The Sermon on the Mount

Front matter

THE SERMON

ON THE MOUNT

BY

Introduction

Introduction

BOSSUET’S editors and biographers dwell with much emphasis not only on the great extent and deep learning of his divers writings on Holy Scripture, but on the very remarkable nature of his love for Biblical knowledge. This originated in an extraordinarily strong impression made upon him by the Bible, on his first direct acquaintance with it, when a mere boy in the class of Rhetoric under the Jesuits at Dijon. Cardinal Bausset gives so vivid an account of this incident in the great preacher’s life that his words are worth quoting : —

'The Elements of Euclid ’ he says 'had revealed to Pascal the secret of his genius. Descartes’s Man seized upon the imagination of Malebranche, and transported him to the sublimest regions of metaphysics. It was reserved for a book far above all human ones to show Bossuet what he was, or rather what he would become; and this book was the Bible. He saw it by chance in his father’s study — devoured some pages of it — and begged leave to carry it off. He was then in the class of Rhetoric : it was the first time he had read the Bible; and his soul experienced a kind of emotion that it had never before known. Every charm of secular poetry and literature appeared to him eclipsed by the magnificent images and lofty conceptions of the sacred writings, which at once completely took possession of him. In his later years, Bossuet loved to recall this first impression, and would feel it again as vividly as when, in the days of his youth, this sudden light had come to shine upon his intellect and give warmth to his soul.’

This marvellous early impression, we are further told, was confirmed and developed by encouragement from Nicolas Cornet, head of the Collège de Navarre in the Paris University, where young Bossuet was sent for his later education; and the result of it was a passion for the Holy Scriptures, and an ardent, minute, and vigorous method of studying them, which fully account — not merely for his extraordinary knowledge of them — but for the wonderful practical effect, on heart and intellect alike, produced by his use of them in his sermons and other writings.

The Meditations sur l'Evangile, which form, with their companion volume the Elevations sur les Mysteres, a very important portion of Bossuet’s Biblical works, are specially interesting as being quite different in style and method from the sermons and 'discourses,’ which are so much more generally known. They are not argumentative; they are not written on any definite plan; they do not — as many of his sermons do — work out a subject in regular sequence under headings or divisions. They are simply his own thoughts on the Sacred Text, put down as they arose in the mind of one to whom the Word of God was in truth as his daily bread. He said of them himself that he did not intend them to be a dogmatic treatise on religion. 'If you think' — he wrote — 'that I am going to resolve all doubts and to satisfy your curious desires, you are mistaken. I have not taken pen in hand here to teach you the thoughts of man.’

Nevertheless, disconnected as their form may be, these two works are held, by those who know Bossuet well, to contain the whole body of religious knowledge — the Elevations developing all Christian dogma, and the Meditations all Christian morality. The biographer quoted above says that the effect of a really thorough study of them is a peculiar repose of mind and satisfaction of heart, arising from the fact that they make the mysteries of religion as clear as God intended them to be made, and shed a soft light on the Gospel precepts which shows these to be as well fitted to make man happy as to teach him virtue. He declares that by reading them we learn to know 'God, mankind and ourselves’; that they alone may serve the purpose of many books on religion and morality; and that De la Harpe was right when he said : ‘ Those who have not read the Meditations and Elevations do not really know Bossuet.’

These works were written for the Visitation nuns at Meaux. The Meditations sur l’Evangile — of which the 'Sermon on the Mount,’ here presented in an English version, is a small portion — were written first, though in point of subject they are rather the sequel than the introduction to the Elevations sur les Mysteres, In style they are more simple than the latter, which treat of the very origins of religion and of the sublimity and power of God; whilst the subject of the Meditations is 'Jesus Christ Crucified’ and His immediate teaching to man.

How Bossuet wished the book to be practically used he himself tells us in a short preface that he wrote for it, a verbatim translation of which here follows.

F. M. C.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE

The texts of Holy Scripture quoted in these meditations have been carefully compared throughout with the English Douay Version, in the words of which they are here given.

It is thought best to inform readers of this, as, should the book be used by non-Catholics, they may be here and there surprised at the wording of certain texts which have become familiar to the English-speaking world in the phraseology of the 'Authorized’ Version.

Bossuet’s Preface To The 'Meditations'

Preface

Of all the sermons delivered by Jesus Christ, the most remarkable, as to both time and circumstances, are : — First, the one He delivered on the mountain at the beginning of His preaching, which contains the chief precepts of the New Law, and shows forth its true spirit.

Secondly, those which He preached at the end of His life, from His triumphal entry into Jerusalem up to His death; whilst of these, again, the most remarkable are the two that He gave during the Last Supper and the time following upon it, up to the night of His agony in the Garden of Olives.

We will distribute the reading of Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, and of these other two just mentioned, into days, so that a quarter of an hour may be spent every morning, and the same every evening, in devout meditation on them.

At each fresh Truth proposed we must pause a little to make an act of Faith: — 'I be- lieve; that is true; He who says it is Truth itself.’

Thus we shall look at each particular Truth that He reveals as a portion of that Truth which is Jesus Christ Himself: that is to say, which is God Himself; but God coming near to us — communicating and uniting Himself to us : — for this is what Jesus Christ is.

We must, then, reflect on each particular Truth that He has revealed by His own mouth; fix our hearts on it; love it : — because it unites us to God through Jesus Christ Who taught it to us, and Who has Himself told us that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Day 1

First Day

SUMMARY OF THE SERMON

Eternal happiness set forth under divers names in the Eight Beatitudes.—Matt. v. 1-12.

The sole end of man is to be happy, and Jesus Christ came only to give us the means of being so. The source of all good is to place happiness where it ought to be; and the source of all evil is to place it where it ought not to be. Suppose, then, we have said, ‘I wish to be happy,' we have next to see how we may become so : — to see in what end happiness consists, and what are the means of obtaining it.

Now, we shall find the end set forth in each one of the Eight Beatitudes, for Eternal Happiness is the subject of them all, but described by various names. Thus, in the first it appears as a kingdom, in the second as the promised land, in the third as true and perfect consolation, and in the fourth as the fulfilment of all our longings. In the fifth, we find it as the final act of mercy that shall free us from every evil and bestow on us every good. In the sixth it is named by its true name, which is the Vision of God. In the seventh it is set forth as the seal set on our adoption; and in the eighth, once more as the Kingdom of Heaven. Here, then, we have the end throughout; but as there are several means, each beatitude proposes one of these to us, whilst all of them together must bring about man’s final happiness.

If the Sermon on the Mount is in itself the summary of all Christian doctrine, the Beatitudes are the summary of the sermon. For instance : — Our Lord tells us that our justice must abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees; but His whole teaching on the subject is contained in the one saying : 'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after justice.’ For if they are really hungering for it, how abundantly shall they not receive it, seeing that it is always there ready to fill those who desire it for their true food? Then shall we keep even its smallest laws, like to famished men who will not leave a bit — not a crumb, so to speak — of their bread.

If we are commanded not to ill-treat our neighbour in speech, this will be a natural consequence of the gentle and 'peace-making' spirit to which the kingdom and rank of a child of God are promised.

You are not to look at a woman with an evil thought — that is, 'Blessed are the pure in heart'; and your heart will be pure when you have purged it of all sensual desires. Hence, those are happy who spend their lives in mourning and in a saving sadness rather than in pleasures that intoxicate.

'Swear not.,. let your speech be " yea, yea; no, no.”' This, again, springs naturally from meekness; for he who is meek is humble, and not too much attached to his own view, so as to be too positive; he says what he thinks simply, in a sincere and gentle spirit.

When we are filled with that spirit of mercy which shall draw down on us yet more abundant mercy than our own, we easily forgive injuries; and when we are meek and peaceable we readily yield to others, who may show violence, even more than we have promised.

It is not only because a man is meek, merciful, and peaceable that he loves his friends and his enemies, but because of that hunger after justice spoken of above, which makes him wish to have it for solid use, not for ostentatious display. We love fasting, too, when we find our chief nourishment in truth and justice; and fasting purifies the heart and destroys sensuality.

Our heart is pure, moreover, when we keep our good deeds for the eyes of God alone; when we are content to be seen by Him, and do not make virtue serve as a cloak for deceiving the world and attracting the notice and love of our fellows. A pure heart gives a single eye and a straight aim.

The poor in spirit avoid avarice and the seeking after possessions; the meek and the peacemakers judge not, because meekness banishes pride.

Purity of heart makes us try to become worthy of the Holy Eucharist, and prevents our receiving this heavenly bread as if we were dogs.

Once more, when we hunger and thirst after justice we ask — we seek — we knock; for we beg of God to give us the only true goods, and expect them from Him, when we aspire to the Kingdom of Heaven, the Land of the Living, and to nothing else.

Those who count themselves happy at being allowed to suffer poverty, grief, and misfortune for ‘justice sake’ willingly enter in by the narrow gate; and those who hunger for justice are not satisfied to say 'Lord, Lord!' with their lips, but feed their hearts on God’s Truth, and so build their house firmly on a rock.

The Beatitudes, then, form an abridgment of the whole sermon; but a pleasant abridgment, for in them the command and the reward are always joined. The Kingdom of Heaven, under its divers wonderful names, follows on the possession of righteousness — happiness, on the practice of it.

Day 2: To be poor in spirit.

Second Day

FIRST BEATITUDE

To be poor in spirit.—Matt. v. 3.

WE come now to detail; and Jesus Christ ' begins thus : ‘ Blessed are the poor in spirit.’ He means here not only the poor by choice — those who have left all things to follow Him, and to whom He has promised a hundredfold in this world and life everlasting in the next — but all whose hearts are detached from earthly goods. He means both those who are bearing actual poverty without murmuring or impatience, and the rich who hold their possessions without the spirit of riches: — that is, without the love of display, the pride, the injustice, and the insatiable craving to get everything for themselves which constitute this spirit. Eternal happiness, under the majestic title of 'kingdom,’ belongs to all these — and for a special reason. The particular evil of poverty on earth is to make people con- temptible, weak, and impotent; and hence happiness is promised in this magnificent form as the corresponding indemnification for this lowliness : — 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven?

At the word ' blessed ’ the heart swells with joy; when 'poverty ’ is named it contracts; but it expands afresh at the sound of 'kingdom' still more when it is the ' Kingdom of Heaven.’ For who would not suffer for the sake of such a kingdom : a realm to be enjoyed in company with God Himself, and inseparably from Him: — eternal, spiritual, abounding in all things, and whence all trouble is banished for ever?

O Lord, I offer Thee everything — I give up everything — that I may share in such a realm! May I only be sufficiently stripped of all other goods to hope for it! In heart and mind 1 deprive myself of them all; and when it shall be Thy will to deprive me actually, I submit to Thee.

All Christians are under this obligation; but the humble Religious must go further, and must actually rejoice in being despoiled of all things, dead to the world, and incapable of holding possessions. O happy deprivation, which gives God in return!

Day 3: To be meek.

Third Day

SECOND BEATITUDE

To be meek.—Matt. v. 4.

BLESSED are the meek.' ‘Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of hear. Meek — that is to say, free from bitterness, from presumption, from disdain; never taking advantage of others, nor insulting the unfortunate, nor even offending the proud, but trying to win them by gentleness; mild even with those who are sharp; not meeting temper with temper, or violence with violence, but moderating excess in others by gentle words. Such is true meekness.

There are false kinds of meekness — contemptuous, full of hidden pride, effrontery and affectation of mildness — which are more unkind and more insulting than open roughness.

But let us reflect on the meekness of Jesus Christ, of which the Holy Spirit speaks as follows in Isaias: — 'Behold my servant, I will uphold him! my elect, my soul delighteth in him. I have given my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor have respect to person, neither shall his voice be heard abroad. The bruised reed he shall not break and smoking flax he shall not quench; he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.’

This is what Isaias saw in spirit; and what St Matthew, in act, found so beautiful — so remarkable — so worthy of Jesus Christ — that he takes special pains to extol it.

He is meek towards the weakest: though a reed, already feeble, may have been made more so by bruising, far from taking any advantage of such weakness, He turns aside that He may not tread upon it. Do you, then, act thus towards your neighbour. Instead of seeking occasion to injure him, take care that you do not walk over him and complete his destruction by inadvertence, and as though ' by the way.’ But who is this weak neighbour if not the hot-tempered man who has got into a passion? He is bruised by his own rage; the feeble reed has bent itself in the act of striking. Do not you destroy it utterly by crushing it under foot. This, again, is what is meant by the ‘ smoking flax.' Anger in a heart has made it catch fire; the smoke is some insult offered to you by your neighbour in this angry state. Take great care not to quench the fire by violence. Listen to St Paul’s exhortation — ‘Not revenging yourselves, my dearly beloved, but give place unto wrath.’ Let it smoke a little and go out of its own accord. Left to itself it will burn out, so do not stifle it; but let the smoke rise and lose itself vainly in the air, without annoying or even reaching you.

This is just what our Saviour does when He bears so many insults without bitterness. ‘ Thou hast a devil; ’ they say to Him. ' Who seeketh to kill thee? ’ And He replies, unmoved, ‘ I have not a devil, but I honour my Father, and you dishonour me.’ And on another occasion, when they reproach Him with the same thing: ‘ Are you angry at me because I have healed the whole man on the Sabbath day? ’ Here, as you see, He does not extinguish the smoking flax, but leaves it to burn out, to see whether the unfortunate people, tired of covering so meek and humble a man with insults, will not return to their senses. Such, throughout, was the conduct of the Son of God, especially in His Passion. ‘ When he was reviled he did not revile; when he suffered, he threatened not.' And again, to the man who gave Him a blow, ‘If I have spoken evil, give testimony of the evil; but if well, why strikest thou me? ’

To Him, truly, it belongs to say, ‘ Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart.' He is rightly compared to a lamb, the meekest of all animals, which not only allows itself to be ‘sheared,’ but was ‘led as a sheep to the slaughter,’ without opening its mouth.

‘ Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land.’ The land promised to Abraham is called 'a land flowing with milk and honey.' Everything sweet abounds there; it is the type of Heaven and of the Church. What makes us harsh is the pouring forth upon others of our own inward venom and bitterness. When we have a spirit calmed by possession of the only real good and by the joy of a pure conscience, as there is then nothing bitter within our hearts, so we have only mildness for others. The true mark of innocence, either preserved or recovered, is gentleness.

Man is so prone to take offence that he is often offended with the very people who are doing him good. How irritable a sick man is with his nurses! Almost the whole world is diseased in that way; and hence it is that we are always getting angry with those who advise us for our own good, even more so with those who have the authority to do it than with others. The innate pride that we carry about with us is the cause of this. 'Blessed, therefore, ' are the meek, for they shall possess the land' where all sweetness abounds, because the joy there is perfect.

Day 4: To be a mourner.

Fourth Day

THIRD BEATITUDE

To be a mourner.—Matt. v. 5.

BLESSED are those who mourn.’ Whether they are mourning for their troubles or their sins, they are happy, and shall receive the only true consolation: — which is that of the next life, where ' there shall be no more mourning nor crying,’ and where all tears shall be wiped away.

Abraham said to the wicked rich man, 'Thou didst receive good things in this life, and Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and thou art tormented.’ That is — he is happy, for he suffered patiently; his painful condition often forced him to mourn over excessive misfortunes, and he got no consolation from his fellows: — the pitiless rich man did not even deign to look at him. But because he bore '— the world shall rejoice, and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be changed into joy.' This is our Saviour’s promise to His disciples. Sadness and joy come alternately: he who rejoices shall be afflicted; he who is afflicted shall rejoice. ‘ Blessed,’ then, 'are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted?

But, amongst all who mourn, none shall be sooner consoled than those who weep for their own sins. In every other case, grieving over a trouble, far from being a remedy, only increases the evil itself. Sin is the only evil that can be cured by deploring it. Let us sinners, then, weep without ceasing. Let our eyes be turned into inexhaustible streams, whose incessant flow shall furrow our cheeks, as the Psalmist says. The remission of sins is the fruit of such holy tears. Ah! ten thousand times happy those who mourn their sins! They shall indeed be comforted.

And what of those happy ones, again, who shed tears of pure love and tenderness? Their hearts melt within them, as Holy Scripture says, and seem as though they would flow forth through their eyes. But who can tell us the true cause of such tears — who can explain it? Often those who have actually experienced them cannot tell what has called them forth. It may be now the goodness of a Father, now the condescension of a King; then the absence of a Divine Bridegroom, or the darkness that He leaves in the soul as He withdraws; or yet once more His tender voice, as He returns, calling His faithful spouse. But oftenest of all it is something that no man can tell.

Day 5: To hunger and thirst after justice.

Fifth Day

FOURTH BEATITUDE

To hunger and thirst after justice.—Matt. v. 6.

BLESSED are those who hunger and thirst after justice, for they shall be filled.’ ' Hunger and thirst’ means an ardent, eager, and urgent longing, which proceeds from extreme need.

'Seek ye the kingdom of God and his justice.’ Justice reigns in Heaven, and ought to reign also in the Church, which is often called the Kingdom of Heaven. It really reigns whenever we give to God what is His due; for when we do this we at the same time give, for love of the Creator, all that is due to creatures, whom we look at in Him. By the same act, again, we give all that is due to ourselves; for when we have filled ourselves with God we possess all that we can contain. Then have we fulfilled all justice, as God said to St John. The soul then hungers and thirsts no more, for she has her true food. ' My meat is to do the will of him that sent me,’ said the Saviour, ‘that I may perfect his work.' This, therefore, is what Christ calls ‘ all justice ’: — to accomplish in all things the perfectly just will of our Heavenly Father, and to make it the rule of our own wills also in everything. But when we do the will of God, He will do ours. The Psalmist sang: 'He will do the will of those who fear him,’ and thus he will satisfy all their desires. Blessed are those who desire justice as eagerly as they long for meat and drink when they are exhausted with hunger and thirst; for then shall they be filled. With what, indeed, should we be filled if not with justice? We shall be partly satisfied even in this life; for the just man will become more just, and the holy man more holy in return for his eager longing; but perfect satisfaction will come in heaven, where eternal justice will be given to us, together with the fulness of the love of God. 'I shall be satisfied,’ declares the Psalmist, 'when Thy glory shall appear.’

But are we always to thirst for justice? Our Saviour said to the Samaritan woman, 'He who drinks of this water ’ — that is, of earthly pleasures — ‘ shall thirst again; but he who drinks the water that I will give him shall never thirst; for the water that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’ He is, then, never to thirst again? In one sense, certainly, never: — for he will never again wish for any pleasure, any joy, any good, except what he possesses in Jesus Christ. Yet in another sense he will always thirst; for he will never cease to desire this supreme good itself, and will long to possess it more and more completely. Thus, then, his thirst will be everlasting: — but so also will be the quenching of his thirst, as he will have that ever-springing fountain within him. He will not suffer the painful and exhausting thirst of those who seek the pleasures of the senses. He will continually thirst for justice; but with his lips always held to the source of life that he owns, this thirst can never weary or weaken him. ‘If any man thirst,’ cries the Son of God, ‘let him come to me and drink. He that believeth in me... out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.’ Come, then, ye holy souls — come to Jesus! Desire — drink — be satisfied! Fear not that this heavenly stream will ever fail you; the fountain is greater than your thirst; its abundance far beyond your need. 'Fons vincit sitientem,' says St Augustine.

Day 6: To be merciful.

Sixth Day

FIFTH BEATITUDE

To be merciful.—Matt. v. 7.

BLESSED are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' The most beautiful fruit of love is to be touched by the ills of others. ‘ It is more blessed to give than to receive,' said Jesus Christ. This saying had not been recorded by the Evangelists, but God chose St Paul to have the honour of handing it down to us. ‘Remember,' said that Apostle, ‘the word of the Lord Jesus, how he said, 'It is a more blessed thing to give rather than to receive.”' Blessed, then, are those who both give and really like giving better than receiving. Blessed, furthermore, is he who invites to his feast, not the rich who can return his hospitality, but the poor, the maimed, the halt and the blind. ‘Then,' said our Saviour, ' thou shalt be blessed, because they have not wherewith to make thee recompense, for recompense shall be made thee at the resurrection of the just.’ Blessed, therefore, are the merciful, who give without hope of receiving anything from those towards whom they show mercy, for they themselves shall obtain unending mercy from God.

We must then have mercy on all we may see in suffering: on the sick and the afflicted: — we must soothe them by words of comfort and wise counsel if we have nothing else to give: — help them to bear their troubles, and if possible share these with them.

This is the most beautiful of all offerings. 'I will have mercy and not sacrifice,’ as He Himself has said.

Day 7: To be clean of heart.

Seventh Day

SIXTH BEATITUDE

To be clean of heart.—Matt. v. 8.

BLESSED are the clean of heart.’ Who can tell the beauty of a pure heart? A spotless mirror — a piece of perfectly refined gold — a diamond of the purest water — an absolutely clear fountain — none of them equal the beauty and the cleanness of a pure heart. To produce such a heart, every bit of dirt must be removed: — and especially all that comes from the pleasures of sense, for one drop from the cup of these pleasures will disturb this beautiful fountain. How lovely, how truly ravishing even, is the untroubled stream of an unspotted heart! God takes pleasure in seeing Himself reflected in it, as in a highly-polished glass, in all His beauty; and, piercing it with His rays, He makes the mirror itself appear all resplendent as a sun. God’s own purity then becomes united to that which He Himself has worked in us; and our illuminated sight beholds Him shining within our souls and lighting them up with an everlasting radiance. 'Blessed,' therefore, ' are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.'

Let us love chastity above all other virtues, for it is she who makes the heart pure. In every object that attracts our love let us see a danger of sullying our hearts, or of plunging them deeper in the very mire whence we should make every effort to snatch them.

'Blessed is the pure in heart, for he shall see God.’ The last two words alone are enough for the soul to feed upon for a whole day. 'He shall see God ’: — that is, he shall behold all charity, all beauty, all perfection; goodness itself — the source of all goodness — all goodness in one, as He Himself has declared. 'I will show thee all good,’ He said to Moses, when He talked with him in the tabernacle. To see so perfect an object, and to love it, are one and the same thing. The man who is pure in heart, then, will behold and love; but he will also be loved; he will sing the praises of God whom he is to see and love for ever. He will be filled with the abundance of his dwelling-place, and intoxicated with the torrent of his delights. Happy being! But this can only be for the pure in heart, and hence he is blessed. Let him, then, who is not pure hasten to come forth from the slough wherein he lies wallowing; let him wash off the filthy stains that degrade and disfigure him!