John not to love the World neither the things that are in the World And lest we should take this only as a matter of Advice and Counsel not express Command he further adds If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him But that 't is a Christian Duty to be thus poor in Spirit will be further evident from the very Nature and Design of the Christian Institution The Grand thing intended in the Christian Religion was to reduce straying Man to his true Good and Happiness to sublimate refine and spiritualize his Nature to loose him from the Cords of Vanity and from his fast adhesions to created Good to purge him from all earthly Concretions and Alloys to disingage and separate him not only from the World about him but even from one part of himself in one word to raise him from Earth to Heaven not only by a Local but by a moral and mental Elevation Indeed 't was much otherwise under the Jewish Dispensation There was then great Indulgence afforded to the Animal Inclinations and worldly Affections of Men and their very Religion was indeared to them by Temporal Promises and Blessings Not that God intended hereby to express any liking or approbation of Covetousness and Earthly-mindedness but only to comply with the infirmity of that gross stupid People which rendred them uncapable of being won upon by more noble Proposals And besides it being a received Notion among the Idolatrous Inhabitants of the Land as is observ'd by a late Learned Author that the Worship of their Idols and False Gods did procure them fruitful Seasons and increase of all manner of store 't was in proportion requisite that God also should promise his Votaries the like worldly Affluence to keep them from running over to the Gentile Superstitions Upon these and the like Accounts much was indulg'd to the Jewish State and People They were never expresly required to abstract their desires from the things of the World Nor unless they proceeded to covet unjustly that is what belonged to another were they ever taxable for a too earthly and downward disposition of Soul Not but that earthly-mindedness was as much an Imperfection in it self as 't is now and was really forbidden according to the more retired and involute sense of the Law but the Letter did not reach it because then was the time and state of Imperfection and 't was the only Handle which that People could be took hold of by whose Hardness of Heart was the occasion of this as well as of some other Indulgencies But now they that shall think themselves obliged to no higher measures of Perfection under the Christian State know not what manner of Spirit they are of Christ as he has introduced a Better Hope so has he annexed to it more excellent and more exalted Precepts and as his Kingdom was not so neither is his Religion of this World The Christian Law is Lex Ignea a Law of Fire a Law that purifies and refines that warms actuates and enlightens that separates also and dissolves those strong Ties whereby the Soul sticks glued to the Earth And therefore the Apostle calls the Christian Institution the Law of the Spirit of Life and in another place the ministration of the Spirit And what our Saviour said of some words of his may truly be applied to all The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life This therefore being the Design of the Christian Dispensation to perfect Holiness to advance the Interest of the Divine Life to elevate us to the utmost degree of moral Perfection our Nature is here capable of and as far as is possible to make us Partakers of the Divine 't is utterly inconsistent with the End of such a Law as this to suffer us to lie groveling with our Faces on the Earth to seek Rest and Happiness in things more ignoble than our selves and to grow one as it were with the dirty Planet upon which we live We ought rather as the Philosopher speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aspire to the measures of Immortality shake off the Clogs of Earth that weigh us down and make hast to be Angels as fast as we can We are obliged by the Design as well as by the Rule of our Religion to be as loose from the Creature as may be not to love the World nor the things of the World whether the Lust of the Flesh or the Lust of the Eye or the Pride of Life but to be poor in Spirit and empty of the Creature that we may be rich towards God and filled with the fulness of him that fills all in all And now that to be thus poor in Spirit is a reasonable Duty as well as a Necessary one will sufficiently appear upon these two grounds I. Because these Worldly Enjoyments are not our True Good II. Because they hinder and divert us from that which really is so That they are not our True Good is certain for if they were we should then find Rest and Satisfaction in them But this we are so far from doing that we are as dissatisfied under our Enjoyments as without them For though by Fruition our Appetite be abated as to that particular Object which we prosecuted yet still we desire on further and our general Thirst after Happiness is as unsatisfied as ever Which plainly argues that our true good is not to be found in these things but that they are altogether Vanity and Vexation To place therefore our Happiness in such Objects is utterly absurd and against Reason and argues us to be grosly ignorant of one of the two things either of our selves or of the things of the World We are either ignorant of the Dignity and Excellence of our Natures of the Designs and Ends of our Creation and of the Strengths and Capacities of our Appetites which can be satisfied with nothing less than infinite Or if we do know and consider all this then we are so much the more grosly ignorant of the World about us to think there is any thing to be had in this Circle of Vanity that may satisfie the importunity of such craving and capacious Appetites Poverty of Spirit therefore is reasonable because the things of the World are not our True Good But this is the least part of their Charge They are not only insufficient to be our true good themselves but they also Secondly hinder and divert us from that which really is so For not to mention the many Snares and Temptations of a great Fortune and what a dangerous thing it is to be always furnished with all the Possibilities and Opportunities of Sin and Folly I only observe that the very Desire of these Earthly things diverts us and takes us off from the Love of God When our Love is divided even among Created Objects the force of it will be much abated in respect of each But much more will the Love
't is certain that it was a great Defect in the Law not to bind so perfect a Precept with a Penal Sanction Tho indeed the true reason was because 't was too perfect to be severely exacted in that Infant Age and state of the Church The Law therefore did not rigidly exact it tho it did plainly command it Which tho no defect with relation to that Time and State the Law being as perfect as the Gospel as to all the ends and purposes intended by it and every way accommodated to the Condition of those on whom it was imposed yet absolutely speaking it was a great Defect and Imperfection of the Law Then as to the Mahumetan Religion which indeed is only Heathenism pretending to Revelation this tho the last and assuming to it self the improvement of all that went before is yet really short even of Heathenism it self This is so far from requiring internal Purity that it does not require so much as external but allows and recommends too the grossest Impurities which has often made me wonder why the Turk should write upon the outside of his Alcoran Let no Man touch this Book but he that is pure I 'm sure the Book it self requires no such thing nor can I justifie the Reason of the Motto in any other sense but this That none but he that is pure is fit to be trusted with such a corrupt Institution But the Christian Law is pure indeed and none but such as are so are worthy to unloose the Seals of this Book This requires the utmost Purity that is consistent with the Measures of Mortality Purity without and Purity within pure Hands and pure Hearts It requires it more expresly and in a greater degree than either the Heathen or Jewish Religion and what was wanting in the other under the Sanction of Rewards and Punishments and those the greatest imaginable It does not only command inward Purity but incourage it too by the strongest Proposals that can affect either the Sense or the Reason of Man One of the greatest of which Encouragements is that our Saviour inserts it into the order of his Beatitudes and gives it a special Title to the Beatifick Vision in these Words Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The Subject to be here discours'd of is Christian Purity or Purity of Heart Whereof I shall represent I. The Nature by a Character or Description II. The Necessity III. The Blessedness By Purity of Heart in general is to be understood an inward Conformity of all the Thoughts and Desires of the Soul to the Will and Law of God When not only the external Actions are according to the Rule but the whole inward Frame and Position of the Mind stands right and well order'd and as the Apostle describes it not only the Body but the whole Spirit and Soul is blameless And to make it so these two things are particularly requisite First That we do not consent to any unlawful Desires no not so much as to the first Motions of Sin whether proceeding from the corruptness of our own Nature or from Diabolical Suggestion Secondly That we do not entertain with any delight the remembrances of our past Sins But more particularly yet Purity of Heart may be doubly consider'd either in opposition to Pollution or in opposition to Mixture In the first Sense it removes Sensuality in the Second Hypocrisie This distinction of the Word Pure is acknowledg'd and withal applied to this place by our Learned Dr. Hammond illustrated by the Instances of Water and Wine the former of which is said to be pure when not mudded or defiled the latter when not mixt But tho the Word be equally capable of this Latter Sense yet I do not think it to be at all intended by our Saviour in this place there being no such particular Congruity between this sort of Purity and the nature of the Reward here assign'd Confining therefore our Discourse to the former Sense of the Word as more suitable to the Circumstance of this place from what has been premised we may collect this Idea or Character of the Pure in Heart That they are such as regulate not only the external Conduct of their Lives but also the inward Frame and Habitude of their Minds and conform not only their Actions but their Wills and Desires Thoughts and Designs to the Rule of the Law and to the Dictates of the Internal Light of God in the Soul Such as sanctifie the Lord God in their Hearts compose the inmost recesses of their minds into an Holy Awe and Reverence of the Divine Presence set a Law to all their Intellectual Powers and suffer not the least Thought or Passion to violate the Order either of Reason or Grace Such lastly as yield no consent either to the Being or Stay of irregular Motions nor give any entertainment to the Allurements of the World the Flesh or the Devil nor delight themselves with any pleasing recollections any imaginary Scenes of their past Immoralities but set themselves at the greatest distance from sin resist the very first Beginnings and as near as they can abstain from the least Appearances of Evil. This is the most resembling Idea that I can frame to my self of the Pure in Heart And now lest this should be taken for a meer Idea a thing of Notion rather than Practice I proceed in the next place to represent the Necessity of such a Disposition of Soul The Necessity of it is Double in order to a double End Holiness and Happiness And First This Purity of Heart is necessary in order to Holiness that is There can be no true Christian Holiness without it This will appear by considering First That the Christian Law expresly requires it For this I need appeal no further than to the progress of this same Discourse of our Saviour upon the Mount Where among several other improving Expositions of the Mosaic Law we find this Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time Thou shalt not commit Adultery But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed Adultery with her already in his heart By which Lusting here I conceive must not be understood the bare natural Appetite of Concupiscence that being as such indifferent but the Appetite irregularly determin'd nor that neither as 't is a pure Natural and Mechanick Motion for so it has nothing Moral in it and can only be materially Evil but as it has the consent of the Will going along with it Which consent may be either to the very Desire it self or to the Acting of it If to the Act then the Man is in all Moral Accounts a compleat Adulterer and will be so esteem'd by God who as he Sees so he Judges by the Heart and will not think a Man the more innocent only for wanting an Opportunity of committing what he fully intended But if the Consent be only to the
be able to answer it but ill here and I am affraid worse hereafter I have now in general pointed out the Disturbers of the Christian Peace and I wish I could now as easily make these Troublers of our Israel sensible of this their Crime as prove them guilty of it In order to which not to insist upon the Heinousness of the Sin of Schism which is as expresly forbidden in Scripture as Murder or Adultery and the great Obligation that lies upon all Christians to preserve the Unity and Peace of the Church which the Scripture every where so earnestly presses and inculcates and which the Example of the Primitive Christians so strongly recommends and for which both our Reason and our Interest especially at this time would suggest to us a thousand Arguments I say not to insist upon these and such like considerations for a combination of which I refer to an excellent Discourse of Dr. Barrow's concerning the Unity of the Church I would only desire the Persons concern'd to consider how much by their Schisms and Divisions they prejudice the Christian Religion I do not mean as to the Life and Power of Godliness tho that be very true and worthy to be seriously consider'd but as to the Propagation of the Christian Faith And that with respect to the three great Enemies of it The Heathen the Jew and the Mahumetan First With respect to the Heathen to whom as the Unity and Agreement of the First Christians was a great indearment and a very prevalent Invitation so as to occasion that common Speech among them See how the Christians love one another So the Schisms and Divisions of the Present Christians must needs be a great Scandal and Objection For indeed how can any considering Heathen be perswaded to think such a Broken and Divided Religion to be of Divine Revelation when that which he takes to by the Light of Nature has more of Unity and Consent Secondly With respect to the Jew who may certainly number the Dissentions of Christians among the greatest Hindrances of his Conversion For when in the Prophetick Writings among other Characters of the times of the Messias he shall find this to be one and one of the chiefest that it shall be a Reign of Charity and Peace that they shall beat their Swords into Plow-shares and their Spears into Pruning-hooks That Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation neither shall they learn War any more That The Wolf shall also dwell with the Lamb and the Leopard shall lie down with the Kid c. I say the Jew finding this to be one of the Characteristics of the Messias his Reign and observing withal nothing like it in the Christian State but rather a perfect Reverse of all this and not being able to distinguish with some between the Design and Natural Genius of the Christian Religion and the accidental Event of things or with others to have recourse to the other more glorious Reign of Christ in the Millennial State of the Church wherein these great and strong Figures shall have a proportionable Accomplishment he must needs be shrewdly tempted to think that the Time of the promised Messias is not yet come and that the Religion which now goes for his is as false as its Professors are evil and wicked Thirdly and Lastly With respect to the Mahumetan who indeed allows Christ to have been a true Prophet and his Religion to have been once a true Religion only he says it has had its Time as well as that of the Jews and is now as superannuated to give place to a more perfect Institution that is to Mahumet's who as he came after Christ so was he to fill up his Defects and to deliver the last and standing Will of God And will he not find pretence to be confirmed in this his Opinion and to prefer his Master Mahumet as much before Christ as we do Christ before Moses when he shall perceive as quickly he may that there is not half so much Unity and Agreement among Christians even concerning their very Religion which is to be the Bond of their Unity as there is among Mahumetans Certainly he will and tho he perish in his Error yet I fear his Blood will be upon those who administer the occasion of it These are great Scandals and Objections both to the Heathen Jew and Mahumetan and woe be to them by whom this great Offence comes Our Saviour pronounces a severe Woe against them that shall offend even one of his little ones and what then shall be the doom of those that scandalize so great a part of the World I heartily wish that the present Disturbers and Dividers of the Christian State and Church would seriously consider these things and how they act the part of Antichrist in thus letting and hindring the Course of the Christian Religion In the mean time I shut up all with this Prayer That God would give Light to those Heathens Jews and Mahumetans that sit in Darkness and in the Shadow of Death and that in order to this he would first guide the Feet of us Christians into the Way of Peace Amen Discourse the Eighth Mat. V. ver x xi xij Blessed are they which are persecuted for Righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Or as it may be read from the Close Great is their Reward in Heaven IT has been ever a great occasion of Dissatisfaction to some Men that there should be any such thing as evil in the World A greater yet that this Evil should often fall upon good and sometimes upon the best of Men. But the greatest of all is that not only good Men should meet with Evil but that their very Goodness should betray them into it that suffering should not only be the Portion of the Righteous but that Men should suffer for the Sake of their Righteousness It seems hard indeed that a Righteous Man should suffer but much more that he should suffer for his being Righteous and that Affliction should not only be the Lot but also the Effect and Consequence of his Virtue For if Honesty and Integrity cannot be a Defence and Priviledge against Evil yet one would expect it should not be a Procurer of it and that if the Man were not the better for his Virtue yet at least he should not be the Worse These have been always as perplext Appearances in the Moral as any that arise in the Natural System of the World a frequent Trouble and Discouragement to the Good and Pious and a more frequent Occasion of Triumph to the Atheistical and Profane who have raised from hence their most plausible objections both against the Being and the Order of Divine Providence which by these greatest Difficulties of it they have been incouraged either to Deny or to Condemn With the two first of these Difficulties I am not at present concern'd Nor shall I determin of what force the last and greatest might be were this
to them both in common and that is the Kingdom of Heaven which I suppose to comprehend both Grace and Glory As 〈◊〉 Grace we are told by the Apostle that God has chosen the poor in this world to be rich in Faith And in the same place where God is said to resist the Proud he is said also to give Grace to the Humble Indeed Humility is the proper Foundation of Grace and the Theatre of all Divine Operations This State of Nothingness and Self-emptiness is as much a Preparation to the New as the Void and Inform Space was to the Old Creation 't is the true and proper first matter in the Spiritual World into which the Form of the New Creature will be introduced and if Man does but contain himself in this Nothing God will not fail to work all and to be all in him having promised his Special Presence to the Man of an Humble Spirit Then as for Glory 't is highly equitable that they who have humbled themselves here should be exalted hereafter and that they who have renounc'd this World should have their Portion in the next And to convince the slow-hearted and distrustful World that thus it shall be God has already given a Specimen of it in the Example of his Son who was particularly eminent for this double Poverty of Spirit for renouncing the World and for debasing himself whom therefore God has highly exalted giving him a Name above every Name and has also placed him on his own right hand Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him Discourse the Second Matth. V. ver iv Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted THEY are the Words of him who was himself a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief and who was also acquainted with Happiness too with the Joys of Religion with the Refreshments of Angels with the Antepasts of Glory and with that Peace of God which now passes all Understanding and shall hereafter satisfie all Desire He had tasted of both Cups the Cup of Trembling and the Cup of Salvation He had tried both the Miseries of Human Nature and the Glories of the Divine and so well knew what proportion the Consolations of God have to the Infelicities of Man and how little the Sufferings of this present time are in comparison of the Glory that shall be reveal'd to them that with meekness bear them and with fruitfulness improve under them He therefore having tried both the Worst and the Best must needs be a proper Judge in the Case Whether Happiness may consist with Affliction or no. And he is so far from discouraging his Disciples from treading in the same thorny rugged way that he did that he rather gives them all the invitation in the World to do so casts a Glory round the Head of the Sorrowful and represents Grief as a very Lovely thing by telling them that Blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted But are all those blessed that Mourn and does Grief intitle all that are under its Dominions to Happiness and Consolation This indeed would be good News to this our World where there is so much of it which is a Valley of Tears and a Region of Sadness where there are a thousand Sighs for one Smile and where the mourners go about the streets But 't is not all mourning that comes within the Circle of this Beatitude nor shall all that sow in Tears reap with Joy As there are some that Sorrow without Hope so is there some kind of Sorrow concerning which we can hope nothing There is a Sorrow that proceeds from no Human and Moral Principle but from Natural and Necessary Causes as from the Influence of external Impressions from the grosness of the Spirits and Blood from Melancholy and the like Again there is a Sorrow which tho' of an Human and Moral Extraction yet springs from no Good or Laudable Principle but is altogether of a Neutral and Indifferent Nature Again there is a Sorrow that proceeds from an ill Principle as from Malice Envy Covetousness Ambition Servile Fear and the like and which tends also to an ill end as to Revenge Impatience Despair c. Accordingly the Apostle tells us of a Worldly Sorrow and of a Sorrow that worketh Death So far is all Mourning from being Christian Mourning or from giving us a just Title to this Beatitude Here therefore it will concern us to consider three things I. That there is such a thing as the Duty of Christian Mourning II. Who these Christian Mourners are III. Wherein consists their Blessedness And first I say that there is such a thing as Christian Mourning This must needs seem a strange Paradox to the Philosophy of those who make the Pleasures of the Animal Life the end of Man and think that now we have nothing to do but to enjoy them and that God sent Man into the World to the same purpose as he placed the Leviathan in the Sea only to take his pastime therein 'T would be but a cold Employment to go about to convince such Men either of the Necessity or of the Blessedness of Mourning whose Answer would be in the Language of those Sinners in the Book of Wisdom Come on let us enjoy the good things that are present and let us speedily use the Creatures as in our youth Let us fill our selves with costly Wine and Ointment and let no flower of the Spring pass by us Let us crown our selves with rose-buds before they be wither'd let none of us go without his part of our Voluptousness let us leave tokens of our joyfulness in every place for this is our portion and our lot is this This is the Style of the Epicurean School And there are also some Christians who tho they do not make the Pleasure of the Animal Life their End Lot and Portion as do the other yet they think they may allow themselves a great Scope and Compass in it that they may indulge themselves to the full in all the Mirth and Jollity of the World and that there is no need of any such thing as mourning in Sion These Men seem to have the same Notion of Christs Religion that the Jews had of his Person They look't upon him under the Character of a great Temporal Prince and dream 's of nothing under his Reign but Victories and Triumphs and Festivals and Vineyards and Olive yards And so some think of his Religion They look upon it as a fine gay secular jolly Profession as a state of Freedom and Emancipation of Ease and Pleasantness as if the Children of the Kingdom had nothing to do but to eat drink and be merry and that mourning had no more place in this than it is to have in the New Jerusalem wherein as the Evangelical Prophet tells us All tears shall be wiped away from mens eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying nor any
more pain It is indeed most certain that Religion has its Joys and Pleasures and that the Christian Religion has the most of any and that they are such too as by far transcend all others that the Best Life is also the most Pleasant Life and that 't is worth while to live well if 't were only for the meer pleasure of doing so And there is a great deal of Truth in that Noble Saying of Hierocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The good man excels the wicked man not only in goodness but also in pleasure it self for whose sake only the other is wicked Nay surther the Pleasures of Good Men are not only greater than those of ill Men but such as they cannot enjoy or relish and have no manner of Notion of As there are some things of God so there are Pleasures of Religion which the Animal Man does not perceive For the Secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and the Stranger does not intermeddle with their Joy Nay further yet no Man has any Ground or Pretence for rejoycing but a good Man 'T is the most usurping and daring piece of Impudence in the World for an ill Man to laugh or be merry What has he to do with Mirth who has the Wrath of God abiding on him and Hell open to receive him It does not belong to him 't is none of his part Mirth is the Reward of a good Conscience the Prerogative of Innocence and the peculiar Right of good Men. And they not only may be joyful and chearful but are also commanded to be so Thus in the Law Thou shalt rejoyce before the Lord thy God says Moses to the Jewish Votary So again the Psalmist Rejoyce in the Lord O ye righteous for it becometh well the Just to be thankful Again Let the righteous be glad and rejoyce before God let them also be merry and joyful And again Serve the Lord with gladness And says our Blessed Lord in his Farewel Discourse to his Disciples These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full And we are exhorted to rejoyce evermore by the Apostle who also reckons Joy among the Fruits of the Holy Spirit Now all this is true and I not only confess but also recommend the thing hitherto pleaded for But then 't is also to be consider'd what the Wise Man says that to every thing there is a Season and that there is a time to weep and mourn as well as a time to laugh and dance And this not only from Natural but also from Moral Necessity For the Circumstances of Human Life are such as make it our Duty as well as Fate to mourn and be sorrowful Religion has its gloomy as well as bright side and there are to be Days of Darkness as well as days of Light in the Christian Kalendar This is intimated to us by several Expressions and by several Examples in Holy Scripture Thus the Church in general is in the Divine Song of Solomon compared to a Dove which tho' considerable for some other qualities is yet for nothing so remarkable as for her continual mourning So far was that wise Man from the Opinion of those who make Temporal Prosperity a mark of the True Church Again says the same wise Preacher It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting And again Sorrow is better than laughter Where you see he not only inculcates the practice of Mourning but also expresly prefers it before its Contrary And he gives this reason for it because by the sadness of the Countenance the Heart is made better And therefore he makes this the measure of Wisdom and Folly by telling us in the next Verse That the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of Fools in the house of mirth This Practice of Mourning is every where inculcated in the Writings of the Prophets but especially of the Prophet Jeremy who has writ a whole Book of Lamentations But above all t is remarkable what our Lord himself says of Mourning in the 16th of St. John where he seems to make it the great mark of Difference between his Disciples and the Men of this World Verily verily says he I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament but the world shall shall rejoyce Nor do there want Examples of this holy Mourning in Scripture Thus the Devotion of Hannah is expressed by her being a Woman of a sorrowful Spirit The Royal Prophet spent his whole time almost in Mourning and Sorrow which he also indulged and fomented with Music and Divine Hymns And yet he was a Man wise and learned and a Man after God's own heart and withal a Man of great Business and publick Occupation Thus again the Prophet Jeremy was a great Mourner a Man as unsatiable in his Sorrow as some are in their Luxury He was so full of Grief as not to be satisfied with the Natural and Ordinary ways of expressing it and therefore says he Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night More I might instance in but I close all with the great Example of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ who as the Text says was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief And that not only in his last Passion and Agony when his Soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death and when as the Author to the Hebrews says He offer'd up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears but also throughout the whole course of his Life We oftentimes read of his weeping and sorrowing as upon his Prospect of the City Jerusalem at the Grave of Lazarus and a little after his last Supper when as the Text says he began to be sorrowful and very heavy and in the Garden where he wept tears of Blood But we never read that he ever Laught Once indeed 't is said that he rejoyc'd but then 't was not with an outward sensitive and tumultuous Joy but with an inward spiritual and silent Exultation He rejoyc'd in spirit And what was it for Not upon any Animal or Secular Account but upon an Occasion altogether Spiritual and Divine 'T was for the abundant Grace of his Father bestowed upon his Disciples and for their good use of it and improvement under it I do not intend in all this such rigid Measures as are practis'd and exacted by some of the Religious Orders of the Roman Church where a Man is is not allow'd so much as to Laugh or to say any thing but Frater memento mori for several years together This would be to turn Society into a Dumb Shew to make Life a Burthen and withal to bring an ill report upon the good Land of Promise and to discourage Men from the Christian Religion But that which I
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
the last state of things and the All-concluding Scene of the World Perhaps it might then be strong enough to conclude what some are now so weak as to wish and believe But certainly with the supposition of an After-state the Objection is so far from being Desperate that I can see nothing Difficult in it And I think 't is here sufficiently answer'd by that ample Compensation promis'd by our Saviour to all those whose faithful adherence to a good Cause shall at any time engage them in Sufferings and Afflictions For says he Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven Which last Words as our Saviour afterwards explains them contain not only a Promise of Heavenly Happiness in general but of a greater Degree and Measure of it and intitle the Sufferers for Religion those who undergo Persecution for Righteousness sake to a more than ordinary weight of Glory So that hence arise two Propositions to be distinctly consider'd First That there are Degrees in that Glory which shall be the Reward of Saints in Heaven Secondly That one of the Highest Degrees of it shall be the Reward of those who suffer Persecution for the sake of Righteousness That there are Degrees of Glory tho by some a much contested is yet I think a most certain and unquestionable Truth The certainty of which I shall endeavour to establish upon these few evident Principles First I consider that this must needs be the natural and necessary result of things And here I desire only it may be granted me That there are some certain Dispositions of Soul necessary to relish and enjoy the Happiness of Heaven This I think is a Supposition that need not be disputed since even to the enjoyment of sensible good there is requisite a proportion of sense The Ear must be tunably set to relish the Charms of Music and the Palate must be rightly disposed to find any pleasure in the sweetest Delicacies And if these grosser Objects that have a more natural Affinity with the Organs of Sense and strike hard upon them will not yet affect them without some more particular inward Preparation there is greater reason to think that the Delights of Heaven that are so far above the Level of our Natures so pure and so refined cannot be tasted but by a suitable Disposition of Soul The necessity of which appears so great that I am apt to think as a late worthy Writer of our Church does that the whole Moral Excellency of some Vertues is their Qualification for the Happiness of another State they being of no great consequence to the present Order of this World Well then if certain Dispositions of Soul be required to fit us for the Happiness of Heaven then it follows that the more disposed any Soul is for the Glories of Heaven the more happy she must needs be in the enjoyment of them And if so then 't will be necessary to say either that all Souls are equally disposed which would be to contradict the Sense and Experience of the whole World or if one be better disposed than another then in proportion one will also be more happy than another The Consequence is plain and necessary If there must be a Moral Qualification of Soul to fit a Man for Happiness then certainly the more qualify'd the more happy Which has made me often wonder at the self-inconsistency of those who allowing a virtuous Frame and Temper of Mind to be a Natural Disposition for Happiness do yet deny greater Degrees of Glory to greater of Degrees Vertue Indeed if a Moral Disposition of Soul did not fit us for Happiness the case were otherwise but since t is allowed to do that I cannot conceive but that the Degrees of Happiness must follow the Degrees of Virtue And indeed how can he that thinks at all think otherwise but that a Soul well purged and purified that has undergon a long course of Mortification till she is throughly awakened into the Divine Lise and Likeness and is arrived to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ must find more Happiness in the Vision of God than a Soul just pregnant with the Divine Form and that carries away with her only the first Rudiments of Spiritual Life Certainly that Soul which is most like God will be most happy in the fruition of him This is no more than what may be concluded from the meer natural necessity of things without having recourse to any Positive Order of God about it But neither may that be supposed to be wanting For Secondly I consider that the same may be concluded from the Justice and Goodness of God as well as from the Nature of things And first from his Justice Not that there lies an Absolute and Antecedent Obligation upon God to bestow greater Rewards upon greater Saints for if Eternal Life it self be as the Apostle represents it the Gift of God no doubt but the Degrees of it are so too God cannot become a Debtor to Man or to any other Creature but by a free Act of his own He may indeed oblige himself to us by a voluntary ingagement but we cannot pass any strict Obligation upon him by any thing we can do and to talk of Meriting in this sense is no less than Blasphemy and I can hardly believe that any man that understood himself ever thus held it But tho Good be not absolutely obliged to his Creatures but only upon Supposition and consequently cannot be Absolutely bound to reward greater Saints with greater Happiness yet if we once suppose him to ingage himself by Promise to be a Rewarder of Virtue in general there will be all the reason in the World to think that by the same Promise he has also Virtually obliged himself to crown the greatest Virtues with the greatest Rewards For since the reason why he ingaged himself to be a Rewarder of good Men was not as is already precaution'd any Absolute Merit of theirs but only to shew his great Love of Virtue and Goodness t is reasonable to conclude that by the same Motives and in persuance of the same End he also ingaged himself to be a more liberal Rewarder of greater Saints Since this is as necessary a means to shew his Love to Virtue and Goodness as the other And therefore tho we should grant which yet in the sequel will appear otherwise that God had expresly promised only to be a Rewarder of Virtue in general yet since the End and Reason of this His ingagement was to shew His great Love to Virtue this would be warrant enough to conclude That he had implicitly and virtually ingaged Himself to have an equal regard to the several Degrees of Virtue and to reward them after their respective Proportions But to rise higher yet tho God cannot be in Strict Justice obliged to reward the best of our Services but by an ingagement of his own much less to reward them