IN the thirty-seventh psalm we are encouraged to patient confidence in God by these words: "The meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." Meekness, or humility, may be defined as freedom from pride, arrogance, and self-righteousness. It is the offspring of divine Truth and Love, and is therefore an essential element in Christian Science. In "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 35), Mrs. Eddy says: "The second stage of mental development is humility. This virtue triumphs over the flesh; it is the genius of Christian Science."
Jesus of Nazareth repeated the words of the psalmist when he said: "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." Prior to the time these words were spoken by our Master, the Oriental monarchies had existed in a state of almost continual warfare until the Roman empire overthrew and dominated all governments. At the time of Christ Jesus this was the supreme temporal power which to the material thought of the people seemed to have inherited the earth; but this declaration, that meekness should possess and govern the earth, was pronounced by our Master as a prophecy, standing amidst the thunder of the universal battle which was going on over all the earth. To this people, bound by Roman fetters, their country torn by factions and revolutionary outbreaks, the idea that meekness should be endowed with power to possess and govern, seemed most unlikely if not impossible.
And yet the Master had only to go back to the prophecies respecting the Messiah to find these words employed, at least in spirit, for the same end, as we read in the eleventh chapter of Isaiah: "With righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth." The truth of this prophecy was demonstrated in the human experience of Jesus, that might and meekness, honor and humility, power and possession, are indissolubly linked in the experience of those who realize that the wisdom of understanding is better than the arrogance of pride; that the power of Love is greater than the tyranny of fear; that the freedom of Truth is mightier than the shackles cf error.
