Apoftles, or Bishops, or Paftors; for this whole Sermon was preached to, and defigned for all Mankind, that either were, or intended to be Christians.

III. A Third and main Thing we are to obferve is, what good Qualifications these were in this divine Teacher, which proved fo effectual towards the Conviction of the Hearers. I fhall reduce them to thefe Three:

1. The Excellency of the Doctrine: They were aftonished at his Doctrine.

2. The admirable Defign, Order, and Contrivance of the whole Difcourfe; for it was when. be bad ended thefe Sayings, they were astonished at

his Doctrine.

3. The wonderful Authority of the Speaker, in comparison of the corrupt Teachers of thofe Days: For he taught them with Authority, and not as the Scribes.

1. The first Thing I observe took with them was, the Excellency of his Doctrine: They were aftonished at his Doctrine. A great Light was thereby darted into their Minds; and the Doctrine is in all Refpects the most to be admired of any Doctrine that ever was delivered to the World. Inftead of a Difcourfe of Rites and Ceremonies, Cuftoms and Traditions, wherewith the Scribes and Pharifees used to entertain them, here was an Inftruction of the pureft Morals the World had ever been taught before. Morals, which do not reft in regulating only our external Behaviour, but fuch as reach to the Root of all our Disorders, the Thoughts and Imaginations of the Heart. For our Saviour's Doctrine, as it

was

was here delivered, ftored the Heart with fuch a rich Treasure of Devotion toward God, and Love toward our Neighbour, that wherever it is taken in, it will furnish the Tongue with good Words, and the Life with good Defigns and Actions. And as the most admirable Rules are given for all Virtues, fo they are the best guarded by our Saviour's Doctrine, with Directions how to avoid all Occafions of Sin, and to damm up all the Inlets of it, that if that Part of Chriftian Duty were understood, and duly put in Practice, we should find good Life to be no fuch hard Matter, as it appears to wicked Men, who, inftead of guarding against Vice, make it their chief Study and Contrivance; and turn Tempters and Devils to themfelves. But all the Excellency of our Saviour's Doctrine about Chriftian Duties, does not lie barely in the great Perfection and Purity of these Precepts; one of the chief Things to be admired in it is, that all along there is a due Confideration had of our Weakness and Infirmities, and we are supported with fuch Promises of God's Grace, to facilitate all our good Endeavours, and directed to fuch powerful Means of Grace, that laying all these together, we may confidently affirm, there never was fuch a Contrivance for the Reformation and Sanctication of Men, as is contained in this fame Sermon on the Mount.

Then, as the Doctrine was admirable in itself for its own inward Excellency, it is another Property of it to be much efteemed, that it was fo well adapted to the Condition and Circumstances of thofe Hearers; a People bred up in great Ig

norance

norance and Corruption, through the Badnefs of the Times, and the Seductions of falfe Prophets, that they had been taught to prefer the meer Shell and Outfide, and Ceremonials of Religion, before the moft fubftantial Duties of it; and the bare outfide of Duty, before the inward Power and Life of it. Certainly nothing could be more proper for Men in their Circumftances, than to undeceive them as to all thefe Things, and to inftruct them anew in the true Doctrine of the Law, taken in its genuine fpiritual Senfe. To Men that have been long fhut up in a Dungeon, open Daylight is very furprifing, and very pleafant, and it is no Wonder they were ftrangely ftruck with it, as the original * Word, here rendered aftonished, fignifies. Much fuch a furprifing Light was that of the Reformation two Hundred Years ago; for the Light of the Gofpel was much more furprising to them, and confequently much better attended to by them, than by others now-adays, who are used to it.

2. But we are not only to confider the Excellency of this Doctrine in itself, though ever fo well fitted for thofe Hearers; but likewife the Frame and Contexture of it in this excellent Sermon, to which thefe Words are the Epilogue; for it seems, by the Words, that this likewife made a great Impreffion upon their Spirits; for it is obferved in my Text, that when he had finished thefe Sayings, the People were aftonished at his Doctrine. Befides the Particulars of the Doctrine,

which

ieπanavto, perculfi effent,

which are all admirable in themselves, like fo many excellent Materials for building a noble Houfe; there is a fecond and a further Degree of Admiration, when thofe Materials come to be handfomely put together in a regular well-contrived Building. This Sermon was fo contrived, that though every particular Part of it was beautiful, there is a new Beauty refults from the Whole. There is not one of the many Doctrines here contained, but affords Truth, folid, important, and feasonable Truth, if confidered by itself; but. if we confider how the Whole is put together, and how excellently then it anfwers the End, which was to teach Chrift's Hearers and Disciples true Holiness and Virtue, we may obferve that it is admirably fitted for that Design. And becaufe it would take more Time than can be now afforded, to take it all to pieces, to demonftrate this Truth, I fhall only obferve to you the three great Parts of which it is compofed, and fhew you how well fitted they are for this great End. The firft Part, in which the Beatitudes are treated of, Matth. v. ver. 1, to 13, meets with the carnal Expectations of Men, from the Meffiah's Temporal Kingdom, as they imagined it would be. And this gave our Saviour an Opportunity to guard his Difciples against all grofs Immorality and Prophaneness, and to principle them in the contrary Virtues. Then in the second Part, which expofes the Pharifaical Righteousness, from Matth. v. ver. 13, to Chap. vii. ver. 7. and describes at large how the Chriftian Morals are to exceed it, we find the feveral Parts of Duty fet off to an higher Degree of Perfection

than

than ever the World knew before; and those Vices of Pride, Covetoufnefs, and Cenforiousness, which are apt to ftick to the better Sort of People, most excellently guarded against. Then, Laftly, Chap. vii. from ver. 7, to 28. being now well principled against both Profanenefs and Hypocrify, great Care is taken in the End to direct us to the beft Means to reduce thefe Precepts into Practice, and to guard against all the Ways, whereby Holiness and Virtue are commonly undermined; and we are excellently inftructed how to ftand impregnable against all these. These are the three principal Parts of the Difcourfe; and each of them fo well fupported with Promifes and Threatnings, and other good Reasons and Arguments, conveniently, and in their proper Places interfperfed, that nothing is wanting to make it a moft complete Syftem of Duties, or Treatife of Chriftian Morals, in the fincere Obfervation of which, we fhall certainly both bet genuine Members of Chrift's Church and Kingdom here, and in due Time attain to the Kingdom of Glory hereafter.

3. Among the good Qualifications mentioned in my Text, whereby our Saviour prevailed fo much with his Hearers, I obferved his own wonderful Authority; for he taught them with Authority, and not as the Scribes. This is a diftinct Thing, both from the Matter of his Doctrine, and the Frame of his Difcourfe. But it is no easy Matter to tell precifely wherein it confifted. Without troubling you with any Opinions in this Matter, which I do not approve myself, there are three Things, I think, may be meant by this

Expreffion.