The Beatitudes

Opinion has been much divided concerning the design scope and application of the Sermon on the Mount. Most commentators have seen in it an exposition of Christian ethics. Men such as the late Count Tolstoi have regarded it as the setting forth of a golden rule for all men to live by. Others have dwelt upon its dispensational bearings insisting that it belongs not to the saints of the present dispensation but to believers within a future millennium. Two inspired statements however reveal its true scope. In Matthew 5:1 2 we learn that Christ was here teaching His disciples. From Matthew 7:28 29 it is clear that He was also addressing a great multitude of the people. Thus it is evident that this address of our Lord contains instruction both for believers and unbelievers alike. Arthur Walkington Pink was an English Christian evangelist and Biblical scholar known for his staunchly Calvinist and Puritan-like teachings. Though born to Christian parents prior to conversion he migrated into a Theosophical society (an occult gnostic group popular in England during that time) and quickly rose in prominence within their ranks. His conversion came from his fathers patient admonitions from Scripture. It was the verse Proverbs 14:12 there is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death which particularly struck his heart and compelled him to renounce Theosophy and follow Jesus.