em will have to be assigned differently. Because the
principal motive for meekness is reverence for God, which belongs to
piety. The chief motive for mourning is knowledge, whereby man knows
his failings and those of worldly things, according to Eccles. 1:18:
"He that addeth knowledge, addeth also sorrow [Vulg: labor]." The
principal motive for hungering after the works of justice is
fortitude of the soul: and the chief motive for being merciful is
God's counsel, according to Dan. 4:24: "Let my counsel be acceptable
to the king [Vulg: to thee, O king]: and redeem thou thy sins with
alms, and thy iniquities with works of mercy to the poor." It is thus
that Augustine assigns them (De Serm. Dom. in Monte i, 4).

Reply Obj. 4: All the beatitudes mentioned in Holy Writ must be
reduced to these, either as to the merits or as to the rewards:
because they must all belong either to the active or to the
contemplative life. Accordingly, when we read, "Blessed is the man
whom the Lord correcteth," we must refer this to the beatitude of
mourning: when we read, "Blessed is the man that hath not walked in
the counsel of the ungodly," we must refer it to cleanness of heart:
and when we read, "Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom," this must
be referred to the reward of the seventh beatitude. The same applies
to all others that can be adduced.

Reply Obj. 5: The eighth beatitude is a confirmation and declaration
of all those that precede. Because from the very fact that a man is
confirmed in poverty of spirit, meekness, and the rest, it follows
that no persecution will induce him to renounce them. Hence the
eighth beatitude corresponds, in a way, to all the preceding seven.

Reply Obj. 6: Luke relates Our Lord's sermon as addressed to the
multitude (Luke 6:17). Hence he sets down the beatitudes according to
the capacity of the multitude, who know no other happiness than
pleasure, temporal and earthly: wherefore by these four beatitudes
Our Lord excludes four things which seem to belong to such happiness.
The first of these is abundance of external goods, which he sets
aside by saying: "Blessed are ye poor." The second is that man be
well off as to his body, in food and drink, and so forth; this he
excludes by saying in the second place: "Blessed are ye that hunger."
The third is that it should be well with man as to joyfulness of
heart, and this he puts aside by saying: "Blessed are ye that weep
now." The fourth is the outward favo