Matthew 5:5

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Ver. 5. Blessed are the meek] Meekness is the fruit of mourning for sin, and is therefore fitly set next after it. He that can kindly melt in God's presence, will be made thereby as meek as a lamb: and if God will forgive him his ten thousand talents, he will not think much to forgive his brother a few farthings. (Πραος quasi ραος, quod mites omnibus, scil. faciles ac placidos reddant. Becman.) Hence the wisdom from above is, first, pure, and then "peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated," &c., James 3:17. And love is said to proceed out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned, 1 Timothy 1:5. And when our Saviour told his disciples they must forgive till seventy times seven times, "Lord, increase our faith," said they, Luke 17:4,5. Give us such a measure of godly mourning, as that we may be bold to believe that thou hast freely forgiven us, and we shall soon forgive our enemies. David was never so rigid as when he had sinned by adultery and murder; and not yet mourned in good earnest for his sin. He put the Ammonites' under saws and harrows of iron, and caused them to pass through the brickkiln, &c., which was a strange execution, and happened while he lay yet in sin. Afterward we find him in a better frame, and more meekened and mollified in his dealings with Shimei and others, when he had soundly soaked himself in godly sorrow. True it is, that he was then under the rod, and that is a main means to make men meek. The Hebrew words that signify afflicted and meek, grow both upon the same root, and are of so great affinity, that they are sometimes by the Septuagint rendered the one for the other, as Psalms 37:11. ענו עני. Adversa enim hominem mansuetum reddunt, saith Chemnitius. And, however it go with the outward man, the meek shall find rest to their souls, Matthew 11:29. Yea, the meek in the Lord shall increase their joy, Isaiah 29:19. And for outward respects, meek Moses complains not of Miriam's murmurings, but God strikes in for him the more. And he that said, "I seek not mine own glory," adds, "But there is one that seeketh it, and judgeth," John 8:50. God takes his part ever that fights not for himself, and is champion to him that strives not, but, for peace' sake, parteth with his own right, otherwise.

For they shall inherit the earth] One would think that meek men, that bear and forbear, that put and forgive, committing their cause "to him that judgeth righteously," 1 Peter 2:23; (as Christ did), should be soon baffled, and outsworn out of their patrimony, with honest Naboth. But there is nothing lost by meekness and yieldance. Abraham yields over his right of choice: Lot taketh it; and, behold, Lot is crossed in that which he chose, Abraham blessed in that which was left him. God never suffers any man to lose by a humble remission of right, in a desire of peace. "The heavens, even the heavens, are the Lord's; but the earth hath he given to the children of men," Psalms 115:16 : yet with this proviso, that as heaven is taken by violence, so is earth by meekness; and God (the true Proprietary) loves no tenants better, nor grants longer leases to any, than to the meek. They shall inherit, that is, peaceably enjoy what they have, and transfer it to posterity, they shall give inheritance to their children's children, Proverbs 13:22. As, on the other side, frowardness forfeits all into the Lord's hands, and he many times taketh the forfeiture, and outs such persons, comes upon them with a firma eiectione, as upon Amalek, Abimelech, and others. Αυθαδειας συνοικος ερημια, said Plato. The Lord Treasurer Burleigh was wont to say, that he overcame envy and ill-will more by patience than pertinace. His private estate he managed with that integrity, that he never sued any man, no man ever sued him. He was in the number of those few (said Mr Camden) that lived and died with glory. For as lowliness of heart shall make you high with God; even so meekness of spirit and of speech shall make you sink into the hearts of men, said Mr Tyndale in a letter of his to John Frith, afterwards his fellow martyr. (Acts and Mon.)