Page:SermonOnTheMount1900.djvu/33

 so we have only mildness for others. The true mark of innocence, either preserved or recovered, is gentleness.

Man is so prone to take offence that he is often offended with the very people who are doing him good. How irritable a sick man is with his nurses! Almost the whole world is diseased in that way; and hence it is that we are always getting angry with those who advise us for our own good, even more so with those who have the authority to do it than with others. The innate pride that we carry about with us is the cause of this. 'Blessed, therefore, ' are the meek, for they shall possess the land' where all sweetness abounds, because the joy there is perfect.