The Fourteenth of January

THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM --- Matthew 4:17 and 5:3.

"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." --- Matthew 4:17.

The kingdom of heaven pertains to those who repent; And the first mark of repentance is poverty of spirit: whence Jesus saith, chapter 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

John preached repentance; Jesus preaches it here, and so did the apostles preach afterwards.

This true repentance is necesary for all; and the beginning of it is to acknowledge ourselves poor miserable sinners, depraved by nature, and totally void of any righteousness or worth of our own; to confess our nakedness; to drop all the fig leaves of vain excuses and false comforts; to lay open our poverty and wants before God, to accuse ourselves and plead guilty of all our sins, and to seek mercy from Christ.

If we do this we are blessed, and the kingdom of God is ours. This poverty of spirit is both the first and last foundation laid in the heart; for the faithful are more and more grounded in poverty of spirit the nearer they approach to their consumation.

Pure are the joys above the sky,
And all the regions peace;
No wanton lips, no envious eye,
Can see or taste the bliss.

For holy gates forever bar
Pollution, sin and shame;
None shall obtain admittance there
But followers of the Lamb.