Wesley Corpus

Upon Our Lord's Sermon On The Mount: Discourse One "And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: And when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, `Blessed are the poor in spirit: For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: For they shall be comforted." Matt. 5:1-4. 1. Our Lord had now "gone about all Galilee," (Matt. 4:23,) beginning at the time "when John was cast into prison," (Matt. 4:12,) not only "teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom," but likewise "healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people." It was a natural consequence of this, that "there followed him great multitudes from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from the region beyond Jordan." (Matt. 4:25.) "And seeing the multitudes," whom no synagogue could contain, even had there been any at hand, "he went up into a mountain," where there was room for all that came unto him, from every quarter. "And when he was set," as the manner of the Jews was, "his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth," (an expression denoting the beginning of a solemn discourse.) "and taught them, saying." --