the middle of his sermon, for the people to join with him in repeating the remainder of it. This was, no doubt, done to encourage the people to hear, read, and remember the Scriptures. It was a very general cus- tom for the people to show their appreciation of the sermon by public applause, manifested by words (as " orthodox"), or signs, or clapping of hands. We notice also the custom, prevailing among many ancient hear- ers, of writing down the sermons, word for word, as they were delivered, and by this means some extempore dis- courses were handed down to posterity. See Bingham, Christ. A ntiq. p. 705 sq. ; Walcott, Sacred A rch(eol. s. v.
SERMON ox THE Mount, the common name of a discourse delivered by Jesus to his disciples and a mul- titude on a mountain near Capernaum, A.D. 27, perhaps in May, early in the second year of his public minis- try. It is a complete system of the moral law, in the spiritual form which it assumes under the Christian dis- pensation, and has deservedly been made the subject of much study and learned exposition (Matt, v, vi, vii; Luke vi, 20 sq. Comp. Mark ix, 47 sq. ; Matt, xviii, 8, 9). The best complete exposition is certainly that of Tholuck, Bergprediyt (4th ed. 1856). An earlier edition has been translated into English (1843, 2 vols.). See also Valenti, Commentar iib. d. Bergpred. (Basel, 1849) ; Mackintvre, Expos, of the Sermon on the Mount (Lond. 1854); Pitman, Comment, on the Sermon on the Mount (ibid. 1852) ; Todd, id. (ibid. 1856) ; Trench, Expos, of the Sermon on the Mount (ibid. 1851) ; and the literature cited bj' Volbeding, Index Programmatum, p. 32 ; and Hase, Lehen Jesu, p. 121. See Jesus.
Sermon on the Mount, The, and the Talmud. In the essay prepared by the late E. Deutsch entitled The Talmud, among other daring statements we find also the following : " We need not urge the priority of the Talmud to the New Test. ... To assume that the Tal- mud has borrowed from the New Test, would be like as- suming that Sanscrit sprang from Latin, or that French was developed from the Norman words found in Eng- lish." Similar is the remark of Rthian : " It is some- times supposed that, the compilation of the Talmud be- ing posterior to that of the Gospels, appropriations might have been made by the Jewish compilers from the Chris- tian morality. But that is inadmissible; there was a wall of separation between the Church and the syna- gogue" {Life of Jesus, p. 108). Statements like these have been, and will be, taken as true, especially by those who have not taken the pains of examining for them- selves; but sober-minded scholars have arrived at dif- ferent results. Says Mr. Farrar : " Some excellent max- ims— even some close parallels to the utterances of Christ — may be quoted, of course, from the Talmud, where they lie imbedded like pearls in 'a sea' of obscurity and mud. It seems to me indisputable, and a matter which every one can now verify for himself, that these are amazingly few, considering the vast bulk of national literature from which they are drawn. And, after all, who shall prove to us that these sayings were always uttered by the rabbins to whom they are attributed? Who will supply us witii the faintest approach to a proof that, when not founded on the Old Test., they were not directly or indirectly due to Christian influ- ence or Christian thought?" {Life of Chi-ist, ii, 486.) According to our judgment, there is only one way of arriving at a just estimate as to wliich copied, and this is to give the parallel passage of tlie Talmud with the author who uttered the sentence, and the time in which he lived. The date of the author nuist settle the question once for all, and this is our purpose in the sequel.
Matt. V, 3: "Blessed are the poor in spirit."— .S'tio/icrfj-m, fol. 43 b: "R. Joshua lien-Levi [A.D. '219-279] said, Behold, how iicceptable before tlie Lord are the humble. While the temple stood, meat-ofTeiings and sacrifices were offered in expiation for sins committed ; but nn humble spirit, such a one as immolates the desires of the flesh and the iucliuatiuu of the heart oa
SERMON
572
Matt. V
" V, 10
V, 19
" V, 22
V, 24
V, 28
" V, 40
" V, 44
" vi, 26
" vii,
the altar of his duty to his God, is accent- fi- \'! ,P';m! "'■'^aciitices, as the psalmi.st says (li, 19), 'The sacrifices of God are a brolieu spinf " (coinp. i'ota/i, fol. 5). "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall ob- ll'rTn'¥.- i^f'^H^V"'-?^ '^= "l^-G'^aliel II [A D.S0-1]8] i-aid. He who is merciful tow- ards his fellow-creatures shall receive mercy from heaven above." ■'
"Blessed are they which are persecuted for nghteoiisuess' sake," etc.— /;„^, Kamvta, fol 93 a: Kabbi Abbahu [A.D. 2T9-8'.iO] said Be rather one of the persecuted ihau of the uer- secutors." '^
: " Whosoever, therefore, shall break one," etc -Prrke A both n, 1 : '-Kabbi [i. e. Ju.lah hak- Kodesh d. A.D. 190] said, Be equally ai tentive to the Jight and to the weiglity cominand-
: " But I say unto you, that whosoever is aiisrv with his brother," etc.— .Sa«/i<,'d»»»t, f„l jisV- "Resh Lakish [A.D. 219-2S0] said, VVhosol ever lifts up his hand against his neighbor, though he do not strike him, is calledliu of- fender and sinner." : " Leave tliy gift before the altar, and "o thy