in the Inferiour part whether Sensitive or Plastic that which is exercis'd about Objects of Sense or that which moves and forms the Body but in the highest and noblest part in the Spirit of our Minds which answers to the Platonical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very Flower and Essence of the Soul Here 't is we are to be renew'd as indeed we must if we be renew'd at all this being in all regards the Principal and the only moral part of Man To this purpose it must be further consider'd that this Intellectual Heart the Spirit and Soul of Man is the Fountain and Source of all Action This is that which sees in the Eyes and hears in the Ears This is that which understands and wills loves and hates Here are all the Springs and Powers of Life and Motion here is the last resort of all outward Impressions and from this Central Point are derived all the Lines of Action and Motion even as all the Arteries and Veins are from the Natural Heart which it diffuses and disperses throughout the Body and has its Pulses in every part If therefore this general Head-Spring be not kept pure and clean how can the Streams run clear And upon this was grounded that signal Advice of the Wise Man Prov. 4. 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life Parallel to which I find a passage in the Meditations of the Royal Philosopher Marcus Antoninus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Look within for within is the Fountain of Good Further yet this Intellectual Heart is not only the Fountain of Action and Motion but the most active and most rapidly moving thing in the World This Heart is always Beating the Pulses of it never rest Thought rises upon Thought and Desire succeeds Desire The Motion is perpetual constant and vehement so vehement that the swiftest Bodily Motion no not that of the Starry Orb is comparable to it so vehement that it cannot be discern'd or number'd and comes nearer to a Rest than a Motion as the swiftest turnings round of a Globe look like standing still Now what a dangerous thing is such a Motion as this if not rightly determin'd Of what vast heights in goodness is it capable And to what vast heights of wickedness may it rise if not well govern'd There is therefore great necessity that this Heart of Man should be kept with all Diligence and that it should be kept pure and undefiled Fourthly and Lastly the Necessity of Purity of Heart in order to Holiness will appear as from the Christian Law the Nature of God and the Nature of Man so also from the intimate Vnion that is between the Divine and Human Nature All things are full of God who is therefore call'd in the Sacred Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Place But there is nothing so intimately united to him as the Spiritual part of the Creation God is the immediate Place of Spirits and Souls who all live move and have their being in him and are joyn'd to him by a Central Touch as the great Plotinus speaks The Apostle says that even our Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost our Souls then must be at least his Sanctuary and most Sacred Recess But what Was not God just now supposed the Place of Spirits and are Spirits now made the Place of God Yes and without any Absurdity For so St. John describes our Union with God by our dwelling in God and by God's dwelling in us John 4. 16. The Union is Double on God's part and on Ours God dwells in us by his special Presence by the Spirit of Grace and Benediction But we dwell in God Essentially and Totally God dwells only in some certain Spirits such as are of a Disposition fit to receive and entertain him those who as the Jews love to speak are worthy to have the Shechinah 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 Feet said God to Moses for the place whereon thou standest is holy Ground Exod. 3. 5. 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 unblamable 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 Gen. 6. 3. 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 those 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 Rev. 3. 20. 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 heard 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
Roman Orator told Caesar That of all his many Vertues none was either more acceptable or more wonderful than his Mercy and Clemency he might perhaps Complement the Emperour but said nothing extraordinary of the Vertue As will further appear by considering Secondly the great Reasonableness and Usefulness of it As to the Former besides that all that which may be said in the behalf of Charity and Universal Love may be alledged as well for this there are these two more proper and peculiar Grounds to prove and inforce it I. To consider what Man has Receiv'd II. To consider what he Expects And First if we consider what Man has already receiv'd this Vertue of Mercy will appear to be highly reasonable Man has receiv'd innumerable Mercies of God some of which are so great so surprizing and incredible that 't is made one of the greatest Trials and Commendations of his Faith to believe them Such as the Honour of the Hypostatick Union the Redemption from Sin and Misery by the Death of the Son of God the Grace of Repentance and the like All which are yet improv'd and hightened by this further Consideration that they are proper and peculiar to him no other Creatures not so much as the Angels themselves being Partakers with him The Angels indeed as all other Creatures partake of the Goodness of God but Man alone among all the Creatures has the Priviledge to be the Object of his Mercy Since therefore Man and Man only has receiv'd so much Mercy of God it appears very reasonable that he of all Creatures should shew Mercy As it will Secondly if we consider what he expects Man has not yet received so much Mercy but that he expects more The Mercy that he has receiv'd is by the Redemption of Christ to be put into a Capacity of Salvation but the Mercy that he expects is to be actually saved The Court of Mercy is the only Court where Man dares appear or can abide a Trial. Briefly Man expects Mercy both from God and from Man in this Life and in the next in Death and after Death and therefore there is great reason to conclude that he of all Creatures should he merciful and that Cruelty was as little made for Man as Pride Nor is this Affection less Useful than Reasonable The condition of Man in this World is such as makes it as necessary for him to be pitiful as to be a sociable Creature Man cannot subsist without the Guardianship and Protection of Society nor is Society any Security without this Affection For what signifies Strengh and Ability and Society as such infers no more without Inclination to assist The Wise Man tells us that Wisdom is better than Strength Eccl. 9. 16. and 't is very true but neither of them nor both of them signifie any thing without a tender and compassionate Temper Then only may we expect Happiness and Defence from Society when there is the same Sympathy in the Politick as there is in the Natural Body when there is a mutual Correspondency and Communication of Parts like the Sympathetick Answer of one Lute to another When the Heaven hears the Earth in the Prophet's Phrase or as the Apostle more fully expresses it when If one Member suffer all the Members suffer with it or if one Member be honour'd all the Members rejoyce with it 1 Cor. 12. 26. This would make a Millennium indeed nor is any thing further wanting but only that Men would agree together to make the Experiment And because this is a Passion of so great use and necessity to the present Condition of Man God has been pleas'd to take an early and an effectual Care for the Security of it not only by giving the Soul of Man an Original Bent and Inclination that way but also by disposing him to it by the very Make and Figuration of his Body that so the whole Man might stand inclined to shew Mercy and Compassion For we are to consider that there are some natural Dispositions in the Brain whereby we are mov'd and admonished to be pitiful and compassionate since the course of the Animal Spirits is by I know not what Principle directed to those parts whereby we are stirr'd up to the sense of others Pain or Misery For as experience witnesses whenever we happen to cast our Eyes upon a Man that is wounded we find a suddain Tide of Spirits thronging towards those Parts of our Body which answer to the Parts affected of the wounded Man unless by some Accidental Cause their Course be diverted some other way And these Motions by which the Parts of our own Body are affected by the occasion of those Motions which are excited in others do raise that Sentiment within us which we call Pity or Compassion which by an Order of God's Establishment we can no more help being affected with than we can that our Animal Spirits should flow to and affect those parts of our Body which correspond to those of another which we see wounded So that you see the Ground and Foundation of this Affection is laid in Nature God has bound it upon us by a Natural as well as by a Moral Law by the very Figure and Contexture of our Bodies which certainly he would not have done but that he knew how useful and necessary it was for the Interest of Mankind in their present Posture which is a state of Want and mutual Dependence upon each other whereby we stand in need of one anothers Pity and Compassion And now if this Divine Affection for so we may now venture to call it be not yet sufficiently recommended from its Nobleness and Excellency and from its great Reasonableness and Usefulness let us further add the particular Blessedness here assigned to it Blessed are the merciful says our Saviour for they shall obtain mercy This they shall obtain from Men and from God here and hereafter First they shall obtain Mercy from Men here Not that this is to pass for an absolute Rule without any Exception since as long as Men are but Men Mercy is capable of being abused and ill-requited as well as any other Vertue otherwise our Saviour would have been more kindly treated than he was by the Jews But the meaning is that nothing does more naturally recommend a Man to the good Will and Compassion of others than a Merciful and Benign Temper and that generally speaking if Men be but tolerably well disposed and have any Sense of Justice and Gratitude the merciful Man will actually find Mercy among them However if not he has the greater stock of Mercy to come For Secondly the Merciful shall obtain Mercy from God hereafter And this does not depend upon so many Casualties and such uncertain Suppositions as the other Here 't is only required that mercy and truth meet together and that the Man be sincere and upright in all other moral respects And so much indeed is necessary For 't is not to be thought that Mercy
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 Mat. 5. 27. 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 Desire then tho the Man be not a compleat Adulterer yet he may be truly said in the Style of the Psalmist to be a Partaker with the Adulterer Psal 50. to have enter'd within some degrees of Unchastity and to have transgressed against that Christian Purity which forbids all Consent not only to the compleat Acts but also to the first Motions of Sin Secondly The necessity of this Purity of Heart in order to true Holiness will appear by considering the Nature of God who is both a Spirit and a Discerner of Spirits and ought therefore for a double Reason to be worshipp'd in Spirit and in Truth Joh. 4. 24. Our Saviour thought the former sufficient but the latter adds a further degree of strength to it God as a Spirit cannot be worthily served by any thing less than the Sacrifice of the Spirit which perhaps was one of the Reasons why our Saviour when he was to become a Sacrifice to his Father took upon him not only Human Flesh as some of the Ancient Hereticks would have believ'd but also an Human Soul And as a Discerner of Spirits he cannot be put off with a bodily instead of a Spiritual Service or accept of a polluted and unsanctified Spirit The Psalmist had a due sense of this when he said Psal 51. 6 10. Thou requirest truth in the inward parts and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly And when he pray'd Make me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Thirdly This Purity of Heart may be further concluded necessary to true Holiness from the Nature of Man himself in whom as the Soul is in all respects the Principal so in all Moral respects it is the only part concern'd This Inner Man is that Man who is the Immediate and proper Subject of all Good and Evil Vertue and Vice and accordingly this is the part to which our Sanctification and Regeneration is always ascribed and from which the Man receives his whole Moral Distinction And therefore says the Apostle To be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace Rom. 8. 6. Where you see 't is the inward Disposition of the Mind that makes all the difference If this be Pure and Holy the whole Man is so but if this stand not right to God and Goodness 't is not all the external Conformity in the World that can supply the Defect 'T was the Conceit of the Ancient Jews as we are told by Mr. Selden that every Proselyte of Justice at the very instant when he became so had a new Soul infused into him to which Opinion our Saviour is supposed to allude in his Discourse with Nicodemus Now tho Christianity does not acknowledge a New that is another Soul in its Converts yet it requires that the same Soul become new it requires a new Frame and Temper of Spirit The Christian Man is to be Born again and to become a New Creature a Creature of another Rank and Order And 't is the Mind and Spirit upon which this great Transaction is to pass and which is to be the immediate Subject of this extraordinary Change And accordingly our Regeneration is expressed in Scripture by our being renew'd in the Spirit of our minds Eph. 4. 23. We must be renew'd and where Not in our Body or outward Man but in our Minds And in what part of the Mind not
Creature Colos 3. 1. to seek those things which are above to set our affection on things above not on things of the earth to mortifie our members which are upon earth among which is reckoned inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry Again We are bid to beware of Covetousness Luk. 12. 15. and to have both our Treasure and our Hearts in Heaven Luk. 12. 33. to be as indifferent in the very Enjoyment of any Worldly Good as if we enjoyed it not 1 Cor. 7. 29. and if in the Enjoyment then certainly much more in the Desire Lastly to add no more We are cautioned by St. 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 farther adds If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 John 2. 15. But that 't is a Christian Duty to be thus poor in Spirit will be farther 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 dis-engage 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 renderd them incapable of being won upon by more noble Proposals And besides it being a received Notion among the Idolatrous Inhabitants of the Land as is observed 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 it 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 indulged 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 it 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 it 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 Heb. 7. 19. 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 Rom. 8. 2. and in another place the ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 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 Joh. 6. 63. 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 haste 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 farther 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 are we 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 of the Creature diminish from the Love of God For there is so vast a Disproportion betwixt the Kinds as well as the Degrees of the two Goods that he that once comes to relish one will find but little Taste in the other And therefore says St. Austin Monemus ne mundum ametis ut eum qui fecit mundum libere ametis Our Advice is that you love not the World that so you may love its Maker freely The Truth is to love God freely we should love him entirely for every Advance we make towards the Creature so much we recede from God for these are two contrary Terms of Motion And there is so great a Contrariety between the Love of God and the Love of the World that they do not only abase each other but are in some Degrees utterly inconsistent For so St. John if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Joh. 2. 15. And if this be the Consequence of loving the World I think the less we have to do with it the better and that there is a great deal of reason to be Poor in Spirit Thus far have we consider'd the Duty and Reasonableness of Poverty of Spirit as it signifies an Indifferency of Desire to the Things of the World I come now to consider it as it denotes Humility and Lowliness of Mind whereof I am also to shew I. The Duty II. The Reasonableness The Duty of Humility is plain in all the Scripture but more frequently and earnestly inculcated in the New Testament insomuch that it may be reckoned among the distinguishing Doctrins of the Christian Religion The Heathen Morals almost overlooked it and in the Old Testament Writings 't is but sparingly recommended but in the Christian Institution we every where meet with it in Capital Characters as a Precept of the first Magnitude Jam. 4. 6. God resisteth the proud saith St. James and 1 Pet. 5. 5. be ye cloathed with Humility says St. Peter And our Lord himself who was a perfect Example of all Moral and Divine Perfection and in whom the Fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily seems yet to commend himself to our Imitation chiefly upon the Account of his Humility Learn of me says he for I am meek and lowly in heart Matth. 11. 29. But there needs no Multiplication of Scripture for the Proof of this I shall therefore only farther observe That the greatest Personages that ever were in the World were always most eminent and conspicuous for this Excellency Out of many I shall select three Instances which may well deserve our Consideration The first shall be the great Fore-runner of our Blessed Saviour the Holy Baptist This Great and Holy Person when the Jews sent Priests and Levites from Jerusalem to demand of him who he was not only disclaimed the Titles of Christ of Elias and of that Prophet this his humble Spirit was not content with but went farther and gave this strange and mortified Account of himself I am says he the voice of one crying in the wilderness Joh. 1. 23. The Prophet David indeed had said before of himself That he was a Worm and no Man Psal 22. 6. And this one would think was a sufficient Stretch of Humility But the Baptist speaks in a Strain below him allowing himself to be no more than a Voice The same holy Person thought himself unworthy to baptize his Saviour nay what makes that less admirable not worthy so much as to unloose the very Latchet of his Shooes The next Instance I shall mention is the ever-blessed Mother of our Lord. She if ever any Creature had Cause to be proud 'T is impossible even to imagin a stronger Temptation She was saluted by an Arch-Angel said to be a Person highly favoured with God and blessed among Women and in particular That she should be Mother to the Son of the Highest and that too by the Power of the Most High Was not here enough to betray a poor innocent Virgin into Pride and Vanity Had the Angels half so much Reason for their Pride and Haughtiness when they fell from the Heights of Glory Well how did she behave her self under the dangerous Salutation Why she seemed to make it rather Matter of Obedience and Resignation than of Triumph and Boasting Behold says she the handmaid of the Lord be it unto me according to thy word Luk. 1. 38. But the most stupendous Instance of Humility that ever was or can be was in the Person of our Blessed Lord whether we consider him in the Mystery of his Incarnation or in the mean Circumstances of his Birth or in the humble Method of his Life whether we consider him as emptying himself of his Eternal Glories and drawing a Cloud over his Brightness or as forbidding the Devils to publish his Divinity and Men to declare his Miracles and his Disciples to tell of his Transfiguration or as washing his Disciples Feet or as riding upon an Ass or as conversing among Sinners and lastly chusing to die between Thieves These and many such other Instances of Condescension argue the most profound Humility that can be imagined and withal how concerned our Lord was to commend and endear this most excellent Duty to the Practice of Men. Of all the Vertues and Excellencies in the World one would have thought this of Humility least capable of being practised and exemplified by the Son of God Commend it indeed he might by Precept as well as any other but sure one would think not by Example But see what rare Arts and Mysteries God has found out to teach us this Lesson And therefore we may well conclude that there is Excellency and Necessity in it as well as Difficulty and how much it concerns us to learn what God has been so peculiarly sollicitous to teach It is then a Christian Duty to be thus Poor in Spirit And the Reasonableness of it is as great as the Obligation This I might shew from the good Consequences and happy Effects of this Disposition of Spirit but this falling in more properly under the Third Partition of my Discourse I shall for the present content my self with some other Consideration taken from the Condition of Man whom I shall consider I. As a Creature II. As a Sinner First then