{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_57722/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_57722","id":"gutenberg_57722","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/57722","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Sermon on the mount"],"text":"Produced by Richard Hulse and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was\nproduced from images generously made available by The\nInternet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                        THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT\n\n\n\n\n  \u250c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2510\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502                      Transcriber\u2019s Notes                       \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  Punctuation has been standardized.                            \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  Characters in small caps have been replaced by all caps.      \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  Non-printable characteristics have been given the following   \u2502\n  \u2502  transliteration:                                              \u2502\n  \u2502      Italic text: --> _text_                                   \u2502\n  \u2502        bold text: --> =text=.                                  \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  This book was written in a period when many words had         \u2502\n  \u2502  not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have     \u2502\n  \u2502  multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in   \u2502\n  \u2502  the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated     \u2502\n  \u2502  with a Transcriber\u2019s Note.                                    \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  The symbol \u2018\u2021\u2019 indicates the description in parenthesis has   \u2502\n  \u2502  been added to an illustration. This may be needed if there    \u2502\n  \u2502  is no caption or if the caption does not describe the image   \u2502\n  \u2502  adequately.                                                   \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  Index references have not been checked for accuracy.          \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  Footnotes are identified in the text with a number in         \u2502\n  \u2502  brackets [2] and have been accumulated in a single section    \u2502\n  \u2502  at the end of the text.                                       \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  Transcriber\u2019s Notes are used when making corrections to the   \u2502\n  \u2502  text or to provide additional information for the modern      \u2502\n  \u2502  reader. These notes are not identified in the text, but have  \u2502\n  \u2502  been accumulated in a single section at the end of the book.  \u2502\n  \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2518\n\n\n\n\n              FIRST EDITION            _December, 1896_.\n                    _Reprinted in the same month._\n              _Reprinted_               _January, 1897_.\n              _Reprinted_                 _March, 1897_.\n              _Reprinted_                  _June, 1897_.\n              _Reprinted_                 _March, 1898_.\n              _Reprinted_              _December, 1898_.\n              _Reprinted_                  _June, 1900_.\n              _Reprinted_               _October, 1901_.\n              _Reprinted_               _October, 1902_.\n              _Reprinted_               _January, 1905_.\n\n    _Edition (6d.) for distribution in paper covers, March, 1904._\n\n              _Reprinted_               _October, 1904_.\n              _Reprinted_                 _March, 1906_.\n              SECOND EDITION (1/-)         _June, 1910_.\n              _Reprinted_               _October, 1911_.\n              THIRD EDITION (2/6)         _March, 1912_.\n\n\n\n\n                        THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT\n\n                        A PRACTICAL EXPOSITION\n\n                 BY CHARLES GORE, D.D., D.C.L., LL.D.\n                           BISHOP OF OXFORD\n\n\n                                LONDON\n                   JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.\n                                 1912\n\n\n                          ALL RIGHTS RESERVED\n\n\n\n\n                    PREFACE TO THE REISSUE OF 1910\n\n\nIN reissuing this little book in a new form I wish, by way of preface,\nto say a few words upon the passages (pp. 72\u201278 and Appendix III.,\np. 227) in which I deal with the question of divorce in the Christian\nChurch. I am not prepared to alter the conclusions there drawn, so\nfar as they were drawn from the first Gospel, upon which alone I was\ncommenting. But I should wish to express a different opinion on the\nrelation of the statements about divorce in the first Gospel to those\ngiven us by St. Mark and St. Luke.\n\nThe course of recent criticism seems to make it fairly certain that\nwe must regard the Gospels of St. Mark and St. Luke as giving us our\nLord\u2019s teaching on this subject in its original form. They are as\nfollows:\n\n_St. Mark_ x. 11, 12: \u201cAnd he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put\naway his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her:\nand if she herself shall put away her husband, and marry another, she\ncommitteth adultery.\u201d\n\n_St. Luke_ xvi. 18: \u201cEvery one that putteth away his wife and marrieth\nanother, committeth adultery: and he that marrieth one that is put away\nfrom a husband committeth adultery.\u201d\n\nCp. _1 Cor._ vii. 10, 11: \u201cBut unto the married I give charge, yea not\nI, but the Lord, That the wife depart not from her husband (but and\nif she depart, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her\nhusband); and that the husband leave not his wife.\u201d\n\nOur Lord in these passages is represented as recognizing remarriage\nafter divorce in no case at all. He treats marriage as strictly\nindissoluble. The astonishment of the disciples as expressed even in\nthe first Gospel (St. Matt. xix. 10: \u201cIf the case of the man is so with\nhis wife, it is not expedient to marry\u201d) seems to require this teaching\nto make it intelligible. It would not be intelligible if our Lord\nwere only reasserting the stricter of two views about divorce already\ncurrent among the Jews.[1] On the other hand, it is certain that the\npassages in the first Gospel upon which I have commented in the text\nof this book do admit an exception to the indissolubility of marriage\nin favour at least of the innocent husband in the case of his wife\u2019s\nadultery. I must adhere to all that is said in this book in support of\nthis conclusion; but I now find myself constrained to believe that the\nexception as recorded in St. Matthew, though it is an integral part\nof our present Gospel, represents a serious modification of our Lord\u2019s\nteaching, due probably to Jewish tradition within the Church. The\nJewish Christians seem to have introduced a gloss into their record\nof our Lord\u2019s teaching, believing, no doubt, that they were rightly\ninterpreting His mind; and the gloss is represented in our first Gospel.\nThe fact that the Christian Church has accepted the first Gospel, and\nstamped it with the fullest authority, accounts for the teaching of\nthe Church on the indissolubility of the marriage tie having been in\ncertain times and places uncertain. We cannot to-day equitably ignore\nthe appeal to the first Gospel, even though we do not believe it to\nrepresent on this point the original teaching of our Lord. My practical\nconclusions therefore are not different from those set out in this\nbook, except that I should now be still more decisive than formerly in\nresisting any proposal to introduce any exception into the existing law\nof the Church in England.\n\nFor the substance of this note\u2015\u2015so far as it concerns the Gospels\u2015\u2015I\nwould refer to Dr. Plummer\u2019s _Exegetical Commentary on St. Matthew_\n(Elliot Stock) and Allen\u2019s _International Critical Commentary on\nSt. Matthew_ (T. & T. Clark), on Matt. v. 31 ff. and xix. 3 ff. Also\nto Dr. Salmon\u2019s _Human Element in the Gospels_ (Murray, 1907), p. 391,\nand to a work of Professor Tyson\u2019s entitled _The Teaching of our Lord\nas to the Indissolubility of Marriage_ (University Press of Sewanee,\nTennessee, 1909).\n\n                                                                 C. B.\n\n  _Easter, 1910._\n\n\n\n\n                                PREFACE\n\nThere is no plant in the spiritual garden of the Church of England\nwhich at the present moment needs more diligent watering and tending\nthan the practical, devotional study of Holy Scripture. The extent to\nwhich spiritual sloth, or reaction against Protestant individualism,\nor the excuse of critical difficulties is allowed to minister to the\nneglect of this most necessary practice, is greatly to be deplored. It\nis surprising in how few parts of the Bible critical difficulties, be\nthey what they may, need be any bar to its practical use.\n\nThe present exposition is, I trust, based upon a careful study of the\noriginal text, but it is, as presented, intended simply to assist\nordinary people to meditate on the Sermon on the Mount in the Revised\nVersion, and to apply its teaching to their own lives. If it proves\nuseful, I hope, as occasion offers, to follow it up with other similar\nexpositions of St. Paul\u2019s epistles to the Romans and Ephesians, and the\nepistles of St. John.\n\nMy original intention was to publish some lectures given in\nWestminster Abbey on the Sermon on the Mount in Lent and Easter, 1895.\nBut the attempt to correct for the press a report of those lectures was\npractically abandoned, and the exposition as now printed is a new one.\n\nIt is intended to suggest thoughts rather than to develop them, and\nto minister to practical reflection rather than to intellectual study;\nand I have ventured, in view of this latter aim, to omit almost all\nreferences and discussions such as involve footnotes.\n\nI owe as much gratitude as usual to the Rev. Richard Rackham, my\nbrother in the Community of the Resurrection, for help in the\ncorrection of proofs.\n\n                                                                 C. G.\n\n          RADLEY,\n  _All Saints\u2019 Day, 1896_.\n\n\n\n\n                           TABLE OF CONTENTS\n\n     CHAP.\n        I. THE SERMON\n\n       II. THE BEATITUDES IN GENERAL\n\n      III. THE BEATITUDES IN DETAIL\n\n       IV. THE REVISION OF THE OLD LAW\n\n        V. THE REVISION OF THE OLD LAW (_cont._)\n\n       VI. THE MOTIVE OF THE CITIZENS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN\n\n      VII. THE LORD\u2019S PRAYER\n\n     VIII. UNWORLDLINESS\n\n       IX. CHRISTIAN CHARACTERISTICS\n\n        X. FINAL WARNINGS\n\n  APPENDIX\n        I. THE TEXT OF THE SERMON WITH PARALLEL PASSAGES IN\n           ST. LUKE\u2019S GOSPEL\n\n       II. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR CHRISTIANS\n\n      III. THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH WITH REGARD TO DIVORCE\n\n\n\n\n                               ANALYSIS\n                                  OF\n                        THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT\n\n\n                            ST. MATTHEW V\u2012VII.\n\n  _The character of the citizens of the kingdom of God_      v.  3\u201212\n\n  _The place of this character in the world_                    13\u201216\n\n  _The relation of this character to the righteousness of       17\u201248\n  the old Covenant_\n\n      A relation of continuity                                  17\u201219\n\n      A relation of supersession                                20\u201248\n\n          both of the existing standard of its professors          20\n\n          and of the original standard of the law               21\u201248\n\n              the law of murder (Comm. vi)                      21\u201226\n\n              the law of adultery (Comm. vii)                   27\u201230\n\n              the law of divorce                                31\u201232\n\n              the law of perjury (Comm. iii)                    33\u201237\n\n              the law of retaliation                            38\u201242\n\n              the hatred of enemies                             43\u201248\n\n  _The motive of the citizens of the kingdom_               vi.  1\u201234\n\n      The approval of God, not of man                               1\n\n          this applied to almsgiving                              2\u20124\n\n          this applied to prayer                                  5\u20126\n\n          [further directions about prayer                        7\u20128\n\n          the gift of the pattern prayer                        9\u201215]\n\n          the gift of fasting                                   16\u201218\n\n      their consequent unworldliness                            19\u201224\n\n      and freedom from anxiety                                  25\u201234\n\n  _Further characteristics of the citizens of the          vii.  1\u201212\n  kingdom_\n\n      The uncritical temper                                       1\u20125\n\n      Reserve in communicating religious privileges                 6\n\n      Impartial considerateness, based on experience of\n      the character of God                                       7\u201212\n\n  _Final warnings_                                         vii. 13\u201227\n\n      The two ways                                              13\u201214\n\n      Character the one thing needful                           15\u201223\n\n      Endurance the test                                        24\u201227\n\n\n\n\n                        THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER I\n\n                              THE SERMON\n\n\n                                   I\n\nWHAT is the Sermon on the Mount? It is the moral law of the kingdom\nof Christ, or in other words it occupies in the New Testament the\nplace which in the Old Testament is occupied by the Ten Commandments.\nIt is thus an excellent example of the relation of the two divine\n\u201ctestaments,\u201d or rather covenants, to one another. There is a sentence\nof St. Augustine\u2019s on this subject which it would be useful for every\none to have constantly in mind. \u201cWe do wrong,\u201d he says, \u201cto the Old\nTestament if we deny that it comes from the same just and good God\nas the New. On the other hand, we do wrong to the New Testament if we\nput the Old on a level with it.\u201d[2] This is a general statement of the\nrelation between the two covenants, and it applies especially to the\nmoral law. The moral law of the Old Testament, as it is expressed in\nthe Ten Commandments, was the utterance of the same God who now speaks\nto us in the person of Jesus Christ. It reappears here in the Sermon on\nthe Mount, but deepened and developed. We may say with truth that the\nSermon on the Mount supersedes the Ten Commandments; but it supersedes\nthem by including them in a greater, deeper, and more positive whole.\n\nThis Sermon on the Mount, then, is the moral law of the new kingdom,\nthe kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of the Messiah. We have been used\nto think of the Messiah, the Christ, as an isolated figure; but the\nMessiah whose advent is expected in the Old Testament is only the\ncentre of the Messianic kingdom. Round about the king is the kingdom.\nThe king implies the kingdom as the kingdom implies the king. Thus the\nway in which Christ announced His Messiahship was by the phrase \u201cThe\nkingdom of heaven is at hand.\u201d And now\u2015\u2015now that He has gathered round\nHim his first disciples\u2015\u2015He takes them apart, and there on the mountain\nHe announces to them the moral law of the new kingdom to which they are\nto belong. Thus it is a law not only for individual consciences, but\nfor a society\u2015\u2015a law which, recognized and accepted by the individual\nconscience, is to be applied in order to establish a new social order.\nIt is the law of a kingdom, and a kingdom is a graduated society of\nhuman beings in common subordination to their king.\n\nBut observe, what we have here is law\u2015\u2015law, not grace. In St. Paul\u2019s\nphrase, it is letter, not spirit. When St. Paul says that \u201cthe\nletter killeth, but the spirit giveth life,\u201d[3] he means this\u2015\u2015that\nan external written commandment (that is, the letter) is capable\nof informing our consciences, of telling us what God\u2019s will is, of\nbowing us down to the dust with a sense of our inability to fulfil it;\nbut it is not capable of going further. Thus it \u201ckilleth\u201d; it makes\nus conscious of our sin, of our powerlessness, but it leaves it for\nsomething else to put life into us to do the thing we ought. That\nlife-giving power is the Spirit. Thus the law, by informing, kills\nus: the Spirit, by empowering, gives us life. Observe, it is a good,\na necessary thing to be thus killed. The perilous state is \u201cto be alive\nwithout the law,\u201d[4] that is, to have an unenlightened conscience and\nbe living in a false peace. \u201cIf the light that is in thee be darkness,\nhow great is that darkness.\u201d The first thing is to know what we ought\nto do; and the very fact that we feel our powerlessness to do it, makes\nus ready to offer the cry, the appeal for divine help.\n\nAgain I would ask you to notice a sentence of Augustine\u2019s, which is\nfull of meaning: \u201cThe law was given that men might seek grace; grace\nwas given that the law might be fulfilled.\u201d[5]\n\nThus what we have here, in the Sermon on the Mount, is the climax\nof law, the completeness of the letter, the letter which killeth;\nand because it is so much more searching and thorough than the Ten\nCommandments, therefore does it kill all the more effectually. It\nmakes us all the more conscious of sin; all the more full of the\nclamorous demand that God, who asks such things of us, shall give\nus also the power to fulfil them. But just as in many departments of\nhuman life \u201cman\u2019s necessity is God\u2019s opportunity,\u201d just as in some\nwell-constructed drama the very culminating moment of difficulty\nsuggests the immediate arrival of release, so it is here. The divine\nrequirement is pressed home with unequalled force upon the conscience,\nbut it is pressed home not in the form of mere laws of conduct, but (as\nwe shall see) as a type of character,\u2015\u2015not out of the thick darkness by\nan inaccessible God, but by the Divine Love manifested in manhood and\npledging His own faithfulness that he who hungers shall be satisfied\nand he who asks shall be heard. The hard demand of the letter is here\nin the closest possible connexion with the promise of the Spirit.\n\n\n                                  II\n\nYou will often see it noticed that a resemblance to some of the\nprecepts in the Sermon on the Mount is to be discovered, not only in\nthe Old Testament, on which the whole is confessedly based, but in the\nsayings of Jewish fathers, or in heathen philosophers and writers, like\nConfucius among the Chinese, and Socrates or Plato among the Greeks;\nand this has at times distressed Christians jealous of the unique glory\nof their religion. Thus they have sometimes sought to account for the\ncoincidences between \u201cinspired\u201d and \u201cuninspired\u201d authors, or between\nthe divine and the human speakers, by supposing that even heathen\nwriters borrowed from the Old Testament. They were forgetting surely\na great truth, a truth of which in the early centuries the minds of\nmen were full: that Christ is the Word; and it is through fellowship\nin the Word, who is also the Reason of God, that all men are rational.\nChrist, therefore, is the light which in conscience and reason lightens\nevery man from end to end of history. Christ has been at work, moving\nby His Spirit in the consciousness of man, so that the whole moral\ndevelopment of mankind, the whole moral education of the human race, is\nof one piece from end to end. There moves in it the same Spirit, there\nexpresses itself the same Word. So that, as we should expect, there\nare fragments of the moral truth which in the Sermon on the Mount is\ncompletely delivered, fragments\u2015\u2015greater or smaller, we need not now\ndiscuss\u2015\u2015to be found among the Chinese, the Japanese, the Greeks, the\nIndians, because God left Himself nowhere without witness, the witness\nof His Word and Spirit in the hearts of men.[6]\n\nBut what we also find to be true is, that the moral law here given\nsupersedes the moral law as it is found among heathen nations or even\namong the Jews, by including it in a greater whole. We may compare the\nmorality of this Sermon with that expressed by other religious teachers\nin several ways.\n\n1. The Sermon on the Mount compared with the summaries of moral\nduty belonging to other religions is comprehensive while they are\nfragmentary. No moral code can be produced which approaches this in\ncompleteness or depth. There is no other moral code belonging to an\naccepted and ancient religion for which any educated European could\neven claim finality and completeness. We know what John Stuart Mill,\nthough not a believer, said about our Lord\u2019s moral teaching. He said\n\u201cNot even now would it be easy, even for an unbeliever, to find a\nbetter translation of the rule of virtue from the abstract into the\nconcrete, than to endeavour so to live that Jesus Christ would approve\nour life.\u201d And Dr. Pusey commented on that by saying \u201cIf men would set\nthis before themselves, there would be fewer unbelievers.\u201d[7] There is\nthen, I say, no other moral summary belonging to an ancient religion on\nbehalf of which a man of modern enlightenment could, with a reasonable\nchance of being listened to, make the claim that its principles can\nnever be outgrown or found insufficient for any race of men. This is\nto others as the comprehensive to the fragmentary.\n\n2. It is as the pure to the partially corrupt or mixed. Origen, in\ncommenting on the words of the twelfth Psalm, \u201cthe words of the Lord\nare pure words, even as the silver which from the earth is tried and\npurified seven times in the fire,\u201d contrasts in this respect the sacred\nwritings of the heathen with those of the Christians. \u201cFor though there\nare _noble_ words among those who are not Christians, yet they are not\n_pure_, because they are mixed up with so much that is false.\u201d Take\nfor an example the Symposium of Plato. You find in it much that is\nmost noble about divine love; but you find this noble element mixed\nwith dross, that is with acquiescence in some of the foulest practices\nof Greek life. The same is true of the sacred books of Buddhism. The\nSermon on the Mount, then, is to other moral codes as the pure to the\nmixed or partially corrupt.\n\n3. It is as teaching for grown men, who are also free, compared\nto teaching for children and slaves. It teaches, not by negative\nenactments or by literal enactments at all, but by principles, positive\nand weighty principles, embodied in proverbs which must be apprehended\nin their inner spirit and reapplied continually anew as circumstances\nchange.\n\n4. Lastly, it differs from other codes by the authoritative sanction\nwhich is given to the words by the person of the speaker. \u201cHe spoke as\none having authority, and not as the scribes.\u201d All the weight of His\nmysterious person, all the majesty of His tone, His demeanour, His\nauthority, go to give sanction to this law which He uttered: and not\nonly to give it sanction, in the sense of making men feel that they\nwere dealing with one whose mysterious power it would be better not to\noffend: His person gives sanction to His words also by inspiring the\nprofoundest confidence that He who makes the claim will also provide\nstrength to correspond with it.\n\n\n                                  III\n\nI must say one word about a problem which could not by any means be\nsatisfactorily dealt with in the space now at our disposal.\n\nWe know that the critics of the Gospel narratives are in our time\noccupied with nothing so much as with the difficult problem of the\nrelation which the Gospels bear to one another. This problem presents\nitself in connexion with our present subject.\n\nThe Sermon on the Mount as given in St. Matthew corresponds, though\nwith many differences, to what you find scattered over a great number\nof different chapters in St. Luke\u2015\u2015vi. 20\u201249, xi. 1\u20124, 9\u201213, 33\u201236,\nxii. 22\u201231, 58\u201259, xiii. 24\u201227, xiv. 34\u201235, xvi. 13, 17\u201218.[8] Now\nwhat are we to say about the relation of these two accounts of the\nsame teaching? There is a good deal that is most characteristic in\nSt. Matthew\u2019s sermon which has nothing corresponding to it in the other\nevangelist, e.g. the spiritual treatment of the Commandments and of the\ntypical religious duties of prayer, almsgiving and fasting; but where\nthey are on the same ground they are often so closely similar that it\nis plain they are drawing from the same source. Whether this source was\noral or written is a question we need not now discuss; but what are we\nto say of the different treatment of the same material?\n\nIt is throughout the method of St. Matthew to collect or group\nsimilar incidents or sayings. Thus he gives us a group of miracles\n(ch. viii\u2012ix), a group of seven parables (ch. xiii), a long\ndenunciation of the Pharisees which is represented in two different\npassages of St. Luke\u2019s Gospel (ch. xxiii), and a great group of\ndiscourses about \u201cthe end\u201d of which the same thing may be said\n(ch. xxiv). Judging from his general method, then, we should conclude\nthat in the Sermon on the Mount we have grouped together sayings which\nprobably were uttered in fact, as St. Luke represents, on different\noccasions. For it is St. Luke\u2019s intention throughout to present events\n\u201cin order,\u201d and the sayings of Christ each in its proper context.\n\nBut it must not be forgotten that a teacher who, like our Lord, teaches\nby way of \u201csentences\u201d or proverbs, is sure to repeat the same truth\nin different forms and from different points of view. Those who have\nexamined Francis Bacon\u2019s note-books and published works tell us how\nthose weighty sentences of his were written down again and again and\nreappear continually in slightly different shapes. So we may suppose\nit probable that our Lord frequently repeated similar utterances.\n\nThus if St. Luke truly represents that our Lord on a certain occasion\nconsoled His disciples by short and emphatic benedictions pronounced\non the actual poverty in which they lived and the actual persecutions\nwhich they endured\u2015\u2015\u201cBlessed are ye poor, blessed are ye that hunger\nnow, blessed are ye that weep now, blessed are ye when men hate\nyou\u201d\u2015\u2015it does not by any means follow that He did not on another\noccasion pronounce, as recorded by St. Matthew, similar benedictions,\nmore numerous, more general, and more spiritual, beginning with one\nnot now on certain actually poor men, but on the \u201cpoor in spirit\u201d\nin general. Thus on another occasion[9] He repeated the saying, \u201cHow\nhardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God,\u201d in\nthe more spiritual form, \u201cHow hard it is for them that trust in riches\nto enter into the kingdom of God.\u201d Again, it does not follow that\nbecause He gave the pattern prayer in a shorter form, as recorded\nby St. Luke, He should not also have given it in the longer form, as\nrecorded by St. Matthew.\n\nThe collection of our Lord\u2019s discourses which characterizes the\nfirst Gospel is\u2015\u2015there is every reason to believe\u2015\u2015the work of the\napostle St. Matthew. If so, we need to remember that it was the\nwork not only of a first-rate witness, but also of one whose memory,\nnaturally retentive, was quickened by a special gift of the divine\nSpirit bestowed on the apostles \u201cto bring to their remembrance all that\nChrist had said unto them.\u201d[10]\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER II\n\n                       THE BEATITUDES IN GENERAL\n\n\n  \u201cAnd seeing the multitudes, he went up into the mountain: and\n  when he had sat down, his disciples came unto him: and he opened\n  his mouth and taught them, saying,\n\n  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of\n  heaven.\n\n  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.\n\n  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.\n\n  Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for\n  they shall be filled.\n\n  Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.\n\n  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.\n\n  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God.\n\n  Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness\u2019\n  sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when\n  men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of\n  evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding\n  glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they\n  the prophets which were before you.\u201d\n\nOUR Lord went up into the mountain to get away from the multitudes.\nThither He was followed by His chosen disciples, and it is to them that\nthe Sermon is uttered. It was spoken to the Church, not to the world;\nbut as \u2018the multitudes\u2019 appear also to have listened[11] to it, we may\nsay that it was spoken into the ear of the Church and overheard by the\nworld.\n\n1. It begins with the familiar \u201cBeatitudes.\u201d They are a description\nof the character of the citizen of the new kingdom; that is, the\ncharacter of the man who, enjoying the freedom of the kingdom of God,\nhas entered into the inheritance of true blessedness. Observe, we\nhave a description of a certain character, not of certain acts. Christ\nrequires us not to do such and such things, but to be such and such\npeople. And the character which we find here described is beyond all\nquestion nothing else than our Lord\u2019s own character put into words,\nthe human character of our Lord corresponding always in flawless\nperfection with the teaching which He gave. Here are two reasons why\nour Lord\u2019s teaching is capable of universal and individual application:\n(1) because it is not made up of detailed commandments, but is the\ndescription of a character which, in its principles, can be apprehended\nand embodied in all possible circumstances: (2) because it is not only\na description in words but a description set side by side with a living\nexample.\n\nAnd we cannot remind ourselves too early that this is the character\nby which we shall be finally judged. It is \u201cby this man,\u201d as St. Paul\nsays, \u201cGod will judge the world.\u201d And St. John says \u201cwe shall be like\nhim, for we shall see him as he is.\u201d[12] The estimate of our worth in\nGod\u2019s sight depends simply on this, How like are we, or rather, how\nlike are we becoming to the character of Christ? But of this we shall\nhave opportunity of speaking later on.\n\n2. The beatitudes describe the blessed life\u2015\u2015in other words,\nthe citizen of the new kingdom is one who can say with Mary \u201call\ngenerations shall call me blessed.\u201d\n\nThe idea of a blessed life had been common. We cannot begin to think\nabout life without seeing that there are certain conditions which\na man\u2019s life must have if we are to be able to congratulate him on\nbeing alive. What sort of life is worth living? That is a question\nthinking men have asked from old days. Gautama and Confucius, Plato\nand Aristotle asked it. What sort of life possesses the characteristics\nwhich make it blessed\u2015\u2015what sort of life can you congratulate a man,\nthoroughly and heartily, upon living?\n\nNow observe a contrast in the answers given. To Gautama, the Buddha,\nthe existence not merely of selfishness, but of the self, is a\nfundamental evil, delusion, and source of misery; and the true\nblessedness of painless peace is only to be attained by the emptying\nout of all desire, the extinction of all clinging to existence, and so\nat last by the extinction of life or personality itself. Thus though\nthe Buddha\u2019s moral teaching has many beautiful resemblances to that\nof our Lord, it has this fundamental difference, that Buddha regarded\npersonal existence as a delusion and an evil to be got rid of, but\nChrist as a supreme truth and good to be at last realized in the vision\nof God and the fruition of eternal life. \u201cI came that they may have\nlife and may have it abundantly.\u201d\n\nAgain, Aristotle asked the question, What is the blessed life? and he\ncame to the conclusion that the life truly worth living was possible\nonly for very few men. It was impossible for slaves, because they\nwere the mere tools of other men; or for the diseased, because they\nwere necessarily miserable; or for paupers, because they had not a\nsufficiency of this world\u2019s goods; or for those dying young, because\nthey had not time enough to realize true blessedness. Observe, I say,\nthe contrast in all this. Christ lays the blessed life open to all. And\nwhy? Because he takes a man at once up to God: He centres his life on\nGod: He puts him in full view of God as the goal of life: He bases life\non God as a foundation. Again, as a consequence of this, He calculates\nlife\u2015\u2015as a life lived in God must be calculated\u2015\u2015on the scale of\neternity. Grant these two things\u2015\u2015that each human life may be based\non God and calculated on the scale of eternity\u2015\u2015and you get rid of all\nthe limitations which made Aristotle declare that neither the slave,\nnor the diseased, nor the poor, nor those who die young, can live\nthe blessed life. Thus our Lord has described the character of true\nblessedness as belonging to man as man, to all men if they will have\nit, simply by the recognition of their true relation to God. From that\npoint of view all accidents of life fade away into insignificance. They\ngive, indeed, its special character to each life, and the conditions of\nits probation, but they cannot touch its true blessedness.\n\nWe can go one step farther. If you take the latter parts of the\nbeatitudes, you will find in them a more detailed account of the\nblessed life. The end of each beatitude tells us what our Lord meant by\nblessedness. \u201cTheirs is the kingdom of heaven; they shall be comforted;\nthey shall inherit the earth; they shall be filled; they shall obtain\nmercy; they shall see God; they shall be called sons of God.\u201d All the\nlast six of these seven expressions may be said simply to expand the\nfirst. They amplify the idea of membership in the kingdom of heaven.\nMembership in the kingdom is a life of perfect relationship with\nman and nature based on perfect fellowship with God. That is true\nblessedness, and that is open to all. Therein is consolation after all\ntroubles; there is the freedom to move about with a sense of heirship\nin God\u2019s world, as in our legitimate heritage and with no fear of being\nturned out; there is the satisfaction of all legitimate aspiration;\nthere is gracious acceptance at all hands; there is the vision of\nall truth and beauty and goodness, in God; there is final and full\nrecognition. That is true blessedness. That is the life which our Lord\npromises to every one who will simply put himself in the right relation\nto God.\n\n3. There is only one more point that we need notice with regard to\nthese beatitudes as a whole, and it concerns their order. Our Lord\nbegins with strong paradoxes: Blessed are the poor\u2015\u2015the mourners\u2015\u2015the\nmeek. That is to say in other words, He first describes the true\ncharacter by its contrast to the character of the world. We frequently\nhave occasion to use the expression \u201cthe world.\u201d Let me, therefore,\nonce for all explain what I understand by it when it is used in a bad\nsense. It means, of course, not God\u2019s creation as such, which was\npronounced very good. When \u201cthe world\u201d is spoken of in a bad sense\u2015\u2015the\nworldly world\u2015\u2015you may define it in this way: it is human society\norganizing itself apart from God. That is what in the Bible is meant\nby \u201cthe world.\u201d Well, the world notoriously clutches at all the gold\nit can get. The world avoids all the pain and suffering it possibly\ncan, avoids it with a calculating selfishness. The world shrinks from\nnothing so much as from humiliation, and says \u201cAssert yourself and\nyour rights as much as you can.\u201d Our Lord then describes the true\nblessedness, first of all negatively in the first three beatitudes\nby strong and marked contrasts to the character of the world: blessed\nare the poor, blessed are the meek, blessed are the mourners. Then\nHe goes on to give its positive characteristics: its strong spiritual\nappetite for righteousness; its active and vigorous compassionateness;\nits single-mindedness or purity of heart; the deliberate aim it has to\npromote the kingdom of peace. Then, in the last beatitude, He answers\nthe question how is such a character likely to find itself in such a\nworld; and answers that question in terms very like those employed by\na Jewish writer, possibly not very long before our Lord\u2019s time, the\nwriter of the Book of Wisdom, who describes the attitude of the world\ntowards the righteous thus:\n\n  \u201cBut let us lie in wait for the righteous man,\n  Because he is of disservice to us\n  And is contrary to our works,\n  And upbraideth us with sins against the law,\n  And layeth to our charge sins against our discipline.\n  He professeth to have knowledge of God,\n  And nameth himself servant of the Lord.\n  He became to us a reproof of our thoughts.\n  He is grievous unto us even to behold,\n  Because his life is unlike other men\u2019s,\n  And his paths are of strange fashion.\n  We were accounted of him as base metal,\n  And he abstaineth from our ways as from uncleannesses.\n  The latter end of the righteous he calleth happy;\n  And he vaunteth that God is his father.\n  Let us see if his words be true,\n  And let us try what shall befall in the ending of his life.\n  For if the righteous man is God\u2019s son, he will uphold him,\n  And he will deliver him out of the hand of his adversaries.\n  With outrage and torture let us put him to the test,\n  That we may learn his gentleness,\n  And may prove his patience under wrong.\n  Let us condemn him to a shameful death;\n  For he shall be visited according to his words.\n\n  Thus reasoned they, and they were led astray;\n  For their wickedness blinded them,\n  And they knew not the mysteries of God,\n  Neither hoped they for wages of holiness,\n  Nor did they judge that there is a prize for blameless souls.\u201d[13]\n\n                   *       *       *       *       *\n\n  \u201cBlessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you,\n  and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.\n  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in\n  heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before\n  you.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER III\n\n                       THE BEATITUDES IN DETAIL\n\n\n                                   I\n\n  \u201cBlessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of\n  heaven.\u201d\n\nTHE Old Testament is full of descriptions of the spirit of the world,\nthe spirit of selfish wealth with its attendant cruelty: and by\ncontrast to this are descriptions of the oppressed poor who are the\nfriends of God. Our Lord took up all this language upon His own lips\nwhen, as St. Luke records, He turned to His disciples and said \u201cBlessed\nare ye poor ... woe unto you that are rich.\u201d But all the actually\npoor are not the disciples of Christ. It is possible to combine the\nselfishness and grasping avarice of \u201cthe rich\u201d with the condition of\npoverty. So our Lord has, as recorded by St. Matthew, gone beneath the\nsurface and based His kingdom, the character of His citizens, not upon\nactual poverty, but upon detachment. The world says \u201cGet all you can,\nand keep it.\u201d Christ says, Blessed are those who at least in heart and\nwill have nothing.\n\nThere is one verse in the Old Testament which describes this poverty\nof spirit. It is the utterance of Job:[14] \u201cThe Lord gave, and the\nLord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.\u201d There is pure,\nperfect detachment. Job took and used aright what God gave him, adoring\nthe sovereignty of God. The sovereign took away what He had given; Job\ngave it up freely. Being detached\u2015\u2015that is poverty of spirit; at the\nleast, \u201chaving food and covering, let us be therewith content.\u201d[15]\n\nOur Lord says then, Blessed are those who are thus detached;\nand of course we look to Him for illustration, for these beatitudes\nexpress His own character. He was detached. The Incarnation was a\nself-emptying. He clung not to all the glories of heaven, but \u201cemptied\nHimself\u201d and \u201cbeggared Himself,\u201d as St. Paul says.[16] Then when He had\nbeen born a man, He set the example of clinging to nothing external.\nHe abandoned ease, popularity, the favour of the great, even the\nsympathy of His friends, even, last and greatest of all, on the cross,\nthe consolation of the divine presence. Each privilege in turn was\nabandoned without a murmur, not, speaking generally, on the ascetic\nprinciple, but because moral obedience to God in fulfilment of His\nmission required it. He became utterly naked, poorer than the poorest;\ntherefore in a supreme sense \u201cHis was the kingdom of heaven.\u201d He stood\nempty, persecuted, before Pilate, and said \u201cThou sayest that I am a\nking\u201d; and the moral conscience of the world has witnessed that He\nspoke truth. So we, like Him, are to be ready to surrender, ready to\ngive up; and in proportion to this detachment, in proportion as we do\nreally in will adore the sovereignty of God, and are ready to receive\nand to give up according to His will, in that proportion are all the\nhindrances removed by which the royalty of His kingdom is prevented\nfrom entering into our hearts and lives. St. Paul\u2019s comment on this\nfirst beatitude lies in his description of the apostles \u201cAs having\nnothing, and yet possessing all things\u201d; or in his encouragement to\nChristians generally \u201cAll things are yours.\u201d[17] The wilfulness with\nwhich we cling to supposed \u201cnecessaries of life,\u201d \u201cthings we cannot do\nwithout\u201d; false claims on life for enjoyments which we should be the\nstronger for dispensing with; false ideals of vanity and display\u2015\u2015these,\nand not our circumstances, are the hindrances to that largeness of\nheart and peace and liberty and joy, which have their root only in the\nbare and naked relation of the soul to God.\n\nThe splendid promise attached to this beatitude brings it into contrast\nwith an old Jewish saying which has many parallels, \u201cEver be more and\nmore lowly in spirit, for the prospect of man is to become the food\nof worms.\u201d The motive to humility which our Lord suggests is very\ndifferent.\n\nBefore we pass on, let us observe how important it is that there\nshould be at all times those in the Church who are capable, not merely\nof poverty in spirit, but voluntarily of poverty in fact. Upon all\nmen our Lord enjoins detachment. But upon one young man in particular\nHe enjoined that he should give his possessions away, that he should\nsell all that he had and give to the poor. So in the Church there have\nbeen those who in the religious orders have dedicated themselves in\nvoluntary poverty to the service of God and of man; and the Church\nhas lost incalculably in ages when there have been none such. Like\nall other institutions, the religious orders have been liable to great\nabuses: they have been homes very often, not so much of scandalous\nvices, as of sloth and corporate greed; but we must not give up the\nideal because there are abuses. There is the command of the Lord to all\nto be, like Job, detached; there is the counsel of the Lord to some to\nbe, in fact, voluntarily poor.\n\n\n                                  II\n\n  \u201cBlessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.\u201d\n\nThese beatitudes follow one another, as St. Chrysostom says, in a\ngolden chain. Once again our Lord is putting Himself in startling\nopposition to one of the favourite maxims of the world. The world says\n\u201cGet as much pleasure as you can out of life; suck it in wherever you\ncan; and hug yourself as close as you can from all that disquiets you\nor makes you uncomfortable; in a word, get as much pleasure and avoid\nas much pain as by intelligence and forethought you can possibly do.\u201d\nIn startling opposition to this maxim of the world our Lord puts His\nmaxim \u201cBlessed are they that mourn.\u201d\n\nWhat does that mean? Briefly: there are two chief kinds of mourning\ninto which it is the duty of every true servant of our Lord to\nenter\u2015\u2015the mourning for sin and the mourning for pain. We must mourn\nfor sin, for we are sinners. It is possible to hide the fact from\nour eyes, to prevent the inconvenient light from coming in upon our\nconsciences, to suppose that things that are widely tolerated must be\ntolerable, that things that are frequently or habitually done must have\nsomething to say for themselves. But the Christian gets into the light;\nhe lets the light of the divine word go down into his heart; he strives\nto see himself first, in the silence of his own soul, as the Lord\nsees him. Thus he is brought to repentance, and repentance which is in\nregard to the future a \u201cchange of purpose,\u201d is with respect to the past\na true mourning: if not emotional sorrow, still profound and heartfelt\nregret on account of those things in which we have gone against the\nwill of God: and \u201cblessed are they that mourn.\u201d\n\nNext to this mourning for sin is the mourning of sympathy with others\u2019\npain. There are moments when a Christian may legitimately, like his\nLord in the garden of Gethsemane, be engrossed in the bearing of \u201chis\nown burden.\u201d[18] But in the main a Christian ought, like his Lord, or\nlike St. Paul, to have his own burden so well in hand, that he is able\nto leave the large spaces of his heart for other people to lay their\nsorrows upon. \u201cBear ye one another\u2019s burdens.\u201d[19] Of our Lord it was\nsaid \u201cHimself took our infirmities, and bare our diseases\u201d[20]\u2015\u2015not on\nthe cross simply, but as He moved about in Galilee and Jud\u00e6a, and the\nsad, the sorrowful and the sick came to Him. It is always possible to\nuse the advantages of a comparatively prosperous position to exempt\nourselves, to screen ourselves off, from the common lot of pain. This\nis to shut ourselves off from true fruitfulness and final joy. \u201cExcept\na grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself\nalone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit. He that loveth his life,\nloseth it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto\nlife eternal.\u201d[21] \u201cBlessed are they that mourn.\u201d\n\n   \u201cHe that lacks time to mourn, lacks time to mend.\n    Eternity mourns that. \u2019Tis an ill cure\n    For life\u2019s worst ills, to have no time to feel them.\n    Where sorrow\u2019s held intrusive and turn\u2019d out\n    There wisdom will not enter, nor true power,\n    Nor aught that dignifies humanity.\u201d\n\nAnd in proportion to the fullness with which you enter into penitence\nfor sin and into sympathy for the sufferings of men, you shall get, not\nthe miserable laughter of forgetfulness, which lasts but for a moment,\nbut the comfort (or encouragement) of God. \u201cThat we may be able to\ncomfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith\nwe ourselves are comforted of God.\u201d[22] \u201cThe sorrow of the world\nworketh death,\u201d but \u201cgodly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation,\nnot to be repented of.[23]\u201d \u201cBlessed are they that mourn: for they\nshall be comforted.\u201d\n\nAnd here, by way of warning, let me point out that there is a false\nas well as a true mourning. It is possible to be discontented with\nthe world but to lack the courage of faith which makes our discontent\nfruitful of reform. It is possible to be discontented with ourselves,\nand yet never so simply and humbly make our confession to God our\nFather as to get the joy which comes of being forgiven. We are\ndiscontented; but our discontent is pride, not the humility of true\nsorrow. It will not be comforted, it will not thankfully take the\ndivine offer of absolution. The \u201cwoman that was a sinner\u201d made no delay\nin believing herself forgiven, but set to work at once to show the\nlove which springs of gratitude in the heart of those who accept their\nrelease. The false sorrow of pride was noticed by one of the leaders of\nmonasticism in the west\u2015\u2015Cassian, who describes and contrasts thus the\ntrue sorrow and the false:[24]\n\n\u201cBut that sorrow which \u2018worketh repentance unto stable salvation\u2019 is\nobedient, approachable, humble, amiable, gentle and patient, inasmuch\nas it comes down from the love of God and, inspired with the desire\nof perfection, gives itself over unweariedly to all pain of body and\ncontrition of spirit; and having a happiness of its own and a vitality\nwhich comes from the hope of progress, it keeps all the amiability of\nan approachable and patient disposition, possessing in itself all the\nfruits of the Holy Spirit which the apostle enumerates. But the false\nsorrow is bitter, impatient, hard, full of rancour and fruitless grief,\nand penal despair, breaking off and recalling the man whom it has\ngot into its grasp from industry and salutary sorrow, because it is\nirrational, and not only impedes the efficacy of prayers but also\nempties out of the soul all those spiritual fruits which the true\nsorrow knows how to impart.\u201d\n\n\n                                  III\n\n  \u201cBlessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.\u201d\n\nStill our Lord is explaining the character of the kingdom by contrast\nto the ideals of the world. The world says \u201cStand up for your rights;\nmake the most of yourself; don\u2019t let any man put upon you.\u201d And so we\nare always standing on our dignity, always thinking ourselves insulted\nor imposed upon. \u201cBlessed are the meek,\u201d our Lord says. The meek\u2015\u2015that\nis manifestly, those who are ready to be put upon as far as they\nthemselves are concerned. This is the character of our Lord, who,\n\u201cwhen he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened\nnot; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.\u201d[25]\n\nOf course, from another point of view, we may be quite bound from time\nto time to assert ourselves. Our Lord recognizes that, as we shall have\nan opportunity of noticing in another connexion. We may have to assert\nourselves for the sake of the moral order of the church and of the\nworld. But no one gets true peace, or has really got to the foundation\nof things, until, as far as his own dignity is concerned, he is in a\nposition to say, You can wrong God and you can wrong society; and it\nmay be my duty to stand up for God and for society; but me, as far as\nI am concerned, you cannot provoke. That is the ideal to which we have\nto attain. That is the meekness which is appropriate to sinners like\nourselves who know what we deserve, who _on a general review of life_\ncan seldom feel that we are suffering unmerited wrong; but it is the\nmeekness also of the sinless and righteous one.\n\nAnd the result of this entire absence of self-assertion is that we can\nmake no claim on the world which God will not at the last substantiate.\n\u201cBlessed are the meek\u201d\u2015\u2015our Lord is here quoting the psalm\u2015\u2015\u201cfor\nthey shall _inherit_ the earth.\u201d[26] What is an heir? An heir is a\nperson who enters into rightful possession. He is in no fear that any\nother can ever come and turn him out. He moves at ease amongst his\npossessions, because the things that he inherits are really his. No one\nwith a better claim can come to oust him. Now, if we go about the world\nmaking claims on society which God does not authorize, refusing to bear\nwhat God will have us bear, the day will come when the true Master\nappears, and we shall be exposed to shame. We have made claims which He\ndid not authorize; we have asserted ourselves where He gave us no right\nor title to assert ourselves; we shall be ousted. But the meek, who\never committed themselves to Him that judgeth righteously, have nothing\nto fear. \u201cFriend, come up higher,\u201d is all that is before them. They\nwill simply, in steady and royal advance, enter into the full heritage\nof that which men kept back from them, but God has in store for them.\n\n\n                                  IV\n\n  \u201cBlessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness:\n  for they shall be filled.\u201d\n\nIn strong, bold outlines our Lord has begun by sketching for us the\ncharacter of His citizens in marked contrast to the ideals of the world.\nBut He is not satisfied with giving us these, as it were, negative\ncharacteristics; He passes on to more positive traits. The citizens\nof the new kingdom \u201chunger and thirst after righteousness.\u201d Every one\nknows what appetite is, what hunger and thirst mean. It is a strong\ncraving, a craving which must be satisfied, or we perish. You cannot\nforget that you are hungry or thirsty. And in human pursuits we again\nand again see what is like hunger and thirst. You see an appetite\nfor place; a man is bent upon it; he will by whatever means get that\nposition which his soul desires. So again you see in men\u2019s amusements\na similar craving. Go to the side of the Thames at Putney, and you may\nsee two crews of eight men practising there for a famous race, their\nsupporters and backers looking on. All is eagerness, and there is not\nthe slightest betrayal of consciousness that anything in the world\ncould be more important than the winning of that race. That is what\nmay be truly called a hunger and thirst. And such is the appetite\nfor righteousness which possesses the citizens of our Lord\u2019s kingdom.\nRighteousness, or rather _the_ righteousness, that character which God\nhas marked out for us, the character of Christ\u2015\u2015blessed are they which\ndo hunger and thirst after it.\n\nBrethren, we so often feel hopeless about getting over our faults. Let\nus hunger and thirst after righteousness, and we shall be filled. As\nour Lord saw of the travail of His soul and was satisfied, so, depend\nupon it, shall we. If you only seriously want to be good, your progress\nmay be slow, but at the last you will be good. Christ is pledged to\nsatisfy, if only you will go on wanting. There is not in the pursuit\nof goodness any failure except in ceasing to hunger and thirst\u2015\u2015that\nis, in ceasing to want, to pray, to try. Do you want righteousness\nseriously, deliberately? Then you can have it, and not for yourself\nonly, but for the world. \u201cTill righteousness turn again unto judgement,\nall such as are true in heart shall follow it.\u201d It is pledged to\nus. The day will come when the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of\nrighteousness and meekness and truth, shall be an established and\na visible fact. Blessed are they that here and now hunger and thirst\nafter righteousness in themselves and in the world: for they shall be\nfilled.\n\n\n                                   V\n\n  \u201cBlessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.\u201d\n\nOf course wherever human misery is, there is also human pity. But,\napart from Christ, it was not thought of as a motive force, to be\nused in redeeming others\u2019 lives and in enriching our own. The Buddha,\nindeed, one of the purest and noblest men who have ever lived, was\nfirst awakened from the dream of luxury, in which he had been brought\nup, by the threefold spectacle of human misery\u2015\u2015decrepitude, disease\nand death. And once awakened, he made his \u201cgreat renunciation\u201d: he\nabandoned his royal state: after much searching, he discovered for\nhimself, as he thought, the way of emancipation from life and, being\nfilled with compassion, taught it to others. But he believed life\nto be radically an evil. He could imagine no redemption _of_ life but\nonly escape _from_ it. The philosopher Aristotle, who examined and\ncatalogued human qualities, could not have failed to come across the\nfact of pity. But he seems even to have regarded it as a troublesome\nemotion\u2015\u2015a disturbing force which had better be got rid of in practical\nconcerns. The Greek tragedy, which by its marvellous presentations\nof the weakness of man was calculated to evoke the sentiment of pity\nin great intensity, he regarded as a vent or outlet for the emotion\nwhich in this way could be purged off and leave the Greek citizen in\nuntroubled serenity in face of actual life. It is to be feared that we\nvery often use the drama and literature in this way. We let our emotion\nof pity be stirred by the pictures of human misfortune presented to\nus, and we find a luxury in the indulgence of the emotion. But it\nis a luxury, and nothing more. It leads to no effective action for\nthe removing of the misery which we deplore. This is pagan. For the\ndisciple of Christ pity is a motive to vigorous action. God in Christ\ndeclares His \u201cpower most chiefly in showing mercy and pity.\u201d Powerful\npity is pity which passes from emotion into practical and redemptive\naction. Of such pity only does Christ say \u201cBlessed are the merciful or\npitiful.\u201d Compassion which does nothing is in the New Testament[27]\nregarded as a form of pernicious hypocrisy.\n\nAnd the merciful shall obtain mercy. Here we get a great law of the\ndivine dealing. God deals with us as we deal with our fellow-men. In\nthe Old Testament[28] it is said \u201cWith the merciful thou, God, wilt\nshow thyself merciful; with the perfect man thou wilt show thyself\nperfect; with the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the\nperverse thou wilt show thyself froward.\u201d And again, in our Lord\u2019s\nparable,[29] when the servant who had been let off his debts by his\nmaster was found to deal unmercifully with his fellow-servant who was\nindebted to him, the remission was cancelled, and the weight of his old\ndebt fell back upon him, to teach us that God deals with us as we deal\nwith our fellow-men. Thus again, in view of the last great day, our\nLord says \u201cInasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these my brethren,\ncome ye blessed, inherit the kingdom.\u201d So in our Lord\u2019s Prayer, we pray\n\u201cForgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against\nus.\u201d Do we want to know how our Lord will regard us at the last day?\nWe can find the answer by considering how our face looks, not in mere\npassing emotion, but in its serious and deliberate aspect, towards our\nfellow-men. God deals with us then, as we deal with our fellows. Nor\nneed we confine the principle to God\u2019s dealings with us. The same law\nis observable in the treatment we receive at men\u2019s hands. On the whole\nwe can determine men\u2019s attitude to us by our attitude to them. Almost\nall men have their best selves drawn out towards a really compassionate\nlife. \u201cPerchance for a _good_ man\u2015\u2015one who is not only just, but\ngood\u2015\u2015some would even dare to die.\u201d[30] \u201cBlessed are the merciful,\nfor they shall obtain mercy.\u201d\n\n\n                                  VI\n\n  \u201cBlessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.\u201d\n\nIf we take part in the kingdom, there must be singleness of purpose.\nPurity of heart is, of course, continually taken in its narrower\nmeaning of absence of sensual defilement and pollution. That is an\nimportant part of purity; and may I say a word about the pursuit of\npurity in this narrower sense? A great many people are distressed by\nimpure temptations, and they very frequently fail to make progress with\nthem for one reason, namely, that while they are anxious to get rid\nof sin in this one respect, they are not trying after goodness as a\nwhole. Uncleanness of life and heart they dislike. It weighs upon their\nconscience and destroys their self-respect. But they have no similar\nhorror of pride, or irreverence, or uncharity. People very often say\nthat it is impossible to lead a \u201cpure\u201d life. The Christian minister\nis not pledged to deny this, if a man will not try to be religious\nall round, to be Christ-like altogether. For the way to get over\nuncleanness is, in innumerable cases, not to fight against that only,\nbut to contend for positive holiness all round, for Christlikeness, for\npurity of heart in the sense in which Christ used the expression, in\nthe sense in which in the 51st Psalm a clean heart is coupled with a\n\u201cright spirit\u201d\u2015\u2015that is, a will set straight towards God, or simplicity\nof purpose. There is an old Latin proverb\u2015\u2015\u201cUnless the vessel is clean,\nwhatever you pour into it turns sour.\u201d It is so with the human will.\nUnless the human will is directed straight for God, whatever you put\ninto the life of religious and moral effort has a root of bitterness\nand sourness in it which spoils the whole life. Our Lord means \u201cBlessed\nare the single-minded,\u201d for they, though as yet they may be far from\nseeing God, though as yet they may not believe a single article of the\nChristian Creed, yet at last shall attain the perfect vision; yes, as\nsurely as God is true, they shall be satisfied in their every capacity\nfor truth and beauty and goodness; they shall behold God.\n\nAny measure of true spiritual illumination, like that of Job when\nthe Lord had answered his questionings, may be described as \u201cseeing\nGod;\u201d and in this sense to see God is a necessary preliminary to\nrepentance[31] and is requisite for spiritual endurance.[32] But in\nits full sense it is incompatible with any remaining dissatisfaction;\nit is the final goal of human efforts, the reward of those who\nhere are content to \u201cwalk by faith, not by sight,\u201d and it includes\nin perfection\u2015\u2015what in a measure all discovery after search\nincludes\u2015\u2015satisfaction for the intellect, and full attainment for\nthe will, and the ecstasy of the heart, in God as He is.\n\n\n                                  VII\n\n  \u201cBlessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of\n  God.\u201d\n\nChrist is the Prince of Peace. He brings about peace among men,\nbreaking down all middle walls of partition between classes and\nraces and individuals, by making them first of all at peace with\nGod\u2015\u2015atonement among men by way of atonement with God. This is the only\nsecure basis of peace. There are many kinds of false and superficial\npeace, which the Prince of Peace only comes to break up. \u201cI came not to\nsend peace on earth, but a sword.\u201d[33] Peace can never be purchased in\nGod\u2019s way by the sacrifice of truth. But peace in the truth we, like\nour Master, must be for ever pursuing.\n\nDo we habitually remember how it offends our Lord to see divisions\nin the Christian Church, nations nominally Christian armed to the\nteeth against one another, class against class and individual against\nindividual in fierce and relentless competition, jealousies among\nclergy and church-workers, communicants who forget that the sacrament\nof union with Christ is the sacrament of union also with their\nfellow-men?\n\nChristians are to be makers of Christ\u2019s peace. Something we can all\ndo to reconcile individuals, families, classes, churches, nations. The\nquestion is, Are we, as churchmen and citizens, by work and by prayer,\nin our private conduct and our public action, doing our utmost with\ndeliberate, calculated, unsparing effort? If so our benediction is the\nhighest: it is to be, and to be acknowledged as being, sons of God.\n\n\n                                 VIII\n\n  \u201cBlessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness\u2019\n  sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.\u201d\n\nThere has now been given the picture of the Christian character in its\nwonderful attractiveness\u2015\u2015that detachment, that readiness to enter into\nthe heritage of human pain, that self-suppressing meekness and humility\ntowards our fellow-men, that strong passion for righteousness, that\neffective compassion, that singleness of heart, that striving for peace.\nYet, where it is not welcomed, it stings by its very beauty, it hardens\nby its very holiness. Thus there came about the strange result, that\nwhen that character was set in its perfection before men\u2019s eyes in the\nperson of our Lord, they would not have it. They set upon Him and slew\nHim. It is in full view of this consequence of being righteous that our\nLord speaks this last beatitude: and He gives it pointed and particular\napplication to His disciples.\n\n  \u201cBlessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you,\n  and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.\n  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in\n  heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before\n  you.\u201d\n\n\n          THE PLACE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHARACTER IN THE WORLD.\n\nAs soon as ever a man sets himself seriously to aim at this Christian\ncharacter, the devil at once puts this thought into his mind\u2015\u2015Am I not\naiming at what is too high to be practicable? am I not aiming too high\nto do any good? If I am to help men, surely I must be like them? I must\nnot be so unworldly, if I am to help men in this sort of world. Now our\nLord at once anticipates this kind of argument. He says at once, as it\nwere, No, you are to help men by being unlike them. You are to help men,\nnot by offering them a character which they shall feel to be a little\nmore respectable than their own, but by offering them a character\nfilled with the love of God. They may mock it for a while; but in the\n\u201cday of visitation,\u201d in the day when trouble comes, in the day when\nthey are thrown back on what lies behind respectability, in the day\nwhen first principles emerge, they will glorify God for the example\nyou have given them. They will turn to you then, because they will\nfeel that you have something to show them that will really hold water,\nsomething that is really and eternally worth having.\n\nThus our Lord at once proceeds to answer the question, How is a\ncharacter such as the beatitudes describe, planted in a world such as\nthis is, to effect good? It is to purify by its own distinctive savour,\nit is to be conspicuous by its own splendid truth to its ideal, it is\nto arrest attention by its powerful contrast to the world about it.\nThis is the meaning of the metaphors which follow the beatitudes:\n\n  \u201cYe are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its\n  savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for\n  nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. Ye\n  are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid.\u201d\n\n\u201cYe are the salt of the earth.\u201d Salt is that which keeps things pure\nby its emphatic antagonistic savour. \u201cYe are the light of the world.\u201d\nLight is that which burns distinctively in the darkness. \u201cA city that\nis set on a hill\u201d is a marked object, arresting attention over a whole\ncountry side.\n\n\u201cYe are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost its savour,\nwherewith shall it be salted?\u201d The savour of a Christianity which does\nnot mean what it says, wherewith can it be salted? How can it recover\nits position and influence? Would it not be better never to have been\nChristians at all than to be Christians who do not mean what they\nsay? What is so useless as a hollow profession of religion? \u201cIt is\nthenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot\nof men.\u201d \u201cI would thou wert cold or hot. So because thou art lukewarm,\nand neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth.\u201d[34]\nChristians exist in order to make the contrast of their own lives\napparent to the world.\n\n  \u201cNeither do men light a lamp, and put it under the bushel, but\n  on the stand; and it shineth unto all that are in the house.\n  Even so let your light shine before men, that they may see your\n  good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.\u201d\n\nWe may point the significance of this teaching of our Lord by\ncontrasting it with that of another great religious teacher. We have\noften heard it said that more people are good Mohammedans in Mohammedan\ncountries than good Christians in Christian countries. That may be\ntrue, and for this reason: Mohammed set before his disciples an ideal\nof conduct calculated to commend itself naturally to the people he\nhad to do with. Supposing no fundamental change of character, no real\ntransformation, was required of them, he saw that they would be ready\nenough to observe religious ceremonies, and to fight, and to abstain\nfrom drink. He fastened on these things. These, he said, are what\nGod requires of you. And he has won a high measure of success on the\naverage. Mohammedans have been conspicuous for courage and temperance\nand regularity in the transaction of religious forms. But just because\nMohammed was so easily satisfied, his religion has been a religion of\nstagnation. He neither aimed at nor effected any regeneration of man.\n\nBut our Lord said \u201cExcept a man be born again,\u201d\u2015\u2015i.e. unless so\nfundamental a change take place in him, that it can only be compared to\na fresh birth\u2015\u2015\u201che cannot see the kingdom of God.\u201d And He made it plain\nthat the working out of this new birth would not be possible without\nthe sternest self-denial. For this very reason our Lord\u2019s religion\nhas found fewer _genuine_ adherents than Mohammedanism, but by means\nof those who have been genuine adherents it has effected a profound\nspiritual renewal even in society as a whole.\n\nNo doubt the Church has often seemed to forget her Lord\u2019s method.\nThere have been times\u2015\u2015as at the baptism of the Franks\u2015\u2015when the Church\nincorporated men in masses, allowing the Christian standard to be\nlowered almost indefinitely, in order that a whole race might be called\nChristian. So, again, there was a time when Jesuit casuists said (in\neffect), if only we can keep people Catholic, making their confessions\nand receiving absolution, it shall be done at any cost of accommodation\nto existing morals. Once more, the Church of England, in order to\nmaintain the ideal of \u201ca national Church,\u201d has in result allowed almost\nall the power of spiritual discipline, which she should have kept in\nher own hand, to be surrendered to a Parliament which is in the loosest\npossible relation to Christianity of any kind.\n\nIn each of these cases the Church abandoned the method of Christ: she\nsacrificed reality to numbers, or genuine discipleship to supposed\npolitical influence, and as a result in each case the salt lost its\nsavour.\n\nThe question remains for us \u201cWherewith can it be salted?\u201d Is the savour\nof true Christianity among us so far gone as to be irrecoverable? We\nthankfully answer No. But if we are to make good our denial, we must\nset to work to let men understand that, as the Church has a creed which\nshe cannot let go, and a ministry and sacraments which are committed to\nher to exercise and to dispense, so she has a moral standard, which, if\nshe is not to fall under the curse of barrenness, she must re-erect and\nbe true to. Only when men have come to understand what the Christian\nmoral standard is\u2015\u2015in marriage and in the home, in commerce and in\npolitics\u2015\u2015and to understand that it can no more be dispensed with than\nthe creed or the sacraments, is there any prospect of a healthy revival\nof church life.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER IV\n\n                      THE REVISION OF THE OLD LAW\n\n\nTHE character of the citizens of the new kingdom as described by our\nLord was so surprising, so paradoxical, that it was inevitable the\nquestion should arise, Was He a revolutionary who had come to upset\nand destroy all the old law\u2015\u2015was this a revolutionary movement in the\nmoral and religious world? To this question, then, our Lord directly\naddressed Himself. The rest of the first chapter of the Sermon on\nthe Mount\u2015\u2015St. Matthew v. 17 to the end\u2015\u2015is simply a statement of the\nrelation in which this new righteousness, this righteousness of the new\nkingdom, stands to the old righteousness of the Mosaic Law.\n\nOur Lord explains that the new law stands in a double relation to\nthe old. First, it is in direct continuity with what had gone before\n(vv. 17\u201219); and, secondly (vv. 20\u201248), it supersedes it, as the\ncomplete supersedes the incomplete.\n\n(1) The continuity is thus stated:\n\n  \u201cThink not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I\n  came not to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you,\n  Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in\n  no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished.\n  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments,\n  and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom\n  of heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them, he shall be\n  called great in the kingdom of heaven.\u201d\n\nHere we get the divine principle of action. God does not despair of\nwhat is imperfect because it is imperfect. He views every institution\n(or person) not as it is, but as it is becoming; not by the level\nof its present attainment, but by the character and direction of\nits movement. Everything that is moving in the right direction is\ndestined in the divine providence to reach its fulfilment. This was\nthe case pre-eminently with the Old Testament. It was imperfect, but\nits tendency was directed aright. As St. Iren\u00e6us says \u201cThe commandments\nare common to the Jews and us: with them they had their beginning\nand origin, with us their development and completion.\u201d[35] And\nSt. Augustine: \u201cThe New Testament is latent in the Old, and the Old\nTestament is patent in the New.\u201d[36] Here then we have our chief\nobject-lesson in the method of divine education. If we examine the\nmatter in detail, we shall see that in the New Testament every element\nin the Old Testament finds itself fulfilled.\n\nIs it prophecy, in the sense of prediction? In the Old Testament an\nideal is projected into the future by inspired men, and in Christ and\nHis kingdom it is realized. Moreover, if you look to the beginning\nof the Acts of the Apostles or to St. Matthew\u2019s Gospel, you will see\nhow full the early Christians were of the sense of this realization,\nof the sense that in the Old Testament is a forecast and in the New\na fulfilment. Or is it the ritual law? You study its enactments in\nLeviticus; and then you read the Epistle to the Hebrews. You see how,\nto the mind of the spiritual Jewish-Christian writer, in the old law\nis external symbol and in Christ spiritual realization. Or is it the\nmoral law? You compare the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament with\nour Lord\u2019s Sermon on the Mount or St. James\u2019 Epistle. They stand to one\nanother as preliminary education to final enlightenment. And in another\nsense law altogether is represented by St. Paul as only the training of\nslaves or children in preparation for the sonship or manhood which is\nreached when the Spirit is given.\n\nOr, once more, is it types of character that are in question? You\nknow the old difficulty about Jacob and Esau. How can we approve of\nJacob who was so deceitful? How can we disapprove of Esau who was so\ngenerous and impulsive? The answer is a deep and true one. It is that\nEsau\u2019s impulsive nature led to nothing; he was \u201cprofane\u201d;[37] in fact,\nEdom\u2015\u2015the race of which Esau is the parent and type\u2015\u2015produced nothing,\nchanged nothing, brought nothing to perfection. Jacob, for all his\nmendacity, knew what it was to be in covenant with God, and his race\ngrew into the likeness of God. Israel led to something.\n\nAll the imperfect elements in the Old Testament\u2015\u2015and, of course, they\nare imperfect\u2015\u2015reach fulfilment in the New. They enshrine the will\nof God at a certain stage. Therefore they are worthy of respect. They\nare to be realized, not violated. And so our Lord goes on to warn His\ndisciples lest, in the enthusiasm of the new teaching, they should\nthink that they could best show their zeal by disparaging elements in\nthe old law under which they had been brought up. For it is always the\ncase that when people have learned something new, their first impulse\nis to show what they have learned by disparaging what they knew before.\nThus our Lord warns them of the low place in His kingdom which they\nwill hold who exhibit towards even the details of the older teaching\na spirit of destructiveness, and of the high esteem which will be\naccorded to the reverent handling of it.\n\n(2) Then our Lord passes to the other side of the question. The old\nlaw was imperfect; the new law is to supersede it. The new law is to\nsupersede it both as it is represented in the actual standard of its\nprofessors, the scribes and Pharisees (v. 20), and then, more than\nthat, it is to supersede it even in its actual principles (vv. 21\u201248).\n\nFirst, as regards its professors:\n\n  \u201cFor I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed\n  the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no\n  wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.\u201d\n\nIt is well known what the scribes and Pharisees represented. They had\nleft out of consideration the prophetic teaching in the Old Testament\nand the prophetic element in the books of Moses\u2015\u2015all that made light\nof outward observances by contrast with moral holiness or, still more,\nas divorced from it. They had made the observance of the ceremonies\n\u201cthe be-all and the end-all\u201d of religion. Thus their religion was\npre-eminently external and, as such, unprogressive. It was a religion,\nagain, which with the help of dispensations and evasions could be\npractised without much spiritual or moral effort. Hence it ministered\nto self-satisfaction and hypocrisy. Thus our Lord continually judges\nit, and here He warns His disciples not to suppose that His revision\nof the old law is to result in the establishment of an easier religion\nthan that of scribes and Pharisees. The requirement of obedience will\nbe deeper and more searching.\n\nBut our Lord goes back behind the professors upon the law itself;\nand He proceeds in detail to deal with the old moral law, in order to\ndeepen it into the law of His new kingdom.\n\nThere are two points to which I would call attention, which apply to\nall these modifications or deepenings of the old law.\n\nFirst, notice the authority of the teacher. \u201cIt was said _to_ them\nof old time\u201d\u2015\u2015that is by God Himself in the Mosaic Law\u2015\u2015Thou shalt not\ndo this or that; \u201cbut I say unto you.\u201d Now this is a new tone, and it\nhas only one legitimate explanation. All the prophets had said \u201cThus\nsaith the Lord\u201d: they had spoken the word of another. Jesus says \u201cI say\nunto you,\u201d thus giving one of many indications that He who spoke was\ndifferent in kind from all other speakers upon earth; that He was the\nfount of the moral law, and could speak as the one supreme legislator\nwith the voice, with the authority, of God Himself.\n\nSecondly, notice that when our Lord deals with the different\ncommandments, He deals with them on principles which in each case would\napply to all the others. You could take the distinctive principle which\nemerges in His dealing with the law of murder or of adultery, and apply\nit to the case of all the other commandments.[38] This is only one\ninstance which goes to prove that our Lord does not mean to save us\ntrouble. He teaches in a way which leaves us a great deal to do for\nourselves, and requires of us a great deal of moral thoughtfulness.\n\n\n                           THE LAW OF MURDER\n\n  \u201cYe have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt\n  not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the\n  judgement: but I say unto you, that every one who is angry with\n  his brother shall be in danger of the judgement; and whosoever\n  shall say to his brother, Raca [vain fellow!], shall be in\n  danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall\n  be in danger of the hell of fire.\u201d\n\nIn explanation of this let us look at the Second Book of the\nChronicles. \u201cAnd he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced\ncities of Judah, city by city, and said to the judges, Consider what\nye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord; and he is with you\nin the judgement. Now therefore let the fear of the Lord be upon you;\ntake heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God,\nnor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts. Moreover in Jerusalem did\nJehoshaphat set of the Levites and the priests, and of the heads of\nthe fathers\u2019 houses of Israel, for the judgement of the Lord, and for\ncontroversies.\u201d[39]\n\nKing Jehoshaphat is here said to have appointed a central court in\nJerusalem and local courts in all the towns; and the arrangement was\npermanent. The local court or Sanhedrin is apparently what is meant by\n\u201cthe judgement\u201d in this passage of the Sermon, and the central court\nor supreme Sanhedrin is what is meant by \u201cthe council.\u201d Now certain\neven capital offences could be dealt with by the local courts, but the\ngravest only by the central Sanhedrin. Thus there was a gradation of\ncrimes. Moreover, the Jews believed in an awful penalty after death\nfor those who had egregiously sinned. Gehenna\u2015\u2015that is, the Valley\nof Hinnom, close to Jerusalem\u2015\u2015was the place where children had been\nburnt alive in sacrifice to Moloch; and it had become later a metaphor\nfor the place of punishment after death. Thus, it appears, the Jews\nrecognized ordinary offences which came before the local court, special\noffences which came before the central court, and an awful penalty\nafter death for the worst sort of offences.\n\nNow, no offence was brought under the cognizance of the Jewish law at\nall which was not a sin in act; the sin of actual murder for instance.\nBut our Lord raises the whole standard of guilt. He takes no account\nof sins of act at all. In the citizens of His new kingdom, sins of\nact are, as it were, out of the question. The way He deals with the\nlaw\u2015\u2015specifically the law of murder, but in principle all the laws\u2015\u2015is,\nif we may paraphrase His words, this: Under the new law you are to\nthink of malicious anger, of anger and malice entertained in your\nhearts, as under the old law men were accustomed to think of ordinary\nhomicide. When this malice of heart expresses itself in the word of\ndislike and contempt, that is a graver offence, and shall have attached\nto it the same moral guilt as would in the old days have brought a man\nbefore the central court. And the stronger expression of reprobation,\n\u201cThou fool,\u201d is a sin which may bring a man into eternal punishment.\n\u201cHe is liable (literally) up to the point of the Gehenna of fire.\u201d\n\nOur Lord certainly speaks in metaphor. Because obviously one could not\nin fact bring a man under any earthly tribunal for the thoughts of his\nheart. But the meaning is plain. Our Lord raises deliberately allowed\nsins of thought and feeling to the level previously occupied by\novert acts; and words He counts yet graver sins; and the deliberate\nexpression of hatred He counts a sin which may destroy the soul.\n\nThis is the way in which He deals with the sixth commandment (though it\nwould apply to all the others). And then He adds a sort of parenthesis\ndealing with the duty of _hastening_ to remove any uncharitable\nrelation in which we may stand towards others.\n\n  \u201cIf therefore thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and\n  there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee,\n  leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first\n  be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.\n  Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art with him\n  in the way; lest haply the adversary deliver thee to the judge,\n  and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into\n  prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out\n  thence, till thou have paid the last farthing.\u201d\n\nOur Lord is speaking to Jews who were accustomed to bring their\nofferings into the temple. He says that if one of them, while engaged\nin this religious observance, should remember that his brother has\naught against him, he is to leave his gift before the altar and to\ngo away hastily, as a man who is leaving an unfinished work, and be\nreconciled; and then come back and offer his gift. It is to be done\nquickly. This is emphasized in a second metaphor. In case of a debt\nyou would have to act quickly, or the law would be in train and extreme\nconsequences would follow. So in moral offences go quickly and satisfy;\npurge your conscience and get free; suffer no delay; otherwise the\nmoral consequences will be in train, and the issue inevitable, and\nthe final result follow.\n\nHe speaks to Jews, but he also speaks to Christians. It is the law\nof the new kingdom. We have an altar. We have to offer up spiritual\nsacrifices, the worship of God in spirit and in truth. Thus in the\ncourse of the first century Jewish Christians apparently applied this\nsaying of our Lord to the Holy Communion. In _The Doctrine of the\nTwelve Apostles_[40] you find: \u201cLet no man who has a dispute with his\nfellow come together with you, until they be reconciled [the word in\nSt. Matt. v. 24], that your sacrifice be not defiled.\u201d Surely we need\nto lay to heart this teaching, that we are to _make haste_ to get rid\nof whatever hinders our approach to God. We Englishmen are so apt to\npride ourselves on not being hypocrites. It was once said to me, and\nthe saying has always remained in my mind, that the great need in our\nday is to preach against the Pharisaism of the publican! How many say,\n\u201cI don\u2019t come to the sacrament: a man who has to knock about and make\nhis way in the world must do things and put up with things which if one\ncomes to the sacrament one is supposed to repent of. And if I do not\nprofess to be impossibly strict, at least I am not a hypocrite.\u201d So he\ngoes off. \u201cLord, I thank thee that I am not one of these hypocrites:\nI make no religious professions, thank God!\u201d Now this is what I call\nthe Pharisaism of the publican. Pharisaism is being satisfied with\nourselves. And the Pharisaism of the man who makes no religious\nprofessions is at least as bad as the Pharisaism of the man who abounds\nin them. Our Lord does not bid us abstain from coming to the altar if\nwe are not fit, but He says, See to it that you make yourselves fit;\nand that too in a hurry. \u201cLeave there thy gift before the altar,\u201d but\nyou cannot leave it long. It will be in the way there. There is an\nunfinished work which you are engaged in. Make haste to come back and\nfinish it. If among my readers are some who belong to the Church and\nare not communicants, and are satisfied because they are not hypocrites,\nI would say to them\u2015\u2015do not be satisfied: begin to approach the altar:\ncommit yourself to it, by telling your wife or husband, or friend or\nparish priest, that you hope to receive the Communion, and when; and\nthen go your ways quickly and remove the moral obstacles which hinder\nyour doing so; otherwise the moral train will be set in motion, and the\ngreat and inevitable issue come before you know it.\n\nThere is one other point which I will ask you to notice\u2015\u2015our Lord\u2019s use\nin this passage of the word \u201cbrother.\u201d In the Bible the term \u201cbrother\u201d\nis confined to those who belong to the covenant; in the old law to the\nJews, in the new law to the Christians. Our Lord then is here dealing\nwith the relation of Christian to Christian, who have realized their\nbrotherhood in the common fatherhood of God. All men are meant for\nbrotherhood, but our Lord is speaking here to those who are brothers\nin fact.\n\n\n                          THE LAW OF ADULTERY\n\n  \u201cYe have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not commit adultery:\n  but I say unto you, that every one that looketh on a woman to\n  lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his\n  heart.\u201d\n\nWe notice that our Lord here brings to light a fresh principle. In\nthe case of the sixth commandment He notes the sin of allowing even\nthe feeling of hatred; but he _distinguishes_ the guilt of an allowed\n_feeling_, not only from that of an act, but also from that of a word.\nBut here our Lord _identifies_ with the overt act in guilt even the\ndesire of the heart when it reaches the point of deliberate _intention_\nto sin. The man whom our Lord is here considering must be supposed to\nhave the deliberate intention to sin; he looks on the woman _in order\nto_[41] excite his lust; he is only restrained from action (if it be\nso) by lack of opportunity or fear of consequences; in his will and\nintention he has already committed the act. Our Lord then says that\nto will to sin and deliberately to stimulate sin in oneself has in\nHis sight all the guilt of sin, even though circumstances may restrain\none from the actual commission of it. This again is a principle which\napplies to other commandments besides the seventh.\n\nThen, in view of the difficulty of sexual purity, our Lord goes on to\nurge men to take those necessary steps in the way of self-discipline,\nwhich will enable them to be preserved from sin:\n\n  \u201cAnd if thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and\n  cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy\n  members should perish, and not thy whole body be cast into hell.\n  And if thy right hand causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and\n  cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy\n  members should perish, and not thy whole body go into hell.\u201d\n\nHere our Lord lays down the important principle of asceticism or\nself-discipline, and we should carefully notice some points in His\nteaching about it.\n\n1. What our Lord tells us is that a safe life is better than a complete\nlife. All parts of our nature were made by God. The best thing is that\nwe should be able to exercise freely all our faculties; but we must be\nsafe at the centre before we can be free at the circumference. And if\nwe find that any one of our faculties is so disordered in fact that it\nis destroying the roots of our life, we must be remorseless in limiting\nourselves; a limited life is better than a life insecure at the roots.\nWhatever exposes us to temptation that is too strong for us must at all\ncosts be abandoned. Bengel says, with much insight, \u201cHow many there are\nwho have been destroyed by neglecting the mortification of one single\nmember.\u201d\n\nThis principle is easy of application to questions which are\nconstantly coming up. Is it right to go to the theatre, or to this\nor that theatre? Is this or that particular sort of art or literature\nlegitimate and justifiable? Now to a certain extent these questions\ncan be answered on general principles. But it does not at all follow,\nbecause on general principles I can justify this or that drama, or\nthis or that literature, or this or that kind of art, that therefore\nit is justified for me. That is quite another question. The question\nfor me is, what is its effect on me? does it in me stimulate what is\nbad? does it put my moral nature to a disadvantage? does it in fact\nbetray me into sin? If so, I have no right at all to excuse myself from\nabstinence on general grounds\u2015\u2015unless, indeed, I am one of those people\nin whose case conscientiousness has a tendency to become a morbid\nscrupulosity. In such cases of mental disease the individual conscience\noften needs rectifying by reference to a more healthy common sense. But\nthese for the moment are not under consideration. The peril which our\nLord has in view is the more usual one of moral carelessness. And His\nwarning is very solemn. Speaking of course in metaphor, but speaking\nmetaphor which means something terribly real, He says it is better to\nlive a maimed life than with all our faculties about us to be destined\nto moral death.\n\n2. Here is the distinctive principle of Christian asceticism. If we\ngo to India, we still find ascetics there whose asceticism is based on\nthe oriental idea that the body is in itself an evil thing, and that to\nbe spiritual is to be separated from material things. That is not the\nChristian idea. The Christian idea is that the whole of this material\nnature, including our bodies, is good in itself and meant to be\nconsecrated to spiritual uses. We are never to mortify any faculty as\nif it were an evil thing to be got rid of. The end of all Christian\nself-discipline is that we may have the freedom of our whole nature.\nBut freedom is only possible where there is rational control. Thus any\nsacrifice is worth making sooner than that the lower part of our nature\nshould lord it over the higher.\n\nNext, as a sequence to this treatment of the seventh commandment, our\nLord deals with the question of divorce.\n\n  \u201cIt was said also, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him\n  give her a writing of divorcement; but I say unto you, that\n  every one that putteth away his wife, saving for the cause of\n  fornication, maketh her an adulteress: and whosoever shall marry\n  her when she is put away committeth adultery.\u201d\n\nThe Jewish law of divorce is given in Deuteronomy xxiv. 1, 2:\n\n  \u201cWhen a man taketh a wife, and marrieth her, then it shall\n  be, if she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found\n  some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of\n  divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his\n  house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and\n  be another man\u2019s wife.\u201d\n\nThis, especially as interpreted in Jewish tradition, had given a\ngreat liberty of divorce, which our Lord here abolishes or restrains.\nWhat we may truly call His legislation on this subject is repeated in\nSt. Matthew xix. 3\u20129:\n\n  \u201cAnd there came unto him Pharisees, tempting him, and saying,\n  Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And\n  he answered and said, Have ye not read, that he which made them\n  from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this\n  cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave\n  to his wife; and the twain shall become one flesh. So that they\n  are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined\n  together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, Why then\n  did Moses command to give a bill of divorcement, and to put\n  her away? He saith unto them, Moses for your hardness of heart\n  suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it\n  hath not been so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away\n  his wife, except for fornication, and shall marry another,\n  committeth adultery: and he that marrieth her when she is put\n  away committeth adultery.\u201d\n\nNow leaving out of question the clause in both passages in which an\nexception seems to be made, we notice, first of all, that our Lord\nproclaimed, as a prominent law of His new kingdom, the indissolubility\nof marriage. And for us as Christians it is perfectly plain that not\nall the parliaments or kings on earth can alter the law of our Lord.\nAnd if any ministers of Christ, or persons claiming to represent the\nChurch of Christ, ever dare to let the commandment of men, in however\nhigh places, override the law of Christ, they are simply behaving in\na way which brings them under the threat which our Lord so solemnly\nuttered: \u201cWhosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this\nadulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also shall be ashamed\nof him, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy\nangels.\u201d[42] Beyond all question, for the Church, and for all who\ndesire to call themselves Christians, it is absolutely out of the\nquestion to regard those as married who, having been divorced, have\nbeen married again, contrary to the law of Christ, during the lifetime\nof their former partner. It is quite true that this indissolubility of\nmarriage may press hardly upon individuals in exceptional cases. But\nso does every law which is for the welfare of mankind in general; and,\npress it hardly or softly, the words of our Lord are quite unmistakable.\nHe who refused to legislate on so many subjects legislated on this, and\nthe simple question arises whether we prefer the authority of Christ to\nany other authority whatever.\n\nBut, secondly, our Lord appears in both passages to make an exception,\nand the exception would seem to sanction, or, more strictly, not to\nprohibit, the re-marriage of an innocent man who has put away his wife\nfor adultery.\n\nVarious attempts have been made to obviate the force of this exception.\nBut to the present writer they do not commend themselves as at all\nsatisfactory.[43] Chiefly it is pleaded that the exception does not\nappear in St. Luke\u2019s Gospel or in St. Paul\u2019s epistles where marriage\nis dealt with. But it is a law of interpretation that a command with a\nspecific qualification is more precise than a general command without\nany specific qualification; and that the one where the qualification\noccurs must interpret the other where this qualification does not\noccur.[44] We must recognize also that in the undivided Church there\nwas great difference of opinion on this subject, that in the Eastern\nChurch at least the re-marriage of the innocent party has been allowed,\nand that, though not tolerated in the Western Church or in the canons\nof the English Church, the bishops of the Anglican communion assembled\nat Lambeth in 1888 have allowed its recognition. Their resolutions are\nas follows:\u2015\u2015\n\n  \u201c1. That, inasmuch as our Lord\u2019s words expressly forbid divorce,\n  except in the case of fornication or adultery, the Christian\n  Church cannot recognize divorce in any other than the excepted\n  case, or give any sanction to the marriage of any person who has\n  been divorced contrary to this law, during the life of the other\n  party.\n\n  2. That under no circumstances ought the guilty party, in the\n  case of a divorce for fornication or adultery, to be regarded,\n  during the lifetime of the innocent party, as a fit recipient of\n  the blessing of the Church on marriage.\n\n  3. That, recognizing the fact that there always has been a\n  difference of opinion in the Church on the question whether our\n  Lord meant to forbid marriage to the innocent party in a divorce\n  for adultery, the Conference recommends that the clergy should\n  not be instructed to refuse the sacraments or other privileges\n  of the Church to those who, under civil sanction, are thus\n  married.\u201d\n\nI have dealt only with the interpretation of St. Matthew\u2019s Gospel;\nnot directly with the present duty of English churchmen. But there is\nperhaps no matter which threatens so seriously the peace of the Church\nof England as this matter of divorce. And I venture to state my own\nview of the best way to meet the difficulty.\n\nI have stated above that the unaltered law of the _Church_ of\nEngland\u2015\u2015as distinct from the _State_\u2015\u2015allows no exception to the\nindissolubility of marriage. Those who assent to the interpretation of\nthe passages in St. Matthew\u2019s Gospel which has just been given, will\nrecognize that the church law of England might be modified in the sense\nof the Lambeth decisions without any disloyalty to Christ. But it has\nnot been modified, and, as it stands, it ought to control our action.\nMoreover in the present state of feeling, in view of our present social\nexperiences, and of the difficulty of maintaining the distinction\nbetween the innocent and guilty party, it is probably undesirable to\nattempt to modify it by canon. The best course, in my judgement, is to\nmaintain the existing church law by refusing to allow any re-marriage,\neven of the innocent party in a divorce for adultery, with the rites or\nin the consecrated buildings of the Church. This would still leave it\nopen for bishops to act upon the third clause of the recommendation\nof the Lambeth Conference, and to instruct their clergy to admit to\ncommunion such \u201cinnocent parties\u201d as have been re-married under civil\nsanction.\n\n\n                       THE LAW OF TAKING AN OATH\n\n  \u201cAgain, ye have heard that it was said to them of old time,\n  Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord\n  thine oaths: but I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by\n  the heaven, for it is the throne of God; nor by the earth, for\n  it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the\n  city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head,\n  for thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your\n  speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: and whatsoever is more than these\n  is of the evil one.\u201d\n\nThe third commandment, taken with other passages of the Old\nTestament,[45] enjoined upon the Israelite to swear only by the name of\nJehovah; and so swearing, to be diligent to perform his oath. And our\nLord both restores the injunction[46] and deepens it.\n\nWhat, we ask, is the nature of an oath? It is for a man to put himself\nsolemnly in God\u2019s presence, and assert that, as surely as God is God,\nand as he hopes for His blessing on his life, what he is saying is\nthe truth. The essence of the oath is the solemnly putting oneself _on\nspecial occasions_ in the presence of God. But is not God everywhere\npresent? Are we ever out of His presence? Does not everything live\nsimply with His life and depend on His will? Is there then any meaning\nin selecting set occasions to put ourselves in God\u2019s presence, when\nGod is always present and all that exists exists in Him? It is to this\ntruth of the omnipresence and omnipotence of God that our Lord calls\nmen\u2019s attention; and He deals with the Jewish commandment by lifting\nall conversation, all use of language, in His new kingdom to the level\nwhich had previously been held by declarations on oath. To the Jew\nit had been a great thing to forswear himself, but little or nothing\nto speak in ordinary talk what was not true. Our Lord says: God is\neverywhere and all words are uttered in His presence; therefore truth\nis of universal obligation; your yea is always to be yea, and your\nnay, nay.\n\nNot only have we in St. James\u2019 Epistle[47] a repetition of this\ninjunction of our Lord, when it was much needed, but we have an\ninstructive comment upon it in the distress which it occasioned\nSt. Paul to be accused unjustly of prevarication and untruth to his\npromise.[48] Truth to his word is to be always and everywhere the\ncharacteristic of a Christian. It is not to be at one time \u201cyea, yea,\u201d\nand at another time \u201cnay, nay.\u201d How fundamentally the absence of this\ncharacteristic of mutual trustworthiness can hinder social progress\namong Christians is, I fear, apparent at the present day in the case\nof those whom (by a limitation of the term equally unfortunate for\nthose who are included in it, and for those who are not) we call the\nworking-classes.\n\nIn this connexion we may notice three points.\n\n1. The duty of truthfulness comes under the third commandment as\ndeepened by our Lord. In questions for self-examination on the Ten\nCommandments, as interpreted for Christians, one almost always sees the\nduty of truthfulness brought under the ninth. But that, in view of our\nLord\u2019s words, is certainly wrong, and is due originally to a tendency\nto depreciate the sinfulness of lying, except where wrong appears\nto be done by it to the reputation or interests of another. Our Lord\nbrings untruthfulness of all kinds under the prohibition of the third\ncommandment simply by deepening its fundamental principle.\n\n2. Though our Lord teaches God\u2019s omnipresence, yet He none the less\nrecognizes degrees of His presence. We very often hear objections made,\nif we allege a special presence of God in the church, or at the altar\nin the Holy Communion. Is not God, it is asked, present everywhere?\nYes; \u201cheaven is God\u2019s _throne_; the earth is His _footstool_; Jerusalem\nis His _city_.\u201d[49] Just because God\u2019s presence is not physical, but\nspiritual, therefore it admits degrees of intensity. God is everywhere\npresent; but He is present in a special way and for a special purpose\nwhere two or three are gathered together; and, again, in a special way\nand for a special purpose in the ordinances of His sacramental grace.\nSimilarly He is, we may say, more present in rational beings than in\nirrational; and in good men more than in bad.\n\n3. We must answer the question\u2015\u2015Are all oaths prohibited to the\nChristian? is it always wrong for a Christian to go into a court of\njustice and be sworn? Our Lord Himself, we notice, consented to be\nput on oath by the high priest\u2015\u2015\u201cI adjure thee by God,\u201d\u2015\u2015and to that\nadjuration He answered.[50] And on three or four occasions St. Paul\ntakes God to witness, and says, in effect, As God is my witness, this\nis true. With these precedents, I do not think it is possible to say\na Christian may not take an oath in a court of justice, or difficult\nto explain why he may. It is for this reason. When a Christian goes to\ntake an oath in a court of law he should only go to profess openly that\nmotive to truthfulness which rules all his speech. Even so, the need\nthat he should take an oath comes of the habitual neglect of truth in\nordinary conversation: in this sense any taking of an oath \u201cis of the\nevil one.\u201d And a man is quite below the Christian standard who thinks\nhimself bound to truth by his oath, but not by his word in common\nspeech. What are we to say then of the universally attested fact that\neven perjury, or false swearing, is in the law-courts of our Christian\ncountry a quite ordinary occurrence?\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER V\n\n               THE REVISION OF THE OLD LAW (_continued_)\n\n\nAFTER dealing thus with three of the Ten Commandments our Lord proceeds\nto deal with two other prescriptions or ideas of the old covenant. As\nHe had done to the commandments, He deepens and intensifies them till\nthey reach that standard which commends itself to His holy and perfect\nmind. In both cases our Lord\u2019s treatment of the older moral standard is\nboth profoundly interesting and at the same time the cause of no little\ndifficulty and scruple to Christian consciences.\n\n\n                          THE LAW OF REVENGE\n\n  \u201cYe have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth\n  for a tooth: but I say unto you, Resist not him that is evil:\n  but whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the\n  other also. And if any man would go to law with thee, and take\n  away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall\n  compel thee to go one mile, go with him twain. Give to him that\n  asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not\n  thou away.\u201d\n\nOur Lord is here dealing with one interesting prescription of the old\nlaw. It had definitely allowed revenge up to a certain point, but no\nfurther. It might go to the point of exact reciprocity. So the law in\nExodus xxi. 24, 25 lays it down: \u201cEye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand\nfor hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe\nfor stripe.\u201d\n\n1. Here we must remark, first, that the law of the old covenant was in\nitself a limitation of human instinct. The savage instinct of revenge\nis to rush blindly in, and do as much harm to an enemy as can be done.\nThe savage satisfies himself to the full; he kills the man that has\ndone him wrong and his wife and family. Now nothing is more striking\nin the old covenant than that it checks barbarous habits and puts them\nunder restraint. It is so with the habit of animal sacrifice; it is\nso in the law of revenge. The Mosaic law stands by, as it were, as a\npoliceman, and says, An eye? is that the wrong done? Then an eye may\nbe put out in return; but no more. You must stop there. The point\nwhich needs emphasizing is that the old law worked by way of gradual\nlimitation, not of sudden abolition. God dealt with men gradually.\nTheir savage passions are restrained under the Old Testament as a\npreparation for the time when they were to be brought under the perfect\ndiscipline of the Son of Man. So now, when the fullness of the time\nis come, our Lord lays on this passion of revenge a harder and deeper\nprescription, and says in fact to each of His disciples: A wrong aimed\nat thee as an individual is, so far as thy feeling goes, simply to be\nan occasion for showing complete liberty of spirit and superiority to\nall outrage. The Lord requires not moderation in revenge, but complete\nself-effacement.\n\n2. Secondly, we may notice that this requirement of self-effacement is\nof the nature of an ascetic prescription, as when our Lord said \u201cIf thy\nright eye offend thee, pluck it out; if thy right hand offend thee, cut\nit off.\u201d The necessity for this self-mutilation\u2015\u2015cutting off a hand,\nplucking out an eye\u2015\u2015lay in the fact that these limbs, or faculties,\nor functions of our nature had been so utterly misused that before\nthey could be again used legitimately they must be put under this stern\ndiscipline of effacement.\n\nSo with this instinct of revenge. The instinct has in it something that\nis right: something of the passion of justice. It is a true instinct\nwhich makes us feel that for wrong done man should suffer wrong. It\nis derived from the divine principle of justice. But in our own cases,\nwhere our own interests are concerned, this passion of justice has come\nto be so mixed up with selfishness, and with those excessive demands\nwhich spring of selfishness\u2015\u2015in a word, it has become so defiled with\nsin\u2015\u2015that our Lord imposes on it an absolute ban; He says \u201cVengeance\nis mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.\u201d He takes away from us, as\nit were, the right to administer justice in our own case. \u201cThe wrath\nof man worketh not the righteousness of God.\u201d[51] He requires us as\nindividuals to acknowledge the law of self-effacement.\n\n3. The requirement which our Lord lays on His disciples is not only\nmade in words. It was enforced, where the enforcement is most striking,\nin our Lord\u2019s example. You watch our Lord in His passion; and when\nyou look delicately and accurately at the details of the treatment He\nreceived, you observe how almost intolerably hard to bear were many\nof His trials. We can hardly conceive what to Him it must have been to\nbear the hideous insults and injustices of men. Think for example, to\ntake a subtle but impressive instance,[52] of those false accusations\nbrought against Him which had in them the sound of truth. \u201cAnd there\nstood up certain, and bear false witness against him, saying, We heard\nhim say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in\nthree days I will build another made without hands.\u201d[53] He had said in\nfact not that, but something like it. He had said \u201cDestroy this temple,\nand in three days I will raise it up.\u201d[54] That is, Suppose you destroy,\nthen I will rebuild. There was a great difference between what He had\nsaid and what He was accused of saying. But you know in what atmosphere\nit is that such accusations are brought. The crowd does not consider\ndetails; it listens to the vague sound of the words; it is easily\nconvinced: \u201cHe said something of that sort. If he defends himself, he\nhas to quibble.\u201d And thus they rush off and put down to the accused man\nnot what he said, but what he was supposed to have said. Now our Lord\nhad that delicate instinct of the pastor. He knew there were people\nwatching Him, and wondering whether He were the true Messiah or no. To\nhave an accusation brought against Him which sounded as if true, and,\nthough it was not true, excited such fierce animosity against Him\u2015\u2015this\nwas a profound trial of spirit: and it is only one instance in which\na little imagination, if we bring it to bear, shows us the depth of\nwhat our Lord had to endure not only in the way of insults, but of\ninjustices. Yet \u201cwhen he was reviled, he reviled not again; when he\nsuffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth\nrighteously.\u201d[55]\n\n4. When our own personal feeling has been utterly suppressed, then it\nis quite possible that another duty, the duty of justice, the duty of\nmaintaining the social order, may come into prominence again. Thus our\nLord is in another passage[56] recorded to have said something that may\nappear at first sight plainly contradictory to what He says here. \u201cIf\nthy brother sin against thee\u201d\u2015\u2015are you simply to take no notice of it?\nNo. You are to \u201cshew him his fault between thee and him alone: if he\nhear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he hear thee not, take\nwith thee one or two more, that at the mouth of two witnesses or three\nevery word may be established. And if he refuse to hear them, tell it\nunto the church: and if he refuse to hear the church also, let him be\nunto thee as the Gentile and the publican.\u201d\n\nHere it is obvious our Lord is enjoining not an extreme measure of\npersonal meekness, but an extreme insistence on social justice. And\nHe Himself made a certain claim on justice in His trial: \u201cAnd when he\nhad said this, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his\nhand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so? Jesus answered him,\nIf I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why\nsmitest thou me?\u201d[57] So St. Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles, claims\njustice: \u201cI am standing before C\u00e6sar\u2019s judgement-seat, where I ought\nto be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou also very well\nknowest. If then I am a wrong-doer, and have committed anything worthy\nof death, I refuse not to die: but if none of those things is true,\nwhereof these accuse me, no man can give me up unto them. I appeal unto\nC\u00e6sar.\u201d[58]\n\nWe observe therefore two opposite duties. There is the clear duty, so\nfar as mere personal feeling goes, of simple self-effacement. Only then,\nwhen we have got our own wills thoroughly subordinated to God\u2019s will,\nwhen all the wild instinct of revenge is subdued, are we in a position\nto consider the other duty and to ask ourselves what the maintenance of\nthe moral order of society may require of us.\n\nThis particular point gives us an opportunity to consider generally\nour Lord\u2019s method in teaching. We have been brought up against one\nconspicuous instance in which our Lord appears to contradict Himself;\nand the explanation of this lies in His method. At times we must notice\nHis method was metaphorical. When we were considering what He says\nabout asceticism, for example, we saw that the instances given were\nplainly metaphorical. \u201cIf thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast\nit from thee.\u201d That is a metaphor for violently putting under restraint\nany faculty which has been misused.\n\nBut here His instances are not metaphorical. They are such as\nquite admit of actual and literal application. They are, however,\n_proverbial_. You may notice in the proverbs of all nations that\nthey easily admit of appearing to be contradictory and yet of being\nperfectly intelligible in the guidance they give us. One day you\nwill hear a man condemned as \u201cpenny wise and pound foolish\u201d; another\nday it is \u201ctake care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of\nthemselves.\u201d One day it is \u201clook before you leap\u201d; another \u201cnothing\nventure, nothing have.\u201d The suggestions involved in these pairs of\nproverbs are contradictory. The important matter according to the\none is to be careful about large sums, according to the other to be\ncareful about small sums: according to one to think before you act,\naccording to the other to be ready to run a risk. But each gives\nwhat is obviously the right guidance to certain characters in certain\nsituations, and gives it after the manner of proverbs. A proverb\nembodies a principle of common, but not universal, application in\nan absolute and extreme form. Another proverb may embody another\nprinciple in a similar form. And thus expressed they may easily appear\ncontradictory, and both alike impracticable, if taken literally,\nbecause all the qualifying circumstances are left out.\n\nOur Lord then teaches by proverbs. In emphasizing one principle He\nexpresses it as an absolute direction in an extreme instance: \u201cIf a\nman will take thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.\u201d In emphasizing\nanother principle He expresses it in a similar form: \u201cIf thy brother\ntrespass against thee, go and tell him his fault\u201d and follow the matter\nup to its extreme consequences.\n\nAnd every one must recognize that the right application of each proverb\ndepends on the question, What is the particular principle which at a\nparticular moment is to be brought into play? No proverb could be ever\ntaken as a rule for constant action, but only as a type of action when\na particular principle is to be expressed.\n\nNow we may take the injunctions which our Lord gives, and ask ourselves\nhow we can apply these particular proverbs to-day.\n\n  \u201cBut I say unto you, Resist not him that is evil: but whosoever\n  smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.\u201d\n\nThe actual words need of course no explanation. But can we see how\nwe are to apply the precept? would it \u201cdo\u201d to obey it exactly and\nliterally? Well, there are occasions when it might be obeyed, if not\nliterally\u2015\u2015because people may seldom, or perhaps never, smite us on the\nright cheek\u2015\u2015yet nearly literally; occasions when nothing is concerned\nbut our own instinct of revenge or our own pride, and we had better\nsimply take meekly some insult or wrong, and make no effort to defend\nourselves.\n\nFor example: there is a nasty thing said about you in the newspaper or\na nasty thing whispered about you in the circle where you move, and you\nknow quite well who has put it into the newspaper or given it currency.\nYou cannot be mistaken; there is evidence; only one person could\nhave done it. And the statement made is really untrue. No one can be\nsubjected to that kind of wrong, without being brought face to face\nwith the question whether he intends to be a thorough-going Christian.\nFor there is no doubt what we ought to do. We ought not to be content\ntill we have utterly crushed out of ourselves the least desire, as far\nas our own personal feeling is concerned, to take any kind of revenge\nwhatever. We are to efface ourselves utterly, we are to turn the other\ncheek. That means, of course, that we decline to show in any way that\nwe know who has done the wrong, and that we are at pains to look out\nfor an opportunity of kindness to the person who has wronged us. That\nwould be not a literal but a practical application of the principle,\nand there are numerous occasions in any man\u2019s life when it is right\nto act thus, and any other course of conduct at all is more or less\nmorally wrong, because no social duty compels us to assert our just\ncause.\n\nThe next injunction is:\n\n  \u201cAnd if any man would go to law with thee, and take away thy\n  coat, let him have thy cloke also.\u201d\n\nThere again, it is quite plain what is meant. It is to refuse to\nresist legal injustice. Very often it can and ought to be literally\nobeyed. \u201cNay, already it is altogether a defect in you, that ye have\nlawsuits one with another. Why not rather take wrong? why not rather be\ndefrauded?\u201d[59] But there are also instances in which to act literally\non this precept would be, in any sober judgement, doing a great wrong\nto society and to the man who is himself the wrong doer. But the\nquestion is, am I able to look at the matter from that point of view?\nThe difficulty to almost all of us is to get into such a state of mind\nthat we can honestly say, As far as my own will goes, I am ready to\nsuffer this and more; and not to let the question of legal proceedings\ncome into our minds at all till we are sure that our motive is the\ngeneral interest of society and of the wrong doer.\n\nThen, once more:\n\n  \u201cAnd whosoever shall compel thee to go one mile, go with him\n  twain.\u201d\n\nThere was a public transport service which passed from the Persian\ninto later empires. Our Lord then says \u201cWhen any public officer presses\nthee into the transport service for a certain way, be prepared to take\ndouble the impost.\u201d That is\u2015\u2015do not resent public claims upon you, bear\nthe public burdens, and be willing that, as far as you are concerned,\nthey should be double what they are. But how we dislike the rates and\ntaxes! How few there are who take a Christian view of paying them, and\nare glad, up to their means, to accept the burden which membership in\nthis great nation lays upon them. Something more is our duty than to\nmake barely honest returns for an income tax.\n\n  \u201cGive to him that asketh thee,\u201d and (in St. Luke) \u201cof him that\n  taketh away thy goods ask them not again.\u201d\n\nProbably most of us know the old sculpture on the back of the screen\nbehind the high altar in our abbey of Westminster. It is one of those\nin which are represented the traditions about our (almost) patron saint,\nEdward the Confessor. The king is resting after the labours of the day,\nand Hugolin, his chamberlain, has brought out the chest of money to pay\nhis various retainers. But he leaves it open while he is out of the way;\na scullion comes in, and thinking the king is asleep, twice he carries\noff treasure out of the chest. While he is enriching himself the third\ntime, the king, who has seen all, quietly observes: \u201cFly, fellow, as\nquickly as you can, for Hugolin is coming back, and he will not leave\nyou so much as a half-penny.\u201d Hugolin does come, and, finding out what\nhas occurred, questions the king. The king however will not disclose\nwho has taken the treasure: \u201cHe needed it more than we; Edward has\nsurely enough treasure. As Jesus Christ teaches us, worldly property\nought to be common to all those who have need of it.\u201d[60]\n\nWe need not doubt that occasions still occur when even fantastic\nacts of generosity, such as this, are the things needed to make an\nimpression on hardened or embittered or careless hearts. Every one\nknows Victor Hugo\u2019s story of the bishop and the convict in _Les\nMiserables_, and no doubt it represents realities in life and\nexperience.\n\nOn the whole, however, it is seldom that it would be right to let the\nthief have his own way. But it is always right to deal very mercifully\nwith first offences and to take trouble to give the offenders a clear\nfresh chance. And even if the law is let to take its course with a\ncriminal, yet kindness to him while he is suffering his sentence and\nafter it\u2015\u2015kindness which does not shrink from taking a great deal of\ntrouble\u2015\u2015can produce the same moral impression as a literal application\nof the divine proverb like King Edward\u2019s.\n\n  \u201cGive to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of\n  thee, turn not thou away.\u201d\n\nWhat are we to say to the beggar, of whatever grade? Now, first of\nall, there are a great many cases where help is needed, and \u201casked\nfor\u201d therefore, whether by a spoken or an unspoken appeal, by people of\nwhom we know the character and circumstances antecedently. Misfortunes\nhappen to people who are such as can profitably be helped, that is,\nsuch as when they are helped in a temporary difficulty will be enabled\nto resume the normal course of a self-helping life: or such as will\nneed permanent help indeed, as they are permanently incapacitated, but\nhave the will and character to work. Or there are cases where help can\nbe given to educate a young man or woman for the priesthood or some\nother honourable career. There are in fact no lack of cases in which\nwe can with the greatest profit help individuals, and that largely and\ngenerously, to say nothing of innumerable societies and institutions\nwhich need and ask, but find few to give regularly and bountifully.\nThis sort of regular generosity costs us much more than giving coppers\nto beggars or shillings to applicants by post. \u201cLet thine alms sweat\ninto thine hand, until thou knowest to whom thou shouldest give,\u201d was\nthe advice given in a very early Christian community.[61]\n\nNext, let us take notice that we can \u201cmake inquiries.\u201d People shrink\nfrom this because it takes trouble and implies methodical principles.\nBut there is no equally secure means of sifting out cases of honest\nneed from those of professional begging. The \u201cprofessionals\u201d will not\ncome near a house where it is known that inquiries are made. And the\nfact that we take kindly trouble about them, should appeal to what is\ngood in any man\u2019s conscience.\n\nBut as to indiscriminate charity? It has been encouraged very often\nby the teachers of Christianity.[62] But if a tree is known by its\nfruits, the system is all condemned. It is in fact an indulgence of our\nfeelings of compassion, with little trouble to ourselves, and at the\nexpense of society. To give indeed to any beggar the plainest broken\nfood may do no harm. But it is very seldom welcomed. Again we can do\nsomething to indicate friendly, kindly feeling towards an applicant,\nif we take pains. Perhaps, for instance, we can get a boy-beggar on to\na training ship. At least, so far as we can, let us not resent taking\ntrouble about people who have no \u201cspecial claim\u201d on us. And when our\nChristian judgement can approve it, let us not resent expense. Let our\nwhole conduct make it evident that we welcome and do not resent claims\neither on our purse, or on our heart, or on our intelligence. But our\nintelligence must be brought to bear upon our charity as well as our\nheart. To illustrate how this is forgotten I will only repeat a story\nof the saintly William Law. He seems to have distributed as much as\n\u00a32,500 a year, chiefly in doles to applicants who came into his back\nyard; he succeeded in getting rid of his money, and in demoralizing the\nneighbourhood.[63] But it is plainly not our Lord\u2019s will that we should\ndo manifest harm.\n\nIndiscriminate charity is not enjoined, but a self-sacrificing\ngenerosity is. And it would be well if every Christian who is wealthy\nor \u201ccomfortably-off\u201d would, before passing on from this passage, kneel\nupon his knees as in God\u2019s presence and ask himself if he is making a\nserious attempt to accept loyally the claim upon his time and money\nwhich his Lord makes on behalf of those who want.\n\n\n                       THE TREATMENT OF ENEMIES\n\n  \u201cYe have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour,\n  and hate thine enemy: but I say unto you, Love your enemies, and\n  pray for them that persecute you; that ye may be sons of your\n  Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the\n  evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.\n  For if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? do not\n  even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only,\n  what do ye more than others? do not even the Gentiles the same?\n  Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is\n  perfect.\u201d\n\nThe exact expression, \u201cThou shalt hate thine enemy,\u201d nowhere occurs in\nthe Mosaic law; and there are, both in the law and elsewhere in the Old\nTestament, passages which come nearer to the Christian standard.[64]\nBut on the whole we must accept Dr. Mozley\u2019s conclusion:[65] \u201cThe whole\nprecept as it stands undoubtedly represents, and is a summary of, the\nsense of the law\u201d: nor can \u201cthe enemy\u201d be regarded as meaning _only_\nthe enemies of Israel. Thus many Christian consciences are distressed\nwhile psalms are being sung in our services which contain imprecations\nupon enemies, such as the 109th. Some modern critics assure us that\nthese psalms express no individual feelings towards personal enemies,\nbut the feeling of righteous Israel towards the enemies of the Lord. It\nmay be doubted whether this is altogether the case. And even if it is\nso, the psalms still fall short of the Christian standard both of hope\nfor the conversion of enemies and of love toward them in any case. No\ndoubt, if we take the Righteous One who speaks in them to be Christ,\nwe can find in them the divine principles of judgement; and so they are\ninterpreted in the New Testament. Still in their mode of expression,\nand in the temper which they historically represent, they fall short\nof the Christian standard. And this ought not to surprise us. The whole\nOld Testament is on right lines of divine development: but it has not\nreached the goal, which is Christ. \u201cIt was said to them of old ... but\nI say unto you.\u201d\n\nOur Lord, in deepening and widening the Old Testament law of love,\ninculcates kindliness in disposition, in word, in act. In disposition,\nwe are to \u201clove our enemies.\u201d Not of course that we can feel alike\ntowards all people; but we can set our will, or what the Bible calls\nour heart, to do them good. And if we dispose ourselves aright towards\nothers, we shall probably end by feeling aright, though that can never\nbe a matter of commandment. And we are to show our disposition towards\nthem by kindly salutations, or the ordinary words which express human\ngoodwill, and by deeds, both earnest prayer for them and acts which\nimitate the impartial beneficence of our Father in heaven.\n\nNothing is said about the effect which such kindness to professed\nenemies may have. But there is no question that if we treat people as\nif they were permanently and necessarily what they are at the moment,\nwe fix or do our best to fix them in their present condition. To make\npeople better, we must believe that God intends them to be better and\ntreat them as if we believed them in fact to be better than they are.\nThe clever barrister, Sidney Carton, in Dickens\u2019 _Tale of Two Cities_,\nwho had been his own enemy, who had fallen from bad to worse, who had\nceased to believe in himself as his friends also had ceased to believe\nin him, was recovered by a good and merciful woman who refused to\ntake him at the general estimate and would not give him up\u2015\u2015recovered,\nafter many relapses, to the point of a final act of heroism by which\nhe lost his own life to save his true friend\u2019s husband. So if we refuse\nto treat people as our enemies, we have the best possible chance of\nwinning them to be our friends. God has redeemed men by treating them,\nnot as they are, but as they are capable of becoming.\n\nOur Lord calls our attention to the fact that He is requiring such\nconduct of us as only a supernatural motive, the motive of fellowship\nwith God, can account for. This is a consideration which we can apply\nto other parts of Christian duty\u2015\u2015for instance, to the obligation of\npurity. But our Lord here applies it to kindliness. \u201cYou are kind to\nyour friends. Are not the publicans the same?\u201d The publicans proper\nwere capitalists who \u201cfarmed\u201d the Roman taxes, undertaking to hand over\na certain sum for a certain district and then getting as much as they\ncould out of the inhabitants. But the name was also applied to their\nsubordinates, the custom-house officers, as in the New Testament. These\nwere held in special odium by their countrymen and generally justified\na character for rapacity. But even such men are kind to their friends.\nIt requires no other motive than human convenience, the most ordinary\nsocial virtue. But what our Lord asks of us is something which requires\nthe supernatural or divine motive to account for it. Here then we have\na serious question. Consider your actions, your ordinary dealings with\nothers. Are they such as can be accounted for by convenience and social\nrequirement, or does your conduct require the divine motive, the motive\nof fellowship with God, to explain it and to make it possible? It is\nonly this latter sort of conduct that makes it\u2015\u2015so to speak\u2015\u2015worth\nwhile that Jesus Christ should have come down from heaven and\nsacrificed Himself for you. Are you walking worthily of the vocation\nwherewith ye are called? For your principle of conduct is to be nothing\nless than a real striving after the perfection of God, which is indeed\nthe character of Christ.\n\n  \u201cYe therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is\n  perfect.\u201d\n\nYet we must not despair. We have Christ\u2019s Spirit working within us to\nmake us like Christ: and if only we have the right ideal in front of us\nand are moving however slowly towards it, or even constantly recurring\nto the pursuit of it, we shall be perfected at last. We have eternity\nbefore us to grow in\u2015\u2015not a year or two, or a life-time, but eternity.\nAnd in our best moments we do really recognize that what is most worth\nhaving in the world is the character of Christ. Only in proportion as\nwe feel the magnitude of what is asked of us, let us throw ourselves\nupon the divine readiness to give strength and wisdom according to our\nneeds. Let us pray with Augustine \u201cGive what Thou commandest and then\ncommand what Thou willest.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER VI\n\n          THE MOTIVE OF THE CITIZENS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN\n\n\nWHEN we were considering the way in which our Lord deepens the law of\nlove, while abrogating the law of revenge, we were obliged to notice\nthat what He gives us is not literal enactments, but rather principles\nor motives for action. He expresses Himself indeed proverbially, in\nthe form of particular injunctions or prohibitions. But the proverbial\nnature of these directions is apparent, in part because they are\nsometimes mutually contradictory; and they must be taken, like\nproverbs generally, as embodying in extreme concrete instances general\nprinciples or motives for action.\n\nWe may truly say that the Sermon on the Mount gives us a social law for\nChristians. That is true in this sense: the Sermon on the Mount gives\nus principles of action which every Christian must apply and re-apply\nin his social conduct. But just because it embodies motives and\nprinciples and does not give legal enactments, it must appeal in the\nfirst instance to the individual, to his heart and conscience; and it\nis only as the character thus formed must set itself to remodel social\nlife on a fresh basis, that the Sermon on the Mount can become a social\nlaw for Christians. You cannot take any one of its prescriptions,\nand apply it as a social law at once. You cannot take the maxim \u201cIf\na man smite thee on the one cheek, turn to him the other also,\u201d or\n\u201cIf a man take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also,\u201d and make\nit obligatory on Christians as a rule of external conduct, without\nupsetting the whole basis of society and without ignoring a contrary\nmaxim which our Lord gives us in another connexion.\n\nBut each of the maxims can be taken to the heart and conscience of\nthe individual, to become a principle of each man\u2019s own character\nand conduct, and then to reappear, retranslated into social action,\naccording to the wisdom of the time or the wisdom of the man or the\nwisdom of the Church.\n\nThis truth\u2015\u2015that our Lord is giving us principles, not laws\u2015\u2015will\nappear only more conspicuously now, when we pass to the next great\nsection of the Sermon; because it will be obvious that our Lord\ncan only be dealing with motives of action\u2015\u2015motives such as belong\nto the secret heart of the individual. He proceeds to inculcate\nthe abandonment of a worldly temper by prohibiting, literally, such\nreligious actions as other men can see. But His own example, His own\ninstitution of a corporate religion, His special promises to common\nworship, His countermaxim \u201cLet your light so shine before men, that\nthey may see your good works,\u201d force us to recognize the proverbial\ncharacter of these prohibitions, and to look for the principle rather\nthan the law.\n\nAnd indeed this sixth chapter of St. Matthew\u2019s Gospel has one\nsubject throughout. It teaches us one great principle\u2015\u2015that the new\nrighteousness, the righteousness of the citizens of the kingdom, looks\nthroughout towards God. God is its motive, God is its aim, God is its\nobject; God, and nothing lower than God. No man is truly a citizen who\nis not in all his conduct and life looking directly God-ward.\n\nWe will attend first to verses 1\u201218, omitting the positive directions\nabout prayer. Their theme does not vary: The Christian righteousness,\nin all its departments, looks for divine praise; never for human\npraise. Our Lord lays this down first of righteousness generally, then\nof its different branches. Thus, in the first place, of righteousness\ngenerally:\n\n  \u201cTake heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be\n  seen of them: else ye have no reward with your Father which is\n  in heaven.\u201d\n\nWe may observe here, once for all, that our Lord in no way disparages\nthe seeking a reward, only the seeking it in a wrong place. There are\n\u201caltruists\u201d who regard the seeking of even an eternal reward from God\nas ignoble; they would find the true religious motive only in such\nan utterance as that of St. Francis Xavier, \u201cMy God, I love Thee, not\nbecause I hope for heaven thereby,\u201d and would recall the medi\u00e6val story\nof the man who would quench with water the flames of hell and burn\nup with fire the joys of heaven, that men might seek God for His own\nsake. But indeed these philosophers ignore indestructible and necessary\ninstincts in human nature. We cannot separate love for God from a\ndesire to find our own happiness in God. This is inseparable from\npersonality. We must crave for ultimate satisfaction, recognition,\napproval. The point is that we should seek it in the right place, that\nis from God. For coming from Him it can never involve any spoiling\nof our own capacity for usefulness to others, or narrowing of our\nown selves. Thus there is a true self-love: and a true self-love\nseeks satisfaction in the fellowship of God in the eternal world. If\n\u201cother-worldliness\u201d or the seeking of the divine reward has done harm\nin religion, that is because the character of the God whom we seek,\nas revealed in the character and teaching of Jesus Christ, has not\nbeen attended to. Granted that we seek God as He is, there can be no\npossible peril of our undervaluing this world or the bodies of men,\nnor of our tolerating selfishness in religion. He that said \u201cWhat is\na man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own life\n(soul)?\u201d said also, \u201cHe that saveth his life (soul) shall lose it.\u201d\n\nThen our Lord applies the general principle of seeking only God\u2019s\napproval to the three great branches of human conduct. Christian, and\nindeed human conduct generally, looks in three directions. There is a\nduty to God, there is a duty to one\u2019s neighbour, and there is a duty\nto one\u2019s self. And each of these great departments of human conduct has\none typical form of action, one form of action in which it specially\nexpresses itself. Our duty to God expresses itself particularly\nin prayer. Our duty to man expresses itself in works of mercy, or\nalms. Our duty towards ourselves expresses itself in self-subdual,\nself-mastery\u2015\u2015that is, fasting. And so our Lord applies the general\nprinciple to each of these typical duties. In your prayers, in your\nalms, in your fastings\u2015\u2015in each case you are to look to nothing lower\nthan the praise of God.\n\nAnd, before we study these passages, let me ask you to notice how\nsimply our Lord does always regard human life as bound to move in these\nthree directions. There is our duty to God. That He puts first, not\nto be merged in our duty to our neighbour. There is our personal duty\nto God as a person, and it is the first and chief commandment to love\nthe Lord our God. Then there is our duty towards our neighbour; and\nthen, also, there is our duty towards ourselves. \u201cThou shalt love thy\nneighbour\u2015\u2015as thyself!\u201d Our duty towards ourselves is, in a word, to\nmake the best of ourselves. Each one is an instrument, divinely created\nby God, with that sum total of faculties which the Bible calls his\nlife or soul. Well, he is to make the best of himself. Considered as\na spiritual being, capable of right spiritual activity, each man is\nto love himself and his neighbour and God; himself, by bringing his\nwhole being into good order and efficiency, which cannot be without\nfasting or the subdual of the flesh to the spirit: his neighbour, by\nconsidering his true interests like his own, which cannot be without\nalmsgiving or actual gifts out of his substance to supply the other\u2019s\nneeds: and God, which cannot be unless he deal with Him as a person by\nway of actual personal requests in prayer. And in each direction he is\nto seek only the praise of God.\n\n\n                              ALMSGIVING\n\n  \u201cWhen therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee,\n  as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that\n  they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have\n  received their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy\n  left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine alms may be\n  in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret shall recompense\n  thee.\u201d\n\nOur Lord is clearly using a metaphor. We cannot suppose that the Jews,\nwhen they went to give alms, caused their own trumpet to be blown in\na literal sense; and in the same way, when our Lord speaks of the left\nhand not knowing what the right hand doeth, it is clearly a metaphor;\nbut a metaphor vividly descriptive. For what our Lord is here\nforbidding is obviously ostentation in doing good.\n\nHere is a matter upon which it is for each man to examine himself. We\nare to find out what our _motive_ is. We are not to be troubled because,\nwhen we are trying to do good, there comes across us the temptation to\nthink that people are looking at us. We shall often be tempted in this\nway: but the point is, what is our motive? We can find that out. When\npeople are not looking at us, do we stop doing the good action? When we\ncannot be seen, do we omit it? If not, let us not be worried because we\nmay be tempted with thoughts of vainglory. You know what an old saint\nsaid to Satan: \u201cNot for thy sake did I begin this; and not for thy sake\nshall I leave it off.\u201d But on the other hand, if you give a half-crown\nin a collection when there is a plate, and a penny when there is a bag\nand your gift cannot be seen; or if you put yourself down for a larger\nsum in a subscription list in order to be brought into association with\na duchess, then you have the gravest possible reason to doubt your\nmotive.\n\nAnd let me add this: there are many charitable people who desire to\ncollect money for good objects; let them take care that in order to do\nso they do not encourage people in bad motives. If they play upon bad\nmotives to get money, assuredly they are partakers of other men\u2019s sins:\nand the money is not to the glory of God or for the good of His work.\n\n\n                                PRAYER\n\n  \u201cAnd when ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites: for they\n  love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of\n  the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you,\n  They have received their reward. But thou, when thou prayest,\n  enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray\n  to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in\n  secret shall recompense thee.\u201d\n\nThe same principle of seeking only divine praise is here applied to\nour approach to God. It seems to require no further notice, but we\nmay consider here a subordinate principle which is applied also to\nalmsgiving and fasting\u2015\u2015the principle of recompense\u2015\u2015\u201cthey have their\nreward.\u201d\n\nEvery kind of conduct gets its reward on the plane of its motive. If\nyou look out for human praise, on the whole you get it. If you aim\nvigorously at getting on and winning a good position, the chances are\nyou will succeed. On the whole, then, you get the reward on the plane\nof your motive. And our Lord recognizes these lower motives and their\nproper reward; and you find that in the Old Testament, in many passages,\nGod is represented as being, as it were, careful to distribute rewards\non the lower plane. See, for instance, how (in Ezek. xxix. 18\u201220) God\nnotes that Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s army served against Tyre and got no wages;\ntherefore He will give Egypt for their wages.\n\nSo then if your motive is earthly, your reward is earthly. You \u201chave\nout\u201d your reward to the full, and must not imagine there is anything\nover and above which still appeals to God. When John Henry Newman\nwas made a Cardinal, he\u2015\u2015a devout, religious man, one of those who\napparently without vanity have the power of talking about their own\nstate of feeling\u2015\u2015said he trembled to take this great honour, lest\nhe should be taking out his reward here on earth; because he could\nnot think that anything he had tried to do in his life was such that\nit would not have its reward exhausted by his receiving so great a\nposition.\n\nWe need not scrutinize such an expression of fear too closely, but\nonly notice that a real Christian, instead of being anxious to obtain\nrecognition, is on the other hand rather alarmed if he always seems\nto get full credit for all that he tries to do. He believes that he\nis aiming only at the approval of God, and finds too liberal a reward\nin this world even disquieting, as though it were a sign that he was\nmistaken as to his motive.\n\n\n                                FASTING\n\n  \u201cMoreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad\n  countenance: for they disfigure[66] their faces, that they\n  may be seen of men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have\n  received their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy\n  head, and wash thy face; that thou be not seen of men to fast,\n  but of thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father which seeth\n  in secret, shall recompense thee.\u201d\n\nHere, under the head of fasting, we may notice again\u2015\u2015what applies\nequally to prayer or almsgiving\u2015\u2015that our Lord is passing no slight\non \u201ccommon\u201d or public religious actions. St. Paul tells us (1 Cor.\nxvi. 2) that we are to have church collections; and our Lord (St. Matt.\nxviii. 19\u201220) tells us we are to pray together; and He instituted\nthe Eucharist, which is the Church\u2019s chief social or public act of\ncommunion with God and mutual fellowship. So that it is ridiculous to\nsuppose that our Lord is here slighting social religious acts\u2015\u2015acts\nwhich are performed by the Church as a body, and in the performance of\nwhich we have the encouragement which comes of co-operation and the\nsense of responsibility to the community as well as to God. And most\nof all it is ridiculous to suppose that our Lord is discouraging common\nfasts, but not common prayer or almsgiving. In no case is our Lord\nundervaluing the common religious acts. But He is indicating the new\nmotive of religious action, whether it be prayer or almsgiving or\nfasting. Its motive is to be God, and not man.\n\nOnce more, our Lord is not here saying anything against the\nmanifestation of our religion by outward acts. We cannot pray\nproperly\u2015\u2015speaking generally\u2015\u2015without adopting a fit attitude in\nprayer, that is on the regular occasions of public and private prayer.\nWe should pray in an attitude which befits our relation to God, on our\nknees, humbly, devoutly, because we are creatures of soul and body, and\nwe cannot express the religious feeling of the soul properly without\nits influencing the gesture of the body also. We are made up of soul\nand body, and a \u201cspiritual\u201d act of worship is one in which the spirit,\nthat is the will, heart, and intelligence is engaged; not one in which\nthe body takes no part. Then if we learn to pray aright, kneeling\nupon our knees, we can carry the habit of prayer into our common life.\nIn the same way, if we are to fast, the act must have a definite and\nmethodical outward expression. Do not let us be afraid of outward\nexpressions of religion. Our Lord is emphasizing this, and this only,\nnamely, the motive which we should have in all kinds of righteousness,\nwhether it be worship or charity or self-subdual.\n\nThirdly, we shall do well to consider, what is the principle and\nmeaning of fasting. Our Lord says less about it in the New Testament\nthan about prayer; and you notice in the Revised Version that the\nmention of it has vanished from a good many of those passages where\nin the Authorized Version it stood side by side with prayer.[67] It\nis quite true, then, to say that our Lord says less about fasting than\nabout prayer. It is quite true that fasting may be abused, and was\nin our Lord\u2019s time abused, more easily than prayer; but it is a great\nmistake, because you have got a certain truth, therefore to exaggerate\nit. Our Lord Himself fasted, as He prayed; He fasted forty days\nand forty nights. Our Lord said the disciples should fast; that it\nwould betoken the time when He was taken from them. St. Paul mentions\nfasting as part of his own practice\u2015\u2015\u201cin fastings often,\u201d and he bids\nChristians \u201cdistress\u201d[68] their bodies in order to reduce them to\nsubjection. So again the Church from the first has fasted. And the\ngreat authors of religious revivals in our own Church\u2015\u2015Simeon, and\nPusey, and Maurice alike\u2015\u2015practised and encouraged fasting. We may then\ndepend upon it that we are foolish if we neglect it. And the object\nof it is this: it is the bringing the body under the spirit, whereas\nwithout it the body is apt to have the upper hand. It is not because\nour body is evil that we are to fast; but because our body is, or is\nmeant to be, holy, and the effective instrument of the spirit. People\nsometimes talk about their body as if it were merely animal, and the\nspirit were only attached to it. That is not true. Our whole being\nis meant to be spiritual, as governed by the spirit. Just as when the\nprinciple of life takes hold on the inorganic world, it makes the whole\nnature organic of living; so when the spirit takes hold of the animal\nbody, its work is to make the whole body spiritual.\n\nIt is worth while dwelling on this. People often justify sensual sin\nby saying it is \u201cnatural;\u201d and the fallacy in this excuse lies in\nsupposing that our body can be treated apart from our spirit. Nothing\nis natural to man in which his spiritual nature is not brought into\nplay. This is the reason why Christian marriage is truly natural. It\ngives to the bodily relation of the sexes a spiritual purpose, and\nmakes it serve high ends of the home and family. Thus in the same way\neating and drinking is to serve spiritual ends. Everything that the\ntrue Christian does is part of a great spiritual whole; and it is, I\nsay, because our body has grown lawless, and is apt to trample upon the\nspirit instead of being subordinate to it, that we have, as it were,\nto take revenges on the body and from time to time to harass it, as\nSt. Paul says, and to hold it as a slave.\n\nFor the same reason we are foolish and un-Christian if we fast in\nsuch a way, either excessively or unwisely, as to unfit the body for\nspiritual activities. If you fast so that you cannot work, you are\nviolating your duty. But many people eat and drink and sleep too well;\ntheir bodies have the upper hand; and they ought to fast, and to take\nthe opportunity of Lent to fast, that their bodies may be brought under\ntheir spirits.\n\n         \u201cThe Scriptures bid us fast; the Church says, now:\n          Give to thy Mother what thou wouldst allow\n              To ev\u2019ry corporation.\u201d\n\nNow we must return to consider the parenthesis about prayer which is to\nbe found in chapter vi. 7\u201215, and which teaches us something more than\nthat its motive is to be not vainglory, but God.\n\nFirst, we are taught that prayer is not to be measured by length, but\nintensity:\n\n  \u201cAnd in praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do:\n  for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.\u201d\n\nIf you were to go into a Buddhist country at the present time, you\nwould find prayer there reduced to something so formal and mechanical\nthat people do not need to say it themselves, but have prayer wheels\nand prayer flags to wind or spread out their prayers before the holy\none. And I am afraid there has been a good deal of a like mechanical\npraying in the Christian Church. But the value of prayer, our Lord\nwarns us, is not to be measured by its length, but the amount of will\nand intention we put into it. There is always need that we should\nremember this. There is always a danger that in praying dutifully and\naccording to some rule our praying should be becoming mechanical, and\nthat we should find ourselves measuring its value by its length.\n\nSecondly, Christian prayer is not for the sake of informing God:\n\n  \u201cBe not therefore like unto them [the Gentiles]: for your Father\n  knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.\u201d\n\nWhy is it, then, that God requires of us to pray? The answer is a\nquite simple one. It is because God is our Father, and He wishes us to\nbe trained in habits of conscious intercourse with Him. Therefore, just\nas many blessings which God wishes to give us are made dependent on\nour working for them, so many other blessings are made dependent on our\nregular and systematic asking. God wills to give them, but He wills to\ngive them only if we ask Him; and this in order that the very necessity\nof continually holding intercourse with a personal God and making\nrequests to Him may train us in the habit of realizing that we are sons\nof our heavenly Father. The wisdom of this provision is best realized\nif we reflect how easily, when the practice of prayer is abandoned,\nthe sense of a personal relation to God fades out of our human life.\nWe are to pray then not to inform God, but to train ourselves in habits\nof personal intercourse with our Father who is in heaven.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER VII\n\n                           THE LORD\u2019S PRAYER\n\n\nOUR Lord is not satisfied with giving us abstract principles of prayer,\nbut teaches us how to pray by giving us an example:\n\n  \u201cAfter this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in\n  heaven,\u201d &c.\n\nIn regard to this great prayer, I would content myself with calling\nattention to the points of chief importance, and trying to explain\nsome few difficulties, which lie in the separate clauses, and then very\nbriefly indicating some of the principles which as a whole it enshrines.\n\n  \u201cOur Father which art in heaven.\u201d\n\nThe spirit of a prayer depends in great measure on whether the\nworshipper\u2019s thought of God is true or false, adequate or inadequate.\nThe Christian invokes God under the completest of all His titles, the\ntitle of Father, for \u201cGod hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into\nour hearts crying, Abba, Father.\u201d[69] And we call Him the _Father which\nis in heaven_, not because He is far off us\u2015\u2015for in the Kingdom of\nChrist heavenly and earthly things are mingled and we \u201care come unto\nthe heavenly Jerusalem,\u201d[70]\u2015\u2015but because He is raised far above all\nthe pollution and wilfulness and ignorance of man \u201cas the heaven is\nhigher than the earth.\u201d So we invoke our Father, infinitely above us\nyet unspeakably near. And the first prayer we offer is:\n\n  \u201cHallowed be thy name.\u201d\n\nWhat is the name of God? That is very well worth our consideration.\nThe name of God in the Bible means that whereby He discloses or reveals\nHimself. You may indeed almost say that the name of God means God\nHimself as He is manifested. God has shown Himself to man; He has spelt\nout His great name, letter by letter, syllable by syllable, before\nthe eyes of men or into their hearts, in nature, in conscience, by\nthe voice of His prophets and in Jesus Christ His Son. Thus to hallow\nor sanctify His name is to set store by His revelation of Himself, as\nFather, Son and Spirit, one God. To pray that His name may be hallowed,\nis to pray that His revelation of Himself may be accepted of men, and\nHis religion professed openly and secretly: that He may be acknowledged\nin conduct and worship, in Church and in State, on Sunday and on\nweek-day.\n\n  \u201cThy kingdom come.\u201d\n\nThe kingdom of God meant to the Jews, of course, the kingdom of the\nMessiah: that is to say that coming age, when heaven and earth shall\nbe fused in one, when God shall be manifested in His glory, when all\nthings shall be seen in their true light, and the reign of Christ in\ntruth and meekness and righteousness shall be not only real but also\nmanifest and indisputable. This is \u201cthe end of the world,\u201d the \u201cfar\noff, divine event,\u201d which is still future. At times, indeed, the Church\nas it already exists among us is called \u201cthe kingdom of God,\u201d but at\nother times (as is implied here) the Church is regarded as a divine\ninstitution, representing indeed the kingdom here and now in the world,\nbut also preparing for its arrival in the future. To pray for the\ncoming of the kingdom is therefore to pray for the spread and progress\nof the Church, and also for the diffusion in every way of all truth\nand meekness and righteousness and of all that can find its place\nin the city of God. It is to pray for the overthrow of every form\nof \u201clawlessness\u201d\u2015\u2015lawless lusts and appetites, lawless ambition and\ninsolence and denial, godless worldliness and lies and vanities,\ncruelty, oppression and malice in every shape. For all these are\nforms of rebellion; and we know that they represent only a temporary\nusurpation. We are looking forward to, and would fain hasten, the\ncoming of the King.\n\n  \u201cThy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.\u201d\n\nThis is a prayer against all wilfulness and also against all sloth:\na prayer for the vigorous co-operation of all rational creatures in\nfurthering the divine order of the world. And we should notice that\nthe phrase \u201cas in heaven, so on earth\u201d refers probably to all the three\npreceding clauses: Hallowed be Thy Name, as in heaven, so on earth; Thy\nkingdom come, as in heaven, so on earth; Thy will be done, as in heaven,\nso on earth. The Church of Rome, in the _Catechism_ put forth by the\nCouncil of Trent, specially exhorts her clergy to call the attention\nof the faithful to this connexion of the clauses of the Lord\u2019s Prayer.\n\n  \u201cGive us this day our daily bread.\u201d\n\nStrangely enough, one of the most difficult words in the whole New\nTestament is this word translated \u201cdaily\u201d in the Lord\u2019s Prayer. Nobody\ncan be quite certain what it means, but probably it means \u201cthe bread\nfor the coming day.\u201d[71] Give us to-day the bread for the coming day,\nis therefore a prayer that the bodily needs of the immediate future\nmay be supplied for all members of the Christian family. It is a\nprayer which only those can truly pray who are contented with such\nsatisfaction of their bodily needs as enables them to do the work\nof God, who will ask nothing for themselves that they do not ask for\nothers, and who are content to wait from day to day upon the hand of\nGod.\n\n  \u201cAnd forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.\u201d\n\nWe cannot do God\u2019s work without the supply of our physical needs:\ntherefore the last prayer was offered. But equally we cannot do God\u2019s\nwork unless we are at peace with Him: therefore this prayer follows.\nSin may be regarded from many points of view\u2015\u2015as a flaw or mistake in\nour nature or conduct: as a violation or transgression of a divine law\n(as in ver. 14): or (as here) as an act by which we have robbed God of\nHis rights and incurred an obligation or debt which we cannot satisfy,\nand in regard to which we can only appeal to the divine pity. From\nthe first point of view what is needed is nothing else than recovery\nand correction: from the second point of view we need forgiveness,\nbut forgiveness of such sort as is only morally possible when our\nwill is brought back into harmony with our Father\u2019s will. Only from\nthe third point of view is forgiveness the same as being let off. And\nthe position which the petition to be forgiven holds in this prayer,\nprevents us from supposing that we can be \u201cforgiven our debts\u201d without\nhaving been brought into union with God\u2019s will and into the fellowship\nof His Kingdom.\n\nOn the principle involved in this petition our Lord Himself immediately\ncomments:\n\n  \u201cFor if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly\n  Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their\n  trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.\u201d\n\nHere is the divine principle which, as we noticed before, is made\nso plain in the parable (St. Matt. xviii. 31), where the unthankful\nservant finds that all the debt which had been forgiven him has rolled\nback upon him because he in his turn has behaved himself unforgivingly,\nunmercifully, towards his fellow-servant. God deals with us as we deal\nwith our fellow-men; and if we want to know how the face of God looks\ntowards us, we must examine ourselves to see what is the aspect we\npresent towards them.\n\n  \u201cAnd bring us not into temptation.\u201d\n\nNow, this clause is intelligible enough to our hearts, but rather\ndifficult to explain exactly. St. James writes, \u201cMy brethren, count\nit all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.\u201d How can we pray not\nto be tempted or tried when we know that it is only through temptation\nthat we can become strong? One explanation is to be got from our Lord\u2019s\nwords to His disciples at the time of His agony in the garden: \u201cWatch\nand pray, that ye enter not into temptation.\u201d If you fail to be on your\nguard, if you live carelessly, without watching or praying, God suffers\nyou, as a punishment, to be brought within the scope of temptation, and\nyou find it too strong for you. Therefore the prayer may be interpreted\nby expansion thus: make us watchful and prayerful, so that we never\nbe suffered to fall into temptation as into a snare. But it seems\nbetter to interpret the prayer more generally as the expression of\nthat self-distrust for which we have only too sufficient grounds, as\na prayer like that of Christ\u2019s, \u201cFather, if it be possible let the cup\nof trial pass from me without my drinking it, nevertheless, thy will\nbe done.\u201d[72]\n\n  \u201cBut deliver us from the evil one.\u201d\n\nThat is \u201cfrom the devil.\u201d Modern society seems to be very unwilling\nto believe in the devil or diabolical temptation. It has been cleverly\nsaid, \u201cSatan never did a more successful stroke than when he persuaded\npeople to disbelieve in his own existence.\u201d There is truth in that.\nIt is a real hindrance to our spiritual struggle, and an increase\nof despondency, if we forget that evil solicitations come, not only\nfrom our own nature, but from evil spirits. Moreover, if Christ\nis a true prophet\u2015\u2015if He discerned the conditions of our spiritual\nstruggle\u2015\u2015certainly diabolical temptation must be real, for He is\nalways talking of it. When He sees evil at work, evil for body or soul,\nHis mind penetrates behind the appearances and detects hostile wills\nworking to pervert the kingdom of God, hostile wills which He knows are\nto be at last subdued to God and are even now controlled by Him, but\nwhich He knows also to be at present active and malevolent. He looks\nforth upon the disorder of the world and says, \u201cAn enemy hath done\nthis.\u201d And He teaches us to pray for deliverance from the evil one.\n\nThe familiar doxology \u201cFor Thine is the kingdom, the power and the\nglory, for ever and ever, Amen,\u201d which in our Church, though not over\nthe greater part of Christendom, follows here, was not in the original\nLord\u2019s Prayer, though it was added to it very early. It was a doxology\nin use in the early Church, which was added at the end of many of\nthe prayers, and which in very early times came to be attached to the\nLord\u2019s Prayer in some of the manuscripts. It was thus given a place\nwhich it cannot rightly claim, though it states, grandly enough, the\nreason why we thankfully worship the Father.\n\nIt remains for us to notice some of the great principles which are\nenshrined in the Lord\u2019s Prayer as a whole.\n\n1. The Lord\u2019s Prayer is not one prayer among many, as you may have\na number of collects for a number of different objects, and each\nparticular collect is just one prayer among many. The Lord\u2019s Prayer is\nrather the type and mould of all Christian prayer: \u201cAfter this manner\npray ye.\u201d Understand the Lord\u2019s Prayer, and you understand altogether\nhow to pray as a Christian should. It is not really an exaggeration to\nsay that the climax of Christian growth is to have thoroughly learned\nto say the Lord\u2019s Prayer in the spirit of Him who first spoke it.\n\nAnd this has been clearly recognized in the use which the Church in\nall ages has made of the Lord\u2019s Prayer. Among human compositions there\nare hardly any more beautiful than the liturgies in which Christians,\nat the altar, have approached the Father of their Lord in the pleading\nof His sacrifice. Now, almost all the ancient liturgies, both Eastern\nand Western, are so constructed that the point upon which each service\nconverges is the saying of the Lord\u2019s Prayer. That is the point up to\nwhich they climb. That is their central act; because the highest thing\nin the way of worship that the Christian can do is to say Christ\u2019s own\nprayer in the freedom of that approach to God once won for him by the\nSon of Man.\n\nSo, in our English Communion service, we put ourselves into the right\nframe of mind by saying the first Lord\u2019s Prayer; and afterwards, in the\npower of His sacrifice and in the unity of His life communicated to us\nin His body and blood, we say again the Lord\u2019s Prayer with its doxology\nas the highest point of our whole service.\n\nOnce more, in the daily offices of morning and evening prayer the\nLord\u2019s Prayer occurs at the beginning, and again in the prayers after\nthe Creed. It occurs at the beginning to put us into the right frame\nof mind for praying; and at the end it sums up our petitions\u2015\u2015all that\nwe have learned to pray for in the Psalms and lessons. And to leave out\nthe second Lord\u2019s Prayer, as is sometimes done by way of shortening the\nservice, is surely to betray ignorance of the structure of the service\nand of the use of the Lord\u2019s Prayer.\n\nThis is indeed the way in which the Church, catching the spirit of\nher Lord, has used the Lord\u2019s Prayer; and, as individuals, it is a\ngreat happiness and power for us when we have learned to use it freely.\nWhatever particular object we may want to pray for, we have never\nprayed for it aright till we have prayed for it in the words and spirit\nof the Lord\u2019s Prayer. That, I repeat, is not one prayer among many.\nIt covers all legitimate Christian praying, and indeed the saying of\nit affords the best test whether our wants of the moment can become\na prayer offered \u201cin the name of Christ.\u201d\n\n2. I say \u201cin the name of Christ.\u201d The Lord\u2019s Prayer is the great prayer\nin His name. You know how many people have a very strangely childish\nnotion, that praying in the name of Christ means simply the addition of\nthe words \u201cthrough Jesus Christ our Lord\u201d at the end of their prayers.\nBut depend upon it they do not by adding these words, or any words,\nbring it about that their prayers should be in the name of Christ. To\npray in the name of Christ means to pray in such a way as represents\nChrist. The representative always must speak in the spirit and meaning\nof those for whom he speaks. If Christ is our representative, that must\nbe because He speaks our wishes, or what we ought to make our wishes;\nand if we are to pray in the name of Christ, that means that we are,\nhowever far off, expressing His wishes and intentions.\n\nTherefore, as this Lord\u2019s Prayer represents profoundly and perfectly\nthe spirit of Him who first spoke it, and who taught it to His Church,\nit follows that it is, beyond all other prayers, the prayer in Christ\u2019s\nname. Do you then want to know whether this or that thing can be prayed\nfor in Christ\u2019s name? The answer is to be found in another question,\nCan it be legitimately covered by the clauses of the Lord\u2019s Prayer?\n\n3. The knowing and saying of the Lord\u2019s Prayer, as the prayer in\nChrist\u2019s name, was in the early Church regarded as being, like the\nknowing and saying of the Creed, the privilege of those only who\nwere members of the Christian family. It was the prayer of the family\nbecause of its first words, \u201cOur Father.\u201d The Christian creed, we know,\nwould teach us to believe that God is the father of all men, and that\nHe wills all men to realize their sonship. They cannot reach true\nmanhood till they have come to know themselves to be, and to realize\nwhat is involved in being, sons of God.\n\nBut since sin has separated men from God, it is through Christ and\nby the partaking of His Spirit that they enter or re-enter into the\nprivileges of sonship. Thus the right of calling upon God as \u201cOur\nFather\u201d was believed to have come with the coming of the gift of the\nHoly Ghost: \u201cGod has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,\nwhereby we cry, Abba, Father.\u201d We are apt to have rather \u201cfree and\neasy\u201d notions of the divine fatherhood. And it is important to be\nreminded that to call God our Father, we must ourselves be sons, and\nit is they who are led by the Spirit, they and they only, that are the\nsons of God.\n\nThis Lord\u2019s Prayer then is the prayer of the great Christian family;\nthe prayer of the whole Catholic Church; the prayer which, though it\nmay be spoken by a single member in a quiet corner, yet is instinct\nwith the aspirations and needs and wants of all that great society\nwhich represents all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues in\nthis world and in that which lies beyond the grave.\n\n4. There is a searching lesson which lies in the order of the petitions\nin the Lord\u2019s Prayer; for in praying much depends on the order in which\nwe rank the objects of prayer.\n\nThere is a saying, not recorded in our canonical Gospels, but which\nyet the very earliest traditions of the Church treasured, and ascribed\nto our Lord; the saying is this: \u201cAsk for great things, and the small\nthings will be given unto you. Ask for heavenly things, and the earthly\nthings will be given unto you.\u201d Now, that is exactly the spirit of\nthe Lord\u2019s Prayer. It puts our wants in the right order. It puts first\nthe heavenly things, the great things, and not the little things, the\nearthly things, the things that seem to touch us closest.\n\nWe know that it is not easy to adopt this order in our prayers. There\nare many who have lost altogether the habit of praying and who are won\nback to it by some anxiety or trouble that touches them nearly. Some\nson or daughter perhaps lies dying, and the father and mother, who long\nhave been alien to the habit of prayer, are driven back to it by the\nvery stress of their pressing need. Or some calamity is threatening to\noverwhelm ourselves, and we fall on our knees, after a great interval\nof prayerlessness, to implore that it may be averted. And, of course,\nwe must bless God that anyhow men should be brought to pray: and God\ncan lead us to higher things through things which touch our flesh and\nblood, from earth to heaven. But the point is that that is not the\nright order of prayer. The true Christian does not pray first for the\nthings that most nearly touch himself. That impulsive prayer which\nsprings simply out of our own needs is not the prayer \u201cin the name of\nChrist.\u201d\n\nWe remember what our Lord said to the disciples in those solemn hours\nin the upper chamber before His passion: \u201cHitherto ye have asked\nnothing in my name.\u201d They had presented all kinds of petitions and\nrequests; but in their own name. So it is so often with us. Hitherto\nhave we asked nothing in His name. But that of course is a fault to\nbe altered. We must let our prayers be in Christ\u2019s name: that is to\nsay in the order reflected in the Lord\u2019s Prayer.\n\nNow, let us examine it. The prayer of human instinct runs: My Father,\ngive me to-day what I so sorely require. But the Lord\u2019s Prayer begins\nwith \u201cOur Father\u201d\u2015\u2015not \u201cmy,\u201d but \u201cour.\u201d I must begin with losing my\nselfishness, with recollecting that I am only one of the great body\nof God\u2019s children, of the great mass of humanity. Thus I cannot ask\nfor anything for myself which conflicts with the interests of others.\nAnd the invocation proceeds, \u201cwhich art in heaven.\u201d It places us in\na reverent way at the feet of God. \u201cGod is in heaven, and thou upon\nearth: therefore, let thy words be few.\u201d\n\n\u201cHallowed be Thy name.\u201d It puts God\u2019s revelation of Himself to men\nabove all human needs. We are so apt to think last of the glory and\nhonour of God; but here as we pray we are forced to exalt it into the\nfirst place; and next, \u201cThy kingdom come.\u201d That is\u2015\u2015May that divine\norder which, point by point, in many parts and many manners, through\nall the great web of history, has gradually to be woven out\u2015\u2015may that\ngreat purpose of God find at last its fulfilment. Thus we are forced\nas we pray to merge our own narrow interests and schemes till they are\nlost in the largeness and wisdom of the divine method.\n\n\u201cThy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.\u201d Here we are forced\nto bend our stubborn or short-sighted wills to conformity with the\ndivine will and to make the law of heaven the pattern for earth.\nOnly then, when we have exalted God\u2019s glory above man\u2019s need, when\nwe have subordinated our little designs utterly to the great purpose\nof God, when we have bent our little wills under the great and divine\nwill\u2015\u2015only then are we allowed to express our wants for ourselves.\n\nAnd even so how modestly, how restrictedly. \u201cGive us,\u201d we pray, not\nanything that we may want, but \u201cto-day the bread for to-morrow:\u201d enough\nto do God\u2019s work upon in God\u2019s way; and so that our eating may not\ninvolve others\u2019 hungering. And then, because we cannot do God\u2019s work\nunless we are in His peace, \u201cForgive us our trespasses\u201d\u2015\u2015not anyhow;\nbut according to that necessary law by which God deals with us as we\ndeal with others; \u201cas we forgive them that trespass against us.\u201d And,\nbecause we are weak and frail, \u201clead us not into temptation, but\ndeliver us from the evil one.\u201d\n\nIs there not then in this prayer the whole philosophy of praying?\nAnd when we come to think of it, we shall find that the philosophy\nor secret of prayer lies in the recognition of the same law of\ncorrespondence, which has been the secret of scientific progress in the\ndevelopment of the resources of nature, and which, in that department,\nFrancis Bacon has the credit of teaching men, or of putting into words\nfor them. Before his time men had been trying to get extraordinary\ngood things out of nature in accordance with the whims and fancies of\nastrologers and alchemists: they had dreamt of making gold, or finding\nthe elixir of life. But all this was profitless because it was done\nin ignorance of nature\u2019s actual laws. And Bacon spoke a prophetic word\nwhen he said \u201cNature can only be controlled by being obeyed;\u201d that\nis\u2015\u2015in reverent correspondence with nature as it is, is the secret\nof power. Now, in the higher region, that is what our Lord taught us\nabout prayer. Man had been offering all sorts of prayers, sacrifices,\npropitiations. That God mercifully regarded such ignorant worship we\ncannot doubt: but it _was_ ignorant of God\u2019s character and method. Now,\nso far as is good for us, our Lord has enlightened us about the nature\nand method of God: and He has shown us that prayer should not be an\nattempt to impose our own whims and fancies on the wisdom of God, but\na constant act of correspondence by which we bring our short-sighted\nwills and reasons into correspondence, the intelligent correspondence\nof sons, with the perfect reason and will of God, the all-wise Father\nof all human souls and of the great universe.\n\n5. Here finally we find an answer to all our manifold questionings as\nto what we may pray for, and what we may not.\n\nOur Lord gave us that answer also in another way at another time\u2015\u2015in\nthe prayers of His passion. In His passion He prayed for the coming\nof the kingdom, in that great prayer recorded in St. John\u2019s Gospel. He\nprayed then without qualification. Similarly, He prayed for those rough\nsoldiers who were unwittingly doing Him such awful wrong: \u201cFather,\nforgive them, for they know not what they do.\u201d But when, in the garden,\nHe asked to be Himself delivered from the coming agony, in the true\nhumility of His manhood He prayed conditionally, \u201cFather, _if it be\npossible_, let this cup pass from me.\u201d\n\nNow, that is exactly the lesson of the Lord\u2019s Prayer. There are many\nthings which God has revealed to us that He intends to give us. He\nhas promised that He will give us all those things which belong to His\nkingdom and its righteousness. For these things we can pray, not only\nurgently, but with the certainty of faith that we must win them for\nourselves and others by importunate asking. We cannot, of course, force\nthe will of others, but we can with the assurance of faith win for\nothers, as for ourselves, the spiritual opportunities, resources, and\nadvantages of God\u2019s kingdom.\n\nThere are also many things God has revealed that He does not mean to\ngive us, and there are laws of His ordering, spiritual and physical,\nthat by revelation or natural investigation He has made known. For\nthese things, then, or against these laws, we must not pray; we must\nnot ask that God will violate His general laws in our private interest.\n\nBut there is a great mass of things which lie in between these two\nregions of certainty. We do not know if it is God\u2019s will that this\nor that person should recover from sickness, or this or that calamity\nshould be averted. God is wiser than we are. We do not know whether it\nis God\u2019s will that we should have the rain that is so necessary for our\ncrops. There are things like these that lie in a region of uncertainty\ninto which the intelligence of man cannot penetrate. So then as the\nobject of prayer is not to bring the divine will down to the human,\nbut to lift the human up into correspondence with the divine, for all\nthese uncertain things we can pray indeed, but uncertainly\u2015\u2015\u201cIf it be\npossible, let this or that come to pass; nevertheless, not my will, but\nThine, be done.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n                             CHAPTER VIII\n\n                             UNWORLDLINESS\n\n\nTHE keynote of St. Matthew vi. is, as we have seen, this: that the true\nmotive of the religious life in all its activities is simply the desire\nfor divine approval. It owns one only master, God, whom it trusts with\nan absolute confidence. There results from this a complete freedom from\nthe anxieties of the world. It is then an unworldly disposition, as the\nresult of simplicity of motive, that our Lord proceeds to enjoin:\n\n  \u201cLay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth\n  and rust doth consume, and where thieves dig through and steal:\n  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither\n  moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break\n  through nor steal: for where thy treasure is, there will thy\n  heart be also.\u201d\n\nIn the days when our Lord spoke these words people mostly preserved\ntheir money and other treasures by concealing it, as in many parts of\nEurope they do still. Thus the task of thieves was, in the main, to\n\u201cdig through\u201d into places in houses or fields where treasure was likely\nto be hidden. This is the meaning of our Lord\u2019s metaphor. We are to\nlay up our store in heaven, where no thief can get at it, and where no\nnatural process of corruption can affect it. Now heaven is God\u2019s throne.\nIt is where His will works centrally and peacefully; and the kingdom of\nthe Christ is the kingdom of heaven, because, though a visible society\nin the world, God is there specially known and recognized, and His good\nwill towards man is consequently at work with a special freedom and\nfullness.\n\nIf then you are asked, what is it to lay up treasure in heaven, I\nthink you may answer with great security: To lay up treasure in heaven\nis to do acts which promote, or belong to, the kingdom of God; and what\nour Lord assures us of is that any act of our hands, any thought of\nour heart, any word of our lips, which promotes the divine kingdom\nby the ordering whether of our own life or of the world outside\u2015\u2015all\nsuch activity, though it may seem for the moment to be lost, is really\nstored up in the divine treasure-house; and when the heavenly city, the\nNew Jerusalem, shall at last appear, that honest effort of ours, which\nseemed so ineffectual, shall be found to be a brick built into that\neternal and celestial fabric.\n\nAnd our Lord gives the answer to a difficulty continually perplexing\nhonest Christians\u2015\u2015How am I to learn to _love_ God? I want to do my\nduty, but I do not feel as if I loved God. Our Lord gives the answer,\n\u201cWhere your treasure is, there will your heart be also.\u201d Act for\nGod: do and say the things that He wills: direct your thoughts and\nintentions God-ward; and depend upon it, in the slow process of nature\nall that belongs to you\u2015\u2015your instincts, your intelligence, your\naffections, your feelings\u2015\u2015will gradually follow along the line of your\naction. Act for God: you are already _showing_ love to Him and you will\nlearn to _feel_ it.\n\n  \u201cThe lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be\n  single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye\n  be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore\n  the light that is in thee be darkness how great is the darkness!\n  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one,\n  and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the\n  other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.\u201d\n\nThe question of vital importance is therefore simply this: are we\nsingle-minded in seeking God? Single-mindedness is what gives clearness\nand force to life. Put God clearly and simply first in great things\nand in small. Then your life will be full of light, full of power. And,\nin fact, you must put God first, or nowhere. Examine any man\u2019s life,\nof what sort it is. Cross-question it. You will find at last that one\nmotive is dominant. Either, at the last push, he will do God\u2019s will, or\nhe will do that by which he thinks to serve his interests in the world.\nNow, what a man does at the last analysis or when pushed into a corner,\nthat is what reveals his real motive. The motive on which he then acts\nis his only real master-principle. There can be only one such in a\nlife. At the bottom it is either God which rules a life or mammon,\ni.e. money. Thus you must put God first, or, in fact, you are putting\nHim nowhere; if He is not first, then He can be no more than the\nsuperficial decoration of a life really devoted to something else.\n\nBut how can it be, we ask, that the exclusive service of God in all\nthings will not narrow our life? How can God be so \u201cjealous\u201d without\nrestricting our legitimate freedom of expansion? For this reason: that\nGod contains everything in Himself, the whole sum of being; so that\nthere is no beauty or truth or goodness in the world which does not\nfall to you to delight in as part of your love and service of God.\nLoving God and serving Him should lead you to watch for and respond to\nall the truth and beauty that there is in God\u2019s world, all the traits\nof excellence in human character, and to own your allegiance to your\nfamily, to your friends, to your country, to your Church, and to\nhumanity as a whole. \u201cAll things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos,\nor Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or\nthings to come; all are yours,\u201d if \u201cye are Christ\u2019s,\u201d as \u201cChrist is\nGod\u2019s.\u201d[73]\n\nNever let us fear then that to put God first and serve Him utterly\nwill narrow any faculty or dwarf any capacity. It can but fill with an\nevergrowing largeness every vital force of our being, every instinct\nof our life. \u201cIf thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of\nlight.\u201d\n\nBut we must notice the warning which our Lord gives us as to a possible\ncondition of our conscience. The light that is in us may be darkness.\nWe so often talk as if we were only obliged to \u201cfollow our conscience:\u201d\nas if no one could lay anything to our charge unless we were acting\nagainst the present voice of conscience. But this is a very perilous\nerror. We are also obliged to enlighten our conscience and to keep\nit enlightened. It is as much liable to error as our uninstructed\nintelligence, as much liable to failure as our sight. Probably of every\nten criminals brought up before judge and jury on account of some crime\nthe majority were not, at the time of its commission, acting against\ntheir conscience. They had stifled or darkened that long ago. There is,\nI believe, nothing to which in our time attention needs to be called\nmore than to the fact that conscience is only a _faculty_ for knowing\nGod and His will. It is certain, unless it is educated, to give wrong\ninformation. And the way to educate it, is to put it to school with the\n\u201cLight of the world.\u201d Alas! there must be multitudes of respectable and\nself-enlightened people of whom it is true that the light which is in\nthem is darkness.\n\nThe result of singleness of mind in seeking God is to be a complete\nfreedom from worldly anxiety. The keynote, as it were, of the passage\nwhich concludes this chapter is the phrase, \u201cSeek ye first the kingdom\nof God and His righteousness, and all the rest shall be added unto\nyou.\u201d Look to God first. Obey God. Enthrone Him in unique supremacy\nin your heart. He is your Father, and as such you can trust Him. If\nday by day you do His will simply, and cast your care on Him, then\nyou can have a wonderful freedom from anxiety as to your future, and\ncan live at peace\u2015\u2015the sort of peace which finds its illustration\nin the fascinating tranquillity of the flowers of the field, and the\nlight-heartedness of the birds of the air. These are our Lord\u2019s words:\n\n      \u201cTherefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye\n      shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what\n      ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the\n      body than the raiment? Behold the birds of the heaven, that they\n      sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your\n      heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than\n      they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto\n      his stature? And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider\n      the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither\n      do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his\n      glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so\n      clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow\n      is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye\n      of little faith? Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall\n      we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be\n      clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for\n      your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these\n      things. But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness;\n      and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore\n      anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for\n      itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.\u201d\n\nAnxiety\u2015\u2015that is what we are to be freed from. It is not forethought,\nor \u201ccarefulness\u201d in that sense, against which our Lord is warning us,\nbut anxiety. We are to trust God. To do daily the duty of the day, and\nthen trust God for the consequences.\n\nOur pattern in this freedom from anxiety is, of course, our Lord\nHimself. You notice that through all His ministry He looked forward,\nand lived His life as a whole, on a certain plan; but there was no\nanxiety as to results. It is a sort of symbol of this attitude of mind\nthat once, amidst the howling storm on the lake, the Master was found\nasleep on a pillow. It is, as it were, an object lesson of what is\nsaid in Psalm cxxvii; which more than anything in the Old Testament\nexpresses our Lord\u2019s meaning in this passage:\n\n   \u201cIt is vain for you that ye rise up early, and so late take rest,\n    And eat the bread of toil:\n    For so he giveth unto his beloved sleep.\u201d\n\nThat is the motto to write under the picture of Christ in the boat on\nthe stormy sea.\n\nOur Lord here, as elsewhere, is manifestly expressing Himself in the\nproverbial manner. It is the proverbial manner to express a thing by an\nextreme one-sided instance. We have noticed this repeatedly: and that,\nfor this reason, one proverbial utterance may need to be balanced by\nanother contrary one. Thus, on another occasion our Lord bids us take\nthought of what His service will involve, looking towards the future\nlike a man who is about to build a house or a king who is preparing for\na campaign. Here He is putting the other thought, that we are to cast\nall our care upon God our Father, who careth on our behalf.\n\nBut indeed if taking this passage alone you think of the metaphors\nwhich our Lord employs\u2015\u2015metaphors of the flowers of the field and the\nbirds of the air\u2015\u2015you will see that what He means to warn us against\nis anxiety, not prevision. For think of the growth of the plant; it\nis always looking towards the future in its own instinctive way; the\nprocess by which it grows is a gradual process; all its activity is\ndirected towards the preparation of the seeds by which the permanence\nof the species is secured. And so with the birds when they build their\nnests: they are making provision. Everything is done by bird and plant\nin view of the future, but done with a tranquillity which reposes\nunconsciously upon the purpose of God. What they do unconsciously we\nare to do consciously.\n\nHere, then, is a lesson specially necessary for our time. There is\nno greater plague of our generation than the nervous anxiety which\ncharacterizes all its efforts. How many people are there who make their\nhealth much worse than it would naturally be, because they are always\nmorbidly anxious about their symptoms or some possibility of infection.\nAgain and again it is anxiety about health which is a main cause of our\nunserviceableness in doing our duty. We ought to be reasonably careful\nand to go boldly forward in the peace of God.\n\nAgain, how many good schemes fail because people are so nervously\nanxious about their success that they never reach that condition of\npeaceful persistence in work which is necessary if it is to be fruitful.\n\u201cSemper agens, semper quietus\u201d\u2015\u2015\u201calways at work, always tranquil\u201d\u2015\u2015that\nis the right motto.\n\nOnce more, as to holidays. What a vast mistake people often make\nin turning a holiday into an occasion of solicitude; seeking for\ndistraction at the expense of repose, and forgetting that the only\ncentral repose for wearied or jaded faculties is the reposing upon\nthe Eternal. There alone is \u201cthe central peace subsisting at the heart\nof endless agitation.\u201d People would get much more even of physical\ngood from Sunday and holiday rests, if they used them first of all\nas occasions for returning to God and finding rest in Him. And this\napplies to the clergy no less than to the laity. \u201cBe still, then, and\nknow that I am God.\u201d That is what we are to learn. Repose upon God\nquietly, and do daily the duties of the day, and bear daily the evils\nof the day, and, like Christ our Lord, though it be through cross and\npassion, we shall come to the glory which is predestined for us by God.\n\nAnd observe the phrase, \u201cSufficient unto the day is the _evil_\nthereof.\u201d Our Lord is not in any sort of way promising us that we\nshall not suffer trouble if we put our trust in God. What He tells us\nis simply that \u201cAccording to thy day, so shall thy strength be.\u201d We are\nin God\u2019s hands. God gives us the evil and the good. We are only, like\nour Lord, to trust in His divine fatherhood; and doing our best to-day,\nexercising our judgement to the best of our power, we are to repose in\nHis love.\n\n\n\n\n                              CHAPTER IX\n\n                       CHRISTIAN CHARACTERISTICS\n\n\nTHE seventh chapter\u2015\u2015the last which belongs to the Sermon\u2015\u2015is occupied\nwith a number of accessory topics. The character of the citizen of\nthe kingdom of God has now been portrayed for us; the relation of\nthis character to the old law has been explained; its main motive or\nprinciple has been described. Now there follow some characteristics\nwhich flow naturally from the relation in which the citizen of the\nkingdom stands both towards God and towards man. The first of these\nis the uncritical temper. \u201cJudge not and ye shall not be judged.\u201d\n\n\n                         THE UNCRITICAL TEMPER\n\nWe should observe that in the parallel passage in St. Luke vi.\nthis exhortation follows very suggestively upon a description of\nthe character of God which corresponds to an earlier passage in\nSt. Matthew\u2019s account of the Sermon on the Mount. \u201cYe shall be the\nsons of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and the\nevil. Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful. And judge not,\u201d\n&c. That is to say, God is not critical; He does the best for every\none. He gives to every one the gifts he can appreciate. This is to be\nembodied in the temper of the disciple.\n\n  \u201cJudge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye\n  judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it\n  shall be measured unto you. And why beholdest thou the mote that\n  is in thy brother\u2019s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in\n  thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me cast\n  out the mote out of thine eye; and lo, the beam is in thine own\n  eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own\n  eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of\n  thy brother\u2019s eye.\u201d\n\nManifestly, what is in our Lord\u2019s mind is the temper and character\nof the Pharisee. The Pharisee was in his way a strict religionist, a\nstrict observer of religion. But you may almost say that the Pharisee\ntested progress in religion by the capacity to condemn other people.\n\u201cThis multitude which knoweth not the law is accursed.\u201d[74] The\nPharisee had passed through a certain probation in learning. He had, as\nit were, passed his examinations and stood his tests; and now he was in\na position to set every one else in his proper and subordinate place.\nThat was the very test of his progress, that he was able to \u201cdespise\nothers\u201d; and it followed that he could be, in regard to his own _inner_\ncharacter, lax and self-satisfied. He had attained the right standard;\nhe was performing the right observances. So long as he did these things,\nhe need not be over-scrupulous in examining himself. Therefore the\nPharisee was both critical and hypocritical; critical with regard to\nothers, with regard to himself hypocritical.\n\nOur Lord, then, did not mean to make of His disciples a new kind of\nPharisee. He did not mean that His disciples, as they grew to learn\nand follow the strictness of their Master\u2019s standard, should come to\nbe supercilious like the Pharisees, and, like them, morally hollow.\nTherefore He warns against these two easily combined characteristics.\n\nOn the contrary, the temper which our Lord approves is the humility\nwhich makes the best of others, and is severe with itself. You,\nHe seems to say, have every opportunity to know your own failings;\ntherefore look stringently to yourself, \u201cthe mote, or the beam, that\nis in thine own eye.\u201d That \u201cbulks big\u201d enough in your own vision. To\nconsider it prevents you from over-estimating yourself, and humbles you\nin your own sight. Let it also take out of your heart and off your lips\nall the readiness to criticize and condemn other people.\n\nMake the best of others. For that is, in fact, what our Lord means by\n\u201cjudge not.\u201d It is what we should most naturally express by \u201cDo not be\ncritical.\u201d Because a thing is strange or new to you, because it does\nnot fall in with your ideas, do not condemn it off-hand, but try to\nappreciate it with sympathy first of all. Make the best of every thing\nand every person. And there is no doubt that if after looking for the\ngood points in any idea, or undertaking, or person, you are at last\nbound to condemn, the weight attaching to your adverse verdict will\ndepend very largely on whether you have escaped the reputation of being\na \u201ccritical\u201d and censorious person. The condemnation of one who is\nalways finding fault carries no moral weight.\n\nI say, If at last you are bound to condemn, and that may be the\nChristian\u2019s duty. For here, again, as throughout this Sermon, we must\nnotice our Lord\u2019s proverbial method, otherwise we may misinterpret\naltogether the temper which our Lord here commends. There is a temper\nof universal toleration very prevalent in our age, both in conversation\nand in literature; which can indeed tolerate everything, because it has\nno fixed standards of right and wrong, of true and false, at all. But\nit is clear enough that this was not what our Lord meant to recommend;\nit would be so utterly antagonistic to His own character. No one is\nseverer in discriminating judgement than our Lord when the occasion\nrequires it. More than this, our Lord did deliberately intend that\nHis Church, and the members of His Church, should have standards of\ngoodness and truth which should enable them\u2015\u2015aye, which should require\nthem when duty called\u2015\u2015to condemn their own brethren. A passage in\nSt. Matthew\u2019s Gospel which has been referred to already is clear upon\nthis. \u201cIf thy brother trespass against thee\u201d\u2015\u2015are you to say, \u201cIt is\nof no account. It is not my business to condemn?\u201d No. When it is not a\nquestion of the love of criticizing or of uncharitable judgement, but\nof maintaining the law of right and wrong, then it becomes our business\nto judge, and after consideration and patience to condemn.\n\n  \u201cGo, shew him his fault between thee and him alone; if he\n  hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he hear thee\n  not, take with thee one or two more, that at the mouth of two\n  witnesses or three every word may be established. And if he\n  refuse to hear them, tell it unto the church: and if he refuse\n  to hear the church also, let him be unto thee as the Gentile and\n  the publican. Verily I say unto you, What things soever ye shall\n  bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and what things soever\n  ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.\u201d[75]\n\nOur Lord does here actually commit to the Church\u2015\u2015as on an earlier\noccasion to St. Peter as the chief and representative apostle\u2015\u2015not the\nright, but the duty, to bind and to loose: that is, to pass judgements\nas to what is right and what is wrong, what is to be permitted and\nwhat is not to be permitted, in the Christian society. Again, after His\nresurrection He gives to His apostles the power and the duty to apply\nthese judgements to persons, to absolve and to retain sins.[76] Thus\nthe Church, and each of its members, is not indeed to be censorious in\ntemper, or to make the worst of people; but, when occasion requires, is\nto maintain the moral standard. So it is that St. Paul expressly tells\nthe Corinthian Church that, as a Christian society, they are to judge,\nnot those that are without, but those that are within their own body:\nand he severely condemns them because they had let pass, or tolerated,\na serious moral offence without discriminating judgement being passed\nupon it.[77]\n\nIt is the same where doctrine is concerned. The New Testament\ncontinually warns Christians that they are to have standards of\njudgement; to test all things, and hold fast that which is right;[78]\nto test the spirits whether they be of God.[79] And if any teacher come\nwith a doctrine calculated to subvert the principles which lie at the\nbasis of the Christian life, St. Paul and St. John alike recommend an\nattitude towards him which cannot exactly be described as tolerance.\n\n  \u201cAs we have said before, so say I now again, If any man\n  preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which ye received,\n  let him be anathema.\u201d\n\n  \u201cIf any one cometh unto you, and bringeth not this teaching,\n  receive him not into your house, and give him no greeting: for\n  he that giveth him greeting partaketh in his evil works.\u201d[80]\n\nThese injunctions are given in view of cases where fundamental matters\nof principle are at stake. About minor matters St. Paul adopts a tone\nof the widest toleration.[81]\n\nThere is then a duty of judgement: while on the other hand our Lord\ncondemns the critical and censorious temper. Is it not true that a\ncandid conscience finds very little difficulty in distinguishing the\nduty of judgement from the sin of censoriousness and criticism? And is\nit not the case that those who have the lowest and vaguest standards\nof what is true and right, are yet very often the most critical in\njudgement of other people?\n\nWe are then to be anxious to make the best of others: and our Lord here\nagain recognizes that law which we have so often heard from His lips,\nthat God deals with us as we deal with our fellow-men.\n\n  \u201cJudge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye\n  judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it\n  shall be measured unto you.\u201d\n\nThis describes no doubt how God will deal with us. And from the\nparallel passage of St. Luke we should gather that the retaliation will\nnot be confined to God. As we deal with other men, so other men also\nwill deal with us.\n\n  \u201cAnd judge not, and ye shall not be judged: and condemn not, and\n  ye shall not be condemned: release, and ye shall be released:\n  give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed\n  down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your\n  bosom. For with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you\n  again.\u201d[82]\n\nFrom all sides you get as you give. If you deal with men in the\ncritical, censorious, narrow temper, men will deal so with you. If you\nmake the best of others, others will make the best of you.\n\n\n             RESERVE IN COMMUNICATING RELIGIOUS PRIVILEGES\n\nThe next characteristic of the temper of the Christian follows by way\nof contrast on what has gone before. It is reserve in communicating\nreligious privileges.\n\n  \u201cGive not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your\n  pearls before the swine, lest haply they trample them under\n  their feet, and turn and rend you.\u201d\n\nThere are high privileges which many men cannot appreciate; and if you\npress these upon them, you must not be surprised if, indignant with\nyou for having given them something which seems so worthless, they take\nviolent reprisals upon you.\n\nWe ask the question, Has our Lord, in inculcating the uncritical\ntemper, inculcated the undiscriminating temper also? Certainly not.\nThat which the Christian has received is of inestimable worth. The\nkingdom of God, as our Lord told us, is like a pearl of great price,\nwhich when a man hath found, for joy thereof he goeth and selleth all\nthat he hath and buyeth that pearl. The Christian knows what it is to\nbe a Christian, admitted into the fellowship of God, illuminated by His\ntruth, empowered by His Spirit. In the light of God in which he lives\nhe cannot but gaze out into the world with a discrimination like his\nLord\u2019s.\n\nOur Lord, we notice, gave men the best they were capable of\nreceiving. To all the world, if they had but the faith to trust His\npower, He gave the outpouring of that power in works of healing. He\nhad compassion on them; He gave them what alone they were capable of\nappreciating\u2015\u2015kindness, goodness. But did He teach all men the highest\ntruth? No. He sifted, He discriminated them, till He had got those to\ndeal with who really had ears to hear the highest truth, and then He\ntold it them. Our Lord did not cast His pearls before swine, lest they\nshould turn again and rend Him.\n\nThus we are to put before men what they are capable of appreciating.\nNot by any merits of ours, God has given us admission to His fellowship;\nHe has given us great things and small things. We are not to be selfish\nmisers, we are to be anxious to communicate all; but we are to be\ndiscriminating. Kindness, self-sacrifice, care for their interests,\nand their whole life\u2015\u2015that all men can appreciate, and we are to give\nit to all. But we are not to shriek the highest truths of religion at\nthe street corner. We are to wait till people show a desire for the\ndeepest things before we offer them religion. There is to be reserve\nin communicating religious privileges and religious truths.\n\nSuch was the method of the early Church. It went out into the world.\nIt let all the world see the beauty of its life, the glory of its\nbrotherhood, the splendour of its liberality. It made men feel that\nChristians were the friends of God. But it did not teach them the\nsecrets of its life\u2015\u2015its Creed, its Eucharist, its Prayer\u2015\u2015till\nthey were ready for them, and showed their readiness at least by\ninquiry. The Church would explain herself in apologies and dissipate\nmisconceptions, but it was not her way to press her innermost truths\nupon the indifferent.\n\nAt the same time the Church has not an esoteric system, like the Pagan\nmysteries, or the schools of Gnosticism. These Gnostics would have only\nthe intellectual admitted to the mysteries of God. That was not the\nChurch\u2019s way; her way was to teach _every_ man (who would come with\nfaith), that she might present every man perfectly initiated in Jesus\nChrist.[83] The Church believed that nothing was necessary for the\nhighest union with God but a simple sense of sin and faith in God, in\nHis Son, in His Spirit. Nothing was necessary but these qualities of\nwanting and trusting, which are possible to all men. Her cry was\u2015\u2015\u201cHo!\nevery one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.\u201d Only, let them come\nthirsty!\n\nAnd surely that method which belonged to the early Church\u2015\u2015although no\ndoubt it was capable of being abused\u2015\u2015is yet the true and best method.\nLet the Church show her compassion and goodness and geniality to all\nmen, but not press upon them the mysteries of God until, under her\ndiscipline and teaching, they begin to show some disposition to receive\nthem. This is a principle which admits of very different applications\nin a heathen country, in preaching religion among nominal Christians,\nand in the social intercourse of individuals; but it admits of some\napplication everywhere. And above all let us take care that the Church\nappears before men\u2019s eyes as offering provision of spiritual privileges\nnot for those who can pay for them, but for those who have some measure\nof spiritual appetite.\n\n\n                       IMPARTIAL CONSIDERATENESS\n\nThe Christian is to be discriminating, but not niggardly. On the\ncontrary, recognizing the readiness of God to give in response to human\nprayer and effort, he will exhibit a like impartial benevolence towards\nall men. This is the last of the three characteristics of the Christian\ncharacter which our Lord enjoins: impartial benevolence proceeding from\nits own experience and knowledge of the divine character.\n\n  \u201cAsk, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock,\n  and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh\n  receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh\n  it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, who, if his son\n  shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone; or if he shall\n  ask for a fish, will give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil,\n  know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more\n  shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them\n  that ask him? All things therefore whatsoever ye would that men\n  should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them: for this is\n  the law and the prophets.\u201d\n\nAs reported by St. Luke, our Lord gives a commentary on \u201cKnock, and it\nshall be opened unto you.\u201d For He gives us the parable of one who comes\nat an inconveniently late hour, and knocks at the door of a neighbour\u2019s\nhouse, and demands food for a friend who has unexpectedly arrived. And\nour Lord represents how the owner of the house is at last unwillingly\novercome by the importunity of the applicant, and consents to rise and\ngive his neighbour what he wants.\n\nOur Lord then in His proverbial way lays down the general principle\nthat importunity\u2015\u2015asking, seeking, knocking\u2015\u2015at last overcomes all\nobstacles and obtains what it wants. And we notice that our Lord first\narouses attention by the indiscriminate assertion of this general\nprinciple. Having done that, when the attention of men was arrested,\nHe on different occasions\u2015\u2015for those who had ears to hear\u2015\u2015modified it,\nor gave it its more definite meaning.\n\nSuch modifications or exacter definitions are the following: \u201cAll\nthings whatsoever ye pray and ask for, _believe that ye have received\nthem and ye shall have them_\u201d (St. Mark xi. 24). \u201c_If ye abide in me,\nand my words abide in you_, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be\ndone unto you\u201d (St. John xv. 7). \u201cHitherto have ye asked nothing _in\nmy name_: ask, and ye shall receive\u201d (St. John xvi. 24). It is not too\nmuch to say that all these three statements are in effect identical.\nTo ask in Christ\u2019s name is to ask in accordance with Christ\u2019s will,\nand this brings the third statement into identity with the second.\nWe can only, as intelligent sons of our Father, \u201cbelieve that we have\nreceived\u201d requests which we know to be in accordance with His mind.\nThus the first statement, in common with the other two, makes the\neffective prayer the prayer which rises in intelligent correspondence\nwith the revealed will and character of God.\n\nEven in this passage may be found a suggestion to the same purpose.\n\u201cWhat man is there of you,\u201d asks our Lord, \u201cwho, when his son asks\na loaf or a fish, will give him\u201d\u2015\u2015something that looks like what he\nhas asked for, but is in fact wholly useless or noxious? If then human\nfathers are to be relied upon in this way, much more is our heavenly\nFather to be relied upon to give good things to them that ask Him.\nBut there is a converse to that statement. If a son asks for something\nharmful, what will a wise father do? Not give him what he asks for,\nbut give him according to his request as it is interpreted by his own\nlarger wisdom. So it is with God. He must hear and answer prayers, not\nsimply as they are ignorantly offered, but as interpreted for our good\nin accordance with His wise purposes. Roman Catholics and Anglicans and\nEastern Christians and Nonconformists may be praying for unity among\nChristians, each according to their own preconceptions. God will be\nattentive to the good-will of their prayers: they will not, as has been\nsuggested, \u201cneutralize one another:\u201d for God will answer them according\nto His own wisdom.\n\nVery suggestive then is the version of this saying of our Lord which is\ngiven by St. Luke: \u201cShall not your Father which is in heaven give\u201d\u2015\u2015not\ngood things, but\u2015\u2015\u201cthe Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?\u201d\n\nIt is often said, we know, that the Sermon on the Mount contains no\ndogmas, no doctrines. But it implies, in a remarkable way, two cardinal\nChristian doctrines: the Godhead of Christ and the \u201cfallen\u201d state of\nman. The Godhead of Christ, as has been and will again be noticed,\nis involved in the authoritative tone in which He speaks. And a\nsignificant expression in this paragraph is unintelligible unless\nall men, even the best, may be assumed to be sinful. For our Lord is\ntalking about good parents who will do their best for their children:\nyet He says \u201cIf ye, _being evil_.\u201d Now, I do not know any words which\ncould more forcibly imply\u2015\u2015all the more forcibly because incidentally,\nor by the way\u2015\u2015that our Lord thought of us all as having something\nevil and corrupt in our nature as it is; so that every one of us needs\nregeneration and conversion, in order that we may become what our\nLord would have us. The intimation seems to me to be indeed the more\nemphatic because, as I say, it is uttered by the way. \u201cIf ye, being\nevil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more....\u201d\n\nFinally, on these considerations of the divine goodness, our Lord bases\nour duty towards our fellow-men.\n\n    \u201cTherefore whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you,\n    even so do ye also unto them: for this is the law and the\n    prophets.\u201d\n\nOur conduct towards our fellow-men is to be the reflection of that\nbenevolence which we have learned and experienced in our own relations\nto God.\n\nIn the maxim in which our Lord expresses our social duty there are\nseveral points which require notice.\n\n(1) In its negative form it had been already announced both among\nthe Jews and among the Greeks: \u201cDo not do unto others what you would\nnot have them do unto yourselves.\u201d[84] But one great superiority\nof our Lord over other teachers lies in the positive character of\nHis teachings. His will is not simply that men should abstain from\nwrong-doing, but rather that they should be occupied in right-doing.\n\n(2) Here, as elsewhere, our Lord is proverbial; and this maxim must not\nbe interpreted \u201cat the foot of the letter.\u201d Nothing in common life is\nmore annoying than when people do so interpret and act upon it; with\nthe result that they behave as if every one must agree with them in\nwhat they like or dislike. What is meant of course is that we are to\nact towards others with the same considerateness which we would desire\nthat others should exhibit towards us.\n\n(3) We must realize that here we have the very kernel of Christian\nsocial duty. There was a great truth announced by the philosopher\nImmanuel Kant: \u201cSo act as to treat humanity, whether in thine own\nperson or in that of any other, in every case as an end withal, never\nas a means only.\u201d We are to treat all men always as ends in themselves;\nnever as means merely towards some other end which we have in view,\nwhether it be production, or convenience, or pleasure. Now this is only\nputting into a philosophical form what our Lord states more simply,\nmore practically. We are to take the same thought for others that we\nwould have others take for ourselves. We are to make no exceptions\nin our own favour. We are to love our neighbour as ourselves. We are\nto remember that every one in God\u2019s sight counts for one; and that\nnobody counts for more than one. This, I say, is the principle of all\nChristian social conduct. It is the principle of justice; that is, of\nequal consideration. We could go on drawing out its applications for\nhours, and never have exhausted them. And it cannot be said that it\nis at present within reasonable distance of being realized in what is\ncalled Christian society. We have a more or less true ideal of what our\nown human life ought to be\u2015\u2015of what opportunities we ought to have for\nthe development of our faculties\u2015\u2015of what home and school and college,\nyouth and married life and old age, work and rest, ought to mean for\nourselves and our families. We are to make these ideals universal.\nWe are so to limit our desires that what we want for ourselves we can\nreasonably expect also for others. We are to be as truly zealous and\nactive for other classes or other individuals as we are for our own\nclass or our own family or ourselves. The service which we expect\nfrom others, we are to see that we render in some real sense to them,\nand that without respect of persons. This maxim is not inconsistent\nwith inequality of position or (within limits) of wealth\u2015\u2015for men are\ndifferently constituted in their capacities and wants\u2015\u2015but it does\ndemand equality of consideration.\n\n(4) \u201cThis,\u201d our Lord says, \u201cis the law and the prophets,\u201d that is,\nthis is the principle in which the true spirit of the Old Testament\nculminates. There was, of course, much in the Old Testament narrower\nthan this and on a lower level; and, as we have seen, our Lord occupied\na large part of this sermon in showing us those points in which the\nChristian law is to supersede the legislation of the Old Testament.\nBut the Old Testament represents throughout a process of growth; and\nthis is the point towards which it tends and in which it culminates.\nAs St. Paul says, \u201cIf there be any other commandment it is briefly\ncomprehended\u201d\u2015\u2015summed up, or accomplished\u2015\u2015\u201cin this saying, namely,\nThou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.\u201d[85]\n\n\n\n\n                               CHAPTER X\n\n                            FINAL WARNINGS\n\n\nOUR Lord concludes the Sermon on the Mount with three emphatic and\nstriking warnings. We may paraphrase them thus:\u2015\u2015There are two ways\nin life, the easy way of self-pleasing and the hard way of self-denial.\nMany are found to seek the first, few to tread the second. But they\nlead directly away from one another: and the first is the way to death,\nthe second is the way to life.\n\nThere are many voices of teachers in the world, speaking fair-sounding\nwords. But not by their words, nor by the results they seem to win,\nshall men be judged by the Son of Man, but by their characters.\n\nThere are many spiritual fabrics which men are raising. They seem the\none very much as good as the other; but the test lies in their capacity\nto last. And no spiritual fabric that is built on anything else than\nthe teaching of the Son of Man can endure the strain and stress which\nwill come upon it before the end.\n\nLet us direct our attention to each of these three warnings in turn.\n\n\n                             THE TWO WAYS\n\n  \u201cEnter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad\n  is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many be they that\n  enter in thereby. For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way,\n  that leadeth unto life, and few be they that find it.\u201d\n\nThis is the \u201cdoctrine of the two ways.\u201d Human instinct has seized on\nthe metaphor in many parts of the world; the easy way of self-pleasing,\nthe difficult way of duty. It speaks home to every heart, to every\nintelligence, and nothing needs to be said about it. But I would ask\nyour attention to one question which in our time arises instantly as\nwe read these words\u2015\u2015Are we to suppose that our Lord is here saying\nthat at the last issue many will be \u201clost\u201d and few \u201csaved\u201d? Is this\nthe meaning of \u201cFew be they that find it\u201d?\n\nTo this question we may reply thus: On one occasion the disciples\ncategorically asked our Lord, \u201cAre there few that are being saved?\u201d\nand our Lord replied, \u201cStrive to enter in by the narrow door.\u201d And on\nanother occasion Peter asked the question about John, \u201cWhat shall this\nman do?\u201d and was answered, \u201cWhat is that to thee? Follow thou Me.\u201d[86]\nBeyond all question, our Lord does not intend us to know the answer to\nthe questions which our curiosity raises as to the ultimate destinies\nof men. He fixes our attention, we may say, on three great principles:\nthe character of God our Father, and His impartial, individual,\ndisciplinary love: the final and universal victory of His kingdom\nover all resisting forces within and without: the critical character\nof our present life with its capacities for good or for evil, and the\nlimitless consequences for good or evil which flow from the present\nattitude of each individual towards his personal responsibilities.\n\nIt is not unfair to translate our Lord\u2019s words here, \u201cMany there be\nthat _are entering_ the broad way; few there be that _are finding_ the\nnarrow way.\u201d Thus they embody what is always found to be true in the\nexperience of men. Always, to one who wants to do his duty, it will\nbecome plain in the long run that he has to be prepared to stand\nalone, or at any rate to go against the majority. He cannot tell the\nopportunities and responsibilities that others may have. He knows\nthat God is infinitely considerate, and will do the best possible\nfor every soul that He has created; but he can, he does, know his own\nresponsibility and his own duty, and in following that he will have to\nbear the burden of going with the few and watching the spectacle, so\ndepressing or staggering to the imagination, of the multitude running\nto do evil.\n\n\n                    CHARACTER THE ONE THING NEEDFUL\n\n  \u201cBeware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep\u2019s clothing,\n  but inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits ye shall know\n  them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even\n  so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt\n  tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth\n  evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.\n  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and\n  cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.\n  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into\n  the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father\n  which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord,\n  did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out devils,\n  and by thy name do many mighty works? And then will I profess\n  unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work\n  iniquity.\u201d\n\nThere is nothing against which our Lord warns us so terribly as against\nhypocrisy. The discernment of Frenchmen and Germans has detected, or\nfancies it has detected that Englishmen are specially liable to be\nhypocrites, to profess what they do not practise, to care for the\noutward appearance of morality and religion while they neglect their\ninward essence. Whether this be specially true of us or no, it behoves\nus to look to ourselves. In literature, in journalism, in the pulpits,\nin political life, there are so many \u201cprophets,\u201d so many professors, so\nmany remedy-mongers. They speak fair words, and brilliant success often\nseems to attend them. \u201cHave we not prophesied in Thy name,\u201d they cry,\n\u201cand in Thy name cast out devils, and in Thy name done many wonderful\nworks?\u201d But not all the fair-seeming words, not all the brilliant,\neven miraculous successes, can compensate for the absence of personal\ncharacter. That is the one thing to which our Lord looks. He warns us\nthat not the most brilliant results can avail anything if we lack that\ninner character which is like Christ\u2019s.\n\nThis is a tremendous warning for days of wide and somewhat vague\nphilanthropy, of restless activity, of nervous anxiety for successes\nand results, for days such as our own day. It is a tremendous warning\nfor days of journalism, when every one is tempted to advertise\nhimself or allow himself to be advertised, when everything is dragged\nprematurely into publicity, and even those who are working for\nChrist are apt to be morbidly anxious to produce results which can\nbe tabulated in parish magazines or even proclaimed in newspapers. We\nneed to remember that all these results in Christ\u2019s eyes will not bear\nlooking at, except so far as they are the product of inward Christian\ncharacter, a character which He can recognize as His own. For He cannot\naccept anything, whatever its orthodox profession, in which He does not\ntrace the lineaments of His own character.\n\nThere are two other points which may be overlooked in this paragraph\nbut which are of great importance. First, our Lord does encourage\nus or even command us to believe that wherever there is the good\ncharacter, the Christlike character, there the Holy Spirit is at work.\nGod works far beyond His own appointed channels. The principle of\nloyalty and obedience binds us who know His will to use His sacraments,\nHis instituted ordinances; but God is not tied to His own ordinances.\nHe can work wherever He sees the good disposition; and it is blasphemy\nagainst His Spirit to deny that He is at work anywhere where we witness\nthe forming of the Christian character. The good fruit cannot come from\nanything else than the good tree.\n\nThen, secondly, we should notice the claim which our Lord here makes\nfor Himself. Without preface, without emphasis, as a matter of course,\nHe implies that He is the final judge of all men, not only as to the\noutward results they achieve, but also as regards the secret inner\nmotives of their hearts and the character of their lives. \u201cMany shall\ncome to me in that day,\u201d i.e. in \u201cthe Day of Jehovah,\u201d the day of final\nassessment\u2015\u2015\u201cThey will come to _Me_; they will profess loyalty to _Me_,\nsaying, \u2018Lord, Lord\u2019; they will plead their good works: but I shall\ndiscern the true inner character of their lives.\u201d Many Jews of our\nLord\u2019s day in Palestine believed that the Son of Man, the Messiah,\nwould act as the vicegerent of God in \u201cthe day of judgement,\u201d at \u201cthe\nend of the world.\u201d In implying that He would so act our Lord is, in\nother words, professing that He is the Messiah: but, more than this,\nHe gives to the Messianic claim a depth and fullness of meaning which\nmakes it identical with a properly _divine_ claim. Can one conceive men\nliving, as the Apostles lived, with one who they were led to believe\nwas the ultimate judge of their outward conduct and of their secret\nthoughts, the ultimate arbiter of their destinies, the final Justice,\nwithout passing into an attitude towards Him of awe, trust, and worship,\nwhich would be idolatrous and disastrous if He to whom it was directed\nwas not truly divine?\n\nAgain, is it even conceivable that any man could claim to be in this\ninner introspective sense the final judge of all men without being\neither (with reverence be it spoken) a tremendous blasphemer or the\nvery Son of God, of the Father\u2019s own nature?\n\n\n                          ENDURANCE THE TEST\n\nAnd lastly, our Lord gives the warning that each spiritual fabric must\nbe judged by its power of lasting.\n\n  \u201cEvery one therefore which heareth these words of mine, and\n  doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, which built his\n  house upon the rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came,\n  and the winds blew, and beat upon that house: and it fell not;\n  for it was founded upon the rock. And every one that heareth\n  these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto\n  a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain\n  descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote\n  upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof.\u201d\n\nHere, again, is the tremendous claim: the only solid foundation for\nlife is Jesus and His words.\n\nWe know how this necessity of a rock-like foundation for a spiritual\nstructure, and the possibility of finding such a foundation only in\nHis own words and person, were illustrated by our Lord\u2019s method in\nthe foundation of His Church. A crowd came round Him at the first,\noffering Him the same kind of allegiance which men will give to\nspiritual teachers and benefactors in moments of enthusiasm. \u201cMany\nbelieved on his name, beholding the signs which he did.\u201d And our Lord\nstood strangely aloof from them. \u201cHe did not trust himself unto them,\u201d\nSt. John says, \u201cfor that he knew all men, and because he needed not\nthat any should bear witness concerning man, for he knew of himself\nwhat was in man.\u201d[87] So He tested the would-be disciples, till at\nlast by His strange self-withdrawing ways, by His severe words, by\nHis enigmatic utterances, He had sifted out those who were really in\nearnest in following Him from those who were not; exhibiting in all\nthis a strange contempt for majorities or mere numbers. At last He\nhad gathered round Him the little band of those who were really ready\nto follow and obey to the uttermost, the band of His apostles. Here\nwere men who had indeed got down to the rock, and were building on\nit and nothing short of it. Here were men who could trust Him and\nHis word, and take as the basis for their life the confession of His\nname. Therefore, like that on which they built, they were themselves\nrock-like, and not as the shifting sand of ordinary human nature.\nThese then could be used as the foundations of Christ\u2019s new society. So\nunder circumstances where a special strain was put upon their loyalty,\nHe asked the great question of the apostles; and Peter gave the great\nanswer: \u201cThou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.\u201d Then, as\nit were with a sigh of relief, our Lord turns upon him, and greets\nhim with His supreme benediction, and recognizes in him\u2015\u2015if not yet\nsomething which is ready to His hand, yet something which is capable\nof being made ready:\n\n  \u201cBlessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not\n  revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I\n  also say unto thee, that thou art Peter\u2015\u2015rock-man\u2015\u2015and upon this\n  rock I will build my church.\u201d[88]\n\nThus our Lord illustrated in His own practice what He teaches here.\nHe would have men dig down to the rock, and build their spiritual\nfabrics there; and the rock is nothing else than His own person and His\nown word. To hear Him, and go away without imbibing His teaching and\nputting it into practice, to be nominally a Christian but in reality of\nthe world, that is to build a house upon the sand.\n\nAnd the test of all spiritual fabrics is their capacity to stand the\nstrain of wild and rough experiences. That is a formidable lesson for\nan age of rapid workmanship; an age which resents the necessity for\nunderground work and silent preparation.\n\nIt suggests a momentous question with regard to the spiritual fabric of\nour own personal lives, and also in regard to any spiritual enterprise\nin which we may be engaged: Have we dug deep enough and got down to the\nrock, or have we preferred quick results to solid foundations? Have we\nthought Christ\u2019s words impossible of application, and so been content\nwith something short of Him? If so, our work is doomed. It will not\nlast. It will not stand the rain and the wind and the storm.\n\nWe see how true this principle has proved in the history of the Church\nof Christ, which was built on the solid rock of His word and person.\nThe Catholic Church through all vicissitudes has yet endured. Body\nafter body naming the name of Christ have arisen and seemed to succeed\nbetter than the Church for a time, generally through some defect in her\nteaching or character: for it has been generally through the fault of\nthe Church that they have arisen, and on the neglect of the Church\u2019s\nduty that they have spread. But these bodies have not exhibited lasting\npower. Any great catastrophe which, as it were, shatters the structure\nof human society down to its foundations, brings to naught multitudes\nof enterprises which seemed successful. But there is one society which\nhas exhibited a marked capacity for lasting, which after whatever\nvicissitudes has shown that it has still the power of recovery and\npersistence. This is that Church which is rooted on the word of Christ,\nwhich has the succession from His apostles, in which are administered\nHis sacraments according to His appointment, which holds to His\napostolic tradition, and appeals back to His sacred Scriptures.\n\nThat is the test\u2015\u2015to last! We must apply it to our own lives. We\nknow that temptation is both thorough and searching, and that our\nmoral and religious principles will in different ways be tested to\nthe uttermost. To stand the test and carry our moral being through\nit all to victory\u2015\u2015that is the one thing that matters; and to make\nthis possible there is one sovereign expedient\u2015\u2015that is thorough and\nwhole-hearted conversion of our will, our intellect, our affection, to\nChrist and His word.\n\n  \u201cAnd it came to pass, when Jesus ended these words, the\n  multitudes were astonished at his teaching: for he taught them\n  as one having authority, and not as their scribes.\u201d\n\nAnd here we leave the great sermon. It is not, as some suppose, the\nwhole of Christianity. Those who have been inclined so to esteem it\nhave been apt to underrate the amount of theological doctrine which\nis to be found in it. It postulates, as we have seen, two central\ndoctrines: that of the divinity of Christ\u2019s person, and that of the\nsinfulness of human nature. But, even so, it is not the whole of\nChristianity. It begets in us, or develops and deepens, the sense\nof sin, and so may be said to point to what it does not teach, the\natonement by which our Lord has expiated the sins of the world, and\nbrought us back to reconciliation with our Father which is in heaven.\nBut again an atonement which merely secured our forgiveness for past\nsins would be no real remedy. It would leave us weak as we were before.\nNothing can satisfy us but actual and permanent redemption from the\npower and the taint of sin. Thus again the sermon may be said to point\nforward to that great supply of moral power which by the coming of\nthe Spirit of God has been given inwardly in the hearts of His people.\nIt is that inward grant of Christlike power\u2015\u2015the administration of\nthe Spirit\u2015\u2015which is the real essence of Christianity. All else is a\npreparation for it. Christianity is not so much a statement of the true\nend or ideal of human life as it is a great spiritual instrument for\nrealizing the end.\n\nThe realizing of the moral end of life\u2015\u2015that is the test of your\nChristianity. Be sure of that. The hold we have on our creeds, the\nuse we make of the sacraments, can be judged by one test\u2015\u2015do they lead\nto the formation in us of Christian character? The character may be\ncleansed and perfected after death, but here and now is our opportunity\nfor laying its foundations deep and firm, and showing its power to\nabsorb the whole of our being. That is the test which we cannot press\nhome upon ourselves too often\u2015\u2015am I becoming like Christ? Many will\ncome to Him in that day with a record of their orthodoxy and of their\nobservances, of their brilliant successes in His professed service;\nbut He will protest unto them, \u201cI never knew you.\u201d He \u201cknows\u201d no man\nin whom He cannot recognize His own likeness.\n\n\n\n\n                              APPENDICES\n\n\n    I. THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT, WITH THE PARALLEL PASSAGES IN\n        ST. LUKE\u2019S GOSPEL.\n\n   II. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR CHRISTIANS.\n\n  III. THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH WITH REGARD TO DIVORCE.\n\n\n                              APPENDIX I\n\n      THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT             PARALLEL PASSAGES FROM\n                                              ST. LUKE.[89]\n\n    AND seeing the multitudes,             =St. Luke vi. 20\u201249.=\n  he went up into the mountain:\n  and when he had sat down, his         And he lifted up his eyes on\n  disciples came unto him: and        his disciples, and said, Blessed\n  he opened his mouth and taught      are ye poor: for yours is the\n  them, saying,                       kingdom of God. Blessed are ye\n    Blessed are the poor in spirit:   that hunger now: for ye shall be\n  for theirs is the kingdom of        filled. Blessed are ye that weep\n  heaven.                             now: for ye shall laugh. Blessed\n    Blessed are they that mourn:      are ye, when men shall hate you,\n  for they shall be comforted.        and when they shall separate you\n    Blessed are the meek: for they    from their company, and reproach\n  shall inherit the earth.            you, and cast out your name as\n    Blessed are they that hunger      evil, for the Son of man\u2019s sake.\n  and thirst after righteousness:     Rejoice in that day, and leap for\n  for they shall be filled.           joy: for behold, your reward is\n    Blessed are the merciful: for     great in heaven: for in the same\n  they shall obtain mercy.            manner did their fathers unto the\n    Blessed are the pure in heart:    prophets. But woe unto you that\n  for they shall see God.             are rich! for ye have received\n    Blessed are the peacemakers:      your consolation. Woe unto you,\n  for they shall be called sons of    ye that are full now! for ye\n  God.                                shall hunger. Woe unto you, ye\n    Blessed are they that have been   that laugh now! for ye shall\n  persecuted for righteousness\u2019       mourn and weep. Woe unto you,\n  sake: for theirs is the kingdom     when all men shall speak well\n  of heaven. Blessed are ye when      of you! for in the same manner\n  men shall reproach you, and         did their fathers to the false\n  persecute you, and say all manner   prophets.\n  of evil against you falsely,\n  for my sake. Rejoice, and be\n  exceeding glad: for great is\n  your reward in heaven: for so\n  persecuted they the prophets\n  which were before you.\n\n    Ye are the salt of the earth:              =xiv. 34, 35.=\n  but if the salt have lost its\n  savour, wherewith shall it be         _Salt therefore is good: but\n  salted? it is thenceforth good      if even the salt have lost its\n  for nothing, but to be cast out     savour, wherewith shall it be\n  and trodden under foot of men.      seasoned? It is fit neither for\n  Ye are the light of the world. A    the land nor for the dunghill:\n  city set on a hill cannot be hid.   men cast it out. He that hath\n  Neither do men light a lamp, and    ears to hear, let him hear._\n  put it under the bushel, but on\n  the stand; and it shineth unto\n  all that are in the house. Even            =St. Luke xi. 33.=\n  so let your light shine before\n  men, that they may see your good      _No man, when he hath lighted\n  works, and glorify your Father      a lamp, putteth it in a cellar,\n  which is in heaven.                 neither under the bushel, but on\n                                      the stand, that they which enter\n    Think not that I came to          it may see the light._\n  destroy the law or the prophets:\n  I came not to destroy, but to\n  fulfil. For verily I say unto                  =xvi. 17.=\n  you, Till heaven and earth pass\n  away, one jot or one tittle           _But it is easier for heaven\n  shall in no wise pass away from     and earth to pass away, than for\n  the law, till all things be         one tittle of the law to fall._\n  accomplished. Whosoever therefore\n  shall break one of these least\n  commandments, and shall teach men\n  so, shall be called least in the\n  kingdom of heaven: but whosoever\n  shall do and teach them, he shall\n  be called great in the kingdom of\n  heaven. For I say unto you, that\n  except your righteousness shall\n  exceed the righteousness of the\n  scribes and Pharisees, ye shall\n  in no wise enter into the kingdom\n  of heaven.\n\n    Ye have heard that it was said             =xii. 58, 59.=\n  to them of old time, Thou shalt\n  not kill; and whosoever shall         _For as thou art going with\n  kill shall be in danger of the      thine adversary before the\n  judgement: but I say unto you,      magistrate, on the way give\n  that every one who is angry with    diligence to be quit of him;\n  his brother shall be in danger      lest haply he hale thee unto\n  of the judgement; and whosoever     the judge, and the judge shall\n  shall say to his brother, Raca,     deliver thee to the officer,\n  shall be in danger of the council;  and the officer shall cast thee\n  and whosoever shall say, Thou       into prison. I say unto thee,\n  fool, shall be in danger of the     Thou shalt by no means come out\n  hell of fire. If therefore thou     thence, till thou have paid the\n  art offering thy gift at the        very last mite._\n  altar, and there rememberest that\n  thy brother hath aught against\n  thee, leave there thy gift before\n  the altar, and go thy way, first\n  be reconciled to thy brother,\n  and then come and offer thy\n  gift. Agree with thine adversary\n  quickly, whiles thou art with\n  him in the way; lest haply the\n  adversary deliver thee to the\n  judge, and the judge deliver thee\n  to the officer, and thou be cast\n  into prison. Verily I say unto\n  thee, Thou shalt by no means come\n  out thence, till thou have paid\n  the last farthing.\n\n    Ye have heard that it was said,        =St. Mark ix. 43\u201248.=\n  Thou shalt not commit adultery:\n  but I say unto you, that every        _And if thy hand cause thee to\n  one that looketh on a woman to      stumble, cut it off: it is good\n  lust after her hath committed       for thee to enter into life\n  adultery with her already in his    maimed, rather than having thy\n  heart. And if thy right eye         two hands to go into hell, into\n  causeth thee to stumble, pluck it   the unquenchable fire. And if thy\n  out, and cast it from thee: for     foot cause thee to stumble, cut\n  it is profitable for thee that      it off: it is good for thee to\n  one of thy members should perish,   enter into life halt, rather than\n  and not thy whole body be cast      having thy two feet to be cast\n  into hell. And if thy right hand    into hell. And if thine eye cause\n  causeth thee to stumble, cut it     thee to stumble, cast it out: it\n  off, and cast it from thee: for     is good for thee to enter into\n  it is profitable for thee that      the kingdom of God with one eye,\n  one of thy members should perish,   rather than having two eyes to be\n  and not thy whole body go into      cast into hell; where their worm\n  hell. It was said also, Whosoever   dieth not, and the fire is not\n  shall put away his wife, let        quenched._\n  him give her a writing of\n  divorcement: but I say unto you,\n  that every one that putteth away          =St. Luke xvi. 18.=\n  his wife, saving for the cause\n  of fornication, maketh her an         _Every one that putteth away\n  adulteress: and whosoever shall     his wife, and marrieth another,\n  marry her when she is put away      committeth adultery: and he that\n  committeth adultery.                marrieth one that is put away\n                                      from a husband committeth\n    Again, ye have heard that it      adultery._\n  was said to them of old time,\n  Thou shalt not forswear thyself,\n  but shalt perform unto the Lord\n  thine oaths: but I say unto you,\n  Swear not at all; neither by the\n  heaven, for it is the throne of\n  God; nor by the earth, for it is\n  the footstool of his feet; nor by\n  Jerusalem, for it is the city of\n  the great King. Neither shalt\n  thou swear by thy head, for thou\n  canst not make one hair white\n  or black. But let your speech\n  be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: and\n  whatsoever is more than these is\n  of the evil one.\n\n    Ye have heard that it was said,\n  An eye for an eye, and a tooth\n  for a tooth: but I say unto you,\n  Resist not him that is evil: but\n  whosoever smiteth thee on thy\n  right cheek, turn to him the\n  other also. And if any man would\n  go to law with thee, and take\n  away thy coat, let him have thy\n  cloke also. And whosoever shall\n  compel thee to go one mile, go\n  with him twain. Give to him that\n  asketh thee, and from him that\n  would borrow of thee turn not\n  thou away.\n\n    Ye have heard that it was said,             =vi. 27\u201236.=\n  Thou shalt love thy neighbour,\n  and hate thine enemy: but I say       But I say unto you which hear,\n  unto you, Love your enemies,        Love your enemies, do good to\n  and pray for them that persecute    them that hate you, bless them\n  you; that ye may be sons of your    that curse you, pray for them\n  Father which is in heaven: for      that despitefully use you. To\n  he maketh his sun to rise on the    him that smiteth thee on the one\n  evil and the good, and sendeth      cheek offer also the other; and\n  rain on the just and the unjust.    from him that taketh away thy\n  For if ye love them that love       cloke withhold not thy coat also.\n  you, what reward have ye? do not    Give to every one that asketh\n  even the publicans the same? And    thee; and of him that taketh away\n  if ye salute your brethren only,    thy goods ask them not again. And\n  what do ye more than others? do     as ye would that men should do to\n  not even the Gentiles the same?     you, do ye also to them likewise.\n  Ye therefore shall be perfect, as   And if ye love them that love\n  your heavenly Father is perfect.    you, what thank have ye? for\n                                      even sinners love those that love\n    Take heed that ye do not your     them. And if ye do good to them\n  righteousness before men, to be     that do good to you, what thank\n  seen of them: else ye have no       have ye? for even sinners do the\n  reward with your Father which is    same. And if ye lend to them of\n  in heaven.                          whom ye hope to receive, what\n                                      thank have ye? even sinners lend\n    When therefore thou doest alms,   to sinners, to receive again as\n  sound not a trumpet before thee,    much. But love your enemies, and\n  as the hypocrites do in the         do them good, and lend, never\n  synagogues and in the streets,      despairing; and your reward shall\n  that they may have glory of men.    be great, and ye shall be sons\n  Verily I say unto you, They have    of the Most High: for he is kind\n  received their reward. But when     toward the unthankful and evil.\n  thou doest alms, let not thy left   Be ye merciful, even as your\n  hand know what thy right hand       Father is merciful.\n  doeth: that thine alms may be\n  in secret: and thy Father which\n  seeth in secret shall recompense\n  thee.\n\n    And when ye pray, ye shall not          =St. Luke xi. 1\u20124.=\n  be as the hypocrites: for they\n  love to stand and pray in the       _And it came to pass, as he\n  synagogues and in the corners       was praying in a certain place,\n  of the streets, that they may be    that when he ceased, one of his\n  seen of men. Verily I say unto      disciples said unto him, Lord,\n  you, They have received their       teach us to pray, even as John\n  reward. But thou, when thou         also taught his disciples. And he\n  prayest, enter into thine inner     said unto them, When ye pray say,\n  chamber, and having shut thy        Father, Hallowed be thy name.\n  door, pray to thy Father which is   Thy kingdom come. Give us day by\n  in secret, and thy Father which     day our daily bread. And forgive\n  seeth in secret shall recompense    us our sins; for we ourselves\n  thee. And in praying use not vain   also forgive every one that is\n  repetitions, as the Gentiles do:    indebted to us. And bring us not\n  for they think that they shall be   into temptation._\n  heard for their much speaking. Be\n  not therefore like unto them: for\n  your Father knoweth what things\n  ye have need of, before ye ask\n  him. After this manner therefore\n  pray ye: Our Father which art in\n  heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy\n  kingdom come. Thy will be done,\n  as in heaven, so on earth. Give\n  us this day our daily bread. And\n  forgive us our debts, as we also\n  have forgiven our debtors. And\n  bring us not into temptation,\n  but deliver us from the evil\n  one. For if ye forgive men their\n  trespasses, your heavenly Father\n  will also forgive you. But if ye\n  forgive not men their trespasses,\n  neither will your Father forgive\n  your trespasses.\n\n    Moreover when ye fast, be              =St. Luke xi. 34\u201236.=\n  not, as the hypocrites, of a sad\n  countenance: for they disfigure       _The lamp of the body is thine\n  their faces, that they may be       eye: when thine eye is single,\n  seen of men to fast. Verily I       thy whole body also is full of\n  say unto you, They have received    light; but when it is evil, thy\n  their reward. But thou, when thou   body also is full of darkness.\n  fastest, anoint thy head, and       Look therefore whether the light\n  wash thy face; that thou be         that is in thee be not darkness.\n  not seen of men to fast, but of     If therefore thy whole body be\n  thy Father which is in secret:      full of light, having no part\n  and thy Father, which seeth in      dark, it shall be wholly full of\n  secret, shall recompense thee.      light, as when the lamp with its\n                                      bright shining doth give thee\n    Lay not up for yourselves         light._\n  treasures upon the earth, where\n  moth and rust doth consume, and\n  where thieves break through and                =xvi. 13.=\n  steal: but lay up for yourselves\n  treasures in heaven, where            _No servant can serve two\n  neither moth nor rust doth          masters: for either he will hate\n  consume, and where thieves do       the one, and love the other; or\n  not break through nor steal: for    else he will hold to one, and\n  where thy treasure is, there will   despise the other. Ye cannot\n  thy heart be also. The lamp of      serve God and mammon._\n  the body is the eye: if therefore\n  thine eye be single, thy whole\n  body shall be full of light. But             =xii. 22\u201234.=\n  if thine eye be evil, thy whole\n  body shall be full of darkness.       _Therefore I say unto you, Be\n  If therefore the light that is      not anxious for your life, what\n  in thee be darkness, how great      ye shall eat; nor yet for your\n  is the darkness! No man can serve   body, what ye shall put on. For\n  two masters: for either he will     the life is more than the food,\n  hate the one, and love the other;   and the body than the raiment.\n  or else he will hold to one,        Consider the ravens, that they\n  and despise the other. Ye cannot    sow not, neither reap; which\n  serve God and mammon. Therefore I   have no store-chamber nor barn;\n  say unto you, Be not anxious for    and God feedeth them: of how\n  your life, what ye shall eat, or    much more value are ye than the\n  what ye shall drink; nor yet for    birds! And which of you by being\n  your body, what ye shall put on.    anxious can add a cubit unto his\n  Is not the life more than the       stature? If then ye are not able\n  food, and the body than the         to do even that which is least,\n  raiment? Behold the birds of        why are ye anxious concerning\n  the heaven, that they sow not,      the rest? Consider the lilies,\n  neither do they reap, nor gather    how they grow: they toil not,\n  into barns; and your heavenly       neither do they spin; yet I say\n  Father feedeth them. Are not ye     unto you, Even Solomon in all his\n  of much more value than they? And   glory was not arrayed like one of\n  which of you by being anxious can   these. But if God doth so clothe\n  add one cubit unto his stature?     the grass in the field, which\n  And why are ye anxious concerning   to-day is, and to-morrow is cast\n  raiment? Consider the lilies of     into the oven; how much more\n  the field, how they grow; they      shall he clothe you, O ye of\n  toil not, neither do they spin:     little faith? And seek not ye\n  yet I say unto you, that even       what ye shall eat, and what ye\n  Solomon in all his glory was not    shall drink, neither be ye of\n  arrayed like one of these. But if   doubtful mind. For all these\n  God doth so clothe the grass of     things do the nations of the\n  the field, which to-day is, and     world seek after: but your Father\n  to-morrow is cast into the oven,    knoweth that ye have need of\n  shall he not much more clothe       these things. Howbeit seek ye his\n  you, O ye of little faith? Be not   kingdom, and these things shall\n  therefore anxious, saying, What     be added unto you. Fear not,\n  shall we eat? or, What shall we     little flock; for it is your\n  drink? or, Wherewithal shall we     Father\u2019s good pleasure to give\n  be clothed? For after all these     you the kingdom. Sell that ye\n  things do the Gentiles seek; for    have, and give alms; make for\n  your heavenly Father knoweth that   yourselves purses which wax not\n  ye have need of all these things.   old, a treasure in the heavens\n  But seek ye first his kingdom,      that faileth not, where no\n  and his righteousness; and all      thief draweth near, nor moth\n  these things shall be added unto    destroyeth. For where your\n  you. Be not therefore anxious for   treasure is, there will your\n  the morrow: for the morrow will     heart be also._\n  be anxious for itself. Sufficient\n  unto the day is the evil thereof.\n\n    Judge not, that ye be not              =St. Luke vi. 37\u201242.=\n  judged. For with what judgement\n  ye judge, ye shall be judged:         And judge not, and ye shall\n  and with what measure ye mete, it   not be judged: and condemn not,\n  shall be measured unto you. And     and ye shall not be condemned:\n  why beholdest thou the mote that    release, and ye shall be\n  is in thy brother\u2019s eye, but        released: give, and it shall be\n  considerest not the beam that       given unto you; good measure,\n  is in thine own eye? Or how wilt    pressed down, shaken together,\n  thou say to thy brother, Let me     running over, shall they give\n  cast out the mote out of thine      into your bosom. For with what\n  eye; and lo, the beam is in thine   measure ye mete it shall be\n  own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out   measured to you again.\n  first the beam out of thine own\n  eye; and then shalt thou see          And he spake also a parable\n  clearly to cast out the mote out    unto them, Can the blind guide\n  of thy brother\u2019s eye.               the blind? shall they not both\n                                      fall into a pit? The disciple is\n    Give not that which is holy       not above his master: but every\n  unto the dogs, neither cast your    one when he is perfected shall be\n  pearls before the swine, lest       as his master. And why beholdest\n  haply they trample them under       thou the mote that is in thy\n  their feet, and turn and rend       brother\u2019s eye, but considerest\n  you.                                not the beam that is in thine own\n                                      eye? Or how canst thou say to thy\n                                      brother, Brother, let me cast out\n                                      the mote that is in thine eye,\n                                      when thou thyself beholdest not\n                                      the beam that is in thine own\n                                      eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out\n                                      first the beam out of thine own\n                                      eye, and then shalt thou see\n                                      clearly to cast out the mote\n                                      that is in thy brother\u2019s eye.\n\n\n    Ask, and it shall be given you;         =St. Luke xi. 9\u201213.=\n  seek, and ye shall find; knock,\n  and it shall be opened unto           _And I say unto you, Ask, and\n  you: for every one that asketh      it shall be given you; seek,\n  receiveth; and he that seeketh      and ye shall find; knock, and\n  findeth; and to him that knocketh   it shall be opened unto you. For\n  it shall be opened. Or what man     every one that asketh receiveth;\n  is there of you, who, if his son    and he that seeketh findeth; and\n  shall ask him for a loaf, will      to him that knocketh it shall be\n  give him a stone; or if he shall    opened. And of which of you that\n  ask for a fish, will give him a     is a father shall his son ask a\n  serpent? If ye then, being evil,    loaf, and he give him a stone?\n  know how to give good gifts unto    or a fish, and he for a fish give\n  your children, how much more        him a serpent? Or if he shall\n  shall your Father which is          ask an egg, will he give him a\n  in heaven give good things to       scorpion? If ye then, being evil,\n  them that ask him? All things       know how to give good gifts unto\n  therefore whatsoever ye would       your children, how much more\n  that men should do unto you, even   shall your heavenly Father give\n  so do ye also unto them: for this   the Holy Spirit to them that ask\n  is the law and the prophets.        him?_\n\n    Enter ye in by the narrow gate:\n  for wide is the gate, and broad           =xiii. 24\u201227.=\n  is the way, that leadeth to\n  destruction, and many be they         _Strive to enter in by the\n  that enter in thereby. For narrow   narrow door: for many, I say unto\n  is the gate, and straitened the     you, shall seek to enter in, and\n  way, that leadeth unto life, and    shall not be able. When once the\n  few be they that find it.           master of the house is risen up,\n                                      and hath shut to the door, and\n    Beware of false prophets, which   ye begin to stand without, and to\n  come to you in sheep\u2019s clothing,    knock at the door, saying, Lord,\n  but inwardly are ravening wolves.   open to us; and he shall answer\n  By their fruits ye shall know       and say to you, I know you not\n  them. Do men gather grapes of       whence ye are; then shall ye\n  thorns, or figs of thistles? Even   begin to say, We did eat and\n  so every good tree bringeth forth   drink in thy presence, and thou\n  good fruit; but the corrupt tree    didst teach in our streets; and\n  bringeth forth evil fruit. A        he shall say, I tell you, I know\n  good tree cannot bring forth evil   not whence ye are; depart from\n  fruit, neither can a corrupt tree   me, all ye workers of iniquity._\n  bring forth good fruit. Every\n  tree that bringeth not forth\n  good fruit is hewn down, and cast             =vi. 43\u201249.=\n  into the fire. Therefore by their\n  fruits ye shall know them. Not        For there is no good tree that\n  every one that saith unto me,       bringeth forth corrupt fruit;\n  Lord, Lord, shall enter into the    nor again a corrupt tree that\n  kingdom of heaven; but he that      bringeth forth good fruit. For\n  doeth the will of my Father which   each tree is known by its own\n  is in heaven. Many will say to me   fruit. For of thorns men do not\n  in that day, Lord, Lord, did we     gather figs, nor of a bramble\n  not prophesy by thy name, and by    bush gather they grapes. The good\n  thy name cast out devils, and by    man out of the good treasure of\n  thy name do many mighty works?      his heart bringeth forth that\n  And then will I profess unto        which is good; and the evil man\n  them, I never knew you: depart      out of the evil treasure bringeth\n  from me, ye that work iniquity.     forth that which is evil: for out\n  Every one therefore which heareth   of the abundance of the heart his\n  these words of mine, and doeth      mouth speaketh.\n  them, shall be likened unto a\n  wise man, which built his house       And why call ye me, Lord, Lord,\n  upon the rock: and the rain         and do not the things which I\n  descended, and the floods came,     say? Every one that cometh unto\n  and the winds blew, and beat        me, and heareth my words, and\n  upon that house; and it fell not:   doeth them, I will show you to\n  for it was founded upon the rock.   whom he is like: he is like a man\n  And every one that heareth these    building a house, who digged and\n  words of mine, and doeth them       went deep, and laid a foundation\n  not, shall be likened unto a        upon the rock: and when a flood\n  foolish man, which built his        arose, the stream brake against\n  house upon the sand: and the rain   that house, and could not shake\n  descended, and the floods came,     it: because it had been well\n  and the winds blew, and smote       builded. But he that heareth,\n  upon that house; and it fell: and   and doeth not, is like a man\n  great was the fall thereof.         that built a house upon the earth\n                                      without a foundation; against\n    And it came to pass, when Jesus   which the stream brake, and\n  ended these words, the multitudes   straightway it fell in; and the\n  were astonished at his teaching:    ruin of that house was great.\n  for he taught them as one having\n  authority, and not as their\n  scribes.\n\n    And when he was come down from\n  the mountain, great multitudes\n  followed him.\n\n\n                              APPENDIX II\n\n                  THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR CHRISTIANS\n\nIT has been noticed above in the exposition of St. Matt. v. 21\u201248 that\ndifferent moral principles are brought out by our Lord in His treatment\nof the different commandments. Thus in His treatment of Commandment VI\n(vv. 21\u201224) the moral requirement is deepened in its application below\nthe act to the words of the lips and the thoughts of the heart. In\nthe treatment of Commandment VII, not only is the outward scope of\nthe sin of adultery enlarged by a stricter law of marriage (vv. 31\u201232),\nbut also the deliberate intention of sin is shown to be, without\nproceeding further, the moral equivalent of the outward act of sin[90]\n(vv. 27\u201228); from the recognition of which principle there follows the\nneed of an augmented moral discipline (vv. 29\u201230). In the treatment of\nCommandment III, starting from the prohibition to violate any oath made\nin the name of Jehovah (v. 33), our Lord augments the prohibition by\nforbidding oaths generally (vv. 34\u201236), and turns the requirement from\nthe negative to the positive and from the occasional to the universal\n(v. 37), by simply enjoining truthfulness or sincerity in all\nutterances.\n\nIn His treatment of the prohibition of unrestricted revenge\n(vv. 38\u201242), and the principle of limited love (vv. 43\u201248), the same\ntwo principles emerge\u2015\u2015the transition from negation or prohibition of\nevil to injunction of positive good, and from the partial or limited\nduty to the universal and perfect.\n\nThese principles admit of general application to each of the\ncommandments. Thus\u2015\u2015\n\nI. _Thou shalt have none other gods before_ [or _beside_] _me_.\nWhatever be the original limitation of this precept, it becomes, and\nindeed in the teaching of psalmist and prophet which prepared for the\nChrist had already become, a universal injunction upon men to recognize\nthe one true God in every faculty of their being, in every act and\nmoment of their lives. \u201cThou shalt love the Lord thy God with all\nthy heart (or will), with all thy soul (i.e. with thy whole sum of\nfaculties), with all thy mind (or intelligence), and with all thy\nstrength (i.e. with a vigorous and active service).\u201d This includes\n(1) the recognition of God\u2019s supremacy and fatherhood; the putting\nHim first in all things; the acknowledgement that our life with all\nits faculties is a trust to be made the best of, for His honour:\n(2) humility, considered as the recognition that we are utterly\ndependent upon God; that our only wisdom and happiness lie in\ncorrespondence with Him; that any claim of independence of God, or\nvanity on account of His gifts entrusted to us, is not only wickedness\nbut folly:[91] (3) the glad acceptance of His disclosure of Himself as\nFather, Son, and Spirit; the acknowledgement and public confession of\nHis name both in speech, conduct and worship.\n\nII. _Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, etc._ This\nnegative commandment becomes the positive injunction to worship God\naright, as He has revealed Himself to us, \u201cin spirit and in truth\u201d;\nor in other words, according to the spirit of the Lord\u2019s Prayer and\nof the Eucharist, which are of Christ\u2019s institution; or in the spirit\nof His own worship. This involves earnestness and effort of will in\nprayer: reasonable method, and use of the body with its faculties or\ninstruments: the action of the intelligence meditating on the word of\nGod so that we may have right ideas about God: systematic prayer for\nothers\u2015\u2015the Church, humanity, various classes and individuals\u2015\u2015as\nwell as for ourselves: public prayer and private: adoration and\nthanksgiving, as well as making requests\u2015\u2015i.e. a life of worship of\nwhich the two hinges are the Eucharist (St. Luke xxii. 19) and secret\nprayer (St. Matt. vi. 6). This positive injunction involves negatives.\nThus though the old prohibition to make any visible representation of\nGod is modified by His incarnation, it still remains a duty which the\nChurch has often neglected to guard against idolatry. It is idolatry\nto let our worship (1) be directed towards persons lower than God,\nas mediators, because they seem easier to approach and less awful; or\n(2) rest upon circumscribed objects so as to imperil the omnipresence\nof God; or (3) be moulded by false conceptions of God, as when the\nworth of prayer is estimated by the place where it is offered, or\nby some measure of length, contrary to the principles expressed in\nSt. John iv. 21 ff., St. Matt. vi. 7.\n\nIII. _Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain._\nThis limited prohibition of perjury becomes the positive and universal\ninjunction of truthfulness, i.e. the injunction to live and therefore\nto speak as in God\u2019s presence, so that our words represent the\nreality, so far as we can know it, whether those words be promises,\nor statements (a) personal, (b) historical or scientific. This duty of\ntruthfulness extends into all regions of life, political, commercial,\ncontroversial, as well as the private and domestic sphere, i.e. we are\nnever justified in deceiving others for our own interest or that of our\nChurch or party.[92]\n\nThis commandment, as deepened by our Lord, also prohibits all other\nkinds of speech which by their character ignore the reverence we owe to\nan omnipresent God, i.e. blasphemous or unmeaning oaths and expressions\nderogatory to God\u2019s honour, irreverent or \u201cfoolish talking and jesting\nwhich are not convenient,\u201d etc.\n\nIV. _Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou\nlabour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the\nLord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor\nthy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle,\nnor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord\nmade heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the\nseventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed\nit._\n\nThis commandment lays down three laws for human life.\n\n1. The law of work, which\u2015\u2015though the kinds of work are various, as of\nbody, mind, character, spirit, suffering\u2015\u2015lies upon all men alike. \u201cIf\nany man will not work, neither let him eat.\u201d\n\n2. The law of rest, like God\u2019s rest. God works, as in creation,\nredemption, the establishment of the kingdom; and then rests in\ncontemplation of His finished work; see Gen. i. 31, Matt. iii. 17,\nRev. xxi. 2: or, as otherwise stated by our Lord (St. John v. 17), God\nworks continually and yet rests in working, as is exemplified in our\nLord \u201csemper agens, semper quietus.\u201d Thus man is to share God\u2019s rest,\nby resting in God (Ps. cxxvii), and the sabbath was intended to help to\nthis end. The sabbath however was a day of rest from physical labour,\nwhich only secondarily became a day of worship. The Christian Lord\u2019s\nday, on the other hand, was originally a day of worship, which became\nsecondarily a day of rest from labour. The primary object of Sunday\nis that men by taking time and thought for worship should learn the\ntrue rest, which is rest in God. The secondary object is that all men\nequally should have the opportunity for physical rest and recreation.\nAll questions as to Sunday observance are to be judged by their\nrelation to those two objects in their right order.\n\n3. The law of fellowship. This fellowship of all men (and even of men\nwith beasts) is developed in the New Testament into the principle that\neach man has a right to equal consideration, that each man counts for\none, and nobody for more than one. Cp. above, p. 182.\n\nV. _Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon\nthe land which the Lord thy God giveth thee._ By this \u201ccommandment\nwith promise\u201d honour to parents, which is the principle of family life,\nis made also the basis of national prosperity (cf. Deut. v. 16). It\nis enlarged in all the \u201cwise sayings\u201d of the Book of Proverbs about\nfamily life. It receives its completion in the principle of mutual\nduty between parents and children, husbands and wives, masters and\nservants, which are enunciated in such passages as Eph. v. 22\u2012vi. 9;\nCol. iii. 18\u2012iv. 1. It receives a natural extension, so as to include\nthe whole principle of mutual subordination in Church and State: cf.\nHebr. xiii. 17; Rom. xiii; 1 Pet. ii. 13\u2012iii. 7. It involves towards\nthe Church the duty, not only of loyal obedience, but of generous\nsupport. \u201cGive to thy mother what thou wouldst allow to ev\u2019ry\ncorporation.\u201d\n\nVI. _Thou shalt do no murder._ This commandment is developed by our\nLord so as to prohibit hatred or contempt in thought and word as well\nas in deed. Translated from the negative into the positive it becomes\nan injunction to do all that lies in one\u2019s power to promote the life\nof others, physically and spiritually\u2015\u2015to \u201clove thy neighbour as\nthyself\u201d\u2015\u2015and to do this with a good will even towards enemies.\n\nVII. _Thou shalt not commit adultery._ Our Lord deals with this\ncommandment partly by an increased strictness with regard to the\nmarriage law which brings under the head of adultery a number of\nremarriages after divorce hitherto tolerated under the Jewish system;\npartly by making the indulged intention to sin equally guilty with\nthe sin itself. On another occasion our Lord gives \u201cadulteries,\nfornications, lasciviousness,\u201d a conspicuous place among the sins which\n\u201cproceed out of the heart\u201d or \u201cfrom within,\u201d as though to emphasize the\nnecessity in regard to this class of sins in particular of cleansing\nthe inner springs of action and feeling. If we make the injunction\npositive and general instead of negative and partial, we arrive at the\n\u201claw of liberty,\u201d the duty of subordinating the flesh to the spirit, in\nrespect of eating and drinking, as well as of the sexual passions; and\nthe necessity of self-discipline or fasting as a means to that end (see\nabove, pp. 120 f.).\n\nVIII. _Thou shalt not steal_, converted from the negative into\nthe positive, becomes \u201cThou shalt labour, working with thine hands\nthe thing that is good, that thou mayest have to give to him that\nneedeth.\u201d[93] It is, in another form, the loving one\u2019s neighbour as\noneself: the having the same care for his goods as for one\u2019s own: the\nsame anxiety that he should have proper wages for labour as oneself.\nFrom the Christian point of view this commandment is broken, not only\nby stealing in the ordinary sense, but also (1) by fraudulent dealings\nin business or trade, whereby our fellow man receives for money\ngiven something less, or other, than he had a right to expect: (2) by\n\u201csweating\u201d or requiring others to work for inadequate wages: (3) by\ngiving or receiving bribes or, in other ways, defrauding an employer\nof the best service of the employed: (4) by expecting others to work\nfor us without doing our own fair share of work: (5) by neglecting or\ninadequately performing the duty of almsgiving. And in our generation\nwe specially need reminding that association in \u201ccompanies\u201d leaves\nthe moral responsibility for commercial dealings still resting on\neach member of the company, at least in the form of a duty to vote for\ndirectors who will have righteousness in view: to discountenance all\nunrighteousness as far as possible: to refuse gains for unrighteous\ndealing, when known. In all cases the Christian must prefer to suffer\nwrong rather than to do it.\n\nIX. _Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour._ This\ncommandment, converted from the negative\u2015\u2015the prohibition of wilful\nslander\u2015\u2015to the positive, becomes an injunction to make the law of\nlove the motive of all our speech, with as tender a regard to others\u2019\nreputation as to our own. We may have to speak painful truth against\nothers, to rebuke, to accuse, to punish, etc., but the motive of all\nspeech is to be a deliberate good will.\n\nX. _Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour\u2019s house, etc._ The ten\ncommandments, as has been remarked, began and ended with an injunction\nbearing not upon the outward conduct, but upon the heart. This one\naffords no discouragement to our vital instinct of making the best\nof ourselves, but it bids us have regard to what we can ascertain of\nthe divine intention for ourselves. We are to realize God\u2019s purpose\nfor us, and to desire that every one else should do the same. Thus\nthis commandment prohibits envy or jealousy at another\u2019s success or\nabilities: discontent with what God has allowed us: ambition properly\nso called, i.e. the desire to compass greatness, without regard to the\nwill of God. The New Testament even tends to make us personally prefer\nthe humbler to the higher place, and obedience to authority. But, on\nthe other hand, it says all that is possible to encourage a \u201cdivine\ndiscontent\u201d with the disorder of the world, which is the work of evil\nwills resisting the will of God, that sort of discontent which makes a\nman a fellow-worker with Christ for the realization of the kingdom of\nheaven.\n\n                   *       *       *       *       *\n\nI have thought this analysis of the ten commandments in their\ndeepest principles, inadequate as it is, might be worth making, partly\nbecause I cannot feel altogether satisfied with such as are commonly\ncurrent,[94] partly because the attempt to make such an analysis\ndeepens in my own mind the conviction that if the ten commandments\nwere not\u2015\u2015as our Lord teaches us they were not\u2015\u2015perfect, they were\nnone the less, in the truest sense, \u201cthe word of God,\u201d for the moral\neducation of His chosen people, and through them of the human race.\nTheir principles are extraordinarily complete and suggestive, and there\nis no early moral legislation which seems to me to be even comparable\nto them.\n\n\n                             APPENDIX III\n\n              THE DUTY OF THE CHURCH IN REGARD TO DIVORCE\n\nABOVE, in the text of the exposition, it has been maintained (1) that\nChrist, by a distinct act of legislation, prohibited divorce among His\ndisciples in such sense as allows of remarriage, except in the case of\nthe adultery of one of the parties, in which case He did not prohibit\nit; but (2) that the Church law and tradition in England, as in\nthe whole Western Church, maintains the absolute indissolubility\nof the marriage tie. Both propositions, however, are denied, and it\nis necessary to make some remarks upon the respective denials.\n\n1. The present tendency of those who deny that Christ\u2019s words, as\nrepeated on two occasions in St. Matthew\u2019s Gospel, allow the remarriage\nof the innocent party after divorce for adultery is\u2015\u2015abandoning\nwith good cause the older arguments (1) that \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5\u03af\u03b1 only applies to\nprenuptial sin: (2) that the words as quoted in St. Matthew were only\nintended to apply to the Jews\u2015\u2015to lay stress upon the uncertainty\nof the text in St. Matt. xix where the words occur \u201cand shall marry\nanother.\u201d To this it may be replied (i) that it is strange to find\npeople not generally recognized as very advanced textual critics going,\nin this single case, further than even Dr. Hort ventured to go, in\nmaintaining the textual authority of the Vatican manuscript, which\nalone among the great uncials omits the clause; (ii) that it would\nappear sufficiently obvious that the variation of the text in this\npassage is due to assimilation to the similar passage in chapter v;\n(iii) that it is not time to deprive people of the right to appeal\nto an accepted text until some trustworthy editors have been found\nto venture to remove it from its place; (iv) that the sense remains\nthe same in any case. For the text, as given in chapter v, or in\nchapter xix with the words \u201cand shall marry another\u201d omitted, yet\ncarries the liberty to do so, see text given above, pp. 72, 73.\nDivorce, as understood by the Jews, meant divorce _a vinculo_, i.e.\ndivorce with liberty of remarriage. Is any sane man prepared to say\nthat divorce, in the sense of separation of a wife from bed and board,\nwithout liberty of remarriage, is only permissible to a Christian when\nthe wife has been adulterous?\n\nI do not think then that the obvious force of the passages in\nSt. Matthew can be dissolved.\n\n2. On the other hand, admitting all that can be said as to the\ndifficulty, which is due to the historical relation of Church and State\nin England, of saying what is Church law pure and simple, it does seem\nto me that the Western law of divorce, as distinct from the Eastern,\nwas accepted by the English Church and not only never repudiated,\nbut at least assumed to be permanent in the Post-Reformation Canons.\nWhat has happened since then is (1) that the opinion of a great number\nof the best English divines and commentators on St. Matthew has been\nexpressed in favour of allowing the remarriage of the \u201cinnocent party\u201d\nafter a divorce for adultery; (2) that the Lambeth Conference of 1888\nallowed such remarriage; (3) that statute law in England has recently\nallowed the remarriage of both innocent and guilty party.\n\nBut the Lambeth Conference only expresses the opinion (however weighty)\nof a gathering of Anglican bishops. It cannot legislate for the Church\nof England. And the legislation which has taken place is purely civil\nlegislation made from a civil point of view and going beyond what the\nLambeth Conference would allow. And on such a matter as marriage which\nlies at the heart of our religious life it seems quite unreasonable to\nask Christian people to accept this, as authority sufficient to upset\nan ancient practice of the Church.\n\nGranted then (1) that Christ did not prohibit[95] the remarriage of\nan innocent party after a divorce for adultery, (2) that the unaltered\nChurch law of England does prohibit it, it seems to me that the best\ncourse is _not_, at least in the present state of Church feeling, to\nalter the Church law on the matter, up to the point which Christ allows,\nby getting leave for Convocation to make a new Canon\u2015\u2015though this would\nbe a course to which no one could take just exception\u2015\u2015but to retain\nand observe the Church law, allowing no remarriage with the rites of\nthe Church, but simply leaving it to bishops to act on the decision of\nthe Lambeth Conference as far as admission to communion is concerned.\n\nThis refusal to allow remarriage in churches may involve some collision\nwith statute law till an equitable concession to our principles is\naccorded. But the difficulty is not greater than has been overcome by a\nlittle resolution in the case of the Public Worship Regulation Act. If\nin the process of the controversy the institution of compulsory civil\nmarriage here in England, with the same publicity as in most foreign\ncountries, to be followed by a voluntary religious ceremony, becomes a\nmore likely event, there would be a good many Churchmen who would not\nregret it.\n\nAs regards the allowance of remarriage to the innocent party after\na divorce for adultery, it is sometimes pointed out that it is only\nexplicitly allowed by our Lord to the innocent _husband_. But it is,\nI submit, at least competent to the Church to interpret this in the\nmore lenient sense as extending to the aggrieved wife also. It is more\noften urged that it is illogical to forbid to the guilty party what\nis allowed to the innocent\u2015\u2015that if declared adultery dissolves the\nmarriage tie for either, it does so for both. To this I should only\nreply that our Lord appears on the matter to be _legislating_ rather\nthan laying down a principle. His legislation covers the one exception\nbut not (with any degree of clearness) the other. He appears to be\nsanctioning in the case of an innocent and deeply aggrieved person a\ndispensation which violates the logic of the marriage tie on grounds of\nequity: but this carries with it no necessary consequence of a similar\ndispensation in favour of the chief offender.\n\n\n\n\n                                INDEXES\n\n\n                   I. PERSONS AND AUTHORITIES CITED\n\n  Aristotle,\n    on the \u201cBlessed Life,\u201d 18\n    on pity, 39\n    on the use of the drama, 39\n\n  Augustine, St.,\n    on the relation of Old and New Testaments, 1, 56\n    on the law and grace, 4\n    his prayer, 108\n\n\n  Bacon (Francis),\n    note-books illustrate Christ\u2019s method, 12\n    his scientific method applied to prayer, 147\n\n  Bengel, on self-mortification, 70\n\n  Buddha,\n    on the \u201cBlessed Life,\u201d 18\n    on pity, 38\u20129\n\n\n  \u201cCarton, Sidney,\u201d 106\n\n  Cassian, on sorrow, 32\n\n  Chase (Bp.), on the Lord\u2019s Prayer, 132, 135\n\n  Chichester, Dean of, on Christ under semi-false accusation, 88\n\n  Chrysostom, on the Beatitudes, 28\n\n\n  _Didach\u00e9_,\n    on reconciliation and communion, 65\n    on almsgiving, 100\n    on duty to neighbour, 181 _n._\n\n  \u201cDream of Gerontius,\u201d 44\n\n\n  Edward the Confessor, story of, 98\u20129\n\n  Esau and Jacob, essential difference between, 57\n\n\n  Franks, conversion of, low standard, 51\n\n\n  Gnostics, and the \u201cMysteries,\u201d 174\n\n  Gospel, uncanonical, record of a word of Christ on prayer, 143\n\n\n  _Hermas_, on alms, 101\n\n  Hillel (Rabbi), on duty to neighbour, 181\n\n\n  Irenaeus, on Old and New Testament, 55\n\n\n  Jacob and Esau, essential difference between, 57\n\n  Jehoshaphat\u2019s reforms, 62\n\n  Job,\n    his detachment (poverty of spirit), 25\n    \u201cseeing God,\u201d 43\n\n\n  Kant, on duty to neighbour, 182\n\n\n  Law (Wm.), indiscriminate charity, 102\n\n  _Les Miserables_, 99\n\n\n  Maurice (F. D.), and fasting, 123\n\n  Mill (J. S.), on Christ\u2019s moral teaching, 8\n\n  Mohammedanism, 51\u20122\n\n  Mozley, on the imprecatory psalms, 103\n\n\n  Newman (J. H.), and the cardinalate, 119\n\n\n  Origen, on Ps. xii, and Christ\u2019s teaching, 8\n\n\n  Plato, _Symposium_, 9, 181 _n._\n\n  Pusey,\n    on Mill, 8\n    on fasting, 123\n\n\n  \u201cSidney Carton,\u201d 106\n\n  Simeon (Chas.), and fasting, 123\n\n\n  _Tale of Two Cities_, 106\n\n  Trent, Council of, its catechism, 132\n\n\n  Wisdom, Book of, and the world, 22\n\n\n  Xavier\u2019s hymn, 112\n\n\n                             II. SUBJECTS\n\n  Act, sin of, 63\n  Advertisement, self-, 190\n  Altar, of new kingdom, 65\n  Answer to prayer, 177\u20128\n  Anxiety,\n    for health, 160\n    in holidays, 161\n    for success, 161\n    worldly, 157\u201260\n      Christ\u2019s freedom from, 160\n  Appreciation, power of, necessary for reception of religious\n        truth, 172\u20123, 175\n  Asceticism, 69\n    Christian, compared with Indian, 71\n  Atonement,\n    nature of true, 199\n    need for, 198\n\n  Bad motives, playing upon, 118\n  Beatitudes, order of, 20\n  Beggars, attitude to, 99\u2012102\n  Benevolence, impartial, 175\n  Best thing in the world, 108\n  \u201cBlessed Life,\u201d 16\u201221\n    according to Buddha, 18\n    according to Aristotle, 18\n  Body not evil, 71\u20122\n  Body relation to spirit, 69\u201270\n  Brotherhood of Christians, 68\n  Burdens, bearing others\u2019, 30\n\n  Carelessness, moral, 71\n  Character, 188\u20129\n    in the new kingdom, 16\n    of Christ\u2019s teaching, 16\n    Christian, in the world, 47\u201253\n    of Christ, the best thing in the world, 108\n    of Pharisees, 164\u20125\n  CHRIST,\n    His authority, 60\n    bearing our burdens, 30\n    character of, the most precious thing in the world, 108\n    Divine nature, 6, 56\u20127, 179\n    only foundation of life, 193\n    His freedom from anxiety, 160\n    His freedom illustrated by Ps. cxxvii, 160\n    gives principles, not laws, 109\n    Judge of all, 191\u20122\n    His methods, 92\u20124\n    His method to give principles, 64, 67, 109\n    parable of unmerciful servant, 41\n    Prince of Peace, 44\n    principle of interpretation of all laws, 64\n    use of proverbs, 92\u20123\n    proverbial manner, 159, 168\n    was He revolutionary? 54\n    saying about prayer, an uncanonical, 143\n    His superiority over other teachers, 180\n    His teaching unique, 15, 16, 180\n    teaching of truthfulness, 81\n    under semi-false accusation, 89\n    the WORD, 6\n    His words the foundation of life, 193\n    His words the foundation of the Church, 193\n  Church, test of, 196\u20127\n  Conditions,\n    of power of reception of truth, 173\u20124, 175\n    of the offer of spiritual privileges, 174\n  Conduct,\n    motive of, 107, 118\n    social, principle of, 181\n  Conscience, 155\u20126\n  Conversation, 80\n  Courts of Law, Jewish, 62\u20123\n  Covenant, old, check on savage human instincts, 86\n  Criticism,\n    the temper of, 165\u20129\n    wrong, 167\n    right, 167\n\n  \u201cDaily,\u201d significance of the word in the Lord\u2019s Prayer, 132\n  Dealing, laws of the Divine, 40\u20121, 54\u20125, 85, 134\n  \u201cDetachment\u201d = poverty of spirit, 25\n  \u201cDetachment\u201d of Christ in the Incarnation, 25\n  Devil, existence of, 136\u20127\n  Discipline, of self, 69\n  Divorce, 72\u20128\n    in law of the Church of England, 77\n    in the Eastern Church, 76\n    \u201cinnocent party\u201d in, 76\n  Duty,\n    threefold, to God, neighbour, and self, 114\u20125\n    to self, fasting the expression of, 115\n    to self = making the best of ourselves, 115\n\n  Education, of man, God\u2019s method of, 56\n  Enlightenment of conscience, 153\u20124\n\n  Fall of man, 179\u201280\n  Fasting,\n    expression of duty to self, 115\n    abuse of, 122\u20123\n    examples of practice, 123\n  Fictitious pity, 40\n  Forgiveness,\n    nature of, 133\n    for the past, by itself no real remedy, 199\n  Foundation,\n    of life, 193\n    of the Church, 193\n  Freedom, the end of self-discipline, 72\n\n  GOD,\n    centre of all in Christ\u2019s teaching, 19\n    character of, 187\n    dealings with imperfection, 55\n    dealings with us, 40\u20121, 54\u20125, 85, 134\n    Fatherhood of, 129, 141\u20122\n    love of, how learned, 153\n    and mammon, 154\n    method of education, 56\n    nature of, 154\u20125\n    Name = His revelation, 129\n    not tied to His own ordinances, 191\n    Presence of, degrees of, 82\n    purpose, 55\n    seeing Him, 43\u20124\n    sole object of new righteousness, 111\n    and the world, 22\n  Gradation of crime in Jewish law, 62\n\n  Health and anxiety, 160\n  Heathen teaching in relation to Sermon on the Mount, 6\u201210\n  \u201cHeaven,\u201d 129, 152\n    treasure in, 152\n  Hiding money, 151\n  Holidays and anxiety, 161\n  Holy Spirit, and good character, 191\n  Humility, 165\n  Hunger after righteousness, 36\u20127\n    illustrated by boat-race, 37\n  Hypocrisy, 189\u201290\n    English, 189\n\n  Imperfection, God\u2019s dealing with, 55\n  Imprecatory psalms, 103\u20124\n  Impurity, antidote to, 42\n  Injustice, legal, resistance to, 96\n  Intention = sin, 68\n\n  Jewish courts of law, 62\u20123\n    gradation of crime, 62\n  Judgement, Christ\u2019s coming to, 191\n    duty of, 166, 169\n    standards of, to be maintained, 48\u20129, 167\u20128\n  Justice, public, and private feeling, 89\u201290\n\n  Kindness to enemies, effect of, 105\n\n  Lambeth Conference, on divorce, 76\n  Law, old,\n    relation to new, 1, 4, 54\n    check on savage human instincts, 86\n  Lawful subjects of prayer, 149\u201250\n  \u201cLetter,\u201d of the Commandments, the meaning of, 3\n  Life of Blessedness, 16\u201221\n  Lord\u2019s Prayer, 128\u201249\n    type and model of all prayer, 138\n    converging point of all ancient liturgies, 138\n    in Morning and Evening Prayer, 139\n    paraphrased, 145\u20128\n  Lost, and saved, number of, 186\u20127\n  Love of self, a true, 113\n    of God, how learned, 153\n\n  Mammon, and God, 154\n  Man, fallen state of, 179\n  Matthew, record of the Sermon on the Mount, his, 14\n  Maxims, of the world, 24, 28, 33\n  Meekness, 34\n  Mendicity, 99 _et seq._\n  Mohammedanism, compared with Christianity, 51\u20122\n  Money, hiding of, 151\n  Motives, 109, 111\u201227\n    bad, playing upon, 118\n    of religious life, 151\n    test of, 118, 151\n  Mourning,\n    for sin, 29\n    false, 32\u20123\n    of sympathy, 30\n\n  Name, God\u2019s, His revelation of Himself, 129\n  \u201cNational Church,\u201d idea of, danger of, 52\n\n  Oath,\n    defined, 79\n    accepted by Christ, 82\n    accepted by St. Paul, 82\n  Ordinances, God not tied to His own, 191\n\n  Peace, 44\u20125, 157\n  Peacemakers, 44\u20126\n  Perfection, to be striven after, 108\n  Pharisaic religion, 59\u201260\n  Pharisaism of the Publican, 66\n  Pharisees, character of, 59, 165\n  Pity, 38\u201242\n    Aristotle\u2019s, 39\n    Buddha\u2019s, 38\u20129\n    \u201cdramatic,\u201d 39\n  Poverty,\n    of spirit, 25\u20128\n    voluntary, 28\n  Prayer,\n    definition of, 147\n    answer to, 178\n    effective, 178\n    \u201cin Name of Christ,\u201d 140, 142\n    in the region of uncertainty, 149\n    = intercourse with God, 126\u20127\n    its reward, 118\n    lawful, 149\u201250\n    Lord\u2019s, 128\u201249\n    and scientific method, 147\n    and selfishness, 144\n    spirit of, depends on idea of God, 129\n    test of, 141, 142\n    uncanonical saying of Christ about, 143\n    wheels and flags (Buddhist), 125\n  Presence of God, degrees of, 82\n  Prevision, is not anxiety, 160\n  Pride, 42\n  Principle,\n    of safe life, applied to art, 70\n    of social conduct, 181\n  Principles,\n    of Commandments, 64\n    Christ\u2019s method to give, 63, 65, 109\n    new, in Seventh Commandment, 69\n  Proverbs, Christ\u2019s use of, 92\u20123\n  Psalms, imprecatory, 103\u20124\n  Public justice and private feeling, 89\u201290\n  Purity of heart, 42\n\n  Rates and taxes, 96\n  Reception of religious truth, condition of, 172\u20123, 175\n  Reciprocity in life, 171\n  Relief cases, how to deal with, 99\u2012100\n  Religion,\n    outward, visible, 112, 121\u20122\n    Pharisaic, 59\u201260\n  Religious life,\n    true motive of, 151\n    orders, and voluntary poverty, 28\n  Remarriage\n    of \u201cinnocent party,\u201d 78\n    Lambeth Conference of 1888 upon, 76\n  \u201cReserve\u201d\n    in Christian teaching, 171\u20124\n    in early Church, 174\u20126\n  Resistance to legal injustice, 96\n  Revenge,\n    law of, 84\n    and public justice, 89\u201290\n  Rewards, 112\u20123, 118\u20129\n  Righteousness, definition of, 36\n\n  Salvation, dependent on three great principles, 187\n  Sanhedrin, nature of, 62\n  Saved, and lost, number of, 186\u20127\n  \u201cSeeing God,\u201d 43\u20124\n  Self-discipline, 69\n  Self-love, true, 113\n  Sin,\n    nature of, 133\n    forgiveness of, 133\n  Single-mindedness, 43, 154\n  Sins\n    of act, 63\n    in intention, 68\n    of thought, 64\n  Social conduct, principle of, 181\n  Social law, for Christians, 109\n  Socialism and the Sermon on the Mount, 183\n  Sonship, of Christians, 142\n  Spirit, relation to body, 69\u201270, 124\n  Spiritual\n    fabrics, test of, 193\u20126\n    privileges, offer of, 174\n  Standard,\n    of Christianity, compared with Mohammedanism, 51\u20122\n    of judgement, to be maintained, 167\u20128\n    danger of lowering, 51\u20122\n  Story of the Confessor and the scullion thief, 98\u20129\n  Story of the Bishop and Jean Valjean, 99\n  Success and anxiety, 161\n  Sympathy, 30\n\n  Taxes, and rates, 96\n  Teaching,\n    discrimination in, 167\u201270\n    of Christ, universal, 16\n  Temper, critical, 165\u20129\n  Test,\n    of Christianity, 199\n    of the Church, 196\u20127\n    of motives, 115, 151\n    of prayer, 141, 142\n    of spiritual fabrics, 193\u20126\n  Thought, sins of, 64\n  Transport service of the Empire, 97\n  Treasure in heaven, 152\n  Truth, religious, condition of reception of, 172\u20123, 175\n  Truthfulness,\n    as taught by Christ, 81\n    enjoined by Third Commandment, 81\n\n  Uncertainty, as to lawfulness of subjects for prayer, 149\n\n  Victory, final, of Christ\u2019s kingdom, 198\n\n  Ways, the two, in life, 185\u20126\n  Westminster Abbey, old sculpture in, 98\n  Words _v._ character, 185\n  \u201cWorld,\u201d\n    definition of, 21\n    in Book of Wisdom, 22\n    in Old Testament, 24\n    maxims, 24, 28, 33\n\n\n                         III. TEXTS ELUCIDATED\n\n  Job i. 21, 25\n\n  Ps. lviii. 2, 82\n\n  Isa. lxvi. 1, 82\n\n  Ezek. xxix. 18\u201220, 118\n\n  St. Matt.\n    x. 34, 45\n    xvi. 17, 195\n    xviii. 15\u201218, 168\n\n  St. Mark xi. 24, 177\n\n  St. John\n    xi. 24\u20125, 31\n    xv. 7, 178\n    xvi. 24, 178\n    xx. 23, 169\n\n  Rom.\n    v. 7, 42\n    vii. 1\u20123, 76\n    vii. 4, 9\n    viii. 14, 170\n\n  1 Cor.\n    iii. 21, 27\n    iii. 22\u20123, 155\n    vi. 7, 96\n\n  2 Cor.\n    iii. 6, 3\n    vi. 10, 27\n    viii. 9, 25\n\n  Gal. vi. 5, 30\n\n  Phil. ii. 7, 25\n\n  Heb.\n    xii. 16, 57\n    xii. 22, 129\n\n  St. Jas. ii. 15\u201216, 101\n\n  1 St. John iii. 17, 101\n\n  Rev. iii. 15\u201216, 49 _n._\n\n\n                    IV. APHORISMS\u2015\u2015\u201cSEED THOUGHTS\u201d\n\n  Atonement, must = redemption, 199\n  Attitude of others to us, 39\n    \u201cOn the whole we can determine men\u2019s attitude to us by our\n     attitude to them\u201d\n\n  Body and spirit must be treated together, 123\n\n  Care for health, 160\n    \u201cWe ought to be reasonably careful and to go boldly forward\n     in the peace of God\u201d\n  Church, the offer of the, 174\u20125\n  Comfort from God, 31\n  Conscience, 155\n    \u201cConscience is only a faculty for knowing God and His will. It\n     is certain, unless it is educated, to give wrong information\u201d\n  Cost of duty, 188\n\n  Dealing of God with us, 40\u20121\n  Duty to self, 114\n    \u201cOur duty towards ourselves is, in a word, to make the best of\n     ourselves\u201d\n\n  God\u2019s dealings, 40\u20121, 85\n    \u201cGod dealt with men gradually\u201d\n\n  Health, care for, 160\n  Helping others, 46\n    \u201cYou are to help men by being unlike them\u201d\n  How to make people better, 106\n\n  Imperfection, God\u2019s treatment of, 55\n    \u201cGod does not despair of what is imperfect because it is\n     imperfect. He views every institution (or person) not as it\n     is, but as it is becoming\u201d\n\n  \u201cJudge not,\u201d 163, 168\n    \u201cMake the best of everything and every person\u201d\n    \u201cFrom all sides you get as you give\u201d\n\n  Law of Correspondence in prayer, 148\n  Law of Prayer, 149\n    \u201cWe must not ask that God will violate His general laws in our\n     private interest\u201d\n\n  Motive, real test of, 151\n\n  \u201cName of Christ,\u201d in the, 140, 142\n    \u201cTo pray in the name of Christ means to pray in such a way as\n     represents Christ\u201d\n    \u201cThat impulsive prayer which springs simply out of our own\n     needs is not the prayer \u2018in the name of Christ\u2019\u201d\n\n  Peace, and truth, 44\n    \u201cPeace can never be purchased in God\u2019s way by the sacrifice\n     of truth\u201d\n  Pharisaism of the Publican, 66\n\n  Reward, 118\n    \u201cEvery kind of conduct gets its reward on the plane of its\n     motive\u201d\n\n  Safe life, 69\u201270\n    \u201cA safe life is better than a complete life\u201d\n  Sermon on the Mount and Socialism, 183\n\n  Test of real motive, 151\n  Truth, and peace, 44\n  Truthfulness, Christ\u2019s teaching on, 75\n\n  Value of the individual to God, 182\n    \u201cEvery one in God\u2019s sight counts for one; and nobody counts\n     for more than one\u201d\n\n  World, definition of, 21\n    \u201cIt is human society organizing itself apart from God\u201d\n\n         These Indexes the author owes to the kindness of the\n                          Rev. W. E. ASHDOWN.\n\n\n    _Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._\n\n\n\n\n                       WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR\n\n\n  =THE INCARNATION OF THE SON OF GOD.=\n    BAMPTON LECTURES, 1891. _Cheap Edition._ Large Crown 8vo.\n    2s. 6d. net.\n\n  =WHY WE CHRISTIANS BELIEVE IN CHRIST.=\n    THE BAMPTON LECTURES. Shortened for Popular Use by the Rev.\n    T. C. Fry. Fcap. 8vo. 1s. net.\n\n  =THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH.=\n    Four Lectures delivered in the Cathedral Church of St. Asaph.\n    Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d.\n\n  =DISSERTATIONS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE INCARNATION.=\n    _Cheap Edition._ Large Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net.\n\n  =THE BODY OF CHRIST.=\n    An Enquiry into the Institution and Doctrine of the Holy\n    Communion. _Fourth Edition._ With a New Introduction. Crown\n    8vo. 2s. 6d. net.\n\n  =THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.=\n    A Practical Explanation. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net. 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No\n  students of the beginnings of the Church of England can afford to\n  neglect such a book, and much may be learned from it.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Church\n  of Ireland Gazette._\n\n\n                     SAINT AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY\n\n  \u201cLearned, lucid, and always interesting.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Athen\u00e6um._\n\n  \u201cThe book is doubly valuable in that it not only throws light\n  upon the work of the Augustine mission, but also gives us an\n  excellent and learned account of contemporary Christendom.\u201d\u2015\u2015\n  _Outlook._\n\n\n                          THE PROBLEM OF PAIN\n\n                      ITS BEARING ON FAITH IN GOD\n\n                   By J. R. ILLINGWORTH, M.A., D.D.\n\n         Reprinted from \u201cLux Mundi.\u201d In Paper Covers, 6d. net.\n\n\n                               PRO FIDE\n     A DEFENCE OF NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION BEING A TEXT-BOOK\n       OF MODERN APOLOGETICS FOR STUDENTS OF THEOLOGY AND OTHERS\n\n                       By CHARLES HARRIS, D.D.,\n   _Late Lecturer in Theology and Parochialia, St. David\u2019s College,\n        Lampeter, Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Llandaff_.\n\n            Second Edition. Large Crown 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.\n\n  A new and augmented edition, brought up to date, with fuller\n  discussion of the Bodily Resurrection, the Virgin Birth and\n  Modernism; and with the Bibliographies rewritten throughout.\n\n                  COMMENDATION OF THE NEW EDITION BY\n                        THE BISHOP OF BRISTOL.\n\n  \u201cIt is an excellent book, up-to-date, and will be of real\n  service not only to candidates for Orders, but to Christian\n  people generally, and I shall place it on my list of subjects\n  for Priests\u2019 Orders.\u201d\u2015\u2015GEORGE BRISTOL.\n\n\n                        THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST\n                    ITS VITAL REALITY AND EFFICACY\n\n                  By the Very Rev. HENRY WACE, D.D.,\n                         _Dean of Canterbury_\n\n                          Fcap 8vo. 1s. net.\n\n  This is a book which was published some years ago, but is\n  directly applicable to many of the controversies of the present\n  time, and is now reissued with a new introduction.\n\n\n                   THE MIRACLES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT\n          BEING THE MOORHOUSE LECTURES FOR 1914, DELIVERED IN\n                    ST. PAUL\u2019S CATHEDRAL, MELBOURNE\n\n                        By A. C. HEADLAM, D.D.\n            _Formerly Principal of King\u2019s College, London_\n\n                       Large Crown 8vo. 6s. net.\n\n  \u201c... The subject is one that suits Dr. Headlam and enables him\n  to produce one of his best pieces of work.... Dr. Headlam is on\n  his own ground, and his treatment appears to great advantage,\n  when he comes to deal with the authenticity and trustworthiness\n  of the New Testament documents. No better or fairer statement of\n  the present position of the criticism of the Synoptists could be\n  desired than that which is given in his fourth lecture.... the\n  lecture on the Virgin Birth is a model of restraint and good\n  judgment.\u201d\u2015\u2015_The Times._\n\n\n                  THE REFORM OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND\n\n                        Edited by DOUGLAS EYRE\n                 _Of Lincoln\u2019s Inn, Barrister-at-Law_\n\n   A Revised Edition of \u201cEssays in Aid of the Reform of the Church.\u201d\n\n                     Large Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net.\n\n\n NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION\n\n                       THE ETERNAL SAVIOUR-JUDGE\n           FRESH LIGHT AND COMFORT FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES\n\n                 By the Rev. J. LANGTON CLARKE, M.A.,\n               _Late Fellow of the University of Durham_\n\n           With Preface by the Rev. J. R. ILLINGWORTH, D.D.\n\n                          Crown 8vo. 1s. net.\n\n  \u201cRead it should be by all thinking Christians.... Marks a step\n  forward in eschatology.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Church Times._\n\n\n               THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH OF IRELAND\n\n                By the late Rev. R. TRAVERS SMITH, D.D.\n\n      Reprinted from \u201cEssays in Aid of the Reform of the Church.\u201d\n    Edited by CHARLES GORE, D.D., D.C.L., LL.D., Bishop of Oxford.\n\n                        Paper Covers, 1d. net.\n\n\n                        NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION\n\n                    THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE CHURCH\n\n                        By GEORGE SALMON, D.D.\n             _Sometime Provost of Trinity College, Dublin_\n\n                     Large Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net.\n\n  Roman Catholic claims are as insistent as ever, and the\n  resistance of opponents of the theory of Papal Infallibility is\n  equally strong. It is a case for evidence and argument, and no\n  book has had more effect in the controversy than Dr. Salmon\u2019s\n  great work, of which a cheap edition is now published for the\n  first time.\n\n\n                          ENGLISH CHURCH WAYS\n             DESCRIBED TO RUSSIAN FRIENDS IN FOUR LECTURES\n                    DELIVERED AT PETROGRAD IN 1914\n\n                    By the Rev. W. H. FRERE, D.D.,\n                _Of the Community of the Resurrection_\n\n                        Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net.\n\n  Four interesting and well-informed discourses on the anti-Papal\n  movement in England, on the way it has brought Anglicanism\n  into nearer accord with the Eastern Orthodox Church, and on the\n  recovery of community life in recent times within the Church of\n  England.\n\n\n                          BY THE SAME AUTHOR\n\n                 SOME PRINCIPLES OF LITURGICAL REFORM\n   A CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THE REVISION OF THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER\n\n           New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net.\n\n  \u201cWe would trust Dr. Frere with the Reform of the Prayer Book.\n  His sense of liturgical fitness is so sure, his knowledge of\n  details so large, that if the task were committed to his free\n  hand we should sleep peacefully while he did the work.\u201d\u2015\u2015_The\n  Church Times._\n\n\n                    THE INCREASE OF THE EPISCOPATE\n          CAUTION RECOMMENDED IN THE SUBDIVISION OF DIOCESES\n\n                   A Speech Delivered and Recast by\n                    BERTRAM POLLOCK, C.V.O., D.D.,\n                          _Bishop of Norwich_\n\n                          Demy 8vo. 6d. net.\n\n\n                         THE GEORGIAN PRIMATES\n\n                       By ALDRED WILLIAM ROWDEN,\n                    _One of His Majesty\u2019s Counsel_\n\n                       With Portraits. Demy 8vo.\n\n  This is a series of biographies of the Archbishops of Canterbury\n  from Wake to Manners Sutton, thus covering the period of the\n  Four Georges, while stopping short of Queen Victoria\u2019s Primates.\n  Though not at present a continuation of the late Dean Hook\u2019s\n  Lives of the Archbishops, which stopped at Juxon, these\n  biographies are modelled on Dean Hook\u2019s. For the pious and\n  learned Wake much information has been obtained from the Wake\n  MSS. at Christ Church. Portraits of the Archbishops are given.\n\n\n\n\n                  CATALOGUE OF THEOLOGICAL LITERATURE\n\n\n  ALEXANDER, the Rev. S. A.,\n      _Canon and Treasurer of St. Paul\u2019s_.\n\n    THE MIND OF CHRIST. Demy 8vo, 6s. net.\n\n      The principle which has governed the present selection of\n      brief and simple addresses, given at various times in the\n      Temple Church, is the hope of illustrating, from one side\n      or another, the supreme need of a deeper realisation by\n      the Church of what her Founder taught and was, and a more\n      successful effort to apply His teaching and assimilate His\n      character.\n\n    PROGRESSIVE REVELATION. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n      These lectures, addressed originally to clergy, and\n      dealing first with the Bible and then with some of the great\n      movements of religious history, modern science, and Biblical\n      criticism, are intended to show, in a popular form, the\n      progressive character of the Christian Church, with special\n      reference to present-day subjects such as those of Modernism\n      and Prayer-book revision.\n\n      \u201cThe author has given expression to many thoughts of great\n      value and importance in striking language and a spirit of\n      conspicuous earnestness and devotion.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Church Quarterly\n      Review._\n\n\n  BEECHING, the Very Rev. H. C., D.Litt.\n      _Dean of Norwich_.\n\n    THE BIBLE DOCTRINE OF THE SACRAMENTS. Six Lectures given in\n      Westminster Abbey during Lent, 1908. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n      THE DOCTRINE OF THE SACRAMENTS\u2015\u2015BAPTISM\u2015\u2015INFANT BAPTISM AND\n      CONFIRMATION\u2015\u2015THE EUCHARIST\u2015\u2015THE LORD\u2019S OWN TEACHING\u2015\u2015THE\n      APOSTOLIC TEACHING\u2015\u2015THE PRIMITIVE CELEBRATION.\n\n    THE BIBLE DOCTRINE OF ATONEMENT. Six Lectures given in\n      Westminster Abbey. By H. C. BEECHING, M.A., D.Litt., and\n      ALEXANDER NAIRNE, M.A., Professor of Hebrew in King\u2019s\n      College, London. Large Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n      THE DOCTRINE OF THE ATONEMENT\u2015\u2015THE EPOCH OF THE PROPHETS\u2015\u2015THE\n      LEVITICAL LAW OF SACRIFICE\u2015\u2015THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST\u2015\u2015THE\n      DOCTRINE OF ST. PAUL\u2019S EPISTLES\u2015\u2015ATONEMENT IN THE EPISTLE TO\n      THE HEBREWS.\n\n    THE APOSTLES\u2019 CREED. Six Lectures delivered in Westminster\n      Abbey. Large Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cDr. Beeching has succeeded in imparting an astonishing\n      amount of instruction in his six lectures, and, what is\n      even more important, has given every one of his readers\n      the chance of appreciating the modern standpoint and\n      understanding the position of the reverent student of\n      Christian theology in this twentieth century of ours. This\n      it is which gives the book its value.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Layworker._\n\n\n  BIBLE COMMENTARY.\n\n    A COMMENTARY ON THE HOLY BIBLE, Explanatory and Critical, with\n      a Revision of the Translation. By Bishops and Clergy of the\n      Anglican Church. Edited by F. C. COOK, M.A., late Canon of\n      Exeter.\n\n      THE OLD TESTAMENT. 6 vols. Medium 8vo.\n        Vol. I. GENESIS\u2015\u2015DEUTERONOMY. 30s.\n        Vol. II. JOSHUA\u2015\u2015KINGS I. 20s.\n        Vol. III. KINGS II\u2015\u2015ESTHER. 16s.\n        Vol. IV. JOB\u2015\u2015SONG OF SOLOMON. 24s.\n        Vol. V. ISAIAH\u2015\u2015JEREMIAH. 20s.\n        Vol. VI. EZEKIEL\u2015\u2015MALACHI. 25s.\n\n      THE NEW TESTAMENT. 4 vols. Medium 8vo.\n        Vol. I. ST. MATTHEW\u2015\u2015ST. LUKE. 18s.\n        Vol. II. ST. JOHN\u2015\u2015ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 20s.\n        Vol. III. ROMANS\u2015\u2015PHILEMON. 28s.\n        Vol. IV. HEBREWS\u2015\u2015REVELATION. 28s.\n\n      THE APOCRYPHA. By various writers. Edited by the Rev. Henry\n        Wace, D.D. 2 vols. Medium 8vo. 50s.\n\n      STUDENT\u2019S COMMENTARY ON THE HOLY BIBLE. Abridged from the\n        above Work. Edited by JOHN M. FULLER, M.A., Vicar of\n        Bexley, and Professor of Ecclesiastical History, King\u2019s\n        College, London. 6 vols. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. each.\n\n      \u2042 _Arrangements have now been made with the booksellers\n      enabling them to offer special terms for the above two works\n      complete._\n\n\n  BICKERSTETH, the Right Rev. Edward, D.D.,\n      _Late Bishop of South Tokyo, Japan_.\n\n    OUR HERITAGE IN THE CHURCH. Papers Written for Divinity\n      Students in Japan. With a Preface by the late Rt. Rev.\n      B. F. WESTCOTT, D.D. Large Crown 8vo, 5s.\n\n    LIFE AND LETTERS OF EDWARD BICKERSTETH, late Bishop of South\n      Tokyo. With Map and Illustrations. Cheap Edition. Crown 8vo,\n      3s. 6d. net. Also an Edition, Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. net.\n\n\n  BOYD-CARPENTER, the Right Rev. William. D.D.,\n      _Formerly Bishop of Ripon_.\n\n    A POPULAR HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, from the Earliest\n      Times to the Present Day. With Illustrations. Cheap Edition.\n      Large Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cThe title is, perhaps, hardly wide enough for the contents;\n      one would almost call the book a history of Christianity\n      in England.... He has the true judicial spirit, and is\n      passionately eager to be entirely fair to every one. His\n      history is impartial to the last degree.... His book should\n      have a very wide circulation, and can do nothing but good\n      wherever it is read.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Morning Post._\n\n\n  BRODRICK, M.\n\n    THE TRIAL AND CRUCIFIXION OF JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH.\n      3s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cThe whole volume is intensely interesting, and written with\n      a candour and a fulness of information which cannot fail to\n      edify and help.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Glasgow Herald._\n\n\n  BURKITT, F. Crawford,\n      _Lecturer in Pal\u00e6ography in the University of Cambridge_.\n\n    EARLY EASTERN CHRISTIANITY. St. Margaret\u2019s Lectures, 1904, on\n      the Syriac-speaking Church. With Illustrations. Large Crown\n      8vo, 6s. net.\n\n\n  CALDECOTT, the Rev. W. Shaw,\n      _Member of the Royal Asiatic Society_.\n\n    THE SECOND TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM. Its History and Structure.\n      With Illustrations. Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cThe permanently valuable material is in Part II., dealing\n      with the structure of the Second Temple.... The historical\n      survey in Part I. is full of interest and attraction. It\n      is a real pleasure to read this freshly written and often\n      picturesque story of the Exile and Return, and of the\n      reconstruction of the Jewish State.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Methodist Times._\n\n\n  CARNEGIE, the Rev. W. H.,\n      _Canon of Westminster_.\n\n    CHURCHMANSHIP AND CHARACTER. Three Years\u2019 Teaching in\n      Birmingham Cathedral. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cHis words always ring with a manly sound. There is not a\n      syllable of conventional phraseology in them, no display of\n      pulpit eloquence, no sensational imagery. Yet the sentences\n      swing along with the ease gained by years of sincere thought,\n      by the activities of social life for the community, and by\n      intercourse with kindred spirits.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Birmingham Post._\n\n\n  CHILD CHAPLIN, G. G., M.D.\n\n    BENEDICITE: The Song of the Three Children. Being\n      Illustrations of the Power, Beneficence, and Design\n      manifested by the Creator in His Works. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d.\n\n\n  COLLINS, Rt. Rev. William Edward, D.D.,\n      _Late Bishop of Gibraltar_.\n\n    HOURS OF INSIGHT and other Sermons. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cFor two reasons at least we welcome the appearance of\n      \u2018Hours of Insight and Other Sermons,\u2019 by the late Bishop\n      of Gibraltar. In the first place, they are quite beautiful\n      in themselves, these sermons preached to congregations so\n      various, yet so well adapted to the particular needs of each.\n      Secondly, the volume is a fit memorial of a very saintly\n      man.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Church Times._\n\n\n  CONTENTIO VERITATIS.\n\n    CONTENTIO VERITATIS. Essays in Constructive Theology. By SIX\n      OXFORD TUTORS. A Revised and Cheap Edition. Demy 8vo, 5s. net.\n\n        I. THE ULTIMATE BASIS OF THEISM. By the Rev. H. Rashdall,\n            D.Litt., D.C.L.\n       II. THE PERSON OF CHRIST. By the Very Rev. W. R. Inge.\n      III. THE TEACHING OF CHRIST. By the Rev. H. L. Wild.\n       IV. THE PERMANENT RELIGIOUS VALUE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. By\n            the Rev. C. F. Burney.\n        V. MODERN CRITICISM AND THE NEW TESTAMENT. By the Rev.\n            W. C. Allen.\n       VI. THE CHURCH. By the Rev. A. J. Carlyle.\n      VII. THE SACRAMENTS. By the Very Rev. W. R. Inge.\n\n\n  CUNNINGHAM, the Venble. W., D.D., F.B.A.,\n      _Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Archdeacon of Ely_.\n\n    EFFICIENCY IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. Some Remarks Occasioned by\n      the Report of the Archbishops\u2019 Committee on Church Finance.\n      Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n\n  DAVIDSON, the Most Rev. Randall Thomas, D.D.,\n      _Archbishop of Canterbury_.\n\n    CAPTAINS AND COMRADES IN THE FAITH: Sermons Historical and\n      Biographical. Crown 8vo, 6s. net.\n\n      \u201cShould appeal to very many thoughtful and practical minds.\n      The things most emphasised in them are the things most\n      emphasised in the Gospels\u2015\u2015the fundamental laws of the love\n      of God and the love of man ... the sermons reveal also those\n      qualities of practical wisdom which are necessary in a ruler\n      of the Church.\u201d\u2015\u2015_The Guardian._\n\n    FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH. A Sermon preached in Westminster Abbey\n      on Sunday, May 8th, 1910, the Sunday following the Death of His\n      Majesty King Edward VII. Paper covers, 6d. net.\n\n\n  DIBDIN, Sir Lewis, and\n  CHADWYCK HEALEY, Sir Charles E. H.\n\n    ENGLISH CHURCH LAW AND DIVORCE. PART I.\u2015\u2015NOTES ON THE\n      REFORMATIO LEGUM ECCLESIASTICARUM. By Sir LEWIS DIBDIN,\n      D.C.L., Dean of the Arches. PART II.\u2015\u2015NOTES ON THE DIVORCE\n      AND RE-MARRIAGE OF SIR JOHN STAWELL. By Sir CHARLES E. H.\n      CHADWYCK HEALEY, K.C.B., K.C., Chancellor of the Diocese of\n      Exeter. Demy 8vo, 5s. net.\n\n\n  DIGBY, Mother Mabel.\n\n    MOTHER MABEL DIGBY, 1835\u20121911, Superior General of the Society\n      of the Sacred Heart. By ANNE POLLEN. With a Preface by\n      Cardinal BOURNE. With Illustrations. Demy 8vo, 12s. net.\n\n      This is the history of a personality, striking to an\n      unusual degree from the force of her character, the sanctity\n      of her life, and her astonishing power of organisation and\n      control. Her career was remarkable from the beginning. The\n      biography should attract an attention not confined to the\n      co-religionists of the subject.\n\n\n  DUCHESNE, Monsignor L.\n\n    THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. From its Foundation to the\n      End of the Fifth Century. Rendered into English from the\n      fourth Edition.\n\n        VOL.  I. To End of Third Century. Demy 8vo, 9s. net.\n        VOL. II. Demy 8vo, 9s. net.\n\n      VOL. I.\u2015\u2015\u201cIt will at once take rank as one of the very best\n      works on the subject.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Guardian._\n\n      VOL. II.\u2015\u2015\u201cIt is a pleasure to welcome this readable\n      translation of the second instalment of M. Duchesne\u2019s\n      elaborate and discerning study of the ecclesiastical\n      embodiments of early Christianity. Based on first-hand\n      use of the sources, and marked by force of style as well\n      as independence of view, such a history makes its own\n      place with the many others that have been written; the\n      translation offers attractive inducement to the English\n      reader.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Literary World._\n\n      _A third Volume, continuing the Work, will be published in\n      due course._\n\n\n  DYKES, the Rev. John Bacchus.\n\n    THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF THE REV. JOHN BACCHUS DYKES, Mus. Doc.,\n      late Vicar of St. Oswald\u2019s, Durham. Edited by the Rev. JOSEPH\n      T. FOWLER, Vice-Principal of Hatfield Hall, Durham, etc. With\n      Portrait. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d.\n\n\n  EDWARDS, the Right Rev. Alfred George, D.D.,\n      _Bishop of St. Asaph_.\n\n    LANDMARKS IN THE HISTORY OF THE WELSH CHURCH. With\n      Illustrations. Large Crown 8vo, 6s. net.\n\n      \u201cA temperate and convincing statement of the questions\n      at issue, a retrospect both of the Church and of the four\n      Dissenting bodies in the past, and a clear exposition of\n      their respective activities in the present.\u201d\u2015\u2015_The Times._\n\n    THE WELSH CHURCH BILL. A Speech Delivered in the House of\n      Lords. In Paper Cover, 6d. net.\n\n\n  ELMENDORFF, Dwight L.\n\n    A CAMERA CRUSADE THROUGH THE HOLY LAND With 100 Illustrations\n      from Photographs by the Author. 4to, 10s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201c... [the illustrations] are beyond praise. Each is\n      a single photograph of some beautiful or interesting\n      scene extraordinarily well taken and perfectly\n      reproduced.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Manchester Guardian._\n\n\n  FOX, Selina Fitzherbert, M.D., B.S.\n\n    A CHAIN OF PRAYER ACROSS THE AGES. Forty Centuries of\n      Prayer\u2015\u2015B.C. 2000\u2012A.D. 1912. Arranged for Daily Use. Square\n      Demy 8vo, 5s. net.\n\n      \u201cThe collection is in every way suited to accomplish the\n      author\u2019s pious purpose of helping to render prayer a greater\n      reality in daily life.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Athen\u00e6um._\n\n      \u201c... Gives many prayers of great beauty which are\n      not commonly accessible, and which deserve not to be\n      forgotten.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Church Times._\n\n\n  FRENCH CATHEDRALS.\n\n    SOME FRENCH CATHEDRALS. On French Gothic, Bourges, Chartres,\n      Amiens, Beauvais. _The Times_ Series of Reprints, 1s. net.\n\n      \u201cFive admirable articles which appeared in _The Times_ are\n      now gathered into a dainty little volume.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Church Times._\n\n\n  GLADSTONE, William Ewart.\n\n    CORRESPONDENCE ON CHURCH AND RELIGION OF. Selected and\n      Arranged by D. C. LATHBURY. With Portraits. 2 vols. Demy\n      8vo, 24s. net.\n\n      \u201c... No one can rise from their perusal without a feeling\n      of admiration for the great Christian statesman whose\n      religious life they so vividly portray.... We are given\n      intimate glimpses into a noble soul. ... The unreserve\n      and the unconstraint of many of these letters is\n      remarkable.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Daily Chronicle._\n\n\n  GORE, the Right Rev. Charles, D.D., D.C.L., LL.D.,\n      _Bishop of Oxford_.\n\n    ORDERS AND UNITY. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n    THE NEW THEOLOGY AND THE OLD RELIGION. Crown 8vo, 5s. net.\n\n    THE BODY OF CHRIST. An Inquiry into the Institution and\n      Doctrine of the Holy Communion. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. Four Lectures delivered in the\n      Cathedral of St. Asaph. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d.\n\n    THE INCARNATION OF THE SON OF GOD. Bampton Lectures for 1891.\n      Large Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    DISSERTATIONS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE INCARNATION.\n      Large Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    THE PERMANENT CREED AND THE CHRISTIAN IDEA OF SIN. Two Sermons\n      preached before the University of Oxford. Large Crown 8vo,\n      paper covers, 6d. net.\n\n    SPIRITUAL EFFICIENCY. The Primary Charge delivered at his\n      Visitation to the Clergy and Churchwardens of his Diocese of\n      Birmingham, October 1904. Demy 8vo, paper covers, 1s. net.\n\n    THE QUESTION OF DIVORCE. Crown 8vo, 1s. net.\n\n                                 *****\n          =A Series of Simple Expositions of Portions of the\n                            New Testament=\n               Crown 8vo, green cloth, 2s. 6d. net each\n\n    THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. Paper covers, 6d. net. _Also in\n      Murray\u2019s Shilling Library._\n\n      The success of this book must constitute a record in modern\n      sermonic literature. There can be no question, however, that\n      its success is due to its own intrinsic value. Cultured and\n      scholarly, and yet simple and luminous, eloquent in tone and\n      graceful in diction, practical and stimulating, it is far\n      and away the best exposition of the Sermon on the Mount that\n      has yet appeared.\n\n    THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.\n\n    THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 2 vols.\n\n\n  GORE, the Right Rev. Charles\u2015\u2015Edited by.\n\n    LUX MUNDI. A Series of Studies in the Religion of the\n      Incarnation. Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n\n  GREEN, the Rev. E. Tyrrell,\n      _St. David\u2019s College, Lampeter_.\n\n    THE EUCHARIST. Devotional Addresses on its Chief Aspects.\n      Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cMarked by a laudable simplicity, and full of clear and\n      admirable teaching.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Morning Post._\n\n      \u201cMarked by a pious and scholarly tone and treatment,\n      and, though not intended for Catholic hearers, will prove\n      interesting to students of contemporary religious thought....\n      A valuable feature of this beautifully printed volume are\n      the liturgies, given in an appendix, of the most important\n      Churches, ancient and modern. The preacher is a man of deep\n      religious fervour, and his addresses are worthy of careful\n      perusal.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Catholic Times._\n\n\n  HARDWICH, the Rev. J. M., and\n      _Late Scholar of St. John\u2019s College, Cambridge_,\n  COSTLEY-WHITE, the Rev. H.,\n      _Late Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford_.\n\n    OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. In Five Periods. Crown 8vo, 2s. each\n      Volume.\n\n        Vol. I.\u2015\u2015FROM THE CREATION TO THE CROSSING OF THE RED SEA.\n\n        Vol. II.\u2015\u2015FROM THE CROSSING OF THE RED SEA TO RUTH.\n\n        Vol. III.\u2015\u2015FROM THE BIRTH OF SAMUEL TO THE DEATH OF DAVID.\n\n        Vol. IV.\u2015\u2015FROM THE ACCESSION OF SOLOMON TO THE FALL OF THE\n          NORTHERN KINGDOM.\n\n        Vol. V.\u2015\u2015FROM HEZEKIAH TO THE END OF THE CANON.\n\n      The following are some of the chief features of the series:\n\n      i. The Narrative is given for the most part in the words of\n      the Authorised Version.\u2015\u2015ii. Brief Historical explanations\n      and general commentary are inserted in their proper\n      places.\u2015\u2015iii. The chronological order of events has been\n      followed.\u2015\u2015iv. Each period is illustrated by reference\n      to contemporary literature (e.g. Prophets and Psalms)\n      and monuments.\u2015\u2015v. Foot-notes are added, but only where\n      difficulties of thought or language seem to demand\n      explanation.\n\n\n  HEADLAM, the Rev. A. C., D.D.,\n      _Formerly Principal of King\u2019s College, London._\n\n    ST. PAUL AND CHRISTIANITY. Crown 8vo, 5s. net.\n\n      The purpose of this book is to examine the writings of\n      St. Paul as a whole in the light of other early Christian\n      teaching, and to show that Paulinism does not represent\n      any new departure in Christian thought but the natural\n      development of fundamental Christian principles, the germs\n      of which are to be found in the teaching of Christ and of\n      the Primitive Church.\n\n    HISTORY, AUTHORITY, AND THEOLOGY. Large Crown 8vo, 6s. net.\n\n      I. THE SOURCES AND AUTHORITY OF DOGMATIC THEOLOGY. II. THE\n      NEW THEOLOGY. III. THE ATHANASIAN CREED. IV. THE CHURCH OF\n      ENGLAND AND THE EASTERN CHURCHES. V. THE TEACHING OF THE\n      RUSSIAN CHURCH. VI. METHODS OF THE EARLY CHURCH. VII. THE\n      CHURCH OF THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS.\n\n      \u201cThere is a calm frankness, an obviously deep sincerity,\n      and a width of view about the writer\u2019s method which is\n      eminently reassuring. His wide and deep learning gives a\n      sound foundation, and on that foundation he builds with\n      a combination of enthusiasm and common sense which is too\n      rare among the theologians of to-day.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Guardian._\n\n\n  HOARE, H. W. Hamilton,\n      _Late of Balliol College, Oxford, now an Assistant Secretary\n        to the Board of Education, Whitehall._\n\n    OUR ENGLISH BIBLE. The Story of its Origin and Growth. With\n      Specimen Pages of Old Bibles. Crown 8vo, 1s. net.\n\n      An historical sketch of the lineage of our Authorised\n      Version, published in 1901 under the title of \u201cThe Evolution\n      of the English Bible.\u201d\n\n      The aim of the sketch is to give, in a continuous and\n      narrative form, a history of our English translations, and\n      to exhibit them in close connection with the story of the\n      national life.\n\n\n  HORAN, the Rev. F. S.,\n      _Late Chaplain Royal Navy._\n\n    A CALL TO SEAMEN and other Sermons Preached to Naval Cadets at\n      the Royal Naval College, Osborne. With a Preface by the Right\n      Rev. Bishop RYLE, the Dean of Westminster. Second Edition.\n      Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cA Call to Seamen\u201d is the first collection of addresses\n      issued for reading to boys on Sunday evenings, or from the\n      pulpit, which may be considered entirely excellent. Every\n      sentence arrests, and the sympathy with boy-life, as well\n      as the compelling earnestness of the diction, must grip any\n      boy-audience in quite an unusual manner. The style is manly,\n      non-sentimental, and is suitable for boys aged eleven to\n      sixteen.\n\n\n  INGE, the Very Rev. William Ralph, D.D.,\n      _Dean of St. Paul\u2019s_.\n\n    TRUTH AND FALSEHOOD IN RELIGION. Six Lectures delivered at\n      Cambridge to Undergraduates in the Lent Term, 1906. Crown\n      8vo, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cAnything more calculated than these lectures to aid the\n      development of religion in the minds of such young men we do\n      not know. His examination of the Christian essentials, his\n      presentation of Christianity as a natural culmination, his\n      treatment of religion in the individual as a growth subject\n      to well-designed laws, and his discussion on the relation\n      of Christianity to natural science and to civilisation are\n      executed in a scholarly and masterly manner.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Glasgow\n      Herald._\n\n    STUDIES OF ENGLISH MYSTICS. The St. Margaret\u2019s Lectures. Fourth\n      Series, 1905. Large Crown 8vo, 6s. net.\n\n      ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MYSTICISM\u2015\u2015THE _Ancren Riwle_ AND\n      JULIAN OF NORWICH\u2015\u2015WALTER HYLTON\u2015\u2015WILLIAM LAW\u2015\u2015THE MYSTICISM\n      OF WORDSWORTH\u2015\u2015THE MYSTICISM OF ROBERT BROWNING.\n\n\n  JOHNSTON. R. F.\n\n    BUDDHIST CHINA. With numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo, 15s.\n      net.\n\n      This book embodies the results of wide travel in\n      unfrequented parts of China, and much research in\n      Chinese Buddhist literature. It contains historical and\n      topographical accounts of some of the most famous religious\n      centres in the empire. The author has lived as a guest in\n      many of the monasteries and hermitages described, and has\n      made himself intimately acquainted with their legendary\n      and romantic as well as their religious and historical\n      associations. He deals with the religious problems arising\n      from the new political and social conditions and prospects\n      brought about by the Revolution, and the book is therefore\n      of special value to all who take an interest in the\n      religious future of the Chinese people.\n\n\n  JOURDAN, G. V., B.D.,\n      _Rector of Rathbarry, Castlefreke_.\n\n    THE MOVEMENT TOWARDS CATHOLIC REFORM IN THE EARLY SIXTEENTH\n      CENTURY. Large Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cA conscientious and painstaking record, supported by\n      references to authorities throughout. Mr. Jourdan rightly\n      calls attention to the two earliest decades of the sixteenth\n      century, and shows competency to deal with the large\n      accumulation of record and comment.... He commends his\n      chosen worthies in their lives and activities, and, so\n      doing, wins for himself the praise of quiet equity in\n      judgment.\u201d\u2015\u2015_The Times._\n\n\n  JOWETT, Benjamin, M.A.,\n      _Late Master of Balliol College_.\n\n    SELECT PASSAGES FROM THE THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN\n      JOWETT. Edited by LEWIS CAMPBELL, LL.D. With a Portrait.\n      F\u2019cap 8vo, 1s. net.\n\n    SERMONS. Edited by the Very Rev. the Hon. W. H. FREMANTLE,\n      D.D., Dean of Ripon. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. each.\n        Vol. I.\u2015\u2015COLLEGE SERMONS.\n        Vol. II.\u2015\u2015BIOGRAPHICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS.\n        Vol. III.\u2015\u2015ON FAITH AND DOCTRINE.\n\n    THE EPISTLES OF ST. PAUL TO THE THESSALONIANS, GALATIANS,\n      AND ROMANS. With Notes and Dissertations. Edited by LEWIS\n      CAMPBELL, LL.D. 2 vols. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net each volume.\n\n    THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF BENJAMIN JOWETT, Master of Balliol\n      College, Oxford. By EVELYN ABBOTT, LL.D., and Professor\n      LEWIS CAMPBELL, LL.D. With Portrait and other Illustrations.\n      2 vols. 8vo, 32s.\n\n    THE LETTERS OF BENJAMIN JOWETT. A Selection supplementary to\n      the above. Edited by EVELYN ABBOTT, LL.D., and Professor\n      LEWIS CAMPBELL, LL.D. With Portrait. 1 vol. Demy 8vo, 16s.\n\n\n  JULIAN, the Rev. John, D.D.,\n      _Late Vicar of Topcliffe, Prebendary of Fenton, Canon of\n        York_.\n\n    A DICTIONARY OF HYMNOLOGY. Setting forth the Origin and History\n      of Christian Hymns of all Ages and Nations. Revised with New\n      Supplement. Medium 8vo, 21s. net.\n\n      \u201cA priceless volume.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Methodist Recorder._\n\n      \u201cThe student of hymnology will find the work, as it always\n      has been, a rare mine of information, and the additions\n      and alterations which have now been made to it make it more\n      valuable than ever.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Westminster Gazette._\n\n      \u201cIt is, and has always been, something more than a book\n      of reference. It abounds in matter which touches at many\n      points the history of Christianity in general, of Christian\n      churches in particular, and of the individual Christian\n      soul in its inner life. Thus it is not a work merely for\n      the expert or the curious; it will profoundly interest\n      every reader who patiently works in its vast storehouse\n      of information.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Record._\n\n\n  LUSHINGTON, the Rev. F. de W.,\n      _Formerly Headmaster of Dover College_.\n\n    SERMONS TO YOUNG BOYS. Third Edition. Crown 8vo, 3s. net.\n\n      These sermons are primarily addressed to boys at private\n      schools, before they have entered on the larger world of\n      public-school life with its difficulties and temptations.\n      Their application, however, is not confined to these younger\n      boys, and the fact that the book is now in its third edition\n      is proof that the sermons have been found useful and are\n      highly appreciated.\n\n\n  LYTTELTON, the Right Rev. the Hon. A. T., D.D.,\n      _Late Bishop of Southampton_.\n\n    THE PLACE OF MIRACLES IN RELIGION. The Hulsean Lectures for\n      1891. Crown 8vo, 5s.\n\n      \u201cCrisp definiteness of statement and clear enunciation\n      of principles ... will be distinctly welcome to those\n      who feel that the ultimate test of revelation is not\n      its external credentials, but its power to stir the\n      conscience.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Guardian._\n\n\n  MACALISTER, Prof. R. A. Stewart, F.S.A.\n\n    THE EXCAVATION OF GEZER, 1902\u20125 AND 1907\u20129. Two Volumes of\n      Letterpress and One Volume of Illustrations. \u00a34 4s. net.\n      Published for the Committee of the Palestine Exploration\n      Fund.\n\n\n  MENZIES, the Rev. Allan, D.D.,\n      _Professor of Biblical Criticism in the University of\n        St. Andrews_.\n\n    HISTORY OF RELIGION. A Sketch of Primitive Beliefs and\n      Practices, and of the Origin and Character of the Great\n      Systems. Revised Third Edition. Crown 8vo, 5s.\n\n\n  MILMAN, the Very Rev. Henry Hart, D.D.,\n      _Late Dean of St. Paul\u2019s_.\n\n    THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS. From the Earliest Period to Modern\n      Times. 3 vols. Post 8vo, 12s.\n                                            [Vol. II. Out of Print.\n\n    THE HISTORY OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY. From the Birth of Christ to\n      the Abolition of Paganism in the Roman Empire. 3 vols. Post\n      8vo, 12s.\n\n    THE HISTORY OF LATIN CHRISTIANITY, including that of the Popes\n      to the Pontificate of Nicholas V. 9 vols. Post 8vo, 36s.\n\n      \u2042 _Arrangements have been made with Booksellers enabling\n      them to offer special terms for complete sets of the above\n      works._\n\n    A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF HENRY HART MILMAN, D.D., late Dean of\n      St. Paul\u2019s. With Selections from his Correspondence. By his\n      Son, ARTHUR MILMAN. With Portrait. 8vo, 16s.\n\n\n  MOBERLY, the Right Rev. George, D.C.L.,\n      _Late Bishop of Salisbury_.\n\n    DULCE DOMUM: BISHOP MOBERLY, HIS FAMILY, AND FRIENDS. By Miss\n      C. A. E. MOBERLY, his Daughter. With Illustrations. Demy 8vo,\n      10s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cIt is extremely difficult to take a detached view of this\n      remarkable book. Criticism seems wholly out of place. It\n      does not apply to realities. One would as soon think of\n      criticising a beautiful view, a spring morning, an autumn\n      sunset\u2015\u2015anything that absolutely enters into and becomes\n      part of oneself, part of one\u2019s highest self. That is what\n      happens to the reader of these pages.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Evening Standard._\n\n\n  MOBERLY, the Rev. R. C., D.D.,\n      _Late Regius Professor of Pastoral Theology in the University\n        of Oxford, Canon of Christ Church_.\n\n    PROBLEMS AND PRINCIPLES. Being Papers Theological and\n      Ecclesiastical. Edited by the Rev. R. B. RACKHAM. Demy 8vo.\n      Cheap Edition, 6s. net.\n\n    CHRIST OUR LIFE. Sermons chiefly preached in Oxford. Demy 8vo.\n      Cheap Edition, 6s. net.\n\n    ATONEMENT AND PERSONALITY. Cheap Edition. Demy 8vo, 6s. net.\n\n    MINISTERIAL PRIESTHOOD. Six Chapters preliminary to a Study\n      of the Ordinal. With an Inquiry into the Truth of Christian\n      Priesthood and an Appendix on the recent Roman Controversy.\n      Second Edition, with a New Introduction. Cheap Edition. Demy\n      8vo, 6s. net.\n\n    SORROW, SIN, AND BEAUTY. Three Short Series of Addresses. Crown\n      8vo, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n    UNDENOMINATIONALISM as a Principle of Primary Education. Demy\n      8vo, 1s. net.\n\n\n  MUNTZ, the Rev. W. Stephens, D.D.,\n      _Vicar of St. John\u2019s, Upper Holloway_.\n\n    ROME, ST. PAUL AND THE EARLY CHURCH. Showing the Influence of\n      Roman Law on St. Paul\u2019s Teaching and Phraseology, and on the\n      Development of the Church. Large Crown 8vo, 5s. net.\n\n      \u201cThe author ... offers valuable suggestions for further\n      inquiry by New Testament students. He has provided a\n      thoughtful work deserving their attention.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Times._\n\n\n  MURRAY\u2019S ILLUSTRATED BIBLE DICTIONARY.\n\n      Combining Modern Research with Ancient Faith. Editor: The\n      Rev. WILLIAM C. PIERCY, Dean of Whitelands College, Chelsea.\n      In One Volume. Price 21s. Half-morocco, 25s.\n\n                          =SPECIAL FEATURES=\n\n      =1. A Volume of 1,000 pages.=\n\n      =2. Profusely Illustrated, with Original Sketches,\n          Reproductions from Photographs, Diagrams, and Coloured\n          Maps.=\n\n      =3. Special attention has been paid to Bibliography, which\n          has not before been attempted in a similar work of this\n          size.=\n\n      =4. Signed Articles by Leading Scholars and Experts.=\n\n      The size and price of this Dictionary make it available for\n      many who cannot afford those published in several volumes,\n      or who wish for a more handy book of reference; while the\n      addition of Bibliographies to all important articles enables\n      those who desire to do so to pursue any subject further;\n      and the present volume should be found especially useful\n      to students at the Universities, Theological Colleges and\n      Schools, the busy parochial clergy, and the laity.\n\n      Special attention has been paid to the illustrations, which\n      it is hoped are such as will prove a really valuable aid to\n      the understanding of the Bible.\n\n      \u2042 _Arrangements have been made with Booksellers enabling\n      them to offer special terms for the above work._\n\n\n  MURRAY\u2019S DICTIONARY OF CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHY.\n\n    A DICTIONARY OF CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHY, LITERATURE, SECTS, AND\n      DOCTRINES. Edited by the Very Rev. HENRY WACE, D.D., Dean of\n      Canterbury, and the Rev. WILLIAM C. PIERCY, Dean and Chaplain\n      of Whitelands College. In One Vol., 1040 pp. Medium 8vo, 21s.\n      net.\n\n      HIS GRACE THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, in a letter to\n      Mr. Murray, says:\u2015\u2015\u201cIn my movements backwards and forwards\n      between Lambeth and Canterbury, I almost fear that I\n      may never have thanked you for sending me a copy of your\n      one-volume Dictionary of Christian Biography. If I have\n      already written, pardon this further letter. But I should\n      like to tell you how greatly I value the book. I have been\n      using it for some of my work, and am immensely struck by\n      the way in which it seems to have been found possible to\n      bring into this smaller compass practically everything of\n      real importance to the general reader. I am certain that\n      the editors and yourself have done a great public service\n      in placing this book upon our shelves.\u201d\n\n\n  NIELSEN, Dr. Fredrik,\n      _Bishop of Aarhus, and formerly Professor of Ecclesiastical\n        History in the University of Copenhagen_.\n\n    THE HISTORY OF THE PAPACY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.\n      Translated, with the help of others, by ARTHUR JAMES MASON,\n      D.D., Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Demy 8vo,\n      2 vols., 24s. net.\n\n      \u201cThe present book does, indeed, support the high opinion\n      expressed by Dr. Mason in his preface of the spirit of\n      scientific detachment, warmth of heart, and unfailing good\n      humour displayed by Danish students in their theological and\n      historical studies.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Church Times._\n\n      \u201cRoman Catholic readers will find nothing in the tone of\n      these volumes to shock them.... Works like these are bound\n      to help to purify the Church.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Pall Mall Gazette._\n\n      \u2042 _Arrangements have been made with Booksellers enabling\n      them to offer special terms for the above work._\n\n\n  OESTERLEY, the Rev. W. O. E., D.D.,\n      _Jesus College, Cambridge_.\n\n    THE DOCTRINE OF THE LAST THINGS\u2014JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN. Crown\n      8vo, 3s. 6d.net.\n\n      What correspondents to the _Guardian_ say:\u2015\u2015\n\n      \u201cIf a book is wanted which is at once cheap, clear,\n      learned, and up-to-date, \u2018The Doctrine of the Last\n      Things\u2019 may be strongly recommended. In it the reader will\n      find the Old Testament, the Apocalyptic literature, the\n      Rabbinical writings, and the New Testament most carefully\n      analysed and the results presented in a simple form. In it\n      there is ample material for many courses of Advent sermons\n      on modern but reverent lines.\u201d\n\n      \u201cWill you allow me to make use of your columns to commend\n      to my brethren, as an invaluable help in their Advent\n      preaching, Dr. Oesterley\u2019s book? It is popular and\n      lucid in style, scholarly in matter, and illuminating in\n      instruction.... I do not myself know of any other book\n      covering quite the same ground or so immediately helpful\n      to the preacher in Advent.\u201d\n\n    LIFE, DEATH, AND IMMORTALITY. Studies in the Psalms. Crown 8vo,\n      3s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cDr. Oesterley traces with great clearness of definition and\n      logical analysis the development and varying significance\n      of these doctrines as they appear in the Psalms, reaching in\n      the case of the Future Life an ultimate development far in\n      advance of the rest of the Old Testament.\u201d\u2015\u2015_The Times._\n\n\n  OGLE, the Rev. Arthur, M.A.,\n        _Rector of Otham, Maidstone_.\n\n    THE CANON LAW IN MEDI\u00c6VAL ENGLAND. An Examination of William\n      Lyndwood\u2019s \u201cProvinciale,\u201d in reply to the late Professor\n      F. W. Maitland. Large Crown 8vo, 6s. net.\n\n      This book goes to the heart of a subject which is of\n      intimate concern to every Churchman. It is a piece of\n      constructive criticism and investigation dealing with the\n      relations between the Church and Realm of England and the\n      Medi\u00e6val Papacy as expressed in terms of law. It is the\n      first attempt to deal critically with the late Professor\n      Maitland\u2019s famous treatise on \u201cRoman Canon Law in the Church\n      of England.\u201d\n\n\n  PETRIE, W. M. Flinders, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.\n\n    THE GROWTH OF THE GOSPELS. As Shown by Structural Criticism.\n      Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cAn able and helpful contribution.... Professor Petrie\n      has dealt with one of the most difficult and important of\n      literary problems in a novel, striking, and instructive\n      manner, and therefore deserves the hearty gratitude of\n      students.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Christian World._\n\n\n  POLLEN, JOHN HUNGERFORD.\n\n    JOHN HUNGERFORD POLLEN, 1820\u20121902. By ANNE POLLEN. With\n      Illustrations. Demy 8vo, 15s. net.\n\n      \u201cThis Life of John Hungerford Pollen will revive and keep\n      in memory the name of a very able and attractive man, whose\n      varied activities in the worlds of religion, politics, and\n      art ended about ten years ago. It is not surprising that his\n      family and friends should have wished for such a memorial,\n      and his daughter\u2019s work, a labour of love, undertaken in\n      a spirit of most loyal affection, has been carried out\n      with marked literary skill. Several excellent portraits,\n      well reproduced, do justice to Mr. Pollen\u2019s fine features\n      with their expression of mingled earnestness and sweetness,\n      and the charming decorative work of his later years is\n      illustrated by plates, some in colour, and working drawings,\n      which should interest every student of architecture and its\n      companion arts.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Spectator._\n\n\n  POLLOCK, the Right Rev. Bertram, D.D., C.V.O.,\n      _Bishop of Norwich_.\n\n    THE BIBLE TO-DAY. Demy 8vo, 2s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201c... We hope it may be read very widely.... The charge\n      is written not only, as we need hardly say, with the\n      utmost reverence, but with admirable lucidity, and with a\n      persuasiveness too often lacking in the advocates of the\n      higher criticism.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Spectator._\n\n    FELLOWSHIP WITH THE DEPARTED. A Sermon Preached in St. Mary\n      Magdalene Church, Sandringham, on the occasion of the\n      Dedication of the Memorial to his late Majesty King Edward\n      VII., of blessed and glorious memory, on Sunday, October 29,\n      1911. Printed by command of His Majesty the King. In Paper\n      Covers, 6d. net.\n\n\n  PRATT, Helen Marshall.\n\n    THE CATHEDRAL CHURCHES OF ENGLAND. Their Architecture,\n      History, and Antiquities. With Bibliography, Itinerary, and\n      Glossary. A Practical Handbook for Students and Travellers.\n      Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cIt fully carries out the promises of the description. As\n      a useful guide for the traveller we have met with no more\n      suitable book; while for the student unable to visit the\n      actual buildings, the description leaves nothing to be\n      desired.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Outlook._\n\n\n  PRAYER BOOK.\n\n    THE CONVOCATION PRAYER BOOK. Being the Book of Common Prayer,\n      according to the use of the Church of England, with altered\n      Rubrics, showing what would be the condition of the Book\n      if amended in conformity with the recommendations of the\n      Convocations of Canterbury and York in the year 1879. Post\n      8vo, 5s. net.\n\n\n  PROTHERO, Rowland E., M.V.O.\n\n    THE PSALMS IN HUMAN LIFE. Large Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. net. Also\n      an Edition, printed on India paper, and bound up with the\n      Authorised Version of the Psalms, F\u2019cap 8vo, 5s. net.\n\n      \u201cThe impression of the continuous influence exercised by\n      \u2018The Psalms in Human Life\u2019 is without doubt very striking.\n      But it is very difficult to give within the compass of a\n      review any notion of this effect.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Spectator._\n\n      \u201cThe great subject discussed by Mr. Prothero in his\n      fascinating book.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Guardian._\n\n\n  ROBERTSON, the Rev. James Craigie,\n      _Late Canon of Canterbury_.\n\n    HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, from the Apostolic Age to the\n      Reformation. 8 vols. Post 8vo, 6s. each.\n                                              (_Sold separately._)\n\n      \u2042 _Arrangements have been made with the booksellers enabling\n      them to offer special terms for the above work complete._\n\n\n  ST. MARGARET\u2019S LECTURES.\n\n                         _FIRST SERIES, 1902_\n\n    CRITICISM OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. Large Crown 8vo, 6s. net.\n\n      INTRODUCTION, ON NEW TESTAMENT CRITICISM, by Prof.\n      Wm. Sanday, D.D.\u2015\u2015MANUSCRIPTS, by F. G. Kenyon, D.Litt.,\n      Ph.D.\u2015\u2015ANCIENT VERSIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, by F. C.\n      Burkitt.\u2015\u2015THE HISTORY OF THE CANON OF THE NEW TESTAMENT,\n      by Prof. F. H. Chase, D.D.\u2015\u2015THE DATES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT\n      BOOKS, by the Rev. A. C. Headlam, D.D.\u2015\u2015HISTORICAL VALUE OF\n      THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, by J. H. Bernard, D.D.\n\n                         _SECOND SERIES, 1903_\n\n    STUDIES ON ENGLISH RELIGION IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. By\n      the Very Rev. H. HENSLEY HENSON, D.D., Dean of Durham. Large\n      Crown 8vo, 6s. net.\n\n      THE PR\u00c6-LAUDIAN CHURCH OF ENGLAND\u2015\u2015SABBATARIANISM\u2015\u2015THE\n      PRESBYTERIAN EXPERIMENT\u2015\u2015ERASTIANISM\u2015\u2015CASUISTRY\u2015\u2015TOLERATION.\n\n                         _THIRD SERIES, 1904_\n\n    EARLY EASTERN CHRISTIANITY. By F. C. BURKITT, Lecturer\n      in Pal\u00e6ography in the University of Cambridge. With\n      Illustrations. Large Crown 8vo, 6s.net.\n\n      THE EARLY BISHOPS OF EDESSA\u2015\u2015THE BIBLE IN SYRIAC\u2015\u2015EARLY\n      SYRIAC THEOLOGY\u2015\u2015MARRIAGE AND THE SACRAMENTS\u2015\u2015BARBAISAN AND\n      HIS DISCIPLES\u2015\u2015THE ACTS OF JUDAS, THOMAS, AND THE HYMN OF\n      THE SOUL.\n\n                         _FOURTH SERIES, 1905_\n\n    STUDIES OF ENGLISH MYSTICS. By the Very Rev. W. R. 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Large Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d.\n\n      Extract from Canon Scott\u2019s Preface:\n\n      \u201cIt has been pressed upon my attention for some time\n      that many students and teachers are becoming afraid of the\n      inroads on the Bible made by Modern Criticism, and shaken\n      in their belief in its reliability....\n\n      \u201cThe Introduction gives a summary of the conclusions on\n      the Criticism of the Gospels which are accepted by the best\n      English scholars.\n\n      \u201cThe work itself has taken the form of a Diatessaron or\n      Harmony of the Gospels because I was advised a _Life of\n      Christ_ was needed....\u201d\n\n    THE MAKING OF THE GOSPELS. Six Lectures delivered during Lent,\n      1905, in Manchester Cathedral, 1s. net.\n\n    THE APOCALYPSE; or, Revelation of St. John the Divine. 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The narrative provides every detail of\n      information the student could desire, comprising the results\n      of the latest research. A very valuable and scholarly\n      work.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Globe._\n\n\n  WACE, the Very Rev. Henry, D.D.,\n      _Dean of Canterbury_.\n\n    CHRISTIANITY AND MORALITY; or, the Correspondence of the Gospel\n      with the Moral Nature of Man. The Boyle Lectures for 1874 and\n      1875. Crown 8vo, 6s.\n\n    THE FOUNDATION OF FAITH: Being the Bampton Lectures for 1879.\n      Demy 8vo, 7s. 6d.\n\n    PROPHECY, Jewish and Christian. Considered in a Series of\n      Warburton Lectures at Lincoln\u2019s Inn. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. net.\n\n\n  WAGGETT, the Rev. P. N.,\n      _Of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, Cowley_.\n\n    THE HOLY EUCHARIST, with other Occasional Papers. 3s. 6d. net.\n\n      \u201cThe work of a thinker who has in him something of the poet\n      and the mystic, who yet is no recluse or vague dreamer, but\n      is in close and living contact with the facts of life and\n      with the thoughts which men are thinking in the veritable\n      world of to-day.... It abounds in sentences of rare beauty\n      and insight.\u201d\u2015\u2015_Guardian._\n\n\n  WESTCOTT, the Right Rev. B. F., D.D., D.C.L.,\n      _Late Bishop of Durham_.\n\n    THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. With Notes and Introduction. Medium\n      8vo, 10s. 6d.\n\n      \u201cThe completeness of Westcott\u2019s famous volume in\n      the \u2018Speaker\u2019s Commentary\u2019 has become a proverb. When\n      Dr. Sanday went to lecture on the criticism of the Fourth\n      Gospel before an American audience he did not hesitate to\n      say that \u2018we in England have a standard proposed to us by\n      this commentary.\u2019\u201d\u2015\u2015_Times._\n\n    THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. The Greek Text Revised, with\n      a Revised English Version. 2 vols. Demy 8vo, 24s. net.\n\n      For many years before his death the late Bishop of Durham\n      had been engaged on a revision of the Greek Text of the\n      Gospel according to St. John, with Notes. A considerable\n      part of the Notes are those which already appear in the\n      \u201cSpeaker\u2019s Commentary,\u201d but these have been revised and\n      enlarged. The work is edited by the Bishop\u2019s son, the Rev.\n      A. Westcott.\n\n      The _Churchman_ says:\u2015\u2015\u201cWestcott on St. John has long been a\n      familiar and welcome phrase to multitudes of Bible students.\n      And these two volumes will make it a little more familiar\n      and welcome, for they represent the latest words of the\n      great scholar on a subject that was, perhaps, nearest to his\n      heart of all the work that he was enabled to accomplish.\u201d\n\n\n  WOLSELEY-LEWIS, M.\n\n    THE SEVENFOLD GIFTS. Introduction and Prayers for the use of\n      Candidates for Confirmation. 16mo, 2s. 6d.\n\n      \u201cWe have nothing but praise for this little work. It is\n      written in a way which proves the writer\u2019s knowledge of and\n      sympathy with young people, and it is commendably free from\n      the technical phraseology which creeps into most books of\n      its kind, to the confusion of youthful readers. 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(15).\n\n    3 \u2013 2 Cor. iii. 6.\n\n    4 \u2013 Rom. vii. 9.\n\n    5 \u2013 _De Sp. et Lit._ 34.\n\n    6 \u2013 See especially St. John i. 4\u201212, Rom. ii. 14\u201216,\n        Acts xvii. 22\u201231.\n\n    7 \u2013 Mill\u2019s _Three Essays on Theism_, p. 255. Pusey\u2019s _Univ.\n        Sermons_, 1864\u201272, \u201cGod and human independence,\u201d p. 10,\n        note 1.\n\n    8 \u2013 The Sermon with the parallel passages is given at length in\n        Appendix I., pp. 202 ff.\n\n    9 \u2013 If the reading, and not the margin, of the R.V. be right in\n        Mark x. 23, 24.\n\n   10 \u2013 St. John xiv. 26.\n\n   11 \u2013 St. Matt. vii. 28.\n\n   12 \u2013 Acts xvii. 31; 1 St. John iii. 2\u20123.\n\n   13 \u2013 Wisdom ii. 12 ff.\n\n   14 \u2013 Job i. 21.\n\n   15 \u2013 1 Tim. vi. 8.\n\n   16 \u2013 Phil. ii. 7, 2 Cor. viii. 9.\n\n   17 \u2013 2 Cor. vi. 10, 1 Cor. iii. 21.\n\n   18 \u2013 Gal. vi. 5.\n\n   19 \u2013 Gal. vi. 2.\n\n   20 \u2013 St. Matt. viii. 17.\n\n   21 \u2013 St. John xii. 24, 25.\n\n   22 \u2013 2 Cor. i. 4.\n\n   23 \u2013 2 Cor. vii. 10.\n\n   24 \u2013 _Institutes_, ix. 11.\n\n   25 \u2013 1 Peter ii. 23\n\n   26 \u2013 Ps. xxxvii. 29.\n\n   27 \u2013 St. James ii. 15\u201216; 1 John iii. 16\u201218.\n\n   28 \u2013 Ps. xviii. 24\u201226.\n\n   29 \u2013 St. Matt. xviii. 23 f.\n\n   30 \u2013 Rom. v. 7.\n\n   31 \u2013 Job xlii. 5, St. Luke v. 8; and cf. the vision which is the\n        beginning of purification after death in Cardinal Newman\u2019s\n        _Dream of Gerontius_.\n\n   32 \u2013 Hebr. xi. 27.\n\n   33 \u2013 St. Matt. x. 34.\n\n   34 \u2013 Rev. iii. 15\u201216. These words mean, I think, not \u201cI would\n        that ye, the Church of Laodicea, were either morally worse\n        than ye are or morally better\u201d; but \u201cI would that either\n        ye were not Christians at all or better Christians.\u201d\n\n   35 \u2013 _C. h\u00e6r._ iv. 13. 4.\n\n   36 \u2013 _Qu\u00e6st. 73 in Exod._\n\n   37 \u2013 Hebr. xii. 16.\n\n   38 \u2013 This is drawn out in Appendix ii., p. 218.\n\n   39 \u2013 2 Chron. xix. 5 8, cf. Josephus _Antiq._ IV. viii. 14.\n\n   40 \u2013 _Did._ xiv. 2.\n\n   41 \u2013 Cf. vi. 1, \u201cin order to be seen of men,\u201d where the phrase\n        is the same and describes the deliberate motive.\n\n   42 \u2013 St. Mark viii. 38.\n\n   43 \u2013 See App. iii. p. 227. Duty of the Church with regard to\n        divorce.\n\n   44 \u2013 And it cannot be overlooked that in one of the passages of\n        St. Paul\u2019s epistles where the law of the indissolubility\n        of marriage is stated (Romans vii. 1\u20123) he is referring to\n        the _Jewish_ law (see ver. 1) which confessedly admitted\n        exceptions, and yet he does not allude to them.\n\n   45 \u2013 Lev. xix. 12; Deut. vi. 13; Amos viii. 14.\n\n   46 \u2013 St. Matt. xxiii. 16\u201220.\n\n   47 \u2013 Ch. v. 12.\n\n   48 \u2013 2 Cor. i. 17, 18.\n\n   49 \u2013 Is. lxvi. 1; Ps. lviii. 2.\n\n   50 \u2013 St. Matt. xxvi. 63.\n\n   51 \u2013 St. James i. 20.\n\n   52 \u2013 I owe this thought, I believe, to an address given by the\n        Dean of Chichester.\n\n   53 \u2013 St. Mark xiv. 57\u20128.\n\n   54 \u2013 St. John ii. 19.\n\n   55 \u2013 1 St. Peter ii. 23.\n\n   56 \u2013 St. Matt. xviii. 15.\n\n   57 \u2013 St. John xviii. 22\u201223.\n\n   58 \u2013 Acts xxv. 10\u201211, cf. xvi. 37.\n\n   59 \u2013 1 Cor. vi. 7.\n\n   60 \u2013 The story is given from a Norman-French poem of the time\n        of Henry III, probably by a Westminster monk; see _Lives\n        of Edward the Confessor_, Rolls Series, iii. pp. 53, 207.\n\n   61 \u2013 _Didache_ 1. It must not be forgotten that both St. John\n        (1 John iii. 17) and St. James (ii. 15\u201216) are speaking of\n        helping \u201ca brother\u201d or \u201csister,\u201d i.e. a fellow-Christian.\n        And in those days there was an immense probability that\n        a member of the Christian society would be one who had\n        character enough to profit by help. But it soon became\n        necessary to \u201corganize charity\u201d by desiring the faithful\n        to give only indirectly through the bishop.\n\n   62 \u2013 From the days of the sub-apostolic Hermas, who makes the\n        responsibility rest wholly with the recipient of alms.\n\n   63 \u2013 Overton\u2019s _Life and Opinions of W. Law_, p. 244.\n\n   64 \u2013 e.g. Job xxxi. 29; Exod. xxiii. 4.\n\n   65 \u2013 _Lectures on the O.T._ viii. 2, p. 188.\n\n   66 \u2013 \u201cDisfigure\u201d or possibly \u201cconceal\u201d their faces, so that by\n        a form of dress drawn over the face they may be shown to be\n        persons going about as penitents.\n\n   67 \u2013 e.g. St. Matt. xvii. 21; St. Mark ix. 29; 1 Cor. vii. 5.\n\n   68 \u2013 1 Cor. ix. 27; 2 Cor. xi. 27.\n\n   69 \u2013 Gal. iv. 6.\n\n   70 \u2013 Hebr. xii. 22.\n\n   71 \u2013 It is not improbable, as has been recently suggested\n        by Mr. Chase (see below, p. 135), that this expression,\n        occurring side by side with \u201cthis day,\u201d is due to the use\n        of the prayer both morning and evening. In the morning\n        Christians prayed \u201cgive us our bread to-day,\u201d and in the\n        evening \u201cgive us our bread for to-morrow.\u201d\n\n   72 \u2013 The difficulty experienced in regard to this clause by the\n        early Christians is well known. I may refer to Mr. Chase\u2019s\n        _Lord\u2019s Prayer in the Early Church_ (Texts and Studies,\n        Cambridge, 1891), pp. 60 ff. Mr. Chase also points out\n        the close resemblance between the \u201cLord\u2019s Prayer\u201d and our\n        Lord\u2019s own language of prayer or about prayer in the time\n        of the passion. \u201cFather ... Thy will be done....\u201d \u201cPray\n        that ye enter not into temptation.\u201d \u201cI pray that thou\n        shouldest keep them from the evil one.\u201d There are other\n        resemblances perceptible in the prayer recorded in\n        St. John xviii.\n\n        In the original language used by our Lord \u201c_Lead_ (us not\n        into temptation\u201d) and \u201c_Enter_ (into temptation\u201d) would\n        only be different forms of the same verb.\n\n   73 \u2013 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23.\n\n   74 \u2013 St. John vii. 49.\n\n   75 \u2013 St. Matt. xviii. 15\u201218.\n\n   76 \u2013 St. John xx. 23.\n\n   77 \u2013 1 Cor. v.\n\n   78 \u2013 1 Thess. v. 21.\n\n   79 \u2013 1 John iv. 1.\n\n   80 \u2013 Gal. i. 9; 2 John 10\u201211.\n\n   81 \u2013 Rom. viii. 14.\n\n   82 \u2013 St. Luke vi. 37\u201238.\n\n   83 \u2013 Col. i. 28.\n\n   84 \u2013 The reference is to the saying of Hillel, \u201cWhat to thyself\n        is hateful, to thy neighbour thou shalt not do; this is the\n        whole law and the rest is commentary\u201d (cp. _Tobit_ iv. 15;\n        _Did._ i. 3), and to the similar maxim suggested by Plato\n        and current among the Stoics.\n\n   85 \u2013 Rom. xiii. 9.\n\n   86 \u2013 St. Luke xiii. 23\u201249; St. John xxi. 21\u201222.\n\n   87 \u2013 St. John ii. 23\u201225.\n\n   88 \u2013 St. Matt. xvi. 17.\n\n   89 \u2013 Those not occurring continuously in chap. vi. are printed\n        in italics.\n\n   90 \u2013 This is a higher moral principle than that Jewish method\n        of \u201cmaking a fence to the law,\u201d which is expressed in\n        the _Didach\u00e8_ 3. \u201cBe not prone to anger, _for anger\n        leads to murder_.... Be not lustful, _for lust leads\n        to fornication_.\u201d The wrong condition of the will is,\n        according to our Lord, itself the evil, apart from what\n        it may lead to. What is needed is not merely outward\n        respectability or conformity, but a right spirit.\n\n        Humility both towards God and towards our fellow-men is\n        simply the recognition of the truth about ourselves.\n\n   92 \u2013 It can hardly, however, be denied that there are rare\n        cases where untruthfulness in word becomes a duty owing\n        to the social evil which verbal truthfulness would involve.\n        Thus almost all men would think it right to lie to a\n        would-be murderer in order to save a life. I twice heard\n        the late Master of Balliol, who had great moral common\n        sense, in answer to the question what he would do in such\n        a case, reply: \u201cI suppose I should tell the lie, but I\n        had rather not think about it beforehand or justify it\n        afterwards.\u201d This is the best answer in regard to such\n        quite abnormal cases. But there are certain more normal\n        cases where professional reserve involves something\n        approaching untruthfulness. The lawyer, doctor, or Cabinet\n        Minister may be asked a question which ought not to be\n        asked, and have no alternative but to give some more or\n        less misleading answer, or in effect disclose (even by\n        silence or refusal to answer) a professional secret. The\n        \u201cseal of the confessional\u201d\u2015\u2015imposed on the clergy (with\n        a gradually increasing stringency) by the general law of\n        the Church and by the Anglican canons of 1603 (c. 113)\u2015\u2015is\n        an intensified case of such professional obligation of\n        secrecy. In such cases the possible moral evil is reduced\n        to a minimum if society recognizes that what is known\n        under a \u201cseal,\u201d sacramental or professional, is not\n        included in the knowledge which is recognized in social\n        life. I have written the above because if there are\n        circumstances, however rare, where a man would not act\n        on the ordinary obligation of candid speech he had better\n        give general public notice of it. But I cannot feel\n        satisfied with the reasonings of moralists, Jesuit,\n        Anglican or Protestant, about the morality of the matter.\n        E.g. Newman Smyth, _Christian Ethics_ (Clark, Edin. 1892),\n        pp. 388 ff.\n\n   93 \u2013 Eph. iv. 28; 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18; James v. 4.\n\n   94 \u2013 The account of our duty to God and our duty towards our\n        neighbour in our Catechism is, when quoted correctly (\u201cin\n        that state of life into which it _shall_ please God to\n        call me\u201d) and interpreted rightly (\u201cbetters\u201d not meaning\n        \u201cthose keeping carriages\u201d), admirable, but of course very\n        short.\n\n   95 \u2013 It is perhaps hardly fair to say more than this.\n        Christ simply exempted a particular case from a general\n        prohibition, leaving the Church free in regard to it.\n\n\n\n\n                         Transcriber\u2019s Notes.\n\n\nThe following corrections have been made in the text:\n\n  Page 176:\n    Sentence starting: The Christian is to be....\n      \u2013 \u2018Christain\u2019 replaced with \u2018Christian\u2019\n        (The Christian is to be)\n\n  Page Index:\n    Sentence starting: Sanhedrin....\n      \u2013 \u2018Sanhedrim\u2019 replaced with \u2018Sanhedrin\u2019\n        (Sanhedrin, nature of,)","title":"The Sermon on the Mount: A Practical Exposition","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":61079}