alone any more than any other Solitary Vertue can qualifie a Man for Mercy No the Man must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perfect and intire and wanting nothing as to all the Integral Parts of Duty to be accepted in the Judgment of God Jam. 1. 4. Only there may I think be allow'd this further Sense in the Proposition that no one Vertue shall go so far towards the obtaining of full Mercy from God as this of Mercifulness And that if the Merciful Man for want of other necessary parts of Christian Perfection should not be able to stand in the last Judgment yet however his Fall shall be much the milder and he shall have great Abatements of Punishment made him for the sake of this one Excellency To which purpose 't is very considerable that our Saviour in the Description of the last Judgment makes all the Favour and all the Severity of that day to proceed according to the Practice or Omission of this Duty Mat. 25. One way or other therefore the merciful shall be sure to obtain Mercy nor will God forget this Labour of Love Pray God we may not forget it our selves but may so love study and practise Mercy here that we may hereafter not only receive a milder Sentence but find such a Degree of Mercy as may finally rejoice against Judgment Amen Discourse the Sixth Matth. V. ver viii Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God ONE of the most distinguishing Perfections of the Christian Institution above any other either Divine or Human is that it requires an inward Rectitude of Mind and Spirit and makes the Heart the Principle and Seat of Spiritual as it is of Natural Life The Heathen Morality went little further than the regulation of the outward Behaviour not much regarding the Sanctity of the Interiour And tho some few raised Spirits among them moved by a Diviner Impulse would now and then like Men in Extasies talk above the World and themselves too recommending certain Purgations and Purifications of Soul as the Pythagoreans and Platonists yet this was not taught or known in the common Schools of Nature nor was it any where made the Ordinary Standard of Morality The Jewish Religion as it presented to the World a Second and more correct Edition of the Law of Nature so was it in this particular respect more perfect than the Gentile Morality there being in the Moral Law one special Precept which directly concerns Purity of Heart But yet there was a great defect even here too because tho there was a Prohibition of inward Concupiscence yet it had no penal Sanction annex'd to it Every other Precept was so guarded as to be able to revenge it self upon those who trangressed it Idolatry was punish'd Perjury was punish'd Profanation of the Sabbath Disobedience to Parents Murther Adultery Theft and bearing false Witness were all punish'd only Concupiscence had no punishment allotted to it Which as a Learned Person Conjectures gave some occasion to think that they might securely indulge their Concupiscence so it did not break forth into the outward and grosser Act. Certain it is that many among the Jews so thought and practis'd contenting themselves with external Conformity to the Law without any regard to the inward Purity and Holiness as may appear from our Saviour's frequent reprehensions of the Pharisees upon this very account And 't is very probable that this their Fancy was occasion'd by there being no Punishment assign'd to the Breach of the Tenth Commandment as that Learned Person conjectures However 't is certain that it was a great Defect in the Law not to bind so perfect a Precept with a Penal Sanction Tho indeed the true reason was because 't was too perfect to be severely exacted in that Infant Age and State of the Church The Law therefore did not rigidly exact it tho it did plainly command it Which tho no defect with relation to that Time and State the Law being as perfect as the Gospel as to all the ends purposes intended by it and every way accommodated to the Condition of those on whom it was imposed yet absolutely speaking it was a great Defect and Imperfection of the Law Then as to the Mahumetan Religion which indeed is only Heathenism pretending to Revelation this tho the last and assuming to it self the improvement of all that went before is yet really short even of Heathenism it self This is so far from requiring internal Purity that it does not require so much as external but allows and recommends too the grossest Impurities which has often made me wonder why the Turk should write upon the out-side of his Alcoran Let no Man touch this Book but he that is pure I 'm sure the Book it self requires no such thing nor can I justifie the Reason of the Motto in any other sense but this That none but he that is pure is fit to be trusted with such a corrupt Institution But the Christian Law is pure indeed and none but such as are so are worthy to unloose the Seals of this Book This requires the utmost Purity that is consistent with the Measures of Morality Purity without and Purity within pure Hands and pure Hearts It requires it more expresly and in a greater degree than either the Heathen or Jewish Religion and what was wanting in the other under the Sanction of Rewards and Punishments and those the greatest imaginable It does not only command inward Purity but incourage it too by the strongest Proposals that can affect either the Sense or the Reason of Man One of the greatest of which Encouragements is that our Saviour inserts it into the order of his Beatitudes and gives it a special Title to the Beatifick Vision in these Words Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The Subject to be here discoursed of is Christian Purity or Purity of Heart Whereof I shall represent I. The Nature by a Character or Description II. The Necessity III. The Blessedness By Purity of Heart in general is to be understood an inward Conformity of all the Thoughts and Desires of the Soul to the Will and Law of God When not only the external Actions are according to the Rule but the whole inward Frame and Position of the Mind stands right and well order'd and as the Apostle describes it not only the Body but the whole Spirit and Soul is blameless 1 Thes 5. 23. And to make it so these two things are particularly requisite First That we do not consent to any unlawful Desires no not so much as to the first Motions of Sin whether proceeding from the corruptness of our own Nature or from Diabolical Suggestion Secondly That we do not entertain with any delight the remembrances of our past Sins But more particularly yet Purity of Heart may be doubly consider'd either in opposition to Pollution or in opposition to Mixture In the first Sense it removes Sensuality in the Second Hypocrisie This
in the Inferiour part whether Sensitive or Plastic that which is exercis'd about Objects of Sense or that which moves and forms the Body but in the highest and noblest part in the Spirit of our Minds which answers to the Platonical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very Flower and Essence of the Soul Here 't is we are to be renew'd as indeed we must if we be renew'd at all this being in all regards the Principal and the only moral part of Man To this purpose it must be further consider'd that this Intellectual Heart the Spirit and Soul of Man is the Fountain and Source of all Action This is that which sees in the Eyes and hears in the Ears This is that which understands and wills loves and hates Here are all the Springs and Powers of Life and Motion here is the last resort of all outward Impressions and from this Central Point are derived all the Lines of Action and Motion even as all the Arteries and Veins are from the Natural Heart which it diffuses and disperses throughout the Body and has its Pulses in every part If therefore this general Head-Spring be not kept pure and clean how can the Streams run clear And upon this was grounded that signal Advice of the Wise Man Prov. 4. 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life Parallel to which I find a passage in the Meditations of the Royal Philosopher Marcus Antoninus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Look within for within is the Fountain of Good Further yet this Intellectual Heart is not only the Fountain of Action and Motion but the most active and most rapidly moving thing in the World This Heart is always Beating the Pulses of it never rest Thought rises upon Thought and Desire succeeds Desire The Motion is perpetual constant and vehement so vehement that the swiftest Bodily Motion no not that of the Starry Orb is comparable to it so vehement that it cannot be discern'd or number'd and comes nearer to a Rest than a Motion as the swiftest turnings round of a Globe look like standing still Now what a dangerous thing is such a Motion as this if not rightly determin'd Of what vast heights in goodness is it capable And to what vast heights of wickedness may it rise if not well govern'd There is therefore great necessity that this Heart of Man should be kept with all Diligence and that it should be kept pure and undefiled Fourthly and Lastly the Necessity of Purity of Heart in order to Holiness will appear as from the Christian Law the Nature of God and the Nature of Man so also from the intimate Vnion that is between the Divine and Human Nature All things are full of God who is therefore call'd in the Sacred Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Place But there is nothing so intimately united to him as the Spiritual part of the Creation God is the immediate Place of Spirits and Souls who all live move and have their being in him and are joyn'd to him by a Central Touch as the great Plotinus speaks The Apostle says that even our Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost our Souls then must be at least his Sanctuary and most Sacred Recess But what Was not God just now supposed the Place of Spirits and are Spirits now made the Place of God Yes and without any Absurdity For so St. John describes our Union with God by our dwelling in God and by God's dwelling in us John 4. 16. The Union is Double on God's part and on Ours God dwells in us by his special Presence by the Spirit of Grace and Benediction But we dwell in God Essentially and Totally God dwells only in some certain Spirits such as are of a Disposition fit to receive and entertain him those who as the Jews love to speak are worthy to have the Shechinah rest upon them But all Spirits good and bad however qualified dwell in him For where else should they dwell since he is all and fills all Now both these Unions infer the Necessity of Purity of Heart in order to Holiness For first if we consider the Soul of Man as dwelling in God what infinite reason is there that that part of him especially should be kept pure which is essentially joyn'd to touches and inhabits so pure and so awful an Excellence Put off thy Shoes from off thy Feet said God to Moses for the place whereon thou standest is holy Ground Exod. 3. 5. And if so much Reverence be due to the Dwelling-place of God what Reverence is there then due when God himself is the Dwelling-place How dares any Man lodge an impure Soul in the Bosom of so pure a Majesty Or how can he in any measure be esteemed Holy tho in all other respects never so unblamable who is polluted in that part which is so inwardly united to the Beauty of Holiness Then Secondly if we consider God dwelling in the Soul and Body of Man there is great necessity of Purity of Heart And that upon a double Account I. Because the Spirit of God which is the Principle of all Grace and Holiness will not enter but into a pure and clean Heart II. Because no other is worthy of so Divine a Presence And first the Holy Spirit will not enter but into a pure and clean Heart For this special and gracious Presence of God is not like his General and Essential Presence universal and unlimited but fixt and confined to certain Laws and depending upon certain Conditions and Qualifications And tho the first Addresses influential Visits and distant Overtures of the Holy Spirit prevent all previous dispositions of Man who as our Church expresses it in her 10th Article cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength yet to his fix'd Dwelling and residential Abode in us 't is necessary that there be an antecedent Preparation of Heart Which I conceive to be the reason that tho all Men are at some time or other Partakers of the common and ordinary Motions of the Spirit who is said to have striven even with the old World Gen. 6. 3. yet none but very good Men have the Priviledge to be the Temples of his Residence And this whole matter I take to be distinctly represented in those Words of St. John Behold I stand at the door and knock If any Man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him Rev. 3. 20. Where by standing at the Door and knocking is meant common and preventing Grace And this indeed is used to all without any previous Qualifications But he does not come in and sup that is take up his Residence and be a familiar Ghest till his Voice be heard and the Door open'd that is till the Man has well attended to and complied with those his antecedent Motions and Suggestions till he has swept and made clean the inner Room of his Heart So that
and Thirst therefore is the same with willing or desiring This as to the Kind But then as to the Degree 't is to be consider'd That every Good does as such necessarily move the Will as every the least possible Weight moves the Scale But it does not always move effectually as every Weight in the Scale does not weigh it down But however something it does towards it since otherwise as much Weight would be necessary to turn the Scale as if it had been quite empty I shall therefore distinguish of Willing as a very contemplative Theorist does of Physical Motion into that which is impotent and that which is prevalent By impotent willing meaning that natural Inclination or Velleity we have to every Good as such which indeed would be prevalent if not out-weighed by Reasons of stronger Moment on the other side but being overcome by them becomes impotent not as to the Endeavour for that is inseparable but as to actual Determination By prevalent willing I mean such a Degree of willing as is not a meer endeavour but passes into actual and effectual Choice When the Moral Scale not only gravitates and presses but weighs down Now to the Question Which of these Degrees of willing or desiring is here intended I answer the last and highest that which is peremptory and effectual that which passes into Act and ends in a thorough Determination of the Will Since nothing less can either be signify'd by such strong Metaphors as these of Hungring and Thirsting or consist with the sincerity of a Christian Spirit 'T is not enough therefore to have ones Face set towards Jerusalem and to cast some amorous Glances upon the Beauty of Holiness 'T is not enough to have some faint ineffective Wishes some kind resentments towards Righteousness there being but few so wretchedly wicked and unmoraliz'd as not to have some such little Velleities of being Good and no question Balaam that desired the Death did also at this rate desire the Life of the Righteous But the Desire must be strong and active vehement and importunate absolute and peremptory without any Reserves or Conditions It must bear the same proportion to the Soul that the Keenest Hunger and Thirst does to the Body that is it must be a great deal sharper as much as the Appetites of the Spirit are more quick and exquisite than those of the Body It must be such a desire as our Saviour had to celebrate the Passover and institute his last Supper when he says Luk. 22. 15. With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer Briefly it must be such a Desire as carries in it the full bent and stress of the Soul such as is accompanied with the most earnest and hearty Endeavours and with the most Passionate and Devout Prayers and Aspirations to God Such as that of the Psalmist O that my ways were made so direct that I might keep thy Statutes With many more such throughout the whole 119 Psalm which I commend to the Meditation of the Pious This is that Hungring and Thirsting after Righteousness intended in this Beatitude And accordingly 't is observable what Solomon in a place almost parallel to this of our Lord says concerning the Love of Wisdom which generally in Scripture especially in Solomon's Writings signifies the same with Righteousness Prov. 2. My Son if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding yea if thou criest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of thy God Here the Wise Man makes the most searching Diligence and the most vigorous exertion of Soul necessary to the finding of Wisdom And he that so seeks her shall find her Which brings me in the last place to make good the Proposition it self that those who do thus hunger and thirst after Righteousness shall be fill'd But before I proceed to this I beg leave by way of Digression to speak something of another sort of Hunger and Thirst which all Christians are concerned to have Our Saviour tells us that Except a man eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood he has no life in him Joh. 6. 53. Now if the Flesh and Blood of our Lord be necessary to the Life then certainly the Hungring and Thirsting after it is necessary to the Health and good Habit of a Christian There is not a more open sign of a distemper'd Constitution either in the Natural or in the Spiritual Man than either to long for what is not his proper Food or not to have an Appetite for that which is And therefore since the Body and Blood of Christ is the proper Food and Aliment of a Christian it concerns him as he values the Health and prosperous state of the Divine Life not only to feed upon it but to keep up in himself a due Hunger and Thirst after it More especially this he ought to do whenever he approaches the Holy Altar to partake of this Divine and Heavenly Feast He ought then by all the Arts of the Spirit and by all the Methods of Grace to quicken and raise this Hunger and set an edge upon this Thirst St. Austin if I mistake not discoursing of the Dispositions of a worthy Communicant reckons this Hunger and Thirst among them and makes them as necessary Qualifications as any And there is a great deal of reason for it This Holy Sacrament is generally set out in Scripture by Meat and Drink 'T is call'd expresly by the Name of the Lord's Supper And says our Saviour to the Jews My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed John 6. And as 't is expressed so also was it prefigur'd by Types of the like Nature such as the Tree of Life in the midst of Paradise the Bread and Wine of Melchisedeck the Manna the Paschal Lamb the Shew-bread the Bread wherewith the Angel fed the Prophet and particularly by the Waters springing out of the Rock whereof the Fathers drank in the Wilderness Now I consider that as these Figures represent the Nature and Efficacy of the Holy Sacrament that 't is the Food of the Soul and the Life and Strength of the Spiritual Man so they do also represent to us our Duty and the proper Measure and Argument of Preparation For if Meat and Drink be the Entertainment what more convenient Preparation than Hunger and Thirst We ought indeed to come to these Springs of Salvation as the Hart is represented to do by the Psalmist to the Water-brooks panting and thirsty longing and impatient Or rather to use a nearer Emblem as those thirsty Israelites did to the Waters that issued out of that Mystic Rock in the Wilderness 'T is impossible to give a just Description
the peace-makers for they shall be called the children of God By Peace-makers here I suppose is meant not only those that interpose as Moderators to compose Feuds and Quarrels tho that be the more immediate Sense of the Word but more generally those that are peaceably affected and that shew this their Peaceable Disposition either by living quietly and inoffensively or by endeavouring to maintain Peace where it is or to restore it where it is interrupted The first of these Degrees of Peaceableness consists in a mere Negative the two last are of a Positive Nature and consequently of a greater Excellence But the most excellent of all is the last it being for the most part not only a thankless but an odious difficult and hazardous Undertaking to bring them nearer together whom Anger has set at a distance 'T is like the Business of a Fire-quencher who tho he may with plying of Engins and great a-do rescue the Pile of Building from the devouring Flames yet his Eyes will be sure to smart with the Smoak Now this Peace in the not violating preserving or restoring of which this Peaceable-mindedness is concern'd may be either private Peace between Man and Man or publick Peace between Societies of Men. Again Publick Peace is distinguishable according to the general Distribution of Human Society into Civil and Ecclesiastick that of the State and that of the Church The former concerns Men not only as subjected to Government or as under this or that particular Form of Government but also as Men and consequently all Men For even the State of Nature antecedently to all Human Conventions and Constitutions as has been abundantly proved against the Author of the Leviathan is not a State of War but of Peace The latter respects only those who are Members of the Christian Church whereof Christ Jesus is the Head and subject to that Spiritual Government whereof he is the Author The former kind of publick Peace is opposed to War and seditious Practices the latter to Schisms and Divisions The Way being thus far cleared by pointing out the general Degrees of Peaceableness and the general Kinds of Peace we may now with the less Entanglement proceed to fix the Subject and Order of the following Discourse And here I do not intend a Casuistical Tract by entring upon that long beaten Common-place concerning our Obligation to Peace and the Measures of observing it with reference either to Church or State For besides that this has been the constant Theme of almost every Casuist and that it is impossible to say any thing more than All or better than Some have already said upon it I further think that the thing is of it self plain enough and that were it not for the Perverseness of some Men rather than for any Obscurity in the Duty there needed not have been any other Measure given in this Matter than that general one of the Apostle If it be possible as much as lies in you live peaceably with all men For when 't is enquired How far we are obliged to Peace in the State or Peace in the Church The Answer is plain and ready from hence That we are obliged to both as far as is possible and as much as in us lies and that nothing less than Absolute and Evident Necessity can justifie either War in the State or Separation in the Church Which one Rule if well heeded and practised the Condition of the World would be much more peaceable and quiet than it is or is like to be Instead therefore of treating of this Beatitude in a Casuistical way by describing the Measures of our Obligation to Peace I shall rather chuse this Order of Discourse First To set forth the general Excellency of a peaceable Disposition Secondly To consider that more particular Prerogative of it in making those that have it Children of God Thirdly To conclude all with some Reflections upon the present Disturbers of the Peace of Christendom And First The general Excellency of a peaceable Disposition may be derived from these two Principles First From what it argues Secondly From what it causes And First It argues a well-ordered Frame and good Habit of Mind good by natural Disposition good by Deliberation and Choice and good by Gracious and Divine Operation It argues a Soul not only lightly tinctured but deeply seasoned and throughly imbued with Goodness Incoctum generoso pectus honesto The same may be said of the peaceable Man that St. James says of him that offends not in his Tongue that he is a perfect Man Jam. 3. 2. Not that the due Government of the Tongue alone does make a Man perfect for there is a Body of Righteousness as well as a Body of Sin and to make it perfect the Members must have both a just Number and Size but that considering the many Requisites to so great and excellent a piece of Temperance it argues and supposes him to be so and as it there follows able also to bridle the whole Body And so here the peaceable Man may be said to be the perfect Man not that he is so made by this signal Excellence but that this Disposition argues him to be so considering what a various Accomplishment of Soul is required before a Man can be capable of exercising so noble a Vertue There are some Degrees in Wickedness that necessarily suppose others The Man must first walk in the Counsel of the Ungodly and stand in the Way of Sinners before he can have the Forehead to sit down in the Chair of the Scornful And so there are some Degrees in Goodness that do also necessarily suppose others For there is a Scale of Perfection in both and we can neither be good nor bad by Strides and Jumps And this is such a Degree of Goodness as supposes many others to have gone before it being one of the Top-stones of the Spiritual Building and one of the last finishing Strokes of the Divine Image of that Christ which is formed in us Gal. 4. 19. For the Holy Spirit of God as was shewn in the preceding Discourse requires a consecrated Abode a chaste Body and a pure Soul and will not enter into us till the former be made a Temple and the latter a Sanctuary And yet this Excellence is reckoned by the Apostle among the special Fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. and consequently must pre-suppose all that Moral Preparation at least that the Entrance of the Holy Spirit does and must therefore argue a well-order'd Frame and good Habit of Mind But this being only a general tho' to one that attends the Force of it sufficiently conclusive Argument I will more distinctly shew that it does so by considering what particular Qualifications of Soul are required in order to a peaceable Disposition whose Presence must needs argue whatever it requires Now these Requisites are either Negative or Positive The Negative are First That the Man be free from all inordinate Self-Love it being impossible that he
no need of any such thing as mourning in Sion These Men seem to have the same Notion of Christ's Religion that the Jews had of his Person They looked upon him under the Character of a great Temporal Prince and dreamt of nothing under his Reign but Victories and Triumphs and Festivals and Vine-yards and Olive-yards And so some think of his Religion They look upon it as a fine gay secular jolly Profession as a State of Freedom and Emancipation of Ease and Pleasantness as if the Children of the Kingdom had nothing to do but to eat drink and be merry and that Mourning had no more place in this than it is to have in the New Jerusalem wherein as the Evangelical Prophet tells us All tears shall be wiped away from mens eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying nor any more pain Rev. 21. 4. It is indeed most certain that Religion has its Joys and Pleasures and that the Christian Religion has the most of any and that they are such too as by far transcend all others that the best Life is also the most pleasant Life and that 't is worth while to live well if it were only for the mere pleasure of doing so And there is a great deal of Truth in that noble Saying of Hierocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The good Man excels the wicked Man not only in Goodness but also in Pleasure it self for whose sake only the other is wicked Nay farther The Pleasures of good Men are not only greater than those of ill Men but such as they cannot enjoy or relish and have no manner of Notion of As there are some Things of God so there are Pleasures of Religion which the Animal Man does not perceive For the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and the stranger does not intermeddle with their joy Nay farther yet No Man has any Ground or Pretence for Rejoycing but a good Man 'T is the most usurping and daring Piece of Impudence in the World for an ill Man to laugh or be merry What has he to do with Mirth who has the Wrath of God abiding on him and Hell open to receive him It does not belong to him 't is none of his Part. Mirth is the Reward of a good Conscience the Prerogative of Innocence and the peculiar Right of good Men And they not only may be joyful and chearful but are also commanded to be so Thus in the Law Deut. 16. 11. Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God says Moses to the Jewish Votary So again the Psalmist Psal 33. Rejoice in the Lord O ye righteous for it becometh well the just to be thankful Again Psal 68. Let the righteous be glad and rejoice before God let them also be merry and joyful And again Psal 100. Serve the Lord with gladness And says our blessed Lord in his Farewell-Discourse to his Disciples Joh. 15. 11. These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full And we are exhorted to rejoice evermore by the Apostle 1 Thes 5. who also reckons Joy among the Fruits of the Holy Spirit Gal. 5. 22. Now all this is true and I not only confess but also recommend the thing hitherto pleaded for But then 't is also to be considered what the Wise Man says that to every thing there is a season and that there is a Time to weep and mourn as well as a Time to laugh and dance Eccles 3. And this not only from Natural but also from Moral Necessity For the Circumstances of Human Life are such as make it our Duty as well as Fate to mourn and be sorrowful Religion has its gloomy as well as bright Side and there are to be Days of Darkness as well as Days of Light in the Christian Kalendar This is intimated to us by several Expressions and by several Examples in Holy Scripture Thus the Church in general is in the Divine Song of Solomon compared to a Dove which tho' considerable for some other Qualities is yet for nothing so remarkable as for her continual Mourning So far was that Wise Man from the Opinion of those who make Temporal Prosperity a Mark of the True Church Again says the same wise Preacher It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting And again Sorrow is better than laughter Where you see he not only inculcates the Practice of Mourning but also expresly prefers it before its Contrary And he gives this Reason for it because by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better Eccles 7. 3. And therefore he makes this the Measure of Wisdom and Folly by telling us in the next Verse That the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools in the house of mirth This Practice of Mourning is every where inculcated in the Writings of the Prophets but especially of the Prophet Jeremy who has writ a whole Book of Lamentations But above all 't is remarkable what our Lord himself says of Mourning in the 16th of St. John where he seems to make it the great Mark of Difference between his Disciples and the Men of this World Verily verily says he I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament but the world shall rejoice Nor do there want Examples of this holy Mourning in Scripture Thus the Devotion of Hannah is expressed by her being a Woman of a sorrowful Spirit 1 Sam. 1. 15. The Royal Prophet spent his whole Time almost in Mourning and Sorrow which he also indulged and fomented with Music and Divine Hymns And yet he was a Man wise and learned and a Man after God's own Heart and withal a Man of great Business and publick Occupation Thus again the Prophet Jeremy was a great Mourner a Man as insatiable in his Sorrow as some are in their Luxury He was so full of Grief as not to be satisfied with the natural and ordinary Ways of expressing it And therefore says he Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night Jer. 9. 1. More I might instance in but I close all with the great Example of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ who as the Text says was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief and that not only in his last Passion and Agony when his Soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death and when as the Author to the Hebrews says Heb. 5. 7. He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears but also throughout the whole Course of his Life We oftentimes read of his Weeping and Sorrowing as upon his Prospect of the City Jerusalem at the Grave of Lazarus and a little after his last Supper when as the Text says Mat. 26. he began to be sorrowful and very heavy and in the Garden where he wept Tears of Blood But
Roman Orator told Caesar That of all his many Vertues none was either more acceptable or more wonderful than his Mercy and Clemency he might perhaps Complement the Emperour but said nothing extraordinary of the Vertue As will further appear by considering Secondly the great Reasonableness and Usefulness of it As to the Former besides that all that which may be said in the behalf of Charity and Universal Love may be alledged as well for this there are these two more proper and peculiar Grounds to prove and inforce it I. To consider what Man has Receiv'd II. To consider what he Expects And First if we consider what Man has already receiv'd this Vertue of Mercy will appear to be highly reasonable Man has receiv'd innumerable Mercies of God some of which are so great so surprizing and incredible that 't is made one of the greatest Trials and Commendations of his Faith to believe them Such as the Honour of the Hypostatick Union the Redemption from Sin and Misery by the Death of the Son of God the Grace of Repentance and the like All which are yet improv'd and hightened by this further Consideration that they are proper and peculiar to him no other Creatures not so much as the Angels themselves being Partakers with him The Angels indeed as all other Creatures partake of the Goodness of God but Man alone among all the Creatures has the Priviledge to be the Object of his Mercy Since therefore Man and Man only has receiv'd so much Mercy of God it appears very reasonable that he of all Creatures should shew Mercy As it will Secondly if we consider what he expects Man has not yet received so much Mercy but that he expects more The Mercy that he has receiv'd is by the Redemption of Christ to be put into a Capacity of Salvation but the Mercy that he expects is to be actually saved The Court of Mercy is the only Court where Man dares appear or can abide a Trial. Briefly Man expects Mercy both from God and from Man in this Life and in the next in Death and after Death and therefore there is great reason to conclude that he of all Creatures should he merciful and that Cruelty was as little made for Man as Pride Nor is this Affection less Useful than Reasonable The condition of Man in this World is such as makes it as necessary for him to be pitiful as to be a sociable Creature Man cannot subsist without the Guardianship and Protection of Society nor is Society any Security without this Affection For what signifies Strengh and Ability and Society as such infers no more without Inclination to assist The Wise Man tells us that Wisdom is better than Strength Eccl. 9. 16. and 't is very true but neither of them nor both of them signifie any thing without a tender and compassionate Temper Then only may we expect Happiness and Defence from Society when there is the same Sympathy in the Politick as there is in the Natural Body when there is a mutual Correspondency and Communication of Parts like the Sympathetick Answer of one Lute to another When the Heaven hears the Earth in the Prophet's Phrase or as the Apostle more fully expresses it when If one Member suffer all the Members suffer with it or if one Member be honour'd all the Members rejoyce with it 1 Cor. 12. 26. This would make a Millennium indeed nor is any thing further wanting but only that Men would agree together to make the Experiment And because this is a Passion of so great use and necessity to the present Condition of Man God has been pleas'd to take an early and an effectual Care for the Security of it not only by giving the Soul of Man an Original Bent and Inclination that way but also by disposing him to it by the very Make and Figuration of his Body that so the whole Man might stand inclined to shew Mercy and Compassion For we are to consider that there are some natural Dispositions in the Brain whereby we are mov'd and admonished to be pitiful and compassionate since the course of the Animal Spirits is by I know not what Principle directed to those parts whereby we are stirr'd up to the sense of others Pain or Misery For as experience witnesses whenever we happen to cast our Eyes upon a Man that is wounded we find a suddain Tide of Spirits thronging towards those Parts of our Body which answer to the Parts affected of the wounded Man unless by some Accidental Cause their Course be diverted some other way And these Motions by which the Parts of our own Body are affected by the occasion of those Motions which are excited in others do raise that Sentiment within us which we call Pity or Compassion which by an Order of God's Establishment we can no more help being affected with than we can that our Animal Spirits should flow to and affect those parts of our Body which correspond to those of another which we see wounded So that you see the Ground and Foundation of this Affection is laid in Nature God has bound it upon us by a Natural as well as by a Moral Law by the very Figure and Contexture of our Bodies which certainly he would not have done but that he knew how useful and necessary it was for the Interest of Mankind in their present Posture which is a state of Want and mutual Dependence upon each other whereby we stand in need of one anothers Pity and Compassion And now if this Divine Affection for so we may now venture to call it be not yet sufficiently recommended from its Nobleness and Excellency and from its great Reasonableness and Usefulness let us further add the particular Blessedness here assigned to it Blessed are the merciful says our Saviour for they shall obtain mercy This they shall obtain from Men and from God here and hereafter First they shall obtain Mercy from Men here Not that this is to pass for an absolute Rule without any Exception since as long as Men are but Men Mercy is capable of being abused and ill-requited as well as any other Vertue otherwise our Saviour would have been more kindly treated than he was by the Jews But the meaning is that nothing does more naturally recommend a Man to the good Will and Compassion of others than a Merciful and Benign Temper and that generally speaking if Men be but tolerably well disposed and have any Sense of Justice and Gratitude the merciful Man will actually find Mercy among them However if not he has the greater stock of Mercy to come For Secondly the Merciful shall obtain Mercy from God hereafter And this does not depend upon so many Casualties and such uncertain Suppositions as the other Here 't is only required that mercy and truth meet together and that the Man be sincere and upright in all other moral respects And so much indeed is necessary For 't is not to be thought that Mercy
conclude that he intended some peculiar Honour and Priviledge to this holy disposition of Soul and to signifie that it has a more than ordinary Title to the Happiness of the Beatific Vision This will include two things I. That the Pure in Heart shall have a clearer and more inlarged sight of God II. That they shall take a greater delight in what they do see of him And First They shall have a clearer and more enlarged sight of God This will depend upon two Suppositions I. Upon the peculiar Aptness of this Disposition for the Vision of God II. Upon the Will of God to afford a greater and clearer manifestation of himself to a Soul so disposed That Purity of Heart has a peculiar aptness in order to the Vision of God we need not doubt if we consider that the only reason why we see not God now is the grossness of this Tabernacle wherein the Soul is incased This is that Glass through which we now see so Darkly and which makes us do so 1 Cor. 13. 12. This is that black Skreen that parts the Material from the Intelligible World The more abstract therefore we are from the Body and from the Bodily Life the more fit we shall be both to behold and to indure the Rays of the Divine Light We find that even now the purer and finer our Blood and Spirits are the freer and clearer are our Thoughts The more bright and transparent this Glass is the more the Ideal Light will dart in upon our Souls And the same will hold in proportion hereafter The purer the Soul is the purer will all its Faculties and Operations be the less it will retain of corporeal Gusts and Relishes the more recollected and undivided will be its Powers for Unity of Thought follows Unity of Desire and the fewer things a Man desires the fewer will be his Thoughts and consequently the more strong and vigorous upon the Object where they fix To which we may add that the purer the Soul is the purer will also be her Resurrection Body which is of great moment to the Vision of God as well as to other Spiritual Operations For we must then see through a Glass as well as now only the Glass will be clearer according to the different Purity of the Soul which even in this Life gives a particular Brightness of Air to the Countenance and makes the Face to shine with an unimitable Lustre Purity of Heart therefore even upon this single account has a peculiar aptness in order to the Vision of God But to this may be added Secondly the Will of God to afford a greater and clearer manifestation of himself to a Soul so disposed For 't is highly rational to believe that God who is so great a Lover will also be a liberal Rewarder of inward Purity and that he who delights to dwell in pure Hearts now will reveal himself in a very plentiful measure to such hereafter So that both from the aptness of the Disposition and from the Will of God we may conclude That the Pure in Heart shall have a larger share of the Beatific Vision Nor shall they only see more of God but Secondly take a greater Delight in what they do see of him And this is the principal Ingredient of their Happiness For 't is not the meer having but the delighting in a thing that makes a Man happy And this is the Condition of Pure Souls The same Purity which procures them a more inlarged sight of God will also make them to delight in the Vision of him so that they shall Taste as well as See how good God is Psal 34. For the purer the Soul is the liker it is to God who is Essential Purity and the more it resembles God the more it must needs love and delight in him Likeness is the greatest indearment of Love and the most natural Foundation of Delight and Complacency We see this in all the Orders of Being and in all the Degrees of Life In the Sympathetic Associations of Vegetables in the Voluntary Consortings of Animals and in the chosen Friendships of Men. But most of all may this be seen in God himself What is it but the most perfect Likeness and Conformity of Essences Understandings and Wills that renders the Sacred Persons of the mysterious and adorable Trinity so infinitely lovely and agreeable to each other This was that which made the Father say of the Son Heb. 1. 3. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased because he saw there the Brightness of his Glory and the express image of his Person And upon this is founded that mutual Delight which the other Sacred Persons enjoy from each other That therefore which makes the Persons of the Holy Trinity delight in one another must needs make the pure Soul delight in the Holy Trinity A pure Soul cannot but delight in a pure God and the purer she is the more she will love and delight in him Purity of Heart does even here Anticipate much more then will it hereafter increase the Joys of Heaven It remains therefore that having this excellent Hope we study to purifie our selves even as God is pure and so endeavour to resemble and transcribe the Divine Perfections here that we may contemplate them with the greater Complacency and Delight hereafter To which purpose let us now and always Pray in the Words of our Holy and Devout Church O God make clean our Hearts within us And take not thy Holy Spirit from us Amen Discourse the Seventh Matth. V. ver ix Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be call'd the Children of God THE Words very well become the Mouth of him that spake them who was himself the greatest Peace-maker in the World He made Peace in Heaven by the Blood of his Cross and endeavoured to promote it on Earth He first reconciled God to Man and then tried to reconcile Men to one another He chose to be born in the most quiet and peaceful state of the Roman Empire when Augustus in token of an Universal Peace had shut up the Mystical Gates of Janus his Temple And when he came into the World his Proclamation by the Angels was Peace and when he was to leave the World the same was his Legacy John 14. Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you The Order of his whole Life was a constant Compliance with the Peace of the State whereof he gave two signal Instances in Paying Tribute when not obliged and in Forbidding Resistance of the Officer that seized him and his last Prayer was for the Peace and Unity of the Church And now since by this great Love and Study of Peace he shewed himself to be the Genuine Son of God who is styled the God of Peace 1 Cor. 14. 33. he might with the better Decorum make the same Disposition of Mind the Measure and Argument of our Filial Relation to him as he does when he tells us Blessed are
themselves almost as soon as they are in and in a short time consume the very Brain too But suppose we could get over all this the greatest Difficulty is yet behind How will such Corporeal Effluvias be able to represent immaterial and intellectual Objects They will at the most be able but to represent Material Objects and not all of them neither but only those whose Emanations they are And what shall we do with Ideas that will not do their Office that cannot represent a quarter of the things which we are concern'd to understand These and a thousand more Absurdities must he wade through that will assert our Ideas to be Corporeal Effluvias derived from external Objects It remains then that they must be Immaterial Substances And so without all question they are All of them as to their Essence and most of them as to their Representation But how shall Bodies send forth such Immaterial Species They can emit nothing but what is Corporeal like themselves How then shall they commence Immaterial Body can no more emit Spirit than it can create it And what is there after Emission that shall be the Principle of Transformation Some I know talk of strange Feats done by the Dexterity of Intellectus Agens and Patiens which they say refine and spiritualize these Material Phantasms but I suppose our Author is of too Philosophical a Faith to admit of such a Romantick Transubstantiation The short of this Argument is if our Ideas are derived from sensible Objects then they are Material Beings because Matter can send forth nothing but Matter But they are not Material Beings for the Reasons alledg'd above Therefore they are not derived from Sensible Objects Which I think has the force of Demonstration And to this purpose it may be further consider'd what I hinted before that as our Ideas are all of them Immaterial as to their Essence and Substance so many perhaps most of them are also immaterial as to their Representation that is they represent after an immaterial manner as the Ideas of Truth Vertue and the like which Cartesius makes to be the difference between Imagination and Pure Intellection and whereof he gives an Instance in the Example of a Chiliagon whose Angles we cannot represent in a distinct View but may clearly understand it But now how can that which represents after an immaterial manner come from sensible Objects Again we have Ideas of things that are not to be found in the Material and Sensible World as of a Right Line or an exact Circle which our Author himself confesses Pag. 283. Sect. 6. not to be really extant in Nature And what does he think of the Idea of God Will he say that that is also derived from sensible Objects Yes For says he Pag. 147. Sect. 33. If we examin the Idea we have of the Incomprehensible Supreme Being we shall find that we came by it the same way that is by Sensation But in the first place how does this agree with what he says Pag. 341. Sect. 2. That we have the knowledge of the existence of all things without us except only of God by our Senses So then it seems we do not know the Existence of God by our Senses No then neither have we the Idea of him by our Senses For if we had why should we not know his Existence by Sensation as well as the Existence of other things which as he says we know only by Sensation For says he Pag. 311. Sect. 2. speaking of the knowledge of Existence We have the knowledge of our own existence by Intuition of the existence of God by Demonstration and of other things by Sensation Then it seems we do not know the Existence of God by Sensation but that of other things we do But why are other things known by Sensation but only because their Ideas come in at our Senses For I suppose he will not say that the things themselves come in at our Senses for then what need is there of Ideas at all And if other things are therefore known by Sensation because their Ideas come in by the Senses then why is not God also known by Sensation forasmuch as his Idea according to him comes also the same way And yet he will not allow that God's Existence is known by Sensation which indeed is very true but then he should not have said that the Idea of God comes in by the Senses But what a strange Adventure is it in Philosophy to make the Idea of God to come in by our Senses and to be derived from Sensible Objects For besides the Difficulties and Absurdities already touch't upon what is there in the Material World that can resemble God Nay what is there in the whole Creation that can represent him to our Thoughts God himself cannot make an Idea of himself For such an Idea whatever it be must be a Creature and can a Creature represent God! Nothing certainly but God himself can do that He must be his own Idea or he can have none There is but one possible Idea of God and that is his Son the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ideal World the brightness of his Glory and the express Image or Character of his Person 'T is he that is the Idea of God and of the whole Creation that both is and represents all things And since the way of knowledge by our Senses turns to so poor an Account I would desire our most ingenious Author to consider whether it be not abundantly more rational and intelligible not to say pious to suppose that we see all things in God or the Divine Ideas that is in the partial Representations of the Divine Omniformity For our Author himself confesses Pag. 315. Sect. 10. that Whatsoever is first of all things must necessarily contain in it and actually have at least all the Perefections that can ever after exist Nor can it ever give to another any perfection that it has not either actual in it self or at least in an higher degree God then even according to him is all Beings or has the whole Plenitude of Being And I wonder that this Principle had not led this Sagacious Person further I know whither it would have carried him if he had follow'd the Clue of it For why should we seek any further and puzzle our selves with unintelligible Suppositions What else need and what else can be the immediate Object of our Understanding but the Divine Ideas the Omniform Essence of God This will open to us a plain intelligible Account of Human Vnderstanding yea of Angelical and Divine too Here I can tell what an Idea is viz. the Omniform Essence of God partially represented or exhibited and how it comes to be united to my Mind But as for all other ways I look upon them to be desperate But these things are already by me purposely discours'd of elsewhere and are also further to be deduc'd in my Theory of the Ideal World Having thus
distinction of the Word Pure is acknowledg'd and withal applied to this place by our Learned Dr. Hammond illustrated by the Instances of Water and Wine the former of which is said to be pure when not mudded or defiled the latter when not mixt But tho the Word be equally capable of this latter Sense yet I do not think it to be at all intended by our Saviour in this place there being no such particular Congruity between this sort of Purity and the nature of the Reward here assign'd Confining therefore our Discourse to the former Sense of the Word as more suitable to the Circumstance of this place from what has been premised we may collect this Idea or Character of the Pure in Heart That they are such as regulate not only the external Conduct of their Lives but also the inward Frame and Habitude of their Minds and conform not only their Actions but their Wills and Desires Thoughts and Designs to the Rule of the Law and to the Dictates of the Internal Light of God in the Soul Such as sanctifie the Lord God in their Hearts compose the inmost recesses of their minds into an Holy Awe and Reverence of the Divine Presence set a Law to all their Intellectual Powers and suffer not the least Thought or Passion to violate the Order either of Reason or Grace Such lastly as yield no consent either to the Being or Stay of irregular Motions nor give any entertainment to the Allurements of the World the Flesh or the Devil nor delight themselves with any pleasing recollections any imaginary Scenes of their past Immoralities but set themselves at the greatest distance from Sin resist the very first Beginnings and as near as they can abstain from the least Appearances of Evil. This is the most resembling Idea that I can frame to my self of the Pure in Heart And now lest this should be taken for a meer Idea a thing of Notion rather than Practice I proceed in the next place to represent the Necessity of such a Disposition of Soul The Necessity of it is Double in order to a double End Holiness and Happiness And First This Purity of Heart is necessary in order to Holiness that is there can be no true Christian Holiness without it This will appear by considering First That the Christian Law expresly requires it For this I need appeal no further than to the progress of this same Discourse of our Saviour upon the Mount Where among several other improving Expositions of the Mosaic Law we find this Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not commit Adultery But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his Heart Mat. 5. 27. By which Lusting here I conceive must not be understood the bare natural Appetite of Concupiscence that being as such indifferent but the Appetite irregularly determin'd nor that neither as 't is a pure Natural and Mechanick Motion for so it has nothing Moral in it and can only be materially Evil but as it has the consent of the Will going along with it Which consent may be either to the very Desire it self or to the Acting of it If to the Act then the Man is in all Moral Accounts a compleat Adulterer and will be so esteem'd by God who as he Sees so he Judges by the Heart and will not think a Man the more innocent only for wanting an Opportunity of committing what he fully intended But if the Consent be only to the Desire then tho the Man be not a compleat Adulterer yet he may be truly said in the Style of the Psalmist to be a Partaker with the Adulterer Psal 50. to have enter'd within some degrees of Unchastity and to have transgressed against that Christian Purity which forbids all Consent not only to the compleat Acts but also to the first Motions of Sin Secondly The necessity of this Purity of Heart in order to true Holiness will appear by considering the Nature of God who is both a Spirit and a Discerner of Spirits and ought therefore for a double Reason to be worshipp'd in Spirit and in Truth Joh. 4. 24. Our Saviour thought the former sufficient but the latter adds a further degree of strength to it God as a Spirit cannot be worthily served by any thing less than the Sacrifice of the Spirit which perhaps was one of the Reasons why our Saviour when he was to become a Sacrifice to his Father took upon him not only Human Flesh as some of the Ancient Hereticks would have believ'd but also an Human Soul And as a Discerner of Spirits he cannot be put off with a bodily instead of a Spiritual Service or accept of a polluted and unsanctified Spirit The Psalmist had a due sense of this when he said Psal 51. 6 10. Thou requirest truth in the inward parts and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly And when he pray'd Make me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Thirdly This Purity of Heart may be further concluded necessary to true Holiness from the Nature of Man himself in whom as the Soul is in all respects the Principal so in all Moral respects it is the only part concern'd This Inner Man is that Man who is the Immediate and proper Subject of all Good and Evil Vertue and Vice and accordingly this is the part to which our Sanctification and Regeneration is always ascribed and from which the Man receives his whole Moral Distinction And therefore says the Apostle To be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace Rom. 8. 6. Where you see 't is the inward Disposition of the Mind that makes all the difference If this be Pure and Holy the whole Man is so but if this stand not right to God and Goodness 't is not all the external Conformity in the World that can supply the Defect 'T was the Conceit of the Ancient Jews as we are told by Mr. Selden that every Proselyte of Justice at the very instant when he became so had a new Soul infused into him to which Opinion our Saviour is supposed to allude in his Discourse with Nicodemus Now tho Christianity does not acknowledge a New that is another Soul in its Converts yet it requires that the same Soul become new it requires a new Frame and Temper of Spirit The Christian Man is to be Born again and to become a New Creature a Creature of another Rank and Order And 't is the Mind and Spirit upon which this great Transaction is to pass and which is to be the immediate Subject of this extraordinary Change And accordingly our Regeneration is expressed in Scripture by our being renew'd in the Spirit of our minds Eph. 4. 23. We must be renew'd and where Not in our Body or outward Man but in our Minds And in what part of the Mind not