are brought so closely home to us in the miseries of our Allies. THE RIGHTEOUS IDEAL. AT CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL, SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY, 1915. “_Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord: and in his law doth he meditate day and night._”--Ps. i. 12. It is with the utmost appropriateness that this psalm is placed first in the Psalter, for it expresses the spirit which underlies all other psalms, and, in fact, the whole of the Scriptures. Its message lies, indeed, at the root of the religion of the Old Testament, and of the New Testament also. Let us notice, in the first place, that its opening word--the word “blessed”--is the keynote of the Scriptures from first to last. In the first chapter of Genesis, which we have read this morning, we read, not only that God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good; but more particularly, that when God made man He blessed them, and gave them a special commission. He placed them in the Garden of Eden, in which He made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the Tree of Life also in the midst of the Garden. He blessed them, and intended them to be blessed; and He gave them a command which they had only to obey in order to enjoy that blessing. Man forfeited the blessing by disobeying the command; but the last chapter of the Bible, which we have read this evening, describes the recovery of it by those who have faithfully served Him. It describes a day when there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in the new Garden of the Tree of Life. “The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.” Thus the Bible holds out, from beginning to end, the prospect of blessedness, or perfect happiness, as that which God designs for men, and which will be ultimately bestowed upon His faithful servants. Between the beginning and the end, in the midst of this great dispensation, when our Lord appeared with His new covenant, His message is described as a Gospel, as “good tidings of great joy,” and the first word He utters in that great Sermon on the Mount, which contains his special teaching, is this characteristic word “blessed.” He repeats it again and again, “Blessed be ye poor.... Blessed are ye that hunger now.... Blessed are ye that weep.” The promise of blessing is thus the keynote of our Saviour’s message.