SERMON III.

Third Beatitude.

5TH CHAP. OF ST. MATTHEW, 5TH. VERSE.

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

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T the time when our Saviour was upon

earth, there were many who would not only be astonished at such a declaration as this, but would feel, if they felt at all, that it utterly condemned their spirit and conduct. The Jews were prepared to find in their Messiah a temporal conqueror. They expected that his “ kingdom" would be “of this world;" founded on martial exploits, and It is natural attended with military renown. that the temper of their minds should be consonant to this idea: that they should admire the striking and brilliant virtues which are applauded by the world; while those,

which are perhaps more difficult, because they are unsupported by praise, were overlooked and despised. If such was the prevailing disposition of the body of the Jewish nation; the parties into which it was divided, were not less hostile to the meek and humble qualities, enforced by Jesus Christ as the peculiar characteristics of his religion. While the Sadducees, satisfied with the enjoyments of life, treated the idea of a future state with indifference or with unbelief, and were therefore unsolicitous to cherish that spirit and disposition whose recompence is in eternity; the stricter sects were equally though differently indisposed, towards the nature of those doctrines taught by a suffering, instead of a triumphant Saviour. The quiet, gentle spirit of Christianity, was as disagreeable to the proud and supercilious virtues of the Scribes and Pharisees; as its self-denial to the voluptuous, and self-indulgent habits of the Sadducees. We may imagine the disgust they would feel, when called to relinquish the pride of heart which proclaimed them

guilty;

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guilty; instead of being congratulated for the outward ceremonies, and specious regularity, which they had mistaken for genuine holiness. "Shall we, who are the descendants of Abraham, the children of the promise, the favourites of Heaven; be exhorted to exchange our lofty confidence, for the trembling solicitude taught by this new religion? Shall we, whose superior attainments in the knowledge and practice of the law of God, entitle us to view with contemptuous pity those who have not been equally favoured; be taught to feel ourselves superior to none; to bear their mistakes with patience, to suffer their opposition with meekness, to meet even their injustice with forbearance ?"

But, is this language and spirit, confined to the days of Christ and his apostles, when the prejudices of the Jews rejected the preaching of Christianity; and when disobedience to the precepts of the Gospel, was explained, if not excused, by disbelief of its doctrines? Shall not we find in a Christian country; among those who have been bap

tized into the visible church, who have lived in a constant attendance upon its ordinances, have acknowledged the truth of the New Testament, and professed to be guided by its authority; a temper equally opposite to that of Christ, a language similar to that we might suppose the Pharisees to have held, when they heard the declaration in the text? Of the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, are there not many who, like the apostles, "know not what spirit they are of?" If they did; could they call themselves Christians, yet persecute their unoffending brethren, and indulge such proud contempt, or cherish such bitter animosity, against those whom they fancy their enemies? To have received a trifling, and perhaps unintentional slight; to have heard a disrespectful word, either expressed or implied; to have experienced an unimportant opposition to our plans of interest, elevation, or pleasure is often sufficient to produce animosity which years cannot eradicate, and which perhaps we may even carry to the grave. He must know but

little of the weakness and depravity of man, who expects that, in the moment of sudden temptation, pride can be always restrained, anger curbed, and dislike subdued. But surely, we may expect from the followers of Christ, that they should strive against the corruptions which his religion reprobates, instead of fostering them by indulgence, and strengthening them by habit. When we see one, who makes a profession of religion, cherishing a proud, unrelenting, and obstinate spirit; even acting on it as a principle, and thinking it a proof of proper dignity: we may certainly conclude, that his religion is at least very defective. It is to be feared that such characters quite mistake the nature of Christianity, and that even its first principles are unknown to them: but they must be lamentably ignorant of its practical consequences; they must be deplorably inattentive to some of the clearest and simplest declarations of the word of God: Like those who have never heard of Christianity, or who do not believe it, they frame their con

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