Though no man is saved or condemned for being either rich or poor; yet it is not for nothing that Christ hath so often set before us the danger of the rich, and the extraordinary difficulty of their salvation: And that he began his Sermon, Mat. 5.3. with, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. The sense of which words, is not as is commonly imagined, [Blessed are they that find their want of grace.] For 1. So may a despairing person. 2. The text compared with Luke 16. where simply the poor and rich are opposed, doth plainly show another sense; agreeing with the usual doctrine of Christ. And whereas Expositors doubt whether Christ spake that Sermon to his Disciples, or to the multitude, the text maketh it plain, that he spake it to both, viz. that he called his Disciples to him, and as it were pointed the finger at them, and made them his text on which he preached to the multitude; and the sense is contained in these Propositions; as if he had said [See you these followers of me: You take them to be contemptible or unhappy, because they are poor in the world; but I tell you, 1. That poverty maketh not Believers miserable: 2. Yea they are the truly blessed men, because they shall have the heavenly riches: 3. And the evidence of their right to that, is, that they are poor in spirit, that is, their hearts are suited to a low estate, and are saved from the destructive vices of riches and prosperity. 1. And their outward poverty is better suited and conducible to this deliverance, and this poverty of spirit, than a state of wealth and prosperity is.] All these four Propositions are the true meaning of the text.
THough no man is saved or condemned for being either rich or poor; yet it is not for nothing that Christ hath so often set before us the danger of the rich, and the extraordinary difficulty of their salvation: And that he began his Sermon, Mat. 5.3. with, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. The sense of which words, is not as is commonly imagined, [Blessed are they that find their want of grace.] For 1. So may a despairing person. 2. The text compared with Luke 16. where simply the poor and rich are opposed, doth plainly shew another sense; agreeing with the usual doctrine of Christ. And whereas Expositors doubt whether Christ spake that Sermon to his Disciples, or to the multitude, the text maketh it plain, that he spake it to both, viz. that he called his Disciples to him, and as it were pointed the finger at them, and made them his text on which he preached to the multitude; and the sense is contained in these Propositions; as if he had said [See you these followers of me: You take them to be contemptible or unhappy, because they are poor in the world; but I tell you, 1. That poverty maketh not Believers miserable: 2. Yea they are the truly belssed men, because they shall have the heavenly riches: 3. And the evidence of their right to that, is, that they are poor in spirit, that is, their hearts are suited to a low estate, and are saved from the destructive vices of riches and prosperity. 1. And their outward poverty is better suited and conducible to this deliverance, and this poverty of spirit, than a state of wealth and prosperity is.] All these four Propositions are the true meaning of the text.
