446 The Life of Faith. Dard. t t. Improveyour profern, to its proper ends. De- vote all entirely and abfblutely to God ; and fo it will ba laved from lofs, and you from deceit and cvrrdemnation, CHAP. Xv. How to be poor in fpirit. And L bow toefcape the pride of Pro f perity. THough no man is laved or condemned' for being either richor poor ; yet it is not for nothing that aria hath fo often fee before us the danger of the rich, and the extraordina- ry difficulty of their falvation : And that hebegan his Sermon, Mar..s. 3. with, Blrffed are the poor in fpirit, for theirs is the Kingdom ofHeaven. The ferife of which words, is not as is commonly imagined, [Bleffedare they that find their wantof grace.]- For i. So may a detpairing perfon. 2. The text com- paredwith Luke 16. where [imply the poor and rich are op- poled, doth plainly !hew another fenfe; agreeing with the ufual doétrinaofChrif1. And whereas Expoftors doubt whe- ther Chrift fpake that Sermon tohis Difciples, or to the mul- titude, the text maketh it plain, that he fpake it to both, viz. that he catred his Difciples to him, and as it were pointed the finger'at them, and made them his text on which he preach- ed to the multitude ; and the fenfe is contained in theft Pro- pofitions; as ifhe had laid [See you thefeMowers of me: zeta take them to be contemptible or unhappy, becaufe they are poor in the world; but 'Itellyou, t , That poverty makerh n-t Believers oniferable : 2. Tea they are the trulybleffed men, becaufe they !hag have the heavenly riches : 3. And the evidence oftheir right to that, is, that they are peor infpirit, that is, their hearts are fated to á low efiate, and are ravedfrom the de!fruiïive vices of riches and profperity. 4 And their outward poverty is better fuited and conducible to this deliverance, and this poverty of fpi- rit, than afate of wealth andprofperity is.] All thole tour Pro - pofitions axe the true meaning of the text. That we may feehere what is the fpecial work ofFaith we ttult know whichare the fpecial Tins ofprofperiey,which riches and
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