Employment, stringent employment, man needs it. It is a necessity to him, if he ever expects to achieve any great or any good thing. And now that we may have this spirit of return to God in any instance where we have wandered from him, and in order that we may be led to lay aside our dastard fear, and that our faith may be increased to take hold of omnipotence, and that as a church we may do what God's Word says do, let us all fervently pray.

VII

"BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN"

"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they which hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be filled."-Matt. 5:3, 4, 6.

T

HE importance of the text is very much enhanced from the fact that Jesus, just as soon

as he had appointed the twelve disciples and organized his kingdom here upon the earth, in this sermon began to explain the principles of his kingdom, what they were; the kingdom of God, what it means. And among the first things he said were those I have just read. Now, I want to explain in a very simple way the meaning of each one of these, and the power of the application will be as your heart takes it, as you hear it. I don't know which one of you will receive it, but I feel quite sure that somebody here is going to take these words to heart, and that is what we want.

Now, let us look at the first and see what it means. In every one of these statements there is what is called a shell meaning and a kernel meaning; that is, an outside meaning and an inside meaning. When he says, "Blessed are ye poor," the outside meaning is that it is true that poverty is more fa

vorable to the reception of the kingdom of God than riches. That is true. I mean to say that if a man is a rich man, and by the side of him is a very poor man, the probabilities are that the poor man will more readily see and feel the things of the kingdom of God than the rich man. But that is the outside meaning expressing probability. The inside meaning is this: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." That is absolute. I think I can make you understand what that means, and I will change the words this way first: "Blessed are those that are poor in the sphere of the spirit "—not in the body—" in the sphere of the spirit.”

But even that is not all of the meaning. There is no blessing to one who is merely needy in his soul, if his soul does not see and feel the need. The evidence of that is perfectly apparent from this Scripture. I want you to hear it so that you can know whether you are entitled to take the blessing. In the Book of Revelation, where our Saviour speaks to the churches, he thus addresses the church of Laodicea: "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth; because thou sayest, I am rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, poor and blind and naked.” So that when our Saviour says, "Blessed are they that are poor in the sphere of the spirit," he does not

mean, "Blessed are those that are actually poor there," for these Laodiceans were poor just that way. They were wretched and poor, and miserable and naked, but they did not think so. They thought they were rich. They thought they were invested with all good. They thought they had need of nothing. So evidently he does not mean, "Blessed is the one that actually needs salvation," but he meant this, "Blessed are they who feel their need of spiritual good, who in the sphere of the spirit feel their poverty." That being the meaning, which it unquestionably is, then we may at once settle the question whether there is any blessing for us here this evening, whether we have any title to it.

Now, if in your soul, in the sight of God, you feel that you do not need anything, you feel that you are rich, then there is no blessing in that for you. But if in your soul this evening you realize your poverty, so that your heart will say while I am talking to you, "I am needy there,”—perhaps you may say as far as this world is concerned, "I have a house and shelter, at least, and I have an occupation. I can make a living. But I am not thinking of that, but in my soul I see poverty. I see sickness. I see great need. I feel it. I am not near as good inside as I want to be. I find much fault when I look inside of my soul." Now, if that expresses your condition, blessed are you. There is a blessing for you in this text and I want you to lay hold of it. Now, the question is, what is the blessing? Let us

see what it is that belongs to you if you are in that condition? "Theirs is the kingdom of heaven." What a strange way to prove a title, to satisfy one's pretensions or claims. If there should happen to be a man here this evening who was to tell me that he was wholly sanctified, that man would not need anything, evidently not; if he is what he claims, he does not need a thing in the world, for that is the condition of people in heaven. There is no spiritual poverty with him. He doesn't need a Saviour. He doesn't need a high priest to pray in heaven and say, "Father, forgive him." He doesn't need any more of the power of the Holy Ghost to be applied to his heart, and he can get no blessing from this text.

But the Lord Jesus Christ says that your title to the kingdom of heaven consists in your conscious need of spiritual blessing. The Lord did not come to save full people. He came to save sinners, lost people. Now, whether you are in the church or not, you have, under the clear statement of our Saviour, a title to the kingdom of heaven, if in your heart, if in your spirit, you feel this poverty. Why, brethren, it would be a sad thing to me if I had already gotten to the best that the Lord had for me. My heart cries, "More! More! More!" I need more, and that sense of need in me that continually cries out, "Give! Give! Give!" that calls on God out of his inexhaustible riches and fullness to send me yet more; that is one of the evidences to me