The beatitudes

1. Meekness consists in bearing of injuries; I may say of this grace, it is not easily provoked; a meek spirit like wet Tinder, will not easily take fire. Psal. 38.12, 13. They that seek my hurt, spake mischievous things, but I as a deaf man heard not. Meekness is fraenum irae, the bridle of anger; the passions are fiery and headstrong, meekness gives check to them; meekness bridles the mouth, it ties the tongue to its good behaviour; meekness observes that Motto, [Greek or Hebrew], bear and forbear^*. There are four things opposite to meekness.

1. Meekness consists in bearing of injuries; I may say of this grace, it is not easily provoked; a meek spirit like wet Tinder, will not easily take fire. Psal. 38.12, 13. They that seek my hurt, spake mischievous things, but I as a deaf man heard not. Meekness is fraenum irae, the bridle of anger; the passions are fiery and headstrong, meekness gives check to them; meekness bridles the mouth, it tyes the tongue to its good behaviour; meekness observes that Motto, 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, bear and forbear^*. There are four things opposite to meekness.

1. *Epictetus.

1. Meekness is opposed to hastiness of spirit, Eccles. 7.9. Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools. When the heart boils in passion, and anger (as Seneca saith) sparkles forth in the eye, this is far from meekness; anger rests in the bosom of fools. Anger may be in a wise man, but it rests in a fool. The angry man is like flax, or Gunpowder, no sooner do you touch him but he is all on fire. Saint Basil calls anger drunkenness; and Hierom saith there are more drunken with passion, than with wine. Seneca calls anger brevis insania, a short fit of madness; sometimes it suspends the use of reason; in the best things we are cool enough; in Religion we are all ice, in contention all fire. How unbeseeming is rash anger, how doth it disguise and disfigure! Homer saith of Agamemnon, that when he did moderate his passion, he resembled the gods, he was like Jupiter in feature, like Pallas in wisdom; but when he was in his fury, he was a very Tiger, nothing of Jupiter did appear in him; as Plato counselled the great Revellers and drinkers of his time, that they should view themselves in a glass when they were in their drunken humour, and they would appear loathsome to themselves: So let a man disguised with passion view himself in the glass, and sure he would ever after be out of love with himself. Ora tument ira, nigrescunt sanguine venae.