THE beatitudes have to do with one's experience from the time the light of Truth first dawns upon consciousness, through the changes attending purification of thought, until the completion of individual redemption, when one becomes a steadfast power for good, like a "city that is set on an hill." In their unity they awaken the triumphant song of hope and stimulate progress in the work of emancipating the human race from the burden of sickness and sorrow, sin and death. The beatitudes are the demonstrated vision, expressed in the words of a great poet,—
I held it truth, with him who sings
To one clear harp in divers tones,
That men may rise on stepping-stones
Of their dead selves to higher things.
With broad understanding Jesus presents in his first sermon the misery and hopelessness in itself of human existence, and its gradual transformation under the inspirational motive power of Truth. In contradistinction to the changing picture of human life, he continually asserts man's divine estate, our ever-available opportunity. It is the voice of Revelation, saying, "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." The lessons to be drawn from the beatitudes are endless, and as we advance in understanding we may gather "here a little, and there a little," until the whole of human consciousness is leavened with the truth.
