mercy.

the worldly-minded, who are hankering after political advancement, and outward treasures, and the mad joys of conquest. "A true desire to know and do the will of God will secure its own end."

7. Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy. The merciful are the compassionate, forgiving, those who feel for others' wants and woes, and seek to relieve them. They stand in contrast with the hard-hearted, cruel, revengeful, and pitiless. Our Saviour here reverses a favorite desire of the Jews around him. They panted to take vengeance on their enemies, their Roman oppressors. They nursed a stern and cruel hatred in their breasts. The fury with which it broke out and burned, forty years after, is evidence how thoroughly it had taken possession of them. Knowing their vindictive temper, Jesus, instead of still farther inflaming it, as they expected and desired, goes directly counter to it, and puts the benediction on the opposite quality of mercy. He else where advances the same thought. Matt. v. 45, vi. 12, 14, 15, xviii. 23-35. The merciful will have mercy from both God and man. From God, for if we show kindness and forgiveness, we prove that we are deserving of the same ourselves. By forgiveness we imitate him, and assimilate ourselves to his character. A merciful temper has in itself an earnest of God's favor. We please him by our suppression of cruel and resentful feelings. He is ready, when he sees such charitable and merciful dispositions reigning in our characters, to do to us as we do to others. 2 Sam. xxii. 26, 27; Ps. xviii. 25, 26. From men, also, the merciful obtain mercy. Prov. xi. 17. Or

8. Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God. Purity of heart is insisted on in contradistinction to the outward and ceremonial purity enjoined by the Scribes and Pharisees, while within they were full of all manner of moral uncleanness. The pure are the innocent, the spotless, the holy, the undefiled. Their spirits have not contracted the blots and stains of sin, or else they have had them washed white again in the living waters that "flow fast by the oracle of God." See God. A figure of sense to describe a spiritual state. To see God is to understand his character, realize his providence, and to have a close walk with him. By purity and faith, we may live as seeing him who is invisible. The expression perhaps has some allusion to the Jewish rites, as the ceremonially pure alone were admitted to the worship and presence of God in his temple. Ps. xxiv. 3, 4. In the east, likewise, where monarchs seldom appear to their subjects, to see them was accounted the highest of honors and privileges, and equivalent to enjoying their friendship. Prov. xxii. 29. To see God is to enjoy his favor. Said Origen: "God has no body,

and therefore is invisible; but men of contemplation can discern him with the heart and understanding. But a defiled heart cannot see God; but he must be pure who wishes to enjoy a proper view of a pure being. Heb. xii. 14. As the clear mirror reflects distinctly the objects placed before it, so does the pure heart reflect the image of God.

9. The peacemakers. That is, those who are pacific in themselves, and promoters of peace around them. I sound no preparation of war, Jesus virtually said; I summon you to no fields of carnage; on the contrary, my beatitude is for the lovers and maintainers of peace and concord. - They shall be called the children of God. The word called is used, by an idiom of the Hebrew tongue, for the verb to be. The sense would be expressed in English thus: They will be the children of God. Those who resemble God in his character, and are beloved and approved by him, are called, in Scripture phraseology, his sons, his children. Jesus was the Son of God in the strongest degree, because he possessed in full those excellences which secured his favor. Men, who use their influence to allay contentions and promote peace, peace in families, in neighborhoods, in nations, over the globe, and every man may do something, many may do much, liken themselves to the divine character. They vindicate their sonship to the God of Peace. They are the favored ones of Heaven. How full of honor, privilege, and joy, is such a relationship! 1 Cor. xiv. 33; Rom. xv. 33, xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 11; Phil. iv. 9; Heb. xiii. 20.

10. Blessed are they which are persecuted, &c. Those that are unjustly despised, calumniated, imprisoned, tortured, killed. Persecution may consist of other injuries than those upon liberty, property, and life. Reputation may be attacked, odium excited, feelings lacerated, sincerity and goodness brought into groundless suspicion. The tongue and the pen can inflict deeper wounds than the sword. "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." 2 Tim. iii. 12. In the imperfect, misjudging, prejudiced communities of the freest lands, a man cannot act up to his sense of duty, in morals and belief, "dare singly to be just,"

conferring not with flesh and blood," without falling upon evil tongues. The Apostle told the plain, but sad truth. We ought not, of course, to court persecution. But if its lighter or heavier blows fall upon us, for righteousness' sake, on account of our love and practice of moral goodness, on account of our religious independence, and devotion to duty, then happy are we. Happier we are, unspeakably, than the persecutor; happier than those who repress honest convictions because they are unpopular, and who seek to please men, rather than God. Theirs is the kingdom of

heaven.

"Here also is a sentiment in direct opposition to the prejudices of the Jews. It must have been no slight mystery to them, how the kingdom of heaven was to belong to the persecuted, the despised, and the oppressed. In that kingdom they fondly hoped all their natural evils would cease, that there would be ease, and plenty, and health, and profound peace, and joy. And yet

this Teacher, upon whom all eyes are fixed, to whom all are listening, pronounces the humble, the lowly, and the persecuted, the true and happy possessors of the heavenly kingdom. To us what truth is now unfolded in the language of Jesus! They who have suffered in the cause of truth and goodness, what a glorious dominion is theirs! How they reign in the hearts of a grateful posterity! And as believers in the doctrine of immortality, we discern them living in a higher state, and reigning in the affections of myriads of intelligences."

11. When men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you. Better, every kind of evil against you. The thought of the last verse is here expanded yet farther. The third person is changed to the second, bringing the idea more directly home to his disciples. Revilings were heaped upon Jesus. He was called a Samaritan, a term of bitter reproach, and was said to be in league with Beelzebub, the prince of demons. He was accused of being insane, and the pains of crucifixion were sharpened by the scoffs of the bystanders. But he reviled not again. His disciples had to bear the derision of their enemies, the vulgar abuse of the crowd, or the lofty scorn of the philosophers and princes of their day. But their prayer was, "let not this sin be laid to their charge." How much nobler and happier these victims of the world's ridicule and hate, than the objects of popular adulation! They were persecuted, prosecuted, as the force of the word suggests. They were accused in courts, and thousands, like the Saviour, were

illegally and unjustly condemned to death. The tongue of slander was also busy against the early Christians. They were loaded with charges the most groundless. All manner of evil was falsely reported against them. Their holy doctrines were grossly misrepresented. Their innocent ceremonies were tortured into crimes. Their benevolent efforts were turned into treason to the state, and blasphemy to the gods.-Falsely. There is point in this word. For, if the allegations brought against them were well grounded, they would have been far from being blessed. 1 Peter iii. 13 -18, iv. 14-16.-For my sake, i. e. in the cause of the Christian religion. There was no argument more powerful, to convince the world of the truth and value of the Gospel in early times, than the meek and patient endurance of their wrongs by the first Christians. This won the hearts of their most inhuman persecutors. And cases

are stated, where the executioner, moved by their noble bearing, suddenly embraced the truth, and perished himself by the very instrument with which he was about to inflict death upon them.

12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, &c. The Jews looked for joys in a temporal, triumphant reign of their deliverer; Jesus, in overturning their hopes, would not overturn their happiness, but informs them, that they would derive the highest degree of pleasure from the labors and sufferings consequent upon their adhesion to him. Their reward would not be like the uncertain favors of princes, but spiritual, secure, and everlasting, laid up in heaven. It would be a reward,

not.

not limited to the gratification of the senses, not a poor satisfaction of some temporal, superficial desire, but large, deep, intense, commensurate with the vast and undying as pirations of immortals. So perse cuted they the prophets. Prophets include all religious teachers, whether they predicted future events or The language of Jesus is, You need not be surprised at the prospect of persecution; it is no more than all the great and good have suffered. In this respect my dispensation is analogous to that of Moses. The religion of heaven will stir up the hostility of a bad world, and its promulgators will inevitably be the first objects on which that hostility wreaks itself. Moses met with disobedience, taunts, and insurrection. Exod. xvii. 2, xxxii. 1; Num. xvi. 13. Elijah was in hazard of his life, and hunted like a wild beast. 1 Kings xviii. 10, xix. 2, 3. Elisha was mocked at even by the children in the street. 2 Kings ii. 23. Jeremiah was put in the stocks, beaten, cast into a most loathsome dungeon, and_repeatedly menaced with death. Jer. xx. 2, xxvi. 8–15, xxxii. 2, xxxvii. 1316, xxxviii. 6. The faithful Three were placed in a red-hot furnace. Dan. iii. 21, 22. Daniel was thrown into a den of lions. vi. 16. The prediction of the Saviour was verified in the persecution of his Apostles and disciples, as we learn from the history of the planting of Christianity. But they joyed in stripes, imprisonment, and death; and, sustained by a good conscience, their Master's example, and the hopes of heaven, they sang "their hymns of lofty cheer" in the dungeon, and at the stake.

13. Ye are the salt of the earth. Livy, the Roman historian, calls Greece sal gentium, the salt of the nations. Salt is used for preserving articles of food from taint, and for imparting to them a stimulating flavor. Hence, naturally, it became a symbol of preservation, of spiritedness, and wisdom. Mark ix. 50; Col. iv. 6. Some understand by the salt, the Jews. But the sense is, more probably, that the disciples would be the salt of the whole world. Through them, the Gospel would season, inspirit, and purify the corrupt race. By hearing him, they had been summoned to a great moral enterprise. The hopes of the earth rested on them. It was a caution to discharge so great a trust, and not lose their savor; not desert him, and prove false to their privileges, and duties to the world. The same warning holds morally good through all ages. Christians are the salt of the earth, the preservers from moral putrefaction. Let them not become insipid, lifeless, good for nothing. If the salt have lost his savor, &c. By exposure to the atmosphere, rock salt loses its useful properties, and becomes tasteless. His is frequently used for its in the Scriptures. Maundrell, in his Travels in the East in 1697, describing the valley of salt, near Aleppo, says, "Along on one side of the valley, towards Gibul, there is a small precipice, about two men's length, occasioned by the continual taking away of the salt, and in this you may see how the veins of it lie. I broke a piece of it, of which that part that was exposed to the rain, sun, and air, though it had the sparks and particles of salt, yet it had perfectly lost its savor; the in

ner part, which was connected to the rock, retained its savor, as I found by proof." You are to be the preservers and purifiers of the world; but if you become corrupt, what means will there be of reforming and purifying you? Woe unto you, if, when you are thus privileged and commissioned, you prove unfaithful to your high trust. You will be castaways and vagabonds. Cast out, and trodden under foot of men. It is supposed by some commentators, that allusion is here made to a bituminous salt procured from the Dead Sea, which, as it had a fragrant odor, was sprinkled over the sacrifices in the Temple to counteract the smell of the burning flesh; and as it sometimes spoiled when laid up, by exposure to the sun and air, it was scattered over the Temple pavements in wet weather to prevent slipping; thus it was cast out and trodden under foot. The illustration possesses great point, if the practice was observed in our Saviour's day.

14. Ye are the light of the world. The most eminent Jewish Rabbins were called "the lights of the world." Jesus applies the title to those who heard and followed him. They would enlighten the world, not with the rays of material light, but, what was of transcendent consequence, with a moral illumination, chasing away the darkness of superstition and sin. Christ said of himself, that he was the light of the world, the sun of the moral uniHe calls John the Baptist a burning and shining light."

verse.

Paul denominates the Philippian Christians as those that "shine as lights in the world." It is commonly said of illustrious men, that they are "the lights of their age and country." Light, as well as heat, is requisite to vivify the cold, benighted world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Our Lord was accustomed to take his similes from the most obvious things; from the sun in the sky, the birds flying through the air, the lilies in the field. On this occasion, probably a city was in view from the eminence on which Jesus delivered this address; perhaps that of Japhia or Bethulia. Christians have not ceased to be the salt of the earth, and the light of the world, and cities set on hills. They are seen and read by all men. Their characters and conduct are criticized. If true, they spread moral fertility and beauty around them; if false, they defeat the cause they profess to aid.

15. Neither do men light a candle, fc. Luke xi. 33. Candles were not used then. The word should have been translated lamp; also lamp-stand, instead of candlestick. For bushel, we ought to read measure; the word in the original signifies a vessel of less capacity than a peck. The sentence contains a proverbial phraseology, to express, depriving any thing of its utility by putting it to some use the farthest possible from the one for which it was intended. Religion is not to be kept secret, any more than it is to be ostentatiously obtruded upon the notice of mankind; but it should