stamped and impressed upon his Soul He imitated God in those two things which one of the Ancients tells us will make us like God viz. speaking truth and bestowing benefits A man of greater simplicity and veracity I never knew and there are multitudes that will witness that he went about doing good He did vow in his Baptism to renounce the Devil the World and Flesh. Some men go no farther All their Religion comes from the Font. This good Man perform'd his Vow he cast out of himself the Evil One and renounced all his Works overcame the World in the noblest sense and subdued and mortified all the sinfull desires of the flesh He was a Conquerour and more than Conquerour He devoted himself intirely and without reservation to the service of his God It was not only his business but his choice and delight his meat and drink I need not say that he was much in Prayers and Fastings in Meditation and heavenly Discourse very frequent in devout Communions in reading and hearing the Word in watchings and great austerities He wisely considered that these were the means and not the end of Religion that these are not godliness but only helps and the way to it He arrived at the end of these things He had an ardent love of God a great Faith in him and was resigned to his Will He had an unspeakable Zeal for his Honour a profound regard to his Word and to his Worship and to all that had the nearest relation to him or did most partake of his image and likeness He was a Man after God's own heart He lived under a most gratefull sense of his Mercies he was governed by his fear and had a lively sense of God's special Care and Providence He had that sense of God's Mercy in giving us his Son to die for us that it was observed of him that when he discoursed of that Argument he used no measure no bounds or limits of his Discourse His heart was so affected with that Argument that he cou'd not put a stop to himself Jesus was his Lord and Master and he had his Life and Example always before him and conformed himself to it in the whole Tenour and Course of his Life His Religion was unaffected and substantial it was genuine and primitive and so great a pattern he was that he might have passed for a Saint even in the first and best times of Christianity He was of the Church of England and a most true Son of that Church and gave the greatest proofs of it Far was he from the Innovations of the Roman Church on the one hand and from Enthusiasm on the other His Writings are a sufficient proof of this I very well know that when the Church of England hath been traduced and disparaged he hath not forborn to make so vigorous a Defence that he lost a very great Man's friendship by it and felt the Effects of it afterwards by the loss of a considerable worldly advantage which he would otherwise have stood very fair for He shewed his Zeal for the Church of England when she was in greatest danger from many Enemies especially from the Church of Rome At that time when some were so wicked as to change their profession and others so tame as to sit still and not to concern themselves when the Enemies were at the Gates for there were too many that professed to be Sons of this Church and do so still who were over-awed and durst not appear with that Courage which God and all good Men might justly have expected from them then did this good Man bestir himself and lifted up his Voice like a Trumpet and undauntedly defended the Church when she most needed it God be praised there were others who did so likewise with great vigour and resolution and great hazard of their liberty and worldly Comforts And many of these had the hard hap to be traduced by their lukewarm Brethren who cry up the Church as if these were not the genuine Sons of this Church It hath not been for the advantage of the Church that those Men have been decried as not genuine Church-men who have done her the greatest service on the other hand some vaunt themselves to be such who have never been any support to their Mother in her greatest distress There are some of these who are like the Images we see in many Churches that are so placed in that bending Posture as if they bore upon their Shoulders the weight of the Building whereas in truth they are only the fancy of the Architect and bear no weight at all The Doctor believed the Doctrine of this Church obeyed her Injunctions and conformed to her Constitutions Headmonished and diligently instructed his Charge kept Multitudes in her Communion and lived up to her holy Rules and was ready to sacrifice all that was dear to him in the World to promote the true Interest of this Church He would not indeed take the Cure of Souls and then put them out to nurse to some cheap and negligent Curate receive the profits and leave another man to take the pains He would not take a Vicarage and swear residence before his Ordinary and afterwards refuse to reside on pretence of some privilege or exempt Jurisdiction c. as very many have done But a Church-man he was notwithstanding Indeed the best of men have been mis-represented And there are a Number of the most useless men that yet in all places are crying up the Church of England but have little regard to her holy Rules I knew two men of the same Faculty in the same neighbourhood They were in their profession very eminent One of these had the Name of a Church of England man the other of a Fanatick And yet it is well known that the first very rarely if at all came to the Church or Communion the other was a great frequenter of both The Doctor was a man of very good Learning He had very goods kill in Languages He had addicted himself to the Arabic from his younger time and retained it in good measure to the last He had great skill in the Hebrew likewise nor was his skill limited to the Biblical Hebrew only in which he was a great Master but he was seen in the Rabbinical also He was a most diligent Reader of the Holy Scriptures in that Language in which they were originally written Sacras literas tractavit indefesso studio This Dr. Spanheim says of him in his youth viz. that he was indefatigable in the Study of the Holy Scriptures He adds that he was then one of an elevated wit of a mind that was cheerfull and covetous of making substantial proficiency And also that he gave a Specimen of it about the year 1659 when he was very young by a publick defending a Dissertation concerning the Vow of Jephtah touching the sacrificing his Daughter This upon his own request and motion he publickly defended with great presence of mind He had very good
that Lamb Behold the scene of his sufferings and you will see this Truth written with Sun-beams Thousands that are now in Heaven have been wrought upon by this great Example and shall it have no influence upon you Strange you should hope to be saved by him and neglect the way he hath appointed in order to Salvation 5. Take heed of a rash misconstruing of your Neighbour's words and actions Nothing provokes to passion sooner than such misinterpretations Either this Man said so to reflect upon you or he did not bow low enough before you or he did not shew you that Civility he ought or he did such a thing to express his contempt of your Person c. Put favourable constructions on your Neighbour's Deportment toward you and you will prevent those Fits of Anger which now you fall into to the scandal of others and the ruine of your Souls 6. Consider how profitable this Vertue is profitable to others who will sooner hearken to you and listen to your advice when deliver'd with Meekness you will edifie them engage them to praise God for the grace which is bestow'd upon you profitable to your selves it will be a safe-guard to you you will not only enjoy what you have more quietly but you will be able to bear adversity better when it comes and we know that God very often rewards these Acts of Meekness with turning the Hearts of Enemies toward the Meek into mercy and compassion To this purpose I remember a passage in Moschus of a certain pious old Man when some Thieves broke into his House the good Man stood silent by while the Barbarians rifled his Coffers having taken what they thought fit they departed but the old Man spying a Bag of Money they had either overlook'd or forgotten to take with them he runs out and calls after them that they had left something of value behind them and there it was if they would come back and fetch it The Thieves looking upon it as raillery or mockery had no mind to return but Curiosity at last prevail'd with them to go and see whether the Man were in good earnest and finding him real in what he said they were so confounded with the calmness and meekness of the Man that they restored him all they had robb'd him of and cry'd out this is a good Man indeed I conclude with St. Paul's obtestation Eph. IV. 30 31 32. Grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption Let all bitterness and wrath and clamour and evil-speaking be put away from you with all malice And be ye kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you SERMON VI. St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled There is nothing more common in Scripture than to express the Doctrine or Lessons God hath thought fit to reveal to us by Meat and Bread and Food and Milk and Wine and Water and our docility or readiness to imbibe or digest and obey these Lessons by eating and drinking all which is done on purpose to give us clearer and livelier apprehensions of things spiritual and unseen and as our knowledge comes by our senses so by those external Objects and Actions to lead us to higher thoughts sublimer notions This being so we need not wonder to find our Saviour speaking here of a hunger and thirst after Righteousness for this is but a continuation of the same Metaphor for though hunger and thirst be properly the office and function of the Body yet there being an appetite in the Soul which is very like it Christ chuses to express it by these known natural actions or inclinations And lest this hunger and thirst should be interpreted as a punishment rather than a mercy the God-like Preacher here not only pronounces a blessing upon it but encourages to it by a very weighty and precious promise in the Text Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled THree things call them Doctrines or Propositions or Conclusions or what you will are here suggested to us I. That there is a hunger and thirst after Righteousness which is very commendable II. Without this hunger and thirst after Righteousness a man cannot be blessed or happy III. The happiness of those who do hunger and thirst after Righteousness consists in being filled I. There is a hunger and thirst after Righteousness which is very commendable That 's as little as a man can gather from the Text this State being pronounc'd blessed that Blessedness makes it commendable at least By Righteousness here some do piously understand Christ Jesus who is call'd The Lord our Righteousness Jer. XXIII 6. and is said to be made unto us of God Righteousness 1 Cor. I. 30. and the reasons why he is called so are 1. Because he is the Fountain of all Righteousness 2. Because he is the Author of that Righteousness which is in us 3. Because by his perfect righteousness he covers the accidental and unallow'd of defects of our sincere though imperfect Righteousness And no doubt they that truly hunger and thirst after Christ desirous to be taught by him as their Prophet to be saved by him as their Priest and to be ruled by him as their King may be said to be in a blessed State but though the word here used may lawfully be applied to Christ yet this cannot be the direct sense of it in this place where Christs design is to represent all the Graces a Christian is to be adorn'd with and therefore by Righteousness here must be meant the whole circle of Vertues the whole compass of Goodness which a Christian is capable of on this side Heaven and this is the common acceptation of the word and in this sense we find it oppos'd to a sinfull life in general Rom. VI. 20. When you were servants of sin you were free from righteousness and this Righteousness is afterward v. 22. call'd becoming servants of God and having our fruit unto holiness The righteous man is indeed represented in Scripture as a just man in his dealings and Righteousness stands often for doing justice and rendring to all their due and doing every man right but it is not with an intent to separate the other vertues from it but to shew that the good man who is faithfull and conscientious in his worship and doing the will of God among other vertues which he practiseth exercises this also and doth by others as he would have others do by him So that by Righteousness here is to be understood an universal Goodness in all conditions and relations whereby both the outward and inward man becomes entirely subject to God and without it he cannot be said to deal justly and righteously with God and after this Righteousness it is that a hunger and thirst is commended here which hunger and thirst
misery of others and therefore we are expresly call'd upon to put on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bowels of Mercy Col. III. 12. This is so necessary that without it the most pompous external Acts of Mercy prove fruitless and ineffectual at least the Apostle seems to intimate so much in that known passage Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and have not Charity I am nothing 1 Cor. XIII 3. Where by Charity must be meant true Christian pity and compassion which may be absent from the most stately beneficence for a Man may give all away in a humour or in a bravado or when he can keep his Riches no longer or out of a design to get himself a Name which makes the Charity nothing worth because destitute of true inward pity The Stoicks of old look'd upon inward pity as a thing below a rational Man doing good and actual liberality to Men in distress they allow'd was a wise Man's part but to be troubled within for the Calamity of any Man whether friend or stranger they said became not a Man of reason But in this they talk'd like Mad-men more than Philosophers Neither reason nor Christianity destroy the inward affections of the Soul both teach indeed to moderate and curb them or to keep them within bounds but do not eradicate or pull them up Christ therefore whose business it was by his Example to shew the way to perfection was touch'd with inward pity so he commiserated Lazarus when dead and the People who were ready to faint for want of Bread and the Multitude that were scatter'd abroad like Sheep without a Shepherd and Jerusalem when her Ruine was approaching and his Example as well as God's will in this particular warrant a moderate inward trouble and a compassionate resentment of our Neighbour's Calamity But here Mercy rests not if it be in a Capacity of going farther And therefore 2. There is required in the Exercise of this Vertue an actual relief of our calamitous and miserable Neighbour The Compliment St. James speaks of James II. 16. Depart you be you warmed and filled without giving such things as are needfull for the body is perfect mocking of the Poor and of God too who made them so that they might be assisted by the gifts and beneficence of the wealthier sort The particulars of the Mercy that is to be shewn to the Bodies or Temporal Concerns of our distressed Neighbours are commonly comprehended in that Latin Verse Visito poto cibo redimo tego colligo condo i. e. Visiting them when sick or in prison and contributing to their Cure when distemper'd according to St. Paul's Example Acts XXVIII 8 9. and James I. 27. giving them drink when thirsty Rom. XII 20. and feeding them when hungry Acts XVI 34. rescuing and delivering them from danger if it be in our Power and the deliverance be just Acts XX. 10 12. covering their nakedness and giving them Cloaths when they have none Acts IX 39. receiving them into our Houses or providing lodging and harbour for them when they have no place to rest in Acts XVI 15. and burying them decently when they leave or have no means to discharge the Expences of their Funerals Acts VIII 12. These are some of the principal Acts of that Mercy which is due to the Bodies of our miserable Brethren indeed we find them specified by our Saviour himself Matth. XXV 35 36. and so great a stress laid upon them that they are made the chief Subject of the last Assizes But this is not all and therefore 3. Mercy must also be shewn to the Souls of our necessitous Brethren as we find them oppress'd with sin and ignorance and the particular Duties of this Mercy also we find summon'd up in that old Verse Consule castiga solare remitte fer ora i. e. Admonishing teaching and directing them when they know not the way to Eternal life according to the Rule given Heb. XII 12 13. reproving them when they sin and correcting them if obstinate Ephes. V. 11. 1 Cor. V. 5. Comforting them when distressed and speaking peace to them when dejected 2 Cor. I. 4. forgiving their offences and pardoning the affronts and injuries they have done us especially where they profess sorrow and repentance Matth. XVIII 21 22 25. bearing with their infirmities especially where they appear invincible Rom. XV. 1. and lastly praying for them whether they be friends or enemies James V. 16. Matth. V. 44. He whose necessities are such that he cannot relieve the Temporal wants of his Neighbour may be in a condition to redress his Spiritual and indeed where this Spiritual mercy takes effect and that the admonitions and entreaties and reproofs c. work a Reformation in him it proves one of the greatest Mercies in the World for it is no less than saving a Soul from death James V. 20. But 4. This Mercy runs out into more Branches still and there are some higher degrees of it which mercifull Christians in all Ages have justly thought themselves obliged to exercise and such is particularly our relieving others unaskt and preventing the wishes and sollicitations of the Needy by our Aims and Liberalities It is therefore recorded to the Eternal Praise of Onesiphorus 2 Tim. I. 16 17. That when he was at Rome he sought out St. Paul very diligently to minister to his Necessities Some niggardly Christians whose Religion lies all in hearing and talking when they have hints given them of their supine Neglect of this Mercy are very apt to excuse themselves with this Evasion that they know no objects of Charity A pitifull shift Did you ever enquire did you ever consult with your pious Neighbours or some charitable Divine If you did your ignorance would soon be cured When Christians understood themselves better they did not wait to be courted to this Mercy The Disciples of Antioch Acts XI 29. when they did but fear a Famine they presently and chearfully determin'd every Man according to his ability to send relief to the Brethren which dwelt in Judaea and of this religious Generosity St. Austin understands that saying of the Psalmist Ps. XLI 1. Blessed is he that considereth the poor i. e. He that prevents the poor Man's cry and the Original will very well bear it for there it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maschil He that gives his mind to think how he may do good to his poor Neighbour or he that judiciously regards the distressed Man which implies doing good before we are put in mind of it Some whom Providence hath reduced to a very low condition are bashfull and ashamed to beg or to make their wants known but their Neighbours see and perceive how hard it is with them and what shifts they make to subsist to enquire and to find out such objects and to relieve them before they ask this is Christian like and becoming those whom God hath given a liberal Portion and a liberal Heart and is an Argument that we
mercifull shall obtain Mercy And here what I noted in the preceeding Beatitudes holds good here too that the recompence here promised relates both to this and the other Life And as to this present World 1. The mercifull Man may promise himself great Comfort in his Trouble whether it be sickness or some other sad accident to this purpose we have an excellent saying Psal. XLI 1 2 3. Blessed is he that considers the poor the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon Earth and thou wilt not deliver him into the hand of his enemies The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness These words are not much regarded because the generality of men have but a very low opinion of the promises of the Bible though they believe it to be the Word of their God to which God will stand yet they dare not trust his Promises and so it fares with this that I have mention'd and yet would you make the experiment with an humble Confidence in God's veracity you would certainly find extraordinary Assistances in the time of sickness I will not say that you would recover without means or Physick but your sickness would either become more easie and tolerable or you would recover sooner or you would prepare for a long life your Acts of Mercy would be your security that you should find mercy in your distress This is a great truth and as loath as some of you may be to believe it I might furnish you if it were needfull with variety of Examples and instances of men who have found it by experience but God having asserted and promis'd it it is enough to engage you to believe it and to make the Trial. 2. This mercy God rewards signally even in this present World by blessing the mercifull Man's endeavours not only by turning the hearts of other men toward him into mercy when he stands in need of it but by encreasing or prospering his Substance Mercifulness is the true Art of thriving in the World what a multitude of examples could I alledge here of Persons who have given away either the tenth or the fifth Part or more of their incomes to pious Uses and have been blessed even to admiration It is a mighty mistake that you will be losers by being very mercifull Every thing you take in hand will prosper the better for it except your unbelief or wavering and trembling faith should hinder God from doing any mighty Works for you In shewing mercy you make God your debtor you lend him and he is concerned even in this life to repay you with Usury Prov. XVIII 17. Men that consider not the operations of God's hand will continue Infidels under all these asseverations but we know and find it so and are confident that there is one That scattereth and yet increases scatters in Charity and encreases in Temporal mercies The liberal soul shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be water'd himself Prov. XI 24 25. But 3. The greatest mercy is yet behind even the everlasting Mercy of God in the next life which the mercifull Man will certainly obtain God drops only some mercies on the mercifull man here but he will visit him with Showers in the other World He will take him into the bosom of mercy encompass him with mercy on every side and make mercy his Crown and Diadem He will be mercifull to his sins and remember them no more The mercies the Father of mercy sheds on him here are Items of larger mercies hereafter and what is but a Brook and a River here will be all Sea and Ocean there The mercifull Man will find God exceeding mercifull to him when he dies and his Soul enters into the Regions of Eternity a mercy which surpasses all the mercies he enjoy'd here to be sure the Souls in Hell the Spirits in the Everlasting Prison would value God's mercy upon their leaving this World at a higher Rate than all the rich Blessings they glutted themselves with on this side the Grave Here the mercies God sends upon the mercifull Soul are mixt with Clouds and Crosses in the next life they will be pure uninterrupted endless high and like the God that bestows them infinite and the mercifull Man will see and taste and feel the meaning of that glorious Promise Isa. LIV. 8 9 10. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee For this is as the Waters of Noah unto me as I have sworn that the Waters of Noah should no more cover the Earth so have I sworn that I will not be wrath with thee nor rebuke thee For the Mountains shall depart and the Hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee neither shall the Covenant of my Peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee Inferences I. If mercy be the duty of every private Christian it must be the duty of whole Churches too Cruelty can be no mark of a true Church that 's not the Livery of the Prince of Peace but of him whose Name is Legion To destroy men's lives upon the Account of Religion can never be agreeable to the Nature of that God who waits to be gracious and to call for Fire from Heaven upon Samaritans because they will not acknowledge the High-Priest of Jerusalem to be infallible surely is not to know what manner of Spirit we are of A late Historian of the Roman Communion in his Life of Sixtus Quintus tells us of a very strange Maxim the Court of Rome makes the great Rule of her Practice That the Turks must be set upon with Arms Heathens with Arguments and Doctrine but Eretici col fuoco Hereticks with Fire If by Fire were meant that lambent one of Love and Charity we could not but highly extol the Motto but when that Church hath used so much material Fire whatever her Language may be at this present we have still reason to suspect that this Maxim is to be understood in the worst sense and when her unmercifull Practices and which she yet never publickly disown'd and renounc'd stand still upon record when we read of her proceedings against the poor Waldenses and Albigenses of whom more than a hundred thousand were destroy'd her St. Dominick being the Leader and Incendiary when we know the dreadfull Court of Inquisition is in force in Spain in Italy and in Portugal when we read of the fatal St. Bartholomew the Massacre of Paris in the Year 1572 where above 70000 Protestants were barbarously murther'd for which the Pope with his Cardinals gave solemn Thanks to God and when a Massacre nearer home lives still in our memories even that of Ireland in the Year 1641 where according to the common Account 200000 innocent Protestants were inhumanely butcher'd for which
the shining and burning Lights of our Reformation and I chuse to alledge their Examples because I have spoken just before in the Praise of that Reformation But I fear Examples will do no good if God's Command and Christ's Promise and your Duty and everlasting Interest cannot prevail with you And yet when by the Grace and Assistance of God you are become bountifull according to this Rule the other Acts of Mercy I mention'd in the beginning of this Discourse must not be neglected particularly the Acts of Mercy to the Souls of your Neighbours There is nothing no Vertue that abounds more in incouragements both Temporal and Eternal than this mercifull Temper God hath dress'd it in such Charms that it cannot but appear amiable to the Attentive Considerer To shew mercy to others is the way to be mercifull to your selves We call upon you often to have mercy on your Souls and your mercy to others is a sign that you study Self-preservation Hereby you secure your own Mercies make them firm and durable and you establish your selves in the favour of God and the good opinion of sober Men And therefore what should hinder you from taking fire by this Discourse and suffering your Hearts to be warmed into Mercy and Compassion How chearfully may you go about it when there is a Voice behind you calling upon you Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtain mercy SERMON VIII St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God PVritan was once a Nick-name a Name of Reproach intended I suppose to traduce those who made a great shew of external Piety but were strangers to good Morals stumbled at a Straw and leapt over a Block strained at a Gnat and swallow'd down Camels prayed to God and reviled his Church scrupled a Ceremony and cheated the next Neighbour they met withall What justice there was in giving this Title to a certain Party whether they deserved it or not and whether many of those that were called so were not very upright and truly pious Men I shall not now enquire but sure I am that this Name rightly understood and taken in that sense it naturally bears or should bear is what every Christian ought to be ambitious of Purity is what every good Man must and doth desire and indeed his goodness is mere vanity and shew if Purity be not the great object of his love A true Puritan and a true Christian are convertible Terms and he that laughs at this Character understands not the Religion he is baptized into He that renounces Purity renounces his Baptism and whatever his outward Profession may be he is a meer Infidel under a borrow'd Title Purity is that which the Christians of old did triumph in not in the Name but in the Thing and he that neglects it must needs continue a stranger to all solid Consolation As ridiculous as it appears to carnal Men it is our greatest security pur-blind Souls may not see the Beauty of it but he that is Truth it self assures us that it is the way to real Bliss Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The method in handling these words must be the same with that I used in the Explication of the preceeding Beatitudes and that which any Man that hears or reads these words would naturally desire to be satisfied in is I. The Nature of this Purity wherein it consists and who the pure in heart are II. Upon what account we cannot suppose those blessed who are not pure in heart for that 's implied here III. How the pure in heart shall see God I. The Nature of this Purity wherein it consists and who the pure in heart are Children know that by the Heart in Scripture is for the most part meant the Soul the Spirit and the inward Man and so a pure Heart is a pure Mind a pure Soul and a pure Conscience as we find it called 1 Tim. III. 9. 2 Tim. I. 3. 2 Pet. III. 1. and the true ingredients of this inward Purity are as follows 1. An antipathy to sinfull Thoughts or a setled abhorrency of such thoughts desires passions and affections as are manifestly contrary to the Will of God Purity imports cleansing and that the thing which is cleansed is pure from something and the unclean thing here is evil thoughts not their bare coming in but concurring with them which the Heart must be pure from A pure Heart is an Enemy to impure Speeches and all impure and sinfull Actions but more immediately to sinfull Thoughts and Desires which are the Parents and Causes of the other so that the pure Heart nips the Evil in the Bud and is so far from yielding deliberately to a bad Action or an undecent Expression that it dreads an evil Thought All men it's true hate some evil Thoughts or other and there is scarce any Man so debaucht or vitious but hates the thought of murthering his Father and Mother or the thought of some monstrous ingratitude or the thought of doing hurt to an innocent Babe in the Cradle but this doth not make them pure in Heart and therefore this Purity must extend to other indeed all the Laws of God without which there would be no distinction no difference betwixt the Saint and the Sinner the latter pretending to the hatred of some evil Thoughts and Desires as well as the other So then this Purity imports an antipathy not only to thoughts of unnatural Crimes but to lascivious covetous malitious revengefull proud foolish vain imperious romantick Thoughts even before they break out into Words and Actions to thoughts whereby wronging defrauding slandering abusing reviling of our Neighbours and neglect of our spiritual and everlasting Concerns are suggested to us in a word to all thoughts which are injurious to God to our Neighbour or to the interest of our Souls for these assented to defile the heart Mark VII 21 22. Such thoughts like Flies or Bees may buz and hum about the Mind but if the Mind drives them away as Abraham did the Birds from the Sacrifice the Heart loses nothing of its Purity The mind may be assaulted with evil Thoughts the Assaults do not presently render it impure for if it hold out against them gives no consent no approbation shews them no countenance no favour no respect but that like Bullets shot against a Wall of Brass they fall off as fast as they are shot the Heart still continues pure and therefore David expresses the Purity of his Heart by this very Character I hate vain thoughts Psal. CXIX 113. and to this purpose is that Expostulation of God in Jeremy Chap. IV. 14. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee It 's giving them lodging and entertainment that pollutes the Mind but if they knock at the Door and are either permitted no entrance or are thrust out the Heart preserves its Purity 2. A pure Heart imports also a Purity from sinister Ends
case the castle is already in possession of Gods enemy and therefore there is no entertainment for him whose purity is infinite for the law of this converse is with the mercifull thou wilt shew they self mercifull and with the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure Psal. XVIII 25. 2. As the impure cannot converse with God so they cannot appropriate him to themselves and therefore cannot be blessed for mans blessedness arises from being able to say That God is his God his Friend and peculiar Treasure It 's true the man whose heart is impure professes an interest in God as well as the purest souls but words and sayings and boastings do not make the title good God will not be his God that will not have him reign over him his indeed to judge him but not his to save him his to send him to Hell but not his to give him a right to the tree of Life He whose heart is impure le ts Sin and World reign over him offers the Throne of God i. e. his heart to an usurper puts the Scepter into a Traitors hand and sets open the Gates for Thieves and Robbers to come in and surely this cannot be the way to appropriate God to our selves or to take comfort in his love and therefore no right to blessedness 3. Such are not blessed because they cannot see God The sinfull worldly Lusts and Thoughts and Desires which like Vermin crawl in their hearts darken their sight There is a thick veil over their hearts that they cannot see and tast how sweet and gracious the Lord is Their Souls are oppressed there lies much earth upon them a very great weight of earthly carnal disorderly Thoughts and Desires that like Swine they cannot look up to things above them Their Souls indeed are in the nature of Glass but the Glass is greazy and sullied with the Smoak of vain Imaginations which hinders them from beholding his goings in the Sanctuary or at the best they look upon God as men do upon objects through the wrong end of a perspective which represents things great and near as little and afar off He that lacketh these things saith St. Peter is blind and cannot see afar off He that wants a pure heart is that person and wants that which must give him right apprehensions of God the impure Lusts he cherishes in his heart shut the eyes of his heart and understanding that he hath nothing but confused Notions and Ideas of God and his ways an estate very different from theirs who are pure in heart for they shall see God which calls me to the III. Third and last particular How the pure in heart shall see God and since this Vision relates both to this present Life and that to come we must take a distinct view of both And 1. How they see and shall see God in this present Life And here it must be taken for granted that God cannot be seen with the Organs of the body for he is a Spirit infinite immaterial uncompounded and though he fills Heaven and Earth with his presence and is not far from every one of us yet no man ever saw him and indeed none can see him 1 Tim. VI. 16. but this is still to be understood of the Eyes of the Flesh with the Eye of the Understanding without all peradventure he may be seen and that 's the seeing Christ aims at here for it 's evident he speaks of the purity of Heart and Mind and therefore what he says of seeing God must be meant of the Eyes of that pure Mind Even Heathen Philosophers required Purification of the heart from all gross lustfull covetous and worldly desires without which they said a man could never arrive to the brighter knowledge of Philosophy Christ leads his followers to a higher object and promises not so much a clear insight into the mysteries of Nature as a sight of the best of Beings God blessed for evermore And that no man may think that this blessedness reaches only Divines and other learned men whose Studies carry them to contemplate God his Nature Attributes and Providences I must tell you that this Blessing is pronounced with respect even to the meanest capacity and a poor man that follows his trade or gets his livelihood in the sweat of his Brows may see God as well as the learnedest Men alive nay many times better having none of the preferments of this World to blind his Eyes For this seeing God is an affectionate seeing him and such a seeing as assimilates the Soul to him This seeing is not a bare Speculation or being able to talk or write much concerning God but such a seeing as charms and ravishes and unites the Soul to God and as this seeing God relates to this present World such as are pure in heart shall see him more clearly more distinctly more to their satisfaction and edification than other men All men that say they believe in God and talk of his divine Attributes and have occasion to take notice and are sensible of his works pretend a share in the seeing God but none sees him so well as the pure in heart Their inward purity helps them to see him they see him in his Word in his Ordinances in his Providences in his Mercies and Afflictions They see him in his Word how equitable how just how reasonable all his precepts are how agreeable to the divine Nature how suitable to the Soul how glorious how sweet how precious all his promises are how just his threatnings They see him in his Ordinances what Profit what Advantage he intends by them how he designs them as Channels or Pipes whereby to convey his Grace and Spirit and Influences to their Souls They see him in his Providences how righteous how holy how potent how orderly he is in the management of the great affairs of the World They see him in his Mercies how he condescends how tender he is to them how like a Father how like a Shepherd he deals with them They see him in their Afflictions how wise how kind how good he is in sending them what Favour what Love what edification he designs by them They see him in all his Works how admirable how wonderfull how powerfull he is and all this they see with joy and delight and so see him as to love him more fervently and this is called Seeing him in the Sanctuary Psal. LXIII 2. Thus the pure in heart see God here But 2. There is a vision of God in the next life which surpasses all understanding Though they see him here to their comfort and edification yet at the best they see him but as it were through a glass darkly but then face to face 1 Cor. XIII 12. There that Sun will shine directly in their faces and their sight shall be made so strong that they shall be able to look upon that astonishing light without being weakned by its lustre Here they see but his back parts there his
in his Service Can the outward Man be good when the inward is rotten and putrefied Are you wise Builders do you think do you hope to make a good piece of work of it to build the Top of the House when you have not laid the Foundation This purity of heart produces a great sense of God and another World a great sense of the Love of God which constrains the Soul to live in conformity to his Will and this is the Foundation of all true Religion If this sense be setled in the Heart if this Ground be well manured the whole Garden of your Lives will abound with Flowers and Fruits of all Sorts Ay! but how is this Purity to be attain'd I answer not with Laziness not with crying There is a Bear there is a Lion in the way Not by being over curious about the Purity and Ornaments of the Body When People spend more time at the Glass than at their Prayers take more than ordinary satisfaction in dressing and adorning the Body seek more to please Men than God do all they can to pamper the Flesh the Mind will run out into a thousand Vanities But 1. By studying the Word of God For the Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple The statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes Psal. XIX 7 8. What made David wiser than his Enemies What made him understand more than the Antients What made him know more than his Teachers He tells you Psal. CXIX 97. Oh how I love thy Law it is my meditation all the day Vers. 104. Through thy Precepts I get Vnderstanding Vers. 140. Thy word is very pure And it is so pure that if digested and ponder'd on it will purifie the Heart too 2. By taking notice of God in every thing While other Men talk of chance and take notice of the Shell and Outside and of the little Wheels whereby their own and other Men's affairs are turned about do you look still upon that God that hides himself behind the Curtain and turns all according to his good Pleasure Take notice of him in every Blessing whether you eat or drink or whatever Conveniency Mercy Providence comes upon you have an Eye to him and you will find your hearts will become very pure They looked upon him and were enlightened and their faces were not ashamed Psal. XXXIV 5. 3. By calling in the aid and assistance of his Holy Spirit For it is the proper Province of that Spirit to enlighten the Mind and Understanding and to purifie it from gross terrestrial and brutish Idea's and Imaginations and to replenish and fill it with a sense of spiritual things And this Spirit is ready to come ready to enter ready to lend his helping hand when he finds the Soul willing to be purified willing without Tricks without Reserves without Proviso's without Conditions Such as Lord suffer me first to go and bury my Father or suffer me first to go and take leave of those at my house In a word this Spirit loves to deal with down-right honest Men that mean what they say and think what they speak in their Addresses to God 4. By acquainting your selves with the true Nature of Sin For a principal part of this Purity of Heart consisting in an Aversion from sinfull Thoughts and Desires it is not possible a Person should arrive to that Aversion that sees not that Evil in Sin which is really in it What Shall I hate a thing I see no harm in Shall I dread the Appearance of a thing which I spy some Beauty and Satisfaction in The best the plainest and easiest way to acquaint our selves with the Nature of Sin is by reflecting on the Wages of Sin which is Death even everlasting Death and Misery It may be my Understanding is dull and weak and I cannot dive into all the Tendencies of Sin nor find out all the Indignities it offers to God's Attributes but this I know Eternal Misery is threatned to it This seems indeed to be unproportionable to its short duration But still God having certainly threatned it there must be something in it very nauseous very grievous very odious very dreadfull very injurious to God and to his infinite Purity the very shadow of it must be poysonous and infectious and by this the Heart will take fire and hate the very thoughts of it even every false way 5. By representing to your minds the infinite Purity of God with whom your Souls are to converse and who offers to make your Heart his Temple and the Place of his Residence If you are to receive a King a Sovereign Prince or a Person of extraordinary Quality into your House do not you make all clean and handsome and take care there may be nothing wanting that may give him content and satisfaction every Chamber every Room in the House is set out and garnish'd and adorn'd as far as your ability reaches and Neatness is a thing that at such a time you glory in But what is a great Man to Almighty God What is a Prince or a King to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords This Sovereign Majesty is willing to lodge nay to dwell in your Souls A God purer than Angels purer than the Sun and Stars and dwelling in Light inaccessible to whom ten thousand times ten thousand minister and by whose Order and Direction the whole Creation stands and falls And then how holy how pious how clean how pure ought your thoughts to be to give so great so rich so magnificent a Guest suitable Entertainment 6. By representing to your selves the vast advantages that come by this inward Purity I shall name some of them by and by In the mean while I will mention but this one It will make you pray without wandring worldly and base troublesome thoughts Many People complain that they are mightily troubled with wandering thoughts in Prayer Purity of Heart is a remedy against that distemper for that consists in a great measure in an habitual delight in holy serious thoughts And when you go to Prayer your thoughts will delight to fix upon that lovely and amiable object And the secret love to God which is another ingredient of this Purity will force your desires upward and keep your thoughts together and they 'll willingly quit all other hold and with cheerfulness gather about that All-sufficient Being to whom you pray and offer your Devotions For indeed wandring thoughts in Prayer come for the most part from want of fervent Love to God what we love we think of Therefore as this Purity of Heart teaches and inclines you to be enamour'd with that excellent Being so it will procure steddiness of thoughts and affections in Prayer will keep your thoughts in a great measure from roving and wandering up and down among Briars and Thorns meaner and baser Objects Thus
Purity of Heart is to be obtain'd But then To prevent Discouragements and to obviate the Mistakes and Objections of some pious serious Christians and to keep them from sorrow and dejectedness in their serious Prosecution of this Purity I must add here by way of Advertisement 1. That from an imperfect purity of heart a Christian must not therefore presently conclude he is a total stranger to it 2. That neither contemplation of sin nor unallow'd of blasphemous Thoughts defile the Heart 1. That from an imperfect purity of heart a Christian must not presently conclude he is a total stranger to it VVe do not think that Rome was built in a day no more do we imagine that this Purity of Heart is perfected in one Week Indeed when the seed of God is sown in the Heart there is an earnest desire and endeavour after perfection which discovers it self in a chearfull progress but it is not actually perfected but by degrees Ye that labour to remove sinfull Lusts and Desires and Designs and Passions from your hearts and to possess them with humble and meek and kind and charitable and religious Thoughts and to make God the darling and joy of your Souls be not dismay'd nor frighted if this Purity of Heart in you be not come up yet to that degree to which it is advanc'd in others Those other Christians in which that Diamond glisters and that Star doth shine have been many years to pollish it When you have labour'd so long as they and as hard as they your happiness will be the same with theirs Purity of Heart is that which will find us work will imploy us through the whole course of our Lives for it meets with many rubs with many clogs and impediments which to remove will find us work at all times Stop not stand not still the measure of Purity you are arrived to seek still to enlarge it to extend it make frequent journeys to Heaven with your Prayers and you will find it will spread forth as the Valleys as Gardens by the river side as the trees of Lignaloes which the Lord hath planted and as Cedar trees beside the waters Numb XXIV 6. II. That neither Contemplation of sin nor unallow'd of blasphemous Thoughts defile the Heart 1. Contemplation of sin doth not defile it But here we must distinguish for there is a Contemplation of sin that doth defile the Heart i. e. when a man acts his sin over again in his mind and having been in a vicious extravagant company the day before represents the scene of that folly meeting to his mind with delight thereby to whet his appetite into a desire of having such another opportunity and to confirm his love to that Sensuality Or when a man having committed Lewdness or been guilty of acts of Uncleanness by lively Thoughts of that sin makes the impure Pleasure skip and dance afresh in his memory thereby to prompt himself to new enterprizes in that Villainy Then indeed the Soul is stain'd with a witness and a Man becomes a Devil delighting in his own ruin But when the sins of our former life are thought on with sorrow and Contrition and the particular Circumstances of it rehearsed and represented with due Aggravations in order to work our selves into a detestation of that and all other sins here the Contemplation becomes wholsom and instead of defiling helps to purifie the Heart serves to keep it clean and to arm it against fresh assaults Such Contemplations are purgatives restore the soul to health give it new strength and courage to fight against the World and the Flesh and if this way were followed we should have purer Christians and the World would soon be better and men would learn to present their souls and bodies living sacrifices unto God which is their reasonable service I do not deny but this Contemplation may be driven too far into Terror and Consternation and into a belief that the sins are unpardonable but that is not the fault of Contemplation but weakness and infirmity of the Considerer 2. Vnallow'd of blasphemous or other wicked thoughts in the heart do not defile it This Doctrine must be often inculcated because of the great number of pious Souls who look upon themselves as the vilest Wretches in the World and are ready to run into Desperation because so many blasphemous thoughts and filthy suggestions present themselves to their minds and disturb them in their Devotions and other religious Exercises But not being allow'd of nor encourag'd nor consented to as dreadfull as heinous as they seem to be they do not defile the heart no more than boistrous Winds and the Commotion of the Water do fully the Pearl that lies at the bottom of the River That they are not their own Thoughts is evident because their Will is contrary to them their Understanding is convinc'd they are injurious to God and their hearts desire to be rid of them The Soul in this case is like the young Men in the fiery Furnace while a thousand Sparks fly about them not a hair of their head is singed Those blasphemous Suggestions as they are purely Satanical and thrown in by the Devil so when the Soul continues declaring War and Hatred and Resistance to them not all the Legions of the burning Lake not all the Whirlwinds they rouse not all the Dust they make can defile the Spirit which is secured by opposing its forces to those Hellish Troops and preserves its Purity by Contradictions 3. It may not be amiss to take notice here of the reason why the Soul is rewarded or punished before the body When men die the Body is laid in the Grave and returns to Dust and there it lies till the Arch-Angel's Trumpet rouzes it from its Slumber The Soul in the mean while is in a state of Bliss or Misery and the reason lies in the Text because of the Purity or Impurity of the Soul or Spirit The Soul was able to sin without the Body i. e. without the help and assistance of the Body could be lewd and proud and vain and envious and malicious without discovering it by bodily Actions This is the Impurity of the heart Therefore as the Soul did sin without the assistance of the Body so its fit it should be punished in the absence of the Body Again in sinfull actions when Soul and Body are concern'd the Mind sins first before the Body participates of the Poyson for the Will must consent before the outward Man can act As therefore the Soul is the first Actor in the sin so it 's fit it should be first in suffering the penalty of the Law And so it is in the future Reward or Recompence The Soul performs many excellent services in which the Body is not concern'd such as holy Thoughts and pious Meditations And the good which both Soul and Body are partners in begins in the Heart or Mind and from thence it runs down into the Actions as the precious Oyl
with him and be at Peace and great good shall come unto thee And from this Peace with God arises that Peace in believing we read of Rom. XV. 13. Man naturally is at Enmity with God Rom. V. 10. to be sure an Enemy of the Cross of Christ for the Law of the Cross is directly opposite to the Principles and Dictates of sinfull Flesh Phil. III. 18. and this Enmity still grows greater and greater as corrupt nature is improved or abused into more corrupt practices and from hence flows Mans misery So that to be happy a Man must be at Peace with God which is a Maxim so natural that Heathens do not think themselves safe without appeasing their angry Deities and this puts them upon offering Sacrifices to them But this doth not take with the true God who delights not in burnt-offerings The Sacrifices of God which unite the Soul to him and establish a Peace betwixt God and the Sinner are a broken and a contrite Heart and laying aside voluntarily and deliberately and from a sense of the madness of the attempt even of resisting and clashing with an Omnipotent Being those things which God professes and declares his Hatred and Abhorrency of and a chearfull Compliance with his revealed Will and you all know that the things he hates are our sinfull customs practices and inclinations for your Iniquities have separated betwixt you and your God and your sins have hid his Face from you saith God Isa. LIX 2. To be at Peace with God a man must be at War with his sinfull Inclinations To live in Peace with these is to fall out with God and the longer we maintain Friendship and Familiarity with these the greater becomes the distance betwixt God and our Souls the breach is still made wider till we sin away at last all hopes of Reconciliation where the Soul hath any reasonable assurance that God is at Peace with her there Joy and Gladness and Serenity flows naturally into her bosom and that is the Peace of Conscience St. Paul speaks of Rom. XIV 17. And indeed there are no persons more likely to be successfull in making Peace among men than those who first make Peace with God and with their own Consciences 2. Such as make it their business to live peaceably in humane societies and seek to maintain that Peace which either Nature or Religion or Friendship or Neighbourhood have settled among men with whom we live and concerning this sort of Peace-making St. Paul speaks Rom. XII 18. If it be possible as much as in you lies live peaceable with all men To maintain Peace is part of Peace-making for this is to make that Peace which is begun and which we find settled to our hands to continue and flourish in a word to preserve it and according to the old saying Non minor est vertus c. It is as great a Vertue to preserve the good thing which we have purchas'd as to purchase it and while we behave our selves inoffensively unblameably and keep a Conscience void of offence toward God and Man we take the readiest way to live peaceably It 's granted that the most inoffensive actions nay even Acts of Duty and Devotion may stir up the wrath and fury of cholerick and prejudiced men as we see the Apostles by preaching the Gospel and attempting to beclaim men from their Vices and telling them their Duty rais'd all the World against themselves but this is not our fault as long as we give no just occasion to men to quarrel with us or give no just offence while we are ready to do good offices do by others as we would have others do by us and in our Discourses and behaviour observe the rules of Modesty Decency Sobriety and Charity if after all men will speak ill of us and be angry because we will not run out with them into excess of riot as it seems those did St. Peter speaks of 1 Pet. IV. 4. We have discharged a good Conscience and may comfort our selves with this That we have given no just occasion to break the Peace 3. And here comes in the stricter signification of the word such as from a sense of Christian Love and Charity endeavour to reconcile disagreeing Persons and Neighbours and their fellow Christians that are at variance And concerning this peace-making St. Paul gives this grave and serious Admonition 1 Cor. VI. 5 6. I speak to your shame Is it so that there is not a wise man among you no not one that is able to judge between his Brethren But Brother goes to law with Brother And this must needs be his meaning in that other Exhortation Rom. XIV 9. where he bids us follow after the things which make for Peace And indeed where there is true Christian Compassion a man will not only be ready to run to make up differences when he is entreated but of his own accord and before he be entreated especially where either Friendship and a long Acquaintance or some near Relation gives the invitation It was barbarous language of Cain Gen. IV. 9. Am I my Brother's keeper Such a word must not drop from the Hearts and Mouths of those who are adjured by Bowels of Mercy not to look every one on his own things but every man also on the things of his Neighbours as all Christians are Phil. II. 4. The common laws of humane societies require this Peace-making much more the Laws of Christianity and since we are bound to love our Neighbours as our selves how is it possible to obey that Law without endeavouring to foder and join the clashing and dis-jointed Members of Christ's mystical body in doing so we love our Neighbours as our selves even in endeavouring to keep others from disagreeing as we would keep our selves from being at variance with others How good and how pleasant a thing is it for Brethren to dwell together in unity it is like the precious ointment that ran down from Aaron's head into his Beard and so on to the skirts of his cloathing saith the Royal Psalmist Psal. CXXXIII 1 2. As Christians we are all Brethren and then it must be our duty to see the Beauty Order and Harmony of that brotherly society preserved which is impossible to be done without actual and personal endeavours of reconciling those who are at difference and this argument Moses made use of when he saw two Israelites striving together and would have set at one Why do you wrong one to another seeing ye are Brethren Act. VII 26. 4. Such as endeavour to make others like themselves and do instill this Christian Principle of reconciling Persons that quarrel and live in Enmity into others This is still making Peace when we labour to make others enamour'd with this duty of Peace-making which is done either by Exhortation or Entreaty or Representing to others the Nobleness Excellency and Profitableness of this peaceable and peace-making Temper It 's natural for men to endeavour to make others of
added to you Matth. VI. 33. It 's this must have your Hunger and Thirst The desires after necessary Comforts of this life must have the other's leavings Nay you will never hunger and thirst after Righteousness as ye should till you mind the World less and moderate and qualifie your greediness after it for your strong desires after the satisfactions of this World will infallibly drown your earnest Desires after Righteousness whatever opinion you may have of your skill to keep the balance even To be strongly carried toward them both is a thing as hard to conceive and as hard to do as to reconcile contradictions There is such an opposition betwixt Heaven and Earth that a Man may as soon serve and please two contrary Masters as be fond of both at the same time Therefore whoever they be of you that are very sharp set upon the Wealth and Honour and greatness of the World your Appetite after Righteousness must be flat and dull and thus it will be to your dying Day except your desires after the Pomp and Vanities of this World be kept under and brought into subjection III. Those who truly hunger and thirst after Righteousness and I must boldly say for my Text warrants me to do so you shall be filled Blessed are ye that c. How you shall be filled I have shewed already and I doubt not but such hungry and thirsty Souls do find by blessed Experience that this very Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness is pleasing that God doth certainly give his Holy Spirit to them that seriously ask it and gives more grace to them that earnestly seek it and greater strength against Temptations to them that importunately beg it and greater support to those that will not be satisfied without it and greater light to them that supplicate for it as they would do for their lives May be some of you find that their Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness is not so strong so lively as formerly it was if so the causes of this decay must be search'd into and if suffering your affections to run out after the World too much hath been the cause of it they must be checkt in their Career and reduced into the right way again if a vanity or secret Lust hath beguiled your Minds that must be dismiss'd without Mercy if want of thinking hath caused it a fresh view must be taken of the Excellency Beauty and glorious Consequences of this Righteousness if melancholy or some other bodily Distemper hath occasion'd it God must be considered as a Father who will not turn a Child that 's weak and sickly out of Doors However in the first Conversion this Hunger and Thirst after Goodness is ever more vehement and brisk than afterward when the surprize of Grace and Mercy is over and the blazing Flame turns into a more gentle Fire but this must not fright you If your present Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness hath the same Effects which the former desire had i. e. if it makes your obedience grow if it both confirms and enlarges your respect to the Commands of your Lord and Master let not the abatement of the former Flame discourage you Look up to that God who hath said Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Search what Graces what Perfections what spiritual Ornaments you want and quicken your Hunger and Thirst after them and rest confident that God will satisfie the longing Soul and fill the thirsty Soul with goodness But whatever fulness you may want here doubt not but Heaven will complete it Your Souls will there be filled and your Cup will run over there you will be filled with the Rivers of God's pleasure fill'd with Eternal light fill'd with the truest Wisdom fill'd with Universal knowledge the Glory of the Lord will fill the heavenly Tabernacle and you in the midst of it In the Tabernacle of old his Glory that filled it appeared in a Cloud in the Heavenly Sanctuary it will appear in the sweetest Light and Splendour Job complain'd that his misery had filled his Face with wrinkles poor Man but these you need not fear in that place where he that is altogether lovely will present you to his Father blameless without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Here your faces are sometimes filled with shame upon the account of your falls and slips there they will be fill'd with Joy and Gladness There you need not fear that God as rich Men do the poor sometimes on Earth will dismiss you with a Complement Depart in peace be ye filled be ye warmed but you will be filled with all the fulness of God it must needs be so for in his presence there is fulness of joy and pleasure at his Right-hand for ever more SERMON VII St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 7. Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtain mercy A Mmianus Marcellinus a grave Heathen Writer taking notice of the differences among Christians in matters of Religion and the hatred one Sect bore to another and the Tumults that were caused at the Election of Bishops and the Blood that was spilt upon that account hath a very unlucky Expression concerning it There are saith he no wild Beasts so cruel or so barbarous one to another as some of these Christian Sects are to those that differ from them in opinion a very sad Character this and Pudeat haec de nobis c. It is a shame that Heathens and Infidels should have occasion given them to speak so reproachfully of this Noble Religion But surely this cannot be the fault of Religion but of the proud and cholerick Men who profess it or have the management of it Christ their Master never taught them to do so His Precepts run in another strain they savour of another Genius No command of cruelty or animosity is to be found in all the Gospel so far from a Command that the very appearances of it are forbidden Mercy and Charity is the Soul the Breath of those lively Oracles Mercy is the Language of that Book and to Mercy runs the Promise of the Text Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy For the understanding of which words I shall I. Give you a true description of the mercifull II. Explain to you the reason of the truth implied here that those who are not mercifull cannot be blessed No mercifulness no happiness III. Shew how the mercifull shall obtain mercy I. To give you a true description of the mercifull we must search into the nature of Mercy and in doing so we shall find this vertue to be of a vast extent insomuch that there is none so mean in the world that can justly plead impossibility of practising it upon the account of his circumstances in the world all being capable all able one way or other to exercise it And 1. One principal ingredient of this mercifull temper is a compassionate heart or an inward pity and compunction at the sight or hearing of the
have right apprehensions of the Nature of our Religion which bids us go beyond Scribes and Pharisees and Heathens and the sinners of the World in our Mercy 5. There is yet a higher Act of Mercy and that is denying our selves even in necessaries and other advantages that we may be the better able to succour others in distress This must necessarily have been the Case of the Macedonian Christians who to their Power nay beyond their Power express'd their Mercy to the Churches of Judaea 2 Cor. VIII 3. i. e. denied themselves even in necessaries for their Brethren's good This denying and abridging our selves in necessaries and laying by the price of them that we may be in a better condition to shew Mercy as it is commendable at all times so it becomes a very great Duty when the Church of God is under Persecution and Multitudes of our Fellow-Christians suffer for Righteousness sake This was the reason why the Primitive believers sold their Lands and Possessions and brought the Price of them and laid them at the Apostle's Feet that distribution might be made to all as they had need Acts IV. 34 35. To deny our selves in superfluities in order to be the better able to shew Mercy is far from being the utmost limit of this Mercy The Love of God being shed abroad in the Soul will constrain the Soul to do it in times of Peace and Prosperity but self-denial in necessaries is a Duty peculiar to a time when our Brethren and such as are of the Houshold of Faith like the Prophets of old are forced to wander about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins being destitute tormented afflicted as it is said Heb. XI 37. 6. The highest Act of Mercy is to lay down our lives for our Brethren and of this St. John speaks as a Christian Duty 1 John III. 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought also to lay down our lives for the Brethren This Act of Mercy is chiefly to be shewn in times of publick Danger where it is so that by our dying we may save a Multitude of Christians alive or contribute signally to the Welfare and Prosperity of God's Church or preserve some eminent Instruments of God's Glory who may do much good in their Generation The ancient Christians were loath to be out-done by Heathens in their Heroick Attempts and since there was much talk in Heathenish History of Pylades offering to die for Orestes though that was only an effect of carnal Affection and perhaps of vain Glory too yet they thought themselves unworthy of the Name they bore if they did not whenever there was occasion shew a readiness to die one for another and of this we have a remarkable instance in Aquila and Priscilla of whom the Apostle bears witness that for his sake they laid down their own Necks Rom. XVI 4. This Act of Mercy it 's true is out of the common road and there is seldom occasion to practise it but if there should be such an opportunity it 's a glorious Death and such as a pious Man would even be glad of it being a Transcript of the Death of the Son of God for us and Mercy can go no higher It 's like some of you will wonder at these Acts of Mercy and fancy that I strain the Vertue too high but the proofs I have brought for all that I have said will sufficiently confute that conceit Mercy is a very excellent Vertue so excellent that without it there is no true Blessedness which is the second thing I am to speak to II. When the mercifull are pronounc'd blessed here a very ordinary capacity may soon inferr that he who is not mercifull cannot be blessed and the reasons are these 1. How should a Man be happy without being mercifull when in not being so he acts below the Dignity of Man Notwithstanding the Fall Man is still a very excellent Creature The very Ruines of God's Image in him even before the Grace of God transforms and renews him will justifie David's Exclamation Lord what is Man that thou so regardest him and the Son of Man that thou visitest him Even the Reliques of that perfection which was once in him teach him many admirable things of which Mercy is not the least Nature it self prompts him to it and the instances of it in the very Heathens make it a Dictate of the Law of Nature Now the Dignity of Man considered even abstractedly from Grace and the Gospel consists in acting according to the honest Principles of Nature so that he who is not mercifull sins against a natural instinct The Gospel indeed refines and exalts this Mercy in him but still Nature it self instructs him in it nay Mercy is so riveted into our make and frame that he who neglects it or debauches himself into contempt of it unmans himself God hath furnish'd other Creatures with Claws and Bills and Horns and Arms to secure themselves against Assaults but Man is born helpless without weapons or defensatives on purpose to let us see the need he hath of Mercy and of being mercifull and helpfull to others of his kind so that what I have said stands firm that he who is not mercifull acts below the Dignity of Man for he forgets the end of his make and therefore cannot be blessed so far from being so that he makes himself worse than the Beasts that perish for even among these we see so great a resemblance of it and the Histories of all Ages confirm it that to fall short of it must be more than brutish 2. He shall have judgment without mercy that shewed no mercy saith St. James Chap. II. 13. And surely this can be no blessed Estate God's method in punishing is retaliation and proportioning the Nature of the Punishment to the Nature of Sin and so it is here He that is not mercifull to his Neighbour the Judge who is to sit upon him at last will shew him no mercy nay in the Flames which by the Judge's Order shall seize him there will be no mixture of mercy Wicked men who have been kind and neighbourly and in some measure mercifull though they are not capable of Glory and Salvation because they die without true Repentance and Reformation of Life yet their former Mercy will in some respect qualifie their misery in the next World some drops of cold Water may be vouchsafed to them to take off somewhat from the excess of their Torment but he that shew'd little or no mercy will be forced to drink of the Cup of God's wrath without mixture even of the Cup of trembling and astonishment without the least ingredient of sweetness without any interval of comfort as we see it fulfilled in Dives Luke XVI 24. This being a very miserable condition it must be far froth having any relation to Blessedness But the mercifull Man meets with other dealings which calls me to the third and last point III. How the