the shining and burning Lights of our Reformation and I chuse to alledge their Examples because I have spoken just before in the Praise of that Reformation But I fear Examples will do no good if God's Command and Christ's Promise and your Duty and everlasting Interest cannot prevail with you And yet when by the Grace and Assistance of God you are become bountifull according to this Rule the other Acts of Mercy I mention'd in the beginning of this Discourse must not be neglected particularly the Acts of Mercy to the Souls of your Neighbours There is nothing no Vertue that abounds more in incouragements both Temporal and Eternal than this mercifull Temper God hath dress'd it in such Charms that it cannot but appear amiable to the Attentive Considerer To shew mercy to others is the way to be mercifull to your selves We call upon you often to have mercy on your Souls and your mercy to others is a sign that you study Self-preservation Hereby you secure your own Mercies make them firm and durable and you establish your selves in the favour of God and the good opinion of sober Men And therefore what should hinder you from taking fire by this Discourse and suffering your Hearts to be warmed into Mercy and Compassion How chearfully may you go about it when there is a Voice behind you calling upon you Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtain mercy SERMON VIII St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God PVritan was once a Nick-name a Name of Reproach intended I suppose to traduce those who made a great shew of external Piety but were strangers to good Morals stumbled at a Straw and leapt over a Block strained at a Gnat and swallow'd down Camels prayed to God and reviled his Church scrupled a Ceremony and cheated the next Neighbour they met withall What justice there was in giving this Title to a certain Party whether they deserved it or not and whether many of those that were called so were not very upright and truly pious Men I shall not now enquire but sure I am that this Name rightly understood and taken in that sense it naturally bears or should bear is what every Christian ought to be ambitious of Purity is what every good Man must and doth desire and indeed his goodness is mere vanity and shew if Purity be not the great object of his love A true Puritan and a true Christian are convertible Terms and he that laughs at this Character understands not the Religion he is baptized into He that renounces Purity renounces his Baptism and whatever his outward Profession may be he is a meer Infidel under a borrow'd Title Purity is that which the Christians of old did triumph in not in the Name but in the Thing and he that neglects it must needs continue a stranger to all solid Consolation As ridiculous as it appears to carnal Men it is our greatest security pur-blind Souls may not see the Beauty of it but he that is Truth it self assures us that it is the way to real Bliss Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The method in handling these words must be the same with that I used in the Explication of the preceeding Beatitudes and that which any Man that hears or reads these words would naturally desire to be satisfied in is I. The Nature of this Purity wherein it consists and who the pure in heart are II. Upon what account we cannot suppose those blessed who are not pure in heart for that 's implied here III. How the pure in heart shall see God I. The Nature of this Purity wherein it consists and who the pure in heart are Children know that by the Heart in Scripture is for the most part meant the Soul the Spirit and the inward Man and so a pure Heart is a pure Mind a pure Soul and a pure Conscience as we find it called 1 Tim. III. 9. 2 Tim. I. 3. 2 Pet. III. 1. and the true ingredients of this inward Purity are as follows 1. An antipathy to sinfull Thoughts or a setled abhorrency of such thoughts desires passions and affections as are manifestly contrary to the Will of God Purity imports cleansing and that the thing which is cleansed is pure from something and the unclean thing here is evil thoughts not their bare coming in but concurring with them which the Heart must be pure from A pure Heart is an Enemy to impure Speeches and all impure and sinfull Actions but more immediately to sinfull Thoughts and Desires which are the Parents and Causes of the other so that the pure Heart nips the Evil in the Bud and is so far from yielding deliberately to a bad Action or an undecent Expression that it dreads an evil Thought All men it's true hate some evil Thoughts or other and there is scarce any Man so debaucht or vitious but hates the thought of murthering his Father and Mother or the thought of some monstrous ingratitude or the thought of doing hurt to an innocent Babe in the Cradle but this doth not make them pure in Heart and therefore this Purity must extend to other indeed all the Laws of God without which there would be no distinction no difference betwixt the Saint and the Sinner the latter pretending to the hatred of some evil Thoughts and Desires as well as the other So then this Purity imports an antipathy not only to thoughts of unnatural Crimes but to lascivious covetous malitious revengefull proud foolish vain imperious romantick Thoughts even before they break out into Words and Actions to thoughts whereby wronging defrauding slandering abusing reviling of our Neighbours and neglect of our spiritual and everlasting Concerns are suggested to us in a word to all thoughts which are injurious to God to our Neighbour or to the interest of our Souls for these assented to defile the heart Mark VII 21 22. Such thoughts like Flies or Bees may buz and hum about the Mind but if the Mind drives them away as Abraham did the Birds from the Sacrifice the Heart loses nothing of its Purity The mind may be assaulted with evil Thoughts the Assaults do not presently render it impure for if it hold out against them gives no consent no approbation shews them no countenance no favour no respect but that like Bullets shot against a Wall of Brass they fall off as fast as they are shot the Heart still continues pure and therefore David expresses the Purity of his Heart by this very Character I hate vain thoughts Psal. CXIX 113. and to this purpose is that Expostulation of God in Jeremy Chap. IV. 14. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee It 's giving them lodging and entertainment that pollutes the Mind but if they knock at the Door and are either permitted no entrance or are thrust out the Heart preserves its Purity 2. A pure Heart imports also a Purity from sinister Ends
that Lamb Behold the scene of his sufferings and you will see this Truth written with Sun-beams Thousands that are now in Heaven have been wrought upon by this great Example and shall it have no influence upon you Strange you should hope to be saved by him and neglect the way he hath appointed in order to Salvation 5. Take heed of a rash misconstruing of your Neighbour's words and actions Nothing provokes to passion sooner than such misinterpretations Either this Man said so to reflect upon you or he did not bow low enough before you or he did not shew you that Civility he ought or he did such a thing to express his contempt of your Person c. Put favourable constructions on your Neighbour's Deportment toward you and you will prevent those Fits of Anger which now you fall into to the scandal of others and the ruine of your Souls 6. Consider how profitable this Vertue is profitable to others who will sooner hearken to you and listen to your advice when deliver'd with Meekness you will edifie them engage them to praise God for the grace which is bestow'd upon you profitable to your selves it will be a safe-guard to you you will not only enjoy what you have more quietly but you will be able to bear adversity better when it comes and we know that God very often rewards these Acts of Meekness with turning the Hearts of Enemies toward the Meek into mercy and compassion To this purpose I remember a passage in Moschus of a certain pious old Man when some Thieves broke into his House the good Man stood silent by while the Barbarians rifled his Coffers having taken what they thought fit they departed but the old Man spying a Bag of Money they had either overlook'd or forgotten to take with them he runs out and calls after them that they had left something of value behind them and there it was if they would come back and fetch it The Thieves looking upon it as raillery or mockery had no mind to return but Curiosity at last prevail'd with them to go and see whether the Man were in good earnest and finding him real in what he said they were so confounded with the calmness and meekness of the Man that they restored him all they had robb'd him of and cry'd out this is a good Man indeed I conclude with St. Paul's obtestation Eph. IV. 30 31 32. Grieve not the holy spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption Let all bitterness and wrath and clamour and evil-speaking be put away from you with all malice And be ye kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you SERMON VI. St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after Righteousness for they shall be filled There is nothing more common in Scripture than to express the Doctrine or Lessons God hath thought fit to reveal to us by Meat and Bread and Food and Milk and Wine and Water and our docility or readiness to imbibe or digest and obey these Lessons by eating and drinking all which is done on purpose to give us clearer and livelier apprehensions of things spiritual and unseen and as our knowledge comes by our senses so by those external Objects and Actions to lead us to higher thoughts sublimer notions This being so we need not wonder to find our Saviour speaking here of a hunger and thirst after Righteousness for this is but a continuation of the same Metaphor for though hunger and thirst be properly the office and function of the Body yet there being an appetite in the Soul which is very like it Christ chuses to express it by these known natural actions or inclinations And lest this hunger and thirst should be interpreted as a punishment rather than a mercy the God-like Preacher here not only pronounces a blessing upon it but encourages to it by a very weighty and precious promise in the Text Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled THree things call them Doctrines or Propositions or Conclusions or what you will are here suggested to us I. That there is a hunger and thirst after Righteousness which is very commendable II. Without this hunger and thirst after Righteousness a man cannot be blessed or happy III. The happiness of those who do hunger and thirst after Righteousness consists in being filled I. There is a hunger and thirst after Righteousness which is very commendable That 's as little as a man can gather from the Text this State being pronounc'd blessed that Blessedness makes it commendable at least By Righteousness here some do piously understand Christ Jesus who is call'd The Lord our Righteousness Jer. XXIII 6. and is said to be made unto us of God Righteousness 1 Cor. I. 30. and the reasons why he is called so are 1. Because he is the Fountain of all Righteousness 2. Because he is the Author of that Righteousness which is in us 3. Because by his perfect righteousness he covers the accidental and unallow'd of defects of our sincere though imperfect Righteousness And no doubt they that truly hunger and thirst after Christ desirous to be taught by him as their Prophet to be saved by him as their Priest and to be ruled by him as their King may be said to be in a blessed State but though the word here used may lawfully be applied to Christ yet this cannot be the direct sense of it in this place where Christs design is to represent all the Graces a Christian is to be adorn'd with and therefore by Righteousness here must be meant the whole circle of Vertues the whole compass of Goodness which a Christian is capable of on this side Heaven and this is the common acceptation of the word and in this sense we find it oppos'd to a sinfull life in general Rom. VI. 20. When you were servants of sin you were free from righteousness and this Righteousness is afterward v. 22. call'd becoming servants of God and having our fruit unto holiness The righteous man is indeed represented in Scripture as a just man in his dealings and Righteousness stands often for doing justice and rendring to all their due and doing every man right but it is not with an intent to separate the other vertues from it but to shew that the good man who is faithfull and conscientious in his worship and doing the will of God among other vertues which he practiseth exercises this also and doth by others as he would have others do by him So that by Righteousness here is to be understood an universal Goodness in all conditions and relations whereby both the outward and inward man becomes entirely subject to God and without it he cannot be said to deal justly and righteously with God and after this Righteousness it is that a hunger and thirst is commended here which hunger and thirst
imports 1. A great sense that there is no true satisfaction either in sin or in a worldly carnal life This we must necessarily suppose for how should a man hunger or thirst after Righteousness except he be sensible that here is not his rest neither in sin nor in the contentments of this present world these being the grand impediments of that Righteousness That 's the reason why men who place their chiefest happiness in sublunary enjoyments have nothing of this hunger and thirst after Righteousness till they become sensible of the vanity of this world and the danger of a sinfull life their appetite after Righteousness is insignificant nor can their feeble wishes be call'd so but when they have a thorough view of the rottenness of the bottoms they have sailed in then they affect and desire this plank to swim out of the gulph of perdition 2. It imports a high esteem of this Righteousness and Goodness and without it it 's impossible to hunger and thirst after it for men do not use to long after things they do not value nor are their desires very strong after objects they see no satisfaction in A man hungry and thirsty prizes the meat and drink that is before him so must he the righteousness we speak of that doth truly hunger and thirst after it If he doth not prize it above Gold and Silver and Pearls and precious Stones his hunger and thirst after it cannot be considerable but when he comes to count all things dross and dung in comparison of it then he is most likely to hunger and thirst after it 3. It imports a very earnest desire to be righteous and good in all points Such a desire as men very hungry and thirsty have after meat and drink and that we know is not very faint The Scripture therefore expresses by a very emphatical similitude Psal. XLII 1. As the Hart pants after the water brooks so panteth my soul after thee O God The Hart or Stag is a creature naturally hot but being chas'd and hunted his desire after the cooling streams becomes more earnest and vehement and such must be this desire after righteousness even as it is Psal. LXIII 1. My soul thirsteth my flesh longs for thee in a dry Land i. e. as a man or traveller spent with the labour or the trouble of his journey in a dry land where no water is These expressions import a very strong desire a desire which hath no reserves no sinister ends and designs but is sincere and lively and vigorous and importunate which will not be denied and prevails by its fervour and importunity 4. It imports actual and earnest endeavours to be truly good and righteous by a diligent and conscientious use of the proper means We do not look upon a man that talks of having a thing or pretends his heart set upon it as being in good earnest if his endeavours be not suitable to his desires The Merchant or Trades-man that desires to be rich we know what pains they take nay the Day-Labourer that desires a livelihood So he that hungers and thirsts after Righteousness indeed will enquire and hear and read the word of God and ponder it in his mind and pray hard and deny himself and break off from loose Company and meditate and think and shun occasions of evil and follow God as the man in the Gospel did his Neighbour at Midnight for three Loaves and will leave no stone unturn'd to compass this Goodness and Righteousness as a man who is very hungry or thirsty doth not sit still but bestirs himself to get Food and Drink which he stands in need of 5. It imports a Progress in this hunger and thirst and when we are arrived to such a degree of Righteousness then to hunger and thirst and endeavour after higher degrees of it To this purpose are those frequent exhortations Grow in Grace and see that ye abound more and more in faith in love and charity And give all diligence to add to your faith vertue unto vertue knowledge unto knowledge temperance unto temperance godliness unto godliness patience unto patience brotherly kindness and unto brotherly kindness charity 1 Thess. III. 12. IV. 1. 2. Pet. I. 5 6 7. II. 18. A Christians labour like the Husbandmans is never at an end when one lust is mortified he must begin to subdue and mortifie another and when he hath made one vertue his domestick he must take another into his Family The hunger and thirst here spoken of is not a momentary appetite which is to last for a day or so but an appetite perpetual which is to run through the whole course of our lives and which is still encreas'd by being filled insomuch that if a good Christian were to live here a thousand years he would still find degrees and acts of Righteousness to hunger and thirst after 6. It imports such a spiritual hunger and thirst or such a desire after Righteousness as is content to undergo and endure bodily hunger and thirst and other temporal inconveniencies both for the attainment and preservation of it He that is loath to be at any trouble for it or unwilling to abridge himself in any thing that 's pleasing to the flesh either for the gaining of it or the maintaining of it hath but a weak appetite after it to be sure no such appetite as the man of honour hath after worldly Glory who can dispence with scratch'd faces with scars and wounds and hard lodging and puddle-water and a homely dyet and all to attain to an empty name of a valiant man Surely righteousness deserves as generous a desire we see what men will do in a Famine even venture reproach and contempt and being abused and reviled to get food convenient such must be this hunger and thirst after Righteousness for to be truly righteous a Christian must reckon upon afflictions persecutions and calumnies and nick-names and being laught at and he that longs for the fragrant Rose must not stand upon its being encompass'd with pricks but resolve out of love to the one to dispense with the other And that which enforces the duty is the II. Proposition That without this hunger and thirst after Righteousness a man cannot be blessed or happy As the former Proposition made this hunger and thirst commendable so this makes it absolutely necessary for if he is blessed who hungers and thirsts certainly he is not so that wants this appetite And that there is no true blessedness without it will appear from the following considerations 1. Without this hunger and thirst the Soul is sick as much as we conclude a man is not well when his appetite is gone nay if he have no appetite at all we conclude him dead A Carkass hath not appetite and most certainly he that hath no hunger and thirst after Righteousness at all is dead in God's account dead in Law dead in the Law of the Gospel a sad condition and which deserves to have
or Aims or Intentions especially in religious Actions This must needs be the intent of our great Master here since we see he finds fault so often with Men that aimed to be seen of Men to have Glory of Men to gain the Applause and Commendations of Men and designed their Profit and Gain in Actions relating to Devotion The Christian that 's free from such sinister Aims in praying praising fasting giving of Alms preaching speaking to others of his Experiences and hath nothing before his Eyes but the Glory of God the good of his Neighbour the peace of his own Conscience and the Salvation of his own Soul may justly be said to be pure in Heart and this is agreeable to that simplicity which we hear so often press'd and which the Apostles did so much rejoyce in 2 Cor. I. 12. Without this our services want that Sincerity which must make them amiable to the searcher of hearts and the Apostle insists upon it Rom. XII 9. when he saith Let love be without dissimulation and since love to God is expressed by our religious exercises it must necessarily follow these must be free from sinister ends which if they be not they fall under the brand and character of Dissimulation 3. A pure heart delights in holy Thoughts These are Meat and Drink to it and such a person delights in thinking of the works of God and the operations of his hands of his will and of his commands of his promises and of his threatnings of his various providences and dispensations of Heaven and eternal happiness These Thoughts wonderfully purifie the heart and keep it clean these keep up the Spirit of Religion and make the soul a fit temple for the Deity to lodge in it 's true there is no man so holy and who lives in the world or hath a lawfull calling but must think of his concerns in the world how to manage them to the good of his family and relations and others such thoughts are very necessary in order to a prudent ordering of our affairs and without doubt are allowable and lawfull for which of you intending to build a tower sits not down first and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it saith our Saviour Luk. XIV 28. But all this may be done and yet the heart delight in holy thoughts in these more than in the other in these for pleasure in the other for necessity to this purpose Solomon The thoughts of the righteous are right Prov. XII 5. but St. Paul more emphatically 2 Cor. IV. 18. We look not so much at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen Looking here is thinking and there is no beholding things invisible but by contemplation of the Heart and Mind Contemplation represents things eternal in lively colours and in seeing these the primitive Believers rejoyced more than in gazing on the riches and glories of this visible world temporal things they thought on by the by but the strength of their thoughts was reserved for the other A pure heart is a heart enamour'd with God a heart that loves nothing like him a soul whose secret desires are after him and whose desires are strong and vehement and though it hath obligations to love the creature yet it is in subordination to him and for him who is altogether lovely a heart which discovers its love not only by external obedience but by inward breathings and sighs and groans which cannot be uttered and loves any thing that belongs to him his word his laws his sacraments his faithfull ministers and those that truly fear him what this inward love is the admirable David describes at large Psal. CXIX and when in this Psalm you read such expressions as these With my whole heart have I sought thee v. 10. My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times v. 20. Horror hath taken hold of me because of the wicked that forsake thy law v. 53. The law of thy mouth is dearer unto me than thousands of gold and silver v. 72. my soul fainteth for thy salvation v. 81. O how I love thy law it is my meditation all the day v. 97. How sweet are thy words unto my mouth yea sweeter than honey unto my taste v. 103. I say when you read such expressions as these you may guess at the nature of this love which purifies the heart Cassianus hath an observation which I cannot pass by without making some remarks upon it and it is this That the greatest sign of a pure heart is when that inward purity influences our very dreams and that a man instead of dreaming of trifles and impertinencies dreams of God and spiritual objects The observation seems a little odd because in dreams the fancy plays her Mistress reason because the bodily organs the tools whereby she works are asleep suspending her operations and dreams we know depend much upon the constitution and complexion of the body and yet there is some truth in it for if as Solomon notes Eccles. V. 3. A dream comes through multitude of business Men have been engaged in in the day time or from things they have heard or seen or discours'd of it may very well be that a person who hath got a habit of contemplating things divine and heavenly whose thoughts are taken up all day with spiritual objects may find a tincture of all this in his very dreams and the things he most delighted in and was most conversant with may present themselves to his fancy and there appear in lively shapes and dresses in the night and I do not doubt where a man could arrive to that felicity as to dream for the most part of Heaven and a future Happiness and pray and praise God in his dreams whenever his Imagination wakes in his sleep as it would argue that the person makes religion his business so it would be a very good sign of Purity of heart and that his heart and affections are truly set upon God but I will lay no stress upon this observation because it hath not the Scripture for its guide the characters I have given of the pure in heart are warranted by the word of God and in these we cannot be mistaken and those who are so are certainly blessed But then II. If the pure in heart are blessed those that are not so or will not be so cannot be happy which is the second point I am to speak to and I shall evince it by these following familiar arguments 1. Such persons cannot converse with God in this converse mans happiness consists and the reason why they cannot is because their hearts are impure Can two walk together except they be agreed saith God Amos III. 3. Purity and Impurity are incapable of communion When God converses with man he takes possession of the heart there he dwells there is his seat but if that be impure and full of darkness God avoids the infected place In this
case the castle is already in possession of Gods enemy and therefore there is no entertainment for him whose purity is infinite for the law of this converse is with the mercifull thou wilt shew they self mercifull and with the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure Psal. XVIII 25. 2. As the impure cannot converse with God so they cannot appropriate him to themselves and therefore cannot be blessed for mans blessedness arises from being able to say That God is his God his Friend and peculiar Treasure It 's true the man whose heart is impure professes an interest in God as well as the purest souls but words and sayings and boastings do not make the title good God will not be his God that will not have him reign over him his indeed to judge him but not his to save him his to send him to Hell but not his to give him a right to the tree of Life He whose heart is impure le ts Sin and World reign over him offers the Throne of God i. e. his heart to an usurper puts the Scepter into a Traitors hand and sets open the Gates for Thieves and Robbers to come in and surely this cannot be the way to appropriate God to our selves or to take comfort in his love and therefore no right to blessedness 3. Such are not blessed because they cannot see God The sinfull worldly Lusts and Thoughts and Desires which like Vermin crawl in their hearts darken their sight There is a thick veil over their hearts that they cannot see and tast how sweet and gracious the Lord is Their Souls are oppressed there lies much earth upon them a very great weight of earthly carnal disorderly Thoughts and Desires that like Swine they cannot look up to things above them Their Souls indeed are in the nature of Glass but the Glass is greazy and sullied with the Smoak of vain Imaginations which hinders them from beholding his goings in the Sanctuary or at the best they look upon God as men do upon objects through the wrong end of a perspective which represents things great and near as little and afar off He that lacketh these things saith St. Peter is blind and cannot see afar off He that wants a pure heart is that person and wants that which must give him right apprehensions of God the impure Lusts he cherishes in his heart shut the eyes of his heart and understanding that he hath nothing but confused Notions and Ideas of God and his ways an estate very different from theirs who are pure in heart for they shall see God which calls me to the III. Third and last particular How the pure in heart shall see God and since this Vision relates both to this present Life and that to come we must take a distinct view of both And 1. How they see and shall see God in this present Life And here it must be taken for granted that God cannot be seen with the Organs of the body for he is a Spirit infinite immaterial uncompounded and though he fills Heaven and Earth with his presence and is not far from every one of us yet no man ever saw him and indeed none can see him 1 Tim. VI. 16. but this is still to be understood of the Eyes of the Flesh with the Eye of the Understanding without all peradventure he may be seen and that 's the seeing Christ aims at here for it 's evident he speaks of the purity of Heart and Mind and therefore what he says of seeing God must be meant of the Eyes of that pure Mind Even Heathen Philosophers required Purification of the heart from all gross lustfull covetous and worldly desires without which they said a man could never arrive to the brighter knowledge of Philosophy Christ leads his followers to a higher object and promises not so much a clear insight into the mysteries of Nature as a sight of the best of Beings God blessed for evermore And that no man may think that this blessedness reaches only Divines and other learned men whose Studies carry them to contemplate God his Nature Attributes and Providences I must tell you that this Blessing is pronounced with respect even to the meanest capacity and a poor man that follows his trade or gets his livelihood in the sweat of his Brows may see God as well as the learnedest Men alive nay many times better having none of the preferments of this World to blind his Eyes For this seeing God is an affectionate seeing him and such a seeing as assimilates the Soul to him This seeing is not a bare Speculation or being able to talk or write much concerning God but such a seeing as charms and ravishes and unites the Soul to God and as this seeing God relates to this present World such as are pure in heart shall see him more clearly more distinctly more to their satisfaction and edification than other men All men that say they believe in God and talk of his divine Attributes and have occasion to take notice and are sensible of his works pretend a share in the seeing God but none sees him so well as the pure in heart Their inward purity helps them to see him they see him in his Word in his Ordinances in his Providences in his Mercies and Afflictions They see him in his Word how equitable how just how reasonable all his precepts are how agreeable to the divine Nature how suitable to the Soul how glorious how sweet how precious all his promises are how just his threatnings They see him in his Ordinances what Profit what Advantage he intends by them how he designs them as Channels or Pipes whereby to convey his Grace and Spirit and Influences to their Souls They see him in his Providences how righteous how holy how potent how orderly he is in the management of the great affairs of the World They see him in his Mercies how he condescends how tender he is to them how like a Father how like a Shepherd he deals with them They see him in their Afflictions how wise how kind how good he is in sending them what Favour what Love what edification he designs by them They see him in all his Works how admirable how wonderfull how powerfull he is and all this they see with joy and delight and so see him as to love him more fervently and this is called Seeing him in the Sanctuary Psal. LXIII 2. Thus the pure in heart see God here But 2. There is a vision of God in the next life which surpasses all understanding Though they see him here to their comfort and edification yet at the best they see him but as it were through a glass darkly but then face to face 1 Cor. XIII 12. There that Sun will shine directly in their faces and their sight shall be made so strong that they shall be able to look upon that astonishing light without being weakned by its lustre Here they see but his back parts there his
face That seeing him in the everlasting kingdom imports a comprehension They comprehend in some small degree here what is the depth the height the length and breadth of the love of God but then they will understand perfectly all the mysteries of his nature providence attributes and love to them in Christ Jesus And from this sight must necessarily arise joy inexpressible Such as eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor is the heart of man able to conceive The Sun beams are amiable and pleasing here but how would a man be surprized if he were at the spring of that universal fire and saw how it rises and how it is managed So God is very lovely to the pure in heart when they see him here but when they shall come near that inaccessible Light and be perfectly united to him who can express the satisfaction indeed it cannot be express'd for it is immense and infinite Inferences 1. Here we see what a jewel that man enjoys that is possess'd of this inward purity This purity of heart is a treasure which no man knows save he who receives it Comfort your selves Christians with it comfort your selves having this Purity you are rich in the midst of your Poverty and enjoy more than those who boast of Lands and Houses I know the world laughs at this but let them laugh on the time will come when this Purity will stand you in better stead than your carnal Friends and Relations Men may think they shall be able to deal with God as they do with men here on Earth whose mouths they can stop with fair words or with a Bribe But this is vain and foolish to a Prodigy Is God a Man Is he to be imposed upon Can Gold blind his Eyes or if it could where would you have it when you are depriv'd and dispoil'd of all Is not he the searcher of hearts Can you deceive him who sees through all your hypocrisie Purity of heart is that which he requires and not only requires it but is willing to assist you in the getting of it and without this inward Purity he will know none of you but if this be the dress of your minds and souls the doors of his banqueting house will fly open to you and all the enemies you have on earth or in Hell shall not be able to keep you out 2. Here is the spring of true Religion a pure heart If that be pure the outward man will be so too If that be unclean the outward whiteness will never pass for currant in Heaven The Pharisees exceeded all the men of the age they lived in in outward sanctity notwithstanding all this the son of God who saw their hearts and the impurity of their souls calls them serpents and a generation of vipers Matth. XXIII 33. There are some sins so purely the sins of the heart that the heart can consummate and finish them without the help of the body such are Pride Lust Covetousness and Discontent because Providence crosses our designs and bitter Envy and black malice and rejoycing at our Neighbours misfortune c. These lying at the heart and being cherished there shed a poisonous influence upon the outward devotion and consequently render the external worship though never so specious ineffectual and a sacrifice of Fools To pray like a Saint and to breath revenge like a Turk outward Love to good men and secret fondness to sinfull Lusts and Pleasures of the world outward strictness and inward loosness complying with God without and with the Devil within a punctual observance of outward duties and neglect of mortifying our secret Lusts such as Ambition Self-conceitedness Self-admiration lascivious Thoughts and Desires c. is the true complexion of Hypocrisie Therefore To be a Saint the heart must be purified for sins like fatal diseases invade the Vitals first before they appear outwardly And as in such dangerous distempers of the body which first seize the Heart and the Garrison of Life and then discover themselves in little blisters and boyles in the skin he that should lay a Plaister to those boyles and use repercussives to strike them in cannot be said to cure the distemper So he that is diseased with sin which creeps inwardly and infects the soul and becomes manifest at last in the outward man he that doth only restrain the outward acts and uses means of grace only to cut off the outward excrescences but takes nothing inwardly to eradicate the distemper out of his heart and mind makes but an imperfect cure and for all the outward applications will still be in danger of Death even Death eternal It 's true the wise man crys out Prov. XX. 9. Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin which seems to imply an impossibility of making the heart pure But this he speaks with respect to the rigour of the law not with regard to the equity of the Gospel Go to the strictness of the thing no man can say he hath so purified his heart that he is perfectly free from all vain and evil thoughts or that he is never surprized into an impertinent and foolish imagination This the holiest man alive cannot say But then in a Gospel sense it is not only possible to purifie the heart but a duty i. e. so to purifie it as to arrive to an habitual delight in holy serious and heavenly thoughts and to an habitual aversion of the Mind and Heart and inward Man from any thing that is directly contrary to the Will of God And this habitual Purity is consistent with surprizes of evil Thoughts and Desires when a bright gilded Temptation strikes the Heart and dazzles the Mind and inclines the Will to consent But then in Persons where the Grace of God works within a very little while the Spirit doth recover out of the Surprize puts by the thrusts of Fancy and the stabbs of Temptation and reasons its self into Health and Resolution and Resistance again He that is regardless of this Purity hates his own Soul knows not what Religion means and his outward performances will never make him blessed or happy Christians Do you believe this and will not you labour after it I mean after this Purity of Heart Look into the Gospel examine the Places where the Mind the inward Man the inside of the Cup and Platter are commanded to be purified Consider how frequently this is press'd Do not you see what a stress the Holy Ghost lays upon it Why should you deceive why should you delude your selves Why should you think it needless Is it not Wisdom to believe him who is the Fountain of Truth and Wisdom Does not Reason nay doth not Sense tell you that if the Waters in the Spring be muddy the Streams and Rivulets cannot be clear What would you have the Fruit good when the Tree is nought How can your Actions be pleasing to God when your Minds are full of weariness and unwillingness and backwardness
from Aaron's head ran down to his Beard and the skirts of his Cloathing Therefore as it was devout and serious without the help of the body and in the good works in which the Body was concern'd was the first mover of the fact so it shall see the Glory of God before the Body and separated from the Body and while the Body participates of the common Fate But 4. Let me end all with David's excellent Motto Psal. LXXIII 1. Truly God is good to Israel even to them who are of a clean Heart Good indeed good to them in a time of Peace good in Adversity good to them in publick Commotions good to them in his Promises good to them in their life time good to them at their Death and good to them after Death The pure in heart they tast they see they feel his Goodness this supports them this comforts them this strengthens them All the World see his Goodness but O how great is that Goodness that God hath laid up for the pure in heart The pure in heart they shall see God Ay! that 's the Goodness God hath laid up for them And O what a happiness do they enjoy the purblind World sees not the Beauty the Order the Harmony of Providence the pure in Heart behold it and are thankfull Good God! To see thee what ravishments must that cause To see the fountain of Goodness what delights must flow from that sight To enter into a Prince's Cabinet and to see the Pearls the Diamonds the Rubies the precious Stones the Curiosities the Rarities the Riches the Plenty the costly Things the great Variety that is there this is something But what is all this to the seeing of God in whom are concenter'd all the Beauties and Rarities of Heaven and Earth To see but one Attribute of his clearly and distinctly suppose his Wisdom is enough to charm a Soul into eternal Admiration Behold how men run to see an Indian or African Ambassador or a Craesus a Darius an Alexander any thing that is attended with Pomp and Greatness Rejoyce ye that are pure in heart you run to see a greater thing than the greatest Emperour in the World Could you see all the Riches and Glories of the world at one view all that is above and within the Earth all that is within and above the sea and all the Men and Women that have been since the Creation of the World it would not be so stately a sight as a clear sight of God blessed for evermore This is your shield your exceeding great reward this most glorious Object you shall see at last see him and admire him see him and desire to be with him see him and love him see him and rejoyce in him see him and be united to him see him and cling to him for ever You shall see all the Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets all the holy Apostles all the Martyrs that have suffered for the Testimony of Jesus You shall see the great Jesus that died at Jerusalem was crucified on Mount Calvary sweated drops of Blood in the Garden of Gethsemane was crucified and rose again and is set down on the right hand of Majesty on high The Believers St. Peter speaks of saw him not yet rejoyced in him with joy unspeakable and full of Glory What then will your joy be when you shall see him face to face For this we want expressions and therefore I shall draw a veil over it and leave you to live in joyfull Thoughts and expectations of it that when his Glory shall appear you also may appear with him in Glory SERMON IX St. Matth. Ch. V. Ver. 9. Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God AS in this divine Sermon of our Saviour Men and Women are pronounced blessed and happy with respect to things which the dull sensual World spies no felicity in or as here those are counted happy whom the World counts miserable and those miserable whom the World counts happy so it fares with the persons mentioned in the words before you and the Blessedness which attends them the world you know magnifies great Generals and Soldiers and Martial Men who can fight well and are very skilfull in besieging Towns and in scaling Walls in bombarding Castles and surprizing Forts and defeating Armies and slaying Men and he that with Saul hath kill'd his thousands and with David his ten thousands is cry'd up and the Bells ring at his entrance into a conquer'd Town all sing his Praises Flowers of Rhetorick and Applause are strow'd in his way publick Intelligences are fill'd with his Commendations and who so much talk'd of as the man who is very expert in making maintaining and managing a War Our blessed Master over-looks all these partial verdicts of the World and knowing that Nature and Vice and Profit and Honour Ambition and Lust are enough to inspire a man with courage and Wisdom to fight and to cause Disorders and Disturbances among Men instead of commending men who are skilfull in making War set a peculiar mark of favour on those who are skilfull in making Peace in the words I have read to you Blessed are the Peace-makers for they shall be called the Children of God Blessed are the Peace-makers what All Peace-makers Then Turks and Infidels Heathens and Pagans and the most licentious of Christian Princes do all come into the number of the blessed and all must be Children of God For there is no Prince though never so great a Tyrant though he hath spilt Blood like Water in his Conquests though he hath made no more of destroying mens Lives than Tarquinius did of taking off the heads of Poppies or Domitian of killing Flies yet makes Peace sometimes and tired with the Toyl and Fatigue of the War concludes a Truce at last with his Enemy and what Do all these come into the society of the blessed To give you light into this affair I shall enquire I. Who these Peace-makers are that are pronounced blessed here II. I shall examine the reasons of the supposition or the thing supposed and implied here that those who have an aversion from this Peace-making are and cannot be blessed III. I shall take the blessedness of these Peace makers into consideration and shew how and upon what account they are and shall be call'd the Children of God I. Who these Peace-makers are that are said to be blessed here The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as Interpreters observe in Greek Authors signifies and denotes strictly those who make or procure Peace among Persons who disagree and unite those who are at variance but in Scripture the expression is of a larger extent and includes a great deal more than a bare reconciling of Enemies and the persons here aimed at are as follows 1. Such as do make Peace with God and with their Consciences To this purpose is the exhortation Job XXI 22. Acquaint now thy self
for not yielding to a Worship or Practice which he hath plainly forbid Thus the three young men in Daniel were persecuted for righeteousness sake because thrown into a fiery Furnace for not worshipping the golden Image which Nebuchadnezzar had set up and thus Daniel himself was persecuted for righteousness sake when cast into the Lion's Den for worshipping the true God three times a Day Thus the Primitive believers were persecuted for righteousness sake when imprison'd condemn'd to the mines butcher'd tormented thrown to the Lions forced to fight with Beasts c. because they would not sacrifice to Idols nor offer Incense to Jupiter nor swear by the Emperours and their genius c. And thus the poor Waldenses and Albigenses were persecuted for righteousness sake when pursued with Fire and Sword for not worshipping Saints and Angels and for not believing the Infallibility and Truth of the Roman Church And the same may be said of any Christian that loses his place or the favour of his Master Prince or Relatives for not telling a lye for not profaning the Lord's Day for being loath to cheat or defraud or to comply with others in their sins In a word to suffer for obeying any affirmative or negative standing Precept or Command of God is to be persecuted for righteousness sake and such Persons are pronounced blessed in my Text which leads me to the II. Point whether these words as well as the preceeding imply a negative Truth viz. that they who are not persecuted for righteousness sake are not blessed You may remember that in the explication of the preceeding Beatitudes I have still proved the Negative implied as that those who are not poor in spirit or are not meek or not pure in heart c. are not blessed Here one would think the Negative should not hold for it seems impertinent and absurd to say that those good Christians who have lived and died in times of Peace and Plenty and Tranquility are not blessed nor made partakers of the Kingdom of Heaven But notwithstanding all this the negative is as true as the affirmative provided we take Christ's meaning by the right handle as thus 1. Those who are persecuted and are not persecuted for righteousness sake their bare Persecution will not cannot make them blessed and this is very true For 1. A Man as I said before may be persecuted for his Crimes for robbing or stealing upon the High-way for clipping the King's Coin for breaking open a House and may suffer for it This may be call'd Persecution because the same severities are used upon him that are upon Men who suffer for righteousness sake but still this suffering cannot make him blessed or happy because he is not persecuted for righteousness sake 't is true such a Man being apprehended and imprison'd may repent and become a new Creature and upon that account he may be blessed but his bare Persecution doth not make him so because he is not persecuted for righteousness sake 2. A Man may be persecuted for a false erroneous Doctrine yet that cannot make him blessed i. e. if the Law or the Officers of Justice should persecute a Man that teaches that the Pope is Christ's Vicar and hath Power to depose Kings and to excommunicate them when they prove Hereticks and to give their Kingdoms away to others or that there is no Salvation out of the Church of Rome c. Considering the Penalties and Punishments the Law inflicts in such Cases on such pragmatical Men this may be called a Persecution but this Persecution cannot make the Teacher of these Doctrines blessed much less intitle him to the Kingdom of Heaven because all this while he is not persecuted for righteousness sake and he cannot be supposed to suffer as a Confessour or Martyr but rather as a Criminal It 's true the Teacher of such Doctrines may apprehend them to be part of the righteousness taught in the Gospel but it 's evident to all unbyass'd impartial and unprejudic'd Men that they are not but rather that they are as false as God is true and contrary to the Word of God and therefore his suffering cannot make him blessed no not if he should be canoniz'd by his own party because here is nothing of righteousness in the case no Doctrine no Precept plainly revealed by the Word of God a pretended righteousness may be but no real one 2. The Negative also holds if we say that those who are loath to suffer for righteousness sake when call'd to it are not blessed and cannot be and this is the Negative chiefly intended here even that those who in times of persecution for righteousness sake preferr their ease and quiet and Temporal prosperity before suffering for Christ are very unhappy Men and the reasons are plain 1. The Threatnings of Christ pronounced against all such Persons are very dreadfull Whosoever shall deny me before men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven He that loves Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me He that loves Son or Daughter more than me is not worthy of me He that doth not deny himself and follow after me is not worthy of me He that shall seek to save his life shall lose it Matth. X. 33 37 38 39. And again Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinfull Generation of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in the Glory of his Father Mark VIII 38. And surely this can be no blessed Estate It 's true we are not to run into the Fire of persecution without need or without a call and the ancient Church justly blamed those forward Men who offer'd and accus'd themselves to the Heathen Judges and Executioners and even provok'd them to dispatch them because they were Christians but when we are call'd to suffering for righteousness sake and God thinks fit to try us by that Fire there to refuse it and for worldly profit greatness power and honour and an easie life to deny the truth or to subscribe to errours which we are perswaded in our Consciences are so this is such a blot upon Religion such a dishonour to Christ such an affront to truth that such a Person must needs appear very odious in the sight of God and an object of his wrath and anger cannot be blessed 2. Such Persons forfeit all their Title to the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore cannot be blessed this is implied in the Text and if a Man had all the Kingdoms of the World in Possession and were excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven he would be a very miserable Man miserable in all his greatness power and authority and so much the more miserable because after the height of all this splendour he is to sink into the nethermost Hell from one extream to another from the greatest felicity to the greatest misery The Kingdom of Heaven is intended for Conquerours He that is loath to suffer for
Sufferers being able to disburden their Grief into one anothers Bosom it gives such Satisfaction as People who are ready to burst with Grief do find when a shower of Tears does give their Sorrow vent This Ease is chiefly in the Mind and if the Mind be easie the whole Man receives Comfort if that be easie it is as much as if a Man did not suffer at all It 's our Minds and Thoughts that make us either happy or miserable If a Man thinks himself happy in Misery he is so and if he thinks himself miserable in his Sufferings he is so It 's our Thoughts certainly that make us uneasie in Adversity and musing at such times upon wrong Topicks and Arguments puts all into disorder whereas calling to mind such Reasonings as are proper and suitable alleviates our Grief and makes our Minds easie And of this nature is the good Society we suffer with For 2. This gives us opportunity to make use of the same Motives to Patience that those other good Men have used to bear up under their Crosses and in all likelihood they will have the same Effect upon us and end in the same Consolation The Primitive Believers look'd upon their Afflictions as Tryals of their Faith and that gave them Ease so must I They had a regard to the End for which God did correct them viz. to produce in them the peaceable fruits of Righteousness and that taught them Contentedness so must I They encouraged themselves to Patience with the Example of Christ and that quieted them and so must I They relied upon the Promises of God without wavering and that revived them so must I They look'd upon their Troubles as short momentary things and that made them lightsome so must I They thought their Afflictions necessary to make them breath after their heavenly Country and that made them cheerful so must I. So that if their way be follow'd and our Fellow-sufferers be consider'd under these Notions their Company in suffering will certainly afford more than ordinary Consolations Inferences 1. Having explain'd the several Beatitudes mention'd in this excellent Sermon of our Saviour give me leave to observe to you in the Close of all That though every single Virtue and Qualification in the preceding Beatitudes hath a glorious Reward annexed to it no less than the beatifick Vision of an All-sufficient God yet you must not think that he who should apply himself to the Practice of one single Virtue and neglect the rest would upon that account be rewarded with Heaven This is impossible as the Case stands for Christ expresly requires Vniversal Obedience but if I mind only one of these Qualifications and disregard the rest how is my Obedience universal It 's true Christ affixes a spiritual and eternal Reward to every particular Grace partly for our greater Encouragement partly because every one of the aforementioned Graces tends to that Center and like Lines meet in that one Point and partly because the future Reward shall be suited to the several Virtues and in some measure answer and resemble the Nature of the respective Accomplishments yet still there is such a Connexion among them that they are inseparable and he that sincerely according to the Intent of the Law-giver practises one cannot forbear practising the rest and consequently he that pretends to observe one and doth despise the rest doth not observe that one as he ought The serious and conscientious Observance of one will make us enamoured with all the Links of the whole Chain the Beauty and Reasonableness of one will invite and charm us into a cheerful Compliance with all the rest The several Qualifications mention'd in the preceding Verses are so many Steps to Heaven Humility is the first Mourning for our Sins the second Meekness and composing our turbulent Passions the third Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness the fourth Mercifulness the fifth Purity of Heart the sixth Peaceableness and a Peace-making Temper the seventh and a patient enduring Persecutions Calumnies and Afflictions in a good Cause the last So that you see how you are to rise and by what Ladder you are to ascend to Glory He that advances but a step or two will never reach the everlasting Hills One Grace is the Foundation of the other Humility or an humble Sense of your selves and of your own Worth will dispose you for mourning because you have offended and do offend a very great holy and gracious God and this Sense which makes you concern'd for the Injuries and Affronts you have offer'd to the best of Beings and which makes you mourn will dispose you to Meekness towards your Neighbours who do offend and have offended you and move you to curb and moderate and mortify your Anger and Pettishness at Faults you see in others subduing your inordinate Passion you will be more at leisure to consider the Beauty and Excellency of Righteousness and that will make you hunger and thirst after it This Hunger and Thirst will dispose you to Mercifulness for he that desires to grow in Grace must apply himself to Works of Mercy for by these Holiness is signally increased This merciful Temper will dispose you for Purity of Heart not only because Almsgiving cleanses the Soul and quenches Sin as Fire doth Water but enlarges your Love to God This Purity of the inward Man will dispose you for Peaceableness and a Peace-making Temper for as Strife and Contention rises from an impure Heart from Lusts warring within us so a peaceable Disposition rises from inward Purity This peaceable and Peace-making Temper will procure you may be the Hatred and Ill-will of Men from hence will come Persecutions Slanders Reproaches Calumnies c. which if you bear with a patient and generous Mind you secure your Reward in Heaven and then rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven II. I must here take notice that nothing deserves our rejoycing so much as these future Rewards What is there in this World that should make us so fond of rejoycing in it The three great Idols of the World are Riches Honour and Sensual Pleasure but look ye how inconstant how uncertain how uneven and how short are all these He that is rich this Year may be a Beggar the next Valerianus and Andronicus who are Emperors to day to morrow shall be despicable to all their Subjects He that wallows in Pleasure this hour some grievous Pain or Disease may arrest him the next and fill him with Vexation Do not we see how these outward Enjoyments crack in the very handling and make themselves wings and flee away He that is a Minister of State to day may be a Prisoner to morrow he that sits at the Helm to day to morrow may groan in a Dungeon he that gives Law to others to day may be exposed to the fury of the Rabble to morrow and he that dwells in a stately House to day may see it laid in Ashes before the next Morning
own Souls must be absolutely necessary Religion exalts Nature and the kindnesses which the Law written upon our Hearts requires of us toward the Bodies of our Neighbours Religion bids us exercise to their Souls which are the nobler substances Religion as it makes us concerned for our own Souls so it raises a desire to do good to the Souls of others Till a Man comes to be concerned about spiritual Affairs he is a Stranger to Religion As things unseen are the proper Object of the Soul so to be truly concerned about things unseen is the proper Character of a Religious Man And as Religion in imitation of its Author is communicative so the Soul of another Man comes to be very dear to us if our care and solicitude be once seriously employ'd about our own and this is the ground of the great Duty pressed here viz. preserving others from Sin and Corruption to which purpose our Saviour tells Peter with respect to his resurrection from his Apostacy when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren Luke XXII 32. And St. Paul in larger terms Exhort one another daily taking heed lest any of you be harden'd through the deceitfulness of sin Heb. III. 13. This being the true import of the similitude used here Let us II. Consider how this Salt comes to lose its Savour And this happens 1. When a Man after he comes to know his Duty either by reading or hearing the Word preached in season and out of season acts contrary to his Profession and enticed or overcome by the Cares Riches and Pleasures of this Life grows sensless of the weighty Concerns of his own and other Mens Souls and willfully and obstinately maugre all the Checks of his Conscience to the contrary continues so We all know that when Salt hath lost its Picquancy and Sharpness and Quickness it is gone and it can be call'd Salt no more Just so it is with a Man that owns himself a Christian if taken with these outward things that please the Flesh and pamper the Body and gratifie his Carnal Interest he boldly neglects exerting his Zeal and Fervour for his own and other Mens Souls which his Religion presses and urges him to he ceases to be a Christian for a Christian is a Person active that acts according to the Rules of his Profession Where it is so that the love of the World doth so blind and intoxicate him that he looks neither after his own Soul nor the Soul of his Neighbour and feels no love to either or if he feels something of it choaks it again with the Bryars and Thorns of this Life he loses the Spirit of Religion and then as the Body without the Soul is dead so his Christianity without this Love becomes dead also Indeed we call the dead Men still but that 's only a Name Properly speaking they are no Men and so it is here he that is a stranger to this Love is no Christian for this Love is as much of the Essence of Christianity as sharpness or quickness is to Salt 2. This Salt loses his Savour When a Man hath been for some time solicitous about his own Soul and the spiritual Concerns of his Neighbours and grows weary of it or for Carnal Reasons quits those hearty Endeavours of preserving others from Sin and Corruption This the Holy Ghost calls departing from the Holy Commandment delivered to us 2 Pet. II. 21. Though losing in Scripture imports sometimes neglecting that which is a Mans greatest interest to mind yet for the most part loss supposes having and that we once had that which is now gone from us and this is an aggravation of the fault and consequently of the Sin mentioned in the Text And he loses his Savour as a Christian i. e. loses his Christianity and Sense of God with a witness that begins in the Spirit and ends in the Flesh runs well for a time and suffers himself to be stopt in his Race hath endeavour'd to do good to the Souls of others and taken care that his Life and Actions might be edifying to those who conversed with him but having laid his hand to the Plough looks back with Lot's Wife who became a Pillar of Salt and of Disgrace and Infamy too Salt is used in Scripture for permanency that 's the reason of the expression Numb XVIII 19. A Covenant of Salt i. e. a lasting Covenant and a Christian that is to be Salt in one sense i. e. preserve others as much as he can from sinning must be Salt in the other sense too i. e. continue patiently in well-doing if he doth not he loses his Savour and Religion and then if the Salt hath lost its Savour wherewith shall it be salted Whether Salt can lose its Savour I leave to Naturalists to enquire and determine if it cannot the possibility of it may however safely be supposed for the instruction of the ignorant as St. Paul supposes an Angels Preaching a new Doctrin If an Angel from Heaven should Preach another Gospel to you than what we have Preach'd unto you let him be accurs'd not that its possible an Angel can do so but such a supposition makes the Argument in hand more powerful and convincing And having considered how the Salt or the Persons represented by Salt lose their Savour le ts go on and consider III. The nature of the Commination here spoken of which is That the Salt after that cannot recover its taste but is cast forth and troden under foot of Men. To explain this 1. As Salt when it hath lost its Sharpness is render'd incapable of recovering that Sharpness there being nothing in Nature that can give it the taste of Salt again so where People will not be perswaded either by good Examples or by other means to endeavour the preservation of others from Sin God very often hardens them and takes away from them a Heart and Will to do it for the future When Men neglect their known Duty or delay applying themselves to it though they have many Motions of God's Spirit to that purpose and hope to do it this time and that time and yet still find Impediments there it is just with God to put them in an incapacity of doing it at all and to take from them that Grace and Power he gave them to preserve others from Corruption or to bring upon them an impossibility of recovering that Grace and Power as much as Salt cannot be Salted again or recover its Sharpness when it hath once lost its Acrimony God cannot endure to see Men play with his Gifts He makes anotherguess account of his Gospel he vouchsafes to Men than the generality do and those who give up their Names to him and will not by the strongest Arguments be prevail'd with to act according to their Profession shall be in danger of being so infatuated that they shall not be salted again with the Salt of Grace and Favour and influences of his Spirit for this is to bury our Talents
you who pretend to be enlighten'd by the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in this adulterous and sinful generation Whatever ill examples you behold whatever vain Company you light into whatever viciousness you see abroad that must be nothing to you your Souls must not he defiled nor your Minds darken'd by such Spectacles Your business is to keep your selves pure as Lot in Sodom A multitude that does Evil is no President for you to follow for you have heard that the way which leads to perdition is broad and many there be that walk in it Numbers in sin must be no Motive to do after their ungodly Deeds Among these you are to shine as Lights in the World While you preserve your goodness your Light is preserved and your Candle continues burning when that decays your Light decays and should a Cry be made at midnight Behold the Bridegroom comes in what Condition will you be when your Lamps are gone out The Light that is soon extinguish'd by the circumambient Darkness which surrounds you is a counterfeit Light It comes not from the Father of Lights nor is it a genuine Beam of the Sun of Righteousness for whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin i. e. so as to make a trade of it or to yield to a habit of it for his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God 1 Joh. III. 9. Ill Examples must make your Light burn the brighter and the greater Wickedness you are incompass'd with the higher must your Zeal rise and by this the World must be taught that there is something in you which is greater than the World and that in despight of all the Miseries which befall good Men in this World Verily there is a Reward for the Righteous IV. Ye are the Light of the World When you behold the Light of the World what should you do but remember your Duty which is to walk as Children of Light Can you complain of want of Remembrancers and Monitors when the Light of every Day puts you in mind what manner of persons you ought to be When you see the Sun shining upon you is not this an Item how you are to warm others by your blameless Conversation When the Light breaks in and displays its Glory in your Chambers in a Morning is not this a silent admonition how you are to deport your selves that day Even like the Children of God without rebuke and to walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envy for they that sleep sleep in the night and they that be drunken are drunken in the night but let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breast-plate of Faith and Love and for a helmet the hope of Salvation 1 Thes. V. 7 8. This is the Wisdom of God to express our Duty by things which incur into our Senses are familiar and obvious and which we daily behold that looking upon those Objects we might remember what we are called to what we are design'd for and what our Master requires at our hands Light must make us reflect upon the Light of Grace and Holiness and put us upon examination what Footsteps of the Grace of God appear in us and upon Resolutions to walk worthy of the Name which is given us and so to guide our Thoughts and Words and Actions that by what we do in the World our Neighbours and those who behold our Conversation may be edified and encouraged to lay hold on Eternal Life V. Ye are the Light of the World And God hath given you a Light to walk by which is his Holy Word for thy Word is a Lamp unto my Feet and a Light unto my Paths saith David Psal. CXIX 105. By this Light you are to try the Spirits whether they be of God for many false Prophets are gone out into the World There are Men abroad that teach for Doctrines the Commandments and Traditions of Men Men that will tell you that except you are in Communion with a certain Prelate who exalts himself above all that is called God even above Kings and Princes you cannot be saved Men that will tell you that you must Pray to Saints and implore the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin and hear Mass and believe against Sense and Reason that Bread is Flesh that you must hear Mass and Prayers you understand not and be content to be deprived of the comfortable Cup in the Holy Sacrament There are others that talk much of Religion and yet are great Strangers to the Christian Virtues of Meekness and Charity and not only confine the Favour of God to a certain Party but would straiten yours too and place Religion more in talking against Ceremonies than in the greater and weightier matters of the Law And abundance of other false Teachers and Doctrines you may meet withall abroad for le ts do what we can the Enemy will sow Tares among the Wheat but the way not to be deceived by such false Fires is to examin them by the clear Light of the Word of God To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word there is no Light in them By this Light you may find out not only erroneous Opinions but sinful Works and Practices too not only in others but in your selves also Take but a serious view of your Actions Designs Aims Principles Behaviour and Discourses by this noble Light and those spots and blemishes of your Souls which before you took no notice of will stare in your Faces This will soon tell you what Rocks what Shelves what Sands you are to shun for we have a sure word of Prophecy whereunto ye do well to take heed as unto a Light shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the morning star arise in your Hearts 2 Pet. I. 19. VI. Ye are the Light of the World But what is no good Christian in darkness Do we not see many excellent Persons who dread Sin as Hell it self yet see nothing of the Light of God's Countenance It s very true There are such Persons and yet for all this they are Light in the Lord. They have the Light of Holiness in them though they have not the Light of Joy and Gladness They are made partakers of the Divine Nature and therefore must have Light in them and such Light as will at last light them to Heaven But through strong Temptations or some fatal Distempers it comes to pass that the Light they possess is clouded and hindred from going on to a perfect day and they carry it as it were in a dark Lanthorn But all I shall say to such at this time is what God bids the Prophet proclaim in the Ears of Persons under such Circumstances Isa. L. 10. Who is among you that fears the Lord that obeys the Voice of his Servant that walks in darkness and sees no light Let him trust
in his Service Can the outward Man be good when the inward is rotten and putrefied Are you wise Builders do you think do you hope to make a good piece of work of it to build the Top of the House when you have not laid the Foundation This purity of heart produces a great sense of God and another World a great sense of the Love of God which constrains the Soul to live in conformity to his Will and this is the Foundation of all true Religion If this sense be setled in the Heart if this Ground be well manured the whole Garden of your Lives will abound with Flowers and Fruits of all Sorts Ay! but how is this Purity to be attain'd I answer not with Laziness not with crying There is a Bear there is a Lion in the way Not by being over curious about the Purity and Ornaments of the Body When People spend more time at the Glass than at their Prayers take more than ordinary satisfaction in dressing and adorning the Body seek more to please Men than God do all they can to pamper the Flesh the Mind will run out into a thousand Vanities But 1. By studying the Word of God For the Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soul the Testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple The statutes of the Lord are right rejoycing the heart the commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes Psal. XIX 7 8. What made David wiser than his Enemies What made him understand more than the Antients What made him know more than his Teachers He tells you Psal. CXIX 97. Oh how I love thy Law it is my meditation all the day Vers. 104. Through thy Precepts I get Vnderstanding Vers. 140. Thy word is very pure And it is so pure that if digested and ponder'd on it will purifie the Heart too 2. By taking notice of God in every thing While other Men talk of chance and take notice of the Shell and Outside and of the little Wheels whereby their own and other Men's affairs are turned about do you look still upon that God that hides himself behind the Curtain and turns all according to his good Pleasure Take notice of him in every Blessing whether you eat or drink or whatever Conveniency Mercy Providence comes upon you have an Eye to him and you will find your hearts will become very pure They looked upon him and were enlightened and their faces were not ashamed Psal. XXXIV 5. 3. By calling in the aid and assistance of his Holy Spirit For it is the proper Province of that Spirit to enlighten the Mind and Understanding and to purifie it from gross terrestrial and brutish Idea's and Imaginations and to replenish and fill it with a sense of spiritual things And this Spirit is ready to come ready to enter ready to lend his helping hand when he finds the Soul willing to be purified willing without Tricks without Reserves without Proviso's without Conditions Such as Lord suffer me first to go and bury my Father or suffer me first to go and take leave of those at my house In a word this Spirit loves to deal with down-right honest Men that mean what they say and think what they speak in their Addresses to God 4. By acquainting your selves with the true Nature of Sin For a principal part of this Purity of Heart consisting in an Aversion from sinfull Thoughts and Desires it is not possible a Person should arrive to that Aversion that sees not that Evil in Sin which is really in it What Shall I hate a thing I see no harm in Shall I dread the Appearance of a thing which I spy some Beauty and Satisfaction in The best the plainest and easiest way to acquaint our selves with the Nature of Sin is by reflecting on the Wages of Sin which is Death even everlasting Death and Misery It may be my Understanding is dull and weak and I cannot dive into all the Tendencies of Sin nor find out all the Indignities it offers to God's Attributes but this I know Eternal Misery is threatned to it This seems indeed to be unproportionable to its short duration But still God having certainly threatned it there must be something in it very nauseous very grievous very odious very dreadfull very injurious to God and to his infinite Purity the very shadow of it must be poysonous and infectious and by this the Heart will take fire and hate the very thoughts of it even every false way 5. By representing to your minds the infinite Purity of God with whom your Souls are to converse and who offers to make your Heart his Temple and the Place of his Residence If you are to receive a King a Sovereign Prince or a Person of extraordinary Quality into your House do not you make all clean and handsome and take care there may be nothing wanting that may give him content and satisfaction every Chamber every Room in the House is set out and garnish'd and adorn'd as far as your ability reaches and Neatness is a thing that at such a time you glory in But what is a great Man to Almighty God What is a Prince or a King to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords This Sovereign Majesty is willing to lodge nay to dwell in your Souls A God purer than Angels purer than the Sun and Stars and dwelling in Light inaccessible to whom ten thousand times ten thousand minister and by whose Order and Direction the whole Creation stands and falls And then how holy how pious how clean how pure ought your thoughts to be to give so great so rich so magnificent a Guest suitable Entertainment 6. By representing to your selves the vast advantages that come by this inward Purity I shall name some of them by and by In the mean while I will mention but this one It will make you pray without wandring worldly and base troublesome thoughts Many People complain that they are mightily troubled with wandering thoughts in Prayer Purity of Heart is a remedy against that distemper for that consists in a great measure in an habitual delight in holy serious thoughts And when you go to Prayer your thoughts will delight to fix upon that lovely and amiable object And the secret love to God which is another ingredient of this Purity will force your desires upward and keep your thoughts together and they 'll willingly quit all other hold and with cheerfulness gather about that All-sufficient Being to whom you pray and offer your Devotions For indeed wandring thoughts in Prayer come for the most part from want of fervent Love to God what we love we think of Therefore as this Purity of Heart teaches and inclines you to be enamour'd with that excellent Being so it will procure steddiness of thoughts and affections in Prayer will keep your thoughts in a great measure from roving and wandering up and down among Briars and Thorns meaner and baser Objects Thus
Purity of Heart is to be obtain'd But then To prevent Discouragements and to obviate the Mistakes and Objections of some pious serious Christians and to keep them from sorrow and dejectedness in their serious Prosecution of this Purity I must add here by way of Advertisement 1. That from an imperfect purity of heart a Christian must not therefore presently conclude he is a total stranger to it 2. That neither contemplation of sin nor unallow'd of blasphemous Thoughts defile the Heart 1. That from an imperfect purity of heart a Christian must not presently conclude he is a total stranger to it VVe do not think that Rome was built in a day no more do we imagine that this Purity of Heart is perfected in one Week Indeed when the seed of God is sown in the Heart there is an earnest desire and endeavour after perfection which discovers it self in a chearfull progress but it is not actually perfected but by degrees Ye that labour to remove sinfull Lusts and Desires and Designs and Passions from your hearts and to possess them with humble and meek and kind and charitable and religious Thoughts and to make God the darling and joy of your Souls be not dismay'd nor frighted if this Purity of Heart in you be not come up yet to that degree to which it is advanc'd in others Those other Christians in which that Diamond glisters and that Star doth shine have been many years to pollish it When you have labour'd so long as they and as hard as they your happiness will be the same with theirs Purity of Heart is that which will find us work will imploy us through the whole course of our Lives for it meets with many rubs with many clogs and impediments which to remove will find us work at all times Stop not stand not still the measure of Purity you are arrived to seek still to enlarge it to extend it make frequent journeys to Heaven with your Prayers and you will find it will spread forth as the Valleys as Gardens by the river side as the trees of Lignaloes which the Lord hath planted and as Cedar trees beside the waters Numb XXIV 6. II. That neither Contemplation of sin nor unallow'd of blasphemous Thoughts defile the Heart 1. Contemplation of sin doth not defile it But here we must distinguish for there is a Contemplation of sin that doth defile the Heart i. e. when a man acts his sin over again in his mind and having been in a vicious extravagant company the day before represents the scene of that folly meeting to his mind with delight thereby to whet his appetite into a desire of having such another opportunity and to confirm his love to that Sensuality Or when a man having committed Lewdness or been guilty of acts of Uncleanness by lively Thoughts of that sin makes the impure Pleasure skip and dance afresh in his memory thereby to prompt himself to new enterprizes in that Villainy Then indeed the Soul is stain'd with a witness and a Man becomes a Devil delighting in his own ruin But when the sins of our former life are thought on with sorrow and Contrition and the particular Circumstances of it rehearsed and represented with due Aggravations in order to work our selves into a detestation of that and all other sins here the Contemplation becomes wholsom and instead of defiling helps to purifie the Heart serves to keep it clean and to arm it against fresh assaults Such Contemplations are purgatives restore the soul to health give it new strength and courage to fight against the World and the Flesh and if this way were followed we should have purer Christians and the World would soon be better and men would learn to present their souls and bodies living sacrifices unto God which is their reasonable service I do not deny but this Contemplation may be driven too far into Terror and Consternation and into a belief that the sins are unpardonable but that is not the fault of Contemplation but weakness and infirmity of the Considerer 2. Vnallow'd of blasphemous or other wicked thoughts in the heart do not defile it This Doctrine must be often inculcated because of the great number of pious Souls who look upon themselves as the vilest Wretches in the World and are ready to run into Desperation because so many blasphemous thoughts and filthy suggestions present themselves to their minds and disturb them in their Devotions and other religious Exercises But not being allow'd of nor encourag'd nor consented to as dreadfull as heinous as they seem to be they do not defile the heart no more than boistrous Winds and the Commotion of the Water do fully the Pearl that lies at the bottom of the River That they are not their own Thoughts is evident because their Will is contrary to them their Understanding is convinc'd they are injurious to God and their hearts desire to be rid of them The Soul in this case is like the young Men in the fiery Furnace while a thousand Sparks fly about them not a hair of their head is singed Those blasphemous Suggestions as they are purely Satanical and thrown in by the Devil so when the Soul continues declaring War and Hatred and Resistance to them not all the Legions of the burning Lake not all the Whirlwinds they rouse not all the Dust they make can defile the Spirit which is secured by opposing its forces to those Hellish Troops and preserves its Purity by Contradictions 3. It may not be amiss to take notice here of the reason why the Soul is rewarded or punished before the body When men die the Body is laid in the Grave and returns to Dust and there it lies till the Arch-Angel's Trumpet rouzes it from its Slumber The Soul in the mean while is in a state of Bliss or Misery and the reason lies in the Text because of the Purity or Impurity of the Soul or Spirit The Soul was able to sin without the Body i. e. without the help and assistance of the Body could be lewd and proud and vain and envious and malicious without discovering it by bodily Actions This is the Impurity of the heart Therefore as the Soul did sin without the assistance of the Body so its fit it should be punished in the absence of the Body Again in sinfull actions when Soul and Body are concern'd the Mind sins first before the Body participates of the Poyson for the Will must consent before the outward Man can act As therefore the Soul is the first Actor in the sin so it 's fit it should be first in suffering the penalty of the Law And so it is in the future Reward or Recompence The Soul performs many excellent services in which the Body is not concern'd such as holy Thoughts and pious Meditations And the good which both Soul and Body are partners in begins in the Heart or Mind and from thence it runs down into the Actions as the precious Oyl