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BEAUTY
BEAUTY
emphasize the distinction between the passive and active graces of the Christian character. Yet it seems better to distinguish the eighth Beatitude from the other seven ; it ditt'ers from them essenti- ally, for it attaches blessedness to endurance of opposition and not to inward qualities, to conduct and not to character, to something a man does and not to what he is. In the seven Beatitudes on character, there are two triads. The first three, as Dr. Dykes points out(7'/te Manifesto of the Kinrj, p. 101), are closely connected and refer to negative graces; in the last three, positive graces are in- timately combined as elements of righteousness ; the fourth or central Beatitude is the link between these first groups. ' As the first three, the trilogy of spiritual humiliation, lead up to and produce that blessed hunger after Divine righteousness ; so the second three, a trOogy of characteristic phristian graces, are the fulfilment of the soul's hunger. '
Vn ith a ' proposal of the end — blessedness,' says Jeremy Taylor, ' our excellent and gracious Law- giver begins His sermon' (The Great Exemplar, pt. 2, sec. xi.). Beatitude is the essence of Christianity, its beginning and end. Tlie ' Beati- tudes' reveal the nature of true blessedness and the conditions of its attainment ; they reflect the light which shines from the Hebrew Scriptures that declare the blessedness of the righteous ; but they are illumined not only by tlie Prophets and Psalmists who went before, but also by tlie Apo.stles and Teachers who come after. Wernle says with true insight: 'Jesus Himself made of Christianity a religion of hope. ... If Paul in a later age preaches the religion of longing in words of enthralling eloquence, he is merely continuing in his own language the Beatitudes of Jesus' (The Beginnings of Christianity, i. 68).
Literature. — In addition to the works nlreadv quoted, see art. Sermon on the Mount, below ; Hastinijs' DB, E.\tra Vol. p. 14 ff. ; Gore, Sermon an the Mount ; Bmce, (lalikan Gospel, 39-72 ; Leckie, Life and ReligUm, 209-270 ; Stanlev, Senn. to CAi'Mreii, 95-131 ; ilathcson, Landmarks^/ ST MnraUtii, 143ff.
J. G. Tasker.
BEAUTY — Tliis term is applied alike to the physical grace of men and animals, to external nature and works of art, and to moral character and action. In every relationship it is a quality capable of imparting exquisite pleasure, and a power that commands and captivates. The appre- ciation of beauty for its own intrinsic charm was a special characteristic of the Greeks, to wliom the world was a wonder of order and adajitation, and who found an element of Avor.shipin the Ijcuuly tliat was a prerogative of the gods. With the Israelites, and in the East generally, beauty was esteemed rather as a sign of dignity and noble birth (Jg 8'*), and beautiful things were valued as the accessories of official decoration. Much in the Gospels that we feel to be beautiful and describe by that name, is there specialized by such terms as 'giace,' 'glory,' ' excellency,' as indicating in each particular case the arresting feature of charm, sublimity, or pre- eminence that makes it beautiful. Thus in the appeal, ' If God so clothe the grass of the field ' (Lk 12^), and in the declaration concerning the lilies of tlie field, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of them (v."), tlie beauty was due to external investiture rather than to any inherent fact of symmetry and proportion. So when the merchantman is described as seeking "oodly pearls (Mt 13-"), and the righteousness of Christ's disciples is expected to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees (Mt 5^), the quality of beauty arises from the surprising rarity and recog- nized pre-eminence of the things referred to.
i. Personal appearance of Christ. — Much has been written about the face of Christ. Tradition,
gathering its data from the apocryphal ' Letter of Lcntuhis,' the jiortrait which Jesus is said to have sent to kiiiu" Ali,i;arof Edes.sa, the story of Veronica's veil, flic ]iictuies and eikons of the early and medi- an :il Churcli, and accumulated literary traditions, has given to Art its typical presentation of Christ's countenance. The subject, however, is one about which there is no certain information. On the mount of Transfiguration the three disciples had a brief glimpse of the heavenly beauty that then shone out from the face of Christ. But those who were then eye-witnesses of His majesty (2 P 1'*) tell us that the glorious vision surpassed all de- scription. It remained with them as a restful and inspiring memory, like the ' unspeakable words ' of St. Paul's ecstatic experience (2 Co 12*).
2. Beauty in external nature. — It is profoundly suggestive of the reality of the Incarnation that He by whom the worlds were made spoke so little about them. When He called Himself and His disciples ' the light of the world ' (Jn 8>=, Mt5"), the allusion to light was not in the spirit of Milton's sublime apostrophe (P«)'. Lost, iii. Iff.), but with reference to its conflict with darkness. When He pointed to tlie redness of the evening sky (Mt 16=), it w-as not to speak of a Presence immanent in the light of setting suns, but to express the feeling of wonder that those who could draw a practical lesson from something so remote could not hear the footsteps of moral destiny so close behind themselves. And so in the instances of the frail, beautiful grass and the lilies of the field (Mt e-*""-), the allusion served as an argument for God's still greater care of things more precious.