Desire then tho the Man be not a compleat Adulterer yet he may be truly said in the Style of the Psalmist to be a Partaker with the Adulterer to have enter'd within some degrees of Unchastity and to have transgressed against that Christian Purity which forbids all Consent not only to the compleat Acts but also to the first Motions of Sin Secondly The necessity of this Purity of Heart in order to true Holiness will appear by considering the Nature of God who is both a Spirit and a Discerner of Spirits and ought therefore for a double Reason to be worship'd in Spirit and in Truth Our Saviour thought the former sufficient but the latter adds a further degree of strength to it God as a Spirit cannot be worthily served by any thing less than the Sacrifice of the Spirit which perhaps was one of the Reasons why our Saviour when he was to become a Sacrifice to his Father took upon him not only Human Flesh as some of the Ancient Hereticks would have believ'd but also an Human Soul And as a Discerner of Spirits he cannot be put off with a Bodily inst ead of a Spiritual Service or accept of a polluted and unsanctified Spirit The Psalmist had a due sense of this when he said Thou requirest truth in the inward parts and shalt make me to understand wisdom secretly And when he pray'd Make me a clean Heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me Thirdly This Purity of Heart may be further concluded necessary to true Holiness from the Nature of Man himself in whom as the Soul is in all respects the Principal so in all Moral respects is it the only part concern'd This Inner Man is that Man who is the Immediate and proper Subject of all Good and Evil Vertue and Vice and accordingly this is the part to which our Sanctification and Regeneration is always ascribed and from which the Man receives his whole Moral Distinction And therefore says the Apostle To be carnally minded is Death but to be spiritually minded is Life and Peace Where you see 't is the inward Disposition of the Mind that makes all the difference If this be Pure and Holy the whole Man is so but if this stand not right to God and Goodness 't is not all the external Conformity in the World that can supply the Defect 'T was the Conceit of the Antient Jews as we are told by Mr. Selden that every Proselyte of Justice at the very instant when he became so had a new Soul infused into him to which Opinion our Saviour is supposed to allude in his Discourse with Nicodemus Now tho Christianity does not acknowledge a New that is another Soul in its Converts yet it requires that the same Soul become new it requires a new Frame and Temper of Spirit The Christian Man is to be Born again and to become a New Creature a Creature of another Rank and Order And 't is the Mind and Spirit upon which this great Transaction is to pass and which is to be the immediate Subject of this extraordinary Change And accordingly our Regeneration is expressed in Scripture by our being renew'd in the Spirit of our minds We must be renew'd and where Not in our Body or outward Man but in our Minds And in what part of the Mind Not in the Inferior part whether Sensitive or Plastic that which is exercis'd about Objects of Sense or that which moves and forms the Body but in the highest and noblest part in the Spirit of our Minds which answers to the Platonical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very Flower and Essence of the Soul Here 't is we are to be renew'd as indeed we must if we be renew'd at all this being in all regards the Principal and the only moral part of Man To this purpose it may be further consider'd that this Intellectual Heart the Spirit and Soul of Man is the Fountain and Source of all Action This is that which sees in the eyes and hears in the ears This is that which understands and wills loves and hates Here are all the Springs and Powers of Life and Motion here is the last resort of all outward Impressions and from this Central Point are derived all the Lines of Action and Motion even as all the Arteries and Veins are from the Natural Heart which it diffuses and disperses throughout the Body and has its Pulses in every part If therefore this general Head-Spring be not kept pure and clean how can the Streams run clear And upon this was grounded that signal Advice of the Wise Man Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of Life Parallel to which I find a passage in the Meditations of the Royal Philosopher Marcus Antoninus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Look within for within is the fountain of good Further yet this Intellectual Heart is not only the Fountain of Action and Motion but the most active and most rapidly moving thing in the World This Heart is always Beating the Pulses of it never rest Thought rises upon Thought and Desire succeeds Desire The Motion is perpetual constant and vehement so vehement that the swiftest Bodily Motion no not that of the Starry Orb is comparable to it so vehement that it cannot be discern'd or number'd and comes nearer to a Rest than a Motion as the swiftest turnings round of a Globe look like standing still Now what a dangerous thing is such a Motion as this if not rightly determin'd Of what vast heights in goodness is it capablel And to what vast heights of wickedness may it rise if not well-govern'd There is therefore great necessity that this Heart of Man should be kept with all Diligence and that it should be kept pure and undefiled Fourthly and Lastly The Necessity of Purity of Heart in order to Holiness will appear as from the Christian Law the Nature of God and the Nature of Man so also from the intimate Vnion that is between the Divine and Human Nature All things are full of God who is therefore call'd in the Sacred Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Place But there is nothing so intimately united to him as the Spiritual part of the Creation God is the Immediate Place of Spirits and Souls who all live move and have their being in him and are joyn'd to him by a Central Touch as the great Plotinus speaks The Apostle says that even our Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost our Souls then must be at least his Sanctuary and most Sacred Recess But what was not God just now supposed the Place of Spirits and are Spirits now made the Place of God Yes and without any Absurdity For so St. John describes our Union with God by our dwelling in God and by God's dwelling in us The Union is Double on God's part and on Ours God dwells in us by his special Presence by the Spirit of
and effectual that which passes into act and ends in a thorough Determination of the Will Since nothing less can either be signify'd by such strong Metaphors as these of Hungring and Thirsting or consist with the sincerity of a Christian Spirit 'T is not enough therefore to have oues face set towards Jerusalem and to cast some amorous Glances upon the Beauty of Holiness 'T is not enough to have some faint ineffective Wishes some kind resentments towards Righteousness there being but few so wretchedly wicked and unmoraliz'd as not to have some such little Velleities of being Good and no question Balam that desired the Death did also at this rate desire the Life of the Righteous But the Desire must be strong and active vehement and importunate absolute and peremptory without any Reserves or Conditions It must bear the same proportion to the Soul that the Keenest Hunger and Thirst does to the Body that is it must be a great deal sharper as much as the Appetites of the Spirit are more quick and exquisite than those of the Body It must be such a desire as our Saviour had to celebrate the Passover and institute his last Supper when he says With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer Briefly it must be such a Desire as carries in it the full bent and stress of the Soul such as is accompanied with the most earnest and hearty endeavours and with the most passionate and Devout Prayers and Aspirations to God Such as that of the Psalmist O that my ways were made so direct that I might keep thy statutes With many more such throughout the whole 119 Psalm which I commend to the Meditation of the Pious This is that Hungring and Thirsting after Righteousness intended in this Beatitude And accordingly 't is observable what Solomon in a place almost parallel to this of our Lord says concerning the Love of Wisdom which generally in Scripture especially in Solomon's Writings signifies the same with Righteousness My Son if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding yea if thou criest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding if thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of thy God Here the Wise Man makes the most searching Diligence and the most vigorous exertion of Soul necessary to the finding of Wisdom And he that so seeks her shall find her Which brings me in the last place to make good the Proposition it self That those who do thus hunger and thirst after Righteousness shall be fill'd But before I proceed to this I beg leave by way of Digression to speak something of another sort of Hunger and Thirst which all Christians are concerned to have Our Saviour tells us that Except a man eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood he has no life in him Now if the Flesh and Blood of our Lord be necessary to the Life then certainly the Hungring and Thirsting after it is necessary to the Health and good Habit of a Christian. There is not a more open Sign of a distemper'd Constitution either in the Natural or in the Spiritual Man than either to long for what is not his proper Food or not to have an Appetite for that which is And therefore since the Body and Blood of Christ is the proper Food and Aliment of a Christian it concerns him as he values the Health and prosperous State of the Divine Life not only to feed upon it but to keep up in himself a due Hunger and Thirst after it More especially this he ought to do when-ever he approaches the Holy Altar to partake of this Divine and Heavenly Feast He ought then by all the Arts of the Spirit and by all the Methods of Grace to quicken and raise this Hunger and set an edge upon this Thirst. St. Austin discoursing of the Disposions of a Worthy Communicant reckons this Hunger and Thirst among them and makes them as Necessary Qualifications as any And there is a great deal of reason for it This Holy Sacrament is generally set out in Scripture by meat and Drink 'T is call'd expresly by the name of the Lords Supper And says our Saviour to the Jews My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed And as 't is expressed so also was it prefigur'd by Types of the like nature such as the Tree of Life in the midst of Paradise the Bread and Wine of Melchisedeck the Manna the Paschal Lamb the Shew-bread the Bread wherewith the Angel fed the Prophet and particularly by the Waters springing out of the Rock whereof the Fathers drank in the Wilderness Now I consider that as these Figures represent the Nature and Efficacy of the Holy Sacrament that 't is the Food of the Soul and the Life and Strength of the Spiritual Man so they do also represent to us our Duty and the proper Measure and Argument of Preparation For if Meat and Drink be the Entertainment what more convenient Preparation than Hunger and Thirst We ought indeed to come to these Springs of Salvation as the Hart is represented to do by the Psalmist to the Water-brooks panting and thirsty longing and impatient Or rather to use a nearer Emblem as those thirsty Israelites did to the Waters that issued out of that Mystic Rock in the Wilderness 'T is impossible to give a just Description of this Sacramental Thirst but if we could but so far advance our Fancy as to represent to our selves with what eagerness and greediness those thirsty and scorch'd Travellers in the Wilderness did apply their Mouths to the springing Stone that was now more indear'd to them by the Benefit than by the Miracle then and then only may we have some Notion of that Hunger and Thirst wherewith we are to approach and receive these Divine Mysteries For if that Rock and miraculous Water was a Type of our Sacrament as the Apostle assures us it was telling us expresly that that Rock was Christ then by the like proportion that Thirst was also a Symbol of our Duty a signification of our Sacramental Thirst. And as he that will come to this Divine Feast must come Hungry and Thirsty so he that is truly Hungry and Thirsty as he ought will be sure to come and not as too many do study to find out Pretences to excuse his Absense But why do I say Study to find Excuses There are some Men that will be hinder'd by any thing nay by every thing There is nothing there can be nothing so little and inconsiderable but what will hinder some Men from the Holy Sacrament That which would not hinder them from any thing else things of much lighter Weight than what were pretended by those in the Parable
'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
Grace and Benediction But we dwell in God Essentially and Totally God dwells only in some certain Spirits such as are of a Dispositiont fit to receive and entertain him those who as the Jews love to speak are worthy to have the Shecinah rest upon them But all Spirits good and bad however qualified dwell in him For where else should they dwell since he is all and fills all Now both these Unions infer the Necessity of Purity of Heart in Order to Holiness For First if we consider the Soul of Man as dwelling in God what infinite reason is there that that part of him especially should be kept pure which is essentially joyn'd to touches and inhabits so pure and so awful an Excellence Put off thy shoes from off thy seet said God to Moses for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground And if so much Reverence be due to the Dwelling-place of God what Reverence is there then due when God-himself is the Dwelling-place How dares any Man lodge an impure Soul in the Bosom of so pure a Majesty Or how can he in any measure be esteemed Holy tho in all other respects never so unablamable who is polluted in that part which is so inwardly united to the Beauty of Holiness Then Secondly if we consider God dwelling in the Soul and Body of Man there is great necessity of Purity of Heart And that upon a double Account I. Because the Spirit of God which is the Principle of all Grace and Holiness will not enter but into a pure and clean Heart II. Because no other is worthy of so Divine a Presence And First the Holy Spirit will not enter but into a pure and clean Heart For this special and gracious Presence of God is not like his General and Essential Presence universal and unlimited but fixt and confined to certain Laws and depending upon certain Conditions and Qualifications And tho the first Addresses influential Visits and distant Overtures of the Holy Spirit prevent all previous dispositions of Man who as our Church expresses it in her 10th Article cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength yet to his fix'd Dwelling and residential Abode in us 't is necessary that there be an antecedent Preparation of Heart Which I conceive to be the reason that tho all Men are at some time or other Partakers of the common and ordinary Motions of the Spirit who is said to have striven even with the old World yet none but very good Men have the Priviledge to be the Temples of his Residence And this whole matter I take to be distinctly represented in these Words of St. John Behold I stand at the door and knock If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him Where by standing at the Door and knocking is meant common and preventing Grace And this indeed is used to all without any previous Qualifications But he does not come in and sup that is take up his Residence and be a familiar Ghest till his Voice be hear'd and the Door open'd that is till the Man has well attended to and complied with those his antecedent Motions and Suggestions till he has swept and made clean the inner Room of his Heart So that Purity of Heart is absolutely necessary tho not for the first preventing Influences yet for the residence and in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit who tho he visit those that sit in Darkness and in the Shadow of Death yet he will not Lodge but in a pure and bright Soul Nor Secondly Is any other than such worthy of so Divine a Presence Indeed the purest Soul has reason to say with the Centurion Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof if we consider the disproportion that is between the Purity of God and that of the purest Temple we can prepare for him For he putteth no trust in his Saints nor are the Heavens clean in his sight How much more unworthy then is the impure and polluted Soul of so pure a Presence Suppose the Spirit of God would enter into a Polluted Spirit yet what Soul that has any sense of Decency would dare to continue any longer so when once possess'd by so Divine an Inhabitant Holiness becomes thine house for ever says the Psalmist that is it is very meet and right decent and proportionable that the place of the Divine Residence should be kept holy and undefiled The Divine Presence is the greatest and most solemn Consecration of any place that can be and where-ever he fixes his Mansion there the Inscription ought to be Holiness to the Lord. And the reason of all this is by the Psalmist render'd elsewhere For thou art a God that hast no pleasure in wickedness neither shall any evil dwell with thee Having thus far shewn the Necessity of Purity of Heart in Order to Holiness to complete this part it remains that we further represent its necessity in order to Happiness Now this Necessity may respect either our Admission into Happiness or our Enjoyment of it when admitted That Purity of Heart is necessary to our Admission into Happiness is already sufficiently deducible from what has been premised concerning its necessity to Holiness without which we are expresly told No man shall see God We are therefore further concern'd only to shew that 't is necessary to the enjoyment of Happiness And here not to feign a long Hypothesis of a Sinners being admitted into Heaven with a particular Description of his Condition and Behaviour there we need only consider that the Supreme Good is of a Relative Nature as well as any other Good and consequently the enjoyment of it must necessarily require some Qualification in the Faculty as well as the enjoyment of any other Good does something that may render that Good a Good to that particular Faculty Otherwise tho it may be possess'd yet it can never be enjoy'd This again must be something that must produce some Likeness or Agreeableness between the Faculty and the Good to be enjoy'd Which because the Purest of all Beings leaves no room to doubt but that Purity of Heart must be that Agreeableness without which as a Man cannot resemble so neither can he enjoy God We see that even in this Life 't is very tedious to be in the Company of a Person whose Humour is disagreeable to ours tho perhaps in other respects of sufficient Worth and Excellency And how then can we imagin that an ill-disposed Soul should take any Pleasure in God who is to her infinitely more unlike and therefore disagreeable than one Man can be supposed to be to another For my part I rather think that should an impure Soul be afforded a Mansion in Heaven she would be so far from being happy in it that she would do Pennance there to all Eternity For besides that a sensualized Soul would carry such Appetites with her
Prerogative of it in making those that have it Children of God Thirdly To conclude all with some Reflections upon the present Disturbers of the Peace of Christendom And first The general Excellency of a peaceable Disposition may be derived from these two Principles First From what it Argues Secondly From what it Causes And first It Argues a well-ordered Frame and good Habit of Mind Good by natural Disposition good by Deliberation and Choice and good by Gracious and Divine Operation It argues a Soul not only lightly tinctured but deeply season'd and throughly imbued with Goodness Incoctum generoso pectus honesto The same may be said of the peaceable Man that St. James says of him that offends not in his Tongue that he is a Perfect Man Not that the due Government of the Tongue alone does make a Man Perfect for there is a Body of Righteousness as well as a Body of Sin and to make it perfect the Members must have both a just number and Size but that considering the many requisites to so great and excellent a piece of Temperance it argues and supposes him to be so and as it there follows able also to bridle the whole Body And so here the peaceable Man may be said to be a perfect Man not that he is so made by this single Excellence but that this Disposition argues him to be so considering what a various Accomplishment of Soul is required before a Man can be capable of exercising so noble a Virtue There are some Degrees in Wickedness that necessarily suppose others the Man must first walk in the Counsel of the Ungodly and stand in the Way of Sinners before he can have the Forehead to sit down in the Chair of the Scornful And so there are some Degrees in Goodness that do also necessarily suppose others For there is a Scale of Perfection in both and we can neither be Good nor Bad by strides and jumps And this is such a Degree of Goodness as supposes many others to have gon before it being one of the Top-stones of the Spiritual Building and one of the last finishing strokes of the Divine Image of that Christ which is form'd in us For the Holy Spirit of God as was shewn in the preceding Discourse requires a Consecrated Abode a Chast Body and a Pure Soul and will not enter into us till the former be made a Temple and the later a Sanctuary And yet this Excellence is reckon'd by the Apostle among the special Fruits of the Spirit and consequently must presuppose all that Moral Preparation at least that the Entrance of the Holy Spirit does and must therefore argue a well-order'd Frame and good Habit of Mind But this being only a general tho' to one that attends the force of it sufficiently Conclusive Argument I will more distinctly shew that it does so by considering what particular Qualifications of Soul are required in order to a peaceable disposition whose presence must needs Argue whatever it Requires Now these Requisites are either Negative or Positive The Negative are First That the Man be free from all inordinate Self-Love it being impossible that he who prefers his own little private Concerns before the publick Interest should be at peace with the Publick when that tender part comes once to be toucht No Such a one will ballance Self against all the World will not care what becomes of the Publick when it stands in competition with that but will embroil all the World in War and Mischief if he can for the least Self-advantage Secondly That the Man be free from Covetousness which tho the Root of all Evil is yet more so of Strife and Dissention than of any other Covetousness and Peace can't dwell long together T is indeed a very Litigious Principle and one of the greatest Make-bates and Incendiaries in the World 'T is this that fills the Court with Brawls and Wranglings and the Field with Bloud and Slaughter And 't is a known Observation That in all Wars whether justly or unjustly undertaken the greatest part fight only for Plunder Thirdly That he be free from Ambition which is as great an Enemy to Peace without as it is to inward Tranquility The Ambitious Man is always advancing his aim at some higher mark of Honour and if Peace will not serve to raise him War shall Take an Instance of this from the Court of Rome What a World of Schisms and Disturbances in the Church and Factions Seditions Plots Massacres and Wars in the State have been from time to time occasioned by the Ambition of that See! But there 's an higher instance than this for 't was Ambition that made War in Heaven Fourthly That he be free from Envy which indeed spites every thing that is excellent but is of all things the most direct and sworn Enemy to Peace 'T was the Envy of the Devil that first disturb'd the peace and order of the World and set the whole Creation in Battail Array against Man And 't is the same Envious Being that still raises and foments all the Enmities and Dissentions that divide both the Church and State and may therefore be called the Father of Discords as well as the Father of Lies Envy is the greatest Enmity in the World and the Envious Man is the most universal Enemy There is no Man but whom by the very Principles of his Disposition he is obliged either to Hate or to Despise All his Superiors and Equals he hates and despises all his Inferiours which comprise the whole body of Mankind And both ways is Envy an Enemy to Peace and very destructive to Kingdoms and States Whereof there is a signal Instance in the Case of Hanno and Bomilcar who through Envy to the growing Glories of Hannibal deny'd him a Supply of Forces to carry on his Italian Conquests and so ruin'd him their Country and themselves too Fifthly That he be free from Revenge which is another great Trespasser against Peace and without which the rest would not be so mischievous as they are For this continues and foments those Enmities to which the other give Birth rivet and fastens Animosities in the Minds of Men and by fresh returns of provocation brings in what has in vain been attempted in Nature a kind of Perpetual Motion in Malice and immortalizes Quarrels and Contentions Sixthly and Lastly to comprize all at once 't is requisite that the peaceable Man be free from all manner of Lusts and Irregular Passions whether of the Sensual or Intellectual Part and from all Disaffection and Disorder of Soul This being the Spring and First Mover to all the Discords and Disorders that are without According to that of St. James From whence come wars and fightings among you Come they not hence even of your Lusts that war in your members Where these reign there can be no Peace and therefore the peaceable Man must be free from these These are the Negative Qualifications in order to a peaceable
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
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
and our Neighbour's Happiness it must by consequence oblige us to moderate and govern those Passions which have any influence upon either of them Now among all the Passions there is none in the Exercise of which either our own or our Neighbours Happiness is so often and so much concerned as in this of Anger So often it being a thing of daily incursion So much because upon this depends all the Strength and Stability both of Private and Publick Peace And consequently such a due Moderation of this Passion as may secure both which is what we call meekness is a very considerable instance of Charity and therefore also of the Christian Law which is so much a Law of Charity that as the Apostle tells us 't is fulfilled by it And accordingly we may observe that among the several Excellencies and Properties of Charity reckon'd up by the Apostle these are particularly insisted upon that it suffers long and is kind that it is not easily provoked and that it bears all things which are also some of the chief Properties of Meekness But that Meekness is a Christian Duty and one of the first Order too may be more particularly shewn from the express Doctrin and Example of our Divine Law-giver As to his Doctrin he not only commands it but seems to resolve all that Moral Excellency which he either had in himself or would have in us to these two Humility and Meekness Come unto me says he and learn of me But what Not to make Worlds not to cure the sick not to restore Light to the Blind or Life to the Dead to use the Remark of the excellent Cardinal Bona but learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart What! was it that our Lord had no other Vertues Or that he excelled in these two more than in any of the rest that when he bids us learn of him he proposes no other to our imitation Neither of these can be said Not the former because in him dwelt the Fulness of the Godhead which is not consistent with the absence of any one Grace or Vertue Not the Latter because he was uniformly as well as intirely good and had every Vertue in its utmost perfection having as the Scripture says of him received the Spirit of God without measure 'T is true indeed he might be and was more remarkable for the outward exercise of one Vertue than another according as opportunities and Circumstances might require but as to the inward Habits and Dispositions themselves he was equally perfect in them all and did not excel in one more than in another Why then does he recommend only these two to be learnt by his Disciples It must be partly because he was the only Master that could teach such Divine Dispositions and partly because of some special Excellency in the Vertues themselves above any other of the Christian Law And therefore also our Lord puts them for the whole of it by calling them his Yoke Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart Nor are we less obliged to this by the Example than by the Precept of our Lord. For as his Example was a Living Law so was the Practice of his Vertue a very eminent part of his Example This he himself intimates to us by assigning this for the reason why we should learn of him And of this we may be further informed from the whole Story and Process of his Life Never was any mans Meekness so much tried as his was For as the real Excellency and Dignity of his Person heightned every Astront and rude Treatment that was offer'd him to an incomparable pitch so the outward Lowness and Meanness of it exposed him to a great many of them And yet notwithstanding the number and heinousness of his Provocations we don't find that he was ever in the least discomposed or put into a Passion by them Moses indeed was a Man very Eminent for this Vertue insomuch that the Scripture gives this Character of him That he was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth And yet we find that with all his Meekness he could not bear with the Crossness and Perverseness of that untractable People the Jews who as the Psalmists Observation is so provoked his spirit that he spake unadvisedly with his lips Now our Lord had to deal with the very same stubborn and cross-grain'd Generation of Men only now under infinitely greater Prejudices and Disaffections and suffer'd more Indignities from them than either were or could be offer'd to Moses And yet none of all their ill Usages could ever raise such a thing as Anger or Resentment in him though they did so in those who stood by and beheld his Abuses Thus the unkindness of the rude Samaritans could not so much as strike a Spark into his Divine Breast when at the same time it made his two zealous Disciples James and John kindle to that Degree as to desire Fire from Heaven to consume them And so again the rough Seizure of his Sacred Person by the Soldiers could not extort from him so much as an angry Look when yet the very sight of it made his warm Disciple draw his Sword And with the same Meekness he went on with his Sufferings with which he begun them as may appear from that mild Answer which he return'd to the Officer that struck him If I have spoken evil bear witness of the evil but if well why smitest thou me What could have been said more mildly and dispassionately or that could argue a more sedate and well-govern'd Spirit His greatest Apostle could not be half so moderate under a far less urging occasion For when not actually smitten but only commanded to be so by the order of Ananias the High Priest he return'd him this sharp and warm Answer God shall smite thee thou whited wall For sittest thou to judge me after the Law and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the Law There was indeed nothing in his Answer but what perhaps might have been justified by the oddness of the Provocation but yet you can't but observe a great difference between the behaviour of the Disciple and of the Master But if you would see a perfect Example of Meekness look upon him under the Shame and Dishonour and Pains of the Cross encountring at once with the Agonies of Death the Contradictions and Revilings of Sinners and the Vengeance of an Almighty God and all this without any the least shew of Impatience or Discomposure of Spirit So that I think I may well inlarge the Question of the Prophet and to that Is there any sorrow like to my sorrow add this also Is there any meekness like to my meekness And here I cannot but make a stand and with Sorrow reflect upon a certain Order of Men how little they have of the true Spirit of Christianity how little they have
thither for which she could find no suitable Objects which would be a constant Torment those that she does find there would be so disproportionate that they would rather vex and upbraid than satisfie her Indigence So that this in short would be her case That which she desires and could relish that she has not and that which she has that she neither desires nor can relish the result of which must needs be a very high degree of Misery and Dissatisfaction So absolutely necessary is Purity of Heart both to the Acquisition and Enioyment of Happiness And yet there is something that recommends it further yet and that is the Blessedness that attends it the third and last thing to be consider'd Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God But before we come so far as this there is a Present Blessedness belonging to it in this Life which I shall briefly touch upon And here besides that inward Peace of Mind that Satisfaction of Conscience and Spiritual Joy and Complacency which are the common advantages of a good and well-order'd Life there are these three more peculiar Advantages of Purity of Heart I. That 't is more Innocent II. That 't is more Easie. III. That 't is more Safe More Innocent because 't is supposed to put a Bar against the very first Beginnings of Sin and consequently to be removed at a greater distance from it More Easie because t is easier to abstain from the first Beginnings of Sin than from a further Progress in it after you have once begun Nor is there so much pains required not to admit as to eject a Temptation Which made an ingenious Person say That the Prohibition of Concupiscenee was not so much a new or distinct Commandment as an Instrument of Security for the keeping all the rest Lastly More Safe because more Easie there being not so much danger of yielding to what a Man can easily forbear as to that which he must abstain from with pain and uneasiness But the greatest Blessedness of all is the Vision of God Which I suppose may be extended beyond that Beatific Vision of him which is the Happiness of Angels and Saints in Heaven and may signifie some peculiar advantage belonging to the Pure in Heart even in this Life namely the clearer Perception of all Necessary and Ideal Truths which may well be call'd seeing of God they being one and the same with the Divine Essence especially such Ideal Truths as are of a Moral and Spiritual Nature to the Discovery of which Purity of Heart is an excellent Preparative According to that of the Angel to Daniel Many shall be purify'd and made white and none of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand But having professedly discours'd of this * elsewhere I shall stay no longer upon this part but proceed to that other Vision of God which is called Beatific Here I remark that this is the only Beatitude to which the express Promise of the Vision of God is annex'd This indeed is implicitly contain'd in some others but there only openly expressed And because 't is reasonable to think that our Lord does suit his Rewards to the Natures of the Excellencies here specify'd We may well conclude that he intended some peculiar Honour and Priviledge to this holy disposition of Soul and to signifie that it has a more than ordinary Title to the Happiness of the Beatific Vision This will include two things I. That the Pure in Heart shall have a clearer and more inlarged sight of God II. That they shall take a greater delight in what they do see of him And First They shall have a clearer and more enlarged sight of God This will depend upon two Suppositions I. Upon the peculiar Aptness of this Disposition for the Vision of God II. Upon the Will of God to afford a greater and clearer manifestation of himself to a Soul so disposed That Purity of Heart has a peculiar aptness in order to the Vision of God we need not doubt if we consider that the only reason why we see not God now is the grosness of this Tabernacle wherein the Soul is incased This is that Glass through which we now see so Darkly and which makes us do so This is that black Skreen that parts the Material from the Intelligible World The more abstract therefore we are from the Body and from the Bodily Life the more fit we shall be both to behold and to indure the Rays of the Divine Light We find that even now the purer and finer our Blood and Spirits are the freer and clearer are our Thoughts The more bright and transparent this Glass is the more the Ideal Light will dart in upon our Souls And the same will hold in proportion hereafter The purer the Soul is the purer will all its Faculties and Operations be the less it will retain of corporeal Gusts and Relishes the more recollected and undivided will be its Powers for Unity of Thought follows Unity of Desire and the fewer things a Man desires the fewer will be his Thoughts and consequently the more strong and vigorous upon the Object where they fix To which we may add that the purer the Soul is the purer will also be her Resurrection Body which is of great moment to the Vision of God as well as to other Spiritual Operations For we must then see through a Glass as well as now only the Glass will be clearer according to the different Purity of the Soul which even in this Life gives a particular Brightness of Air to the Countenance and makes the Face to shine with an unimitable Lustre Purity of Heart therefore even upon this single account has a peculiar aptness in order the Vision of God But to this may be added Secondly the Will of God to afford a greater and clearer manifestation of himself to a Soul so disposed For 't is highly rational to believe that God who is so great a Lover will also be a liberal Rewarder of inward Purity and that he who delights to dwell in pure Hearts now will reveal himself in a very plentiful measure to such hereafter So that both from the aptness of the Disposition and from the Will of God we may conclude That the Pure in Heart shall have a larger share of the Beatific Vision Nor shall they only see more of God but Secondly take a greater Delight in what they do see of him And this is the principal Ingredient of their Happiness For 't is not the meer having but the delighting in a thing that makes a Man happy And this is the Condition of Pure Souls The same Purity which procures them a more inlarged sight of God will also make them to delight in the Vision of him so that they shall Tast as well as See how good God is For the purer the Soul is the liker it is to God who is Essential Purity and the more it resembles God
be avoided where shall we find room to receive such a numerous Company of Corporeal Images And upon what part will you have them impressed Upon the Soul or upon the Brain But who can understand either of these How can an Indivisible Substance as the Soul is receive any Stamp or Impression And how can such a fluid Substance as the Brain is retain any The least jog of a Mans Head must needs obliterate such slight and Aerial Traces as the Wind does the Figures that are written upon the Sand Not to say that these Impressions coming on so thick one upon another must needs work out themselves almost assoon as they are in and in a short time consume the very Brain too But suppose we could get over all this yet the greatest Difficulty is yet behind How will such Corporeal Effluvias be able to represent immaterial and intellectual Objects They will at the most be able but to represent Material Objects and not all of them neither but only those whose Emanations they are And what shall we do with Ideas that will not do their Office that cannot represent a quarter of the things which we are concern'd to understand These and a thousand more Absurdities must he wade through that will assert our Ideas to be Corporeal Effluvias derived from external Objects It remains then that they must be Immaterial Substances And so without all question they are All of them as to their Essence and most of them as to their Representation But how shall Bodies send forth such Immaterial Species They can emit nothing but what is Corporeal like themselves How then shall they commence Immaterial Body can no more emit Spirit than it can create it And what is there after Emission that shall be the Principle of Transformation Some I know talk of strange Feats done by the Dexterity of Intellectus Agens and Patiens which they say refine and spiritualize these Material Phantasms but I suppose our Author is of too Philosophical a Faith to admit of such a Romantick Transubstantiation The short of this Argument is If our Ideas are derived from sensible Objects then they are Material Beings because Matter can send forth nothing but Matter But they are not Material Beings for the Reasons alledg'd above Therefore they are not derived from Sensible Objects Which I think has the force of Demonstration And to this purpose it may be further consider'd what I hinted before that as our Ideas are all of them Immaterial as to their Essence and Substance so many perhaps most of them are also immaterial as to their Representation that is they represent after an immaterial manner as the Ideas of Truth Vertue and the like which Cartesius makes to be the difference between Imagination and Pure Intellection and whereof he gives an Instance in the Example of a Chiliagon whose Angles we cannot represent in a distinct View but may clearly understand it But now how can that which represents after an immaterial manner come from sensible Objects Again we have Ideas of things that are not to be found in the Material and Sensible World as of a Right Line or an exact Circle which our Author himself confesses pag. 283. Sect. 6. not to be really extant in Nature And what does he think of the Idea of God Will he say that that is also derived from sensible Objects Yes For says he pag. 147. Sect. 33. If we examin the Idea we have of the Incomprehensible Supreme Being we shall find that we come by it the same way that is by Sensation But in the first place how does this agree with what he says pag. 341. Sect. 2. That we have the knowledge of the existence of all things without us except only of God by our senses So then it seems we do not know the Existence of God by our Senses No then neither have we the Idea of him by our Senses For if we had why should we not know his Existence by Sensation as well as the Existence of other things which as he says we know only by Sensation For says he pag. 311. Sect. 2. speaking of the knowledge of Existence We have the knowledge of our own existence by Intuition of the existence of God by Demonstration and of other things by Sensation Then it seems we do not know the Existence of God by Sensation but that of other things we do But why are other things known by Sensation but only because their Ideas come in at our Senses For I suppose he will not say that the things themselves come in at our Senses for then what need is there of Ideas at all And if other things are therefore known by Sensation because their Ideas come in by the Senses then why is not God also known by Sensation forasmuch as his Idea according to him comes also the same way and yet he will not allow that God's Existence is known by Sensation Which indeed is very true but then he should not have said that the Idea of God comes in by the Senses But what a strange Adventure is it in Philosophy to make the Idea of God to come in by our Senses and to be derived from Sensible Objects For besides the Difficulties and Absurdities already touch't upon what is there in the Material World that can resemble God Nay what is there in the whole Creation that can represent him to our Thoughts God himself cannot make an Idea of himself For such an Idea what-ever it be must be a Creature and can a Creature represent God! Nothing certainly but God himself can do that He must be his own Idea or he can have none There is but one possible Idea of God and that is his Son the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ideal World the brightness of his Glory and the express Image or Character of his Person 'T is he that is the Idea of God and of the whole Creation that both is and represents all things And since the way of knowledge by our Senses turns to so poor an Account I would desire our most Ingenious Author to consider whether it be not abundantly more rational and intelligible not to say pious to suppose that we see all things in God or the Divine Ideas that is in the partial Representations of the Divine Omniformity For our Author himself confesses pag. 315. Sect. 10. that Whatsoever is first of all things must necessarily contain in it and actually have at least all the Perfections that can ever after exist Nor can it ever give to another any perfection that it has not either actually in it self or at least in an higher degree God then even according to him is all Beings or has the whole Plenitude of Being And I wonder that this Principle had not led this Sagacious Person further I know whither it would have carried him if he had follow'd the Clue of it For why should we seek any further and puzzle our selves with unintelligible