A discourse concerning meekness and quietness of spirit to which is added, A sermon…

After Death we expect the Judgment, than which, nothing is more dreadful to them that are Contentious, Rom. 2. 8. The coming of the Master brings terror along with it, to those that smite their Fellow-Servants, Luke 12. 45, 46. but those that are meek and quiet are likely to have their Plea ready, their Accounts stated, and whenever it comes, it will be no surprise to them: To those whose Moderation is known to all Men, it will be no ungrateful News, to hear that the Lord is at hand, Phil. 4. 5. It is therefore prescribed as that which ought to be our constant care, that whenever our Master comes, we may be found of him in Peace, 2 Pet. 3. 14. i. e. in a peaceable Temper. Blessed is that Servant, whom his Lord when he comes shall find in such a frame. A good Man (saith the late excellent A. B. Tillotson, ⟨p. 76⟩in his Preface to his Book of Family Religion) would be loth to be taken out of the World reeking hot from a sharp Contention with a perverse Adversary; and not a little out of Countenance to find himself in this Temper translated into the calm and peaceable Regions of the Blessed, where nothing but perfect Charity and Good-will reigns for ever. Heaven for certain is a quiet Place, and none are fit for it but quiet People. The Heavenly Canaan, that Land of Peac•, would be no Heaven to those that delight in War; turbulent and unquiet People would be out of their Element, like a Fish upon Dry Ground, in those Calm Regions.

After Death we expect the Judgment, than which, nothing is more dreadful to them that are Contentious, Rom. 2. 8. The coming of the Master brings terror along with it, to those that smite their Fellow-Servants, Luke 12. 45, 46. but those that are meek and quiet are likely to have their Plea ready, their Accounts stated, and whenever it comes, it will be no surprize to them: To those whose Moderation is known to all Men, it will be no ungrateful News, to hear that the Lord is at hand,