Nancy Ann at Femina, one of my favourite 'thinking about God and motherhood' blogs, has recently published a series of blog posts summarising Matthew Henry's 'The Quest for Meekness and Quietness of Spirit', first published in 1698. Some quotes:
“Meekness is easiness for it accommodates the soul to every occurrence, and so makes a man easy to himself and to all about.” In other words, when we are meek, we do not react or get fussed up or fired up. We stay in control of ourselves and “keep possession of our souls” in the midst of unforeseen occurrences.
“Meekness preserves the mind from being ruffled and discomposed, and the spirit from being unhinged by the vanities and vexations of this lower world.”
Meekness keeps the soul peaceful and quiet, which Henry says “puts a charming loveliness and amiableness upon the soul, which renders it acceptable to all who know what true worth and beauty is.”
“He has the sweetest and surest peace who is most master of his own passions. The comfort that a man has in governing himself is much greater than he could have in having people serve him and nations bow down to him. It is certain that the worst enemies we have, if ever they break loose and get head, are in our own bosoms.”
I'd like some of that!
You can read the series here:
The book is now out of copyright, so I found it at the Internet Archive here. Haven't started reading it yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Click one of the links under in the 'View the Book' section to the left.
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