05.04. The Heritage of the Earth

IV THE HERITAGE OF THE EARTH

Matthew 5:5 "’Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth."-- Matthew 5:5. THIS is the third regiment in the Lord’s great army, the third gate into the blessed life, the third step downward to the throne. But what sort of character is indicated? And how do the meek differ from the poor in spirit?

There is evidently a distinction. The Lord said that He was meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29); whilst the apostle plied his converts with motives borrowed from the lowliness and meekness of Christ (Ephesians 4:2). But what is that distinction? The key to it is suggested by a passage from that memorable last epistle, in which Paul the aged gave his final instructions to the young Timothy, and especially as to his behavior toward those who opposed themselves. " The servant of the Lord," he says, " must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves " (2 Timothy 2:24-25). Here meekness seems specially demanded, when we are summoned to meet the opponents of our faith or the traducers of our personal testimony. May we not say, therefore, that poverty of spirit and lowliness of mind are one and the same thing, and denote the attitude of the spirit toward God, when conscious of the immeasurable distance between His majesty and its minuteness, His purity and its sinfulness; whilst meekness is the attitude of the spirit toward men, and especially toward the wrong of the world--to the evil that men perpetrate on each other, and especially on the saints of God?

Lowliness will always be a characteristic attribute of true saintliness. The very elders fall down before the throne, and cast their crowns at the feet of God in utter self-abasement. But, in heaven, though meekness will always shine with its mild ray in the prismatic band of perfection, there will be less room for its, exercise, for those that oppose will have been taken out of the way, whilst the enemy and avenger will have been forever stilled.

Meekness is consistent with strength of character.--It is not always thought so. Meekness is often used as a synonym for weakness, and meek people held in a considerable degree of contempt. There is no epithet that men of the world would more quickly and vehemently resent than the appellation " meek." A young officer would rather have a paving-stone hurled at him than this. A molluscous flabbiness, a contemptible namby-pambyism, an absence of backbone and muscle are the ideas which are generally summoned to our mind, when a man is classed among the meek.

Here, as so often, the superficial judgment of the world is falsified by a wide acquaintance with human character. Moses, the meekest of men, was the strong leader of the Jewish exodus, the Justinian of the Hebrew commonwealth, the Washington of the Jewish state. "The meek Paul was as strong in bearing persecution, as he had formerly been in inflicting it, and stood like a rock against the insidious and persistent attempts of the Judaizers. His strong common sense laid the broad foundations of the Church in such wise that Jew and Gentile could meet as one. His strong intellect has laid the march of religious thought for eighteen centuries. And who shall say that Jesus Christ was not strong, viewing His nature only from the human side? Lamb though He was, He was the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. The meekness with which He received the insults of His foes did not veil the strength which extorted the involuntary homage of Pilate. What strength to resist the soft seductions of the tempting voices that bade Him spare Himself! What strength to carry out the purpose of redemption, though He knew well all it would involve!

Man’s misconception of this strength of meekness is largely due to the gentle guise which she adopts, the restraint which she exercises over herself, her soft footfall, her modulated tones. They do not pierce through the hiding of her power, and realize that there is even greater power required for the restraining of the manifestations of power, than in letting them have free play. It is a stronger thing for a man of vehement and impetuous temper to speak and act gently in the face of great provocation, than to blurt out indignant words and bluster like a north-east wind! The soft hand that restrains the fiery steed, is obviously as strong, and stronger. Ah! passionate souls, that pour out showers of glowing coals at every provocation, ye little know how evident is your weakness, where ye vaunt yourselves of strength, and how much more evident your strength would be if ye made the unruly passions within heed the strong sway of a steadfast purpose. The meek man resists the incitement of personal resentment.--When wrong approaches us, it awakens two sentiments in our hearts, the one personal, the other more general; the first is the quickest and keenest, the other manifests itself generally after years of learning in the school of experience. It is natural for us to be stung to the quick by a feeling of resentment under rebuff, or slight, or rudeness, or wrong. It is, perhaps, rather an acquirement when men so identify their wrongs with the evil of the world that they pass from the consideration of personal indignity, absorbed by the view of the sea of tears and blood which is weltering around the world, visiting every shore, invading every home. With the meek man this order is reversed. When wrong is done to him, he is led by the grace of God to mourn over it, as an indication of the misery of the soul that perpetrates the wrong, and of the great weight of injustice and tyranny beneath which the world groans. In other words, he suffers like a child of the Great Father; understands something of the anguish of God’s heart in contact with the wrong of the world; leaves God to vindicate and avenge, and prays for the speedy coming of the day when all wrongs shall be righted, and tears wiped. The meek man joins his prayers with those of Christ, the supreme Sufferer, that the Father would forgive those who do more evil than they know. The meek man is a quiet man.--The Apostle Peter beautifully joins these two virtues together when he says that women are not to seek their adornments in jewels or dress, but in the garb of the meek and quiet spirit. The meek spirit is quiet. It bears and suffers in silence. It does not retail its wrongs, save in the ear of God, and then it does not ask Him to requite, but to convert. It weeps more for the wrong-doer than for its wounds, though they may bleed freely. It anoints its head, and washes its face, and appears not to men to suffer. Nipped by the sharp frost, it does not waste regret over its tender shoots, but strikes its roots deeper down into the dark loam of mother-earth. And out of this quiet confidence comes the heroic strength which bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things, till it conquers by the sheer force of patience. Nothing will so soon stop cannon shot as sand. The meek man rather bears wrong.--When the apostle was urging his converts not to go to law with one another, he said to them, " Why do ye not rather take wrong?" What a mistake it is to allow the passion that would do us harm to ignite a kindred passion! Let us understand that the evil of speech and act which would injure us is set on fire of hell, and nothing could better fulfil the purpose of our great adversary than that the passions should pass from the wrong-doer to the wronged, and from him again to others. When the brazier is full of coals, and it is overturned so as to ignite a house, we have an illustration of the way in which a man whose soul is filled with rancor, malice, and envy may spread his thoughts and feelings. This is the great peril for us all. Men of quick temper are extremely inflammable. They are like touchwood to the flame, gunpowder to the spark. The meek man, on the contrary, meets wrong with a passive resistance which quenches its fire; with a calm and gentle answer he turns away wrath. With a resolute refusal to be inflamed, he establishes a quarantine through which the first germs of the epidemic cannot pass. The spirit of meekness resembles the eucalyptus: it is antiseptic, especially to the spread of passion. If we could only surround every angry man with a ring of meek souls, his passion would burn itself out with comparative small damage. The meek man believes that the evil wrought to him is permitted by God for wise purposes.--As David climbs Olivet, Shimei comes out to curse him. Abishai urges to be allowed to still his vituperations forever, but the meek king says, " God hath said, Curse David. Let him curse." In those strong and bitter words David detected another voice, the voice of One who loved him as a Father, whilst He held his sin in utter detestation. Oh, it is well always to look for the appointment or permission of God l His appointment in the chastisement which comes in the course of providence, His permission in the stripes which come to us from the hands of the children of men. It is easy to be meek toward Judas and the mailed band when we can say, Shall I not drink the cup which my Father hath put into my hands? The meek are marvellously guided.--"The meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach his way." The passionate soul is unable to detect the movements of God’s guiding pillar. Passion raises a storm which blurs the heavens and ruffles the calm waters of the lake. In the eagerness with which the many waters of the soul argue and advise, the still small voice of the Divine Counsellor is drowned. When, therefore, you have been wronged, be calm and still. Wait for God. He will indicate the way He would have you take, the answer He would have you write, the acts of love with which you should retaliate. The meek shall be vindicated.--It is foretold of the Messiah that He shall " reprove with equity for the meek of the earth." Not only hereafter, but now, is the judgment-seat set up, at which the oppressed plead their cause against their oppressors, and the Lord hearkens and hears. It is remarkable how perpetually wrongs perpetrated on the defenceless come back, like the boomerang of the savage, on their persecutors. Into the pit they dig they fall. Adonibezek cuts off the thumbs and toes of seventy kings, and his own are cut off. The Jews crucify Jesus of Nazareth, and so many of them are crucified by the Romans that wood fails for the crosses. The Rover sinks the Inchcape bell, and perishes on the rock from which it tolled. The meek shall inherit the earth.--Even now the meek soul gets the best out of life. The world does not think so. It thinks that the meek must be worsted because they will not stand upon their rights, nor wield the sword in self-defence, nor meet men on their own terms. But, as ever, Christ’s words stand the .test of experience. The meek find more pleasure in simple joys than wrong-doers in all their wealth. Pure hearts find wells of peace and bliss in common sights and sounds. There is no twinge of conscience or bitter memory of wrong-doing to jar on the sweet consent of holy song ever arising in nature. The lowly valley of Bunyan’s Shepherd Boy had as much delight as the Delectable Mountains themselves. Do not be greatly concerned when wrong is done you. Possess your soul in patience. Hide under the wing of God. Do not let anything rob you of your power of being glad with children, birds, flowers, humble and innocent joys.

Without doubt the time is coming when the world itself will be conquered by the meekness and gentleness of Christ and His saints. The gentle dawn will master the blustering night; the soft-treading spring will quell the storms of winter. The knights of the cross, clad in the soft garments of holiness and gentleness, shall yet dissipate the dark squadrons of sin.

Wouldst thou have this meekness? There is no fountain from which it flows save that opened in the heart of Christ, and communicated by the Spirit of God, whose fruit it is. How meekly the Spirit of God has borne with the strife, rejection, contradiction of men. What consummate meekness was ever manifested by our holy Lord! Let us abide in Him, asking that He will repeat in us His characteristic grace, and enable us to breathe again upon the world the spirit by which He was animated in life and death.

O meek and gentle Saviour, who, when Thou wast reviled, revilest not again, when Thou didst suffer, threatened not, give me thou Spirit, that I may be calm and strong in the endurance of wrong, and overcome evil with good.