Resurrection of his body but hee doth not say I will see him by my flesh and if he had it might have beene understood of Christ that shall come at the last judgement in the sight of all but his meaning was that when hee should see God hee should be in his flesh though the wormes and corruption had devoured it Saint Augustine is excellent upon this subject saying We shall see God with our corporall glorified eyes as we see the life of a man by his living actions not seeing life it selfe so is it likely that being enlightened by a heavenly and divine light we shall be able to see the Creator of all things both in them and himselfe so doubtfully the learnedst speake of it In the 5 Chap. of the 2. booke of Kings we reade that Elisha after that he had healed Naaman the Syrian saw Gehazi his servant take Presents from him although hee were beyond the common reach of the sight and when Gehazi was returned hee said unto him Went not my heart with thee when the man turned againe from his Charet to meet thee Now if this Prophet hath bin able to see the actions of his servant although absent from him how much more shall our glorified bodies see all when God shal be all in all Now Elisha saw this action of his servant either by a speciall revelation from God or by the sight of a spirituall imagination of the Prophet that shewed him the thing after which manner he knew the most secret counsells of the King of Syria We speake of these things as blind men doe or colours wee finde no certainty of them any where the Fathers themselues speake so obscurely of them they goe as softly on in the handling of this question as if they trod on thornes they grope along as if they went in the obscure darknes of the blackest night hardly can you finde two agreeing together and which is more strange not one that is agreed with himselfe and indeed how should a worme of the earth the dwelling of errours the subject of ignorance know or comprehend that great God which is the fountaine of all knowledge and the bottomlesse and shorelesse Ocean of wisedome and prudence It is true that when our soules shall be blessed with that eternall happines that they shal enjoy the divine vision in which consisteth our chiefest felicity we shall then see God as he is but to conceive and comprehend the infinity of his being it will be altogether impossible to us Those that sayle in the maine Sea which way soever they looke finde no other object but the heaven or the waves their sight being too weake to penetrate to the bottome or to view the shores Even so shall we see God and know him as farre as it shall please him to enable us but so farre shall wee be from compreheading him that he doth comprehend us and wee should then be no more seene there then a drop of wine in the Ocean Saint Basile handling this question in the Epistle to Eumonius hath an excellent comparison from the least to the greatest If we cannot comprehend the composition of a Pismire for the smalnesse of it how shall wee comprehend the infinite greatnesse of God We shall comprehend it indeede but it shall be as a spunge cast into the Ocean which is filled quite with water but is overcome and compassed round about by it I should want time rather then matter to speake on a subject so high and excellent wee should never have done if we should propound and resolue the infinite number of arguments and opinions moved upon this question of our sight of God But for us let us hold as the Mathematicians doe linea recta est brevissima that the straitest line is the shortest and in this the shortest way is the surest let us turne neither to the right hand nor to the left from the certaine way of truth taught unto us by the truth it selfe to wit by Iesus Christ in our Text saying Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see GOD. Let us then purifie our hearts and cleanse our soules from the filthinesse of sinne and from the spots of iniquity let our consciences bee white as snow and cleane as washed wooll let us take the firme and inviolable oath of Alleageance to our God and let us not suffer Satan our mortall enemie to take possession of the fort of our soules of the hill of Syon that is of our consciences let us not suffer him to make a breach in that vow that we vowed to his obedience at our first reception into the Church by Baptisme and so wee shall be washed seaven times in the Iordan of repentance and of contrition for our faults when we have put on the white roabes of holinesse justice and innocencie we shall be invited to the Lambs wedding we shall sit downe at table with the Kings sonne wee shall be abundantly filled with the dainties of his house and shall drinke in the river of his delights In a word when like the high Priest we have left off the habits of our naturall corruption and put on the white and cleane garment of sanctification for our selues of love for our God of charity for our neighbour then even then the gate of the most holy place which is heaven shall be opened unto us wee shall see Gods Majestie not darkly and as in a clowd as it hath long appeared to our fore fathers but rather as a bright shining Sunne whose vertue shall enlighten us whose love shall warme us and whose compassions shall animate us at whose sight wee shall be vivified consolated and glorified For hee will enrowle us among his Angels will make us Citizens of heaven and impatriate us to be absolute possessors of the rich treasures of eternall life where it is farre easier to know what is not there then to discourse what is There there is no death no wearinesse no infirmity no hunger no thirst no heat no cold no corruption no want no mourning nor sorrow Wee have told you what there is not there but what there is there eye hath not seene eare hath not heard neither is it entred into the heart of man what God hath prepared for them that love him now because these joyes and felicities have not entred into the heart of man therefore man must strive to enter into them God speakes thus by his Prophet Isaiah chap. 32. My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitatoin and in sure dwellings and in quiet resting places In this blessed life there is a certaine assurance a sure tranquillity a happy eternity an eternall happinesse a perfect charity a perpetuall day a quick motion in a word all shall be there led and governed by the same Spirit Here let us burne with zeale to ascend to those faire places let us be enflamed with extreame desire of possessing so goodly an inheritance and if our bodies cannot as yet goe
Church is naturally denoted and figured unto us By the holy place whereunto came onely the Levites and those which ministred at the Sacrifices are signified unto us the Ministers of the word of God who are chosen and put a part in his Church to be Heraulds and Embassadours of his holy will offering the ordinary Sacrifices of prayer and thanksgiving which are his delectable and well accepted service By the Sanctum Sanctorum or the most holy place is truly figured unto us Heaven for as the high Priest entred not into that place before he had first purified washed himselfe according to the Divine ordinance so the faithfull cannot enter into heaven untill hee hath first divested sinne and be covered with the cloake of Iustice holinesse and innocencie therfore Iesus Christ himselfe declareth the same thing unto us with his owne sacred mouth saying Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see GOD. The Prophet David expresseth exceeding well the same words in the 15. Psalme saying Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill he that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousnesse and speaketh the truth in his heart And in the 24. Psalme Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place hee that hath cleane hands and a pure heart who hath not lifted up his soule unto vanity nor sworne deceitfully Hee shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousnesse from the God of his salvation And in the 33. Chap. of Isaiah ver 14. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly he that despiseth the gaine of oppressions that shaketh his hands from receiving of bribes that stoppeth his eares from hearing of blood and shutteth his eyes from seeing evill He shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munitions of rockes bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure His eyes shall see the King in his beauty they shall behold the land that is very farre off O what admirable places how many faire and rare promises doe all these Prophets make to the faithfull who shall keepe his heart from sinne and his hands from iniquity and Iesus Christ himselfe commeth after to confirme their testimonie and to ratifie their words saying in this place Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see GOD. Words very energetically and significant as if hee had said Dearely beloved the onely and perfect way to possesse all happinesse all pleasures and all the advantages that you can wish and in a word to enjoy eternall felicity to contemplate face to face Gods divine Majestie wherein consisteth the fulnesse of happinesse and all contentment following the serpents example to cast off the olde skinne that is to pull off the olde coate of sinne infected with the leprosie of iniquity to fly and eschew evill to embrace good to hate vice and perfectly to love vertue which is the true way to heaven to the possession of heavenly graces and in a word to the fulnesse and perfection of all true happinesse Blessed are then the pure in heart for they shall see God Now to enter into a more particular explication of these words we will divide them into two principall parts and will consider 1. who are the pure in heart And secondly the cause why they are blessed The royall Prophet David in the 15. Psalme describeth perfectly unto us those that are pure in heart They are those saith hee that lye not and who live uprightly they who backbite not with their tongues nor doe evill to their neighbours and in whose eyes a vile person is contemned but they honour them that feare the Lord they that sweare to their owne hurt and change not they that put not out their money to usurie nor take bribes or reward against the innocent This is a very faire true and ample description of the Righteous man who hath a pure heart that is who hath his conscience pure and just and who lives in integrity justice and innocencie For this word heart is not here to be understood or taken for the materiall carnall heart placed in our breasts which is the fountaine and beginning of life the first living the last dying in man but for the soule that keepeth there her ordinary Sessions as we commonly say that is corne by showing onely the sacks that hold it there is the Kings Treasure by shewing onely the Exchequer Chamber where it is kept the place containing being called and taken by the name of the thing contained so must we understand a pure heart to bee taken for the conscience which therein makes her residence Where at the first sight we finde a thing very remarkable and worthy our consideration that to wit that sinne being as it were a black and venomous Inke or an infect d and corrupted poyson as soone as it comes neare our hearts the seate of our soules it defileth infecteth and makes them so stinking that God cannot endure them before his face so much abhorreth he the very sent and smell of sin and so much the very object of iniquity is noysome and troublesome to him Now Iesus Christ knowing that man brought into the world from his mothers wombe with life the cause of death that is originall sinne cursed sinne a disastrous blade or stalke which like the wilde and evill plants casteth continually forth so many young sprigges which doth so people and store the field of our soules that in the end in stead of a Garden of Eden where God tooke pleasure to walke in stead of a delightfull River where the Angels bathed it be comes a hideous and dreadfull wildernesse where the devils and wicked spirits keepe their Sabaths and criminall Assises and Sessions a filthy sinke where wicked and impious men like Hogges continually wallowe And therefore Iesus Christ I say to bring his Apostles to perfection and to put them and all the faithfull in the way to heaven he exhorts them to keepe their hearts pure cleane and naked from all sinne filthinesse and iniquity to extirpate the thistles bryers from the fields of their soules to plow and till it carefully with the share and harrow of contrition and repentance for their sinnes In a word to make it aground fit and fruitfull to receive the holy seed of the word of life and to make it beare fruites to immortality and eternall life As men would bee curious to sweepe and cleanse a house wherein a King resolues for a while to be resident and may justly accuse him of imprudence and impudence who having advice and notice of his comming would not make hast to perfume it to adorne and enrich it with the fairest furniture to embellish it with all the rarities and most pretious jewels they could recover So alas the hearts of the faithfull are nothing else but the house of God
puffed up with the winde of ambition and that is not infected with covetousnesse who laugheth at wrongs and careth not for revenge who goeth boldly every where and feareth nothing for he that is deepely in Gods favour should be afraid of nothing in a word a quiet and peaceable soule studieth and busieth her selfe about nothing but to love serue and honour her God shee is alwayes betweene love and feare love to please him feare of offending him a feare I say filiall but not seruile When I thinke upon this peace and tranquillity of the minde and soule I am like the needle of a Compasse that alwayes turnes towards the North of my desires towards my Iesus my Saviour and my God which is the excellentest and perfectest patterne of peace and mildnesse that I am able to chuse or propose in this behalfe and matter I am saith he by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah the meeke Lambe he is brought as a Lambe to the slaughter and as a dumbe Sheepe before her shearers and hee opened not his mouth Isaiah 53.7 It is a thing very frequently and commonly knowne that the Panther smelleth so sweet that all other beasts come to smell to her Our sweet Iesus is represented by her both by her name and effects for in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth all as God was defined by Plato Iesus Christ breathes forth so sweet and fragrant a smell that it embalmeth the faithfulls soules so speaketh the Spouse in the Canticles The name of my beloved is like oyle shed therefore have the young maydens loved thee so dearely by these maydens wee must understand the virgins of sinne those that have not knowne iniquity that love peace and seeke after it after hee goeth on Chap 4.11 Thy lips O my Spouse drop as the hony combe hony and milke are under thy tongue and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon Wee should passe too often over the same steps and path if we should here againe speake of the admirable and inimitable mildnesse and tranquillity of our good Master and Saviour Iesus Christ whose birth preacheth unto us humility his life peace and his death compassion Let us then strive to imitate him as much as wee can possible in our youth being very humble in our viril age peaceable and in our old age pitifull and in all the course of our life milde bountifull and loving following Davids counsell Love peace and seeke it for God with a favourable and gracious eye beholds him that is studious of peace and he heareth his most humble prayers in the time of his affliction Psalm 34.16 Behold great and divine profits faire and admirable rewards and recompences that the faithfull get by seeking after peace with God and by having procured all the meanes of agreement with their neighbours both in things that concerne them and in things needfull to the union and concord of all our brethren Let us now heare that gracious and favourable voyce shewing unto us the profit and recompence which wee must without doubt expect for having beene peacemakers it is Iesus Christ himselfe who is not a man that hee should lye nor the Sonne of man that he should repent when he saith in our text Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God He doth not onely say they shall be blessed after their death but they are so already because that he makes them know in their soules the delight he takes in it and the goods which they shall receive which is eternall peace Blessed then are the feete of those that bring tidings of peace Isaiah 52.7 This particle For sheweth the reason of their blessednesse and not the cause for if all the peacemakers were the children of God by consequence many Turkes and Pagans should be such because they are peacemakers But the tree must be first good before it can beare good fruit so wee must first be the children of God before wee can be true peacemakers for those that are peacemakers not being the children of God have already received their reward that is they have received the praise and applause of the world which they were peacemakers to obtaine but all that is nothing but a maske and false apparition of that true peace which God recommendeth unto us In this reason of Christs why the peacemakers shall be called the children of God wee must note and obserue a double Hebraisme the one in the word Children the other in the verbe they shall be called vocabuntur The first Hebraisme is in the word Filij Children which in the holy tongue signifieth conformee and like as Math. 5.44.45 Love your enemies blesse them that curse you doe good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you that ye may be the children that is like to your Father which is in heaven The other Hebraisme is in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kara that is erunt or vocabuntur they shall be called which is turned erunt they shall be where of wee have an example Genes 21.12 God speaking to Abraham saith In Isaac shall thy seede be called that is shall thy seede be Of which words Saint Paul is an irreprehensible interpreter Rom. 9.7.8 Neither because they are the seede of Abraham are they all children but in Isaac shall thy seede be called that is they which are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for the seed The Prophet Isaiah 36.7 useth the same phrase My house shall be called an house of prayer for all people And Saint Luke interpreting these words chap. 19.46 saith It is written My house is the house of prayer but ye have made it a denne of theeves and indeede this word shall be called seemeth to mee much more emphaticall and comprehending more then the word to be onely because this to be called est in rerum natura is in the nature of the things and besides that it is knowne and published of every man therefore Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall not onely be the children of God but also shall be knowne and acknowledged for such even by their greatest enemies who before thought them to be foolish and pusillanimous but then they shall be forced to confesse that they are the true children of God and to speake like the wicked Wisedome the 5. Chap. Then saith she shall the just appeare in safety before the face of them that have tormented him and that shall have rejected his labours who seeing him shall be seased with horrible feare and shall bee frighted to see him beyond their expectation saved then changing their opinions sighing for griefe shall be in their hearts they will say among themselues Behold this is he of whom sometimes we laughed and made proverbs of dishonour We fooles thought his life madnesse and his death
he prayeth to God for them herein imitating his good and blessed Master Iesus Christ saying Lord impute not this sinne unto them As wee read Acts 7.60 If Moses in the precedent examples hath bin seene something too much desirous of revenge we may also reade that many times he hath forgiven those that had offended him yea and hath mediated and prayed to God for them least hee should have revenged them David having received innumerable offences and wrongs of Saul notwithstanding finding him wearie in the Cave having him in his bed at his discretion he forgave him all the injuries and harmes he had made him suffer saying only The Lord is a just Iudge that will avenge mee of mine enemies and will render unto me after the integrity of my heart The Apostles indeed suffered themselues to be carried away by this sweet desire and appetite of revenge when they would make fire fall from heaven upon that Towne that had offended them but it was because they were fraile and weake men like us when they fell into their faults and errours but they were soone rectified and raised up againe by the grace of the holy Ghost so that at length when any gave them injuries they rendered none againe they were whipped and stoned they were cast into prison and yet they blessed and prayed for them that did it and sought by all meanes to Preach the Gospell unto them and to shew them the way of salvation these second examples wee must follow that we may appeare to be the children of God Disciples of Christ and imitatours of his Apostles This noble and godly action of forgiving our enemies we must practise first if we desire that God shall acknowledge us for his children we must strive to be like him who is the fountaine of forgivenesse who is meekenesse and curtesie it selfe and nothing but mercie Secondly wee must pardon others if wee desire that God shall forgive us since that is conditionall which wee aske him Lord forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us Now if we doe not forgive men their trespasses no more will our heavenly Father forgive us Math. 6.15 For with the same measure that we mete it shall be also measured unto us againe And that which must the more oblige us to put off the infected and poysonsome coate of cruelty and revenge since it is an abomination to God which he hath prohibited us in so many places of Scripture as Proverb 20.22 Say not thou I will recompence evill but waite upon the Lord and hee shall save thee And Rom. 12.19 Dearely beloved avenge not your selues but give place unto wrath for it is written Vengeance is mine I will repay saith the Lord if then thy enemie be hungrie give him to eate if hee be thirstie give him drinke for in so doing thou shalt heape burning coales upon his head And Ecclus 28. The Lord will be avenged of him that revengeth himselfe and hee will keepe carefully his faults for him forgive thy neighbour his misdeedes and when thou shalt pray thy sinnes shall he forgiven thee Shall man keepe his wrath against man and aske to be cured by the Lord he will not take pitie of man like to himselfe and will aske pardon of his sinnes since he that is but flesh keepeth his wrath and asketh forgivenesse to God who shall obliterate and blot out his sinnes It is a common saying and proverb There is nothing so sweet as revenge but for my part I cannot perceive this sweetnesse unlesse it bee compared to a well scowred blade of a sword that pierceth and passeth through easily but at the same time taketh away our lives as the Bees that leave their sting where they strike and with it their life Animasque in vulnere ponunt so when we revenge our selues we leave the sting of our wrath in the wounds of our enemie but wee doe not consider so blinde are we that withall we thereby wound our soules to death Heliodorus tells us of one that said That death would be sweet and welcome to him if he knew that his enemie should also die and of another iealous woman that cryed out O how delightfull would death be to mee if I could fall dead upon the dead bodie of my rivall Plutarch saith very well That of all the wild beasts there is none so savage and cruell as a man that hath the liberty and power to execute his revenge But if wee consider it diligently we shall see that this impatience and not to be able to beare an injurie is a great infirmitie and weakenesse but as noble hearts and generous and magnanimous soules doe scorne and despise wrongs so doe they also forgive and forget all kindes of revenge Pericles of all the actions of his life esteemed this the most remarkable that hee had never revenged himselfe for any wrong done unto him And Phocion being put to death unjustly feeling the effects of that mortall Hemlock to bring him neare to the last period of his life recommended nothing so much to his sonne as this that he should forget the memorie of this offence and that he should never seeke to be revenged for it that in medling with it he would stay the gods from taking in hand the justice of his cause who would questionlesse revenge him of this offence Let us use the same Doctrine though comming from the prophane mouth of a Papan they are neverthelesse of infallible truth as a Diamond looseth nothing of his value though it be in the dirt let us then practise it and let us remember that whilest we desire to punish our enemies wee doe them a great favour and are reveng'd of our selues for the offence which they have done unto us which would deserue a farre more rigorous labour if wee left it to God but hee seeing that wee will neither referre it to his justice nor to his commaundements nor to his promises being unwilling to endure a companion in any of his works hee suffereth us to try our uttermost which is most commonly the cause of our ruine Let us then breake off this discourse which would never end if wee should punctually follow it and let us remember that revenge is our Masters owne dish which none can touch without incurring his indignation And let us imitating our heavenly Father forgive our enemies for if hee should take revenge of all the offences which wee at every moment commit against his sacred Majestie hee would then reduce us to that nothing from whence we came or would inflict upon us eternall paines and punishments since the least offence committed against an infinite goodnesse deserveth an infinite paine and torment Let us then follow Saint Lukes admonition Be mercifull as your heavenly Father is mercifull and presently after wee shall heare that blessed recompence which we shall receive for it to wit Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercie Wee have already shewed how God recompenseth