Now it is obvious why Christ pointed out as the two chief objects for
attainment the exact opposites of these. To meekness and lowliness
these things simply do not exist. They cure unrest by making it
impossible. These remedies do not trifle with surface symptoms; they
strike at once at removing causes. The ceaseless chagrin of a
self-centered life can be removed at once by learning meekness and
lowliness of heart. He who learns them is forever proof against it. He
lives henceforth a charmed life. Christianity is a fine inoculation, a
transfusion of healthy blood into an anæmic or poisoned soul. No fever
can attack a perfectly sound body; no fever of unrest can disturb a
soul which has breathed the air or learned the ways of Christ.
Men sigh for the wings of a dove that they may fly away and be at
Rest. But flying away will not help us. "The Kingdom of God is _within
you_." We aspire to the top to look for Rest; it lies at the bottom.
Water rests only when it gets to the lowest place. So do men. Hence,
_be lowly_. The man who has no opinion of himself at all can never be
hurt if others do not acknowledge him. Hence, _be meek_. He who is
without expectation cannot fret if nothing comes to him. It is
self-evident that these things are so. The lowly man and the meek man
are really above all other men, above all other things. They dominate
the world because they do not care for it. The miser does not possess
gold, gold possesses him. But the meek possess it. "The meek," said
Christ, "inherit the earth." They do not buy it; they do not conquer
it; but they inherit it.
There are people who go about the world looking out for slights, and
they are necessarily miserable, for they find them at every
turn--especially the imaginary ones. One has the same pity for such
men as for the very poor. They are the morally illiterate. They have
had no real education, for they have never learned