by St. John, between our Saviour and the Jews, in proof of his divinity and miffion. Befide that giving us another of his fermons fo very like to this in St. Matthew, and so many of the fame doctrines in it, he might not think it requifite to record them both. And that the two former grounds of their opinion have as little in them, will appear from the reasons which are given why those fermons are not the fame. As,

1. ST. Luke's omiffion of feveral material parts of that discourse recorded by St. Matthew; as the commentary upon the third, the fixth, and feventh Commandments; the directions for regulation of private prayer, alms and fafting; that noble repreTentation of the providence of God, related at the end of the fixth chapter; the promise that God will hear our prayers, &c. that is, in fewer words, all from the 13th to the 29th verfe of the fifth chapter of St. Matthew, the whole fixth chapter, and from verfe 6 to verfe the 16th of the feventh.

2. ST. Luke has but four Beatitudes, St. Matthew eight; and even those which are in both, are differently exprefs'd. Bleffed be ye poor, fays St. Luke; poor in fpirit, fays St. Matthew. Bleffed are ge that hunger, the former has it; they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, the latter. Bleed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh, fays that Evangelift; Bleed are they that mourn, for they fhall be comforted, fays this, &c. But fuppofe the fermons were the fame, St. Luke, as the fhorter in his relation of these Beatitudes, ought to be inter→ preted and understood by that larger and clearer delivery of them in St. Matthew,

3. ST. Luke has added feveral woes, of which we find nothing at all in the other Evangelist.

4. As to point of time. The fermon recorded in St. Matthew, was certainly deliver'd before the

healing

healing of the leper; * for when Chrift was come down from the mountain, the leper came with his request to him; whereas St. Luke, who promises to relate things in their proper order, gives this miracle of healing the leper, chap. v. 12. and begins the fermon he has recorded, chap. vi. 17. So alfo St. Luke reckons † Matthew among the twelve whom Chrift had chofen, and fays, he went down with these twelve, and preached the fermon as it is there related; whereas St. Matthew, when the fermon which he has given us was delivered, was not a Difciple, for he relates not his own being call'd, 'till fome time after.

5. As to the place and posture alfo, St. Mat thew is exprefs that the difcourfe was made by our Saviour, fitting, and on a mountain; St. Luke is as clear, that when he faid what he records, he was ftanding, and on a plain.

6. THERE is a difference alfo in the directing of these two discourses; Blessed are they, in St. Matthew; Bleffed are ye, in St. Luke. The former is a ftanding character to ferve in all ages of the Church of Chrift; the latter feems a particular address to the Disciples then about him, and an ap plication to their prefent condition.

FROM all which it is thought reasonable to conclude, that the two Evangelifts in these two places pretend not to deliver one and the fame difcourfe, but that the like fayings and inftructions being delivered at different times, each Evangelift has inferted them in their proper places, in the form as they were then, and upon that occafion, delivered. The importance of which conclufion is no more than this, that if they are two different discourses, there will be no neceffity of interpreting and explaining the one by the other.

* Matth. viii. 1, 2.

† Luke vi. 15.

HAVING thus confider'd the fermon on the mount in general, 'tis fit we fhould a little reflect upon the Beatitudes in particular. And with these our Saviour begins, in publishing to the world that new difpenfation of the Gofpel, we have fo often fpoke of, cftablifh'd upon better promifes, and full of the most valuable bleffings, that we might fee the difference betwixt the promulgation of the former law and the latter. When the law was given from mount Sinai, * there were thunders and lightnings, and the voice of a trumpet exceeding loud, fo that all the people that was in the camp trembled; the Lord defcended upon the mount in fire, and the fmake thereof afcended as the smoke of a furnace, the priefts and people were kept at an awful distance, left the Lord should break forth upon them and confume them. But in the delivering of the Chriftian law it was far otherwife; our meek and merciful Saviour (as it was prophecy'd of him, that by him God would make a covenant of peace with his people, and make them and the places round about bis bill a blessing) begins it with all the mildness poffible, and theds abroad his bleffings with a bounteous hand, represents the mighty beauties, and the great advantages of religion, that he may rather allure than compel men to an obedience which will make them happy. Happiness indeed or bleffedness has always been the great enquiry of mankind, the common topic, or the grand conclufion proposed by all the heathen mafters of morality, but never clearly made out, never fully fettled 'till our Saviour here determined it. The fchools of philosophy at Rome and Athens, and elsewhere, argu'd themfelves out of breath upon this fubject, and purfu'd the controverfy 'till they perplex'd the question with their various, wild, imperfect, and

1

*Exod. xix.

(

Ezek. xxxiv. 25, 26. inconfiftent

*

inconfiftent schemes: But Almighty God, who confounds the wisdom of the wife, provided a more excellent way to manifeft the truth in an affair of fuch importance, revealing it by his Son Chrift Jefus, who was better qualify'd than all those philofophers to decide this cafe, being himself compleatly blessed as God, and tho' in human naturė, free from the blindness, ignorance, and depraved affections of mankind. As fuch he was the fitteft judge of true felicity; he beft knew what would make men happy, and gave in his own perfon and character a lively tranfcript of all that happiness he taught. That he was poor in fpirit, humble and lowly, appears by his avoiding popular applaufe, declining power and honour, when the people would by force † have made him a King; afcribing to God the glory of his miracles and his doctrine; and giving thanks to God * upon all occafions, even for the common benefits of life; rejecting a state of wealth and plenty †, and living all his days in a poor and mean condition, as knowing that a man's happiness confifteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth; and, in a word, tho' he was equal with God t, yet for our fakes he made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a fervant, and was made in the likeness of man; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the death, even to the death of the cross. That he was a true mourner for the fins of others, and for their fufferings (thofe were the only fins he could mourn for, himself being without fpot, of fin entirely innocent, and thofe the only fufferings he thought deserved † concern,) is evident from his pathetic lament

ལ་

↑ John vi. 15. John xi. 41.

6, 7, 8. Luke xix. 41, 42

ing

ing the hardness and obftinacy of the Jews, and the fatal confequences of it in their utter ruin, which he forefaw. His meekness appears in many inftances; towards God, in a moft abfolute + fubmiffion to his will under his moft bitter fufferings; toward the governors of his country, both in church and ftate, by his frequenting the Jewish *fynagogues, fubmitting to pay tribute, furrendring willingly to the high prieft's officers, who took him, and acknowledging and * yielding to the civil power of Pilate, tho' he had done nothing which deferved his fentence; toward his pa rents, by a due fubjection to † them; toward his enemies, by the most perfect patience under all their malice and reproaches, a cheerful forgiveness of them, labouring all his life to do them good, praying heartily for them upon the cross, and undergoing death for their redemption and falvation, toward his friends his Difciples, by bearing with their infirmities, and condefcending to the lowest offices of kindness and respect to them; toward his inferiors, that is indeed to all men, by the greateft humility and gentleness in every part of his conduct, as might be fhewn, if I had time, in many particulars. That he * hungred and thirfted after righteousness, will need little proof. He took care to fulfil allrighteoufnefs himself; his whole life was spent in labouring to promote it amongst o thers, and he gave himself to death for us, to this very end, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. His merciful temper fhew'd it felf in his tender and compaffionate sense of * mievery