Inward Quietness

In attempting to give some account of the influences of faith on man’s inward nature, we cannot well forget, that one of its most marked and pleasant results is the grace of a meek and quiet spirit. That state of mind, which the Apostle Peter describes as an ornament, which is “not corruptible,” and which in the sight of God is “of great price.”

Of the grace of inward quietness, as of other Christian graces, we find some striking illustrations in the scriptures, particularly in the characters and lives of Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Daniel, the Apostle John; and more than all, and above all, in the character and the life, in the labors and the trials of Jesus Christ. It is this trait of the Savior’s character, which seems to be particularly indicated in the prophetic passage in Isaiah, where it is said of him, “He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.” And still more strikingly, where it is said; “he was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.”

The opposite of true meekness of spirit, which is only another name for true quietness of spirit, is impatience; sometimes showing itself in undeliberate and unprayerful haste; sometimes in uneasiness and fretfulness in connection with many events which occur; and sometimes in a disposition severely and unjustly to judge and denounce others. We find no evidence in the life of the Savior, of any thing of this kind. He saw the very evils, both physical and moral, which we now behold; and he saw them, those at least which were of a moral nature, under still more aggravated circumstances; the oppressions of the rich, the degradation and the crimes of the poor; the violence of human passion resulting in personal contests and in national devastations, suspicion, hatred, envy, licentiousness, injustice and irreligion in its various forms of selfishness, unbelief, and open blasphemy. But he was not impatient; he was not fretful. He could not behold these things with indifference, it is true; he saw more clearly, than any mere man possibly could see, the extent of the evil which they involved; but the strong disapprobation which he both felt and expressed and the deep sorrow which he could not but experience, were never at variance with the grace of a meek and quiet spirit. 

We leave to the recollection of the reader the many facts and statements which support what has been said, with the exception of a single incident. On a certain occasion, as he was going through the country of the Samaritans in his way to the city of Jerusalem, he was unkindly and inhospitably treated by the people of one of the Samaritan villages. Some of his disciples, under the excitement and impetuosity of feeling, which such an event was naturally calculated to produce, proposed to him, that he should “command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did.” But he did no such thing. He could be patient, and could exercise a Christian sympathy and pity, even when he thought it necessary to disapprove and condemn. And that his people in all ages of the world might know, that a wrong done is sometimes not more criminal than the spirit in which it is met by those who have witnessed it, he seems to have thought it more necessary to rebuke his disciples, than to make the Samaritans themselves the subject of his reproof. He turned to his disciples, and in words of great moral and religious significancy, “rebuked them and said, 'ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.'”

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