It has been already explained, though briefly, that one reason which seems to have guided the Spirit of God, if we may reverently venture so to speak, in putting the sermon on the mount out of its historical place in Matthew, and giving it to us before many of the events which, in point of fact, took place subsequently, was this: that the whole Gospel was written upon the principle of convincing Jews that Jesus was their real Messiah—a man, but Jehovah—the Jehovah God of Israel; that the nation had had the fullest proofs that He was really their Messiah, according to prophecy, miracle, moral principles and ways, both in His own person and in His doctrine. In order to give the greater weight to His doctrine, the Spirit of God, in my opinion, has been pleased, first, to give as a general sketch the deeds of miraculous power which aroused universal attention. The report went abroad everywhere, so that there was no possible ground of excuse for unbelief to argue that there was not sufficient publicity; that God had not sounded the trumpet loud enough for the tribes of Israel to hear. Far from that: throughout all Syria his fame had gone forth, and great multitudes followed Him from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond Jordan. All this is brought forward here and grouped together at the end of chapter iv.
And just as there is this grouping of the miracles of Christ, which might have been severed from one another by a long space of time, so I apprehend the sermon on the mount was not necessarily a continuous discourse, unbroken by time or circumstances, but that the Holy Ghost has seen fit to arrange it so as to give the whole moral unity of the doctrine of Christ as to the kingdom of heaven; and to counteract the earthly views of the people of Israel.
Luke, on the contrary, was inspired of the Holy Ghost to give the questions that originated certain portions of the discourse, and the circumstances that accompanied it; and, again, to keep certain parts of that discourse back, and connect them with facts that occurred from time to time in our Lord's ministry, the actual incidents being thus interwoven in moral correspondence with any particular doctrine of our Lord. In some places of Luke the Spirit of God takes the liberty, according to His sovereign wisdom, of keeping back certain portions and bringing in a part here and there according to the object He has in view. The great feature of Luke's gospel, which rims through it from beginning to end, being a moral one, we can perfectly understand how suitable it was that, if there were circumstances in Christ's life which were a sort of practical comment on His discourse, there you should have the discourse and the facts put together.
Now, as to the discourse itself, the Lord here clearly speaks as the Messiah, the prophet King of the Jews. But besides, all through you will find that the discourse supposes the rejection of the King. It is not brought clearly out yet, but this is what underlies it all. The King has the sense of the true state of the people, who had no heart for Him. Hence there is a sweet tinge of sorrow that runs through it. That must ever characterize real godliness in the world as it is; a strange thing for Israel, and specially strange in the bps of the King, of One, too, possessed of such power, that had it been a question of using His resources, He could have changed all in a moment. The miracles which accompanied His every word, proved that there was nothing beyond His reach, if Himself only were looked at. But you will find in all the ways of God, that while He always makes good his counsels, so that if He predicts a kingdom, and takes in hand to set up a kingdom, He will certainly accomplish it, since He never gives up a single thought that has proceeded from His heart. Nevertheless, He first presents the thought to man, to Israel because they were the chosen race among men. Man has thus the responsibility of receiving or rejecting that which is the mind of God, before grace and power give it effect. But man always fails, no matter what God's purpose may be. It is good, it is holy, it is true, it is that which exalts Himself, it is that which abases the sinner: this is enough for man. He feels that he is made nothing of, and he rejects whatever does not gratify his vanity. Man invariably sets himself against the thoughts of God, consequently there is pain and sorrow—rejection of God Himself. And the wonderful thing that the history of this world shows us, is God submitting to be rejected and insulted; allowing poor weak man, a worm, to repel the advances of God and refuse His goodness, to turn everything that God gives and promises into the display of his own pride and glory, against the very character of God. You will find that all this, as it is the truth about man; so the tinge of it runs through this blessed discourse of our Lord. And when He is now bringing out, which is the great purport of the early part of this chapter, the character of the people who would suit the kingdom of heaven. He shows that their character was to be formed by his own. If there was the dislike and contempt of men for what was of God, He shows that those who really belong to him, must have a spirit and ways flowing from knowledge of, and sympathy with, His own. I only say sympathy here, because you will find that the truth of a divine life which is given is not spoken of in this discourse. Redemption never is touched upon, not being the subject of the sermon on the mount. If a person, therefore, wanted to know how to be saved, he ought not to look here with the thought of finding an answer. It could not be found in it, because the Lord is bringing out the kingdom of heaven and the character of the people that are the subjects of that kingdom. It is clear that He is speaking of his own people, and therefore could not be showing the way for one that did not belong to His own people to be delivered from this position. He is speaking about saints, not about sinners. He shows what is according to his heart; not at all the way for a soul that is consciously at a distance from God to be brought near. The sermon on the mount treats not of salvation, but of the character and conduct belong to Christ—the true but rejected King. But when we examine these beatitudes, we shall find an astonishing depth in them, and a beautiful order, too.
The first blessedness, then, is a fundamental one—that which is inseparable from every soul that is brought to God, and that knows God. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Nothing more contrary to man. What people call ‘a man of spirit,' is exactly the opposite of being poor in spirit. A man of spirit is a person such as Cain was—a man determined not to be beaten; a man who would fight it out with God Himself. There was a proud spirited man that never would bend. Now, a man “poor in spirit” is the very opposite of this. It is a person who is broken, who is down, who feels that the dust is his right place. Now, every soul that knows God must, more or less, be there. He may get out of this place; for although it is a solemn thing, yet it is easy enough, to rise again, to forget our right place before God; and it is specially easy for those who have been brought into the liberty of Christ. When there is earnestness of spirit, a man is apt to be low, specially if not quite sure that all is clear between his soul and God. But when full relief if brought to his spirit, when he knows the fullness and certainty of redemption in Christ Jesus, and then looks away from Jesus, and takes his place among men, there you will have the old spirit revived, the spirit of man in its worst form: so terrible is the effect of a departure from God and a mingling with men. The first in order, the Lord lays down as a sort of foundation, and which is inseparable from a soul that is brought to God:—he may not even know what full liberty is, but there is this thing that never can be absent where the Holy Ghost works in the soul—and that is, poverty of spirit. It may be encroached on by others, or it may fade way through the influence of false doctrine, or worldly thoughts and practice, but still there it was, and there, in the midst of all the rubbish, it is; and God knows how to bring a man down again, if he has forgotten his true place. “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” He is speaking about the kingdom, and he at once says, these are the people to whom it belongs. By the “kingdom of heaven,” He does not mean heaven; it never means heaven, but always takes in the earth as under the rule of Heaven. You will find that many persons are in the habit of confounding these things. “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” they think means “theirs is heaven.” Whereas the Lord is not referring to heaven, but to the rule of the heavens over an earthly scene. It refers to the scene of the ruling Messiah—those who are poor in spirit belong to that system of which He is the Head. He does not speak of the Church here. There might have been the kingdom of heaven and no Church at all. It is not till the sixteenth chapter of this gospel that the subject of the Church is broached, and then it is a thing promised and expressly distinguished from the kingdom of heaven. There is not in all scripture a single passage where the kingdom of heaven is confounded with the Church, or vice versa, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This is the first primary foundation, the great characteristic feature of all that belongs to Jesus. “Blessed are they that mourn,” is the second feature. There is more activity of life, more depth of feeling, more entrance into the condition of things around them. To be “poor in spirit” would be true if there were not a single other soul in the world; but he feels it because of what he is in himself; it is a question between him and God, that makes lam to be poor in spirit. But “Blessed are they that mourn,” is not merely what we find in our own condition, but it is the holy sorrow that a saint feels in finding himself in such a world as this, and, oh, how little able to maintain the glory of God! So that there is this holy sorrow very prominent indeed in the second part. The first is the child of God that just shows us the earliest rudimental feelings of holiness in his soul; the second is the sense of what is due to God; a feeling it may be of great weakness, and yet of what should become the honor of God, and how it should be upheld by himself. “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” There is not a single groan that goes up to God but He treasures and will answer it; “ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves.” Here, then, you have the sorrowing of the godly soul.
But in the third case, we come to that which is much deeper and more chastened. It is a condition of soul produced by a fuller acquaintance with God, and is especially the way in which God elsewhere describes the blessed One Himself. He was “meek and lowly in heart;” and this was what the Lord said after He had been groaning in spirit, for He knew what it was to have the sorrow we have been speaking about, over the condition of men and the rejection of God that He witnessed here below. He could only say “Woe” to those cities in which He had done so many mighty works; and then Capernaum comes in for the deepest condemnation, because the mightiest works of all were done there in vain. And what could Jesus do but groan in spirit as He thought of such utter spurning of God, and indifference to His own love? But at the same hour we find he rejoices in spirit, and says, “I thank thee, O Father.” There is the blessed proof of matchless meekness in Jesus—that the same hour which sees the depth of His sorrow over man, sees also His perfect bowing to God, though at the cost of everything to Himself. Conscious of this, He says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me: for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Now, then, I think I may be bold to say that this meekness, which was found in its absolute perfectness in Jesus, is also what the gradually deepening knowledge of the ways of God, even in the sense of the abounding wickedness of this world, and the failure of what bears the name of Christ, produces in the saint of God. For in the midst of all that he sees around him, there is the discerning of the hidden purpose of God that is going on in spite of everything; so that the heart, instead of being fettered by the evil that it witnesses, and which it cannot set aside; instead of the least feeling of envy at the prosperity of the wicked, finds its resource in God— “the Lord of heaven and earth” as expression most blessed because it marks the absolute control in which everything is held by God. Jesus is the meek One, and those that belong to Jesus are trained to this meekness also. “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” The earth—why not heaven? The earth is. he scene of all this evil that had brought out such sorrow and mourning. But now, having better learned God's ways, they can commit it all to Him. Meekness is not merely to have a sense of nothingness in ourselves, or to be filled with sorrow for the opposition to God here below; but it is rather the calmness of leaving thing's with God, and bending to God, and thankfully owning the will of God, even where naturally it may be most trying to ourselves.
The fourth blessedness is much more active. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be tilled.” Perfect soul satisfaction, they shall have it. Whatever was the form of the spiritual feeling of the sent, there is always the perfect answer to it on God's part. If there is sorrow, they shalt be comforted; if them is meekness, they shall inherit the earth, the very place of their trial here. Now, there is this activity of spiritual feeling, the going out after what was according to God, what maintained the will of God, specially as made known to a Jew in the Old Testament. Therefore it is called hungering and thirsting. after righteousness. We learn deeper principles in the New Testament still, which had to be brought out when the disciples were able to bear them.
This closes what we may call the first section of the beatitudes. You will find that they are divided, as the series of scripture often are, into four and three. We have had four classes of persons pronounced “blessed.” All the traits ought to be found in one individual, but some will be more prominent in one than another. For instance, we may see great activity in one, astonishing meekness in another. The principle of all is in every soul that is born of God. In verse 7 we enter upon a rather different class: and it will be found that the three last have got a common character, as the first four have.
“Blessed are the merciful: be they shall obtain mercy.” As righteousness is the key-note of the first four, so grace is that which lies at the root of the latter three; and, therefore, the very first of them shows you not merely that they are righteous, and, that they feel what is due to God, but they are found clinging to the will. of God, and maintaining it in the midst of surrounding evil. Yea, there is something more blessed still, and what is that “Blessed are the merciful.” There is nothing upon which God more takes His stand as the active principle of His being in a world of sin, than His mercy. The only possibility of salvation to a single soul, is that there is mercy in God; that He is rich in mercy, that there is no bound to His mercy; that there is nothing in the heart of man, if he only bows to His Son, which can hinder this constant flowing spring of mercy. “Blessed,” then, “are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” it is not merely a question of the forgiveness of their sins, but of mercy in everything. It is a blessed thing to hail the smallest sign of mercy, to take the little and look for much more.
Blessed are the merciful.” They will find, not that there is not difficulty and trial, but though they shall. know the cost of it, they shall know the sweetness of it; they shall taste afresh what the mercy of God is towards their own souls, in the exercise of mercy towards others. This is the characteristic feature of the new class of blessing; just as poverty of spirit was the introduction to the first blessings, so mercy is to these.
The next is the consequence of this, as in the former class. If a roan does not think much of himself, men will take advantage of him. If a man is bold, and boastful, and self-exalting, saints may suffer it. (2 Cor. 11.) If he does well to himself, men will praise him. (Psa. 49) But the contrary of that is what God works in the saint. No matter what he may be, he is broken down before God: he learns the vanity of what man; he is content to be nothing. And the effect. is, he suffers. Poverty of spirit be followed by mourning. Then there is the meekness, as there is deepening acquaintance with God, and then the hungering and thirsting after righteousness. But now it is merry; and the effect of mercy is not a compromising of the holiness of God, but a larger and deeper standard of it. The fuller your hold of grace is, the higher your maintenance or holiness will be. If you only take grace as a wretched, selfish being, trying to find an excuse for sin, no doubt it will be perverted. And so He speaks at once of the proper, normal effect of tasting of this spring of mercy. They are “pure in heart.” That is the next class, and it is, I believe, the consequence of the first, of being merciful. “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.” It is exactly what belongs to God; for He alone is pure absolutely. Thus also he was perfectly reflected in His beloved Son. For not one single thought or feeling over sullied divine perfectness in the heart of Jesus. in this case he is just showing us what He Himself was. It is clear that he puts his own characteristics before those who belonged to Him; because He is their life. It is Christ in us that produces what is according God by the Holy Ghost—this blessed One, whose very coming into the world was the witness of perfect grace and mercy on God's part; for it was God who so loved the world that he gave His only-begotten Son for it. And He was there, a man—the faithful witness of the mercy and of the purity of God. He, when He came with His heart full of mercy towards the vilest, was yet the very One who was the pattern or the perfection of the purity of God. “He that sent me.” He could say, “is with me; for I do always those things that please him.” The only way of doing anything to please God, is by having the consciousness of being in the presence of God: and there is no possibility of that, except as I am drawn there in the liberty of grace, and as knowing that what Christ was to God, in His own person, is given to me by redemption. Christ has, of course, a title to be ever there, because of what he Himself is: and we are there, through faith of Christ, because of the nearness that is given us by the perfect blotting out of our sins through His blood. But this is not revealed here; for the Lord is rather showing the moral qualities of those that belong to Him.
The third and closing one of these blessednesses is, “Blessed are the peace-makers; for they shall be called the children of God.” There we have the active side again, as we saw an analogy in the closing one of the first four. These go out making peace. If there is the smallest possibility of the peace of God being brought into the scene, they are sure to find out where it can be or may be; and if it cannot be, they are content to wait upon God, and look up to Him, that, he will make this peace in His own time. And as this peace-making can belong only to God Himself, so these saints that are enriched with these blessed qualities of the grace of God and His righteousness—His grace, His mercy, and its effects—are equally round now characterized as peace-makers: “they shall be called the children of God.” Oh! this is a sweet thing! Sons of God: is it not because it was the reflection of his own nature—what God Himself was? They bore the stamp of God upon them. There is no one thing that inure shows God manifested in His children than this peace-making. That was what God was doing, what His heart was set upon. Here are found men upon the earth who shall be called the children of God. What belonged to them naturally is merged, and they have a new title, sons of God.
Then follow two exceedingly interesting blessings. They add much to the beauty of the scene, and complete the picture in a most interesting way. “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This is evidently beginning over again. The first blessedness is “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven:” and these four were all marked by righteousness. It is the very first thing that God ever produces in a soul. He who is awakened takes up God's cause against himself. He is, in measure, broken down, poor in spirit; and God looks for him to grow in poverty of spirit to the last. But here it is not so much what they were, as what their lot was from others. The two last blessednesses speak of their portion in the world from the hands of other people. The first four are characterized by intrinsic righteousness—the last three by intrinsic grace. These two, then, answer, one to the first four, and the other to the last three. “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This does not go beyond the blessed state of things that the power of God will bring in over the earth in connection with the Messiah. Being rejected, the kingdom of heaven is His, only, as it were, with a stronger and deeper title—certainly with the means of blessing by grace for the lost. A suffering and despised Messiah is still dearer to the heart of God than if we conceived Him received all at once. And if He does not lose the kingdom because He was persecuted, neither do they. “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Persecuted, not merely by the Gentiles or by the Jews, but for righteousness' sake. Do not be looking at the people that persecute you, but at the reason why you are persecuted. If it is because you desire to be found in obedience to the will of God, blessed are you. You fear to sin—you suffer for it; blessed are they which suffer for righteousness' sake: they will have their portion under the Messiah Himself.
But now we have, finally, another blessedness. And mark the change. “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.” This change to ye is exceedingly precious. It is not merely put in an abstract form— “blessed are they;” but it is a personal thing. He looks at the disciples there, knows what they were to go through for His sake, and gives them the highest, nearest place in His love. “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, for my sake.” It is not now for righteousness' sake, but “for my sake.” There is something still more precious than righteousness, and that is Christ. And when you have Christ, you can have nothing higher. Blessed indeed to be persecuted for His sake! The difference is just this: when a man suffers for righteousness' sake, it is that there is some evil put before him, and he refuses it. He would have perhaps to subscribe something against his conscience, and he cannot do it—he dare not. He is offered a tempting bait, but it involves that which he knows is contrary to God. All is in vain: the tempter's object is seen. Righteousness prevails, and he suffers. He not only loses what is offered, but he is evil spoken of, too. Blessed are they who suffer thus for righteousness' sake! But for Christ's sake is a totally different thing. There the enemy effects great execution. He tempts the soul with such questions as these: is there any reason why you should speak about Jesus and the gospel? There is no need for being so zealous for the truth. Why go out of your way so far for this person or that thing? Now, in these cases it is not a question of a sin, open or covert. For in the case of suffering for Christ's sake, it is the activity of grace that goes out to others. It is not a question of righteousness, but answers to the last three of the seven beatitudes. A soul that is filled with a sense of mercy cannot refrain his lips. He who knows what God is could not be silent merely because of what men think or do. Blessed are ye who thus suffer for the sake of Christ's name! The power of grace prevails there. Too often, alas! motives of prudence come in: people are afraid of giving offense to others—of losing influence for self—of spoiling the prospect of the children, &c. But the energy of grace looks at all this, and still says, Christ is worth infinitely more; Christ commands my soul for this—I must follow Him. In suffering for righteousness' sake, a soul eschews evil, earnestly, peremptorily, and commits itself at all cost to what is right; but in the other, it discerns the path of Christ—that which the gospel, the worship, or the will of the Lord call to, and at once throws itself with its whole heart on the Lord's side. Then comes in the comfort of that sweet word, “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you. . .for my sake.” For the Lord could not refrain the expression of His soul's delight in His saints: “Blessed are ye. . . Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven.” Observe, it is not now in the kingdom of heaven, but “in heaven.” He identifies these with a higher place altogether. It is not only the power of God, over the earth, and His giving them a portion here; but it is taking them out of the earthly scene to be with Himself above. “For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” What an honor to follow in earthly rejection and scorn those who preceded us in special communion with God—the heralds of Him for whom we suffer now! We may clearly, then, consider that these two final blessednesses, the persecutions for righteousness' sake and for Christ's sake, answer, respectively, to the first four blessings and to the last three.
In Luke, where we have these blessings brought before us, we have none for righteousness' sake—only for His name's sake. And in all the cases it is “Blessed are ye.” To some it may seem a delicate shade, but the difference is characteristic of the two Gospels. Matthew takes in the largest view, and specially that view of the principles of the kingdom of heaven which was suited to the understanding of a Jew, to bring him out of his mere Judaism, or to show him higher principles. Luke, whatever the principles are, gives them all under the form of grace, and treats them as our Lord's direct addresses to the individual soul “Blessed are ye.” Even if he takes up the subject of the poor, he drops the abstract form of Matthew, and makes it all personal. Everything is connected with the Lord Himself, and not merely with righteousness. This is exceedingly beautiful. And if we pursue, further, the next few verses which give, not so much the characteristics of the people as their general attitude in the world the place in which they are set in the earth by God, we have it in a very few words, and strongly confirming the distinction which I have drawn between righteousness and Christ's name's sake. And if you examine the Epistle of Peter, you will find this remarkably corroborated there also.
“Ye are the salt of the earth.” Salt is the only thing that cannot be salted, because it is the preservative principle itself; and if this is gone, it cannot be replaced. “If the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?” The salt of the earth is the relation of the disciples here to that which already had the testimony of God; therefore the expression earth or land, which was specially true of the Jewish land then. Now, if you speak about the earth, it is Christendom—the place that enjoys, either really or professedly, the light of God's truth. That is what may be called the earth. And this is the place which will finally be the scene of the greatest apostasy; for apostasy is only possible where light has been enjoyed and departed from. In the Revelation, where the closing results of the age are given, the earth appears in a most solemn manner; and then we have the peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues—what we should call heathen lands. But the earth means the once-favored scene of professing Christianity, where there have been all the energies of the mind of men at work—the scene where the testimony of God had once shed its light—then, alas! abandoned to utter apostasy.
“Ye are the salt of the earth.” They were the real preservative principle there: all the rest, the Lord intimates, were good for nothing. But more than that. He gives a solemn warning that there is a danger that the salt should lose its savor. He is not now speaking of the question of whether a saint can fall away or not. People go with their own questions to Scripture, and pervert the word of God, to suit their own thoughts. The Lord is not raising the question whether life is ever lost; but He is speaking of certain persons who are in a given position; and among them there might be persons who had taken it heedlessly or even falsely, and then there would be the fading away of all that they had once had. And He shows their judgment—the most contemptuous possible, to be passed upon that which took so high a place without reality. And so it will be still more evidently yet.
“Ye are the light of the world.” This is another thing. Bearing in mind the distinction drawn in the series of the beatitudes and of the persecutions, we have the key to these two verses. The salt of the earth represents the righteous principle. The salt of the earth involves the clinging to the eternal rights of God and the maintenance before the world of what is due to His character; and that was gone when what bore the name of God fell below what even men thought proper. You can hardly read a newspaper now but what you find scoffs against what is called religion. All respect is gone, and men think that the condition of Christians is a fair subject for their ridicule. But now, in verse 14, we have not only the principle of righteousness, but of grace—the outflowing and strength of grace. And here we find a new title given to the disciples, as descriptive of their public testimony— “the light of the world.” The light is clearly that which diffuses itself. The salt is what ought to be inward, but the light is that which scatters itself abroad. “A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” It was diffusing its testimony everywhere. Man does not light a candle to put it under a corn measure, but on a candlestick; “and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.” After this manner let your light shine before men, “that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Mark it well. When we have looked at these two striking sketches of the testimony of believers here below, as the salt of the earth, the preservative energy in the midst of profession, and, as the light of the world, going out in activity and love towards the poor world; and the danger of the salt losing its savor, and of the light being put under a bushel. Now we find the great object of God in this twofold testimony. It is not merely a question of the blessing of souls, for there is not a word about evangelization or saving sinners, but of the walk of saints. There is a grave question that God raises about his saints, and this is about their own ways apart from other people. Calls to the unconverted we find abundantly elsewhere, and none can exaggerate their importance for the world; but the sermon on the mount is God's call to the unconverted. It is their character, their position, their testimony distinctively; and if others are thought of throughout, it is not so much a question of winning them, as of the saints reflecting what comes from above. This light is what comes from Christ. It is not, let your good works shine before men. When people talk about this verse, they are evidently thinking about their own works, and when that is the case, there are generally no good works at all. But even if there were, works are not light. Light is that which comes from God directly and purely, without admixture of man. Good works are the fruit of its notion upon the soul; but it is the light winch is to shine before men. It is the disciple's confession of Himself; that is the point before God. Confess Christ in everything. Let this be the aim of your heart. It is not merely certain things to be done. The light shining is the great object here, though doing good ought to flow from it. If I make doing good everything, it is a lower thought than that which is before the mind of God. An infidel can feel that a shivering man needs a coat or blanket. The natural man may be fully alive to the wants of others; but if I merely take these works and make them the prominent thing, I really do nothing more than an unbeliever might. The moment you make the good works the object, and their shining before men, you find yourself on common ground with Jews and heathen. God's people are thus destroying their testimony. What so bad in the way of a thing done professedly for God, as a work that leaves out Christ, and that shows a man who loves Christ to be on comfortable terms with those that hate Him? This is what the Lord warns the saints against. They are not to be thinking about their works, but that the light of God should shine. Works will follow, and much better works than where a person is always occupied with them. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Let your confession of what God is in His nature and of what Christ is in His own person and ways—let your acknowledgment of him be the thing that is felt and brought before, men—and then, when they see your good works, they will glorify your Father which is in heaven. Instead of saying, What a good man such an one is, they will glorify God on his behalf. if your light shines, men then connect what you do with your confession of Christ.
The Lord grant, then, that this, as it is the word and the will of Christ, may be that to which we surrender ourselves, and which we desire, above all things, for our own souls and for those who are dear to us; and if we see the forgetfulness of it in any saints of God, may we remember them in prayer, and seek to help them by the testimony of His truth which, if it does not carry the heart which it, may at least, more or less, reach the conscience, and be remembered another time!