The Blessed of Mount Hattin
y EVEN miles west of Tiberias, rising out of a plain of great fertility are two inconsiderable elevations, one about sixty and the other some j forty feet above the lake level, which have long borne the local name
•/^^ — of “Horns of Hattin.” In this locality, beyond the gorge of Magdala, are the cliffs of Arbela, to which the Zealots fled when pursued by Herod, and in the caves of which they were so mercilessly slaughtered. From the peaks of Hattin, which derive their name from a village at the base, a magnificent view of a wide range of country may be had, bordered on the east by a blue expanse of water marking the sea of Galilee. It is a retired district and withal so beautiful that tradition, supported by appearances, marks one of the hills as the site where Jesus ordained His Apostles and delivered to them His instructions preparatory to sending them out to preach the gospel which He there declared. Sunlight could do no more than it did for that mountain on the day our horses struggled to the top of it, and neither time nor eternity can dim that landscape in our memories. Standing on its highest peak we read from our Bible, “The Beatitudes.”
From Matthew’s account it appears that upon descending from the mountain, on the morning following a night spent in prayer, Jesus saw a great multitude assembled on the plain below awaiting His coming; whereupon, not being willing yet to discourse to them. He returned to the peak, followed by His disciples, to whom He then delivered his sublime sermon on the requirements of the new gospel dispensation.
” And seeing the multitude. He went up into a mountain; and when He was set. His disciples came unto Him, and He opened His mouth and taught them,” etc.
Luke’s record of the events leading up to the sermon of blessings differs materially from that of Matthew’s, to such an extent that it is believed by many Jesus delivered two sermons of substantially the same import, the first to His disciples on the mountain, and then returning to the multitude below He healed the sick that had been brought, and followed these deeds of mercy with a sublime discourse on the duties which we owe to one another, and the declaration of a new covenant to supersede the old theocratic form which recognized force and ritual rather than moral obligations.
After the appointment of His disciples, lyuke says:” And He came down with them and stood in the plain, and the company of His disciples, and a great
(272)
multitude of people out of all
Judea and Jerusalem, and from
the sea-coast of Tyre and Sidon,
which came to hear Him, and be
healed of their diseases; and they
that were vexed with unclean
spirits; and they were healed.
And the whole multitude sought
to touch Him; for there went
virtue out of Him, and healed
them all.
“And He lifted up His
eyes on His disciples, and said,
Blessed,” etc.
If we regard with proper care
the two testimonies, it is almost
CAVES IN THK CI.IKKS OF ARBKLA, MKAK THE TRADITIONAL SITE W HEKK JESUS
ORDAINED HIS DISCIPt,ES.
apparent that the seeming discrepancies, not in spirit but in form of statement only, are the result of recording the facts some time after their occurrence.
Matthew is always more explicit, probably because of his training in clerical occupation, and therefore gives us a better report of the sermon than Luke, who probably wrote from memory sometime afterwards. It may be also that Matthew reported some things which lyuke failed to remember, and also that Luke narrated portions of the discourse which Matthew had forgotten, so that the two accounts may be properly assimilated into one complete record without violence to the
narration.
The Sunburst of a New Dispensation.
The Mosaic law was promulgated from peak of mountain laboring in the throes of a mighty eruption, belching up fire and smoke until a pall of cloud veiled from wondering eyes below the face of God, but whose awful presence was made manifest by lightning flash and thunderous boom, as He graved on stone His ten commandments.
In Christ we behold the second coming, not to destroy but to fulfill; not with threatenings of wrath, but with assurances of mercy and of God’s love; not to prescribe new formularies of worship, but to establish a church in which there should be no other requirement for membership than love, whose creed should be love, whose precepts and practices and ambitions should be love.
To give form to His new covenant with the world, Jesus instructed His disciples in the essence as well as in the substance of the new dispensation, in which blessings were made the rewards for afflictions, in which poverty was enrichment, misfortune was great gain, persecution was advantageous, execrations by the sinful was glorification of the righteous. In these teachings Jesus not only contravened the old and thoroughly ingrained belief that all manner of ill fortune was an evidence of God’s displeasure, but declared that afflictions should rather be accounted as blessings, for it is not by prosperity but by tribulation that we are brought to seek God.
And thus Jesus gives His divine law, not by threats, commands or prohibirtions; but, recognizing the leaven of good that is in all persons, He seeKs to make that leaven an active principle by an appeal to our better nature, by crowning the world with benedictions, and sowing the earth with blessings, and filling all hearts with beatifications. To His disciples, therefore. He pronounced these great beatitudes and rewards:
” Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.
” Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peace-makers; for they shall be called the children of God.
“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 3’ou.”
These were special blessings of the
righteous, the promises of great reward
for purity of heart
and meekness and
long-suffering under
trial. But though
the apostles were
filled with faith they
had not yet been
proved in righteousness by bitter ordeals
of reviling and tribulations that were to
come. He therefore
admonished them, by
presenting striking
examples, against
faltering in their allegiance to God and
growing lukewarm
in the ministry to which they had been elevated. Said He to tutin: “Ye are
the salt of the earth.” Your mission is to preserve, and so long as you are
firm and unyielding in righteousness, and devoted to the gospel which I have
now declared, you will be the salt that shall save men. But if you lose your
SKRMON ON TIIK MorNP.
faith so will you lose all power for good and become worthless because of failing to exercise the special advantages given you as apostles.
” Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.” Let- your understanding and teachings enlighten all men; let your good deeds, your devotion to God, your sympathy for the sinful, keep you ever enthusiastic in the work of bringing souls to repentance. I^et your works be as conspicuous before men as a city on a hill-top; so merciful, so pious, so instructive, that multitudes will seek you, will embrace you, will call others to follow, and lastly will glorify God. Thus may you be likened unto salt that preserves, and a light that illumines every path, and a city to which all eyes look with admiration and delight.
lyove your enemies, bless them that wrong you, return kindness for despitefulness, practice charity, be always merciful, judge not harshly but with sympathy, do not undertake to discover faults in others until you have purged yourself of evil, for men, no more than trees, can bring forth good fruit unless the virtue of purity be in them. Figs do not grow on thorn-bushes, nor grapes on brambles, neither does righteousness proceed from an impure heart, for evil begets evil, and godliness pioduces its like. Men, again, like trees, must be estimated by their fruits, and not by their pretendings. The thriftiest appearing tree may not flower, or, if blossoming, may not yield good fruit; so the most ostentatious man, full of promises, and loud protestations, and long prayers, may be a hypocrite at heart and work no deeds of either mercy or charity. Many persons get credit for making generous gifts that are paid out of other people’s pockets, but God sees the pulse and promptings of every man’s heart and will reward with justice. Offerings to God are not acceptable as atonements for sin, as long taught by the Pharisees, for it is necessary that deep contrition and sincere repentance be first felt before a sin-offering can be made that will procure the Divine forgiveness. And actual commission of an offence against moral laws is not more worthy of punishment, in the eyes of God, than the instigation or impulse to do a wrong which is only prevented through fear of retribution, for the full magnitude of sin is in the prompting of an evil heart. In short, there is but one God, who regards all, who loves all, and who holds all, whether prince or peasant, master or slave, poor or rich, to a common accountability, making the world a grand democracy of man, with no distinctions save alone it be between the righteous and the sinful. But even between these there is no difference in their worldly prosperity, for God bestows His favors alike upon all, visiting the unjust with all the natural blessings of rain and sunshine, and pleasure, and gain, that He gives to the just and virtuous; but in the last day, when concerns of this life are yielded up, the good shall triumph over the wicked by rewards given them that shall be withheld from the undeserving.
And Christ condemned the long
and empty prayers of the Pharisees,
who made public exhibitions of their
devotions by repairing many times
each day to the synagogues, or to
prominent street corners where their
broad phylacteries would attract the
attention of passers by, and there
offered up petitions in loud and long
protracted voices in order that they
might gain credit for being extremely righteous. This was not
only hypocrisy, but irreverence and
vulgarity; an offence against true
piety, an insult to God. Public prayer
was not forbidden, for Jesus Himself
participated in devotions before congregations, but ostentation and vain-glorying, and self- righteousness
which distinguished Pharisaic invocations, were reprobated. Prayer is
not acceptable to God except it be the
expression of the heart’s holy desires, and nowhere can the heart so
well seek God
as in private.
Therefore Jesus
said to His disciples,” Be not
ye therefore like
unto them; for
your Father
knoweth what
things ye have
need of before
ye ask Him.
After this man
ner therefoi
Sn!:.>fl A’
MdDHS OK I’UIU.IC PRAVF.R IN KASTKRN COUNTRIES.
pray ye:
“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”
No man before or since ever set up so short a prayer as a formula embracing all that we have need to ask of God. There is no request for the Lord to prosper us, to give us health, to defend us against our enemies, to help us in worldly matters, to give us wisdom, to bless our ambitions and undertakings. None of these are asked for, because” Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of before you ask Him.” This form was prescribed by Jesus as the petition which ought ever to abide in our hearts, a formulary expressive of our desires to approach nearer the example of true righteousness, an orison that ought to proceed from our hearts continually, for by it we express our longing for more perfect grace, and our glorification of God.
As a peroration to His divinely sublime sermon of instruction to His disciples, Jesus added solemn words of warning: “Enter in through the strait gate, for narrow is the way, and rough is the path with self-denial and renouncements of the world’s vanities, that leads to eternal life, so that few find it. But broad is the gate and way, gilded and bestrewn with worldly pleasures and allurements to vice, so that many enter and pursue their way to destruction. Many will in the last day call upon Me and say, Lrord, Eord, did we not own Thy mighty works, and confess Thee as the Messiah? But I shall answer, I know you not; and the spirit of true righteousness was not in you, for it is not sufficient to acknowledge Me as Master, but to do the will of My Father, who is in heaven. Therefore will I say. Depart from Me, because ye were workers of iniquity. Take warning, for even some of you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not
the things which I say. ’ ‘.
A Warrior’s Servant Cured.
“Now, when He had ended all His sayings in the audience of the people, He entered irto Capernaum.”
What a triumphal procession it must have been which followed Jesus as He returned to the city, and what a spectacle! Going before the multitude must have been the Lord and His disciples, while behind, strung out in lengthened line, were thousands of handsomely-clothed Pharisees, and scribes, and rabbis, walking side by side, no doubt, with the poor and the ragged, and the diseased. Some on donkeys, some on camels, some on horses, and the ‘feeble, paralyzed, deformed, demoniacal, carried on cots, on pallets, or on the shoulders of their strong friends. Nor must we believe that Christ gave over His administration to the sick and disabled even while on the return journey. His sympathy and matchless love would not allow Him to withhold His healing virtue from the suffering. And so indeed are we told. The crowd pressed about Him in such numbers and with such persistency that He took no time to eat, but continued His work of relief until His energies were so drained that His friends feared He would fail from prostration. How untiring, how energetic, how gentle, how powerful in the works of mercy. The world has never seen another example of such charity, humility and godliness!
Shortly after His return to Capernaum a Centurion, or captain of the city garrison, whose uprightness and devotedness had served to endear him to the
KUINS OF TIIIC VILLAGK oF NAIN, SHOWING PKKSENX APPKARANCE OP TUli Pl.ACP:.
people, came to Jesus to seek His divine aid in restoring to health his favorite servant. How long the servant had been sick, or with what ailment he was suffering, Luke fails to tell us, but that he was so seriously ill that his death was expected is affirmed. Feeling his unworthiness, as a Gentile, to approach Jesus, the Centurion sent to Him some of the Jewish elders with a request that He would come down and heal the dying servant. And when the messengers presented their petition they also described to Jesus the worthiness of thit applicant by saying, “For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.” By this statement it is shown that the Centurion was not only a rich. man but that he had either become converted to or was in strong sympathy with the Jewish faith, and that he also believed on Jesus as the anointed of God. To the appeal Jesus responded by going at once toward the Centurion’s house, but as He drew near and His coming was. announced the Centurion sent others of his friends to say, “Lord, trouble not Thyself; for I am not worthy that Thou shouldst enter under my roof. Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto Thee; but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.” Tc this great exhibition of faith in the power of Jesus the Centurion added yet another evidence by defining his supreme authority over the soldiers under hig command, and drawing a contrast between that small authority and the absolutism and supreme mastership of Jesus over all the things of this world.
Turning to the people who had followed Him Jesus said, “I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” And with the words, “Go thy way, and as thou hast believed, so be it done to thee,” Jesus dismissed the friends of the Centurion, and then He turned back to renew His preaching and ministrations to the multitude. But the Centurion’s faith had its reward, for though Jesus did not enter his house, or go beyond the place where the messengers stopped Him, yet on that instant the servant was restored; Christ had spoken the word and the servant was healed.
Resurrection Day for One.
“And it came to pass the day after, that He went into a city called Nain j and many of His disciples went with Him and much people.”
This little village is a few miles south of Nazareth, on the northwestern edge of Little Hermou Mountain. The country about is much broken until it reaches down to the plain of Esdraelon. From this plain the ground rises abruptly into cliffs and caves, which serve as sepulchres, and were so used in the time of Christ
As Jesus and the multitude of His followers approached the village they sat a procession slowly filing out of the gate, bearing away for burial the dead body of a widov.-’s son. The crowd that followed and the evidence of deep grief show by so many, go far to prove that the dead son had either been a very populas young man or his mother was greatly loved and very influential. Perhaps he was just at the threshold of manhood and gave promise of great usefulness, and map have been the sole support of a widowed mother. How hard it is to surrenderlife when it is in the unfolding of manhood; how easy to lay down the burdens that oppress old age; how great the contrast between entering upon life’s dutie* and going out after the finished work. But our sympathies grow to the fullest ax
Till’. WIDOW OI’ NAIN S SOX K i;S TOK 1. 1 TO I.IM’.
(281)
the sight of a poor woman who, having lost her husband, is stricken with a second overwhelming affliction in the loss of an only son, the last prop to her life destroyed, the last link that bound her to family broken, the last hope, ambitioa and prospect of reward for long hours, and days, and years of loving, motherly care, crushed. And if our sympathies are great, how can we measure the compassion that Jesus felt at the sight of such sorrow, at the overflowing well of grief, the shattered idol and the broken heart?” And when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.” Perhaps she was in advance of the pall-bearers, for after thus speaking a consoling word He touched the bier and bade the bearers put down the body, and they obeyed. Did the weeping mother or any of the mourners know that it was Jesus who had thusinterrupted the funeral? If not, they must have thought him possessed, or were awed by His majesty, or overcome by His gracious, kindly and compassionate bearing. When the bier had been put down to await His further command or action, Jesus stood over the body, and with majestic and authoritative call said, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise!” Forthwith the fetters of death were broken, the heart knocked at all the silenced arteries and set them into action again, the whitened cheeks and pallid lips took on the blush of health, and muscles became responsive again to the call of the awakened brain, “And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak.” How glad would we be to know what were his first words. Did he ask for his mother? did he with confused sense express wonder at his situation? did he tell his experience in the world of death? did he recognize Christ? But on these points the apostles are silent; they only tell us that Jesus delivered the restored boy to his overjoyed mother, and that the miracle was followed by a glorification of God. No wonder that there came a fear upon all who witnessed this manifestation of Divine power. They had seen Jesus’ heal the diseased, but physicians had relieved the sick also; and though the Master healed by touch or word, on the instant, where physicians had failed after months or years of effort, yet there was a seeming relation between the powers of the two, indistinct, but yet appreciative. But the raising of the dead was through a power equal to that of creation: occult, impenetrable, inexplicable, godly; and with this feeling the people declared” that a great prophet is risen amongst us; and that God hath visited His people. And this rumor of Him [Jesus] went forth throughout all Judea, and throughout all the region round about.”