keep it.' (Lk ips). 'Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord
when he cometh shall find watching.' (Lk
12^', cf. vv. 38- -is^ Mt24«). ' If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do
them.' (Jn 13"). ' Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet
have believed.' (Jn 20^). [In Mt 25^ a difl"erent word (ei^oyriixivm) is used]. These scattered sayings suffice to indicate how often our Lord's teaching was expressed in words of blessing. With these Beatitudes in the canoni- cal Gospels should be compared one preserved by St. Paul, and one found in the Codex Beza? — 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
(Ac 20™). 'If thou knowest what thou doest, thou art
blessed; but if thou knowest not, thou art
under a curse, and a transgressor of the law.'
(Lk 6^ D). The latter saying is addressed to a man who was working on the Sabbath ; probably it einbodies a genuine tradition, but certainly it bears witness to the early recognition of the Beatitude as one of our Lord's favourite methods of imparting truth. In the fifth of the New Sayinas of Jesus (see Grenfell and Hunt's ed. 1904) the word iMKipiot can be restored, although the subject of the Beati- tude has been lost. Prof. Adeney directs atten-
BEATITUDE
BEATITUDE
tion to the presence in the Acts of Paul and Thckla of a number of fresh Beatitudes. St. Paul is represented as giving utterance not only to some of the Beatitudes of Jesus, but also to such sayings as these —
' Blessed are they that keep themselves chaste, because they shall be called the temple of God.'
'Blessed be they who keep the baptism, for they shall rest in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.' The wTiter of this apocryphal book imitates our Lord's Beatitudes, and expresses in this form both Pauline teaching and his own ascetic doctrine {Expositor, 5th series [1895], vol. ii. p. 375).
2. The Group of Sayings. — When the word 'Beatitude' is used in the plural, it refers as a rule to those sayings of .Jesus, grouped at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, in which He solemnly announces who are the blessed in the Kingdom o{ heaven. Early examples of its use in this significance are— 'The eight beatitudes that . . . spryngeth of grace' (1531, Pilgr. Pcrf.); ' This quhilk S. Ambrose callis our Lord's beati- tudes'(1588, H. King Canisius' Catech.). In his <lc Offic. (i. 6) Ambrose says: ' Hm octo Christi Beatitudincs sunt quasi Christi Paradoxa.'
iv. The Beatitudes in Matthew and Luke. —A.. Their number in Matthew. — The 'Beatitudes' are recorded in Mt 5^"" and Lk 6-"--^. In regard to the number of Beatitudes in Matthew there have been diverse opinions ; the decision depends upon the view taken of vv.""'-—
V. ". ' Blessed are they that have been per- secuted for righteousness' sake ; for tlieirs is the kingdom of heaven.'
v.^'. ' Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.'
V.I-. 'Rejoice, and be exceeding glad : for great is your reward in heaven : for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.' The seven Beatitudes in vv.^"' describe the graces of the Christian character ; these are followed in v.'" by another Beatitude which assumes that those who possess these graces, and are, therefore, not of the world, will, so long as they are in the world, be exposed to its hatred. This general truth is first expressed ; it is immediately afterwards brought home to the disciples as our Lord, using ' ye ' instead of ' they,' reaffirms (v.") the blessed- ness of His hearers, should they endure reproach for His sake. If tliis interpretation be correct, there are eight Beatitudes in Matthew. In the first seven we behold the several rainbow hues of the light which reflects in human conduct the glory of the heaienly Father (v.'^) ; in the eighth that light is seen in conflict with the darkness it is destined to overcome.
If Mt 5'°''- is not counted as a Beatitude, the number of perfection — seven — is obtained. This course is followed by some because the eighth Beatitude is not a declaration of the blessedness of character, and by others because its promise of the Kingdom of heaven merely repeats what lia.s already been said. Augustine speaks of a ' heptad of Beatitudes,' and regards the eighth as returning upon the first {' octava tanguam ad caput redit'). Bruce refers to the ' .seven golden sentences ' which sum up the felicity of the Kingdom, though he afterwards enumerates eight classes of the blessed {The Training of the Twelve, p. 42). AVordsworth {in loc. ) prefers the mystical significance of eifjht to similar interpretations of seven ; for if seven is tlie number of rest after labour, ' eight is the number of blessedness and glory after rest ' ; he also dwells on the annexing of the promise of the Kingdom of heaven to the eighth Beatitude as well as to the
first : ' Tills is the consummation of blessedness ; the recurring note of the beatific octave ; also in the eightli Beatitude the word ' ' blessed " is re- peated for the sake of greater certainty and emphasis.'