The first mark of this union is poverty of spirit. Every man naturally is poor in spirituals, his humane nature lies in the ruins of the fall; there is a Tohu and Bohu, a voidness and Spiritual emptiness in it; his mind is empty of spiritual light, and hath only some few relics left to make him a man; his will is void of divine freedom, and hath only such fragments of liberty, as may declare him a free agent; his affections have lost their wings, and creep only upon the things here below; corruption is very strong, and there is a mere Vacuum of grace: it is with him, as if the Divine Image or likeness had never been stamped upon him; a vast debt of original and actual guilt lies upon him, and he hath nothing to pay; or, if Divine Justice seize him, he hath nothing to say against it; he is shut up under wrath and cannot but deserve it: Thus every man, is very poor in spirituals; yet, alas! he is not naturally poor in spirit; no, on the contrary he presumes all is well; he is, as he dreams, ⟨p. 277⟩happy in his ruins, full in his emptiness, seeing in his darkness, free in his chains, and rich in his debts and wants; a man poor in spirit, is one who is poor in sense and reflection upon his poverty; he considers his lost and undone condition; he feels and groans under his spiritual wants; the deep sense of them makes his heart cry out, Oh! I am lost, I am in the ruins of the fall, there I must lie, unless Christ lift me up, and bring forth a new Creation out of the Chaos; my mind is dark, my will fettered with corruption; so it must be, unless Christ shine into my heart, and make me free indeed; my poor affections lie in the dust and vanity of this lower world, and there is no help, unless Christ come and raise them up to the things above. I find nothing but an emptiness and voidness of grace; neither is there any hope, unless the Spirit of Christ communicate a furniture of graces and comforts; my debts are great and never to be discharged, unless the blood of Christ, which paid for the sin of a world, do it for me. After some such manner as this he lies at the feet of Christ; he is poor, empty, forlorn, destitute in himself; the very frame of his heart prays for a Saviour; such an one is in a right posture for him. His poverty cries for an Alms out of the infinite treasures in Christ; his ⟨p. 278⟩weariness pants after the true rest which is in a Mediator;
The first mark of this union is poverty of spirit. Every man naturally is poor in spirituals, his humane nature lies in the ruines of the fall; there is a Tohu and Bohu, a voidness and Spiritual emptiness in it; his mind is empty of spiritual light, and hath only some few reliques left to make him a man; his will is void of divine freedom, and hath only such fragments of liberty, as may declare him a free agent; his affections have lost their wings, and creep only upon the things here below; corruption is very strong, and there is a meer Vacuum of grace: it is with him, as if the Divine Image or likeness had never been stamp'd upon him; a vast debt of original and actual guilt lies upon him, and he hath nothing to pay; or, if Divine Justice seize him, he hath nothing to say against it; he is shut up under wrath and cannot but deserve it: Thus every man, is very poor in spirituals; yet, alas! he is not naturally poor in spirit; no, on the contrary he presumes all is well; he is, as he dreams, ⟨p. 277⟩happy in his ruines, full in his emptiness, seeing in his darkness, free in his chains, and rich in his debts and wants; a man poor in spirit, is one who is poor in sense and reflection upon his poverty; he considers his lost and undone condition; he feels and groans under his spiritual wants; the deep sense of them makes his heart cry out, Oh! I am lost, I am in the ruines of the fall, there I must lie, unless Christ lift me up, and bring forth a new Creation out of the Chaos; my mind is dark, my will fettered with corruption; so it must be, unless Christ shine into my heart, and make me free indeed; my poor affections lie in the dust and vanity of this lower world, and there is no help, unless Christ come and raise them up to the things above. I find nothing but an emptiness and voidness of grace; neither is there any hope, unless the Spirit of Christ communicate a furniture of graces and comforts; my debts are great and never to be discharged, unless the blood of Christ, which paid for the sin of a world, do it for me. After some such manner as this he lies at the feet of Christ; he is poor, empty, forlorn, destitute in himself; the very frame of his heart prays for a Saviour; such an one is in a right posture for him. His poverty cries for an Alms out of the infinite treasures in Christ; his ⟨p. 278⟩weariness pants after the true rest which is in a Mediator;
