Bible Commentaries
Matthew 5

Verses 1-29

XXVIII

OUR LORD’S GREAT MINISTRY IN GALILEE

Part III THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

Harmony pages 45-82 and Matthew 5:1-7:29; Luke 6:17-49.

The historians of the Sermon on the Mount are Matthew and Luke, mainly Matthew. The scene of that sermon was a level place upon the mountains of the northwestern shore of the sea of Galilee. The audience consisted of the twelve disciples whom he had just appointed and of a large number of other disciples who had been instructed somewhat in the principles of his kingdom, and of a vast multitude of people from Judea and Samaria and Phoenicia. It was an immense audience. Luke says, "The company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon." It was such an audience as one could not put in a house – any kind of a house. And it is a noticeable fact that whenever a great reformation commences, I mean a movement that has life and fire in it – then the reformers take to field preaching. They quit the houses; they go into the streets or fields or out in the open somewhere, for only such places as have the skies for a ceiling and the horizon for a boundary can hold the crowds of people that will always gather when a deep and fiery movement of the Christian religion is in progress. So with this audience of Jesus.

The occasion of the Sermon on the Mount was this: He had Just selected twelve men, commencing the organization of his movement. These twelve men were to share with him the burden of responsibility and labor, and it was quite important that they should be thoroughly instructed in the first principles of the kingdom which he announced. It was equally necessary that the larger body of his disciples should understand those fundamental principles, and that the miscellaneous and ever-shifting crowd, drawn together by their expectations of a king, and looking to the establishment of an earthly monarchy which would overturn Roman supremacy and give to Judea the sovereignty of the universe – that this mixed rabble should have their misconceptions concerning the nature of the kingdom of Jesus Christ removed, and forever.

The setting or background of the sermon must never be overlooked. The multitudes, incited mainly by desires of relief from physical, temporal, and external woes – even the better informed and more spiritually minded but dimly recognizing the greater spiritual needs – these constituted the occasion of the Sermon on the Mount.

The design of it has been partly suggested by the occasion, but we need to erect just here a pillar of caution. The design has a negative as well as a positive aspect. First, then, negatively: It was not intended to be, as some have supposed and claimed, an epitome of doctrine and morals, neither of the one nor of the other. It falls very short of being a full synopsis of the doctrines of Jesus Christ. There is not a word in it directly of regeneration. There is nothing in it concerning the doctrine of the vicarious atonement and justification by faith, so elaborately set forth by the Saviour himself and his apostles. So there are some departments of morals not here inculcated. Hence, one makes a very great mistake when he counts the Sermon on the Mount as a complete standard of life. We hear people say sometimes: “If I live by the Sermon on the Mount that will do." I say that this sermon is not all of the standard.

Positively, then, what was the design of it? The design of it was introductory – an opening or rudimental discourse setting forth the foundation principles of the messianic kingdom, showing that these principles are internal, spiritual, practical and not external, ritualistic, theoretic; setting forth first the characteristics, privileges, and happiness of the messianic subjects in the Beatitudes. Showing next the importance, influence and responsibility of the messianic subjects, comparing them to the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Then follows a discussion of the relations of the messianic kingdom. Relations to what? Relations to the Jewish law, whether ceremonial, civil or moral; to the prophets; to rabbinical traditions ; to the world; to practical life, and to destiny. Such was the design of the Sermon on the Mount, intending afterward, as in fact he did, to unfold, to develop other doctrines related to these, and letting his whole life’s teaching present the fulness of his doctrine and of his morality.

So the Sermon on the Mount is not a disconcerted jumble of fine sayings, but exhibits remarkable unity as a discourse, as will be observed when I briefly state the outline and analysis of it. Indeed, I much question if any speech has ever been delivered more remarkable for unity than the Sermon on the Mount.

Next, the matter of this sermon is every bit every-day matter, but while every-day matter, it is as deep and as important as human life and destiny. One makes a great mistake in supposing that great teaching touches only the strange, exceptional, and startling. The best and sublimest teaching upon the earth concerns the every-day life, and such is the matter of this sermon.

The following adjectives will convey a description of the style:

It is simple, familiar, direct, sententious, paradoxical, startling, illustrative, conversational, practical, and authoritative.

It is a simple talk. I mean that every one in that audience could understand it. There was no attempt at big words; the language of the common people, as they spoke it and as they understood it, was used by our Saviour. It was familiar in that it was as homely in its phrases as if he were sitting by the fireside or out on the housetop in the cool of the evening or on the curbing of the street and talking with the passing people. It was not an oration, for there is an utter absence of declamatory, theoretical elocution, and rhetoric, as there must be in all great teachers. I mean to say that there is not an indication of a single strained mental effort after rounded phraseology, euphonious diction, rhetorical effect, dramatic gesticulation. It is direct. I mean to say that it does not intend to reach things by cannoning, hitting here and intending by glancing shot to strike out yonder. He moves right straight forward to the accomplishment of his object.

The style is paradoxical. A paradox is something which seems to be contradictory and is not contradictory, as, for instance, "happy are the unhappy" – that is, "Blessed are they that mourn." That is a paradox, but there is nothing contradictory about it. There is a comparison between present unhappiness and future happiness. As Luke keeps bringing it out, "Blessed are ye that hunger now, for ye shall be filled hereafter." "Woe unto you that are rich now, for ye shall be poor hereafter." Yes, it is intensely paradoxical. It is illustrative. The illustrations do not have to be explained, as some men’s illustrations. They illustrate. They preach a sermon by themselves – that is, they carry in their familiar imagery their own application. He selects objects that are perfectly well known to the people and so thoroughly familiar that when used as an illustration there can be no misconception as to the meaning. Sometimes he illustrates by a hen and chickens, sometimes by a lily, other times by rocks and thorns and sheep and birds. It is conversational in its style, and unquestionably the greatest preachers are preachers who adopt the easy, off-hand, conversational style, like Dr. Broadus. But the distinguishing characteristic in style is that which most impressed his audience, because of its intrinsic power and of its marked dissimilarity to the methods of their ordinary religious teachers. He taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes and Pharisees. The style then was authoritative. Just look at the difference. A rabbi would get up before the people and with his eyes cast down would begin to say, "Rabbi Ben Israel says in the Talmud that Rabbi Joseph said that Rabbi Amos said that maybe such is the interpretation of the passage, but Rabbi Issachar quotes Rabbi Ephraim as saying that Rabbi Eleazer thought it might mean a different thing." It was all indeterminate, uncertain; it did not take any positive shape. The pupil was perplexed by a balancing of conflicting probabilities. One leader doubtfully said, "Lo, here," while another distrustfully said, "Maybe, yonder." But Jesus spoke with authority – authority vested in himself. He leaned on no human buttresses – did not attempt to defend his doctrine, nor to vindicate it. He spoke as God speaks, and without stopping to give an explanation of his manner – and so ought men always to speak who speak for God. Let him speak as the oracles of God. Now as to the rank of this Sermon. Daniel Webster says that no mere man could have produced the Sermon on the Mount.

Old age and wisdom bow before the simplicity and sublimity of this incomparable teaching. Little children sweetly imbibe its spirit as if it were milk, and aged saints draw from it the strong meat which supplies their sinews of strength. Babes in Christ by it take their first step in the practical walk of Christian life while the men or women in Christ Jesus by it soar on eagles’ wings into the anticipations of the heavenly world. It is peerless, matchless, divine.

To show the unity of the Sermon on the Mount, I will give an outline of it that consists of only three great heads. First, the characteristics, privileges, and happiness of the messianic subjects as set forth in the beatitudes. Second, the importance, influence, and responsibility of the messianic subjects, as set forth in the images of salt and light. And third, the relations of the messianic kingdom or doctrines – that is, its relations to the Jewish law, whether ceremonial) civil or moral; its relations to the rabbinical traditions; its relations to the prophecies; its relations to the outside world in its spirit and maxims and chief good; its relations to human destiny, closing with "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them," he shall be like the man who built his house upon a rock, and when the floods came and the storms buried, that house stood, for it was founded upon a rock. All through it, in all of its great divisions and subdivisions, is brought out in clearest light that the principles of the Christian religion are internal, spiritual and practical. It is not, "Do this that you may be seen of men." It is not to wash the outside of the cup or platter. It is not a painted sepulcher, holding inside rottenness and dead men’s bones. It consists not in meat and drink, not in observances of days and months and seasons. It has not ten thousand ordinances that touch our dress and our manner. Oh, the mass of stuff that has been imposed upon the Christian religion which, in its foundation principles, was all spiritual and not ritualistic. All through it is practical. I mean to say, as opposed to theoretic or speculative. There is not a single part of it that is presented to the curious human mind as something calculated to entertain an idle person – not a thing. The whole of it is designed to be not abstract, but concrete – to be incarnated, to be embodied – practical, all of it.

Having presented that outline of this Sermon, I want to illustrate it by considering briefly the first two divisions. First, the characteristics, privileges, and happiness of the messianic subjects, as set forth in what are called the beatitudes, commencing with a few general remarks. There are ten of these characteristics, with ten corresponding privileges or ten alternative woes. Every one of the privileges is based on character, and every one of the particular measures of happiness is based on a privilege, showing the relation between character and happiness – a fixed relation, an indissoluble bond. If a man possess the kingdom of God; if a man is allowed to see God and live with him; if a man receives a reward from God at the last great day, these privileges are the springs of his happi-ness, but every privilege is predicated upon character in the man, upon the inside state of the man’s soul. As Burns expresses it: It is no’ in titles, nor in rank; It is no’ in wealth like London bank, To purchase peace and rest; If happiness have not her seat And center in the breast We may be wiser or rich or great But never can be blest.

This sermon explains why Paul, covered with wounds and in prison, at midnight, and with death awaiting him in the morning, could sing praises to God. It explains how it is, as recorded in Hebrews 11, that the ancient martyrs took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, and who, while flames wrapped them about, shouted, "Hallelujah to God"; who leaped for joy that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake. The Beatitudes express the only great philosophy as contrasted with Epicureanism and Stoicism. The Epicurean taught: "You have appetites; if you would be happy, gratify them. Eat, drink, and be merry." The Stoic said, "You have appetites; if you would be happy, extirpate them – dig them up by the roots." This sermon says, "You have appetites; if you would be happy, regulate them. Neither gratify them immoderately nor suppress them, but divert them from improper channels and fix them upon worthy objects. You want to be rich; that is right, only what kind of riches? You want to live? Yes, but when – now or hereafter? You want great substance? That is all right, but what kind – evanescent or that which endures? You would treasure up – yes, but where? Where neither moth nor rust corrupt, nor thieves dig through and steal."

It will be observed that these Beatitudes are all double. I mean that they have a probable sense and an absolute sense. Take this one. Luke says, "Blessed are ye poor." Matthew says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." The probable sense is always this, that comparing the two estates of poverty and riches, it is more probable that a poor man will get to heaven than that a rich man will. I mean to say that it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. If one’s rent roll is $100,000 a year, then one’s chances of heaven are very slim, but that is not the absolute sense. The absolute sense is, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." Again, "Blessed are they that mourn." The probable sense is that it is a rule better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting; that as a rule afflicted people are more apt to seek the kingdom of heaven than people who are not afflicted, but its meaning in its absolute sense is not merely to be a mourner, but to mourn in spirit for spiritual things.

We next note, generally, that each Beatitude has a corresponding woe, either expressed or implied. Luke mentions four of them. For instance, when he says, "Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven," he then adds the alternative, "But woe unto you rich, for you have had your consolation." So with all the others, the corresponding woe is either expressed or implied.

After these general references to all the Beatitudes, let us examine somewhat particularly the first two. Take the first, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." What does that mean? I believe in close analysis and clear definition. Now here is the way I would read that: "Happy is the man who in his inner, higher nature [that is, in his spirit I consciously feels his poverty or need of spiritual good from God." There is poverty – yes, but it is that poverty in spirit which we consciously feel and not that which we have but do not know that we have it. Compare two scriptures for proof:

Isaiah 66:2 "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." Revelation 3:17 "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable and poor, and blind and naked."

Evidently the blessing is promised, not to the poverty, but to the sense of the poverty – the consciousness of the need. It is quite important to observe this distinction. Now in the case of these Laodiceans there was actual poverty in the sphere of the spirit, but there was no recognition of the poverty. On the contrary, they thought themselves to be rich and that they needed nothing.

The two states of mind are clearly represented in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican who went up into the Temple to pray. The Pharisee had spirit need enough, but he had no consciousness of that need. The publican had the same need and he deeply felt it. He smote his heart and said, "God be merciful to me the sinner." Blessed are the poor in spirit. The prodigal son illustrates both phases of the subject. When he left his father’s house, however much he might have in external things (for he was richly endowed), in his inner nature, in his spirit, he was actually poor, but he did not know it. He thought he was rich and great, and was correspondingly proud, but there came a time when he began to be in want; when the need of his soul broke in upon his mind; when he said, "I have sinned; I will arise and go to my father and say to him, Father, I am not worthy to be called thy son. Let me be a servant. I have sinned." Blessed are the poor in spirit. That means, happy is the man who in the sphere of the spirit (or inner or higher nature) feels his need of good from God – no less, no more. "I need thee every hour, most gracious Lord." Oh, bow sweet that hymn is! Poor in spirit. Oh, I have so few spiritual goods. I need patience, I need strength, I need clearer views of heaven, I need more of the spirit of my Master. Poor, yea, blessed are the poor in spirit.

But do not forget the contrast in the now and the hereafter. What do you need, O Dives, at the banquet? "Not a thing in the world. I have a million dollars; have the finest table in the country; every time I walk out on the streets people fawn upon me and say, ’There goes a millionaire. Look at him I ’ Why, I do not need a thing in the world. You never did see such eating as I have on my table; I am rich." Rich, purse proud, feeding upon external things and starving the soul. That is the now. But let me show him in the hereafter. We will have to look a long way down into the depths of hell. Did he take any money with him? Not a cent. Is he thirsty? Hear him: "And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my parched tongue; for I am tormented in this flame" (Luke 16:24). See that chasm that separates him from God. Mark his apprehension that his brethren will come where he is. Mark the play of his memory. "But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and you are tormented" (Luke 16:25).

Oh, sublime Teacher, thou Teacher of the relation of time and eternity! "Blessed are they that mourn." I would rather go to the house of mourning than to the house of laughing. But it refers to the sphere of the spirit. Do we mourn on account of sin? Do we mourn on account of our lack of conformity to the image of Jesus Christ? Do we mourn because of the low state of piety in the land? Like Jeremiah, is the cause of our grief the fact that the health of the daughter of God’s people is not recovered? "Blessed are they that mourn."

Oh, you mourners in Zion, I say to you, you shall be comforted, and when your ashes are turned to beauty and your heaviness to the garments of praise, and your anguish to the thrilling joys of heaven, then will your consolation be deep and high and broad, with an "immeasurable" attached to every one of the adjectives.

How sweet the song of Tom Moore: Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish; Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel; Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish, Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal,

“Blessed are they that mourn." Oh, mourners, hear the blessed Saviour: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18-19). We reach the fulness of the promise in heaven, for there are no tears in heaven, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain, nor death. Hear the precise words of our Lord: "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away" (Revelation 21:4).

Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those that mourn on account of sin. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are those that hunger and thirst after righteousness – personal, practical righteousness, mark you, and not imputed righteousness. It means absolute, sinless perfection. Such will come after awhile. Blessed are the pure in heart; that means the fulness of sanctification, in absolute deliverance from the corruption that is in the world through lust. It, too, will come after a while. It is not all attainable now. But we may move toward it and we will be filled; we will ultimately see God. All these Beatitudes have a special meaning and each one very sweet.

Let us now consider somewhat the importance and influence and responsibility of the people who are poor in spirit and mourn, and are meek, and who hunger and thirst after righteousness, and who are merciful, and who are peacemakers, and who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. What is their importance? What their influence? What their responsibility? Jesus, in just one verse, answers all of these questions: "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men" (Matthew 5:13). The importance or value of Messiah’s subjects is determined by the emphasis on the pronoun "ye." The verb ending would in ordinary cases determine the pronoun nominative, so it would not have to be expressed. But if, in the Greek, one desires to throw emphasis on the pronoun, it must be expressed. The Greek verb este by itself means "ye are," that is, without emphasis. But to have it "YE are," capitalizing and emphasizing the pronoun, it must be written humeis este. How then can I give the emphasis, the deep stress our Saviour placed on that pronoun? YE – YE – YE are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Thus we see that he meant to deny such importance and influence and responsibility to anything else or to anybody else.

First, there is a contrast when he says "ye." The emphasis is on the "ye." Ye are the light of the world. Ye are the salt of the earth. It is as if he had said, "If this world is preserved from moral corruption, if this world is wrested from the realms of darkness and bathed in light, ye will have to do it. Ye are the important ones." O think of it, you mourners, you poor in spirit, you merciful ones, you that hunger and thirst after righteousness, you are more important in the sight of God and ten thousand times more valuable than all the rich, ungodly men that ever trod the face of the earth. I say unto you that not the philosophers (lightning bugs trying to outshine the sun), not the police, shall keep the world from corrupting and rotting; not the public school, as the politicians would have you believe. No, you can have good public schools right over the mouth of the pit. But ye are the light of the world; those whose characteristics are internal, spiritual, practical; followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. I say if the whole earth is not cracked open today it is because of you. If the cloud does not burst and the bolt fall to smite it with universal flame, it is solely because of that "ye." Ye poor in spirit; ye Christians that are scattered about on the face of the earth – ye and ye alone. Ah, me, if you were taken off the earth it would rot and stink until heaven would be compelled to burn it. I would like to know whenever philosophy or secular education or commerce or riches or secular science ever kept a community from morally rotting.

I say today, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that but for the humble, God-fearing men and women in any state, in any county, in any town, it would rot. They are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

As the value and importance of God’s people are determined by the emphatic "Ye," so the character of their influence is determined by the figures "salt and light." Salt preserves – keeps pure. Light dispels darkness. Heat expels cold.

The salt of the sea is the shore’s barrier against universal disease and death.

Without the light and its accompanying heat there could be no life. No plant would germinate. Darkness that could be felt would shroud the earth. More than Arctic cold would ensue. All liquids would solidify and petrify. The rivers – earth’s arteries – would stiffen into blocks of ice. The veins of blood would become like steel wire, harder than man’s bones. What, therefore, salt and light are to the natural world, even that are Christians to the spiritual world. And as the emphatic "ye" expresses who are earth’s important ones, and as the "salt and light" express the kind and character of their value, so their responsibility is expressed by "putting the candle on the candlestick." "Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:15-16). Mark the emphasis on the "so." It is commonly misunderstood. As the candle once lighted must be put on the candlestick in order to be sufficiently visible, even so when God shines into the heart the conversion must be so positioned as to be visible. It is to position and consequent visibility that "even so" refers.

I say that our responsibility is all involved in putting the candle in the right place. God himself does the lighting. Our part is not to so misplace the light as to hide it. It therefore becomes a supreme question: How do you put it on the candlestick?

First then let the divine oracles speak. Hear the Word of God:

"I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation; I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation" (Psalms 40:10). "Come and hear all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul" (Psalms 66:16). "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 10:32-33). "The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks that thou sawest are the seven churches" (Revelation 1:20).

What then do these scriptures mean? That we must not hide God’s righteousness in our hearts. That we must tell it. Let God’s people hear our Christian experience. Let the whole world know just where we stand. Unite with the church. On every issue between righteousness and unrighteousness, between light and darkness, between Christ and Belial, take an unmistakable position on the Lord’s side. Do not try to be a secret partner of Jesus Christ, a Nicodemus who comes to see him by night. Come out and take a stand. Let the world know your alignment. Put the candle on the candlestick and let the marksman of hell try to snuff it out. To put it on the candlestick is unquestionably to join the church. Where do we get that? Why, in the book of Revelation Jesus moves among the candlesticks, and what are the candlesticks? They are the churches. The seven candlesticks are the seven churches. Why put the light there? Because the Lord Jesus Christ has made the church the pillar and ground of the truth. That is his institution. Man can organize something, but Jesus organized the church. That is an institution which has the promise of this life and that which is to come. Yea, she it is that looketh forth as the morning, clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army with banners.

Oh, but one says that means the invisible church. How on earth, if it is invisible, is it putting a candle on a candlestick? An invisible candlestick? He is not referring to invisibility. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. God lighted the light and it is eternal, but God says make it conspicuous, visible. Put it on the candlestick that everybody can see it shine. Unquestionably. Well, if it gets in the church, it shines. How? It will help the church publish the principles of the messianic kingdom. It will be in the church and shine, and the waves of light radiating from the church will go out into the darkened heathen land upon wings of every sermon and prayer and song. It will help advertise the truth of Jesus.

In every sermon preached and prayer offered and song sung, let it be as if upon a ladder of promises, it had gone up to the ceiling of the skies and placarded their whole scope with the promises of eternal life.

That is the way we shine. We shine in our mission work. We shine in our example at home, in the school.

And now let me say, if our religion is worth a snap of the finger, let us take it into politics. Do not misunderstand me; I do not mean to have a religious political party, separate from every other, but I do mean, that whatever religion we have, we should let it be as potent in determining a political question as any other question. Let me give a sublime illustration: William E. Gladstone was England’s prime minister. To be prime minister of England means a vast deal more than to be president of the United States, for under the present British constitution the prime minister is the sovereign – the government of England. The queen has nothing more to do with it than I have, but the prime minister of England is the lord of England and her empire. The British cabinet is not like the cabinet that we have over here in our country – merely advisers. Now he was prime minister of England, and had attained his premiership by combining the liberal element of the political party in England and Scotland with the Irish element. The Irish element was led by Charles Stewart Parnell. Parnell was the king and chief of the Irish contingent, and he and Gladstone stood like two brothers, working together for the accomplishment of good for the whole empire. Right in the midst of their great victory an awful thing developed. A divorce suit was instituted against Mrs. O’Shea by her husband and making Parnell co-respondent, and the fact brought out a moral depravity of heart in the case of Parnell – oh, such a sickening state of facts that Gladstone said: "If it costs me the prime minister’s place I will not stand by the side of Charles Stewart Parnell. I will let the political party go; I am a Christian; I love God. I love God more than I love a political party. I will not give this man the hand of fellowship. Ireland must select another leader." Parnell refused to yield leadership. It divided the Irish vote and lost Gladstone’s working majority in Parliament. He had to resign, and he is the only man I know that actually preferred to be right than to be prime minister.

The time sometimes comes when instead of showing we are Christians by being willing to shake hands with everybody, we must show our Christianity by refusing to take a bad man’s hand, even though he poses as a Christian.

It may be that we cannot reach him by church discipline. It becomes necessary that he may be made to feel the force of a righteous public opinion. I repeat it that there are degrees to which a church member may go in slandering his brethren, in breeding strife, in opposing or clogging the wheels of Christian progress, when to give him Christian recognition is a sin. Such a man becomes a curse instead of a blessing.

What, though a man be a Baptist, and what though some church retain him in fellowship, yet he may so go astray in doctrine that this scripture applies: "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God-speed: for he that biddeth him God-speed is partaker of his evil deeds" (2 John 1:10-11). "Others note and have no company with them that they may be ashamed" (2 Thessalonians 3:14). Paul thus urgently entreats and exhorts the Romans: "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly: and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple" (Romans 16:17-18). He also thus enjoins the Corinthians: "I wrote to you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no, not to eat" (1 Corinthians 5:9-11). He also urges Timothy "to turn away from" another class (2 Timothy 3:5).

Indeed, there are men so adroit in the use of the forms and technicalities of the law they can, so far as human courts extend, violate with impunity the spirit of the whole moral law. Such men are to be shunned, avoided, turned from. Let no good man receive them as friends. They are incorrigible. And particularly is this true of a fomenter and breeder of strife among brethren, or one who, like Satan, is a slanderer of his brethren. If he is a man that is called a brother, if he claims to be a Christian, and does certain things, turn from him and let the whole world know that you do not claim fellowship with him. Says the apostle, "Avoid him." If he can make us come up and stand beside him, so that he can say, "We two," and all the time proceed in infamy, all the time reap immoral rottenness, that is all he wants. He will spread the mantle of our Christianity over his vileness.

Aaron Burr, for political reasons and from very slight causes, none such as are regarded sufficiently weighty to justify a challenge, forced a duel on Alexander Hamilton, although he knew Hamilton would never fire a shot at him, and he murdered Hamilton. Now, it was a sign that the United States was not absolutely rotting when the public sentiment spoke out as to the crime of dueling, when Burr, though he had been a leading spirit in one of the great political parties of this Union, was not socially recognized. Good people by whom he would sit down would get up and move away somewhere else.

Should we take the hand of a Benedict Arnold or Judas Iscariot? To a certain extent the public denunciation that thundered over the head of Breckenridge of Kentucky was very godlike; but, I confess, when he stood up, and without extenuation, without denying the facts, but openly confessing them – confessing his sin and asking forgiveness – confess then there ought to have been more mercy shown him.

If the principles of the Christian religion are not carried into society, if they are not carried into business, if they are not carried into politics, if we do not let the light shine, then the salt has lost the savour and the light is put under a bushel. We are the light of the world and the salt of the earth, says the great Teacher.

My own conclusions are never child’s play. They are always reached after profound investigation of a subject.

I would rather stand up by the side of half a dozen who were occupying the platform of that Sermon on the Mount than to be one of a million on the opposing side.

Oh, put the light on the candlestick!

The third division of this Sermon consists of several items, some of which need to be elaborated somewhat, others having been sufficiently discussed in preceding chapters. The first point under this division is the relation of the messianic teaching to the law and the current teaching. It is a fulfilment, i. e., a filling out, of the law and not destructive of the law. It is also a correction of the current teaching of our Lord’s time on many points respecting the law. The second item of this division is murder in its germ, which is anger. This is discussed by our Lord in Matthew 5:21-26. The third item is adultery in its germ, Matthew 5:27-31. The fourth item is unlawful divorce, Matthew 5:32. The fifth item is swearing, Matthew 5:33-37. The sixth item is the law of lex talionis, or the law of revenge, Matthew 5:38-42. The seventh item is the relation of the children of the kingdom to their enemies, expressed in one word – love. Then follows a prohibition of ostentatious works: alms-giving, prayer and fasting, and the inculcation of singlehearted devotion to God in laying up treasures in heaven and in leaving off vain anxieties. The question under discussion by our Saviour was this: He saw men bowed down with anxieties on the bread and meat question, the duty of providing for their families. "O, what shall we eat, and what shall we drink and wherewithal shall we be clothed?" He saw them trying to settle that question – and a good question it is to settle. What was the matter then? They were settling it at the wrong time and place. They were trying to settle a subordinate relation in advance of the settlement of a higher and paramount relation. What does he say? Does he say that the food is not good, that clothing is not good, that providing for the family is not good? On the contrary, this very passage offers these things: "All these things shall be added unto you." God knows we are hungry and should be fed. He knows we need clothing and shelter. The Lord knows that provision should be made against a famine. All our wants are known unto him, and not against them does this text speak, but for them. But this – let us settle this question, the biggest thing first, the fundamental thing, the vital thing. What is it? "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." That prepares one to live now, here in this world; that prepares one for death, for both worlds. "Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is and of the life to come." Let us look yet more carefully at this passage. What is meant here by the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven? It means what it means in the third chapter of Matthew, where John the Baptist said, "Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"; it means the reign or government of God through Jesus Christ in the heart and life here on the earth. That is to say, in preparing to live, I must seek first an entrance into that kingdom and a title to its privileges and its joys, and when my relations to that kingdom are settled, which are my relations to God, then these other things in the order of their importance require due attention. Well, let us put it in yet other words in order to get the thought still more clearly. What do we mean by seeking first the kingdom of heaven? Seeking; that means any effort upon our part during the time which God has appointed for that purpose, to obtain reconciliation with him; that means any effort on our part toward regeneration, any effort that we may put forth to become a child of God, a subject of Jesus Christ. That is seeking the kingdom of heaven. What is meant by righteousness? "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." Evidently from the connection the reference here is not to the imputed righteousness of Christ; that is abundantly set forth in other scriptures, and that, too is obtained in entering into the kingdom of heaven. That belongs to the initial process and is involved in regeneration. The righteousness here referred to is the personal righteousness of the subject of the kingdom, practical holiness, practical obedience to God’s command.

Now mark the order. Suppose I try to be righteous and sanctified before I am converted, surely I will fall – must seek God first. "I will cultivate morality. I will pay my debts. I will tell the truth. I will be good." How good without being reconciled to God, how good without regeneration, how good without the motive of love of God in the heart? The thing can’t be done. Next, what is meant then by "shall be added to you?" It means this, that God’s care in providing for the temporal necessities of his people in this life is just as efficient as his care for the salvation of their souls.

I say that if we will first settle our relation to God by becoming a Christian, and then from the basis of regeneration, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, being now saved, we follow on into good works and into holy living, then the Bible promise is that all these other things shall be added.

Let me now show what the Bible says about this life, and how these things shall be added. Let us take a passage from Psalm 37; it has never been falsified; it holds true in every age of the world: "Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." What is the anxiety here? "I was afraid I would not have a place among men in the land. I was afraid I would not have provision." "Trust, in the Lord and do good and verily thou shalt be fed." "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." Again: "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Again: "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noonday," the very righteousness of this passage. "Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him." Yet again: "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down." "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away and lo, he was not. But mark the perfect man, consider the upright – the end of that man is peace." Peace here, peace at the end. "O, that I might die the death of the righteous and that my last end might be like his." That same psalm says, "I have been young and now am old, and yet never have I seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread." Take this one: "The Lord God is a sun and a shield. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." Take this scripture: "All things work together for good to them that love God; to them that are the called according to his purpose."

And it means all things above, here, below, night, day, moon, stars, breezes, storms, calms, afflictions, and bright days of prosperity, enemies – EVERYTHING. Even hell shall work for our good if we love God.

For example and by way of illustration, consider the things that to an outsider seem to be the hardest things on this earth to do, nor can he understand how a Christian does them, First, giving money. I have had men to look at me as if I were crazy and they seemed to be sorry for me that I should feel constrained to give so liberally to the cause of Christ. They don’t know anything about it. Take giving then as an illustration and let me show that if first we have given ourselves to God (mark that for we do not give money to obtain salvation, but if first we have entered the kingdom of God,) and, moved with a love of God, we freely give, then for w God brightens earth and the grave and heaven. How is that? Does it help in this life? Our Saviour said, "Give, and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over." That is in this life; that is here.

I do say it, and the Lord beareth me witness that I lie not, that for the protection of my family in the matter of support I have never had one single anxiety since the day that my wife and I, without a dollar in the world, covenanted with God and settled the question of our financial relation to him, and I never more expect to have any. I say that it is the truth that not one wave of anxiety or trouble as to how I am to be fed and clothed, has ever rolled over my mind since that eventful day twenty-seven years ago, I determined to settle that question, and it was settled from top to bottom.

Well, now, suppose the question was asked me: "Has God taken care of you? Has he been good to you? Has he kept you? Has he clothed you? Has he kept you out of debt? Has he enabled you not only to have, but to have in order to give?" Why, I would have to say, "Lord, it has been good measure; it has been pressed down; it has been shaken together, and it runs over all the time in this life." And never on the earth was anything truer than that.

Now let us take the life to come on this question. Listen to the Saviour: "Whosoever shall give a cup of cold water to a disciple in the name of a disciple, shall receive a disciple’s reward." Hear him again when he says, "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when it shall fail they [the friends that you have made by it] shall receive you into everlasting habitations." Listen again, and I want to show that such is the life to come. The charge of Paul, the charge to rich men: "Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded nor trust to uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us all things to enjoy. Charge them that they do good; that they be rich in good works; that they be ready to distribute and willing to contribute, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life."

I take one other scripture only. I will take it from a scene that ought to touch every heart. It is from the judgment day. Graves have opened, death and hell have given up their dead and all nations are standing before God, and I see them separate right and left, and I hear the words of the Lord: "Come ye blessed of my Father; enter into the kingdom of heaven prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was sick and ye visited me. I was hungry and ye fed me. I was naked and ye clothed me." Lord, when? When did we do this? "Inasmuch as you did it unto the least of my disciples you did it unto me." Here, then, is giving – the giving of a converted, of a saved man, brightening the hearthstone of every one who thus lives, and bringing blessings on a dark, lonely traveler on the mountain’s height; brightening the shadows of death and the realms beyond; brightening the home that is on high.

Our Saviour follows this with several other items of interest, such as the prohibition of censorious judgments, the privilege of a messianic subject to come to God as a child comes to an earthly parent, the exhortation to enter the straight gate, the unchangeable law that the tree is known by its fruits, and last, the principle that discipleship is manifested, not by profession but by obedience.

There are several items here that need to be emphasized, but they are brought out in the interpretation of other passages. Therefore I will only mention them, citing where may be found my discussion on these subjects. First, the question of offending members, here raised in Matthew 5:29-31, is discussed in connection with Mark 9:47 in this volume. Second, the divorce question, here raised in Matthew 5:32, is discussed in connection with Matthew 19:1-12 in The Four Gospels, Part II of "The Interpretation." Third, the question of oaths here raised in Matthew 5:33-37, is discussed in Exodus-Levitictis of "The Interpretation." Fourth, the comment of our Lord on the model prayer relative to forgiveness, is discussed in connection with the subject of repentance, in chapter XV of this volume. Fifth, the question of the "few saved" of Matthew 8:13-14, is discussed in connection with Luke 13:23, in Part II of The Four Gospels.

This Sermon on the Mount closes with a vivid description of the two builders, showing the beauty and permanency of a life founded upon the teachings of our Lord and the awful crash of life structure built on any other foundation than Christ, the Rock of Ages. One is here reminded of the modern song, "On Christ the Solid Rock," which, like this passage, shows the necessity of building on the rock, as 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 shows the necessity of the right sort of material to be placed in the building on the rock. "All other ground is sinking sand"; all combustible material will be consumed. But whatever the material, if on the sand, it must fall and "great will be the fall thereof."

QUESTIONS

1. Who were the historians of the Sermon on the Mount?

2. What was the scene of this sermon?

3. What the occasion of it?

4. What was the design of it, negatively and positively?

5. What can you say of the matter of this sermon?

6. What of its style?

7. Explain the terms used to describe the style.

8. What can you say of the rank of this sermon?

9. What is the evidence of divine authorship in this sermon?

10. What are the three great heads of the outline of this sermon?

11. What relations are expressed under the third great head?

12. What are the characteristics of the principles of the Christian religion as brought out in this sermon? Illustrate.

13. How many Beatitudes here? Repeat them from memory.

14. What is revealed in each of these Beatitudes? Quote Bums in point and illustrate by New Testament examples,

15. How do these Beatitudes correspond with the teaching of Epicureanism and Stoicism?

16. Show how these Beatitudes are double.

17. Give the woe of each Beatitude, either expressed or implied.

18. What, more particularly, the interpretation of the First Beatitude? Illustrate by New Testament parables.

19. For what do the blessed here in the Second Beatitude mourn?

20. How is this thought expressed by Tom Moore?

21. How does Jesus express the comfort of this thought elsewhere and where do we reach the fulness of the promise here?

22. Give briefly the import of all the other Beatitudes.

23. What is the responsibility of the subjects of the kingdom, how is it expressed and how is the importance of it shown? Illustrate.

24. Show the value and importance of God’s people from the figures used.

25. How is our responsibility in the matter expressed, and what is the general application?

26. What should be the application of this principle to politics? Illustrate.

27. What is it’s application to Christian and church fellowship? Give scriptural proof.

28. What are the points in the Aaron Burr and Breckenridge cases, respectively?

29. What several subjects are treated in the third main division of this sermon?

30. What, in detail, is the interpretation of Matthew 6:33, what are the several scriptures cited to corroborate this interpretation, and what is the application?

31. What other subjects here need to be emphasized and where may be found a discussion of each?

32. How does our Lord close the Sermon on the Mount?