The Beatitudes of Jesus; Vesper Addresses on the Octave of Blessedness

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1908 Excerpt: ... VIII. Of The Persecuted. THE life of the spirit in relation to its environment, anticipated, as we have seen, in the character and work of the Peacemaker, may be said to be the theme of the eighth and concluding Beatitude, Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Apart from its own clear message, which we shall presently consider, the position assigned this Beatitude of the Persecuted in the octave of blessedness is in itself instructive. The portrayal of the inner life in its previous stages has been invested with an atmosphere of mysticism. Tempers and dispositions of the soul have been appraised, and their spiritual equivalents given. To the coldly matterof-fact and unspiritual.this expression, ' 'an atmosphere of mysticism, is very nearly synonymous with an air of unreality. It suggests a region veiled from sight and sense, unrelated to the actualities of the world's life. Keenly conscious of this, and with a just valuation of the ministry of environment in the final development of the life of the spirit, the Master closes his eight-fold pronouncement of blessedness by objectifying the Christian character in an apotheosis of martyrdom: Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven. The character formed in secret now emerges into the light, becomes a factor to be, reckoned with by the world, whose hostility it provokes, and finds its reward in the discovery that it is no shadowy and unsubstantial thing, but the enduring workmanship of God. ITS PLACE IN THE OCTAVE. The impression that we have in this final Beatitude an element which impairs t...