Inward Quietness & Outward Trials

It is hardly necessary to speak of the results of quietness of spirit, in relation to the various outward trials, to which all persons are subject in the present life. The very term itself implies, that these trials shall be met, not only without a murmur, but with entire acquiescence and even cheerfulness. “Fret not thyself,” says the Scripture, “because of evil doers.” 

If moral evils exist in the world to a very great extent, as they obviously do, if sin abounds in various forms, oftentimes undisguised and shameless in its affrontery, if Christians are less decided and less watchful against it than they ought to be, it will still remain true, both now and in all time to come, that this state of things, trying as it is to a truly devout heart, will be more likely to be corrected by the efforts of a meek and resigned, than by those of a fretful and rebellious state of soul. The person of a meek spirit understands this; and he cannot allow the sins, which he witnesses, to produce in his own mind a state of feeling, which would be prejudicial to himself without being beneficial to others.

And we ought to add, that he does not limit himself, and that he ought not to limit himself, in the exercise of this Christian grace, to the occasions which others furnish. It is true, that we are required, and are required too for good and urgent reasons, to guard against a fretful temper in relation to the vices and faults of others; but it is also important, perhaps we may say equally important, to guard against a fretful and impatient temper, originating in the painful experience of our own defects of character. 

We should always remember, that fretfulness is not penitence; and has in fact but very little relation to it. That impatient and murmuring sorrow, which fretfulness always implies, sad and melancholy although it may be, is obviously a very different thing from that resigned and humbled sorrow, which constitutes the efficacy and the beauty of a truly penitential state of mind. Fretfulness, therefore, under all circumstances, only tends to increase and aggravate the amount of evil. It is in accordance with these views, that we find a practical religious direction in the writings of Mr. Fletcher of Madely, a man of great religious experience. 

“When your mind hath been drawn aside,” he says, “DO NOT FRET, or let yourself go down the stream of nature, as if it were in vain to attempt to swim against it; but confess your fault, and calmly resume your former endeavor, but with more humility and watchfulness.” [Benson’s Life of Fletcher, p. 100.]

— from The Life of Faith, Part 2, Chapter 13.