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SERMON XII.

IN

ST. MATTHEW xi. 5.

πτωχοὶ εὐαγγελίζονται.

"The poor have the Gospel preached to them."

our view of the several states of life to which it

has pleased God to call us, it is observable, that though the Gospel provides most abundantly for both rich and poor, yet there is some advantage on the side of the poor, in that they are comparatively free from several ensnaring temptations to which the rich are exposed.

It may be useful to take a view of another advantage which the poor enjoy, namely, the use of some peculiar helps which, in the conduct of His kingdom, Jesus Christ seems purposely to have provided for them. That there are some such helps is plain from many places of Scripture, but particularly from the words of our Lord and Saviour in the text: To the poor the Gospel is preached. They form part of His answer to John the Baptist's disciples, when He wished to shew them that they had no occasion to look for any other Saviour. They had come and asked Him: John Baptist hath sent us unto Thee, saying, Art Thou He that should come? or do we look for another? His answer was this: In the same hour He cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and to many that were blind He gave sight. And He said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their

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sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up. And then, as a mark no less sure in itself, and no less easy to be judged of by plain sincere persons, than even these great miracles done before their eyes, He adds the preaching of the Gospel to the poor, as furnishing proof abundantly sufficient, that this is He that should come, and they need not look for another.

And it may very well serve the same purpose to every Christian who will be at the pains to reflect upon it seriously, with an honest and good mind. For every poor Christian especially, the one consideration of the manner in which the Gospel is fitted with particular care to his own use, ought to be quite enough to make him absolutely sure, that in the holy Jesus he has found all that he wanted-the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Upon this one thought, he may rest his resolution of giving up all that he has, and leaning only upon Christ.

But in order to do this with understanding and steadiness, he must first know who were meant by the poor, to whose use the good news which our blessed Saviour brought from heaven, was so carefully adapted.

They were, in the first place, the poor in spirit. This Jesus Christ Himself teaches us, in that He has given us the same promise elsewhere, in these words: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; that is, they were beforehand fit and welldisposed to become Christians; they were inclined to do God's will, and so might easily know of the doctrine; they were, without knowing it themselves, not far from the kingdom of God.

Now such as these may principally be known by

two sure marks. 1. They sit loose to the world; they cannot be satisfied with such things as the best of its pleasures and profits: in heart, will, and affection, they have no portion in it. They cannot be content without something that will last longer, and come up more nearly to their thoughts of perfection, than the most precious enjoyments of this present life. They are therefore ready to part with them all, by the help of God's grace, as soon as they can find a better life.

2. The other mark by which the poor in spirit, the children of Christ's kingdom, are to be known, is their thinking meanly of themselves. They feel that they have nothing of their own to give to their gracious God, but sin and misery. They feel that they have need of all things from God, and will be most happy to close with any way that offers a reasonable hope of obtaining His favour. Above all, inasmuch as they know that they are by nature, and should ever be, if left to themselves, enemies to God and goodness through their wicked works, they are most industrious and earnest in seeking His pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their sins, and serve Him with a quiet mind. This, they are sure, if they could gain and keep it, would not fail to make them quite happy.

But before our Lord Jesus Christ came, no such peace as this was to be found, even by the poor in spirit, either in themselves or anywhere else upon earth. And therefore they were, if I may so speak, on the watch for some tidings of it from heaven, and ready to receive the first that should come, with perfect confidence in that God of whose goodness they had already so largely tasted.

Now it is very plain how thoroughly such dispositions as these would be satisfied by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, when at last it shewed itself upon earth. It was just what they wanted: made as it were on purpose for them.

For whereas this world was not rich enough for them, the Gospel provided them with the hope of eternal life, opening, as it were, all the treasures of heaven to content them.

And whereas they found and felt themselves too poor and needy to obtain any good thing of God by their own deserts, much less to lay hold on eternal life, He hath, for the great love wherewith He loved them, declared unto them the riches of His grace in sending His own Son to lay down His life for them, and so purchase, on their behalf, forgiveness, grace, and glory.

We have seen how exactly the Gospel of Christ is fitted for the poor in spirit, and they for it. Next, let us look and see what special fitnesses may be found in it for the poor in station, carefully remembering that whatever they may be, they will be of no avail to any who do not continually labour and strive to conform themselves to their station by practising this divine temper which has been just de. scribed; of living above the world, and humbly renouncing themselves. Without that real poorness and meekness of heart, outward poverty will do us no good, but will rather prove our greater condemnation.

Now, in order fully to understand the mercy of our Lord and Saviour in fitting His holy Gospel so carefully to the needs of the poor, let us consider how they had fared before His time, under the several

forms of idolatry and error which men had invented for themselves.

We read that the notions of the heathen about the next world went wrong, all of them, in one or other of these two ways; they were corrupted either by pride and a vain conceit of their own wisdom, or by gross, carnal, covetous fancies. According to the proud notions which their wise men had of heaven, it was not within the reach of the poor at all. According to the sensual imaginations of the common sort, the thought of it could not make them much the better, since it was not at all spiritual. Their chance of obtaining happiness hereafter depended rather, as they were taught, upon mere outward services, than upon justice and mercy towards man. And as for the love of God, they knew of no such thing.

But when the dreams of men were vanished and the truth of God came to be known, then it was found that the promise of eternal, spiritual life, which the wise heathens who had any notion of it had proudly kept to themselves, was freely made to the lowest of mankind; and that it could only be obtained by either, in one way, the way of holy obedience for Jesus Christ's sake.

And can we think of anything so welcome or so precious as an offer like this? anything so acceptable to a poor, good man, as to be assured among all the wants and sorrows of his present condition, that God has not forgotten him, that he need not be mindful of this country from which he is so soon to go out, inasmuch as God has prepared for him a better country, that is, a heavenly? Or can we at all doubt that the Gospel, which contains such a promise, was especially preached to the poor?

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