A Discourse Concerning Meekness

1 Peter 3:4 [latter part.] — Even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

The Apostle Peter in this Epistle, (as also his beloved Brother Paul in many of his) is very large in pressing upon Christians the conscientious discharge of the duties of their particular relations, and not without good reason; for generally it holds true, That we are really, as we are relatively. He is here in the former part of this chapter directing Christian wives how to carry themselves in that relation, to the glory of God, their own comfort, and the spiritual benefit and advantage of their yokefellows: And among other good lessons he teaches them how to dress themselves as becomes women professing godliness. Those of that sex are commonly observed to be very solicitous about their ornaments. When the question is asked, Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? no such possibility is supposed (Jeremiah 2:32). This prevailing inclination the Apostle here takes hold of, for the recommending of those graces and duties to their choice and practice, which are indeed the most excellent and amiable adorning, not only of their sex to whom the exhortation is primarily directed, but of the other also for whom no doubt it is likewise intended. Observe his method:

1. He endeavors to wean them from the vanity of outward ornaments, verse 3: whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning, etc. This does not forbid the sober and moderate use of decent ornaments, when it is according to the quality, place, and station, and in due season, (not on days of fasting and humiliation, when it is proper for ornaments to be laid aside (Exodus 33:4-5).) But it forbids the inordinate love, and excessive use (that is, the abuse) of them. There may be the plaiting of the hair, and the wearing of gold, and there must be the putting on of apparel, that shame which came into the world with sin has made it necessary; But we must not make these things our adorning; that is, we must not set our hearts upon them, nor value ourselves by them, nor think the better of ourselves for them, nor pride ourselves in them, as if they added any real excellency to us, nor say to them as Saul did to Samuel, Honor me now before this people, out of a vain ambition to make a fair show in the flesh. We must spend no more care, or thoughts, or time, or words, or cost, about them, and lay no more stress or weight upon them than they deserve, and that is but a very little. It is but glory hung upon us, as the expression is (Isaiah 22:24), and has no glory if compared with the glory that excels it even in the creatures that are far below us; for Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed or beautified like one of those lilies which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven. We must not seek first these things, nor seek them most, as if we had bodies for no other end but to bear out our clothes, and had nothing else to do with them but to make them fine. It was the folly, and proved the ruin of that rich man in the parable, that he made his purple, and his fine linen, (with other the ornaments and delights of the body) his good things, the things in which he placed his happiness, and in which he had his consolation (Luke 16:19, 25); that is, in the language of this Scripture, he made them his adorning, and so, being unclothed of these, he was found naked. Let not the wearing of gold, and the putting on of apparel be the world; so it may be rendered: Let not these things be all the world with us, as they are with many, who reckon to be out of the fashion (whatever it be) is to be out of the world. Christians are called out of the world, and delivered from it, and should evidence a victory obtained by faith over it, as in other instances, so in this. It is prescribed rule of our holy religion (whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear) that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety (1 Timothy 2:9). But whereas there are some on the one hand, that exclaim against vanity in apparel as the crying sin of this age above any other, as if it were a new thing under the sun, and the former days were in this respect better than these: And others on the other hand, condemn it as a piece of fanaticism to witness (as there is occasion) against this vanity: Both may receive a sufficient answer, if they will but read that excellent Homily of the Church of England, entitled, An Homily against Excess of Apparel, (No. 18.) by which it will appear, That even in those early days of the Reformation, it was a vanity that prevailed much in our land, and which the rulers of the Church thought themselves obliged to reprove. But we will hasten to the text.

2. He endeavors to bring them in love with the better ornaments, those of the mind, the graces of the blessed Spirit, here called the hidden man of the heart — [illegible]. Grotius observes, that though he writes to women, yet he uses a word of the masculine gender, because the ornament he recommends is such as both men and women must be adorned with. Grace, as a living principle of regular holy thoughts, words, and actions, is sometimes called the new man (Ephesians 4:24), sometimes the inward man (Romans 7:22; 2 Corinthians 4:16), and so here, the hidden man of the heart. It is called a man, because it is made up of many parts and members, and its actings are vital and rational, and it restores those to the dignity of men, who by sin had made themselves like the beasts that perish. It is called the man of the heart, because out of the heart are the issues of life; there lie the springs of the words and actions, and therefore into that the salt of grace is cast, and so all the waters are healed. He is the Christian indeed that [reconstructed: is] one inwardly, and that circumcision, that baptism, which is of the heart (Romans 2:29). It is called the hidden man of the heart, because the work of grace is a secret thing, and does not make a pompous show in the eye of the world; it is a mystery of godliness, a life that is hid with Christ in God, to whom secret things belong; therefore the saints are called his hidden ones (Psalm 83:3), for the world knows them not, much less does it yet appear what they shall be. The king's daughter that is espoused to Christ is all glorious within (Psalm 45:13). The working of grace in the soul is often represented as a regeneration, or being begotten again; and perhaps when this good work is called the hidden man of the heart, there may be some allusion to the forming of the bones in the womb of her that is with child, which Solomon speaks of as unaccountable, as is also the way of the Spirit (Ecclesiastes 11:5; compare John 3:8). And lastly, it consists in that which is not corruptible; it is not depraved or vitiated by the corruption that is in the world through lust, and is in the soul a well of living water, springing up to eternal life (John 4:14).

In the text he instances in one particular grace — one member of this hidden man in the heart, which we must every one of us adorn ourselves with, and that is a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. Where observe,

1. The grace itself here recommended to us; it is a meek and quiet spirit. There must be not only a meek and quiet behavior outwardly; there may be that either by constraint, or with some base and disguised design, while the soul in the mean time is rough and turbulent and envenomed; the words may be softer than oil, while war is in the heart (Psalm 55:21). But the Word of God is a discerner and judge of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The power of men's laws may bind a man to the good behavior, but it is only the power of God's grace that will renew a right spirit within him (Psalm 51:10). That is what makes the tree good, and then the fruit will be good. The God with whom we have to do demands the heart, looks at the principle, and requires truth in the inward parts, not only in the duties of his own immediate worship, that those be done in the spirit, but also in the duty we owe to our neighbor, that that also be done with a pure heart, and without dissimulation. The word of command which the Captain of our Salvation gives is, Christians, take heed to your spirits (Malachi 2:15).

2. The excellency of this grace — it is in the sight of God of great price. It is really a precious grace, for it is so in the sight of God, and we know that he can neither deceive nor be deceived. It is [illegible], which is the same word that is used (1 Timothy 2:9) for that costly array, which is joined with gold and pearls [illegible]. Persons of quality in their ornaments affect not so much that which is gay, as that which is rich; not that which makes a glittering, gaudy show, and pleases children and fools, but that which is of intrinsic value, and recommends itself to the intelligent. A meek and quiet spirit is such an ornament, which has not that gaiety that is agreeable to the humor of a carnal world, but that real worth which recommends it to the favor of God. It is one of those graces which are compared to the powders of the merchant (Song of Solomon 3:6), far fetched, and dear bought, even with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. Herein we should every one labor, and this we should be ambitious of, as the greatest honor, that present or absent, living and dying, we may be accepted of the Lord; and blessed be God it is a thing attainable, through the Mediator, from whom we have received how to walk so as to please him; we must walk with meekness and quietness of spirit, for this is in the sight of God of great price. Therefore this mark of honor is in a special manner put upon the grace of meekness, because it is commonly despised and looked upon with contempt by the children of this world, as a piece of mean-spiritedness; but (however they be termed and treated now) they are happy, and will appear so shortly, whom God approves of, and to whom he says, Well done good and faithful servant; for by his judgment we must stand or fall eternally.

These words therefore will easily afford us this plain doctrine;

That meekness and quietness of spirit is a very excellent grace, which we should every one of us put on, and be adorned with.

In the prosecution of this we shall endeavor, 1. To show what this meekness and quietness of spirit is. And, 2. What excellency there is in it. And, 3. Apply it.