of the trumpet, the Lord defcended upon the mount in fire, and the fmoke thereof afcended as the fmoke of a furnace." The people trembled and flood at a distance, left the Lord fhould break forth upon, and confume them. But when the bleffed Saviour, the humble and gracious Redeemer came upon earth, to vifit and inftruct mankind, to make the covenant of peace, his doctrine was like himfelf, mild, gentle, and perfuafive, full of grace, mecknefs, and condefcenfion: he doth not terrify and alarm his hearers with the threats of punishment, but allures them by the hopes of a glorious though diftant reward: addreffes his followers in a manner the most eafy and familiar, appeals to their reafon, gratifies their felf-love, and endeavours to convince them that the happinefs which they were all in search of, was only to be obtained by obedience; that it did not confist in those things to which their falfe ideas had confined it, but on the other hand in thofe humble virtues, that patience, piety and refignation, which they had been fo long ufed to contemn and defpife. Eleffed, fays he, are the poor in fpiril, for theirs is the kingdom of God.

Before we proceed to the illuftration of these words, it may not be improper previously to remark, that the fermon on the mount is a ftanding teftimony, a kind of living witness against thofe of our modern enthusiasts, who would feparate religion from morality; who are for ftrengthening and fupporting the noble edifice of the gofpel, by undermining the foundations

foundations of it; those who affert that the moral is not the Chriftian preacher, and that no difcourfes from the pulpit have any merit but such as are stuffed with unintelligible fophistry, and the extravagant fallies of a heated imagination. Our Saviour's own fermon, we fee, was of a different kind, and contains nothing but fimple plain morality, morality indeed of a more refined and exalted nature than had ever been preached to the Gentile world, but fuch as at the fame time had nothing in it vifionary or romantic, but full of divine truths, adapted to every understanding, and intelligible to the meaneft capacity. That preacher, therefore, who beft explains the truths which he delivered, and illuftrates thofe rules and doctrines which he established, has the belt claim to applaufe, and the fairest title to univerfal efleem and approbation.

I would defire our Methodists to obferve, that in our bleffed Saviour's fermon on the mount there is no mention made of predeftination, election, reprobation, juftification by faith alone; no doctrine of affurance, regene. ration and fanétification, (the common topics of our popular faints and apoftles); nothing but plain fimple precepts of morality, intelli gible to every mind, and fuited to every capacity. The beft fermons, therefore, one fhould. naturally imagine, are thofe which moft refemble his, which enforce his doctrines, explain his tenets, and illuftrate thofe truths which he has himself laid down and inculcated. Whatever therefore thefe refiners on the wisdom of their

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their Redeemer may think proper to affert, I am fatisfied, for my own part, with the model of Jefus Chrift, and fhall content myself with humbly endeavouring to imitate him, till they can furnish me with a better example. I fhall therefore proceed to confider the true meaning and intent of our Saviour's declaration expreff. ed in the text, "Bleffed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God."

As our Saviour came down from heaven to inftruct an ignorant, and reform a licentious world, his first and most neceffary business was to remove their prejudices, confute their errors, and correct the many falfe notions which they had contracted, both with regard to their duty and their happiness alfo: the first virtue therefore which he recommends is (that which was probably the leaft practifed amongst them) the virtue of humility. The time of Chrift's appearance on earth was the very time when human pride feemed as it were in the zenith and meridian of its power, when falfe philofophy had infatuated the minds of men, and filled them with the moft ridiculous ideas of their own confequence and importance; when the proud, the haughty, and the rich in fpirit, were deemed the greateft as well as the happieft of mankind: at such a time the doctrine which our Lord here inculcates, in proportion as it was neceffary, must have been equally dif guftful alfo, as it tended to overthrow their darling tenets, to thwart their defigns, and to mortify their felf-love. In oppofition notwithftanding to all their obftinate prejudices and

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pre-poffeffions, he declares, contrary to the general and received opinion, that the true happiness of man confifted in poverty of fpirit, in humility, patience, and refignation; not in abundance, but content; not in the gratification of our own will, but in implicit fubmiffion to the divine; not in the refentment and return of injuries, but in the patient abiding and charitable forgiveness of them. Bleffed, fays he, are the poor in fpirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

By the poor in fpirit, we are not to fuppofe our Saviour meant to characterife thofe mean and fordid minds, who, according to the common acceptation of this term, were ftrangers to generofity, charity, and benevolence, the flaves of avarice and felf-love: thefe, he knew and taught, were fo far from the kingdom of God, that he deemed it impoffible for them ever to enter into it.

By the poor in fpirit, he could not be underftood to mean the timid and daftardly, the mean and fearful coward, who ftartles at every blaft of fortune, and finks beneath every oppofition: he doth not mean to point out those who are just and honeft only from the dread of being detected; or virtuous and religious, not from principle and conviction, but from the fear of punishment: this is a poverty of fpirit, which, as it is beneath the dignity of our nature, can never be acceptable to the divine author of it.

Defcription of "The poor in fpirit." By the poor in fpirit, our Saviour undoubtedly meant all those, who, confcious of that weak

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nefs which is inherent to our nature, and fatis. fied how little real merit the beft of us can pretend to, always entertain a modeft diffidence and diftruft of their own abilities, which naturally produces a meek and humble behaviour; to their fuperiors ever lowly and refpectful, to their equals kind and benevolent, to their inferiors condefcending; juft and candid in the acknowledgment of their own faults and follies, yet willing to palliate, pafs over, and forgive thofe of others; not affuming merit which they have not, or boafting, like the proud and vain, of thofe good qualities and perfections which they have; not ambitious of popular applaufe, or folicitous to obtain the praises of a capricious multitude, but contented with the filent approbation of a good confcience, and the fecret folemn teftimony of an honeft and an upright heart.

But above all, by the poor in fpirit, is un. doubtedly meant the patient fufferer, he who hath fortitude enough to bear the evils of life without murmuring or repining at them; who fubmits with humble piety and refignation to the decrees of Providence, whofe greatness of foul enables him to fupport injurics and oppreffion without refenting and returning them.

Such is undoubtedly the true fpirit of Chriftianity; a fpirit which breathes thro' every page of the gofpel, which infpired every word and directed every action of our bleffed Redeemer. That virtue which he recommends to others he never failed himself to practise. Learn of me, fays he, for I am meek and lowly. If ever there was in this world a perfon who, in the

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