Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

CHAPTER XI.

CHRISTIAN GRACES.

1. The sermon on the mount.-2. The poor in spirit.-3. They that mourn.-4. The meek.-5. The hungering and thirsting.-6. The merciful.-7. The pure in heart.-8. The peace makers.

1. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

THE graces of the Christian form a large and extensive subject that much exceeds the limits of this work. To give a brief account of them, the beatitudes with which our Lord commenced his sermon on the mount, and the tempers there commended and blessed, will alone be considered in this chapter.

This sermon contains, as it were, the royal constitution of the spiritual kingdom of Christ. It sets before us those graces and that character which are to be attained, and the conduct which is now to be followed, in order that we may be made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. It was given by our Lord, after he had chosen his apostles, at the commencement of his ministry, to great multitudes of people, who were gathered together to hear him. We have then, in this discourse, the most solemn and important instruction as to the true na

ture of the gospel. The preparation had been made for this sermon by the previous ministry of John the Baptist. John the Baptist had been preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He had been warning the Pharisees and Sadducees to flee from the wrath to come, and had been proclaiming that the Lord would come, and that he would burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Our Lord himself had been preaching throughout Galilee the same preparatory truth: Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; and had been proving his divine mission by healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

Attracted by his miracles, and awakened by his alarming doctrines, vast multitudes followed him, some to be healed of their diseases, and others to be farther instructed in the things of the kingdom of God. The ground had thus been ploughed up, and now our Lord casts in the precious seed of the word.

Our Lord began this ministry of his gospel with blessings, as he closed all his labours on earth with a blessing. He came into the world to bless us, and the chief blessing, and one above all price, is that he turns away every one of us who look to him from all our iniquities. You will observe, in this description, that happiness is made to consist in the right inward state of the mind. How merciful is this! outward circumstances we cannot command or control, but the right inward state of the mind may be gained under any outward circumstances. The graces mentioned are not those which we by nature think most calculated to make us blessed; but they will be found to be so in the Christian's happy experience. They

are not graces which we possess naturally, but they are the work of the divine Spirit in the heart. It is the voice of infinite wisdom, almighty power, and boundless love, that here speaks, and sets before us the true path of happiness; how gracious in our God to give us so pure and perfect a guide!

There are seven leading beatitudes. After stating these, our Lord describes the opposition which his followers meet with from the world, the happiness here and hereafter of the believer even amidst all his trials, and the happy influence of his character on others, as the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The beatitudes themselves are as follows:-Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaBlessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. merciful, for they shall obtain pure in heart, for they shall see God. peace-makers, for they shall be called

ven.

God.

mercy.

Meditation.

Blessed are the

Blessed are the

Blessed are the

the children of

What a clustre of blessings, graces, and glories have we here set before us! O that I did with full purpose of heart seek after these infinitely desirable gifts and benefits received through the gospel. Lord, open my eyes to see their spiritual beauty and desirableness, and to follow after Christ fully, and through him attain them.

2. THE POOR IN SPIRIT.

It is remarkable that the Lord begins the account of the graces of his people with this sense of their need of every grace. He shews that the root of all their happiness is in having their eyes opened to their real need, their emptiness of all good. Poverty of spirit is the feeling sense of utter want, and entire helplessness, as to the soul.

Though this be our real state and condition before God, yet it is by no means the view which men have of themselves. Our natural views are self-complacent and self-sufficient; and the light of the gospel does not of itself dispel this inward darkness of our minds; thus it was said to the church of Laodicea, 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. The apostle had to tell the Galatians, If a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. This is, indeed, a growing grace, and marks the servants of God in their best estate; thus Job at last confesses, Behold I am vile, what shall I answer thee; I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Isaiah, in a similar manner, is led to exclaim, Woe is me! for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips: and St. Paul testifies, In me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. I am the chief of sinners.

Christian reader, are you brought to this view of yourself? Have you been led to see that all these high notions of ourselves as being better than others, having superior wisdom, skill and management; or

having better conducted ourselves; or that we should have done differently, if situated as others, really arise from pride and self-ignorance; that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; our sufficiency is of God; that, if we differ at all from others, it is God only that makes us to differ, and we have nothing but what we have received? Christian reader, do you see that you cannot think a good thought, or will a holy purpose, or do a good work, if left to yourselves, according to the positive testimony of your Lord, without me ye can do nothing? And, in this sense of entire emptiness of all good, are you looking to Jesus, in whom all fulness dwells, and entering into David's feelings, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want?

This is poverty of spirit; and to this is annexed the promise, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That heavenly kingdom so much predicted in the Old Testament (Gen. xlix. 10. Psalm ii. 6-12; Ixxii. ; lxxxix. 3, 4, 19—36 ; cx. 1–4. Isaiah ix. 6,7; xxxii.; Dan. ii. 44; vii. 14, 18, 22, 27, &c. &c.) belongs to those thus empty of self. It is for the poor and needy; it is for the sinful and guilty. The promises of it all belong to them; the graces of it are for them; the present sufferings of it are for them; the future glory is for them. They have already been born again, and are renewed in spirit; they are ready to welcome its varied truths, and they shall receive more and more of the divine Spirit, who delights to dwell in the humble and contrite heart.

The King of that kingdom is theirs to guide, govern, and bless them. He is their hiding place from the wind, and their covert from the tempest. He is to them as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, and

« AnteriorContinuar »