as innocent Persons but as Sinners and accordingly are not acquitted but pardoned Righteousness in a Moral Sense may be supposed to import all those Divine and Moral Vertues which are required by the Christian Law consisting of the whole Duty of Man to God himself and his Neighbour This latter kind of Righteousness may again be considered either Materially and Abstractedly for the bare Vertues themselves as they are certain supposed Actions which naturally tend to the Good and Perfection both of Human Nature and of Human Society or else Formally and Concretely for such and such Vertues as subjected in Man or for the habitual Will of doing such supposed Actions which is formal Vertue and whereby the Man is denominated vertuous or righteous This is not one of those Distinctions which are without any Difference For the Difference is very clear and great As for instance When it is said I love or practise Vertue and I am proud of my Vertue 't is plain that the Word Vertue does not bear the same Notion in both Propositions For when it is said I love and practise Vertue there it is plain that Vertue is taken Materially for the Abstract Idea of Vertue which is supposed to be the Object of my Love But when it is said I am proud of my Vertue here 't is as plain that Vertue is taken Formally for my Habit of Willing it whereby I am denominated vertuous For I cannot be supposed to be proud of Vertue in its Abstract Idea but only of the Love I have towards it To be short Moral Vertue may be taken either for the Things which are fit to be done or for the habitual Will of doing them The former is the Righteousness of the Law prescribing what ought to be done The latter is the Righteousness of the Man willing to do what is so prescribed These are the general Kinds of Righteousness Now to the Question What kind of Righteousness that is which if we hunger and thirst after we shall be filled I answer First That the Righteousness here intended cannot be Judicial Righteousness since the mere Desire of Pardon or Justification is not of it self sufficient to procure it or to avert the Sentence of Condemnation It must therefore be Moral Righteousness If you ask in what Sense Whether as materially or as formally taken I think either Sense may be admitted But then there will be difference in the Proposition according to the Sense presumed For if Righteousness be here taken materially than the Hungring and Thirsting after it will be a simple and direct Act of the Will But if Formally for that Righteousness whereby a Man is formally good and vertuous then the hungring and thirsting after it will be a Reflex Act of the Will that is a Desire not of Material Righteousness but of the Love of Material Righteousness which is a Man's Formal Righteousness And this Sense of Righteousness I take to be most agreeable to the Exigence of this Place because the Desiring Material Righteousness by a direct Act of the Will actually makes a Man formally righteous and so prevents and anticipates that Repletion which our Lord promises as a future Reward and Blessing Whereas the Desiring Formal Righteousness or the Love of Material Righteousness by a Reflect Act supposes the Man not ye actually righteous as he is also supposed in the Beatitude and so leaves him capable of having the Promise made good to him that he shall be fil led Now as to the Degrees of Christian Righteousness the Masters of Spiritual Life usually assign Three By Degrees I suppose meaning not all those Advances in Righteousness whereby a Man may exceed either another or himself for then they might as well have reckoned 3000 there being an infinite Latitude in Goodness But only such Advances as imply different Periods and distinct States of the Divine Life These they assign to be Three grounding this their Division upon the Authority of St. John who they say represents Christians as under a Threefold State by bespeaking them under the several Titles of Little Children Young Men and Fathers Joh. 2. 12. By Little Children meaning young or new Converts who must be fed with the Milk of the Word with the plain Doctrins and Principles of Christianity By young Men those who are grown up to some Strength in Holiness and have made some Progress in the Mortification o◠the inferiour Life By Fathers those who are arrived to a perfect Habit of Goodness and as far as Human Nature will admit are fully regenerated into the Divine Life But I think this Computation must be retrenched For with all the Invention which I have I can find but three States or Degrees for the whole Moral Condition of Mankind For all the Men in the World and every particular Man in several Periods of his Life may be reduced to one of those three Orders Either he is one of those who do not apprehend Sin as an Evil who either through Want of Understanding and Reflection have not attained to any Sense of its Malignity or through Debauchery and habitual Viciousness have lost it and so will and chuse Sin purely and intirely with Unity of Consent and without any mixture of reluctancy which is the most exalted pitch of Wickedness that a Creature is capable of Or else one of those who indeed do look upon Sin as Evil and as such nill and are averse to it but not looking upon it always as the greatest Evil do oftentimes nill it only imperfectly and absolutely speaking do will and chuse it to avoid as they then think some greater Evil. Or else lastly one of those who looking upon Sin not only under the Notion of Evil but as the greatest of all Evils nill and refuse it not only in some certain respect but absolutely and thoroughly so as not by any means to be perswaded to commit it These Three Degrees will comprize the whole Moral State of Mankind And accordingly I observe that St. Paul makes mention of a three-fold Law The first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law of Sin which is in the Members Rom. 7. 23. The Second is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 23. The Law of the Mind or Conscience The Third is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law of the Spirit of Life Rom. 8. 2. These three Laws answer exactly to the three Moral States of Human Nature Under the first Law the Law of Sin are those who will and embrace Sin purely and entirely Under the Second Law the Law of the Mind are those who nill and stand averse to Sin in some certain respect as Evil but yet will and chuse it absolutely and effectually Under the third Law the Law of the Spirit of Life are those who absolutely and thoroughly nill the Commission of Sin The first of these States is a state of meer Sin and Death and those of this Order are they who are said to be Dead in Trespasses and Sins Eph. 2.
Creature Colos 3. 1. to seek those things which are above to set our affection on things above not on things of the earth to mortifie our members which are upon earth among which is reckoned inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry Again We are bid to beware of Covetousness Luk. 12. 15. and to have both our Treasure and our Hearts in Heaven Luk. 12. 33. to be as indifferent in the very Enjoyment of any Worldly Good as if we enjoyed it not 1 Cor. 7. 29. and if in the Enjoyment then certainly much more in the Desire Lastly to add no more We are cautioned by St. John not to love the World neither the things that are in the World And lest we should take this only as a Matter of Advice and Counsel not express Command he farther adds If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 John 2. 15. But that 't is a Christian Duty to be thus poor in Spirit will be farther evident from the very Nature and Design of the Christian Institution The grand thing intended in the Christian Religion was to reduce straying Man to his true Good and Happiness to sublimate refine and spiritualize his Nature to loose him from the Cords of Vanity and from his fast Adhesions to created Good to purge him from all Earthly Concretions and Alloys to dis-engage and separate him not only from the World about him but even from one part of himself In one Word to raise him from Earth to Heaven not only by a Local but by a Moral and Mental Elevation Indeed 't was much otherwise under the Jewish Dispensation There was then great Indulgence afforded to the Animal Inclinations and Worldly Affections of Men and their very Religion was indeared to them by Temporal Promises and Blessings Not that God intended hereby to express any Liking or Approbation of Covetousness and Earthly-mindedness but only to comply with the Infirmity of that gross stupid People which renderd them incapable of being won upon by more noble Proposals And besides it being a received Notion among the Idolatrous Inhabitants of the Land as is observed by a late learned Author that the Worship of their Idols and false Gods did procure them fruitful Seasons and Increase of all manner of Store it was in proportion requisite that God also should promise his Votaries the like Worldly Affluence to keep them from running over to the Gentile Superstitions Upon these and the like Accounts much was indulged to the Jewish State and People They were never expresly required to abstract their Desires from the Things of the World nor unless they proceeded to covet unjustly that is what belonged to another were they ever taxable for a too Earthly and downward Disposition of Soul Not but that Earthly-mindedness was as much an Imperfection in it self as it is now and was really forbidden according to the more retired and involute Sense of the Law but the Letter did not reach it because then was the Time and State of Imperfection and it was the only Handle which that People could be took hold of by whose Hardness of Heart was the Occasion of this as well as of some other Indulgencies But now they that shall think themselves obliged to no higher Measures of Perfection under the Christian State know not what manner of Spirit they are of Christ as he has introduced a Better Hope Heb. 7. 19. so has he annexed to it more excellent and more exalted Precepts and as his Kingdom was not so neither is his Religion of this World The Christian Law is Lex Ignea a Law of Fire a Law that purifies and refines that warms actuates and enlightens that separates also and dissolves those strong Ties whereby the Soul sticks glued to the Earth And therefore the Apostle calls the Christian Institution the law of the Spirit of life Rom. 8. 2. and in another place the ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. And what our Saviour said of some Words of his may truly be applied to all The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life Joh. 6. 63. This therefore being the Design of the Christian Dispensation to perfect Holiness to advance the Interest of the Divine Life to elevate us to the utmost Degree of Moral Perfection our Nature is here capable of and as far as is possible to make us Partakers of the Divine 't is utterly inconsistent with the End of such a Law as this to suffer us to lie groveling with our Faces on the Earth to seek Rest and Happiness in things more ignoble than our selves and to grow one as it were with the dirty Planet upon which we live We ought rather as the Philosopher speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aspire to the Measures of Immortality shake off the Clogs of Earth that weigh us down and make haste to be Angels as fast as we can We are obliged by the Design as well as by the Rule of our Religion to be as loose from the Creature as may be not to love the World nor the Things of the World whether the Lust of the Flesh or the Lust of the Eye or the Pride of Life but to be poor in Spirit and empty of the Creature that we may be rich towards God and filled with the Fulness of him that fills all in all And now that to be thus poor in Spirit is a reasonable Duty as well as a necessary one will sufficiently appear upon these two Grounds I. Because these Worldly Enjoyments are not our True Good II. Because they hinder and divert us from that which really is so That they are not our True Good is certain for if they were we should then find Rest and Satisfaction in them But this we are so far from doing that we are as dissatisfied under our Enjoyments as without them For though by Fruition our Appetite be abated as to that particular Object which we prosecuted yet still we desire on farther and our general Thirst after Happiness is as unsatisfied as ever Which plainly argues that our True Good is not to be found in these things but that they are altogether Vanity and Vexation To place therefore our Happiness in such Objects is utterly absurd and against Reason and argues us to be grosly ignorant of one of the two Things either of our selves or of the Things of the World We are either ignorant of the Dignity and Excellence of our Natures of the Designs and Ends of our Creation and of the Strengths and Capacities of our Appetites which can be satisfied with nothing less than Infinite Or if we do know and consider all this then are we so much the more grosly ignorant of the World about us to think there is any thing to be had in this Circle of Vanity that may satisfie the Importunity of such craving and capacious Appetites Poverty of Spirit therefore is reasonable because the Things
1. The Second is a state of Imperfect Life The Third is a state of Health and Vigour The first is a state of Rest and Acquiescence in Sin The second is a state of Contention The third is a state of Victory In the first state the Mind is laid fast in a deep sleep In the second she is between sleeping and waking In the third she is broad awake and well come to her self He that is in the first state is born only of the Flesh and has no higher Principle in him He is that Animal Man that perceives not the things of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. He that is in the second has indeed some quickning Motions some ineffective Stirrings and Endeavours of the Divine Life But he that is in the third is born of the Spirit and of God and doth not commit Sin because his Seed remains in him Joh. 3. 9. From this Distribution of the Moral State of Man 't is evident that there can be but two distinct Degrees of Righteousness or states of the Divine Life For the first of the three as was before remark'd is a state of meer Death and Sin Righteousness and Life belong only to the two latter but with this great difference that the first of these two Degrees tho it has something of Life and Righteousness in it yet 't is such as is consistent with the final and absolute Prevalency and Dominion of Sin and consequently such as cannot qualifie a Man for Pardon or put him into a state of Grace and Salvation Whereas in the last the Principle of the Divine Life is supposed to be so strong as not only to resist but to overcome Sin And he that is thus spiritually alive is alive indeed alive unto himself and alive unto God and if he abide in this Life shall live for ever There are therefore but two such Degrees of Spiritual Life and Righteousness as imply different states And therefore to the Distribution of St. John my Answer is That it must necessarily be understood not of three distinct states of Righteousness there being no more for the whole Moral condition of Man but of three Degrees in one and the same general State If it be demanded which of the two states of Righteousness that is I answer That St. John must be supposed to intend the last and best state because he addresses himself to his little Children young Men and Fathers as those who had their Sins forgiven them who had overcome the wicked one and who had known the Father Joh. 2. 12 13. All which Expressions argue one state of Grace in common between them tho differing in Measures and Proportions The reasonableness of which threefold Gradation I do not think my self concern'd at present to enquire into or justifie it being sufficient to my present purpose to have shewn that iâ— cannot be meant of three different states oâ— Righteousness but only of three different degrees in the same state The states themselves are but two Now to the Question What degree or state of Righteousness that is which if we hunger and thirst after we shall be fill'd I answer That it must be no other than that which puts a Man in favour with God and qualifies him for the Mercies of the New Covenant For if the Righteousness it self be not such as will render a Man acceptable with God how can the Desire of it intitle him to his Promises 'T is a much less Worthiness to desire any Righteousness than 't is to have it and how then can it be an acceptable thing to desire an unacceptable Righteousness The Righteousness therefore here intended must be such as makes him that has it acceptable to God and consequently it can be no other but the last degree or state of Righteousness Since nothing short of that can either reconcile God to Man or make Man fit for God And this I take to be the constant Voice of Scripture and the Doctrin of our Holy Church which every where represents an absolute and effectual Love of Holiness and the like Hatred of Sin as necessary to the state of Grace and real Regeneration There are I know some among us who notwithstanding their usual and popular Pretence That they differ from our Church not in any Doctrinal Points of Religion but only about some few Ritual Observances do yet teach very differently in this Article setting the state of Regeneration and Sanctification so low that a bare ineffective striving against Sin is reckon'd a very sufficient mark of it Wherein they conspire with those of the Roman Church who make the slightest Repentance by the Accession of Sacerdotal Absolution to be full and valid only with this Difference That what the one make sufficient in a certain case and on a certain supposition the other make sufficient universally and absolutely requiring nothing further as of necessity to Sanctification than a bare ineffective strife against Sin A state which a Man may be soon in tho according to the same Gentlemen not so soon out For whoever has the least sense of Sin as an Evil and certainly there are but few who have not so much must needs be so far averse to it and cannot possibly commit it but with some reluctance Which yet according to these Men is sufficient to intitle a Man to the state and reward of Sanctification tho at the same time he be the Servant of Sin This I confess is a good way to counter ballance the Severity of their Reprobating Decrees and to stock Heaven as much by one Doctrin as they depopulate it by another But certainly the Gate of Heaven iâ— much too strait both for this Doctrin and for those I will not say that hold it but thaâ— live by it It is a Doctrin too little according to Godliness to be according to Truth and such as makes neither for the Honour of God nor for the Safety of Man But I need reprove it no further it being sufficiently exposed by our most excellent Bishop Taylor in his Preface to the Clergy of England before his Vnum Necessarium All therefore that I further remark is Thaâ— since the Righteousness of the first degree is that which these Men make sufficient for Acceptance with God the same degree of Righteousness would I suppose according to these Men be a sufficient Title to this Beatitude But if the last Degree of Righteousness be only that which can procure us acceptance with God as most certainly it is then that is the only Righteousness which if we duly hunger and thirst after we shall be fill'd I say which if we duly hunger and thirst after Which leads me in the second place to enquire what kind of Hunger and Thirst that is to which this Promise of Repletion is made And first 't is plain that Hunger and Thirst here must be taken in a figurative and metaphorical Sense since Righteousness is not the Object of a Natural but of a Spiritual Appetite Hunger
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
every Period of his Advance 't is still in his Power by compliance to recede from his dreadful undertaking and there calmly and deliberately submit himself to certain Execution and feel himself die with all his Thoughts Reflections and Passions about him this is Courage indeed and such a Noble Spectacle as might well deserve to be a Theatre to Angels and Men yea even to God himself These are some of those great things that illustrate the excellency of Martyrdom and shew it to be one of the highest Degrees of Vertue and consequently that it is intitled to an higher Degree of Glory Which the Scripture also expresly makes to be the Portion of Martyrs who are said to indure tortures and not to accept of deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection Heb. 11. A Better Resurrection that is a Resurrection to a Better State of Happiness that being the only Measure whereby one Resurrection may be said to be Better than another And says the Angel to St. John concerning those who are clothed with white Robes and had Palms in their Hands Rev. 7. 14. These are they which came out of great Tribulation and have wash'd their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple And he that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them And now since there is a brighter Crown of Glory prepared for Martyrs and those that suffer Persecution for the sake of Righteousness all that further remains is to commend from the Premises these two Practical Inferences First That we entertain no hard Thoughts of the Justice or Goodness of God for suffering so many severe Persecutions in the Christian Church some whereof were violent as under the Roman Emperors some Fraudulent by Hereticks as Arius Nestorius c. And some of a mixt nature consisting both of Fraud and Violence when both Temporal and Spiritual Power did combine together as now in the Papal See against the Lord and his Christ I say we should learn from hence not to censure the ways of God for this nor to charge him foolishly since there is so plentiful a Reward laid up for those that suffer in the Cause of Righteousness Secondly That we do fortifie our selves with the Consideration of this Beatitude That if God should ever honour us so far as to call us to the Trial of the Cross we may be so true to God to Religion and to our own Souls as to suffer couragiously and thankfully ever looking up to that glorious Crown that white Robe and those Triumphant Palms which distinguish the Noble Army of Martyrs who eternally sing Hymns and Praise to God for the Blessing of those Crosses which now spring up into Crowns and in bearing of which they find so great Reward Glory be to God on High The Conclusion of the Whole in a Discourse concerning the Beatitudes in general HAving hitherto Discoursed upon every Beatitude particularly by it self I think it may not be improper for the further Accomplishment of this Work to conclude all with a Discourse concerning the Beatitudes in General Where there are three Material Enquiries that seem to demand Satisfaction The First is Concerning the Manner and Way of this Divine Sermon Why our Lord chose to deliver his Laws and Precepts by the way of Blessing The Second is Concerning the Number of the Beatitudes The Third is Concerning their Order and Method For Satisfaction to the first Enquiry I consider first That Christ who came into the World upon an Errand of Love the greatest Love that an infinitely good God could express to a Creature and who no doubt had also a Soul well tuned and a Body well temper'd and both set to the softest Key of Harmony and Sweetness was willing to deliver his Laws in the most indearing and charming manner that could possibly be that he might the better recommend both Himself and his Doctrin to the good Will of his Auditors and reconcile them thro the Love of the Former to the Obedience of the Latter Which is a very laudable affectation of Popularity first to engage Men's Affections to our Persons that we may the better win them over to the Acceptance and Entertainment of our Doctrins This indeed ought to be the Care and Endeavour of all Preachers but there was this more particular reason for it in our Lord because the Love of his Person was not only an Indearment of Obedience but also a very considerable part and instance of it He therefore instead of using an Imperative Style by down-right commanding such and such things chose rather in a more gentle and condescending way to insinuate what was his Will and our Duty by pronouncing them Blessed that do so and so Secondly I consider that our Lord Christ being to act the Counter-part to Moses and to relax the rigour of his Law by being the Author of a milder Dispensation thought fit to give an early and a solemn Specimen of his greater Mildness by varying the Style of his Legislation from that used by Moses And therefore whereas Moses deliver'd his Law after an Imperatorial way by saying Thou shalt not do this and Thou shalt not do that Our Good Lord chose rather to express his Law more tenderly and Humanly by declaring the Blessedness of those that should observe it And the rather because Moses had armed and immured his Law with Curses and Maledictions First in General Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them Secondly more particularly by annexing a Curse to particular Transgressions as in that famous Commination in the 27 of Deuteronomy to evey Clause of which the People were to say Amen And therefore to shew of what a different Spirit the Christian Institution was from that of Moses our Lord chose to administer his Law in a form of Blessing in Opposition to Moses his Cursings thereby verifying those farewel words of St. Peter's Sermon to the Jews in a larger sense than he intended them God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from his Iniquities Act. 3. 26. Thirdly I consider that our Saviour was to deliver a Law of Love a Law that required Love both as the Matter and as the Principle of Obedience Love was both the thing to be done and the Motive of doing it The Son of God was to be the great Prophet of Love 'T was reserved for him as being the Express Image of him who is Love it self and therefore the only Master fit to teach it This was the Fire which he came to kindle upon Earth Luk. 12. 49. the most ardent and affectionate Love towards God and towards Men. This was to be the Substance and Accomplishment of his Law and the distinguishing Badge of those that profess'd Devotion to it By this shall all Men know