Page images
PDF
EPUB

CONTENTS.

PAGE

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

OUR LORD'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

BOOK I.

EXPLANATION OF THE FIRST PART OF THE SERMON DELIVERED BY OUR LORD ON THE MOUNT, AS CONTAINED IN THE FIFTH CHAPTER OF MATTHEW.

YHAP. I.—1. If any one will piously and soberly consider the sermon which our Lord Jesus Christ spoke on the mount, as we read it in the Gospel according to Matthew, I think that he will find in it, so far as regards the highest morals, a perfect standard of the Christian life: and this we do not rashly venture to promise, but gather it from the very words of the Lord Himself. For the sermon itself is brought to a close in such a way, that it is clear there are in it all the precepts which go to mould the life. For thus He speaks: "Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." Since, therefore, He has not said, "Whosoever heareth my sayings," but has made an addition, saying, "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine," He has sufficiently indicated, as I think, that these sayings which He uttered on the mount so perfectly guide the life of those who will live according to them, that they may justly be compared to one building upon a rock. I have said this merely that it may be clear that the

SERM. MT.

A

[ocr errors]

sermon before us is perfect in all the precepts by which the Christian life is moulded; for as regards this section a more careful treatment will be given in its own place.

2. The beginning, then, of this sermon is introduced as follows: "And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him and He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying." If the question is asked what the mountain means, it may well be understood as meaning the greater precepts of righteousness; for there were lesser ones which were given to the Jews. Yet it is one God who, by means of His holy prophets and servants, according to a thoroughly arranged distribution of times, gave the lesser precepts to a people who as yet required to be bound by fear; and who, by means of His Son, gave the greater ones to a people whom it had now become suitable to set free by love. Moreover, when the lesser are given to the lesser, and the greater to the greater, they are given by Him who alone knows how to pre nt to the human race the medicine suited to the occasion. Nor is it surprising that the greater precepts are given for the kingdom of heaven, and the lesser for an earthly kingdom, by that one and the same God who made heaven and earth. With respect, then, to that righteousness which is greater, it is said by the prophet, "Thy righteousness is like the great mountains:"1 and this may well mean that the One Master alone fit to teach matters of so great importance teaches on a mountain. Then He teaches sitting, as pertains to the dignity of the instructor's office; and His disciples come to Him, in order that they might be nearer in body for hearing His words, as they also approached in spirit to carry out His precepts. "And He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying." The circumlocution before us, which runs, "And He opened His mouth," \ perhaps gracefully intimates by the mere pause that the sermon ⚫ will be somewhat longer than usual, unless, perchance, it should not be without meaning, that now He is said to have opened His own mouth, whereas under the old law He was accustomed to open the mouths of the prophets.

[ocr errors]

3. What, then, does He say? "Blessed are the poor in

1 Ps. xxxvi. 6.

3

spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." We read in Scripture concerning the striving after temporal things, "All is vanity and presumption of spirit;" but presumption of spirit means audacity and pride: usually also the proud are said to have great spirits; and rightly, since the wind also is called spirit. And hence it is written, "Fire, hail, snow, ice, spirit of tempest." But who does not know that the proud are spoken of as puffed up, as if swelled out with wind? And hence also that expression of the apostle, "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." And "the poor in spirit" are rightly understood here as meaning the humble and God-fearing, i.e. those who have not a spirit which puffeth up. Nor ought blessedness to begin at any other point whatever, if indeed it is to reach the highest wisdom. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;" whereas, on the other hand also, "pride" is entitled "the beginning of all sin." Let the proud, therefore, seek after and love the kingdoms of the earth; but "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

CHAP. II.-4. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth:" that earth, I suppose, of which it is said in the Psalm, "Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land (literally the earth') of the living." For it means a certain firmness and stability of perpetual inheritance, where the soul, by means of a good disposition, rests, as it were, in its own place, just as the body rests in the earth, and from which it is nourished with its own food, as the body from the earth: it is the very rest and life of the saints. Then, the meek are those who yield to acts of wickedness, and do not resist evil,.but overcome evil with good. Let those, then, who are not meek quarrel and fight for earthly and temporal things; but "blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," from which they cannot be driven out.

5. "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." Mourning is sorrow arising from the loss of things

'Eccles. i. 14. So Augustine renders it.

2 Ps. cxlviii. 8, according to the LXX. 'Ps. cxi. 10.

Ecclus. x. 13.

1 Cor. viii. 1.

Ps. cxlii. 5.

7 Rom. xii. 21.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »