y that the only way to keep a country is
to be armed to the teeth, and let no man insult its flag with impunity.
There does not seem much room for 'a spirited foreign policy' or for
'proper regard to one's own dignity' inside this Beatitude, does there?
But notice that this meekness naturally follows the preceding
dispositions. He who knows himself and has learned the depth of his own
evil will not be swift to blaze up at slights or wrongs. The true
meekness is not mere natural disposition, but the direct outcome of
poverty of spirit and the consequent sorrow. So, it is a test of their
reality. Many a man will indulge in confessions of sin, and crackle up
in sputtering heat of indignation at some slight or offence. If he
does, his lowly words have had little meaning, and the benediction of
these promises will come scantily to his heart.

Does Christ mean merely to say that meek men will acquire landed
properly? Is there not a present inheritance of the earth by them,
though they may not own a foot of it? They have the world who enjoy it,
whom it helps nearer God, who see Him in it, to whom it is the field for
service and the means for growing character. But in the future the
kingdom of heaven will be a kingdom of the earth, and the meek saints
shall reign with the King who is meek and lowly of heart.

IV. Righteousness is conformity to the will of God, or moral perfection.
Hunger and thirst are energetic metaphors for passionate desire, and
imply that righteousness is the true nourishment of the Spirit. Every
longing of a noble spirit is blessed. Aspiration after the unreached is
the salt of all lofty life. It is better to be conscious of want than to
be content. There are hungers which are all unblessed, greedy appetites
for the swine's husks, which are misery when unsatisfied, and disgust
when satiated. But we are meant to be righteous, and shall not in vain
desire to be so. God never sends mouths but He sends meat to fill them.
Such longings prophesy their fruition.

Notice that this hunger follows the experience of the former Beatitudes.
It is the issue of poverty of spirit and of that blessed sorrow.
Observe, too, that the desire after, and not the possession or
achievement of, righteousness is blessed. Is not this the first hint of
the Christian teaching that we do not work out or win but receive it?
God gives it. Our attitude towards that gift should be earnest longing.
Such a blessed hungerer shall 'receive ..