disciples, it must have been like taking the stopper out of a scent
bottle?" I cannot tell whether this boy had ever read the words of
Solomon or not; but he had just the same idea that was in his mind
when he said of this "Great Teacher," "thy name is _as ointment
poured forth_." Cant, i: 3. We perceive the fragrance of this
ointment as soon as Jesus opens his mouth and begins to speak. If we
had been listening to Jesus when he began this sermon, saying:--"
Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are the meek; blessed are the
pure in heart; blessed are the peace-makers"--and so on till he had
spoken of _nine_ different kinds of blessing, we might have thought
that he had nothing but blessings of which to tell. It would have
seemed as if his mind, and heart, and lips, and hands were all so
filled with blessings that he could do nothing else till he had told
about these. And the blessings spoken of here are not all the
blessings that Jesus brought. They are only specimens of them. The
blessings he has obtained for us are innumerable. David says of them,
"If I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be
numbered." Ps. xl: 5. And these blessings are not only very numerous,
but very _great_. Look at one or two of these blessings that Jesus,
the Great Teacher, brings to us. He says, "Blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted." Jesus came to bring comfort to
the mourners. Hundreds of years before Christ came the prophet Isaiah
had said of him that he would come to "_comfort all that mourn_." Is.
lxi: 2. And to show how complete this blessing would be which he was
to bring, Jesus said himself--"_As one whom his mother comforteth_
--_so will I comfort you_." Is. lxvi: 13. A young girl was dying.
A friend who came in to see her said:

"I trust you have a good hope."