the World Heaven has wrought an hundred Miracles to discover their Innocence wild Beasts have respected them the Flames have spared their Garments Tyrants have admired them and many times their Executioners have become their Disciples in so much that these renowned Champions had great reason to be afraid of Vain-glory at the same time that God deliver'd them from Sorrow The Description is handsom and elegant but what they Describe they have left to our Church to Practise But more particularly and distinctly to take the just Height of the Excellency of Martyrdom we must first lay down a Measure whereby the Excellency of any Vertue is to be estimated Now the Excellency of any Vertue may be measured either from the Goodness of the Object will'd or from the Degree of willing it And two Persons that are equally Vertuous with respect to the good that is will'd may yet be very unequally so with respect to the Degree of Willing because one may will the same Good and the same degree of Good more intensely and affectionately than the other Thus for instance Virginity may be said to be more excellent than a Conjugal Life and that tho you do suppose the States themselves to be equally Pure because 't is harder to preserve Virginal than Conjugal Chastity So that tho the Degrees of Purity be supposed the same in both States yet because they are more strongly will'd in the one than in the other the Virgin may be said to be more pure than the Conjugated Person not perhaps as a Lover of greater Purity but as a stronger and more pertinacious Lover of the same which he adheres to under more disadvantagious Circumstances And this I take to be the Case of Martyrdom whose general Excellency above other Virtues consists in the Degree of Inclination or Adhesion to good which in the Martyr is supposed to be so strong as to determin him rather to suffer death and the utmost Extremity of it than to transgress what he knows to be his Duty And indeed if we consider how sweet Life is and how naturally a verse we are to Death even in the most easy much more under the most terrifying Circumstances it must needs be a very strong and peremptory adhesion to Virtue that shall ingage a Man to quit his Life rather than his Innocence and Dy rather than Offend But to be more particular yet To recommend the Excellency of Martyrdom there is a Concurrence of the greatest Virtues The most eminent of which for 't were endless to reckon up all are the greatest Faith the greatest Love and the greatest Courage First The greatest Faith There is indeed no Faith like the Faith of a Martyr This is that Faith which overcomes the World and all that is terrible in it That Faith to which all things are possible and nothing difficult and that removes Fear which is more than to remove Mountains This is that Faith which is more especially the Substance of things hoped for and the Argument or Demonstration of things not seen This noble Definition of Faith is never so fully verify'd as in the Faith of a Martyr This is that Faith that turns the End of the Perspective and shortens the interval of Time and makes the future World present and represents Heaven open and the Son of Man standing on the Right Hand of God ready to defend and receive and reward those that will be content to indure the Cross and despise both the Shame and the Pain of it for his sake And all this with such certainty and fulness of Perswasion that t is ready to change its Nature through too much Evidence and to cease to be any longer Faith and commence Science or Revelation For indeed nothing less than this than such a full down-bearing Perswasion can well inable a Man to drink off this bitter Cup and to be Baptized at this Bloody Font. It must certainly be a strange Degree of Affiance and Confidence which that Man has in God who can resign up all that is good and pleasant and submit himself to all that is evil and terrible in this World and meet Death with all its Natural and Artificial Terrors and trust God for his Reward in another Life What a generous victorious Faith is this and what a noble Idea must such a person have of God! The Faith of Abraham is highly celebrated in Scripture for his readiness to offer up his Son at the Command of God And no doubt 't was a very rare and extraordinary Faith that could reconcile him to such an unnatural undertaking But certainly the Faith of a Martyr is very much beyond this as much as t is an higher act of Reliance to trust God with ones own Soul and for ones Eternal Happiness than for a Posterity to inherit a promised Land Secondly The greatest Love There is indeed no Love like the Love of a Martyr This is that Love which is properly stronger than Death and which is so perfect as to cast out or overcome all Fear This is a Degree of Love truly Seraphic and which comes the nearest of any to the Love of Angels and beatify'd Spirits If there be any such thing as Seraphic Love in the World this is it Not only because t is bright and flaming noble and generous but because t is a Love that gets above all the Bodily Passions silences all the motions of the lower Life and makes the Man act as if he were all Soul and Mind More particularly Martyrdom is the greatest Love of Virtue and the greatest Love of God First Martyrdom is the greatest Love of Virtue because that is valued at a higher rate than Life it self which the Martyr will rather lose than Sin Our Saviour makes it the greatest Instance and Argument of Friendship for a Man to lay down his Life for his Friend And so doubtless it is For t is then plain that the Man sets a greater value upon his Friend than he does upon Life And the like may be said of the Martyr that he sets a higher value upon Virtue then he does upon Life which yet is so dear that as one observes who for our safety too well understands the secret Springs and Inclinations of Human Nature all that a man has will he give for it And yet this very Life for which a Man will give all things is by the Martyr given as a Sacrifice to his Innocence Secondly Martyrdom is the greatest Love of God because the Martyr sets so high a Price upon him that he will chuse rather to dye than forfeit the enjoyment of his Favour and Blessedness and may truly say with the Psalmist Thy loving Kindness is better than Life T is an easie thing for a Man in a warm gusty fit of Devotion when the Evil day is far off and no probable danger of any competition between his Religion and his Life to say that he sets a greater Value upon the loving Kindness of God than
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 downright 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 arm'd 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 every 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 Inquities 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 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 that ye are my Disciples c. But now 't would not have been agreeable for a Law of Love to begin its recommendation from such Arguments as should work upon the more Servile part of Man Moses indeed deliver'd his Law with all the Circumstances and Arguments of Fear and the Nature of his Law required such an Address but 't was fit that a Law of Love should come recommended to the World by Motives of Love Fourthly and Lastly It may be further consisted that this solemn Instruction of our Lord upon the Mount consisted of Precepts So very sublime and elevated and withal so strange and unusual as having had not Credit if Reception in the World before that 't was but necessary for the Prevention of Prejudice to set a Beatitude in the Front of every Duty and to bribe the Passions of the Hearers with a forward Anticipation of Happiness lest Men should say of the Commands of Christ as the Prophet brings them in saying of his Person that there is no Form nor Comeliness nor Beauty in them that we should desire them For these and other like Reasons that may be added our Divine and gracious Lawgiver was pleased to deliver his Laws rather by asserting the Blessedness than the Obligation of them Which while I consider I cannot but enter into a profound Admiration of the strange Goodness and Condescension of our Lord that he should so far lay aside the Majesty of a God and a Lawgiver that he might the better act the part of a Friend and of a Redeemer And to seâ— this Consideration the more home upon our Minds let us by the aids of Fancy draw the Curtains of this Intellectual Scene and imagin to our selves that we saw our Saviour seated upon the Mount of Blessing with his Eyes devoutly sets towards Heaven and his Hands affectionately stretch'd forth over the adoring and attentive Multitude and with Looks full of concern for the good of Souls gravely and pathetically distilling down upon them the Dew of his Heavenly Doctrin and tempering his Authority with the Style of Goodness and Kindness as well as his Divinity with the veil of Flesh. Who can with sufficient Wonder contemplate so pleasing a Scene of Love and Sweetness And who that well contemplates it can find in his heart to transgress a Law delivered with so much Condescension or offend a Lawgiver so infinitely so amazingly good Now concerning the Number of the Beatitudes why our Lord should assign Eight and no more t is not easie to offer what shall satisfie all Minds Were I minded to amuse my Reader I could tell him that in the Mystic Philosophy 8 is the Number of Justice and Fulness because it is first of all divided into Numbers equally even namely into 2 Fours which Division again is by the same reason made into 2 times 2 that is 2 times 2 twice reckon'd And by reason of this Equality of Divisions it received the Name of Justice But I do not believe our Saviour intended any Rosie-Crucian Mystery in this matter tho a certain Gentleman of that Order would fain insinuate that he did reckoning this among other Observations upon the Number 8 that there are 8 kinds of Blessed Men in the lesser World The Poor in Spirit the Mourners the Meek they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness c. But I think all that can here be warrantably and safely said is that our Saviour intending as he signify'd by his Ascent into the Mount a Discourse of Perfection and Excellence consisting of such Divine Vertues as were most perfective of Human Nature and for the Practice of which he himself was most exemplary was by his Design concern'd to instance only in the most select and excellent Duties both to God and Man Whereupon premising Humility as being a Duty common to both and withal the Foundation of all the rest he found remaining three extraordinary Duties relating to Man Meekness Mercifulness and Peaceableness and four to God Mourning for Sin Hungring and thirsting after Righteousness Purity of Heart and Suffering of Persecution for Conscience Sake So that our Saviour seems rather to have been directed by a
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 be 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 Strength and Ability and Society as such infers no more without Inclination to assist The Wise Man tells us that Wisdom is better than Strength 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 Prophets 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 This would make a Millennium indeed nor is any thing further wanting but only that Men would agree together to make the Experiment 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 amon 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 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 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 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 rejoyce 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 transgressed 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 Saviours 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
upon Life You know who did so Tho I should dy with thee yet I will not deny thee that is to reduce the words to a more Logical Order I would rather dy than deny thee This is easily said but not so easily done as the Event too sadly shew'd But he that says he values the loving Kindness of God more than Life and dies rather than forfeit it may be believ'd For what greater Love can there be than this or what higher Instance or Tryal of it The greatest Love of God was to dy for Man God could not signalize his Love to Man by any higher instance than by dying for him and the greatest Love of Man is to dy for God Thirdly The greatest Courage For there is also no Courage like the Courage of a Martyr He fears no Evil but only Sin and Damnation which are just and reasonable Objects of Fear and will undergo any other Evils to avoid these which is the truest and the greatest Courage For where is there any like it I would not have the Man of Honour or Duelist of all the Pretenders to Courage in the World offer at a Competition here For t is most certain that he abuses the notion of Courage as well as that of Honour His Courage is to dare to sin and be damn'd that he may avoid the Reproach of Cowardize that is not to fear and avoid what with all possible concern he should and to fear and avoid what he should not And if this be Courage I must then confess that I do not know what is Cowardise But neither may the Military Man be a Competitor here 'T is I confess great and brave for a Man in a just and laudable Cause for the Defence of his Prince and Country to fall a Sacrifice at the Head of an Army And the Herald's Office supposes as much But there are also some Allays that qualifie the Glory even of this Action For the Man is supposed to be engaged with multitudes and numbers which incourage as well as defend and to fight in a Heat when his Spirits are raised and his Blood runs high so as scarce to be able to feel a Shot or a Stab that shall be given him and to want Opportunity of Retreat and to be kept from reflecting upon his Danger by Noise Tumult and Confusion and to have the Spur of Emulation and the incentive of Anger sometimes of Hatred and Revenge and which is more than all the rest the Hopes of a safe come off at last Believe me this goes a great way and I question whether among those that venture themselves in War one of ten thousand would do so if he knew before-hand that he should certainly die in the Field But now to have a Man go alone and in cold Blood to the Stake or to the Scaffold When in 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 deseve 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 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 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 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 so 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 of 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