rior Volume (whether the Discourse was of a prior or pofterior Compofition, I know not,) I find he gives a much founder Senfe of the Texts, concerning which we have been difputing. It is Vol. 7. pag. 44. where, after quoting the fame Texts, Mat. vi. Behold the Fowls of the Air, &c. on another Account, he has this judicious Remark, which I will fet down in his own Words: "Our Saviour ufeth thefe Arguments, fays he, to "his Difciples, to convince them of the Providence of God towards them, As MEN, and of a more "excellent Nature than other Creatures." And if this be spoke to them As MEN, it is to be understood in a Sense applicable to all Men, and not to be limited to Apoftles, which is the very Thing I am contending for.

SER

SERMON IV.

MAT. V. 3.

Bleffed are the Poor in Spirit: For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

H

AVING in my former Difcourfes, from the first two Verfes of this Chapter, obferved that this Sermon on the Mount was defigned for all Chriftians in general, and that it aims at the undeceiving Men in the carnal and worldly Notions and Expectations they had of the Kingdom of the Meffiah, and at the rectifying the bad Difpofitions of Mind they were under, occafioned by thofe carnal Notions and Expectations; this, if we carry it along with us in our Minds and Memories, will ferve as a Key to open and unlock the Meaning of many Expreffions and Paffages in the Sermon it felf; particularly this first that I have now read, which has ftrangely exercised the Conjectures of Interpreters; Bleed are the Poor in Spirit: For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven: Which I underftand, as if he had faid, "Ye are now full of Expectations that the Meffiah is about to enter upon his Kingdom, and fo he is; the Mofaical "State is now near an End, and the Evangelical State, or the Meffiah's Kingdom, is at Hand:

"But

1

"But I must tell you freely, ye are in a very bad Difpofition of Heart and Mind for it; and "therefore to prepare you for that Kingdom of "the Meffiah, I will acquaint you who are the

happy Perfons that shall be admitted into it; "for they are quite another Sort of Men than ye "think, or are aware of. First, ye fancy that "there is a vaft deal of Wealth, Power, and "worldly Grandeur, to be acquired under the

Сс

Meffiah; and accordingly your Hearts are full "of the moft covetous and ambitious Expecta❝tions that Men can have; for ye expect no less "than to share the Wealth and Government of "the World among you; and that is what ye are "now in your Hearts eagerly grasping after: "But ye are extremely mistaken; the happy "Perfons who fhall be admitted into the King"dom of the Meffiah, must be of a quite con

trary Temper and Difpofition; for as that Kingdom will not be of this World, fo the "Hearts and Minds of the Subjects of it must "be difengaged from the World, and fet on Heacc ven; for they, and none but they, are fit for "that heavenly State and Kingdom." This I take to be the true Meaning and Importance of the Words. But for the further clearing of it, and impreffing a Senfe of it upon our Spirits, I fhall in them diftinctly confider these three Things.

I. Who are meant here by the happy Persons called The Poor in Spirit.

II. What by The Kingdom of Heaven. III. How the Kingdom of Heaven is Theirs ; or what a neceffary Preparation and Difpofition

this Poverty in Spirit is, both for the Evangelical and the Heavenly State.

I. We are to confider who are meant here by thofe happy Perfons called The Poor in Spirit'; Bleffed are the Poor in Spirit. I think I have just now given the plain and natural Account of this in my Paraphrafe of the Words, when I told you that by the Poor in Spirit, I understand them whofe Hearts and Minds are difengaged from the World, and fet on Heaven. This is the true Spirit of Poverty, which was fo much wanting both in their Notions of, and in their Affections and Difpofitions towards the Meffiab's Kingdom. This Spirit of Poverty, as I take it, stands in Oppofition both to a Spirit of Covetoufness, and to a Spirit of Ambition; and fo, if rightly underftood, will in fome Sense reconcile the two different Interpretations of Poverty and Humility, which Expofitors have given of the Poor in Spirit, in this Text. For a great many Interpreters, both ancient and modern, by The Poor in Spirit, teach us to understand the Humble; but I could never find that the original Word properly fignified humble: They quote, indeed, a Paffage of Isa. lxvi. 2. where, as they think, Poor and Humble are joined together. To this Man will I look (faith. the Lord) even to him that is poor and of a contrite Spirit, and trembleth at my Word. From which Paffage they might as well prove that it fignifies penitent, as bumble. I confefs I could never reft satisfied in that Interpretation, or find out how thefe Words Poor in Spirit fignified humble in their principal Senfe, tho' by Confequence they will imply the fame Thing, as I fhall prefently fhew,

after

after I have cleared up my Reasons for making the other the principal and literal Senfe of the Words; which, in fhort, are thefe two: 1. The original Word IITs, which we render Poor, is always fo rendered throughout the whole New Teftament, and never once Humble; and every one who understands the Greek Language, knows that Poor is the true proper Signification of that Word: Nor can I fee any Reafon to change the proper into a metaphorical Signification in this Place. 2. St. Luke, who repeats the Substance of this Sermon, and begins with the fame Beatitude, Luke vi. 20. instead of saying Poor in Spirit, (which is the Expreffion upon which this Interpretation of Humility is built,) hath only the Word Poor; Bleffed be ye Poor: And not only fo, but after he has done with his Beatitudes, he reckons up feveral Woes, as oppofite to the feveral Beatitudes he had mentioned: And the first Woe fet oppofite to the first Beatitude, is, Woe unto you that are rich; which to me feems to put the Thing beyond Difpute, and to evince that the Word, both here and in St. Luke, is to be taken in the plain and ordinary Senfe, and is not by any Metaphor to be drawn to another Signification, as if it meant the Humble, or indeed any Thing else but the Poor, or fuch as have not their Portion in this Life.

But how then? Are all poor People happy, and all rich Men miferable? Is the Kingdom of Heaven beftowed on Men, or denied to them on account of fome Difference of their outward State and Condition, without any Confideration of the inward Temper of their Minds, and Difpofition of their Hearts and Souls? And fo for

ob