there is nothing in which it will easier appear whether I have prevailed or not: this tree will soon be known by its fruits; so many are the circumstances of almost every day which call for the exercise of this grace, that our profiting therein will quickly appear to ourselves, and to all with whom we converse. Our meekness and quietness is more obvious, and falls more directly under a trial and observation, than our love to God and our faith in Christ, and other graces, the exercise whereof lies more immediately between God and our own souls. Shall we therefore set ourselves to manifest, in all our converse, that we have indeed received good by this plain discourse?
that our relations and neighbors, and all that we have dealings with, may observe a change in us for the better, and may take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. And let not the impressions of it ever wear off, but, living and dying, let us be found among the quiet in the land: we all wish to see quiet families, and quiet churches, and quiet neighborhoods, and quiet nations; and it will be so if there be quiet hearts, and not otherwise.
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MONERGISM BOOKS
A Discourse on Meekness and Quietness of Spirit by Matthew Henry, Copyright © 2018
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