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change is witnessed; for the blessing of Christ makes them rich, which adds no sorrow with it; for the greatest sorrow was, and is, for want of it; now their treasure and heart is in heaven, and heavenly things are their chiefest delight; now they are clothed with Christ's righteousness, he hath put it upon them, and they shew it in the sight of men, a thorough change being wrought both within and without also; "The holy scripture bear12 ing witness with their spirits, that they are the children of God; (and Christ says) theirs is the kingdom of heav

en."

"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." Verse 4.

The mourning here spoken of, is that of a godly sort, which may sometimes appear outwardly: 1st. For the soul may mourn for its own sins and iniquities: 2d. For want of a Saviour: and, 3d. For the iniquities of others. "For (first) all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" and since we have all sinned, we have all need to mourn before the Lord, and bow ourselves before the Most High; and when he sees that we are humbled before him, he then will comfort us. Christ will send the comforter, the spirit of truth in his name, who will come unto us; and when he is come, we may plainly know and understand it is he, by what he doth, according to Christ's own rule, which is infallible and certain; says he, "When he is come, he will reprove (or convince) the world of sin, righteousness, and judgement: of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more : and of judgement, because the prince of this world is judged." Thus, according to Christ, that which shews us our sins, which convinces us of them, is the spirit of truth, the comforter; that after we have mourned for our sins, which he convinces us of, then he comforts us with inward comfort and consolation. 2d. This comforter also convinceth us of our formal righteousness, when it is only formal, without the power of Christ: and then the soul mourns after the life and power of godliness, which indeed is great gain, D dd

with true contentment; and hath the promise of the things of this life, and that also which is to come. And so here we are comforted by the spirit in the promise, in which we have faith to believe in Christ, and that he will verily do as he hath promised. 3d. It also convinceth us of judgement, when we judge with a wrong judgement; and when we mourn for our mistake, he makes us sensible of this righteous judgement, which judges the prince of this world, who is judged by Christ; and then instead of mourning, we are ready to sing with the saints of old, "Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God, for true and righ teous are his judgements, for he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornications, and hath revenged the blood of his servants at her hands."

2d. The soul being truly in love with Christ, and he being absent from the soul in some sense; or if he seem to stay a great while from it, although to try and prove the soul; this makes us mourn greatly, like the spouse in the Canticles, who sets forth the beauty, and excellent parts, and comeliness, of her beloved, and all her sorrow is, he had withdrawn himself; and well may a soul be sorrowful, when Christ spiritually withdraws himself. "The children of the bride chamber mourn in the bridegroom's absence, but rejoice in his presence," says Christ, who is the very perfection of beauty and holiness. But the soul abiding in his love, and seeking of him, and waiting for him, in his own due time he will certainly come to that soul; for he is the truth who said, "Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted."

3d. Again, pious souls cannot but mourn for the sins and abominations of the times, which is a great exercise to them, and affects them with sorrow and mourning but they are comforted with blessed promises, which the Holy Ghost, at times and seasons, immediately ap plies to their souls, as recorded in the holy scripture; and let it be remembered, that all our good times and seasons are in the hands of the Lord. It is recorded in

the holy scripture, that God would have his people spoken comfortably to; Isa. xl. 1. And that he would

give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.” Isa. Ixi. 3.

"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." Verse 5.

Be not high-minded, saith one of his servants; and another saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Again, "The meek will he teach his way, and the meek will he guide in judgement;" as the holy scripture witnesseth. So that well said our Holy Saviour, that the meek should be blessed: grace is given to them, and God is their teacher, and their guide in judgement; a most blessed gift, teacher, and guide: a great blessing indeed, to receive grace from Almighty God, to be taught his ways by him, and to have the Holy One to be our guide in judgement. And he who has all power in heaven, and in earth, committed into his hand, says as above, that the meek" shall inherit the earth" they have the rightest and truest enjoyment of all the things of this life; whereas the proud and scornful are a burthen to themselves and others, and hardly any thing pleases them, or any thing good enough for them; when, on the other hand, the meek and contented mind hath (according to a good general maxim) a continual feast.

"Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousnes; for they shall be filled." Verse 6,

Let it be remembered, that as our mortal bodies cannot enjoy health long, without a natural appetite to meat and drink,, so our souls cannot live unto holiness without a spiritual hunger, and an inward thirst after the righteousness which Christ puts upon his saints: not by imputation only, but actually also. Such souls he will fill, as holy Mary witnessed, and bore her testimony to the truth thereof, viz. "He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away."

When we are emptied of sin and self, then there is room for the Almighty to pour into us of his spirit. If we would fill any thing, it must first be empty; so must we be empty, if we hunger and thirst after righteousness truly, then shall we pray to our heavenly Father for divine food, and it will be our meat and drink to do his will; and we shall delight to feed upon his word; as Christ says, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." This is the holy food for the soul, which nourishes and keeps it alive unto God: and without which it is dead, notwithstanding it may have the form and fashion of a living body. And as this hunger and thirst, or desire, must be spiritual, so must the food be also; "It being the spirit that quickens," and gives life to the soul; wherefore let a spiritual hunger and thirst be in the soul after God, and his righteousness. A righteous soul being greatly athirst after the living Lord, cries out, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so doth my soul after the living God." And this holy thirst was greatly satisfied, so that his heart was many times sweetly opened to praise the Lord. It is true we have an adversary, that would be filling us with many things, fleshly, worldly, and satanical; but we are to shut our hearts against him, and to keep out all those things, and to stand open to Christ, and empty before him. And if we find this our adversary too hard for us, we are to fly, and cry to the Lord for succour and help, who is a God not only afar off, but also near at hand, and a present help in the needful time, as many of his servants and children have experienced and witnessed him to be. Wherefore, to be hungry and thirsty after Christ and his righteousness, entitles us to his gracious promise, who says they shall be filled.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Verse 7,

It is highly necessary for mortals to shew mercy, in all their words and actions one to another: and also to the creatures which God hath made for the use of man. It is usually said, that a merciful man is merciful to his beast,

which generally is true, and if men are merciful to their beasts, how much more ought they to be merciful one to another. Where mercy is to be extended, it ought not to be done sparingly, since thereby (according to Christ's blessed doctrine) we are to obtain mercy. That servant who shewed no mercy to his fellow, had no mercy showed unto him from his lord. It is also recorded, in the name of the Lord, "He hath shewn unto thee, O, man! what is good, that thou should do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God." By which it appears that we are not just in the sight of God, if we are

cruel and unmerciful one to another. And we ought not only to be merciful, but to love it. Which, if we are truly humble, we shall certainly do. Mercy will lessen, and not magnify weakness, failings, or small and trivial things one in another and sometimes, as the case may require, some larger things: and yet there is room for seasonable reproof and correction: but mercy must be mixed with justice, else the correction may end in tyranny. We ought to be gentle to all men, which is a true token of true gentility: so to be truly merciful, is to be blessed, and to obtain mercy.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Verse 8.

By which we may understand, that we are to take care of our hearts; and to keep a strict watch over them; and not admit unclean or unchaste thoughts, or sinful desires, to have an entrance therein. And if at unawares they should at any time enter, we must not entertain nor love them, but turn them out; for we, in this, should be like our Heavenly Father, of purer eyes than to behold iniquity with any allowance or approbation : otherwise it will hinder us from seeing God, and from the sweet enjoyment of his most precious presence, and beholding the only begotten of the Father, and the fulness of his grace and truth, which we cannot see if our hearts are impure: an instance of which we have in the scribes and pharisees, though they were outwardly righteous and clean, yet within were very impure, so that they could not see God, though he was in Christ recon

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