We call this precept of Christ "the golden rule;" probably we intend thereby to pay it the highest honour we can offer it. But it is the "precious metal," rather than the admirable precept, to which the compliment is paid by the association of the two. For if this rule of our Lord were only illustrated in the daily life of men, they would be enriched as no imaginable quantity of gold could enrich them. Then would such a revolution be effected as no statesman has ever dreamed of working; then would all social evils for ever disappear; then would human life wear another aspect from that which now saddens and shames us; for the golden rule, enacted in the lives of men, would soon inaugurate the "golden year." We look at -

I. ITS SURPASSING EXCELLENCY,

1. It is within all men's apprehension. It is no learned, erudite definition, requiring much culture to comprehend. The most simpleminded can understand it.

2. It commends itself to all men's conscience. It is not one of those commandments which require much thought and much practice to appreciate. It is obviously just and fair. It hardly admits of dispute. Every one can see, every one must feel - if "the light that is in him be not darkness" - that it is the right thing for him to do.

3. It excludes all evasions. No man can shield himself under any misrepresentation of the rule. He must know whether or not he is trying to act toward his neighbour as he would that his neighbour should act toward him.

4. It covers the entire range of human life, so far as our relations to one another are concerned. It covers:

(1) Action, and also inaction; including in its sweep not only those things we do, but those we leave undone - the attention, the kindness, the consideration, the return we should render but may be withholding.

(2) The judgment we form of others; the right they have to our patient, impartial, intelligent, charitable judgment; the claim they may fairly make that we should attribute the worthy rather than the unworthy, the pure rather than the impure, the generous rather than the mean motive.

(3) Our speech; the utterance of the kind and true word of our neigh-hour, and also to him.

(4) Conduct-all our dealings and doings, of all kinds whatsoever, in all the varied relations in which we stand to our fellow-men. This one rule of Christ is a powerful test and solvent of all other prescriptions. If they can be carried out and yet leave us short, in our practice, of doing to others as they would like us to act toward them, these rules are imperfect. They leave something to be desired and to be attained.

II. THE INSPIRATION WE NEED TO FULFIL IT. This great precept of Christ is not to be translated into action like any ordinary military or municipal regulation. We must gain some inspiration from our Lord himself if we are to keep this great commandment. And we must be prompted by three things.

1. An earnest desire to follow Christ's own example.

2. A strong purpose of heart to do his holy will, that we may please and honour him.

3. A kind and Christian interest in our neighbours; a gracious pity for those whom he pitied, and for whom he suffered and died; a warm interest in their welfare; a firm faith that they can be raised and renewed and refined; a holy love for all those who love him. - C.

Our Master, evidently, from the verses before us, did not come into the world to teach us to conform to the ways of our fellow-men; but He would have us go far beyond the ordinary conduct of our fellows. If I were called to address an ordinary company of men and women upon feats of valour, I might speak with bated breath if I exhorted them to heroism in war; but if I had lived some thousands of years ago, and had been called upon to talk to Spartan warriors, all equipped for battle, men graved and scored with the scars of conflict, I should set no bounds to my exhortations; I would bestir them as a lion arouses the young lions and urges them to the prey. I should tell them that their name and parentage should not be disgraced by the idea of defeat, but that they must expect victory, and seize it as their right. No orator would have spoken to Spartans as to Boeotians: it was their very life and business to fight, and deeds of prowess were therefore to be looked for from them. Is it not so with you, ye followers of the Crucified?

I. MUCH THAT IS NATURALLY GOOD MAY FALL FAR SHORT OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. Do not make the mistake of saying that moral excellence is not good. Some have broadly declared that there is no good thing in an unconverted man; but this is scarcely true. Many who are total strangers to the grace of God yet exhibit sparkling forms of the human virtues in integrity, generosity, kindness, courage, self-sacrifice, and patience. If the question be whether our character is the offspring of nature or of grace, it will be a sad thing if the verdict should turn out to be that it is the dead child of nature finely dressed, but not the living child of grace Divine. We may be decorated with gems which glitter and glow, and yet they may be mere paste, and none of them the work of God's Spirit. Observe the three things mentioned in the text against which there is no law, but of which much is to be spoken in commendation. These acts are good, but they do not come up to Christ's standard.

1. It is very proper and seemly that kindly feeling should awaken kindly feeling in return; that to those who are friendly to us we should be friendly also. We say "Love begets love," and it is natural that it should do so. Our duty is not merely to love those who love us, but to love them that hate and despitefully entreat us.

2. The next thing, in the verses before us, is grateful return. "If ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye?" It is a very right thing that if persons have served us we should endeavour to repay the benefit. Followers of Jesus are called upon to do good to those who have done them harm. You know the old saying, Evil for good is devil-like, evil for evil is beast-like, good for good is man-like, good for evil is God-like. Rise you to that God-like point. If a man has taken the bread out of your mouth, seize the first opportunity to help him to a livelihood.

3. Again, mention is made of helping others in a neighbourly way with the expectation of their returning the friendly deed. "If ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye?" Temporary help is often rendered in the expectation that, if ever we are in the same need, we shall only need to ask, and receive like aid. I lend you an axe, and you will one day lend me a saw. I help you and you help me — a very proper thing to do, and the more of such brotherly and neighbourly co-operation the better, but still there is nothing so very virtuous in it. You as a Christian are to rise to something higher than this: to be ready to help without the expectation of being helped again.

II. CHRISTIAN VIRTUE IS IN MANY RESPECTS EXTRAORDINARY, AND MIGHT BE CALLED HEROIC. In the point of love, kindness, consideration for men's needs, and desire to do good, the Christian life is to rise above every other, till it becomes sublime. Heathen moralists recommended kindness, but they did not suggest its being lavished upon enemies. I have been somewhat amused by the caution of Cicero. He says, "Kindness must not be shown to a youth nor to an old man; not to the aged, because he is likely to die before he can have an occasion to repay you the benefit; and not to the young man, for he is sure to forget it." Our Lord bids us seek no reward from men, and he assures us that then a greater reward will come. We shall by shunning it secure it. We shall find a reward in being unrewarded. Next, read Luke 9:54, 55, and you will see that the Christian is to rise above human passion in the matter of gentleness. In the elevation of his joy the Christian is also to rise above all other men. He may rejoice as they do in the common bounties of providence, but that joy is to hold very secondary rank. Even in his own success as a Christian worker he takes but measured satisfaction. Read Luke 10:20. The Christian is heroic, next, in his fearlessness (Luke 12:4). The true believer is to be willing to bear reproach; ay, and to bear much more than reproach, as saints of God have done times out of mind. See how far the true believer is lifted up above the world, as you turn to Luke 12:22, where the Lord bids us cultivate a holy ease of heart as to all temporal things. The rich man finds his wealth in his bursting barns, but the believer finds his treasure in the all-sufficiency of his God. Another point in which Christian heroism is seen is in humility and in delight in service. Turn to the fourteenth chapter and see our Lord's directions to His disciples not to seek out the highest, but rather the lowest room, for, saith He, "Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Habitually a Christian man is to have a modest esteem of himself.

III. THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION SUPPLIES DUE NOURISHMENT FOR THE MOST HEROIC LIFE.

1. The economy of grace requires it.

2. Think again, brethren, we are helped to holy heroism by the reward which it brings; for our blessed Master, though He bids us spurn the thought of reward on earth, yet tells us that there is a reward in the thing itself.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Here, for instance, is one of the maxims of Epictetus, "It is possible that you observe some other person more honoured than yourself, invited to entertainments when you are left out, saluted before you are taken any notice of, thought more proper to advise with, and his counsel followed rather than yours. But are these forms of respect which are paid to him good or evil? If they deserve to be esteemed good, this ought to be matter of joy to you that that person is happy in them; but if they be evil, how unreasonable is it to be troubled that they have not fallen to your own share." That was how a heathen moralist thought we ought to regard the honours paid to other men. I want to know whether many of us have passed far beyond him? If we consider our social life and our political and philanthropic movements, is it quite clear that we Christian Englishmen are in advance of this ancient Roman slave? Take another of the maxims of Epictetus, "My duty to my father is to assist and take care of him, to support his age and his infirmities, to yield to him and pay him service and respect upon all occasions But you will say he is a rigorous and unnatural father. What is that to the purpose? Yon are to remember, this obligation to duty does not arise from the consideration of his goodness, but from the relation he bears to you. No failings of his can make him cease to be a father, and consequently none can absolve you from the obedience of a son. Your brother has done you an injury, but do not suppose that this dispenses with the kindness you owe him. You are still to observe what becomes you; not to imitate what misbecame him." I think that I have known Christian men and women who have supposed that the harshness of a parent relieved them from their obligations as children, and that the injury they had received from a brother justified them in showing an unbrotherly and unsisterly spirit. Christ assumes that our standard of moral duty ought always to be loftier than that which exists among those who have never heard of His teaching. If, without self-reproach, we permit ourselves to indulge in a spirit which even heathen moralists condemned, how can we answer his question, What do ye more than others? Epictetus was originally a Greek slave. Let us turn to a man of another sort — Marcus Antoninus the Roman emperor. "A branch," he says, "cut off from the adjacent branch must of necessity be cut off from the whole tree also. So, too, a man, when he is separated from another man, has fallen off from the whole social community." How many of us have a profounder conception than the heathen emperor of the duty of avoiding personal quarrels, of suppressing the vanity, the resentment, the wilfulness and selfishness by which we might be separated from our neighbour and so cut off from the life of the race? Take his caution against forming hard judgments of others. He says, what is true in innumerable cases, "Thou dost not even understand whether men are doing wrong or not, for many things are done with a certain reference to circumstances. And, in short, a man must learn a great deal to enable him to pass a correct judgment on another man's acts." I wonder whether most of us, before passing hard judgments on others, remember how much we must know, before we can judge them fairly? Here is another maxim, "Whatever any one else does or says, I must be good — just as if the gold, or the emerald, or the purple were always saying this — 'Whatever any one does or says, I must keep my colour.' It is royal to do good and to be abused." Some of you are masters. Do you see clearly that whatever your servants" do or say "you must be always just and kind and considerate to them? Some of you are workmen. Have you made up your minds that you must always be good workmen, no matter whether you have a good master or a bad master; that you must serve a bad master as faithfully and as zealously as you serve a good one? And whatever our position may be, is it the constant temper of our mind to "do good," whether we are praised for it or not — to "do good" even when we are "abused" for doing it? Again, "If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change, for I seek the truth, by which no man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance." It is not my experience that many Christian people cultivate this noble spirit. But what I am especially anxious to insist upon just now is that in the writings of heathen moralists there are maxims inculcating virtues which some Christian people have never thought of trying to attain. Their moral standard is so defective that in many points they are inferior to heathen men in their conceptions of duty. Christ assumes that His servants will be at least as clear-sighted as the heathen, and that the virtues which the heathen honoured we shall honour, and He goes on to require more. What this higher law is, in all its applications, we have to learn, and we learn it very gradually; it is one of the great subjects about which Christian men should be always learning. Christ has not given us a complete code, but He has given us specimens of the contrast between this higher law and the common laws recognized by ordinary men. We have to work out the whole code of Christian morals in the light of this teaching. This is the method of the new science. We have to take the virtues which are recognized as virtues by all the world honesty, industry, kindness, temperance, the spirit of cheerful contentment with our condition — and we have to learn for ourselves the larger requirements of Christ in relation to every one of them. The Spirit of Christ, if we seek His guidance, will lead us into all the truth. Every Christian man must be left very much to the guidance of the Spirit in these high matters. We can do something to help each other, but not very much. I should have to be a draper to learn what a Christian draper should do "more" than other honest drapers; and a carpenter to learn what a Christian carpenter should do " more" than other good carpenters; and a banker to learn what a Christian banker should do "mere" than other upright bankers. The root of the whole matter lies in the fact that we are the servants of Christ, and that very much of the service we render to Christ consists in the service we render to our fellow-men, whether we are ministers, lawyers, mechanics, clerks, housemaids, milliners, merchants, or tradesmen. If we are zealous to please Christ we shall find many ways of doing it of which some of us, perhaps, have no conception; and this will result in nobler ideas of moral duty in all the common affairs of life. While many other men, in their business transactions, keep only just within the limits of the law which is administered by human tribunals, let Christian men be governed by the rules of a diviner equity. While many other men do public work as long as they are honoured for doing it, let Christian men go on doing it whether they are honoured or not, accepting it as the service to which God has appointed them. Let the Christian manufacturer recognize the Higher Law, in the quality of his goods, in his treatment of his partners and his men, and in his careful avoidance of whatever personal extravagances and whatever commercial risks and speculations might prevent him from paying his debts. Let the Christian builder be so exact in doing his work according to the specifications that his employers shall feel that a clerk of the works is a useless expense. Let the Christian carpenter and engine-fitter make the eye of the foreman unnecessary. But perhaps some of you will say that conduct of this kind will prevent you from getting on in the world; that if you act in the way I have described you will make money slowly; that if you do not push to the front and keep yourself there, you will never get your value recognized. The real reply — the Christian reply — to your objection is, that it is not your business to get on in the world, to make money, to have your worth recognized, but to serve God. You cannot serve both God and mammon.

(R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

I. Let us consider why SINNERS LOVE THEMSELVES. It is plainly supposed in the text that sinners love themselves, for they are said to love those that love them, which could not be accounted for if they were wholly destitute of love to themselves. In other passages of Scripture, they are said to be lovers of their ownselves, and to seek their own things and not the things of others. But this is too evident from experience and observation to need any proof. Sinners certainly love themselves. But why? Every creature, perhaps, whether rational or irrational, takes pleasure in receiving its proper food; but this love to its food is not love to itself, or selfishness. The saint and the sinner may equally love honey, because it is agreeable to the taste; but this love to honey is neither interested nor disinterested love, and of course is neither virtuous nor vicious. Men never love any particular food from a moral motive, but from the constitution of their nature, in which they are passive, and have no active concern. The case is different in loving themselves. In this they properly act, and act from a moral motive. Sinners love themselves not because they are a part of the intellectual system, nor because the general good requires them to regard their personal happiness, but because they are themselves. They love their own interest because it is their own, in distinction from the interest of all other created or uncreated beings. This is a free, voluntary exercise, which is contrary to their reason and conscience, and which they know to be in its own nature wrong. Their interest is really no more valuable for being theirs, than if it belonged to others; and they themselves are no more valuable than other creatures of the same character and capacity. To love themselves, therefore, because they are themselves, is to love themselves from a motive peculiar to selfish creatures.

II. We are to consider WHY SINNERS LOVE OTHERS. Our Saviour said to His disciples, that if they were of the world, the world would love them. And He said in the text that sinners love those that love them. For the same reason that sinners love themselves, they naturally love those that love them and are disposed to do them good. As they love their own interest because it is their own, so they love every person or object which serves to increase or preserve their own interest. They do not value and love others because they are valuable and worthy to be loved, but merely because they view them as means or instruments of securing or advancing their own personal happiness. They value their fellow-men for the same reason that they value their own houses and lands, flocks and herds.

III. It remains to inquire WHY THERE IS NO MORAL GOODNESS IN THE LOVE WHICH SINNERS EXERCISE TOWARDS THEMSELVES AND OTHERS? Christ supposes that they all know the nature of their love, and that there is nothing virtuous or praiseworthy in it. "If ye love them which love you, what thank have ye?" We never thank men for loving themselves, nor for loving us merely for their own sake. It is the unanimous sentiment of mankind that there is no virtue in that love which flows entirely from mercenary motives. But why? Here then I would observe —

1. That there is no moral goodness in the love which sinners feel and express, because it is not a conformity to that love which God feels and expresses. He is good unto all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. He seeks not only His own glory, but the real good of others. It bears no conformity to the love of God, which is the standard of all moral perfection.

2. The selfish love of sinners has no moral goodness in it, because it is no obedience to the Divine law. This law requires them to love God with all the heart, and to love their fellow-men as themselves. But when they love themselves because they are themselves, and love others only because they have received or expect to receive benefit from them, do they obey the Divine law?

3. There is no moral goodness in the selfishness of sinners, because it is the very essence of all moral evil. All the wickedness of Satan consists in his selfishness. He loves himself because he is himself, and loves only those who love him, because their love serves to promote what he considers as his cause and interest. IMPROVEMENT:

1. If sinners may love themselves and others from mere selfish motives, then it is easy to account for all their kind and friendly conduct towards their fellow creatures, consistently with their total depravity.

2. If the moral depravity of sinners consists in selfishness, then the moral depravity of Adam consisted in selfishness, and not in the mere want of holiness.

4. If sinners are constantly under the governing influences of selfishness, then they must experience an essential change in their affections, in order to be saved.

5. If sinners love themselves because they are themselves, which is selfish and sinful, then after they experience a saving change from selfishness to benevolence, they love themselves in a manner totally different from what they did before. They love themselves in the same manner that God loves them.

6. Finally, it appears from this discourse that it is highly necessary to explain and inculcate the total selfishness of sinners. They never will believe that they are totally depraved, until they see wherein total depravity consists.

(N. . Emmons, D. D.)

Alphaeus, Andrew, Bartholomew, David, James, Jesus, John, Judas, Matthew, Peter, Philip, Simon, Thomas, ZelotesGalilee, Jerusalem, Judea, Sidon, TyreAct, Bad, Credit, Grace, Kind, Sinful, Sinners, Thank, Thanks, Thus1. Jesus reproves the Pharisees;
12. chooses apostles;
17. heals the diseased;
20. preaches to his disciples before the people: the beattitudes;
27. Love your Enemy
37. Do not Judge
43. A Tree and Its Fruit
46. The House on the Rock

Luke 6:27-36

     5013   heart, divine
     8442   good works

Luke 6:27-37

     6655   forgiveness, application

Luke 6:32-34

     6040   sinners

Luke 6:32-35

     5274   credit

Laws of the Kingdom
'And He lifted up His eyes on His disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God, 21. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. 22. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. 23. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy; for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Three Condensed Parables
'And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceiveth not the beam that is in thine own eye? 42. Either, how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. 43. For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Our Deserts
LUKE vi. 36-38. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured to you again. One often hears complaints against this world, and against mankind; one hears it said …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity
(From the Gospel for the day) This sermon telleth us of four measures that shall be rendered unto man, and of two grades of a godly life, and how we ought to love our neighbour. Luke vi. 36-42. WE read in the Gospel for this day that our Lord Jesus Christ said: "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned; forgive, and ye shall be forgiven; give, and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down, …
Susannah Winkworth—The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler

The Blessing of Mercy,
(Fourth Sunday after Trinity.) S. LUKE vi. 36. "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." "Mercy" is the one great cry of human nature. We dare not ask for justice, we can only plead for mercy. David, after his great sins, could utter nothing but the mournful cry, the model for all penitent sinners, "Have mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness." The publican standing afar off, and looking at his faults, and not at his virtues, offers the pattern prayer for all men, "Lord, …
H. J. Wilmot-Buxton—The Life of Duty, a Year's Plain Sermons, v. 2

Rash Decisions.
4th Sunday after Trinity. S. Luke vi. 37. "Judge not--condemn not--forgive." INTRODUCTION.--Our Lord here condemns all rash judgments. We know not the motives of other men's actions, and therefore have no right to pass a sweeping condemnation upon them. From our ignorance, we ought to be cautious and merciful in our judgments, and from our own weakness, we should be forgiving to those who have trespassed against us. Rash judgments arise from pride. It is because we are puffed up with a high opinion …
S. Baring-Gould—The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent

The Reward of Obedience.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.' 'Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.'--Matthew, v. 7, 10 11, 12. Mercy cannot get in where mercy goes not out. The outgoing …
George MacDonald—Hope of the Gospel

"Be Doers of the Word. "
I want to remind you again that the mission of this little volume is to teach you how to live. The life beyond depends on the life here. Let me emphasize what I have repeatedly said before: to live as we should, we must live by every word of God. To live by every word of God is not only to hear it but also to do it. We have learned that, in order to enter the city of God and eat of the tree of life, we must do his commandments, and also that it is not "every one that sayeth, Lord, Lord, that shall …
C. E. Orr—How to Live a Holy Life

The Golden Rule of Life.
"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them like wise." Luke 6:31. This is a good rule for every-day living. It is known throughout the Christian world as "The Golden Rule." It has great depths. It contains more no doubt than any of us comprehend. But let us study it for a moment. We might divide it into two rules: First, Do good to all; second, Do harm to none. We would that all men should do us good, and we would that none should do us harm. But if we would see the greater depths …
C. E. Orr—How to Live a Holy Life

That all Hope and Trust is to be Fixed in God Alone
O Lord, what is my trust which I have in this life, or what is my greatest comfort of all the things which are seen under Heaven? Is it not Thou, O Lord my God, whose mercies are without number? Where hath it been well with me without Thee? Or when could it be evil whilst Thou wert near? I had rather be poor for Thy sake, than rich without Thee. I choose rather to be a pilgrim upon the earth with Thee than without Thee to possess heaven. Where Thou art, there is heaven; and where Thou are not, …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Judged by Fruit
A good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.' (Luke vi. 43, 44.) Jesus Christ, in the few sentences quoted, indicates the true secret or principle of holy living. They show that holy living works from the heart of things--beginning within--to the outside. Many judge their religion the other way about. They take up religious …
T. H. Howard—Standards of Life and Service

The Christian Assisted in Examining into his Growth in Grace.
1. The examination important.--2. False marks of growth to be avoided.--3. True marks proposed; such as--increasing love to God.--4. Benevolence to men.--5. Candor of disposition.--6. Meekness under injuries.--7. Serenity amidst the uncertainties of life.--8, 9. Humility,--especially as expressed in evangelical exercises of mind toward Christ end the Holy Spirit.--10. Zeal for the divine honor.--11. Habitual and cheerful willingness to exchange worlds when ever God shall appoint.--12. Conclusion. …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

We Shall not be Curious in the Ranking of the Duties in which Christian Love...
We shall not be curious in the ranking of the duties in which Christian love should exercise itself. All the commandments of the second table are but branches of it: they might be reduced all to the works of righteousness and of mercy. But truly these are interwoven through other. Though mercy uses to be restricted to the showing of compassion upon men in misery, yet there is a righteousness in that mercy, and there is mercy in the most part of the acts of righteousness, as in not judging rashly, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Whether Poverty of Spirit is the Beatitude which Corresponds to the Gift of Fear
Whether Poverty of Spirit is the Beatitude which Corresponds to the Gift of Fear We proceed to the twelfth article thus: 1. It seems that poverty of spirit is not the beatitude which corresponds to the gift of fear. For it was explained in Art. 7 that fear is the beginning of the spiritual life, whereas poverty of spirit pertains to the perfection of the spiritual life, according to Matt. 19:21: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor." Hence poverty of spirit does …
Aquinas—Nature and Grace

Whether the Beatitudes Differ from the virtues and Gifts?
Objection 1: It would seem that the beatitudes do not differ from the virtues and gifts. For Augustine (De Serm. Dom. in Monte i, 4) assigns the beatitudes recited by Matthew (v 3, seqq.) to the gifts of the Holy Ghost; and Ambrose in his commentary on Luke 6:20, seqq., ascribes the beatitudes mentioned there, to the four cardinal virtues. Therefore the beatitudes do not differ from the virtues and gifts. Objection 2: Further, there are but two rules of the human will: the reason and the eternal …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Epistle xxxii. To Anastasius, Presbyter .
To Anastasius, Presbyter [1714] . Gregory to Anastasius, &c. That a good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things (Matth. xii. 35; Luke vi. 45), this thy Charity has shewn, both in thy habitual life and lately also in thy epistle; wherein I find two persons at issue with regard to virtues; that is to say, thyself contending for charity, and another for fear and humility. And, though occupied with many things, though ignorant of the Greek language, I have nevertheless sat …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Of Christian Liberty.
1. Connection of this chapter with the previous one on Justification. A true knowledge of Christian liberty useful and necessary. 1. It purifies the conscience. 2. It checks licentiousness. 3. It maintains the merits of Christ, the truth of the Gospel, and the peace of the soul. 2. This liberty consists of three parts. First, Believers renouncing the righteousness of the law, look only to Christ. Objection. Answer, distinguishing between Legal and Evangelical righteousness. 3. This first part clearly …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

How the Joyful and the Sad are to be Admonished.
Admonition4. Differently to be admonished are the joyful and the sad. That is, before the joyful are to be set the sad things that follow upon punishment; but before the sad the promised glad things of the kingdom. Let the joyful learn by the asperity of threatenings what to be afraid of: let the sad bear what joys of reward they may look forward to. For to the former it is said, Woe unto you that laugh now! For ye shall weep (Luke vi. 25); but the latter hear from the teaching of the same Master, …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

The Present Life as Related to the Future.
LUKE xvi. 25.--"And Abraham said, Son remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." The parable of Dives and Lazarus is one of the most solemn passages in the whole Revelation of God. In it, our Lord gives very definite statements concerning the condition of those who have departed this life. It makes no practical difference, whether we assume that this was a real occurrence, or only an imaginary …
William G.T. Shedd—Sermons to the Natural Man

In the Name of Christ
"Whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do. If ye shall ask anything in My Name, I will do it. I have appointed you, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My Name, He may give it you. Verily, verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My Name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. At that day ye shall ask in My Name."--JOHN xiv. 13, 14, xv. 16, xvi. 23, 24, 26. In my name--repeated …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

"For as Many as are Led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God. For Ye have not Received the Spirit of Bondage
Rom. viii. s 14, 15.--"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear,", &c. Children do commonly resemble their parents, not only in the outward proportion and feature of their countenances, but also in the disposition and temper of their spirits, and generally they are inclined to imitate the customs and carriage of their parents, so that they sometimes may be accounted the very living images of such persons; …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

In the Bitter Cold of Winter the Trees Stand Bare of Leaves...
1. In the bitter cold of winter the trees stand bare of leaves, and it seems as if their life, too, had departed for ever, yet in the spring time they put forth new leaves and beautiful flowers, and the fruit begins to show itself. So was it with Me in My crucifixion and resurrection, and so it is with my faithful cross-bearers (2 Cor. iv.8-11; vi.4-10). Though they seem to be crushed and dead beneath their cross they still put forth the beautiful flowers and glorious fruits of eternal life which …
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

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