13. Ye are the salt of the earth: 1but if the salt have lost his its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men. 14. 2 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. men lamp, 15. Neither do men 3 a 3 light a candle, and put it under the bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. the stand; 16. Let shineth 4 So shine before men, that they may see your Even so let your light good works, and 5 glorify your I Mark 9: 50; Luke 14: 34. 2 Prov. 4: 18. 3 Mark 4: 21; Luke 8: 16. 41 Pet. 2: 12. "It is are the light of the world, reflectors of the light of Jesus, the Whoever lives the Beatitudes shines with God's light. "Right living is the only way of light giving." "The light that never was on sea or land." "Behold how far that little candle sends its ray! The light of the sun which blesses our vision is the reflection CHRIST'S PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS. (1) Those who profess to be his disciples are like a city. set on an hill. People will see them, and their power depends on the kind and degree of their shining. (2) Do not hide your light by careless living, by imperfections, by neglect of duty, by refusing to confess Christ. (3) Let your light so shine (v. 16), etc. by being filled with the Spirit, by living the Beatitudes, by reflecting the character of Christ, so that men may take knowledge of you that you have been with Jesus. a The word in the original signifieth a measure containing about a pint less than a peck. LESSON V.- January 30. Lamp and Lampstand. R. V. Candle and Candlestick, A. V. SOME LAWS OF THE KINGDOM. PRINT vs. 22-26, 38-48. COMMIT v. 44. - Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in GOLDEN TEXT. heaven is perfect. - MATT. 5: 48. THE TEACHER AND HIS CLASS. The United States Commissioner of Education in a recent article for the Youth's Companion, tells us that "the successful teacher is the one who fits his pupils to educate themselves, for the business of the school is to prepare its pupils to turn the In our last lesson we considered what may be called the Text of the Sermon on the Mount; to-day we take up some of the applications of its principles to daily life. "There This sermon does not include all Christ's teachings even concerning ethics. were more grapes in the vineyards of Eschol than the messengers brought in evidence to the camp." -Maclaren. But it does include the Great Fundamental Principles of the Kingdom of Heaven, without which it is impossible to belong to that kingdom. The inhabitants of heaven live according to these principles as naturally as they breathe; and when all the people of earth do the same, heaven will be on earth, and the city of God will have come" down from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." This Address or sermon has been called: The Chart of Life, as charts show sailors where to go and what to avoid. Jesus' Inaugural Address (Maclaren). The Great Opening Lecture in a Course of Instruction (American Com.). Laws of Christ for Common Life (Dale). Christ's Biography. "The Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount are Christ's biography. Every syllable he had already written down in deeds. He has only to translate his life into language."— Wm. Burnet Wright, D.D. A Portrait of the Ideal Man. A Picture of the World as it will be when the Gospel has completed its work. A Glimpse of Heaven through "the gates ajar." A Standard of Judgment and a Test of Character. To-day we have A VISION INTO THE INNERMOST SPIRIT OF THE COMMANDMENTS. ILLUSTRATED BY A FEW EXAMPLES. The Underlying Principle. — Vs. 17-20. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets, their moral teachings, their promises, all they stood for in the nation, for these were God's teachings through them. All the glory and the hopes of the nation and of the world were built on the law, and the prophets. The Pharisees had already accused Jesus of abrogating the law of Moses (Mark 2: 24; John 5: 16, 18). Jesus denies the accusation in the strongest language. Abrogate the law of Moses? Never! You Pharisees have abrogated it by your false interpretations and misapplications. I have come to fulfil it. 18. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished. Because the moral law is as eternal as natural law. "There is no repealing clause in the New Testament that sets aside the Old Testament." ILLUSTRATIONS. A sketch is not destroyed but fulfilled when its outlines are filled in to make a perfect picture. So a seed is not destroyed when the germ begins to grow, throws away its husk, absorbs the material of the seed, and becomes a tree. This is the fulfilling of the seed. The full-blown rose does not destroy, but fulfils the rosebud. The tulip fulfils the bulb. The butterfly fulfils the caterpillar. The college fulfils the grammar school. The man fulfils the boy. Destroying all the weeds in a field is of little account unless good seed is planted; and the weeds are best destroyed in the act of culturing the good crop. Sahara is a region where there is destroying without fulfilling. A garden, an orchard, a park, are places where the seeming destruction, as of weeds and wild growth, and uneven surfaces, permit the real fulfilment. 1. The Jewish leaders destroyed the moral law by keeping the letter and leaving out the spirit; by overlaying it with a multitude of trivial and formal regulations; "mint, anise, and cummin," till it became like Plato's marine Glaucus, who cast himself into the sea, and cruised along the shores with the whales. "His ancient nature cannot be easily perceived, because the ancient members of his body are partly broken off, and others worn away; and besides this, other things are grown to him, such as shellfish, and seaweeds, and stones, so that he in every respect resembles a beast, rather than what he naturally was." Jesus fulfilled the law by emphasizing its spirit, by showing how it extended to motives and feelings, as well as actions; by implanting a new heart that loved to obey. 2. Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial law and ritual of the Jews, by retaining its spirit, its teaching, the purpose for which it was given, and developing its larger spirit into new forms adapted to new circumstances, thus making it accomplish more perfectly that for which it was given. The new wine was put into new bottles. 3. The visions of the prophets concerning the Messiah and his Kingdom had been limited, misinterpreted, misapplied by the Jews, as by some in our own day, but Jesus came to fulfil every vision, every promise, every hope, to the very letter, and our eyes can now see the process and progress of the fulfilment. Not one iota shall fail. For not even prophets could express in the most lofty and entrancing poetry of all literature "the things which God hath prepared for them that love him " (1 Cor. 2: 9). But I 22. but That 1 whosoever judgement; say unto is angry with his brother without you, that every one who a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother, a 2 Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. the of and 23. thou berest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave ; 24. 4 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 11 John 3: 15. 2 Jas. 2: 20. 3 Matt. 8: 4. a That is, Vain fellow, 2 Sam. 6: 20. 4 Job 42: 8; Matt. 18: 19. ILLUSTRATIONS AND EXAMPLES OF THIS TRUTH. The Sixth Commandment, Thou Shalt Not Kill. - Vs. 21-26. Ye have heard in the synagogues and from the teaching of the scribes. Said by, better "to." Thou shalt not kill, commit murder. In danger of the judgment. Not in the commandment, but in accord with the Jewish laws. "The judgement was the properly constituted authorities. In this case the local court established by the Sanhedrim in every town of Palestine (Deut. 16: 18) for the trial and punishment of capital crimes. 22. But I. The "I" is emphatic. Say unto you. The court punished after the crime; Jesus would prevent the beginnings that led to the crime. NOTE THE THREE DEGREES of anger, the source of crime; and the three degrees of punishment that warned men not to commit the crime. 1. Angry with his brother, the passionate feeling, the madness that leads to killing his brother." In rage deep as the sea, hasty as fire." Without a cause, unreasoning, uncontrolled. Indignation is the better name for the righteous anger against huge wrongs to others, which seeks to cure not to kill. Shall be in danger of the judgment, the court referred to above. It is equivalent to saying that he is guilty of murder (1 John 3: 15). He has the spirit which leads to murder, which is the real soul of murder. The injury to others lies in the outward act. The guilt of the doer lies in the feelings which prompt the act, whether they are expressed in act or not. 2. Say to his brother, Raca. “Emptyheaded,” “blockhead,” a term of contempt in those times. So angry as to call his brother contemptuous names. In danger of the council, the Sanhedrim, the Supreme Court, for greater offences. 3. Say, Thou fool, a moral renegade, fool in the sense in which the word is used in the Proverbs, not merely stupid like " Raca," but a moral fool, failing to regulate his conduct by the principles of moral common sense. In danger of, deserving, exposed to hell fire. The Gehenna of fire, Gehenna being the Greek for the Hebrew "Valley of Hinnom," the narrow glen south of Jerusalem, where the refuse of the city was burned in continuous fire. The smallest degree of passionate anger is the beginning of murder. Stop before you begin. Vs. 23, 24, point out the urgency of putting out the fires of anger at the very beginning, for how great a burning a little fire kindleth; as we have just seen the smoke all over the country from forest fires kindled by a hunter leaving the embers of his breakfast fire. It is so important to quench any passion kindled in your heart, or in another's heart by your acts, that you should leave your worship, stop in the midst of the service, the prayer, and settle your quarrel immediately. Then you will not only be saved from the guilt of murder, but you can offer truer worship to God. ILLUSTRATION. The "Ancient Mariner" in Coleridge's poem could not pray with his crime unforgiven. "I looked to heaven and tried to pray; But e'er ever a prayer had gusht A wicked whisper came and made But at length when looking at the living things in the water, "A spring of love gushed from my heart And I blessed them unaware.' "That self same moment I could pray." "He prayeth well who loveth well Both man and bird and beast; 25. 1 Agree with thine adversary quickly, 2 whiles thou art haply with him in the way; with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. have last I Prov. 25 8; Luke 12: 58. 2 Psa. 32: 6. Vs. 25, 26, contain another argument by an example for putting an end as soon as possible to all angry feelings, and settling everything that may lead to crime. Agree with, come to an agreement, settle your difficulty. Thine adversary. The one who has a grievance against you, that he is carrying to the law courts. Do not let anger, which has been shown to be so dangerous, prevent or delay you. Do it quickly, for a time will come when it will be too late, and you must suffer the full consequences. The uttermost farthing, i.e., “fourth thing," — here the fourth part of a Roman as, a small brass coin worth about a quarter of a cent. It is right and wise to apply this truth to your own personal relations with God. The Principle Illustrated by the Third Commandment.— Vs. 33-37. There are two ways of breaking the command: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." (1) By not keeping the promise made in God's name; for this dishonors the God whom you pretend to serve. (2) By a careless and trivial use of the name of God and religious things, which cultivates irreverence, diminishes their power over men, and makes them trivial and unreal in the minds of both speaker and hearer. THE SCRIBES' INTERPRETATION of this commandment was: Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths with the emphasis on "the Lord." 66 What was there wrong in this? Nothing so far as it went. But it missed the whole spirit of the command by their limitation of it to oaths made in the name of God. 'They had a great deal to say, in sophistical style, of oaths that were binding and not binding.". Exp. Greek Test. They could swear by heaven, or the Temple, or any sacred thing, and could treat the oath as not binding, just as dishonest men to-day make a distinction between the binding power of a simple verbal statement and a statement made under oath in court, or even in writing, in which cases a falsehood might send them to prison. To make this distinction is a proof of an untruthful nature. ILLUSTRATION. Plato, in his Republic, uses as an illustration of the test of a truly honest man the story of Gyges' ring, which enabled the possessor to become invisible, so that he could do all manner of evil and never be found out or punished. Only when a man was so honest that he would be honest even in transactions where he could be dishonest and not be known, was he a truly honest man. How did Jesus show the fallacy of this distinction? By showing that the swearing by the things they permitted was profane irreverence, since they were all connected with God, and a false oath by heaven, or the temple, was in reality a false oath by God. Jesus' answer forbids not only false swearing, but all profanity, including all irreverent use of the Bible, hymns, sacred things; all joking and punning upon them, or connecting funny stories with them. What was Jesus' teaching concerning these things? 37. Let your communication, or speech, be Yea, yea; Nay, nay. Be of such a character that your word is as good as your bond. So live, be filled with such a love of truth, that so far as you are concerned there shall be no need of oaths. NOTE. This does not forbid what are called "judicial oaths," that is, a solemn affirmation by holding up the hand as in the presence of God. This is not "swearing," and does not take the name of God in vain unless one is false to his assertion. It is necessary because so many people are untruthful, that only a solemn affirmation with a severe penalty for perjury can make them afraid of lying, and therefore even honest men must be included within the test. Thus even this form of affirmation" cometh of evil." Whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil. Here the Authorized Version is better than the R.V. " is of the evil one." - So Exp. Greek Test. It cometh of evil because oaths lead to lying, and not to truth telling. "The Easterns who are the greatest dealers in oaths, are, as every traveler knows, the greatest liars." Swearing is contrary to the |