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9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

also acts by which we are said to see God; and rightly to understand the gospel of Christ, and so to love the truth which it reveals, and habitually and affectionately to meditate upon it, is called "beholding with unveiled face the glory of the Lord." In all these respects the pure in heart see God on earth; and the more fully and habitually so, as their purity becomes more perfect. The promise, however, chiefly respects a future life. To see God as he manifests himself to the glorified spirits of the redeemed in heaven, has from the beginning been the crowning hope of good men, and formed their noblest conception of future felicity and glory. Thus Job, "In my flesh shall I SEE God;" and of the man that "walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly," Isaiah says, "Thine eyes shall SEE THE KING in his beauty." Concurring with these views, and with special reference to these very words of our Saviour, St. John has the following glowing passage :-" Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall SEE HIM AS HE IS. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." Those who would confine the purity of heart spoken of in this verse to purity of intention, would not greatly err, if they extended the notion as far as Bernard, who defines purity of intention to consist" in directing all our actions to the honour of God, the good of our neighbour, and the preservation of a good conscience." But how vast, how complete a change in man's moral nature does all this necessarily suppose ! a change only to be accomplished by the great power of God, "working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, that we may be perfect in every good work to do his will."

Verse 9. Blessed are the peacemakers.— This is equivalent to of Tolotes Tv εipny, persons who, being themselves of a pacific disposition, exert themselves as to others

to allay strifes, reconcile enmities, prevent wars and tumults, and to preserve society in harmony and charity. There is in this a tacit reproof of the factious and quarrelsome spirit of the Jews, and also of that eagerness to be led to war, in order to obtain the supremacy over other nations under the banners of their expected military Messiah, which was so much indulged by their greatest zealots. Now, however, the true Messiah speaks to them in his own appropriate character, as the Prince of Peace, and declares that only the lovers and makers of peace are regarded as the children of God, and therefore the subjects of his kingdom: another indication to them of its purely spiritual nature; a character which it must retain to the end of time, unless the essential principles of Christianity are to be changed; a subject which ought to be well considered by those among ourselves, who indulge the Jewish dream of a visible and political reign of Christ. The reign of Christ is internal; it governs the hearts of men, and by them shall govern the world in tranquillity, when all or the majority of our race shall have become subject, in their principles and affections, to its influence. So far as it now extends, its effect is to produce a pacific temper, and to harmonize the otherwise jarring elements of human society. We see this exemplified in pious families, and in those religious societies which retain most of their primitive simple-heartedness, and most respect the rule of Christ," to love one another." These are delightful portraits, though in miniature, of the ultimate effect of the religion of peace and charity upon larger communities, and finally upon all nations.

For they shall be called the children of God.-To be called the children of God may be regarded as a Hebraism for to be the children of God; or the sense is, they shall be emphatically entitled "the children of God," who is "the God of peace." Thus St. Paul: "Be ye therefore followers of God as dear CHILDREN, and

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10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

e 1 Peter iii. 14.

walk in love." Eph. v. 1, 2. All the children of God are lovers and promoters of peace; and those who are of a contrary disposition have no right to invest themselves with that high title, or to consider themselves as a part of the family of God.

Verse 10. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake.—The Pharisees and others looked for applause on account of their "righteousness;" and they acquired it in proportion to the opinion entertained of their sanctity. The righteousness of Christ's disciples was to expose them to obloquy and to persecution; yet the one was external and hypocritical, the other real and universal. He only that perfectly knew the human heart could predict, and that in an age when every appearance of extraordinary piety commanded a deeply respectful deference, that in the case of his disciples the highest religious attainments should render them the more odious, and expose them to every form of insult and cruelty which malignant ingenuity could invent. The true reason was, that their righteousness "exceeded the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees;" exceeded it as the result of penitence, humility, trust in God, and the renunciation of all the secret evils of the heart; and exceeded it in its uniform and universal practical character. It was therefore a standing reproof of that righteousness which consisted chiefly in formality and hypocrisy. And as the very charity of the gospel bound those who received it to endeavour to remove the delusions of those who trusted in "the form of godliness, but denied its power," it was felt to be intrusive, troublesome, and provoking to bad and deceived men. These are the causes which have ever made the religion of Christ, when fully explained and earnestly enforced, the object of the hatred of the world. The religion of the superstitious and self-righteous consists with pride, worldliness, and many

other vices, the mortification of which is required by true Christianity. Hence hatred of the truth itself naturally transfers itself to those who advocate it, and disturb the carnal security of others by a faithful and zealous exhibition of its reproving light. If any one thinks that the case is much changed in the present day, let him enforce upon all he meets with the spiritual nature and obligations of Christianity, and he will not fail to discover that still "the carnal mind is enmity against God." The word rendered persecute, as Grotius well observes, is of forcible and extensive meaning. The Latin, persequi, does not express its force, which is rather to be taken in the sense of vexare, exagitare. We are not, therefore, with Beza, to confine it to the forensic sense, as persequi judicio; for it has not only been at the tribunals of tyrants that Christians have suffered persecution, but in the various forms of private malignity, and tumultuous popular commotion. It may also be remarked, that the most violent persecutors have been found among superstitious and fanatical men, who have themselves made great pretensions to some kind of sanctity. Antiochus Epiphanes was a fanatical idolater; the Jewish Scribes and Pharisees pursued our Lord and his disciples with unrelenting bitterness; "trusted in themselves that they were righteous." Several of the Roman emperors who distinguished themselves most against the primitive church were blind in their attachment to the popular religion; and Popery and Mahometanism would have been less cruel had they been less superstitious and selfrighteous.

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Good men, in seasons of persecution, often enter most deeply into the experience of Christianity. It is only by maintaining the vigour of these graces, that they can maintain the ground on which they are exposed to attacks so constant and rude; and their

11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of 'evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were

before you.

13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his 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.

f 1 Peter iv. 14.

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* Greek, lying.

immediate reward is a more intimate fellowship with God, and richer internal consolations. "As our afflictions abound our consolations abound." In this sense the kingdom of heaven may be truly said to be theirs, who are persecuted for righteousness' sake;" though our Lord ultimately refers, as in the twelfth verse, to the rewards of another life. Among the crowns of heaven the martyr's crown is the most glorious. Hence the strong exhortation," Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven." For so persecuted they the prophets, &c. -If yap be taken in its most common import as a causative conjunction, then the reason for this joy of the persecuted disciples of Christ, as drawn from the case of the prophets, is, that as those venerable persons, notwithstanding their persecutions, were then enjoying the high rewards of heaven, the disciples were assured that the same felicities and honours would as certainly follow their sufferings for the same cause. But if yap be taken as a particle of affirmation, then the intention of Christ was to remove all surprise from the minds of men that the teachers of his religion should be hated and injured solely on that account. The answer to this tacit objection, therefore, is, As the holy prophets were persecuted by bad men, so bad men will always be disposed to hate and persecute my holy and zealous disciples. The former sense is, I think, to be preferred.

Verse 13. Ye are the salt of the earth.

g Mark ix. 50; Luke xiv. 34. This is undoubtedly spoken of the true disciples of Christ. Salt furnishes metaphor, both to profane and sacred writers, to express the qualities and effects of wisdom, truth, and goodness. The particular property of this mineral which is here referred to is its resistance to putrefaction. In the midst of that which is corrupt it preserves its own purity; and it diffuses its own influence through the mass of several substances, and communicates to them its own incorruptibility. Thus the character and the public influence of true Christians are each forcibly represented. The earth signifies, not the land of Judea, as in verse 5, but the whole world. This is made evident by what follows, which is but the same idea placed under another aspect : "Ye are the light of the world," referring to the sun, which gives light to all nations. Christianity, exemplified, maintained, and diffused by the disciples of Christ, was designed for the illumination and salvation of all mankind. Thus our Lord, even at this early period, taught that the benefits of his mission were not to be confined to the Jews only; a subject, however, which was not as yet fully apprehended by his hearers, though in perfect accordance with the prophecies of their own scriptures.

But if the salt have lost his savour.-We have no indigenous salt of this description; but the salt of Judea was the rock or fossil salt, or else that left by the evaporation of salt lakes on the borders of the Dead Sea. Both these kinds of

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

h

15 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.

h Mark iv. 21; Luke viii. 16; xi. 33.

The word in the original signifieth, a measure containing about a pint less than a peck.

salt were apt to lose their pungency. Maundrell in his travels broke off a piece of salt from a rock, and found that externally, through exposure to the atmosphere, it had become tasteless; but the inner part, where it had been joined to the rock, retained its savour. Schoetgen has shown that considerable quantities of salt were used in sacrifice, and that when any part of it had been found tasteless, it was thrown upon the floor of the court of the temple. This, however, better explains a similar passage in Mark ix. 49, 50: "Every sacrifice shall be salted with fire. Salt is good," &c., where the use of salt in the sacrifices is expressly referred to. Here the general qualities of good salt to preserve and to communicate its own incorruptibility are those referred to; and whether in the temple, or in domestic use, if any portion of salt was found to have lost its saltness, it would, as a matter of course, be thrown away, and so be trampled under foot.

The savourless salt represents those who have lost the vital influence of piety. Neither does their conversation savour of the things of God; nor do their conduct and spirit exert a sanctifying influence upon others. Their profession may remain; the doctrines of Christ may still generally be held; all the external signs of piety may be exhibited by them; but the spirit, the PUNGENCY, is gone. The dry and sapless branch, and the tasteless and unsavoury salt, are their proper emblems. And as the salt which had lost its savour was rejected from those nobler uses for which it had become unfit, and cast upon the ground to be trodden under foot, so the disowning of unfaithful disciples by Christ, and their degradation and punishment, are thus strongly represented for the admonition of the careless.

The expression, "wherewith shall it be salted," appears not to have been rightly understood by those interpreters who think that it imports that the savour of grace can never be regained, and that therefore the case of hopeless apostates is represented under this figure. It was rather the intention of our Lord to impress his disciples with the sin and danger of being USELESS to mankind, through the neglect of personal and influential piety. "Ye are the salt of the earth; but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall IT," that is, the earth, "be salted?" or purified. To be useless, is, in fact, to be injurious; and he who neglects his own salvation is a hinderance to many others. Thus is his guilt aggravated. Mwpairw answers to the Hebrew word on, which signifies both unsavouriness and a fool; that is, a man destitute of both wisdom and goodness.

Verses 14, 15. Ye are the light of the world, &c.-In these verses we have three metaphors, which, equally with the former, are intended to impress the disciples of Christ with their duty to the world in general. They are all public, not merely private characters; they are to communicate, as well as to receive; and to consider themselves bound, by their very profession, to extend as far as possible the light and influence of their religion; they are therefore called, "the light of the world," in allusion to the sun; "a city set upon a hill;" and are further compared to the house-lamp, which was lighted in the evening, in every family in the common apartment. Perhaps there is here a reference to the threefold duty obligatory upon every true Christian, as a public character, to the world, to his country, and to his family. The SUN gives

16 Let your light so shine before men, 'that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

i 1 Peter ii. 12.

light to all the nations of the earth; and upon every Christian the obligation lies, according to his ability, to promote by his prayers, his exertions, and his liberalities, the extension of the kingdom of Christ throughout the whole earth. The CITY set upon the hill alluded to, might be Jerusalem; for, whether this sermon was delivered in sight of the metropolis or not, we see from the constant references made in the Psalms to its lofty situation, that this was always an association in the mind of a Jew when he spoke of Jerusalem. It was the city "whose foundation was in the holy mountains." As the tribes were in the habit of going up to the great festivals, the lofty situation of Jerusalem, seen at great distances, would become matter of familiar remark. Josephus describes the distant view, crowned with its magnificent temple, and the rays of the sun reflected from its marble towers, as peculiarly striking. So conspicuous ought the church of Christ to be in every nation in which it is planted; and so prominent in all its holy institutions, for the noblest of all patriotic purposes, the maintenance of the authority and influence of religion among all orders of the state. The family LAMP, placed upon its stand, and giving light to the family, seems to indicate the duty of domestic piety and zeal. Their houses were illuminated all night long by lamps placed upon a large stand, or, as our translation calls it, a candlestick," fixed in the ground; from which the smaller lamps were lighted, which were to be used in the other apartments. Such is the office of the head of every Christian family, "to give light to all that are in the house," by his instructions and example.

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Verse 16. Let your light so shine, &c.— This would be better rendered, "So let

your light shine." As no one putteth a lamp under a bushel, podiov, a measure, to hide its light, so let your light shine before men that they may see your good works,—both the truth, of which you are to be the teachers and advocates, and all those holy works which become this truth, and commend it.

And glorify your Father, &c.-To glorify God here does not merely signify to give praise to him, but along with that to confess the truth and divine origin of a religion teaching such truths, and raising men to so high characters of holiness, and under these views and impressions to embrace it.

Verse 17. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, &c.—On this declaration so many great theological consequences depend, that it is highly important for us rightly to understand its import. The word rendered to destroy, signifies, primarily, to loose, to dissolve; and, when applied to a law, means to abrogate or annul. "The law" is used in two leading senses in the New Testament; for the whole Mosaic institute, and for the moral law, by way of eminence, the law whose substance is found in the ten commands "written and engraven on stones," and enforced in the writings of the prophets. The context so clearly confines our Lord's meaning to this moral law, that, had it not been for the occurrence of the word πληρώσαι, to fulfil, in this passage, one of the senses of which is to accomplish, no one probably would have extended our Lord's meaning to the ceremonial law, and to the prophecies in their strict sense as predictions; both of which were truly fulfilled in him; the former, by supplying the antitype to the type; the latter, by accomplishment. This word, however, also signifies, to perfect or complete. The Greek Fathers explain it by filling up a

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