A43344:114
A discourse concerning meekness and quietness of spirit to which is added, A sermon…
A discourse concerning meekness and quietness of spirit to which is added, A sermon on Acts 28. 22, showing that the Christian religion is not a sect, and yet that it is every where spoken against / by Matthew Henry ...A discourse concerning meekness and quietness of spirit to which is added, A sermon on Acts 28. 22, shewing that the Christian religion is not a sect, and yet that it is every where spoken against / by Matthew Henry ...
London: printed for Tho. Parkhurst, 1699
A Discourse concerning MEEKNESS. › Chapter 2: The Excellency of Meekness and Quietness of Spirit.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
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, Psal. 91. 1, 3. The greatest Provocations that Men can give would not hurt us,1 if we did not, by our inordinate and foolish concern, come too near them, and within reach of their Canon; we may therefore thank our selves, if we be damaged; He that hath learned, with Meekness and Quietness, ⟨p. 60⟩to forgive Injuries, and pass them by, hath found the best and surest way of baffling and defeating them,2 nay, it is a kind of innocent Revenge. It was an evidence that Saul was acted by another Spirit, in that when the 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, 1 Sam. 10. 27. 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; (2 Sam. 16. 10.) 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, Psal. 61. 2. Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I: And there I can (as Mr. Norris expresses it,) —smile to see, The Shafts of Fortune all drop short of me.
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,