ciples came unto Him: 2. And He opened his mouth,
and taught them, saying, 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4. Blessed are they that mourn:
for they shall be comforted. 5. Blessed are the meek: for they
shall inherit the earth. 6. Blessed are they which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7. Blessed
are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8. Blessed are the
pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9. Blessed are the
peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God, 10.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11. Blessed are ye, when men shall
revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely, for My sake. 12. Rejoice, and be exceeding
glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they
the prophets which were before you. 13. Ye are the salt of the
earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be
salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be oast out, and
to be trodden under foot of men. 14. Ye are the light of the world.
A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15. Neither do men
light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick;
and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16. Let your
light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and
glorify your Father which is in heaven.'--MATT. v. 1-16.

An unnamed mountain somewhere on the Sea of Galilee is the Sinai of the
new covenant. The contrast between the savage desolation of the
wilderness and the smiling beauty of the sunny slope near the haunts of
men symbolises the contrast in the genius of the two codes, given from
each. There God came down in majesty, and the cloud hid Him from the
people's gaze; here Jesus sits amidst His followers, God with us. The
King proclaims the fundamental laws of His kingdom, and reveals much of
its nature by the fact that He begins by describing the characteristics
of its subjects, as well as by the fact that the description is cast in
the form of beatitudes.

We must leave unsettled the question as to the relation between the
Sermon on the Mount and the shorter edition of part of it given by Luke,
only pointing out that in this first part of Matthew's Gospel we are
evidently pr