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POVERTY OF SPIRIT.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.-Matt. v. 3.

WHILST men in general have too often sought a qualification for eternal happiness in outward actions and observances, the Gospel of Christ uniformly calls for a change of heart and a certain temper of mind, without which the profession of a creed, however orthodox, and attendance upon the ordinances of religion, though unremitting, and the most splendid temporal gifts and greatest sacrifices in the cause of God, it declares, are insufficient to make out a title to future glory. Nothing can compensate in Jehovah's sight the absence of this virtue, which he will not dispense within the candidates for his kingdom.

"Say, shall we yield him, in costly devotion,
Odours of Eden and offerings divine,

Gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean,
Myrrh from the forest, and gold from the mine.

Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
Vainly with gifts would his favour implore;

Richer by far is the heart's adoration,

Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor."

Of the poor in spirit, we may add, whose character receiving from the lips of Jesus himself such a beati

tude and the promise of such a boon, it becomes us seriously to investigate and eagerly to pursue. This poverty of spirit arises not merely from an idea of ourselves as creatures dependant upon an almighty power, for life and preservation; nor does it arise from a contemplative view of creation and providence, and a deduction thence of the natural perfections of God, as his majesty, power, and wisdom, and of our own littleness compared with so august a Being. Whether these sentiments may define the humility of the sinless intelligencies whom God hath formed, we will not take upon us to declare. They falling upon their faces before Jehovah, cry continually, "Thou art worthy to receive blessing and honour, dominion and might, for thou dost according to thy will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and thou hast created all things, and for thy glory they are and were created." Such a lowliness as creatures, and such a lowliness from beholding the displays of divine skill and power in the universe, becomes man, and has been manifested by the persons commended in Scripture history. "When I consider the heavens," says David, "the moon and the stars which thou hast created, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou visitest him?" From a sense of our origin, which is in the dust, and of our frailty, who are crushed before the moth, and of the short duration of our lives, which hastens on as the swift ships, and passes away as a tale that is told, Job says, "What is man that thou shouldst magnify him, and set thine

heart upon him, and visit him every morning, and try him every evening." But if David and Job's humility arose only from these views, and if they had not possessed lowliness originating in other considerations, and of greater comprehension, they would have been lost. A man who takes a view of the long range of the Alpine mountains, and their huge masses piled up to the clouds, their cataracts and precipices, must perceive in them a proof and an emblem of the Creator's sublimity. He who at nightfall stands upon the beach and beholds the vast surface of the ocean, stretched immeasurably before him, with its waves dashing against the shore in wildest harmony, and its other wonders, may rise to the contemplation of the Maker, and be awe-struck at the omnipotence which formed, and which moves on the bosom of the mighty deep. The philosopher gazing at the solar system, and carrying his eye still further among the multitudes of stars that glitter in the etherial plains, and imagining in all he discovers other systems, suns, and planets, until he loses himself in the infinitude of such conjectures may return to ponder on his own insignificance, and may feel his littleness compared with that Being who has furnished these manifestations of majesty and might and wisdom. This kind of self-abasement is by no means rare, and is often perhaps indulged by persons of finer sensibility; but let them not mistake it for the virtue which our Lord commends in this passage: this is not in the Gospel signification, walking humbly with their God; nor will it receive one particle of hap

piness attached in our text to poverty of spirit. The character whom our Saviour here describes undoubtedly studies the natural perfections of Jehovah, but he also associates in his meditations the moral attributes of the Lord God, and the relations in which we stand to both. Whilst considering the eternity, the immutability, and almighty power of the Framer of the Universe; and whilst accompanying the Psalmist's exclamation of his omniscience, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." He thus revolves within him this august Being of such might and knowledge, my Creator, and my judge, is a God of unsullied purity, and can therefore be pleased only with what is pure. He sits upon a throne high and lifted up, and cherubim cry one to another in his presence, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: he delighteth so in this appellation as to call heaven where he dwells the habitation of his holiness; he claims it as his prerogative to be glorious in holiness, and the law he enjoins upon man is, "Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; and the tables of duties for our guidance in performing his

will, speak this as their substance and intention, "Be ye holy for I am holy." The truly humble having thus a vivid and deep impression upon his soul, from the study of the Bible, and the illumination of the Holy Spirit, of the holiness of Jehovah, and of that law given to man, to this test brings his life, measures it by this rule, ascertains its weight by this scale, and here is the origin and source of his humility. It is not surprizing that those individuals, who, to ascertain their rectitude before God, compare their lives with those of the more abandoned among their fellow-mortals,—who look only at the thief, and murderer, and drunkard, and swearer, and sabbath-breaker, and the unclean, to obtain a proper view of their own character,-it is not surprizing that these should, in all the confidence of a self-righteous spirit, go into the temple, and with the pharisee exclaim, “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, and give tithes of all I possess." When these hear a real convert, from a comparison of his heart and conversation with the holiness and law of God, saying with Job, “Behold I am vile, what shall I answer thee: I will lay my hand upon my mouth. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes," it is not surprizing that they should be unable to comprehend such language, and express pity for the man, believing that he has covertly followed some gross irregularities; but he is right,