the world time was when they were the only Sons of Light and when Palestine or the Land of Canaan was the only Goshan on which God caus'd the light of his Countenance to shine when as all the rest of the World all the rest of the Nations of the Earth sate in darkness in Egyptian darkness and as in the vale and shadow of death when as all the rest of mankind lay under an eclipse and dark night of ignorance But now blessed be God the Scene of things are changed the Partition Wall of Separation is now broken down the Vale of the Temple is now rent and its door set open to all the Nations and Kindreds of the Earth The borders of the Church are now inlarg'd and God hath given to his Son the Heathen for his Inheritance and the uttermost parts of the Earth for his Possession the Bread of Life is now dealt to all The King as it is in the parable hath now sent his servants into the midst of the streets to invite all to the Marriage Feast Time was when Canaan was the Land flowing with milk and hone but now every one is invited to buy Wine and Milk and Honey without money and without price time was when only the Iewes were admitted to the Table of Gods Ordinance but now there is a Feast prepared of fat things of Wine well refined from the Lees and Proclamation made That every one that hungreth after righteousness may come eat and be satisfied and every one that thirsteth is invited to drink of the Waters of Life freely For God is pleas'd now under the Gospel to keep open House as I may so say and to give entertainment to all comers to make welcome all that come unto him and puts none by refuses none that offer themselves by Faith unto him The time is now come in which the Son of Righteousness is to arise with healing under his wings and shine upon the whole earth and enlighten all the dark corners thereof that the whole world may become a Goshan a Land of Light in which the Saints are to be gathered from the four Corners and the four Winds in which the fear of the Lord is to fall on all hearts and the knowledge of his Name to abound and cover the face of the Earth as the waters cover the Sea God hath now set open the door of his Mercy and holds forth the Golden Scepter of his love to all He doth now open wide and stretch forth the Arms of his Love that he may receive the whole World into his Imbraces He hath now as it were pull'd up the Sluces and open'd as I may so say the Flood-gates of his Mercy that every one may drink thereof and taste that the Lord is gracious that he may bathe and refresh every dry and parched Soul He doth now open the Treasures of his Grace and bring forth the riches the exceeding great riches of his Mercy In brief the Gospel is now tender'd to both Iew and Gentile and the doors of the Sanctuary stand open unto all so that they are inexcusable that neglect despise or contemn the means of so great Salvation the offers and tenders of so great Love and Mercy So much for the Auditory I now come to 4 The place and that was a Mountain not Mount Sinai on which God appear'd cloath'd with Thunder and incompass'd with flames of fire and Clouds of smoak the Mountain on which God appear'd in the Majesty of a great Dictator giving Laws to the Children of Israel the Mountain which trembled with the presence of the Lord and before which the hearts of the people of Israel quak'd fearing they should be consum'd from before the presence of the great Iehovah This was not the Mountain on which God gave the Law in a voice of thunder when the Sons of Iacob desir'd the Lord might not speak unto them but by his servant Moses No this was Mount Sion the Mount of Olives the Mount of Peace When Moses had been awhile with God in the Mount his Face had so great a lustre that the Israelites were not able to behold it and therefore desir'd him to put a vail thereon And when Paul was caught up into the third Heavens he was transported beyond himself Whether in the body or out of the body he could not tell He then saw Visions and had Revelations which were unutterable So likewise our Saviour so soon as he came into the Mount began to preach and bless the people his lips began then to melt and drop sweetness to let fall blessings on the people Whence by the way we may observe that they only are fit to preach who have seen God in the Mount who have had some rapture and extasie of spirit who have had their hearts elevated and lifted up to God whose affections have taken flight beyond the Region of earthly enjoyments and had some experience of the goodness of God upon their Spirits then they will be able to speak feelingly then they will speak experimentally and say not the things we have heard that we have received from the hand of Fame but what we have seen handled of the Word of Life declare we unto you Then they will be able with our Saviour to say Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven and so we are at length arriv'd at the subject of our Discourse am sorry we have been so long detain'd in the Porch viewing the coherence and structure of the context but I hope we have not much wandered from the road of our Text or at least kept within view thereof The text is the first words of our Saviours Sermon on the Mount whose mouth was no sooner opened but his lips drop'd like the honey-comb This is not the language of the Law Do this and live This is not the Dialect spoken on Mount Sinai but this is the Language of the Lamb the sweet and still voice of the Gospel The Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Iesus Christ Oh! how beautiful should his feet be in our eyes that hath brought these glad tydings of the Gospel Blessed are the poor in spirit Oh! these are comfortable words these are refreshing words these speak Peace these speak Life to a poor soul these drop oyl and gladness into a wounded spirit these are words able to rebuke an inraged Sea and calm the billows of a troubled Conscience to restore brightness and serenity to a clouded spirit to a soul full of storms clouds and tempests Blessed are the poor Oh! how much doth Christs Dialect differ from that of the World we say Blessed are the rich blessed are the full blessed are those who know no want whose Barns are full of corn whose houses are full of wealth that can say with the rich glutton in the Gospel Soul eat and drink and take thy case for thou hast much goods laid up in store We say Blessed are
pollution and corruption of their Natures the Leprosie of sin that cleaves to them they 'l never desire the Angel may move the waters or go unto the pool of Bethesda to the fountaine of Christs blood to wash and bathe their souls in Iordan till they finde and feel their souls stung by the fiery Serpents of sin till they feel the sting of the guilt of sin stick in their souls and consciences they 'l never by the eye of Faith look up to the brazen Serpent Christ Jesus that was lifted up upon the Crosse that they may receive health and healing to their souls Till they are sencible of those breaches and ruines the fall of Adam hath made in their natures till they are sencible of those wounds and bruises those mortall wounds sin hath given them they will never go to the Physitian of souls for cure to have the balm of Gilead applyed to their wounds to have oyl and wine poured into them Till they are sencible of that issue of blood that is upon them and have in vain spent all their substance on other Physitians and fruitless remedies they will not presse after Christ to touch the hem of his Garment to receive vertue and healing from Him Till they are sencible of the misery into which they are fallen and the irrecoverablenesse of their estate they will never beg the putting forth of the hand of Gods mercy and the arm of his Almighty Power for their rescue and deliverance Till men are sensible of their blood-guiltiness they 'l never fly to the City of Refuge to avoid the pursuit of Gods Vengeance the pursuit of the Avenger of Blood Till they are sensible of their own vileness they 'l not fly to the Ark of the New Covenant to be preserv'd from that deluge of wrath that is to come upon the workers of iniquity Till men are sensible of their own barrenness and unfruitfulness in all the works of holiness and righteousness and that the Axe of Gods Judgements is laid to the root of every tree that bringeth not forth fruits worthy of repentance and newness of life and that it shall be hewn down and cast into the flames of Gods Vengeance and become the fuel of eternal fire the fuel of his Eternal Wrath and displeasure I say till by the Eye of Faith they discern and believe this they 'l never desire to be grafted into the true Vine Christ Jesus that they may receive sap and influence from him and so become fruitful and abound in the works of righteousness till we are sensible that we are dead in trespasses and sins we shall never desire the quicknings and enlivenings of Gods Spirit till we are sensible of and groan under the burden and weight of the guilt of sin we shall never desire ease of Christ till we are sensible of that body of death we carry about with us of that Law in our members rebelling against the Law of our minds of that power dominion rule and tyranny that sin hath obtained over us captivating us into the obedience of the Law of sin and death we shall never groan to be deliver'd into the liberty of the Sons of God that we may serve him without fear and be able to lead captivity captive For so long as men are of opinion with the Church of Laodicea that they think they abound are rich and full they will never acknowledge that they are poor blind and naked and by consequence become Suitors at the Throne of Grace that they may receive Crowns and Thrones of Glory To conclude this particular so long as men have any reeds of their own righteousness to lean unto though but broken reeds and such as will rather wound and pierce their sides than yeeld any strength or support unto them they 'l never build their Faith on the Rock of Ages Christ Jesus So long as they can fit and please themselves under the gourds of their own righteousness under the shadows of their own performances so long as they have any thing to skreen them from the heat and scorchings of an inkindled conscience I say till the Sun of Righteousness be arisen and hath scorched their Gourds and burnt up all their pleasant Bowers they will very hardly be perswaded to take shelter under the Cross of Jesus And therefore upon this account poverty of spirit is a blessed and happy condition for that it is an awakened state and gives men a true prospect and discovery of their estate and condition for that it brings them acquainted with their wants with what they stand in need of 2 Poverty of spirit is a fruitful state your low and humble valleys are crowned with the greatest plenty are most rich and fruitful the lowest trees and meanest shrubs have their boughs laded with the greatest encrease as appears in the Vine and other trees whereas high mountains tall trees and stately Cedars are commonly steril and barren and their great bulk but a burden to the earth No man plants a Vineyard on the top of an hill they are the low and humble souls in which God delights in whose hearts he plants his fear and ingrafts the Graces of his Holy Spirit on whom he causes the influences and Dews of Heaven to descend and bestows the Watrings and Sanctifications of his Spirit These are those blessed Souls that the Psalmist resembles to Trees planted in the Garden of God by the rivers of water which bring forth their fruits in season and whose leaves shall never wither never fade shall know no Autumn no Winter but alwayes thrive and prosper God hath chosen the mean the weak and base things of this world to confound the wise and mighty that so no flesh might glory in his presence that the wise man may not glory in his wisdome least it be turned into folly nor the strong man in his strength least it be turned into weaknesse nor the rich man in his riches least they be turned into poverty and penury but that who so glories may Glory in the Lord And this is that makes the Gospel such a Riddle such a Mysterie to the World that God raises a Worm the Worm Iacob to thresh the Mountains a little David a small young Stripling to discomfit a great Goliah Goliah the Champion of the Philistims a small Rod to cleave in sunder a mighty Rock as sometimes Moses did in the Wildernesse to smite an Host of Philistims with the jaw bone of an Ass to cause the proud and stately Walls of Iericho to tremble and shake for fear and at length drop down to Rubbish at the blast of a few Rams-horns Now if you ask the reason of this why God hath chosen such weak contemptible means such despicable and despised instruments to accomplish and bring about the great designs and purposes of his will the grand Councils of his Mind It is his jealousie of his honour that none may rob him of his Glory that all may acknowledge as sometimes the
condition of the Gospel this is not a Law that hath any force or obligation in foro conscientiae in the court of conscience for our right as I said to the things of this world is rather commenc'd than extinguish'd by our adoption and new-birth for whose is the earth and the fulness thereof but the Lords and who then have better right unto it then the Sons of God Or who may more truly be call'd the Lords and Princes of the Creation then they for whom the world was made and yet is not worthy of them though I must confess it is most commonly seen here that servants ride on horseback and the Princes go on foot c. Thirdly This poverty is not any low and base abjectness of spirit no sordidness or despondency of mind to be poor in spirit is not to have little poor narrow and contracted souls to have creeping and degenerate spirits that are alwayes grovelling in the dust that according to the curse of the Serpent creep on their bellies and lick the dust of the earth that are meer muck or dung-hill worms that have their heads and hearts bow'd down to the earth Os homini sublime dedit saith the Poet This therefore is unworthy and below the generosity of a man much more a Christian Religion doth not make men fools sheepish but admirably blends the innocency of the Dove together with the wisdom and prudence of the Serpent Religion is not that that clouds the mind with black melancholick and sad apprehensions if any think thus they seem guilty of the same absurdity with those Heathen that Deified their diseases and erected Altars unto Feavours or admit the like abuse that Mahomets Disciples did when they believ'd their Prophets Convulsions to be Extasies and Divine Raptures this is to intitle our melancholy to Religion and guild ore the distempers and infirmities of Nature with the title of Grace which is something like the humour of the Negroes who paint their gods black and the Devil white whereas Religion is so far from being any morose sower or tettrick thing that what the Philosopher said of virtue may with advantage be affirm'd of Religion viz. that could it assume Corporeity or render it self visible it would appear so lovely so amiable that it would at once both enamour and ravish the Whole world into the admiration of her Features and by the sole attractives of her transcendent Beauty and the powerful Charms of its comely Graces attract and captivate the hearts of all men and command both homage and affection from all that should behold her she would then need no other Eloquence than the silent Oratory of her own beauty to recommend her and invite the whole world unto her imbraces For is good nature a lovely thing there 's nothing more improves and meliorates mens natures than the ingrafting Religion therein there 's nothing more inlarges the spirit and gives it a more just and Noble Elevation then that there 's nothing fills the mind with a more Noble with a more generous scorn and contempt of low base and abject things than that that 's it that raises a mans thoughts from the earth on which they are naturally so apt to grovel and be bowed down unto that 's it that spirits and enobles a Soul that emancipates it from base slavish and pusillanimous fears and fills it with a high and Princely ambition and ambition more Noble and generous then that of Alexanders that so inlarges the heart that not only one earth but the whole world is too little for it is not able to fill or satisfie it this is that refines the affections and causes them to fly a higher pitch than to be decoy'd by any thing here below than to stoop to any thing on this side immortality and life that causes the Soul to soare aloft and mount up as with Eagles wings till it makes its nest in the very bosom of God They therefore disparage Religion and cast a blot and scandal on the Profession of the Gospel who go all the day drooping and holding down their Heads like a bulrush there being none who have so much reason to be cheerful to have a merry heart and a cheerful countenance as Christians There is no reason why any ones face should shine so much as theirs who like Moses have seen God in the Mount 4 We are therefore by this poverty of spirit to understand something beyond anything that hath been yet mentioned And without doubt it s to be taken in a like sense as that place where Christ saith its harder for a Camel or Cable rope as some interpret it for the same word in the Original signifies both to passe thorow the eye of a needle then for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Now we shall be best able to understand what is meant by these Riches that bar our entrance into blessednesse and this Poverty on which it is intail'd by comparing these with other places one Scripture being the best Key to unlock the sence of another Our Saviour saith Matt. 9. 13. That he came not to call the Righteous but sinners to Repentance and in another place the whole need not the Physitian but those that are sick So likewise where he saith He came to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel So likewise that Parable of the Pharisee that made so nigh and familiar approach to the Altar and blessed God he was not as the Publicane that stood aloof afar off and cried Lord be merciful to me a sinner and yet according to the virdict of Truth it self went away more justified than the Pharisee that was so pure and righteous in his own eyes I say this Parable may lend some light to the understanding of it Also when our Saviour took a little Child and setting him in the midst of his Disciples said unlesse ye be as little children ye cannot enter into the Kingdom Heaven he seems to have given a clear Comment on this Text Also when he said Suffer little children to come unto me for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven he seems to Paraphrase on the same Doctrine From all which put together I think we may safely collect and spell out this or the like sence from the words viz. That poverty of spirit is a being little mean vile and contemptible in our own eyes to become as little children without strength and without courage helplesse and shiftlesse without counsel and without advice having neither wisdom prudence discretion nor understanding in our selves they therefore are the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the poor in spirit that are arrived at this resigned state or condition that have parted with their own strength their own wisdom their own Councils and their own Righteousnesse too and are become sensible of their own baseness their own unworthinesse their own nothingness that see and acknowledge the sinfulnesse of their natures the miserablenesse of their
imployment or profession rather than the Ministery that like Esau they sell their birth-right for a mess of pottage or as Christ said to Martha Martha Martha thy Sister hath chosen the better part So may we not say to these Gallants Your younger Brethren have chosen or rather gotten the better part that Iacob hath supplanted Esau and is gone away with the blessing In the Primitive and Virgin Age of the World before it was deflowred and debauch'd by ill customes and therefore celebrated by the wanton pens of Poets under the name of the Golden Age the Heads of Families both taught and govern'd the rest of their Brethren which as it was the first original Copy of Government so may rationally be presum'd the fairest and less blur'd with Tyranny than those more imperfect modern Transcripts that latter Ages have drawn in lines of blood It was a custome among the Romans if any Souldier had sav'd the life of a Citizen to reward his val or with their Corona Civica to bestow some special mark of Honor on him Of how great honor then may he be thought worthy that reprieves the life of a Citizen of the New Ierusalem that saves a soul not from a natural a temporal but an eternal death The gratitude of Alexander acknowledged himself no less beholding to his Master Aristotle than to his Father Philip as having receiv'd from him nothing but his being and simply to live whereas from Aristotle he had receiv'd his well-being and how to live well I am sure we are more indebted to our Spiritual Parents that have begotten us unto the Lord that have been the means and instruments of Regeneration of forming the New-birth and bringing forth Christ in us than we are to our Natural Parents that brought us into the world into this vale of tears and misery Oh! it s a glorious thing to save Souls to snatch poor Souls like brands out of the fire of Hell to rescue a soul from the jaws of Eternal Death to be an Index Mercurius to direct and shew men the way to Sion This is a holy ambition and worthy of the bravest spirit to save one soul being more glorious than to conquer a thousand worlds The profane adulation of the Romans Deified their Emperours and there being a new Star discovered about the time of Iulius his death the credulity of their Superstition prompted them to believe it Caesars Soul But we may without either flattery or Superstition safely believe that such Souls shall shine as bright and resplendent Stars in the Firmament of Glory the light of whose Life and Doctrine while here on earth lead many to Christ For certain were the Conversion of a Soul a slight business there would not be such solemn Triumphs in Heaven such shoutings and rejoycings among the Angels at the Conversion of one sinner And that this may fall with more weight and leave the greater impression on our spirits it may be worth our while to consider that whensoever we loose or let slip an opportunity of doing good whensoever we neglect reclaiming any poor wildred soul that is lost and intangled in his own inventions and straying after his own imaginations if he die in his sins and perish from the way of Life how if God should require his Soul at our hands It s said in the Law By whosoevers hands mans blood is shed his blood shall be shed Now if they that prevent not Murder when it s in their power contract much of the guilt and become accessary to the crime shall not we be stain'd with the guilt and become accessary to the Eternal death of our Brother if we put not forth our endeavours to convert and reclaim him especially of such as the hand of Providence hath deliver'd over to our care and as it were put under the wing of our protection May not God thus require of Masters of Families the blood of many that have perish'd that have miscarried under their charge and of Magistrates the blood of the People and their Subjects It will not excuse us to say that we are no Divines Divinity is none of our profession Is it not enough that we pretend to be Christians that we wear the Livery of Christs Name that we make profession of the Gospel ought not then Divinity to be every one of our Studies every one of our professions Did God require under the Law that if our enemies sheep fell into a pit we should help it out And will he not require that if our Neighbour our friend fall we should be so unchristian so unnatural so inhumane as not to put forth our hand to help him up Can we do one another a more friendly office a greater kindness a more rich a more Noble a more obliging favour than like the good Samaritan to poure Wine and Oyl into one anothers wounds than to wash dress and cleanse the spiritual soars of one anothers Souls Can we any way do a more charitable and Christian Office It s reported of a good Heathen that whensoever he had not gain'd a new friend or by some Noble Office of Love or Friendship oblig'd someone or other to him so great was the generosity of his mind he us'd to say at night diem perdidi alas I have lost a day as counting that day unworthy to be numbered and reckon'd to the Calender of his life in which he had done no good And shall not we Christians sit down every evening and take account of our selves what good we have done each day and with Iob curse that day and account it as altogether lost and unworthy to be numbred in which we have gain'd no opportunity of doing good Doth God require we should honor him with our substance and will he not likewise expect we should honor him with our parts and faculties Will he not expect that all our talents should be put forth to use that our whole stock should be laid out and improved for bringing in some Revenue some tribute of honor to the Exchequer of his Name and Glory though it be as small as the Widdows mite it will be accepted Let every one therefore take heed of hiding his Talent of laying it up in a Napkin of burying it under ground least it be taken from him Doth God require the seventh part of our time and the tenth part of our estates and will he not likewise require some tythe of our gifts and faculties Hath God opened to any one a door of utterance given him the Tongue of the Learned bestowed on him the gift of Eloquence let him not think he may do therewith as he pleaseth or that he can make a better use thereof than by becoming an Orator for God to court and woe men to come in unto the Lord Jesus and accept of the offers and tenders of Love Mercy and Grace that are made unto them in the Gospel as God shall put opportunities into his hand for is it not a Noble
fills their hearts with food and gladness by blessing their small estates unto them and giving them a contented mind which is a continual feast Therefore it is not the poverty of Fortune here meant whether voluntary or through the tyranny of necessity and it is not that poverty of Fortunes that is upon compulsion and necessiâ—y by reason such poverty is commonly the Judgement of God and produc't of some enormous crimes 1 As first Poverty is usually the Daughter of Pride it s a common saying that Pride goes before a fall that Pride brings men to a morsel of bread is the Usher and Beedle to beggery and misery Thus God many times suffers mens tables to become their suares when their hearts wax fat that they forget him then he suffers their spirits to be elated above measure to swell with Pride like the Toad in the Fable into a bigness or grandure disproportionable to the model of their Fortunes till they burst the Nerves of their estate and at length expire in beggery and misery 2 But secondly Poverty is sometimes the daughter of vanity which betrays it self sometimes in costly apparel sometimes in sumptuous buildings some wear all their estates on their backs and may say with the Phylosopher though in a far worse sense Omnia mea mecum porto It is the Opinion of some that the non-reviving the ancient wholesome Statutes of this Land for moderating the excess of apparel is a great cause of that poverty and penury that hath crept into many Gentlemens Families and brought their posterity to want and beggery Others bury their Estates under the walls of stately Fabricks under the foundations of sumptuous Palaces The Italians count nothing a greater curse then a profuse humor of building and therefore imprecate it to their greatest enemies Now is it not just for God to stain the pride of such as are given to these vanities that are more studious of erecting for themselves stately houses and beautiful structures then to do any thing for God that more willingly lay out their estates on walls and buildings than the living stones of Gods Church Is it not just he should bring confusion on the estates of such for the pride and vanity of their Babel structures that he should humble them and cause them to sit in the dust that would build their nests in heaven that the towring pride and foolish imaginations of such as would hide their heads among the Clouds and fix their names among the Stars should bring ruine to their estates and bury their Fortunes under dirt and rubbish Thus through the just Judgement of God doth pride and vanity not un-often trip up the heels as I may so say of many mens fortunes and cast them into penury and misery whose fond ambition flatter'd them they should make their nests on high and not be moved 3 Poverty is sometimes the daughter of oppression covetousness and idleness are said to be the root of all evil when men wax covetous and fall to grinding the face of the poor and to prey upon their neighbour when they shut up the bowels of their mercy from the necessities of their poor brother and stop the ears of their charity to the clamorous cryes and importunities of those that are in want then God often blows upon their estates and blasts their Fortunes sends the moth and canker into their wealth causes the rust to prey upon their gold and devoure their silver causing their wealth to moulder and their treasure turn to dust It s reported of the Eagles Feathers that being put among those of other Fowls whether by heat or what other occult quality they prey and devoure the rest causing them to moulter and consume to dust The same truly may be said of wealth gotten by oppression and extortion by any unjust or indirect means it is like the Eagles Feathers or rather Pharoahs lean Kine that will eat and devoure all their fat and plentiful Revenues by drawing down the Curse of Heaven on their wealth and substance 4 Poverty is often the Daughter of Luxury some bury their Patrimonies in their bellies drink down whole Farms and Lordships or perhaps the price of Kingdomes like that voluptuous Queen of Egypt Cleopatra at one draught Some drown their estates together with all their parts and faculties in a deluge of Wine and strong liquor and so swim down a torrent of filthy pleasure to the Infernal Lake Others sacrifice their estates in the fire and flames of lust at the Altars of base and filthy concupiscence till rottenness enters into their bones and their bodies be fill'd with sores and putrified boils Others suffer themselves as it is in the Fable like Lycaon to be devour'd by their dogs that is to become a miserable prey to their pleasures and inordinate desires unravelling the whole clew of their estates in a pleasing maze or labyrinth of pleasure and voluptuousness until they have left themselves nothing but Poverty for an inheritance and a stock of misery for their possession till they have intail'd penury on their Families and bequeath'd a name of obloquy and ignominy to their Posterity Lastly Poverty is the Daughter of Ease and Idleness it s not enough to be born to great Revenues to make out a good title or give a just claim to what the love and providence of our Ancestors hath bequeath'd unto us unless we make them ours by our industry and diligence in some profession or honest vocation we are to eat our bread in the sweat of our brows that 's the sawce we ought mix with all our dishes God is said to hate an idle person for that as I said before idleness is the root and seeds of all evil It s a good custome of a wicked Nation I mean the Turks and worthy the imitation of Ghristians for every man to the Grand Seignior to make profession of some trade or vocation so that their very Palace or Seruglio is like a Shop or Exchange It was a custome among the Romans for all the Citizens on some certain times to wear the badg of their trade or profession and if any were found without his badge or that could show the Livery of no trade he was severely punish'd by the Censors If the like custome were set a foot among us I wonder what badge or mark our Trepans ranting Hectors Kinghts of the Post with many other of that sort of Vermine together with other Caterpillers who may without a metaphor be term'd the very Pest and Plague of the Commonwealth I wonder I say what badge they would assume as the Livery of their Company and Profession It s reported by Naturalists that no creature can 〈◊〉 upon the ayr and therefore what the credulity of Antiquity hath delivered as a Phylosophical truth concerning the Camelion is now exploded as a vulgar and fabulous error But I am sure many of these live if not on ayr yet by a worse merchandise of Wind then that of the
come to be audited and enquir'd into our neglect of and uncharitableness to the poor will make a great part of the Indictment against us We have been so long disputing about forms of Government in the State and of Divine Worship in the Church that the noyse of our janglings about these things hath quite drown'd the cryes of the poor whose necessities should have been first reliev'd had we commenc'd our Reformation a right and till this error be rectified I know little ground we have to expecta settlement or that God will in the least own and bless our Government whatever we may set up and establish But to proceed though it be commonly thus that mens poverty and misery is proceeds from themselves as being the Product of either pride ease or luxury as hath been largely demonstrated yet sometimes through the rapine and oppression of the wicked the righteous are stript of all their enjoyments turned out of their possessions and exposed as Pentioners to the cold charity of the world It is sometimes known as in the Parable that a poor and righteous Lazarus whose Soul shall have a Legion of Angels as his Convoy or Life-guard to carry him into Abrahams Bosom begs an alms at Dives Gates at the hands of a rich and wicked Miser and hath his sores lick'd by dogs and therefore though we ought to do good to all yet more especially to those of the boushold of Fâ—ith if any such objects of our charity are known unto us And although God can and often doth interrupt the course of Nature and work Miracles for supplying the necessities of his Saints though God sometime fed Eliah by the Ministry of Ravens and can cloath his Prophets as he doth the Lillies of the Field yet that is no excuse no Apology for our with-holding any thing from them they stand in need of or that their necessities call for at our hands though we have never so little though our estate be but as the Widdows Cruse of Oyl God requires our mite if we can do no more we must cast it in if we expect to find that acceptance with God the Widdows did or desire that blessing of encrease on our estates as fell on the Cruse of Oyl whereby the Prophet was fed in a time of famine 2 But secondly by poverty of spirit is not here meant as the Papists would have it a voluntary poverty or of vow as when men for Religions sake or Righteousness sake as they are pleas'd to guild it do renounce the world and strip themselves of all their outward enjoyments when men cast their whole estates into the treasury of the Church and intail their Revenues on the Altar when for the better disburthening themselves of the cares of this life and of this world and that they may the better sequester themselves unto the Lord and devote themselves unto his service they part with all for the Cross of Christ and wholly cast themselves upon the Providence of God Truly the taking root of this Opinion hath brought forth much fruit much profit to the Church of Rome many of whose voluntary Votaries that under a pretence of extraordinary devotion and Holiness sequester themselves from the world do but renounce those smaller Fortunes Providence hath given them better title to in expectation of and on design to inherit far greater riches and reap a more plentiful crop of gain from that blind charity Superstition hath cheated the greater part of the World into an opinion of and of these there are several Forms and Classes in the Man of Sins School as your Hermites Fryer Mendicants with divers others who instead of accounting with the Apostle godliness great gain do reap great gains from a counterfeit and feigned godliness These therefore are not the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} on which the Kingdome of Heaven is intail'd but rather swarms of Locusts and Caterpillers that cover the face of too great a part of the earth But this Opinion of Poverty as I said hath been a rich Revenue to the Popish Church and wonderfully improv'd the Patrimony of St. Peter hath much encreas'd the Revenue of the Man of Sin and intail'd much Land upon his Altars this is a gallant devise to sell the Kingdome of Heaven to those will bid most for it and the Pope and Cardinal may well confer notes as sometime on another occasion Quantum nobis Lucri peperit haec fabula de Christo So Quantum nobis Lucri peperit haec fabula seu Doctrina de paupertate What gain hath this fable of poverty brought into us This is that hath so much in riched the Coffers of the Pope that hath fill'd the fat bellies of the Priests and cloath'd the Whore in Scarlet Truly I cannot but commend the zeal and devotion of all such poor deluded souls as out of a principle of Sincerity strip themselves of these outward enjoyments thinking thereby to render themselves more quick and less cumbersome in their journey towards Heaven but I cannot but therewithal pity their ignorance and great pity it is so great a heat of zeal should be without the light of Knowledge to direct it that so great Devotion should be the Daughter of Ignorance and Superstition No this is not the poverty of spirit recommended to us by our Saviour and therefore to the Proselites of this Opinion we may say what is commonly said of self-Murther it is not lawful to quit our stations for our souls to break the prison of the Body to anticipate our deliverance from the captivity of our flesh by a voluntary or violent dissolution We may with the Apostle sue out our Habeas Corpus by sending up our sighs and desires to be dissolved but to break prison is Felony we may say Demittas 〈◊〉 but we must expect till God sends the Serjeant Death to bring us our Writ of Ease our bene decessit and to knock off the Fetters of our body for our life is a warfare and we are here Militant in a Vale of Tears and therefore may not desert our Colours till we are rude donati and Milites Emeriti till we have finish'd our warfare and are legally dismiss'd the Camp Our Souls are plac'd as Centinels in the Body and may not go off the guard till they are reliev'd or the Captain of our Salvation calls them off So may I say in this case our wealth is not our own but the Lords and therefore it is not lawful for us to quit or resign our trusts before the day of our Audit for we are Gods Stewards and he will require an account at our hands our estates are the Lords and we must be faithful in our office and distribute of our bread to the poor Christianity does not forfeit our right to the creatures but rather inlarge strengthen it It hath been the custom in some places when any Iew turns Christian to forfeit or sâ—â—â—ester his estate but this is no
conditions how that they have no righteousnesse of their own no holiness no purity no Sanctity of their own these I take to be the poor in Spirit here meant Having thus discoursed on the subject of the Proposition we are by the course of our method arrived at the predicate viz. Blessed The word in the Original is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} quasi {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} non sorti non morti subjectus a word in which the whole of felicity is summ'd up a word that reaches the Culâ—en top or fastigium of all happinesse a felicity that is not subject to the stroke of death to the sith of time a felicity which neither time shall wither nor the hour or approach of death be able to blast and so we have finished the proposition and shall now hasten to the ground or reason of it and that is For theirs is the Kingdom of heaven Christ said sometime to his Dischples Luke the 10 20. verse Rejoyce not so much that the Devils are made subject to you but rather that your names are written in heaven that your names are written by the blood of Christ and finger of the spirit in the book of Life that your names are enrolled and registred in the Archives of Heaven Now from the words thus anatomized and unbowelled there seem naturally to spring these propositions 1 That Poverty of Spirit is a royal and blessed state or condition or in the concrete that the poor in spirit are blessed 2 That the ground or reason of all true happinesse or blessednesse is founded in an interest in the Kingdom of heaven or that they onely may be truly and without Ironie termed happy or accounted the real proprietors of all felicity whose is the Kingdom of heaven on whom heaven and happinesse is intail'd 1 Poverty of spirit is a blessed state and happy condition I should rather darken than illustrate the meridian brightnesse of this Truth that is wrot as with a sun-beam should I bring a cloud of witnesses for its confirmation it needing no other proof than the Authority of him that spake it having proceeded from the lips of him that is Truth it self that cannot lye But that no truth though of never so great evidence might be without witnesse the whole scope and tenour of the Gospel seems to bear its testimony and give in evidence to the confirmation hereof How frequent is it said in Proverbs besides other places That pride is an abomination to the Lord is not this the language and dialect of the scripture throughout that the Lord will dwel with an humble and contrite heart that trembleth at his Word but that he hateth and resisteth the proud Doth not almost every page and Chapter thorowout the whole Book of God speak in the same Key Doth not God all along turn the edge of his threatnings against high things and high thoughts against proud and towring imaginations that exalt and lift up themselves hath he not denounced enmity against proud and high things hath he not threatened to level and bring down every high Hill till he make it become a plain Is not the quarrel of the Almighty with the great things of the Earth And hath he not on the other side pawned his Word and ingaged his promise to exalt the humble to give grace to the humble to lift up every valley c. Hath he not invited all those that hunger and thrust all those that are weary and heavy leaden promising that he will feed them that he will satisfie them that he will ease them that they shall finde rest unto their souls What are all these expressions but as so many proofs and confirmations of this Proposition it were endlesse to quote and cite places and therefore shall hasten to the Reasons whereof 1. The first is borrowed from a rule among Physitians with whom it is received as a Maxim that primus gradus sumitatis est nosse morbum the first degree of health is to know the disease for as our Proverb hath it a disease that is known is half cured Now this poverty of Spirit is a reflex act of the Soule discovering to men their wants that they may go to Christ to be supplied of his fulnesse to receive of his fulnesse Grace for Grace It discovers to men their own nakednesse that they may go to Christ to be clothed with the white robes of his Righteousnesse till Adams eyes were opened that he saw his nakednesse and his sin He had no shame nor sence of his guilt but so soon as his eyes were opened he began to sow fig leaves together to cover his sin and hide his shame This is the usual Method and progresse of God in the work of conversion first to alarm and awaken the Soul by a clap of Thunder so to rouse him from the Lethergie and sleep of sin to prick them to the quick and make them cry out like the Jaylor in the Acts men and brethren what shall we do to be saved This causes the scales to fall from off their eyes those scales of Ignorance with which their eyes were seal'd and then they see their sin and their shame and begin to loath and abhor themselves to cloath themselves with sackcloth and ashes and sit down in the dust Now when a soul hath thus seen its nakednesse it begins to think of a covering of a mantle or a cloak to hide its sin and begins first to sow together the Fig leaves of its own Righteousnesse of its own performances and so long as it thinks they will serve its turn it looks no further till at length a flash of lightening comes and smutes all their righteousnesse blacks all their beauty scorches their leaves and burns up all their Hay and Stuble and discovers a new light unto them that make they the borders of their own righteousnesse never so broad and let them with the Pharisees inlarge their Phylacteries never so wide yet they shall finde the skirts thereof too narrow too shallow to cover them then they begin to be out of conceit with themselves to fall in disesteem and disreputation with themselves then they begin to let fall those plumes and specious train that before they so much pleased and prided themselves in And indeed men will never desire to put on the Lord jesus till they have thus seen their own poverty that their own righteousnesse is but as dirty and menstruous rags till they are thus come acquainted with their own wants how empty their own exchequer is how low their own treasures run they will never desire to be supplied out of those treasures of Grace God hath laid up in Christ for poor sinners till men look up and discern the sword of vengeance hanging by a small hair over their heads ready to drop upon them they 'l not be sencible of the desperate peril and danger of their naturall state and condition till they see the filthinesse
Magicians of Pharaoh hic est digitus Dei this was the finger this was the Hand of God For by how much less of the Wisdom Power and Policy of man appears by so much the more is God manifested 3. A third Reason why poverty of spirit is so blessed a condition may be this For that it is a sure estate for according to that of the Poet cui jacet in terram non habet unde cadat your highest Towers and tallest Cedars are most often smote with lightning are most exposed to the Injuries and Inclemencies of weather to the rage and fury of Storms and Tempests We have often known a great and mighty Oak torn in pieces by the violence of a storm and made a trophy of the Winds fury when as lessertrees and smaller shrubs have Surviv'd the Tempest and remained untouch'd Hills are precipices and high places slippery and dangerous on high places our heads are apt to wax giddy When Satan tempted our Saviour he took him and set him on a Pinacle of the Temple High places are full of temptations they command too far a prospect of this Worlds glory of the glory of this Creation thus when the spirit of a man is elated and raised he is exposed to more danger to more temptations than the humble soul Many other Reasons might be added as that axiom in Philosophy which holds true also in Divinity that privation praeceeds habits emptiness preceds fulnesse It s a common saying That the way to heaven lies by the Gates of Hell and therefore this poverty is but as it were the taking of our Fees in order to preferment to the end we may take the higher the farther leap we must be emptied of our selves that is of all vain and windie conceit of our selves before we can be fil'd with the graces of Gods Spirit It is the Devils policy to blow and puff us up like bladers with the Wind of pride and self-conceit that we may not be capable of receiving the new wine of the spirit Now these bladers of pride must be prick'd this swelling wind of conceit this ventosity must be let out therefore it is Christ calls so often to us to sell all to part with all if we will become wise Merceants and traffique for eternal life if we will purchase that Pearl of price {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that inestimable Pearl mentioued in the Gospel Mat. 13. 6. We must part with all and follow Christ if we will have him or render our selves worthy of him This made the young man in the Gospel depart sorrowful full of sorrow he had a good mind to Christ but was very rich had much wealth was full of substance and had kept the commandements from his youth upwards This is that makes it so difficult for a rich man to be saved Oh how difficult a thing it is to stand still and see the Salvation of God as the Israelites were commanded at the red Sea and as all Christians are now that will pass through the red Sea of Christs Blood this is that makes it easier for Publicans and sinners to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven then the Scribes and Pharisees that are cumbred with a great deal of Righteousnesse of their own with a multitude of Religious duties and performances What must they part with all cast all over-board make shipwrack of their Righteousness too This is a hard Chapter durus sermo a hard saying who can bear it but I would ask such souls whether they think it a fitting thing that they should enter into the Kings feast to the Marriage of his Son in the filthy menstruous raggs of their own Righteousnesse and without the wedding Garment Would it not be construed an affront would they not be thought to disgrace reproach and defile the Marriage by so rude so uncivil an Action Would you sit down with Princes being cloathed with nothing but durt and raggs and yet be so morose as not to accept of a Robe out of the Kings Wardrope since it is his Royal pleasure to put so great an honour on you Would you be Courtiers to the King of Heaven and refuse to wear his Livery Let 's remember the end of him in the Parable the Catastrophe of his presumption that intruded into the Nuptials without a wedding Garment Moreover the way to Heaven is a narrow way and the Gate that leads to Eternal Life is a strait passage we must not thinktherefore to carry our Lumber with us that will but clog and retard our speed that will but cumber and trouble us and render our passage more difficult and uneasie It was a fond and ridiculous custom ignorance and serperstition had introduced among some of the Heathens That when any person of High rank or great quality amongst them dyed to sacrifice many of his Servants and great store of Cattel to the end they might wait and attend on him in the other world But I presume we who have the Light of Christianity are better inform'd then to expect to carry a crowd with us or togo in pomp state with a train at our heels and therefore what seoffing Lucian hath said merrily concerning Charons Boat how the passengers were prohibited to bring any thing in with them commanded to strip themselves stark naked and leave all on the other side the bank whether their riches Honours Wisdom Phylosophie or the like may be seriously said to those that would enter into the ark of the new Covenant they must carry nothing with them if they would have a safe and a quick passage a prosperous voyage to Heaven if they would shoot the Gulph arrive safe in the other World or rather what Christ said to the Apostles when he sent them forth to preach the Gospel throughout the whole World when he made them Catholick and Universal Bishops of the Earth to Preach and Teach all Nations they were to take no money in their purses they might take no wealth with them not so much as to be cumbred with two Coats So may we say to all those that would go unto Christ that would Learn the way to Sion we need not meet God as Iacob went to meet his iucensed Brother Esau after he had supplanted and beguiled him of the blessing with great heards and flocks of Cattel before us to be our peace offerings the price of our attonement and to appease his wrath for that is pacified already he having found out himself a Sacrifice we must not therefore go unto God with gifts with Sumpter Horses of rich and costly presents thinking to gratifie him for the redemption of our Captivity for he wil say as sometime Abraham said to the Kings he had delivered when he rescued his Brother Lot it shall not be said you have made Abraham rich alack what can we give unto God are not the Cattel on a Thousand Hills the Lords Is not the Earth and the fulnesse thereof his
much hunger and cold with the losse of how many nights rest and sleep do men hunt after learning and purchase to themselves a few flight notions of things How will men rack and serue their thoughts torture and distresse their apprehentions with a problem or theorem in Phylosophy How will many macerate and consume their bodies spend and wast the taper of their lives in watchings abstinencies and a thousand other austerities to gain a superficial inspection into the secrets of Nature into the nature of things How will many rob and defraud nature of its due and pine away their bodies to satiate their thirst after knowledge to feed and gratifie the inquisitive searching humor of their mindes How hath the eagernesse of some mens thirst after learning drunk up their strength and the very marrow of their souls How hath the fiery spirit and activity of their mindes fretted consum'd and eaten up the flesh of their bodies reduc'd them to Anotomies and living Skellitons looking more like spectres Ghosts or walking shaddows than men Some mens souls being like a sword too sharp and keen for the scabbard of their bodies in which they are sheath'd Or like Mercury or Quicksilver so penetrating and acture that nothing can contain them And all this upon the sole account of knowledge to which their affections are kindled with such ardent desires and have conceiv'd such sprightly flames as commonly soon reduces their bodies to ashes and rendes them the victims of their desires causing them to expire like the Phenix in their own flames It s reported of as I take it Cleanthes a poor Phylosopher that he pawned his nights rest to purchase his dayes studies that he drew water by night to earn a small pension to maintain himself in the muses service by day to maintain himself in the study of Phylosophy And of another it is reported that having quitted and forsaken his house and possessions to take a pilgrimage for the better improvement of his stock of knowledge and finding at his return all things thorow the injury of time gone to decay and his house almost buried under its own ruins brake forth into these expressions sihaec non paeriissent ego paeriissem had not these perish'd I had perish'd had I not made Ship-wrack of my estate I had shipwrack'd and lost my self Now shall the sons of humane wisdom the candidates of a little naturall knowledge that but puffeth up and profiteth not except sanctifi'd by grace which will be but as a torch to light men to Hell I say shall men for the love of what the Apostle calleth vain Phylosophy be content to welcome poverty and entertaine penury without any assurance of better estate in revertion or future happinesse to compensate and reward their former miseries And shall we grudge to do that for the wisdom wch is from above for a Crown of Glory which they do for the shaddow of wisdom for a wreath of withering and fading palms to obtain a name among the learned Shall not we do that to be made partakers of those Eternal fountains of wisdom and knowledge that the Heathen did for the adorning their understandings with a little dark fading counterfeit knowledge To conclude the lower the foundation is laid the higher the superstructure may be raised We have received on the credit of naturalists and those that are best read in the observations of nature that your tallest trees shoot their roots deepest into the Earth and commonly as far downwards towards the Center as their tops reach upwards towards Heaven As if nature would teach us that the foundation of the best and surest fortune is laid low is laid in the dust and the Scripture teaches us that poverty is the way to a Crown beggery to a Kingdom So that we see here the harmony and consent that 's between the Book of God and that of nature between the Scriptures and the greater volumn of the World And both of them giving in their evidence to this Truth bearing testimony to this Doctrine commending and reading lectures to us of this poverty of Spirit Shall we now be so childish as not part with our counters for gold With the menstruous rags of our own righteousnesse for the glorious princely robes of Christs Shall we prefer our coats of fig leaves before the righteousnesse of God And that this way and method of salvation may not seem strange to us Christ the Lord and Captain of our Salvation hath trod it before us For was not he humbled before he was exalted Was not he poor not having where to lay his head before he receiv'd the Kingdom of his Father Was not he crownd with thorns before he was crownd with Glory Finally was not he crucifi'd before he was Glorified Shall we now refuse to drink of the same cup that he hath drunk before us Do we who are but the children of Adoption expect a Kingdom a Crown a Scepter a Throne of Glory on easier terms than the Heire the son by nature and the first begotten than Chrrist our Elder brother receiv'd them on should we not rather rejoyce and glory in our poverty for that we are poor in Spirit because to such is given the Kingdom of Heaven FINIS Books Printed and are to be sold by Giles Calvert at the black-spread Eagle at the VVestend of Pauls THe Scripture Directory for Church Offices and People Or a Practical Commentary upon the whole Third Chapter of the first Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians To which is annexed The Godly and the Natural Mans Choyce upon Psal. 4. ver. 6 7 8. By Anthony Burgesse Pastor of the Church of Sutton Coldfield in Warwick-shire {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The Temple of Solomon Pourtrayed by Scripture Light wherein all its famous Buildings the Pompous Worship of the Jews with its Attending Rites and Ceremonies the several Officers imploied in that Work with their Ample Revenues And the Spiritual Mysteries of the Gospel vailed under all are treated of at large by Samuel Lee The History of Diodorus Siculus containing all that which is most memorable and of greatest Antiquity in the first Ages of the World until the War of Troy in Folio Renodaeus his Dispensatory containing the whole body of Physick discovering the Natures and Properties and Vertues of Vegetals Minerals and Animals in folio Gadburies Doctrine of Nativities Doctor Pordages Innocency appearing through the Dark Mists of pretended guilt in folio Cornelius Agrippa his Occult Philosophy in 3 Books in quarto Henry Laurence Lord President his Book Entituled Our Communion and War with Angels in quarto Christopher Goad his Sermons Entituled Refreshing Drops and Scorching Vials in quarto Samuel Gorton his Exposition on the fifth chapter of Iames in quarto Samuel Hartlib of Bees and Silk-worms in quarto Williams his Book called the Bloody Tenet of Persecution for cause of conscience in quarto Doctor Gells Sermon Entituled Noahs Flood returning in quarto Several Pieces of