the words, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. v. 3): "The poor have the Gospel preached to them." (xi. 5.) Here a preference appears to be given to the poor, merely because they are poor; and the salvation of the rich neglected, merely on acccount of their riches. This is by no means the case, God being no respecter of persons. It will be seen by the enlightened Christian, that both poverty and riches may be made the means of obtaining, finally, the precious boon—life for evermore. What a luxury does the rich good man feel in being able to relieve the wants of the poor! and who would wish to deprive him of so heavenly a pleasure? Does not this increase his joy as well as promote his regeneration? Do not his good actions bring out, at the same time, into lively exercise, that feeling of gratitude in the poor which elevates the soul into contentment and heavenly-mindedness, rendering him calm and thankful in the situation that Providence has placed him? and are not Christian benevolence and gratitude two of the noblest feelings of our nature? Yes! it is indeed a kind of spiritual commerce, a mutual exchange of life's goods, in which the giver and the receiver are mutually blessed.
It is the poor in spirit that are blessed. Those, in Scripture, are called poor who are without the knowledge of truth, and yet ardently desire it: the seeker will find it, and its possession is the blessing. The rich, in a scriptural or spiritual sense, are those who possess an abundance of knowledge, as well such as relates to science and philosophy as to the doctrines and truths of religion; but if they pride themselves in their great possessions, without reducing them to
