slate that
expectation into the hope of moral and social development? By doing so,
can we still have a religious sense of a great and divine future
overhanging humanity which will give to our life the same value and
solemnity which the first generation felt?

_Explain what a strong social hope and faith would contribute to a
person's life in the course of years._

How do faith and practical social effort react on each other?

Seventh Day: The Coming Joys

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for
they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness'
sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.--Matt.
5:5-10.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus formally outlined his conceptions of
ethical and religious life as distinguished from those then current. It
was the platform of the Kingdom of God. We might expect it to begin with
denunciation. Instead it opens with a spontaneous burst of joy. A great
good was coming. It would bring a store of blessings to all who had the
inward qualifications to receive them. All who felt the divine
dissatisfaction with themselves and the craving for social justice and
righteousness, would get their satisfaction (v. 3, 4, 6). The higher
social virtues, gentleness, purity of heart, peaceableness, would get
recognition and gain ascendancy (v. 5, 7, 8, 9). But the climax of praise
and promise is for those who propagated righteousness where it was not
wanted, and suffered for it (v. 10-12). "These words belong to the
greatest ever uttered" (Hegel). They are pure religion, and they were
called forth by religious faith in a social ideal.

Have we known men and women who had some of these qualities, who lived
within the Kingdom of God, and who enjoyed its blessings? If they have
ennobled our life, let us think of them a moment with a silent
benediction.

Study for the Week

We see from the passages we have studied that the mind of Jesus was
centered on a great hope which was just ahead. It was so beautiful that
even in anticipation it was filling his soul with joy and he knew it would
bless all who shared in it. It seemed to him