be the Object of my Love But when 't is said I am proud of my Vertue here 't is as plain that Vertue is taken Formally for my Habit of willing it whereby I am denominated vertuous For I cannot be supposed to be proud of Vertue in its abstract Idea but only of the Love I have towards it To be short Moral Vertue may be taken either for the things which are fit to be done or for the Habitual Will of doing them The former is the righteousness of the Law prescribing what ought to be done the latter is the righteousness of the Man willing to do what is so prescribed These are the general kinds of Righteousness Now to the Question What kind of Righteousness that is which if we hunger and thirst after we shall be fill'd I answer First That the Righteousness here intended cannot be Judicial Righteousness since the mere desire of Pardon or Justification is not of it self sufficient to procure it or to avert the Sentence of Condemnation It must therefore be Moral righteousness If you ask in what Sense Whether as materially or as formally taken I think either Sense may be admitted But then there will be difference in the Proposition according to the Sense presumed For if Righteousness be here taken materially then the hungring and thirsting after it will be a Simple and Direct Act of the Will but if Formally for that Righteousness whereby a Man is formally good and vertuous then the hungring and thirsting after it will be a Reflex Act of the Will that is a Desire not of material Righteousness but of the Love of material Righteousness which is a Man's formal Righteousness And this Sense of Righteousness I take to be most agreeable to the exigence of this place because the desiring material Righteousness by a direct Act of the Will actually makes a Man formally Righteous and so prevents and anticipates that Repletion which our Lord promises as a future Reward and Blessing Whereas the desiring formal Righteousness or the Love of material Righteousness by a Reflex Act supposes the Man not yet actually Righteous as he is also supposed in the Beatitude and so leaves him capable of having the Promise made good to him that he shall be filled Now as to the Degrees of Christian Righteousness the Masters of Spiritual Life usually assign Three By Degrees I suppose meaning not all those Advances in Righteousness whereby a Man may exceed either another or Himself for then they might as well have reckon'd 3000 there being an infinite Latitude in Goodness but only such Advances as imply different Periods and distinct States of the Divine Life These they assign to be Three grounding this their Division upon the Authority of St. John who they say represents Christians as under a threefold State by bespeaking them under the several Titles of Little Children Young Men and Fathers By little Children meaning young or new Converts who must be fed with the Milk of the Word with the plain Doctrins and Principles of Christianity By young Men those who are grown up to some strength in Holiness and have made some Progress in the Mortification of the Inferiour Life By Fathers those who are arrived to a perfect habit of Goodness and as far as Human Nature will admit are fully regenerated into the Divine Life But I think this Computation must be retrench'd For with all the Invention which I have I can find but three States or Degrees for the whole Moral Condition of Mankind For all the Men in the World and every particular Man in several Periods of his Life may be reduced to one of these three Orders Either he is one of those who do not apprehend Sin as an Evil who either through want of understanding and reflection have not attain'd to any sense of its Malignity or through Debauchery and habitual Viciousness have lost it and so will and choose Sin purely and intirely with Unity of Consent and without any mixture of reluctancy which is the most exalted pitch of Wickedness that a Creature is capable of Or else one of those who indeed do look upon Sin as Evil and as such nill and are averse to it but not looking upon it always as the greatest Evil do oftentimes nill it only imperfectly and absolutely speaking do will and choose it to avoid as they then think some greater Evil. Or else lastly one of those who looking upon Sin not only under the Notion of Evil but as the greatest of all Evils nill and refuse it not only in some certain respect but absolutely and throroughly so as not by any means to be persuaded to commit it These Three Degrees will comprize the whole Moral State of Mankind And accordingly I observe that St. Paul makes mention of a three-fold Law The first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law of sin which is in the Members The Second is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law of the Mind or Conscience The Third is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law of the Spirit of Life These three Laws answer exactly to the three Moral States of Human Nature Under the first Law the Law of Sin are those who will and embrace Sin purely and entirely Under the Second Law the Law of the Mind are those who nill and stand averse to Sin in some certain respect as Evil but yet will and chuse it absolutely and effectually Under the third Law the Law of the Spirit of Life are those who absolutely and thoroughly nill the Commission of Sin The first of these States is a State of meer Sin and Death and those of this Order are they who are said to be Dead in Trespasses and Sins The Second is a State of Imperfect Life The Third is a State of Health and Vigour The first is a State of Rest and Acquiescence in Sin The Second is a state of Contention The third is a state of Victory In the first state the mind is laid fast in a deep sleep In the second she is between sleeping and waking In the third she is broad awake and well come to her self He that is in the first state is born only of the Flesh and has no higher Principle in him He is that Animal Man that perceives not the things of God He that is in the second has indeed some quickning Motions some ineffective Stirrings and Endeavours of the Divine Life But he that is in the third is born of the Spirit and of God and doth not commit Sin because his Seed remains in him From this Distribution of the Moral State of Man 't is evident that there can be but two distinct Degrees of Righteousness or states of the Divine Life For the first of the three as was before remark'd is a state of meer Death and Sin Righteousness and Life belong only to the two latter but with this great difference that the first of these two Degrees tho it has something of
John not to love the World neither the things that are in the World And lest we should take this only as a matter of Advice and Counsel not express Command he further adds If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him But that 't is a Christian Duty to be thus poor in Spirit will be further evident from the very Nature and Design of the Christian Institution The Grand thing intended in the Christian Religion was to reduce straying Man to his true Good and Happiness to sublimate refine and spiritualize his Nature to loose him from the Cords of Vanity and from his fast adhesions to created Good to purge him from all earthly Concretions and Alloys to disingage and separate him not only from the World about him but even from one part of himself in one word to raise him from Earth to Heaven not only by a Local but by a moral and mental Elevation Indeed 't was much otherwise under the Jewish Dispensation There was then great Indulgence afforded to the Animal Inclinations and worldly Affections of Men and their very Religion was indeared to them by Temporal Promises and Blessings Not that God intended hereby to express any liking or approbation of Covetousness and Earthly-mindedness but only to comply with the infirmity of that gross stupid People which rendred them uncapable of being won upon by more noble Proposals And besides it being a received Notion among the Idolatrous Inhabitants of the Land as is observ'd by a late Learned Author that the Worship of their Idols and False Gods did procure them fruitful Seasons and increase of all manner of store 't was in proportion requisite that God also should promise his Votaries the like worldly Affluence to keep them from running over to the Gentile Superstitions Upon these and the like Accounts much was indulg'd to the Jewish State and People They were never expresly required to abstract their desires from the things of the World Nor unless they proceeded to covet unjustly that is what belonged to another were they ever taxable for a too earthly and downward disposition of Soul Not but that earthly-mindedness was as much an Imperfection in it self as 't is now and was really forbidden according to the more retired and involute sense of the Law but the Letter did not reach it because then was the time and state of Imperfection and 't was the only Handle which that People could be took hold of by whose Hardness of Heart was the occasion of this as well as of some other Indulgencies But now they that shall think themselves obliged to no higher measures of Perfection under the Christian State know not what manner of Spirit they are of Christ as he has introduced a Better Hope so has he annexed to it more excellent and more exalted Precepts and as his Kingdom was not so neither is his Religion of this World The Christian Law is Lex Ignea a Law of Fire a Law that purifies and refines that warms actuates and enlightens that separates also and dissolves those strong Ties whereby the Soul sticks glued to the Earth And therefore the Apostle calls the Christian Institution the Law of the Spirit of Life and in another place the ministration of the Spirit And what our Saviour said of some words of his may truly be applied to all The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life This therefore being the Design of the Christian Dispensation to perfect Holiness to advance the Interest of the Divine Life to elevate us to the utmost degree of moral Perfection our Nature is here capable of and as far as is possible to make us Partakers of the Divine 't is utterly inconsistent with the End of such a Law as this to suffer us to lie groveling with our Faces on the Earth to seek Rest and Happiness in things more ignoble than our selves and to grow one as it were with the dirty Planet upon which we live We ought rather as the Philosopher speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aspire to the measures of Immortality shake off the Clogs of Earth that weigh us down and make hast to be Angels as fast as we can We are obliged by the Design as well as by the Rule of our Religion to be as loose from the Creature as may be not to love the World nor the things of the World whether the Lust of the Flesh or the Lust of the Eye or the Pride of Life but to be poor in Spirit and empty of the Creature that we may be rich towards God and filled with the fulness of him that fills all in all And now that to be thus poor in Spirit is a reasonable Duty as well as a Necessary one will sufficiently appear upon these two grounds I. Because these Worldly Enjoyments are not our True Good II. Because they hinder and divert us from that which really is so That they are not our True Good is certain for if they were we should then find Rest and Satisfaction in them But this we are so far from doing that we are as dissatisfied under our Enjoyments as without them For though by Fruition our Appetite be abated as to that particular Object which we prosecuted yet still we desire on further and our general Thirst after Happiness is as unsatisfied as ever Which plainly argues that our true good is not to be found in these things but that they are altogether Vanity and Vexation To place therefore our Happiness in such Objects is utterly absurd and against Reason and argues us to be grosly ignorant of one of the two things either of our selves or of the things of the World We are either ignorant of the Dignity and Excellence of our Natures of the Designs and Ends of our Creation and of the Strengths and Capacities of our Appetites which can be satisfied with nothing less than infinite Or if we do know and consider all this then we are so much the more grosly ignorant of the World about us to think there is any thing to be had in this Circle of Vanity that may satisfie the importunity of such craving and capacious Appetites Poverty of Spirit therefore is reasonable because the things of the World are not our True Good But this is the least part of their Charge They are not only insufficient to be our true good themselves but they also Secondly hinder and divert us from that which really is so For not to mention the many Snares and Temptations of a great Fortune and what a dangerous thing it is to be always furnished with all the Possibilities and Opportunities of Sin and Folly I only observe that the very Desire of these Earthly things diverts us and takes us off from the Love of God When our Love is divided even among Created Objects the force of it will be much abated in respect of each But much more will the Love
't is certain that it was a great Defect in the Law not to bind so perfect a Precept with a Penal Sanction Tho indeed the true reason was because 't was too perfect to be severely exacted in that Infant Age and state of the Church The Law therefore did not rigidly exact it tho it did plainly command it Which tho no defect with relation to that Time and State the Law being as perfect as the Gospel as to all the ends and purposes intended by it and every way accommodated to the Condition of those on whom it was imposed yet absolutely speaking it was a great Defect and Imperfection of the Law Then as to the Mahumetan Religion which indeed is only Heathenism pretending to Revelation this tho the last and assuming to it self the improvement of all that went before is yet really short even of Heathenism it self This is so far from requiring internal Purity that it does not require so much as external but allows and recommends too the grossest Impurities which has often made me wonder why the Turk should write upon the outside of his Alcoran Let no Man touch this Book but he that is pure I 'm sure the Book it self requires no such thing nor can I justifie the Reason of the Motto in any other sense but this That none but he that is pure is fit to be trusted with such a corrupt Institution But the Christian Law is pure indeed and none but such as are so are worthy to unloose the Seals of this Book This requires the utmost Purity that is consistent with the Measures of Mortality Purity without and Purity within pure Hands and pure Hearts It requires it more expresly and in a greater degree than either the Heathen or Jewish Religion and what was wanting in the other under the Sanction of Rewards and Punishments and those the greatest imaginable It does not only command inward Purity but incourage it too by the strongest Proposals that can affect either the Sense or the Reason of Man One of the greatest of which Encouragements is that our Saviour inserts it into the order of his Beatitudes and gives it a special Title to the Beatifick Vision in these Words Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The Subject to be here discours'd of is Christian Purity or Purity of Heart Whereof I shall represent I. The Nature by a Character or Description II. The Necessity III. The Blessedness By Purity of Heart in general is to be understood an inward Conformity of all the Thoughts and Desires of the Soul to the Will and Law of God When not only the external Actions are according to the Rule but the whole inward Frame and Position of the Mind stands right and well order'd and as the Apostle describes it not only the Body but the whole Spirit and Soul is blameless And to make it so these two things are particularly requisite First That we do not consent to any unlawful Desires no not so much as to the first Motions of Sin whether proceeding from the corruptness of our own Nature or from Diabolical Suggestion Secondly That we do not entertain with any delight the remembrances of our past Sins But more particularly yet Purity of Heart may be doubly consider'd either in opposition to Pollution or in opposition to Mixture In the first Sense it removes Sensuality in the Second Hypocrisie This distinction of the Word Pure is acknowledg'd and withal applied to this place by our Learned Dr. Hammond illustrated by the Instances of Water and Wine the former of which is said to be pure when not mudded or defiled the latter when not mixt But tho the Word be equally capable of this Latter Sense yet I do not think it to be at all intended by our Saviour in this place there being no such particular Congruity between this sort of Purity and the nature of the Reward here assign'd Confining therefore our Discourse to the former Sense of the Word as more suitable to the Circumstance of this place from what has been premised we may collect this Idea or Character of the Pure in Heart That they are such as regulate not only the external Conduct of their Lives but also the inward Frame and Habitude of their Minds and conform not only their Actions but their Wills and Desires Thoughts and Designs to the Rule of the Law and to the Dictates of the Internal Light of God in the Soul Such as sanctifie the Lord God in their Hearts compose the inmost recesses of their minds into an Holy Awe and Reverence of the Divine Presence set a Law to all their Intellectual Powers and suffer not the least Thought or Passion to violate the Order either of Reason or Grace Such lastly as yield no consent either to the Being or Stay of irregular Motions nor give any entertainment to the Allurements of the World the Flesh or the Devil nor delight themselves with any pleasing recollections any imaginary Scenes of their past Immoralities but set themselves at the greatest distance from sin resist the very first Beginnings and as near as they can abstain from the least Appearances of Evil. This is the most resembling Idea that I can frame to my self of the Pure in Heart And now lest this should be taken for a meer Idea a thing of Notion rather than Practice I proceed in the next place to represent the Necessity of such a Disposition of Soul The Necessity of it is Double in order to a double End Holiness and Happiness And First This Purity of Heart is necessary in order to Holiness that is There can be no true Christian Holiness without it This will appear by considering First That the Christian Law expresly requires it For this I need appeal no further than to the progress of this same Discourse of our Saviour upon the Mount Where among several other improving Expositions of the Mosaic Law we find this Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not commit Adultery But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart By which Lusting here I conceive must not be understood the bare natural Appetite of Concupiscence that being as such indifferent but the Appetite irregularly determin'd nor that neither as 't is a pure Natural and Mechanick Motion for so it has nothing Moral in it and can only be materially Evil but as it has the consent of the Will going along with it Which consent may be either to the very Desire it self or to the Acting of it If to the Act then the Man is in all Moral Accounts a compleat Adulterer and will be so esteem'd by God who as he Sees so he Judges by the Heart and will not think a Man the more innocent only for wanting an Opportunity of committing what he fully intended But if the Consent be only to the
Grace and Benediction But we dwell in God Essentially and Totally God dwells only in some certain Spirits such as are of a Dispositiont fit to receive and entertain him those who as the Jews love to speak are worthy to have the Shecinah rest upon them But all Spirits good and bad however qualified dwell in him For where else should they dwell since he is all and fills all Now both these Unions infer the Necessity of Purity of Heart in Order to Holiness For First if we consider the Soul of Man as dwelling in God what infinite reason is there that that part of him especially should be kept pure which is essentially joyn'd to touches and inhabits so pure and so awful an Excellence Put off thy shoes from off thy seet said God to Moses for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground And if so much Reverence be due to the Dwelling-place of God what Reverence is there then due when God-himself is the Dwelling-place How dares any Man lodge an impure Soul in the Bosom of so pure a Majesty Or how can he in any measure be esteemed Holy tho in all other respects never so unablamable who is polluted in that part which is so inwardly united to the Beauty of Holiness Then Secondly if we consider God dwelling in the Soul and Body of Man there is great necessity of Purity of Heart And that upon a double Account I. Because the Spirit of God which is the Principle of all Grace and Holiness will not enter but into a pure and clean Heart II. Because no other is worthy of so Divine a Presence And First the Holy Spirit will not enter but into a pure and clean Heart For this special and gracious Presence of God is not like his General and Essential Presence universal and unlimited but fixt and confined to certain Laws and depending upon certain Conditions and Qualifications And tho the first Addresses influential Visits and distant Overtures of the Holy Spirit prevent all previous dispositions of Man who as our Church expresses it in her 10th Article cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength yet to his fix'd Dwelling and residential Abode in us 't is necessary that there be an antecedent Preparation of Heart Which I conceive to be the reason that tho all Men are at some time or other Partakers of the common and ordinary Motions of the Spirit who is said to have striven even with the old World yet none but very good Men have the Priviledge to be the Temples of his Residence And this whole matter I take to be distinctly represented in these Words of St. John Behold I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him Where by standing at the Door and knocking is meant common and preventing Grace And this indeed is used to all without any previous Qualifications But he does not come in and sup that is take up his Residence and be a familiar Ghest till his Voice be hear'd and the Door open'd that is till the Man has well attended to and complied with those his antecedent Motions and Suggestions till he has swept and made clean the inner Room of his Heart So that Purity of Heart is absolutely necessary tho not for the first preventing Influences yet for the residence and in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit who tho he visit those that sit in Darkness and in the Shadow of Death yet he will not Lodge but in a pure and bright Soul Nor Secondly Is any other than such worthy of so Divine a Presence Indeed the purest Soul has reason to say with the Centurion Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof if we consider the disproportion that is between the Purity of God and that of the purest Temple we can prepare for him For he putteth no trust in his Saints nor are the Heavens clean in his sight How much more unworthy then is the impure and polluted Soul of so pure a Presence Suppose the Spirit of God would enter into a Polluted Spirit yet what Soul that has any sense of Decency would dare to continue any longer so when once possess'd by so Divine an Inhabitant Holiness becomes thine house for ever says the Psalmist that is it is very meet and right decent and proportionable that the place of the Divine Residence should be kept holy and undefiled The Divine Presence is the greatest and most solemn Consecration of any place that can be and where-ever he fixes his Mansion there the Inscription ought to be Holiness to the Lord. And the reason of all this is by the Psalmist render'd elsewhere For thou art a God that hast no pleasure in wickedness neither shall any evil dwell with thee Having thus far shewn the Necessity of Purity of Heart in Order to Holiness to complete this part it remains that we further represent its necessity in order to Happiness Now this Necessity may respect either our Admission into Happiness or our Enjoyment of it when admitted That Purity of Heart is necessary to our Admission into Happiness is already sufficiently deducible from what has been premised concerning its necessity to Holiness without which we are expresly told No man shall see God We are therefore further concern'd only to shew that 't is necessary to the enjoyment of Happiness And here not to feign a long Hypothesis of a Sinners being admitted into Heaven with a particular Description of his Condition and Behaviour there we need only consider that the Supreme Good is of a Relative Nature as well as any other Good and consequently the enjoyment of it must necessarily require some Qualification in the Faculty as well as the enjoyment of any other Good does something that may render that Good a Good to that particular Faculty Otherwise tho it may be possess'd yet it can never be enjoy'd This again must be something that must produce some Likeness or Agreeableness between the Faculty and the Good to be enjoy'd Which because the Purest of all Beings leaves no room to doubt but that Purity of Heart must be that Agreeableness without which as a Man cannot resemble so neither can he enjoy God We see that even in this Life 't is very tedious to be in the Company of a Person whose Humour is disagreeable to ours tho perhaps in other respects of sufficient Worth and Excellency And how then can we imagin that an ill-disposed Soul should take any Pleasure in God who is to her infinitely more unlike and therefore disagreeable than one Man can be supposed to be to another For my part I rather think that should an impure Soul be afforded a Mansion in Heaven she would be so far from being happy in it that she would do Pennance there to all Eternity For besides that a sensualized Soul would carry such Appetites with her
first to engage Men's Affections to our Persons that we may the better win them over to the Acceptance and Entertainment of our Doctrins This indeed ought to be the Care and Endeavour of all Preachers but there was this more particular reason for it in our Lord because the Love of his Person was not only an Indearment of Obedience but also a very considerable part and instance of it He therefore instead of using an Imperative Style by downright commanding such and such things chose rather in a more gentle and condescending way to insinuate what was his Will and our Duty by pronouncing them Blessed that do so and so Secondly I consider that our Lord Christ being to act the Counter-part to Moses and to relax the rigour of his Law by being the Author of a milder Dispensation thought fit to give an early and a solemn Specimen of his greater Mildness by varying the Style of his Legislation from that used by Moses And therefore whereas Moses deliver'd his Law after an Imperatorial way by saying Thou shalt not do this and Thou shalt not do that Our Good Lord chose rather to express his Law more tenderly and Humanly by declaring the Blessedness of those that should observe it And the rather because Moses had arm'd and immured his Law with Curses and Maledictions First in General Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them Secondly more particularly by annexing a Curse to particular Transgressions as in that famous Commination in the 27 of Deuteronomy to every Clause of which the People were to say Amen And therefore to shew of what a different Spirit the Christian Institution was from that of Moses our Lord chose to administer his Law in a form of Blessing in Opposition to Moses his Cursings thereby verifying those farewel words of St. Peter's Sermon to the Jews in a larger sense than he intended them God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his Inquities Thirdly I consider that our Saviour was to deliver a Law of Love a Law that required Love both as the Matter and as the Principle of Obedience Love was both the thing to be done and the Motive of doing it The Son of God was to be the great Prophet of Love T was reserved for him as being the Express Image of him who is Love it self and therefore the only Master fit to teach it This was the Fire which he came to kindle upon Earth the most ardent and affectionate Love towards God and towards Men. This was to be the Substance and Accomplishment of his Law and the distinguishing Badge of those that profess'd Devotion to it By this shall all Men know that ye are my Disciples c. But now 't would not have been agreeable for a Law of Love to begin its recommendation from such Arguments as should work upon the more Servile part of Man Moses indeed deliver'd his Law with all the Circumstances and Arguments of Fear and the Nature of his Law required such an Address but 't was fit that a Law of Love should come recommended to the World by Motives of Love Fourthly and Lastly It may be further consisted that this solemn Instruction of our Lord upon the Mount consisted of Precepts So very sublime and elevated and withal so strange and unusual as having had not Credit if Reception in the World before that 't was but necessary for the Prevention of Prejudice to set a Beatitude in the Front of every Duty and to bribe the Passions of the Hearers with a forward Anticipation of Happiness lest Men should say of the Commands of Christ as the Prophet brings them in saying of his Person that there is no Form nor Comeliness nor Beauty in them that we should desire them For these and other like Reasons that may be added our Divine and gracious Lawgiver was pleased to deliver his Laws rather by asserting the Blessedness than the Obligation of them Which while I consider I cannot but enter into a profound Admiration of the strange Goodness and Condescension of our Lord that he should so far lay aside the Majesty of a God and a Lawgiver that he might the better act the part of a Friend and of a Redeemer And to seâ— this Consideration the more home upon our Minds let us by the aids of Fancy draw the Curtains of this Intellectual Scene and imagin to our selves that we saw our Saviour seated upon the Mount of Blessing with his Eyes devoutly sets towards Heaven and his Hands affectionately stretch'd forth over the adoring and attentive Multitude and with Looks full of concern for the good of Souls gravely and pathetically distilling down upon them the Dew of his Heavenly Doctrin and tempering his Authority with the Style of Goodness and Kindness as well as his Divinity with the veil of Flesh. Who can with sufficient Wonder contemplate so pleasing a Scene of Love and Sweetness And who that well contemplates it can find in his heart to transgress a Law delivered with so much Condescension or offend a Lawgiver so infinitely so amazingly good Now concerning the Number of the Beatitudes why our Lord should assign Eight and no more t is not easie to offer what shall satisfie all Minds Were I minded to amuse my Reader I could tell him that in the Mystic Philosophy 8 is the Number of Justice and Fulness because it is first of all divided into Numbers equally even namely into 2 Fours which Division again is by the same reason made into 2 times 2 that is 2 times 2 twice reckon'd And by reason of this Equality of Divisions it received the Name of Justice But I do not believe our Saviour intended any Rosie-Crucian Mystery in this matter tho a certain Gentleman of that Order would fain insinuate that he did reckoning this among other Observations upon the Number 8 that there are 8 kinds of Blessed Men in the lesser World The Poor in Spirit the Mourners the Meek they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness c. But I think all that can here be warrantably and safely said is that our Saviour intending as he signify'd by his Ascent into the Mount a Discourse of Perfection and Excellence consisting of such Divine Vertues as were most perfective of Human Nature and for the Practice of which he himself was most exemplary was by his Design concern'd to instance only in the most select and excellent Duties both to God and Man Whereupon premising Humility as being a Duty common to both and withal the Foundation of all the rest he found remaining three extraordinary Duties relating to Man Meekness Mercifulness and Peaceableness and four to God Mourning for Sin Hungring and thirsting after Righteousness Purity of Heart and Suffering of Persecution for Conscience Sake So that our Saviour seems rather to have been directed by a