Descrizione

Meekness is easiness of spirit; not a sinful easiness to be debauched, as Ephraim's, who willingly walked after the commandment of the idolatrous princes; nor a simple easiness to be imposed upon and deceived, as Rehoboam's, who, when he was forty years old, is said to be young and tender-hearted; but a gracious easiness to be wrought upon by that which is good, as theirs whose heart of stone is taken away, and to whom a heart of flesh is given. Meekness accommodates the soul to every occurrence, and so makes a man easy to himself, and to all about him. The Latins call a meek man mansuetus, which alludes to the taming and reclaiming of creatures wild by nature, and bringing them to be tractable and familiar. James, 3 : 7, 8.