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SERMON IV.

ON MEEKNESS.

MATT. V. 5.

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

THERE does not, at first view, appear to be any natural connexion between the virtue of meekness, and the blessing here promised to those who possess it. On the contrary, a temper the very reverse of meekness, a temper impatient of opposition, easily provoked, and regardless of the claims, and of the feelings and sufferings of others, would seem better adapted to advance a man in the world, and to secure to him a large share of those objects, for which the ambitious so eagerly and so incessantly contend. But if, "by inheriting the earth," we understand "enjoying it," there can be no doubt that whatever portion of this world's good things Providence is pleased to bestow upon the meek, the sweetness of their temper, their contentedness of mind, and the calm temperance and regularity of their passions, will make them enjoy with a relish and satisfaction far superior to any pleasure that

persons of an opposite character can derive, even from their largest acquisitions: and we may add, that they will likewise possess it with more security, because their demeanour, being harmless and inoffensive, will provoke no man to hurt or annoy them.

If, then, we understand the beatitude in this sense, it is plain, that the promise made in it to the meek is fulfilled; for, they alone, in respect of real enjoyment, may be truly said to inherit the earth.

But, though this may be very properly and usefully received, as a secondary meaning, it is evidently not that which our Saviour principally intended to convey. Almost all his promises are of a spiritual nature; and, that this one is so will appear, if we advert to what he had previously declared were the ends of his mission, and consider also what were the circumstances and habits of thinking of the persons to whom the promise was more immediately addressed. These must be kept in view, in order to a right understanding, not merely of this beatitude, but of our Saviour's discourses in general. It is, indeed, impossible to enter into the true spirit and meaning of any ancient writing, without some degree of acquaintance with the manners and opinions of the country and period to which it belongs: and there is not a more fruitful source of erroneous judgments in such matters, than ignorance or inattention in this respect.

In order to come at the true meaning of the beatitude, we must, therefore, attend, in the first place,

to the intimations given by our Saviour of the purposes of his mission; which he plainly declares, wherever and whenever circumstances rendered such declaration proper or necessary,-were, to make known the mercy of God,—to deliver mankind from the power and practice of sin, and to establish a kingdom of universal and everlasting righteousness, to be begun upon earth, and to be completed in the resurrection of the members of it to a life of glory, honour, and immortality. His hearers, from what they had heard and seen of his previous discourses and conduct, must have been aware, that these were the grand objects of his ministry, as the Messiah; and consequently, must have understood the promise to the meek, "that they should inherit the earth," as relative to these objects, and not, (primarily at least,) to any temporal possession or advantage. It is indeed manifest, that this, as well as all the other Gospel promises, must suit the nature of the Gospel Kingdom, which its Sovereign and Founder declares not to be of this world. We shall arrive at the same conclusion, if, secondly, we attend to the circumstances and habits of thinking of those, to whom our Saviour addressed himself upon this occasion. They had received not only their religion, but their civil polity and institutions from God himself, by the ministry of Moses; the Divine government over them was particular, and, whatever befel them as a nation, they were in the habit of considering as the effect of an immediate Divine interposition. They were reminded, from time to

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time, by prophets divinely inspired, of their duty as the chosen people of God, and excited to the performance of it by frequent and lively representations of the inestimable value of the blessings they would secure by obedience, on the one hand, and of the dreadful nature of the judgments they would incur by disobedience, on the other. And, that these promises and denunciations were not vain words, the past history of their nation furnished ample proof to the Jews of our Saviour's time. Of all the promises contained in the Mosaic Dispensation, there was none which they valued more highly than that they should inherit the land;"-of all the threatenings, none which they viewed with more horror, than that "they should be excluded or driven from it." Hence it was natural for them, and it had indeed become customary with them, to describe the highest spiritual blessings by using figuratively the language applied in their Scriptures to those temporal advantages which they considered the most valuable; and, if not all, at least the most enlightened of them, had learned, from a due consideration of the prophecies respecting a Messiah, that this promise of entering into, and possessing Canaan, and all the other promises and parts of the Mosaic covenant, were no more than figures and shadows of better things, to be enjoyed under his beneficent reign. So that our Saviour's meaning in this beatitude could not be mistaken. His

hearers would at once understand his words to refer, not to their own earthly Canaan, but to an heavenly

inheritance, in which there remains a rest for the people of God. And we may observe, that, considering their strong attachment to the land which the Lord their God had given them, and the fondness with which they cherished the hope of possessing it for ever, nothing could be better adapted than this mode of expression, to engage their attention, interest their feelings, and impress them with a just sense of the excellence of that heavenly country, to a place and habitation in which he taught and stimulated them to aspire. Thus much for the import of the promise contained in this beatitude. Let us now attend to the character of those to whom the promise is made. And in order to a right understanding of that character, it will be necessary to inquire into the nature of the virtue of meekness, and to ascertain in what true Christian meekness consists.

Our all-wise Creator has implanted in our nature two classes of affections, the irascible, and the benevolent, the former impelling us to resist and resent any harm or injury that may be offered to us, and the latter disposing us to seek and delight in the welfare and happiness of our fellow-creatures; the one being necessary to self-preservation; and the other to the very existence of the social state, In the due balance and temperament of these opposite affections, in as far as our intercourse with the world is concerned, consists the virtue of meekness. Neither of them can be eradicated, or, which amounts to the same thing, dismissed as a principle