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Observe here, 1. It is not said, blessed are the poor in estate, but blessed are the poor in spirit: it is not a poverty of purse and possession, but a poverty of spirit, that entitles us to the blessing.
2. It is not said, blessed are the spiritually poor, but blessed are the poor in spirit: he that is destitute of the grace and spirit of Christ, that has no sense of his spiritual wants, he is spirituallly poor, but he is not poor in spirit.
Farther, 3. It is not said, blessed are the poor-spirited, but the poor in spirit. Such an act below and beneath themselves as men and as Christians, these are poor-spirited men; but these are not poor in spirit.
4. It is not said, blessed are they that make themselves poor by leaving their estates and callings, and turning beggars, as some do among the Papists; but blessed are they whom the gospel makes poor, by giving them a sight of their spiritual wants and necessities, and directing them to Christ that they may be made rich.
In sum, not those that are poor in estate, or those whom the world has made poor in possession, but those whom the gospel has made poor in spirit, that is, the truly humble, lowly spirits, have a right and title to the kingdom of heaven. Now, humility is called poverty of spirit, because it is the effect and fruit of God's Spirit.