The Magna charta of the kingdom of God; plain studies in Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount

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THE MAGNA CHARTA OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Preface

It is universally agreed that the Sermon on the Mount is an utterance of cardinal significance in its relation to that divine kingdom which Christ came to set up in the hearts of men. What that relation is, however, is a question that has received various answers. The title here chosen may perhaps suggest, as well as a single phrase could, the idea to which the present study of that discourse has led. The Sermon on the Mount is not a code or digest of specific commands, nor is it, though indeed in imperative form, a manifesto, summarizing those intentions of the King which mere extraneous authority is adequate to enforce. It proposes a kind and degree of obedience which only the free and loving impulse of the regenerate heart can make good. Meeting us on the threshold of the kingdom of God, it determines for us our status^ where we stand, as free and loyal subjects, in the sight of God and in the presence of our true life. We may, therefore, borrow Dr. Augustus Neander's phrase and call it the *^ Magna Charta of the Kingdom of God," our great charter, not, like that old document at Runnymede, extorted by angry subjects from a reluctant king, but graciously originated by the King himself, who is also our representative, and laying down a divine law such

VI PREFACE

as no subject could or would have devised, yet expressing the subject's willing allegiance as no contrivance of his could ever do.

The following chapters are called plain studies, because they aim to set forth in direct and simple terms, without rhetoric and without theological technicalities, the main lines of truth followed in the great discourse, as they should be viewed, not by scholars only, but by ordinary thinking men. The standards of interpretation here sought are just the standards of a devout common sense. No elaborate exposition is attempted, and many of the momentous truths and implications of the discourse are merely suggested, not followed out in detail. This way seemed best, however, in working out the writer's main intention, which is to indicate the underlying unity that binds its precepts together and the fundamental relation of its teaching to all Christian ethics. And the reader who shall catch the spirit which is recognized as the central spring of this discourse and of all true Christian obedience will, it is hoped, find this attempt commended to his Christian consciousness as substantial truth.

That the book may do good by promoting a clearer understanding of the New Testament ethical standpoint is the earnest prayer of the author.

Richmond, January, 1900

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Teacher and his Authority i

II. The Morality which is the World's Savor and

II The Morality Which Is The World's Savor And Light

II

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying,

Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they that mourn : for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek : for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness : for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God.

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

Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall reproach 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 rew^ard in heaven : for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Ye are the salt of the earth : but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted ? It is henceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a lamp and put it under the bushel, but on the stand ; and it shineth unto all that are in the house. Even so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

The idea that was in the air was, " the kingdom of heaven.'' People were looking for this kingdom, and expecting great blessings to come to the chosen nation on account of it. John had for months been preparing for it by bis preaching in the wilderness. His message had been, *' Repent, for the kingdom of Matt. 3 : 2 heaven is at hand." After Jesus had been baptized he himself took Matt. 4 : 17 up the Same message, ''The kingdom of heaven is at hand." There was the general feeling that some great and desirable development in the world's history was about to take place. Enthusiasm was smouldering and ready to burst into flame at any moment. Patriotic pride, sense of the disgrace of the chosen nation being subject to heathen Rome, religious enthusiasm, as well as a deeper spiritual hunger hardly understood, all wrought to produce a pressure of expectation that could hardly be held back. Jesus described this state of feeling Matt. II : 12 when he said, ''From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force," It was the kingdom of heaven on w^hich the eager common people of Galilee were fixing their hopes. Any mention of that kingdom was sufficient to set expectation all aglow. Only give them an idea what it was to enter that kingdom and be in a position to share its benefits, and they were ready to press into it.

This Sermon on the Mount has been called the fundamental law of the kingdom of heaven. And for those who understand what is meant by the kingdom of heaven this is a most appropriate description of it. But Jesus could not so designate it at this stage of affairs by name. To use the name which was thus on everybody's lips would be to awaken that whole accumulation of enthusiasm and set it ablaze. But to make such an enthusiasm too intense at this stao-e of thino:s would be unfortunate, for it was mainly an unspiritual enthusiasm. People did not understand what the kingdom of heaven was. It was a greater idea than they had grasped. It meant briefly that state of things in the individual heart in which the person is ruled by God himself. This meant his trusting God, his seeing God with the spiritual eye, his obeying God of his own glad choice. But for the bulk of the people the kingdom meant some visible organization, some commonwealth, some pomp of external power and glory. Even if the setting up of the kingdom was not understood to mean the overthrow of the Roman power, and the universal dominion of the Jewish nation, it could hardly help being understood as some outward organization, for spiritual purposes at least. Now to name this sermon at the outset the law of the kingdom, would be to call together a band of unspiritual adherents at once. They would inevitably and immediately fasten upon some earthly idea of that kingdom and proceed to carry it out.

In spiritual matters it is often necessary to describe a thing before we can venture to use its commonly received name. This is especially true of anything which calls out people's enthusiasm. The things of God's kingdom are greater than any of us have fully understood. They are heavenly things which, though they stand on the earth, tower up to an infinity of meaning toward heaven, in proportion as the spirit can comprehend them. But these things receive their common names, and those names inevitably acquire a conventional significance. People are fired by the name, when often it is desirable that they should not blaze up, as it were, too soon, but should hold still and learn more deeply the precious meaning involved in the name. When a man is acting on an idea he is no longer listening for that idea. It is often necessary that our over-eager followers be held still to complete the act of getting instructions, before they run on the errand of doing their master's bidding.

In the formation of opinions especially, mere indolence of thought leads people often to conjure with names as if they were the ultimate realities concerned. There is a power in conventional terms to arrest the process of thought, especially when those terms arouse partisan feeling. People catch the cry and run with it before they have caught it aright. This was especially likely to happen with those to whom the Saviour was speaking at this time. Just as we have to talk about the various isms under which people range themselves, or against which they have strong prejudices, without naming them, as we have to take pains sometimes that our hearers shall not know what is the conventional thing we are talking about until they have had time to catch our meaning, so Jesus had to be careful that this idea of the kingdom of heaven, which was all ready, should not be advanced prematurely. The eager people must learn its nature without knowing what conventional thing it was whose nature they were learning. By and by its name could be revealed, but not until they had gotten the thing.

So Jesus in this Sermon on the Mount sets forth the fundamental law of the new kingdom ; but it is not formally a law, nor is the mention of the kingdom made prominent. He simply goes on to describe the ideally good man. He points out who are blessed. He describes, if we may so say it, the best thing in character, what kind of people they are who are nearest to the center of the world's spiritual life, who are fitted to impart goodness to the world rather than receive goodness from the world, who are the very salt of the earth, giving it a savor, the light of the world shining in its darkness and revealing the God who is their own indwelling light.

It is touching men's spiritual nature by awakening them to the desire for an ideal goodness. Righteousness is here presented of a high enough intensity to be inspiring. Men are saved by appreciating. It is thus that Christ saves men : " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ " means simply, appreciate Christ, Righteousness at the ordinary level would be hardly of high enough potency to be inspiring ; but when the righteousness of those who are blessed ia being like Christ in the world is so presented as to awaken men's sense of its worth and enlist in its cause all the active powers, it becomes a mighty saving influence in the heart of the appreciative.

Jesus first describes a certain morality, and then specifies what kind of people this will make of those who practise it. They shall be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, the positive leavening power in society. The relation of his kingdom to the world is here indicated. It is not the whole of society, but its leaven. The morality he describes is a certain concentrated form of goodness, the only perfect and consummate kind ; and yet always the leaven rather than the leavened lump. It is a morality which could not be enforced by power, even by an infinitely autocratic sovereign. He pictures the saving or savoring element in society, rather than society itself, which element is always small in bulk, perhaps we may say too concentrated to be the whole of the world ; even when the whole lump is leavened it will be something different from this, something with passive, inert elements which constitute the main body of society, on which the positive elements act. And these act not by any forcing of their influence, or seeking to wield the power of organization for that special end, but simply by being what they are, by letting their light shine. The shining light is the impelling power.

We might easily spend a long time on each one of these Beatitudes and yet fail to point out all their richness of meaning. I must content myself, however, with merely summarizing them. Considered as traits of character to aim at, these descriptions of goodness are a wonderful inspiration. But they do not describe the traits that the world would agree to adopt as conditions of success. They are not such moral qualities as one would selfishly covet. And yet he who sincerely wishes to be ruled by the will of God may recognize in them just the qualities calculated to give God's will an ascendency in his heart.

THE world's savor AND LIGHT 3 I

First of all, our Lord sa3^s the poor in spirit are blessed. Have we not ji^^^^ 5 . 3 here at the very start a teaching so unexpected and unique as to bear the stamp of divinity ? We should thoughtlessly consider him fortunate who has the sense of a wealth of spiritual gifts and power. He who feels -as if he abounded in good things, who has much to congratulate himself upon in the way of spiritual possessions — he is the one whose good fortune the most godly of us would like to share. The thing we aim at is self-satisfaction in regard to the things of God ; and we often consider it a great mark of our backwardness because we are so discontented with our poor attainment. We feel poor and lean ; there surely must be something wrong. And yet the Saviour fixes upon this very feeling of spiritual poverty as the sign of one's belonging to the kingdom of heaven. And his divine insight is right. For if the kingdom of heaven is likeness to God, then it is something infinite, something that we shall never exhaust by our finite attainments. He who feels rich, so that he has no disposition to seek anything farther, is self-convicted of having lost all sense of the infinite. He is full ; he has stopped his progress toward the goodness of God. But a man feels poor in spirit because he has the sense of how much there is to rise through before he shall be perfect. He feels poor just in proportion as he has that communication with God by which his soul may grow rich.

*^ ^ Blessed are the poor m spirit! . . There is nothing in all ethical teaching more radical than this same sweet beatitude. It requires thorough work of any man who would receive it. . . One of the first things we shall have to do will be to heap up all our pride and pretense, and then to kindle in our souls a hot fire of wrath, and to burn up those shams and delusions which we love. Throw it all in, — our pride of ancestry, of position, of attainment, of money, of talent, of social position, — every branch and fruit of our pretense ; burn it all up : and then over the ashes of our pride we must pray for a new heart, simple enough and sincere like Christ's, to own a brother in the humblest man we meet, and to receive a word of the Lord in the least duty which any moment may bring to us from the will of the Father. Become poor in spirit — my soul but another human emptiness to be filled, maybe, from some divine fullness ! My life but as the lowly banks through which some renewing grace may flow like a stream ! " ^

Akin to this is the principle that Ver. 4 they who mourn are blessed, because they shall be comforted. The mourning, rather than the rejoicing, is the unsatisfied state which tends to something better. It is not a mourning over an evil done, but for a good unattained. It is worthy of note that in these Beatitudes the Saviour locates the blessedness just on the hither side of satisfaction ; the blessed state has the prospect of better before it. Blessedness is dynamic rather than static ; it is force and movement toward a higher state. There is a tenderly

^ Newman Smyth, "Personal Creeds," p. 39.

chastening and elevating power in

sadness which the Saviour fully rec- Ecd. 7 : 2

ognizes. ** It is better to go to the

house of mourning, than to go to the house of

feasting," said the Preacher long before.

But again, the Saviour says the meek are blessed because they shall Yej.^ 5 inherit the earth ; and here also we find teaching quite unlike the practical belief of this world. It is a truth, however, which was discovered by the Ps. 37 : 11 psalmist. But the strong, grasping, pushing world does not believe it ; and when we see the apparent conditions of success in this world we are often tempted to doubt the truth ourselves. The meek are those who do not take pains to assert themselves, nor to push their way. They are inclined to yield ; they will give up personal preference rather than be offensively forward. Now such are just the ones whom we expect to see pushed to the wall. That they should succeed and gain a supremacy is just in antagonism to the law which the evolutionary theory has formulated in regard to lower things, namely, that the species of animals, and human institutions even, have progressed because only the strongest, or the fittest, have survived ; while the weaker races have been crowded out in the struggle for existence. We sometimes deny the Saviour's truth when we say, sagaciously as we think : ** I tell you, if a man is to get along in this world he must put himself forward a little. If he doesn't blow his own trumpet, nobody else will

c blow it for him. He will get crowded and starved out unless he is on hand for his share." So it seems when we look at it from the level of mere worldly sagacity. But from the platform of the kingdom of God, how different. The meek, says the Saviour, shall inherit the earth. He does not even postpone their reward to the heavenly world ; as if, after enough of jostling and suffering here, they shall be recompensed in a different and higher realm. He promises that they shall inherit this scene of the survival of the fittest. I suppose he means, what many a meek soul has found true, that the quiet and unselfish have a more real ownership in the earth — get more of the real good of it, find it ministering far more to their highest enjoyment — than the greatest of those who, with their grasping and pushing, can say they own vast tracts of it, and yet are subject to the pangs of insatiable avarice, slighted vanity, and disappointed ambition. To inherit or own the earth, in its real sense, is to make it minister to our happiness and highest welfare. But many who are called rich in the possession of it make it their master to overbear all their spiritual excellence and destroy their souls. Of this ownership, which consists in real enjoyment and mastership, the meek may easily be seen to have the lion's share, even though they have to work hard and subject themselves to a constant round of small economies to get on in life. But Jesus goes on to show how Ver. 6 personal righteousness stands related to our blessedness. He does not say, Blessed are the righteous ; for if this were the extent of the promise many a man who is poor in spirit might feel himself excluded from it. But he says, Blessed are those who want righteousness, who hunger and thirst after it, for they shall be filled. Here again he describes righteousness as something of infinite reach, something that no one has exhaustively attained. Those who count themselves fully righteous are those who have lost sight of the infinite reach of true goodness. '' None is Mark lo : i8 good save one, even God," said our Lord. These self-approving people have got to a certain point in goodness, and stop there satisfied, like the Pharisees, Such righteousness is only conventional ; it is simply what men agree to call righteousness. We talk about character as the important thing ; but while character is an excellent thing to value and long for, it is apt to be an unfortunate subject for self-consciousness or pride. He who professes absolute righteousness is a Pharisee. So Jesus pronounces no blessing on the full-grown righteous, for only the deceived would call themselves of that class. He congratulates those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, who will not rest in any attainment short of conformity to the infinite goodness. Such shall evermore rejoice in fruition; the desire for righteousness is a desire that heaven itself exists in order to fill.

Then the merciful are pronounced blessed, for they shall obtain mercy. Y^r. 7 It is within a man's own choice whether he shall be forbearingly and mercifully dealt with by his fellow-men or not. If he is himself exacting and harsh, he but invites exacting

treatment from others. ''They that Matt. 26 : 52 take the sword shall perish with the

sword." But if the person treats his fellow-men with consideration and forbearance, he is most likely to meet with mercy when he is himself in trouble.

It is only to the merciful that the first access to the mercy of God is possible. There is acceptance only for the forgiving spirit. We rejoice in the doctrine of grace, that is, the principle that salvation comes not by our works or our merit, but by the favor of a pardoning God. Now the attainment of that favor is possible only for the one

who is merciful himself. Jesus em- Matt. 6 : 12 phasizes this over and over again.

He encourages us in the Model Prayer to ask for forgiveness only to this extent — as we forgive our debtors. This particular petition is the only one on which he makes a comment

at the end of the prayer. He says, Mau. 6 : 15 '^ If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.'' Then in another place, when promising the fullest blessings in answer to

prayer, he adds, '' And whensoever Mark II : 25 yc Stand praying, forgive, if ye have

aught against any one ; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." Not simply boundless aspiration after perfection, but boundless toleration and mercy toward others' imperfection, belongs to the truly blessed. The two do not always exist together. Often the most zealous and aspiring are the most intolerant. The Pharisees, who held the common people accursed, were the idealists among the Jews. Jesus alone was perfectly an inhabitant of heaven and an inhabitant of earth, — consumed with zeal for God's house, and yet a friend of publicans and sinners, — -but he teaches his followers to seek their blessedness along this same line of God-manhood. Hunger for righteousness ; make the highest heaven your home; but be merciful and forgiving to those who do not desire righteousness, and who may even wrong you.

*' This forgiving spirit is itself many virtues in one. The man who can truly and effectually forgive, the man who can be a reconciling power in a community, is no weak man, or man of a single virtue, or mere instance of good nature. He must also be a just man — a man who sees what is right as clear as the day, a man who wants always to get the right thing done ; a man who will not cover up evil, or hide iniquity, or say peace when there is no peace. It requires a high and even rare combination of virtues to be peacemaker — not a peaceable soul, but a maker of peace ; and to exercise the spirit of forgiveness in any genuine and fruitful way is no child's play at life." ^

Then the most glorious of all the promises is given to the pure in Yqy, 8 heart — they shall see God. We come toward heaven in this world only as we see

^ Newman Smyth, *' Personal Creeds, " p. 115.

God, that is, only as his will reveals itself to us as our end. It is not by watching how others do, or by conforming to rules, that we learn the true way of life. It is not simply by experience. It is by intuition of the righteousness that reaches to an infinite height — by looking at God in fact — that any true goodness is comprehended. But such comprehension comes by loving, by having the whole heart enlisted in the thing. The heart becomes an eye to see, and it will not see unless it be single. It must be pure in its love, that is, unmixed with anything baser. A love that is mixed with selfish considerations, trying to hold on to the good-will of the world while it seeks the favor of

God, never can see God. The Jews Matt. 21 : 25-27 who mingled their convictions of

truth with fear of the people could not even tell whether John's baptism was earthly

or heavenly in its origin. The Isa. 29 : 13, 14 prophet said of the old Testament

Jews, that because their fear of the Lord was a commandment of men that had been learned by rote, even though the Lord proceeded to do a marvelous work and a wonder, the wisdom of their wise men should perish, and the understanding of their prudent men should be hid. With a mere memorized religion they could not see anything spiritual. Only by the heart, and by a pure heart, do men see the infinite goodness.

Then the peacemakers are blessed Yqt, 9 ii^ being called sons of God. It

seems as if Jesus took pains to group a trait which despises the earth and looks to heaven by the side of one which concihates men and promotes peace on the earth. The aspiring are placed by the side of the merciful ; the single of heart who dwell in the very sight of God are placed next to those who labor for peace among men. The zealous and those who care not for the opinions of men may be son^ of God ; but it is the peacemakers who get the reputation of being sons of God. And it is worth while to have that reputation. Do not think that it counts for nothing to have men regard you as one in whom God himself dwells and works. It is not well for even our good to be evil spoken of. So Jesus wisely balances one trait of character, and guards against its fanatical excess, by pointing out the complementary trait. It is consistent with the most rigid adherence to principle, and the most aspiring unworldiness, to be merciful and conciliatory even among imperfect and wicked men. And it is the peaceful and conciliatory side of the character, after all, that gets for any one the reputation of being a seeker after heavenly attainments.

Finally, Jesus pronounces those blessed who are persecuted for right- Ygt, 10-12 eousness' sake. These get their idea of righteousness from their insight into eternal truth. They always seem out of joint with the formal righteousness of the unspiritual. Their righteousness has an unexpected look, like that of Christ, of whom it was prophesied, **He hath no form nor comeliness ; isa. 53 : 2, 3 and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. . . As one from whom men hide their face he was despised, and we esteemed him not." The superficial and conventional do not look for the roots of righteousness ; they only judge by its exterior, and commend simply what men generally expect of a righteous man. And when a man has his springs in God he is too near the heart of things, too original and first-handed, for the inattentive world to understand him. He is essentially on the ground that the prophets occupied — those who saw God's will and goodness for themselves and spoke just as his Spirit prompted. They were persecuted, as will be many a sincere and original Christian who derives his righteousness directly from the primal source. So the fact that men are persecuted for righteousness' sake will be a sign of their blessedness. It shows them to be of the kingdom of heaven. And if this persecution should befall Christ's hearers themselves, let them rejoice ; for they but experience the treatment which the prophets themselves experienced.

This is a very brief indication of the riches of truth contained in these Beatitudes. The blessed man, the ideal man here portrayed, is at once in nearest, freshest contact with heaven and eternal realities, and in truest sympathy with whatever makes for mercy and peace on the earth. He really inherits the earth in his meekness, while he is even persecuted for his faithfulness to inward light.

Now observe how accessible Jesus makes this blessedness. We certainly cannot say that this part of the Sermon on the Mount is set forth simply as a formidable law which is meant to do nothing but produce a knowledge of sin. We say doctrinally that the law is Rom. 3 -. 20 given to show us how sinful we are, and thus cause us to fly to Christ. This is sometimes taken to mean that the law is meant to show how high and impossible are the attainments of righteousness, so that we may despair of it and seek grace. But do these Beatitudes labor to make righteousness appear unattainable ^ They certainly set forth a righteousness far more inward and spiritual than any righteousness of law. But are not the traits described the most directly attainable of all by the penitent and humble heart ? The characteristics of those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are meek, who hunger and thirst, who are merciful, who make peace, who are sincere of heart, who are disliked for their righteousness — -cannot any humble heart hope for a share in such virtues.'^ If Jesus had said, ** Blessed are the brave," he would have been pointing to a trait which only those of a certain natural disposition could hope to have. If he had said, ' Blessed are the respectable," he would have been pointing to something dependent on social conditions. If he had said, '' Blessed are the faultless," he would have been promoting the self-deception of priggishness, or abandoning people to despair. Many things in which we count men fortunate are possible only to those who begin with certain advantages of nurture, heredity, education, leisure, or opulence. They are the righteousness of a class. But Jesus makes blessedness accessible to all.