XIII. Che Sermon on the Mount. Within a short distance of Capernaum stands a hill which tradition points out as the Mount of Beatitudes. Probably it is the same mount on which Jesus ordained the Twelve, and to which he retired to spend the night in prayer. The reverence of ages has been paid to it as the place upon which Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Its contiguity to his own city, as Capernaum was called, and its adaptation to the purpose, make it almost certain that it is the very place upon which was pronounced the sublime discourse of our Redeemer, embracing the whole duty of man. Our Lord's instructions, as an eminent critic has well observed, were delivered in a mode "extremely peculiar, yet precisely adapted to the peculiarity of his character and situation. His lessons did not consist of disquisitions, of any thing like moral essays, or set treatises upon the several points which he mentioned. His instructions were conceived in short, emphatic, sententious rules, in occasional reflections and sound maxims." It was the most fitting mode, or divine wisdom would not have adopted it-for he claimed credence, not only for the soundness of his doctrine, but as one having authority. The sermon on the mount, as embraced in the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of St. Matthew, Jesus delivered, as the Evangelist has preserved it, at one time and place; but no doubt at different times, and in different places, repeated the same maxims to many people. In the connexion in which St. Matthew has given us the discourse, it is divisible into distinct and natural portions, growing out of each other, and all glorious in harmony: words fitly spoken, like apples of gold in pictures of silver. In the first portion or introduction, our Lord informs us who are blessed. He discerned the motive of those who sought him-"Who will show us any good?" He shows that true happiness is not to be sought in the things of this world, but in the mind and heart, dependent upon God, and independent of things earthly. He pronounces those blessed who are poor in spirit; those who mourn: the meek, the hungry and thirsty after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peace-makers. And he closes this portion of the discourse with a benediction upon those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake; "Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." To each blessing is added its reason; and the whole is summed in the joy which follows the evidence which persecution gives, that the disciples of Christ are not as the world. "Marvel not,' says the beloved disciple to those who believed in Jesus through him, "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you." St. Luke adds to the Beatitudes the woes pronounced upon those who are opposite in character to those whom the Great Teacher pronounced blessed. Friendship with the world is enmity with God, "Wo unto you when all men shall speak well of you; for so did their fathers to the false prophets." The Saviour next proceeds, having shown who are blessed, to exhort his disciples, by an exemplary life, to aim men to the love and pursuit of the true and enduring happiness which he has described. He likens them to the salt of the earth-but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Near the Mount of Beatitudes stands Saphat, anciently called Bethuliah, and on such an eminence that it cannot be hid. Probably as the Saviour spoke, he pointed to this city. "Neither," he added, "do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." In the next place, the Saviour declares that he came not to destroy, but to fulfil and ratify the law and the prophetshe came not to destroy but to fulfil. Therefore to the literal obedience which the Pharisees taught, he adds his injunctions enforcing obedience indeed, compliance with the whole heart. "For I say unto you except your righteous |