"Blessed are the meek:for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5).

In our meditations on the third beatitude, we find ourselves in happy company with that blessed
One who was "meek and lowly in heart." There is evidently, in this third class, a great advance
in the soul’s blessedness. The heir of glory has been learning in the school of Christ how to meet
the troubles of this life, as He met them. This is a great lesson, and greatly needed. Let us see that
we master it fully.

In the first beatitude we were shown the true condition of every soul that really knows God, and
is conformed to ter Of Christ_ poor in spirit." This condition is of what the soul sees itself to be
in the divine , and thus it is chiefly a question between the soul j. All is blessed and happy there.
But in going forth the world and attending to the various duties of this life, so many causes of
trouble come in our way that we groan in spirit. This is what we find in the second beatitude; it
is a daily experience. The great advance in the third beatitude seems to be this:the soul has so
grown in grace that now, in place of a questioning, reasoning, self-willed spirit being manifested
in this scene of trial, the disciple meekly bows his head in submission to the Father’s will, and
learns of Jesus to be meek and lowly in heart. After all, in these circumstances it is a question of
either self-will or submission.

The lowly in heart begins to see more clearly that, in spite of everything around him, God is
accomplishing the counsels of His own will, and making all things work together for good to them
that love Him, and are the called according to His purpose. This fuller knowledge of God and His
ways produces a deeply chastened state of mind. Though groaning in spirit, and mourning over
the wickedness of man, the rejection of Christ by those we love, and the failure of those who bear
His name, the man of faith is quiet and humble! He walks with God in the midst of it all and refers
everything to Him. In the lowest murmur of the enemy, or in his loudest roar, he hears his
Father’s voice; in the smallest injury or in the greatest outrage, he owns His hand. He envies not
the world its pleasures, or the wicked their prosperity; all his resources are in the living God; and
he can turn to Him, rest in Him, rejoice in Him, and walk with Him, above the conflicts of this
troubled scene.

Let us now turn in our meditations to Him who knew deeper sorrow here, and deeper communion
above, than any of His people can ever know. While discoursing to the people of the kingdom,
and answering their questions, He has the sense of the true state of the people and of His own
rejection as the Messiah, the King of the Jews. What sorrow must have filled His heart! What
relief and rest He ever found in His Father’s bosom!

We will now turn for a little to Matt. 11:20-30. Here we have the distinct expression and the
perfect combination of these two things in Jesus_groaning in spirit because of surrounding evil,
and entire submission to His Father’s will with .praise and thanksgiving. Scarcely had "Woe,
woe," fallen from His lips when He looked up to heaven and said, "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth." With the growing, deepening sense of the unbelief of the people whom He
loved, and their blinded rejection of Himself as Emmanuel in their midst, He meekly bows to His

Father’s sovereign will, sees only perfection in it here, and the glory that would follow it
hereafter.

It may be well now for the Christian_especially tried ones_to look more closely into the nature
of the discouragements which led the blessed Lord and Master to turn to His Father as His only
resource. He had come to His own, but His own received Him not. The people He loved, and had
come to redeem, had no heart for Him. When John the Baptist came with mournful tidings, they
refused to lament; when Jesus came with glad tidings, they refused to rejoice. Id not have Him
on any terms. This is the secret of the comparatively small success of the gospel in all ages, heart
prefers the enjoyment of present things to a rejected Christ and a heaven that is thought to be far
The most solemn warnings by John, and the most gracious invitations by Jesus, were alike
unheeded by that generation. It was enough to break any preacher’s heart. When the attractions
of grace, the appeals of love, the threatenings of justice, the miseries of hell, the glories of
heaven, fail to arrest or awaken the careless_when the preacher’s heart is broken because of the
hardness of men’s hearts_what is the preacher to do? Retire into the presence of God, and in
communion with Him learn his lesson more perfectly, both as to service and submission. This is
the only refuge and resting place for the disappointed workman.

"At that time Jesus answered, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth" (v. 25).
In a word, in place of complaining of the treatment He received from others, and vindicating
Himself, He meekly bows to the sovereign will of His Father, falls into His hands, as Lord of
heaven and earth. And what is the result? Just what it must ever be_He receives the blessing. Not
merely a promise, but the possession:"All things are delivered unto me of my Father." And this
proves to be the occasion, through grace, of a fuller revelation of God, and of a richer blessing
to mankind. "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" How
beautiful and precious this is as an example to us! When Jesus was despised as a man, rejected as
the Messiah, and refused His crown of glory, He did not stand up for His rights as we
would say, but meekly submitted and looked up to His Father as Lord of heaven and earth. He
could leave all in His hands and wait His sovereign will. In the meantime the blessing flows, like
a wave of life, from the ocean of eternal love:"Come unto Me … I will give you rest."

But this full flowing tide of grace does not lead to carelessness of walk as man might say it would.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find
rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." The difference between the
two verses is very distinct, and has been often noticed. In verse 28 it is, "Come unto me … and
I will give you rest; in verse 29 it is, "Take my yoke upon you . . . and ye shall find rest to your
souls." The one is pure, absolute, unconditional grace to the sinner; the other is the yoke of Christ
for the believer. The reason why so few have learned to meet the troubles of this life as He met
them is because they are not under His yoke, and learning of Him. They are thinking of their own
character; how much they have been misunderstood, how grossly they have been misrepresented,
how falsely accused, and how unjustly or unkindly treated. They have not learned that their own
reputation is the last thing they should think about; that now they have only to care for the
character of Christ. Those who are under the same yoke must walk side by side, and step by step.
True, the strong one may pull the weak one through when the chariot wheels sink deep in the sand
of the desert; but they must walk together. The Lord give us thus to learn the great truth of our

third beatitude, "Blessed are the meek:for they shall inherit the earth."