I. The Beatitudes open that discourse which, whatever may be the difficulties of particular parts of it, has always been recognized as the most important part of the New Testament. It is, as it has been well called, the magna chartaof Christianity.
II. The Beatitudes put before us what are those qualities and what are those results which alone the Founder of our religion regarded as of supreme excellence. Often in revivals and in confessions on our death-beds people ask us, "Are you happy?" "Are you saved?" Christ gives us the answer: "You are happy, you are saved, if you seek the happiness (1) of modesty, (2) of compassion with sorrow, (3) of gentleness, (4) of an eager desire for justice, (5) of purity and singleness of purpose, (6) of kindness to man and beast, (7) of pacific and loving intercourse, (8) of perseverance in spite of difficulty."
III. Again, the Beatitudes, as they are called, or in other words declaring the happiness of those who fulfil these things in their own lives, is perhaps the best way of leading us to practise them. He does not say, "Be merciful," or "Be pure in heart," but He says, "Happy are the merciful, happy are the pure in heart" that is to say, He points out that the happiness of which we all of us, rich or poor, are in search can be found in one or other of these Divine qualities.
IV. The Beatitudes furnish to us the great goal or end which will solve to us many difficulties in the great battle of life which we all have before us. Those qualities of which our Saviour spoke are within the reach of all of us; and they amply serve to sustain us in all the conflicts of poverty and distress with which many of us are encompassed.
A. P. Stanley, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xix., p. 385.