The Old and the New Contrasted

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners.” — PsALM I. I. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” — Matthew v. 3.

Two voices speak here — the old covenant and the new. Two mountains are before us — Sinai and Hermon. Two psalmists are before us — the man of Israel and the universal Man. Two blessings are before us — the blessing which belonged to the Jew and the blessing which belonged to the Christian. And in these blessings there is yet another contrast. The man on Mount Sinai says, Blessed is he that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly “; the Divine Man says,” Blessed are the poor in spirit.’’ I should have imagined the objects of blessing to have been reversed. Christ seems to take the humbler tone. The

Psalmist of Israel says, “Blessed is the man who lives a perfect life”; Jesus says, Blessed is the man who feels he cannot live a perfect life,” Why does Jesus require less than does the representative of David? The Old Testament insists on a man aiming at perfection; why should the New be satisfied if one can say, “I am a poor creature “?

Because, my soul, that means for thee a higher altitude and a height more hard to gain. It is very easy in the moral world to think thyself at the top of the hill. It is only as thou climbest that the height of the hill appears. It is not the spiritually poor who are the poor in spirit. The spiritually poor are always those who think that they “walk not in the counsel of the ungodly.” If thou hast lived all thy life in a village and hast never heard the waves of the human sea, thou art bound to be self-sufFLcient. Thy stream will be an ocean, thy rustic school an academy, thy rural influence an empire. So is it with the life of thy spirit. Not in thy childhood art thou humble, O my soul; it is contact with the man that makes thee humble. I think the humblest child that ever lived must have been that child taken up into the arms of Jesus; it saw its extreme opposite. That child would be poor in spirit ever after. It would be the least boastful of the ring of schoolboys, the least assertive of the family band. Even so, if thou wouldst be humble, must it be with thee. Thou must see Jesus, must be lifted into the arms of Jesus. Only in His arms shalt thou feel thine own nothingness; only in His presence shalt thou realise thy poverty. Wouldst thou be humble — climb! Wouldst thou be diffident — soar! Wouldst thou be modest — rise on the wing! Wouldst thou beat upon thy breast and say “Unclean!” — get on the mount with Jesus! Wouldst thou sink in thine own opinion ot thy greatness — watch His footsteps on the sea! Wouldst thou learn the meekness of the dove — in the baptismal waters let thy spirit light on Him I