Gentleness/Meekness

Came across this definition/explanation of "gentle" while doing homework for one of my classes. I can't seem to find the source, but it is either from Alfred Humphreys or W. E. Vine, as far as I can tell. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the number is one given from the Strong's Concordance.) It's long but it's worth the read.

gentle (Greek#4239 praus) - "meek, gentle, mild"; it is an adornment of the Christian profession, I Pet. 3:4. "It is an inwrought grace of the soul, and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing and resisting. It is closely linked to the word for humility. It is the humble heart which is also the meek, and which, as such, does not fight against God and more or less struggle and contend with Him. This meekness, however, being first of all a meekness before God, is also such in the face of men, even of evil men, out of a sense that these, with the insults and injuries which they may inflict, are permitted and employed by Him for the chastening and purifying of His elect. In Gal. 5:23 it is associated with 'self-control'...this word (gentle/meek) describes a condition of mind and heart...the meekness manifested by the Lord and commended to the believer is the fruit of power. The common assumption is that when a man is meek it is because he cannot help himself; but the Lord was 'meek' because He had the infinite resources of God at His command. Described negatively, meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest; is is equanimity of spirit that is neither elated nor cast down, simply because it is not occupied with self at all."

There are so many things I could say about this, but I think that this pretty much says it all.