The beatitudes

Blessed are the merciful. Mercy stands both in the Van and Rear of the Text; in the beginning of the Text it stands as a Duty; in the end of the Text it stands as a Reward. The Hebrew word for godly, [Greek or Hebrew] signifies merciful; the more godly, the more merciful; the Doctrine ⟨p. 181⟩I shall gather out of the words, which will comprehend and draw in the whole, is this;

Blessed are the merciful. Mercy stands both in the Van and Rear of the Text; in the beginning of the Text it stands as a Duty; in the end of the Text it stands as a Reward. The Hebrew word for godly, 〈non-Latin alphabet〉 signifies merciful; the more godly, the more merciful; the Doctrine ⟨p. 181⟩I shall gather out of the words, which will comprehend and draw in the whole, is this;

That the merciful man is a blessed man; Doctr. As there is a curse hangs over the head of the unmerciful man. Psal. 109.6, 7, 8, 9, &c. Let Satan stand at his right hand; when he shall be judged, let him be condemned, and let his prayer become sin; let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow; let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg; let the Extortioner catch all that he hath, and let the stranger spoil his labour; let there be none to extend mercy to him; let his posterity be cut off, and in the generation following let their name be blotted out; let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. Why, what is this crime? Ver. 16. Because he remembered not to show mercy, &c. See what a long Vial full of the plagues of God is poured out upon the unmerciful man! So by the Rule of contraries, the blessings of the Almighty do crown and encompass the merciful man.