n his breast, saying, God be merciful
to me a sinner.' And then, sweeter than angels' voices fluttering down
amid the blue, there will come that gracious word, 'Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.'

II. Turn, now, to the blessed issues of this characteristic.

Christ does not say 'joyful,' 'mirthful,' 'glad.' These are poor, vulgar
words by the side of the depth and calmness and permanence which are
involved in that great word 'blessed.' It is far more than joy, which
may be turbulent and is often impure. It is far deeper than any gladness
which has its sources in the outer world, and it abides when joys have
vanished, and all the song-birds of the spring are silent in the winter
of the soul. 'Blessed are the poor ... for theirs is the Kingdom of
Heaven.'

The bulk of the remaining Beatitudes point onward to a future; this
deals with the present. It does not say '_shall be_,' but '_is_ the
Kingdom.' It is an all-comprehensive promise, holding the succeeding
ones within itself, for they are but diverse aspects--modified according
to the necessities which they supply--of that one encyclopaedia of
blessings, the possession of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Now the Kingdom of Heaven (or of God) is a state in which the will of
God is absolutely and perfectly obeyed. It is capable of partial
realisation here, and is sure of complete fulfilment hereafter. To the
early hearers of these words the phrase would necessarily suggest the
idea which bulked so large in prophecy and in Judaism, of the Messianic
Kingdom; and we may well lay hold of that thought to suggest the first
of the elements of this blessedness. That poverty of spirit is blessed
because it is an indispensable condition of becoming Christ's men and
subjects. I believe, dear friends, for my part, that the main reason why
so many of us are not out-and-out Christian men and women, having
entered really into that Kingdom which is obedience to God in Christ, is
because we have a superficial knowledge, or no knowledge at all, of our
own sinful condition, and of the gravity of that fact. Intellectually, I
take it that an under-estimate of the universality and of the awfulness
of sin has a great deal to do in shaping all the maimed, imperfect,
partial views of Christ, His character and nature, which afflict the
world. It is the mother of most of our heresies. And, practically, if
you do not feel any burden, you do not care to hear about One who