A PRACTICAL COMMENTARY ON OUR BLESSED LORD'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. § 1. Jesus prepares to address the assembled multitudes. MATTHEW, V. 1, 2. LUKE, vi. 2. AND Jesus seeing the multitudes, went up into the mountain-district; and when he had sat, his disciples, including all his general hearers, came near unto him and he lifted up his eyes on them; and he opened his mouth, and taught them; saying. : v. 1: THE Jewish Doctors, when teaching, were accustomed to sit. (HORNE, vol. 3. p. 248.) v. 2: To open the mouth is a phrase denoting that the speaker is about to utter a grave and important communication. By bearing in mind some of the objects to which our Saviour's instructions more immediately refer, we shall the more justly appreciate the instructions themselves. Our Lord was anxious to instil into the minds of his general hearers, just notions of the Messiah's kingdom. Multitudes had now assembled around him. Many had beheld his miracles. Expectations, thus excited by a display of divine power, and by our Saviour's announcing the approach of a kingdom, required to be corrected and enlightened.-Do ye, O Jews, expect a temporal Messiah? Are ye proudly dreaming of glory and conquest and carnage and universal empire? Are ye anticipating the riches and honours and possessions of this world? How gross is your error! My subjects must be distinguished by their poverty of spirit, by humility, by meekness, by patience under persecution. Without these qualities which your carnal B minds reject, all entrance into my kingdom is denied it is a spiritual kingdom; and not founded upon the pomps and vanities of the world. Though the Apostles, properly so called, had not yet been sent forth by an express commission; yet some who were likely to be honoured with that office, were now in attendance: to them, therefore, our Lord's instruction might, in part, be dispensed with great propriety. He accordingly reminds them, that, as the salt of the earth, they were especially bound to exhibit a pure example. As the doctrines which they were about to preach, would be in opposition to the corruptions of the human heart, they must arm themselves against persecution, and lean upon the happiness which was reserved in heaven. A new Teacher would naturally advert to the lessons of preceding Instructors: or what was the necessity of coming to repeat what had already been said? Our Lord, therefore, makes many direct applications to the Scribes and Pharisees and Rabbins who had occupied the chair of Moses; but preached little more than ceremonial ablutions; debased the word of God by ridiculous puerilities; crushed it under a load of traditions; and enfeebled the moral force of the plainest precepts by fanciful distinctions of duty. These national teachers were marked by pride and hypocrisy; and admitted no pupils into their schools of instruction, except the wealthy and the great. Moses himself was now to make way for a Prophet from whom he as a type had borrowed his lustre and even the moral duties of the Decalogue were to be expanded into wider application; founded upon higher motives; and enforced by more solemn sanctions. By ourselves, in reading the Sermon-on-the-Mount, two cautions must be adopted. 1. Whatever was (as it were) the local propriety of our Saviour's admonitions, the spirit of them pervades all times and nations. The obligation of obedience may have commenced, when our Lord first opened his lips upon the Mount; but it does not terminate when he closed them; the only sound which supersedes his accents, is the trumpet of the Arch-angel who will summon mankind to be tried by this one standard, the neglect or observance of the precepts bequeathed to us by our Judge. Let conscience be our commentator: if it be faithful, it will not say,This precept censures no one but the hypocritical Pharisee; that observation was intended for an Apostle-but from whatever part of our Saviour's Discourse a moral can be drawn of wide and general application, let our conscience become a second Nathan, and boldly utter the words, 'Thou art the Man.'-" Whosoever heareth these words, must do them." 2. Let us not expect in our Lord's discourse a human composition, formally arranged as a treatise on ethics, branching out into methodized sections, and obviating this or that objection. It suffices that all which the occasion of the sermon allowed to be done, has been done; that the most important duties have been enforced; that the motives of action are placed where they ought to be placed; and that every precept is clothed with the dignity and authority of a Teacher sent from God; a Teacher who himself is God. If St. John assures us that "the world could not contain the books intended to record all the miracles of Christ;" the same observation may be applied to the words which he uttered. These omissions furnish fresh motive to prize and to obey what instructions we actually possess; and that our obedience, animated by a love of the Teacher, and sustained by his grace, may conciliate for us a place among those whom he pronounces Blessed or Happy. Long had that title happy been abused and misunderstood: long had the chief good been the subject of philosophical discussion and distracting search. But to those who feel the insufficiency of what the world can offer, in riches, honours, and sensual gratification, towards satisfying all our nobler desires; how welcome is the definitive assurance that true happiness consists in the graces of the Spirit: at that pure and holy fountain, we may drink without feeling any second thirst. We shall be enabled to taste those spiritual pleasures; which in proportion as we pursue them, bring us into closer communion with their divine Author. That eight Beatitudes are distinctly specified, does not imply that the word happy may not be extended to other Christian qualities our Lord, speaking as a Jewish teacher, adopts the idiom of the Jewish teachers; who in commenting on the Sacred Writings seem fond of naming a certain quantity of Blessings. Thus Abraham is said to have been blessed with seven blessings: David, Daniel with his three companions, and the King Messiah, with six blessings each. (See LIGHTFOOT.) Nor are we to suppose that though, in our Lord's enumeration of Beatitudes, we find the word Blessed or Happy often repeated, the roads to heaven are, on that account, many and various. Christ is The Way pre-eminently. No true Christian is allowed to say, 'I am meek; and need not therefore be merciful;' or, 'I am poor in spirit; and therefore, need not be a peace-maker.' As in various places of scripture, faith or hope or charity or the love or fear of God, frequently stands for the whole duty of a Christian; so here likewise, in each beatitude, our Saviour annexes the promised happiness of heaven to the universal practice of our whole Christian duty. At the same time, we cannot but admire the beauty and elegance, the variety and instructiveness, in which our Christian duty is described by some particularly eminent virtue, and enforced by a suitable and appropriate reward. The poor in spirit shall receive the riches of God's kingdom. The mourner shall forget his sorrows in the comforts of eternity. The compassionate shall find compassion from God. The pure in heart shall dwell in the presence of holiness itself. The meek who are often deprived, by the violent, of what they possess in this world, shall find an inheritance in the true Canaan, on high. § 2. Our Lord inculcates humility. MATTHEW, v. 3: HAPPY are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. LUKE, vi. 20: HAPPY are ye Poor. ness. WHAT is poverty of spirit? It cannot be a state of beggary: for though riches may engender pride; yet the poorer men are, the more daring they often become in outrage and impiety: a disposition which cannot be a qualification for eternal happiOn the other hand, we see many rich men, not highminded, and trusting in uncertain riches;' not insolent and oppressive; but courteous and charitable; referring all they have, to the undeserved bounty of the heavenly Donor. Christ was, it is true, the poor man's preacher, and the poor man's comforter but a mere outward poverty, or an avowed voluntary poverty will entitle none to a blessing. If it be the duty of all Christians to turn monks and friars mendicant, all other Romanists could not be saved. Accordingly, while St. Luke says : poor, St. Matthew explains the word by subjoining in their spirit, in the sentient and thinking principle of man; poor, in consequence of their humble lowly spirit. This is the usual expression by which the Scriptures represent the humble man: 'Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud:' Prov. xvi. 19. 'I dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit: Isa. lvii. 15. This poverty of spirit does not, therefore, relate to actual condition in society, but to the internal disposition of the heart; and may be considered as denoting true Christian humility. This quality is founded upon a lively sense of God's greatness, holiness, and goodness: and is, consequently, displayed in the attempt to repress all proud and arrogant thoughts of ourselves. It dictated the language of Abraham: "I who am but dust and ashes, have undertaken to speak to the God of heaven:" of Job, "I abhor myself in dust and ashes:" of Jacob, "I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies." This humble feeling of spiritual poverty in the sight of God naturally produces humility towards men. The poor in spirit pays honour to whom honour is due; to rulers and superiors; and observes courtesy towards all, as children of one common Father. He is content to imitate rather than to envy and malign those who surpass him in real worth. This humility quickens the sense of duty. Pride is one great cause of insolent disobedience to the divine will. Sinners walk arrogantly, and say, "Who is the Lord that we should hearken to his voice?" This poverty of spirit implies a mind, not agitated by many sinful emotions which worldly pride is apt to suggest. If the rich man is willing to part with his wealth rather than betray the honour of the giver; or if those in low estate abstain from murmuring against God's providence; both are poor in spirit: in the rich man, God sees a Moses who preferred the afflictions of Israel to the splendours of Pharaoh ;-in the other, Christ says, as to the Church of Smyrna, "I know thy tribulation and thy poverty; but thou art rich;" even in patience, contentment, and faith. This humility is termed poverty of spirit. The humble Christian carefully distinguishes between what is his own, and what is God's. He is sensible that all the evil he hath, is his |