And, beyond that, there is a further fulfilment of this promise, upon which I venture to say but very little.  It seems to me very probable that our Lord’s words here fall in with what appears to be a general stream of representation throughout Scripture, to the effect that the perfected form of the Kingdom of God is to be realised in this renovated earth, when it becomes the ‘new earth in which dwelleth righteousness.’  Whether that be so or no, at all events we may fairly gather from the words the thought that in the ultimate state of assimilation and fellowship with God and Christ to which Christian people have a right to look forward, there will be an external universe on which they will exercise their activities, and from which they will draw as yet unimagined delights.

But, at all events, dear brethren, we may be sure of this blessed thought, that they who meekly live, knowing and mourning their sin, and who meekly take to their hearts as their only hope the comfort of Christ’s pardon and cleansing, who are meekly recipient, meekly enduring, meekly obedient, shall have in their hearts, even here, a quiet fountain of peace which shall make the wilderness rejoice and blossom as the rose, and hereafter shall be crowned with the lordship of all.  Meekness overcomes, ’and he that overcometh shall inherit all things.’

THE FOURTH BEATITUDE

     ’Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: 
     for they shall be filled.’—­MATT. v. 6.

Two preliminary remarks will give us the point of view from which I desire to consider these words now.  First, we have seen, in previous sermons, that these paradoxes of the Christian life which we call the Beatitudes are a linked chain, or, rather, an outgrowth from a common root.  Each presupposes all the preceding.  Now, of course, it is a mistake to expect uniformity in the process of building up character, and stages which are separable and successive in thought may be simultaneous and coalesce in fact.  But none the less is our Lord here outlining successive stages in the growth of a true Christian life.  I shall have more to say about the place in the series which this Beatitude holds, but for the present I simply ask you to remember that it has a background and set of previous experiences, out of which it springs, and that we shall not understand the depth of Christ’s meaning if we isolate it from these and regard it as standing alone.

Then, another consideration is the remarkable divergence in this Beatitude from the others.  The ‘meek,’ the ‘merciful,’ the ’pure in heart’ the ‘peacemakers,’ have all attained to certain characteristics.  But this is not a benediction pronounced upon those who have attained to righteousness, but upon those who long after it.  Desire, which has reached such a pitch as to be comparable to the physical craving of a hungry man for food or to the imperious thirst of parched throats, seems a strange