1. The Second is a state of Imperfect Life The Third is a state of Health and Vigour The first is a state of Rest and Acquiescence in Sin The second is a state of Contention The third is a state of Victory In the first state the Mind is laid fast in a deep sleep In the second she is between sleeping and waking In the third she is broad awake and well come to her self He that is in the first state is born only of the Flesh and has no higher Principle in him He is that Animal Man that perceives not the things of God 1 Cor. 2. 14. He that is in the second has indeed some quickning Motions some ineffective Stirrings and Endeavours of the Divine Life But he that is in the third is born of the Spirit and of God and doth not commit Sin because his Seed remains in him Joh. 3. 9. From this Distribution of the Moral State of Man 't is evident that there can be but two distinct Degrees of Righteousness or states of the Divine Life For the first of the three as was before remark'd is a state of meer Death and Sin Righteousness and Life belong only to the two latter but with this great difference that the first of these two Degrees tho it has something of Life and Righteousness in it yet 't is such as is consistent with the final and absolute Prevalency and Dominion of Sin and consequently such as cannot qualifie a Man for Pardon or put him into a state of Grace and Salvation Whereas in the last the Principle of the Divine Life is supposed to be so strong as not only to resist but to overcome Sin And he that is thus spiritually alive is alive indeed alive unto himself and alive unto God and if he abide in this Life shall live for ever There are therefore but two such Degrees of Spiritual Life and Righteousness as imply different states And therefore to the Distribution of St. John my Answer is That it must necessarily be understood not of three distinct states of Righteousness there being no more for the whole Moral condition of Man but of three Degrees in one and the same general State If it be demanded which of the two states of Righteousness that is I answer That St. John must be supposed to intend the last and best state because he addresses himself to his little Children young Men and Fathers as those who had their Sins forgiven them who had overcome the wicked one and who had known the Father Joh. 2. 12 13. All which Expressions argue one state of Grace in common between them tho differing in Measures and Proportions The reasonableness of which threefold Gradation I do not think my self concern'd at present to enquire into or justifie it being sufficient to my present purpose to have shewn that iâ— cannot be meant of three different states oâ— Righteousness but only of three different degrees in the same state The states themselves are but two Now to the Question What degree or state of Righteousness that is which if we hunger and thirst after we shall be fill'd I answer That it must be no other than that which puts a Man in favour with God and qualifies him for the Mercies of the New Covenant For if the Righteousness it self be not such as will render a Man acceptable with God how can the Desire of it intitle him to his Promises 'T is a much less Worthiness to desire any Righteousness than 't is to have it and how then can it be an acceptable thing to desire an unacceptable Righteousness The Righteousness therefore here intended must be such as makes him that has it acceptable to God and consequently it can be no other but the last degree or state of Righteousness Since nothing short of that can either reconcile God to Man or make Man fit for God And this I take to be the constant Voice of Scripture and the Doctrin of our Holy Church which every where represents an absolute and effectual Love of Holiness and the like Hatred of Sin as necessary to the state of Grace and real Regeneration There are I know some among us who notwithstanding their usual and popular Pretence That they differ from our Church not in any Doctrinal Points of Religion but only about some few Ritual Observances do yet teach very differently in this Article setting the state of Regeneration and Sanctification so low that a bare ineffective striving against Sin is reckon'd a very sufficient mark of it Wherein they conspire with those of the Roman Church who make the slightest Repentance by the Accession of Sacerdotal Absolution to be full and valid only with this Difference That what the one make sufficient in a certain case and on a certain supposition the other make sufficient universally and absolutely requiring nothing further as of necessity to Sanctification than a bare ineffective strife against Sin A state which a Man may be soon in tho according to the same Gentlemen not so soon out For whoever has the least sense of Sin as an Evil and certainly there are but few who have not so much must needs be so far averse to it and cannot possibly commit it but with some reluctance Which yet according to these Men is sufficient to intitle a Man to the state and reward of Sanctification tho at the same time he be the Servant of Sin This I confess is a good way to counter ballance the Severity of their Reprobating Decrees and to stock Heaven as much by one Doctrin as they depopulate it by another But certainly the Gate of Heaven iâ— much too strait both for this Doctrin and for those I will not say that hold it but thaâ— live by it It is a Doctrin too little according to Godliness to be according to Truth and such as makes neither for the Honour of God nor for the Safety of Man But I need reprove it no further it being sufficiently exposed by our most excellent Bishop Taylor in his Preface to the Clergy of England before his Vnum Necessarium All therefore that I further remark is Thaâ— since the Righteousness of the first degree is that which these Men make sufficient for Acceptance with God the same degree of Righteousness would I suppose according to these Men be a sufficient Title to this Beatitude But if the last Degree of Righteousness be only that which can procure us acceptance with God as most certainly it is then that is the only Righteousness which if we duly hunger and thirst after we shall be fill'd I say which if we duly hunger and thirst after Which leads me in the second place to enquire what kind of Hunger and Thirst that is to which this Promise of Repletion is made And first 't is plain that Hunger and Thirst here must be taken in a figurative and metaphorical Sense since Righteousness is not the Object of a Natural but of a Spiritual Appetite Hunger
Creature Colos 3. 1. to seek those things which are above to set our affection on things above not on things of the earth to mortifie our members which are upon earth among which is reckoned inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry Again We are bid to beware of Covetousness Luk. 12. 15. and to have both our Treasure and our Hearts in Heaven Luk. 12. 33. to be as indifferent in the very Enjoyment of any Worldly Good as if we enjoyed it not 1 Cor. 7. 29. and if in the Enjoyment then certainly much more in the Desire Lastly to add no more We are cautioned by St. John not to love the World neither the things that are in the World And lest we should take this only as a Matter of Advice and Counsel not express Command he farther adds If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 John 2. 15. But that 't is a Christian Duty to be thus poor in Spirit will be farther evident from the very Nature and Design of the Christian Institution The grand thing intended in the Christian Religion was to reduce straying Man to his true Good and Happiness to sublimate refine and spiritualize his Nature to loose him from the Cords of Vanity and from his fast Adhesions to created Good to purge him from all Earthly Concretions and Alloys to dis-engage and separate him not only from the World about him but even from one part of himself In one Word to raise him from Earth to Heaven not only by a Local but by a Moral and Mental Elevation Indeed 't was much otherwise under the Jewish Dispensation There was then great Indulgence afforded to the Animal Inclinations and Worldly Affections of Men and their very Religion was indeared to them by Temporal Promises and Blessings Not that God intended hereby to express any Liking or Approbation of Covetousness and Earthly-mindedness but only to comply with the Infirmity of that gross stupid People which renderd them incapable of being won upon by more noble Proposals And besides it being a received Notion among the Idolatrous Inhabitants of the Land as is observed by a late learned Author that the Worship of their Idols and false Gods did procure them fruitful Seasons and Increase of all manner of Store it was in proportion requisite that God also should promise his Votaries the like Worldly Affluence to keep them from running over to the Gentile Superstitions Upon these and the like Accounts much was indulged to the Jewish State and People They were never expresly required to abstract their Desires from the Things of the World nor unless they proceeded to covet unjustly that is what belonged to another were they ever taxable for a too Earthly and downward Disposition of Soul Not but that Earthly-mindedness was as much an Imperfection in it self as it is now and was really forbidden according to the more retired and involute Sense of the Law but the Letter did not reach it because then was the Time and State of Imperfection and it was the only Handle which that People could be took hold of by whose Hardness of Heart was the Occasion of this as well as of some other Indulgencies But now they that shall think themselves obliged to no higher Measures of Perfection under the Christian State know not what manner of Spirit they are of Christ as he has introduced a Better Hope Heb. 7. 19. so has he annexed to it more excellent and more exalted Precepts and as his Kingdom was not so neither is his Religion of this World The Christian Law is Lex Ignea a Law of Fire a Law that purifies and refines that warms actuates and enlightens that separates also and dissolves those strong Ties whereby the Soul sticks glued to the Earth And therefore the Apostle calls the Christian Institution the law of the Spirit of life Rom. 8. 2. and in another place the ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. And what our Saviour said of some Words of his may truly be applied to all The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life Joh. 6. 63. This therefore being the Design of the Christian Dispensation to perfect Holiness to advance the Interest of the Divine Life to elevate us to the utmost Degree of Moral Perfection our Nature is here capable of and as far as is possible to make us Partakers of the Divine 't is utterly inconsistent with the End of such a Law as this to suffer us to lie groveling with our Faces on the Earth to seek Rest and Happiness in things more ignoble than our selves and to grow one as it were with the dirty Planet upon which we live We ought rather as the Philosopher speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aspire to the Measures of Immortality shake off the Clogs of Earth that weigh us down and make haste to be Angels as fast as we can We are obliged by the Design as well as by the Rule of our Religion to be as loose from the Creature as may be not to love the World nor the Things of the World whether the Lust of the Flesh or the Lust of the Eye or the Pride of Life but to be poor in Spirit and empty of the Creature that we may be rich towards God and filled with the Fulness of him that fills all in all And now that to be thus poor in Spirit is a reasonable Duty as well as a necessary one will sufficiently appear upon these two Grounds I. Because these Worldly Enjoyments are not our True Good II. Because they hinder and divert us from that which really is so That they are not our True Good is certain for if they were we should then find Rest and Satisfaction in them But this we are so far from doing that we are as dissatisfied under our Enjoyments as without them For though by Fruition our Appetite be abated as to that particular Object which we prosecuted yet still we desire on farther and our general Thirst after Happiness is as unsatisfied as ever Which plainly argues that our True Good is not to be found in these things but that they are altogether Vanity and Vexation To place therefore our Happiness in such Objects is utterly absurd and against Reason and argues us to be grosly ignorant of one of the two Things either of our selves or of the Things of the World We are either ignorant of the Dignity and Excellence of our Natures of the Designs and Ends of our Creation and of the Strengths and Capacities of our Appetites which can be satisfied with nothing less than Infinite Or if we do know and consider all this then are we so much the more grosly ignorant of the World about us to think there is any thing to be had in this Circle of Vanity that may satisfie the Importunity of such craving and capacious Appetites Poverty of Spirit therefore is reasonable because the Things
as innocent Persons but as Sinners and accordingly are not acquitted but pardoned Righteousness in a Moral Sense may be supposed to import all those Divine and Moral Vertues which are required by the Christian Law consisting of the whole Duty of Man to God himself and his Neighbour This latter kind of Righteousness may again be considered either Materially and Abstractedly for the bare Vertues themselves as they are certain supposed Actions which naturally tend to the Good and Perfection both of Human Nature and of Human Society or else Formally and Concretely for such and such Vertues as subjected in Man or for the habitual Will of doing such supposed Actions which is formal Vertue and whereby the Man is denominated vertuous or righteous This is not one of those Distinctions which are without any Difference For the Difference is very clear and great As for instance When it is said I love or practise Vertue and I am proud of my Vertue 't is plain that the Word Vertue does not bear the same Notion in both Propositions For when it is said I love and practise Vertue there it is plain that Vertue is taken Materially for the Abstract Idea of Vertue which is supposed to be the Object of my Love But when it is said I am proud of my Vertue here 't is as plain that Vertue is taken Formally for my Habit of Willing it whereby I am denominated vertuous For I cannot be supposed to be proud of Vertue in its Abstract Idea but only of the Love I have towards it To be short Moral Vertue may be taken either for the Things which are fit to be done or for the habitual Will of doing them The former is the Righteousness of the Law prescribing what ought to be done The latter is the Righteousness of the Man willing to do what is so prescribed These are the general Kinds of Righteousness Now to the Question What kind of Righteousness that is which if we hunger and thirst after we shall be filled I answer First That the Righteousness here intended cannot be Judicial Righteousness since the mere Desire of Pardon or Justification is not of it self sufficient to procure it or to avert the Sentence of Condemnation It must therefore be Moral Righteousness If you ask in what Sense Whether as materially or as formally taken I think either Sense may be admitted But then there will be difference in the Proposition according to the Sense presumed For if Righteousness be here taken materially than the Hungring and Thirsting after it will be a simple and direct Act of the Will But if Formally for that Righteousness whereby a Man is formally good and vertuous then the hungring and thirsting after it will be a Reflex Act of the Will that is a Desire not of Material Righteousness but of the Love of Material Righteousness which is a Man's Formal Righteousness And this Sense of Righteousness I take to be most agreeable to the Exigence of this Place because the Desiring Material Righteousness by a direct Act of the Will actually makes a Man formally righteous and so prevents and anticipates that Repletion which our Lord promises as a future Reward and Blessing Whereas the Desiring Formal Righteousness or the Love of Material Righteousness by a Reflect Act supposes the Man not ye actually righteous as he is also supposed in the Beatitude and so leaves him capable of having the Promise made good to him that he shall be fil led Now as to the Degrees of Christian Righteousness the Masters of Spiritual Life usually assign Three By Degrees I suppose meaning not all those Advances in Righteousness whereby a Man may exceed either another or himself for then they might as well have reckoned 3000 there being an infinite Latitude in Goodness But only such Advances as imply different Periods and distinct States of the Divine Life These they assign to be Three grounding this their Division upon the Authority of St. John who they say represents Christians as under a Threefold State by bespeaking them under the several Titles of Little Children Young Men and Fathers Joh. 2. 12. By Little Children meaning young or new Converts who must be fed with the Milk of the Word with the plain Doctrins and Principles of Christianity By young Men those who are grown up to some Strength in Holiness and have made some Progress in the Mortification o◠the inferiour Life By Fathers those who are arrived to a perfect Habit of Goodness and as far as Human Nature will admit are fully regenerated into the Divine Life But I think this Computation must be retrenched For with all the Invention which I have I can find but three States or Degrees for the whole Moral Condition of Mankind For all the Men in the World and every particular Man in several Periods of his Life may be reduced to one of those three Orders Either he is one of those who do not apprehend Sin as an Evil who either through Want of Understanding and Reflection have not attained to any Sense of its Malignity or through Debauchery and habitual Viciousness have lost it and so will and chuse Sin purely and intirely with Unity of Consent and without any mixture of reluctancy which is the most exalted pitch of Wickedness that a Creature is capable of Or else one of those who indeed do look upon Sin as Evil and as such nill and are averse to it but not looking upon it always as the greatest Evil do oftentimes nill it only imperfectly and absolutely speaking do will and chuse it to avoid as they then think some greater Evil. Or else lastly one of those who looking upon Sin not only under the Notion of Evil but as the greatest of all Evils nill and refuse it not only in some certain respect but absolutely and thoroughly so as not by any means to be perswaded to commit it These Three Degrees will comprize the whole Moral State of Mankind And accordingly I observe that St. Paul makes mention of a three-fold Law The first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law of Sin which is in the Members Rom. 7. 23. The Second is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ver. 23. The Law of the Mind or Conscience The Third is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law of the Spirit of Life Rom. 8. 2. These three Laws answer exactly to the three Moral States of Human Nature Under the first Law the Law of Sin are those who will and embrace Sin purely and entirely Under the Second Law the Law of the Mind are those who nill and stand averse to Sin in some certain respect as Evil but yet will and chuse it absolutely and effectually Under the third Law the Law of the Spirit of Life are those who absolutely and thoroughly nill the Commission of Sin The first of these States is a state of meer Sin and Death and those of this Order are they who are said to be Dead in Trespasses and Sins Eph. 2.
alone any more than any other Solitary Vertue can qualifie a Man for Mercy No the Man must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perfect and intire and wanting nothing as to all the Integral Parts of Duty to be accepted in the Judgment of God Jam. 1. 4. Only there may I think be allow'd this further Sense in the Proposition that no one Vertue shall go so far towards the obtaining of full Mercy from God as this of Mercifulness And that if the Merciful Man for want of other necessary parts of Christian Perfection should not be able to stand in the last Judgment yet however his Fall shall be much the milder and he shall have great Abatements of Punishment made him for the sake of this one Excellency To which purpose 't is very considerable that our Saviour in the Description of the last Judgment makes all the Favour and all the Severity of that day to proceed according to the Practice or Omission of this Duty Mat. 25. One way or other therefore the merciful shall be sure to obtain Mercy nor will God forget this Labour of Love Pray God we may not forget it our selves but may so love study and practise Mercy here that we may hereafter not only receive a milder Sentence but find such a Degree of Mercy as may finally rejoice against Judgment Amen Discourse the Sixth Matth. V. ver viii Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God ONE of the most distinguishing Perfections of the Christian Institution above any other either Divine or Human is that it requires an inward Rectitude of Mind and Spirit and makes the Heart the Principle and Seat of Spiritual as it is of Natural Life The Heathen Morality went little further than the regulation of the outward Behaviour not much regarding the Sanctity of the Interiour And tho some few raised Spirits among them moved by a Diviner Impulse would now and then like Men in Extasies talk above the World and themselves too recommending certain Purgations and Purifications of Soul as the Pythagoreans and Platonists yet this was not taught or known in the common Schools of Nature nor was it any where made the Ordinary Standard of Morality The Jewish Religion as it presented to the World a Second and more correct Edition of the Law of Nature so was it in this particular respect more perfect than the Gentile Morality there being in the Moral Law one special Precept which directly concerns Purity of Heart But yet there was a great defect even here too because tho there was a Prohibition of inward Concupiscence yet it had no penal Sanction annex'd to it Every other Precept was so guarded as to be able to revenge it self upon those who trangressed it Idolatry was punish'd Perjury was punish'd Profanation of the Sabbath Disobedience to Parents Murther Adultery Theft and bearing false Witness were all punish'd only Concupiscence had no punishment allotted to it Which as a Learned Person Conjectures gave some occasion to think that they might securely indulge their Concupiscence so it did not break forth into the outward and grosser Act. Certain it is that many among the Jews so thought and practis'd contenting themselves with external Conformity to the Law without any regard to the inward Purity and Holiness as may appear from our Saviour's frequent reprehensions of the Pharisees upon this very account And 't is very probable that this their Fancy was occasion'd by there being no Punishment assign'd to the Breach of the Tenth Commandment as that Learned Person conjectures However 't is certain that it was a great Defect in the Law not to bind so perfect a Precept with a Penal Sanction Tho indeed the true reason was because 't was too perfect to be severely exacted in that Infant Age and State of the Church The Law therefore did not rigidly exact it tho it did plainly command it Which tho no defect with relation to that Time and State the Law being as perfect as the Gospel as to all the ends purposes intended by it and every way accommodated to the Condition of those on whom it was imposed yet absolutely speaking it was a great Defect and Imperfection of the Law Then as to the Mahumetan Religion which indeed is only Heathenism pretending to Revelation this tho the last and assuming to it self the improvement of all that went before is yet really short even of Heathenism it self This is so far from requiring internal Purity that it does not require so much as external but allows and recommends too the grossest Impurities which has often made me wonder why the Turk should write upon the out-side of his Alcoran Let no Man touch this Book but he that is pure I 'm sure the Book it self requires no such thing nor can I justifie the Reason of the Motto in any other sense but this That none but he that is pure is fit to be trusted with such a corrupt Institution But the Christian Law is pure indeed and none but such as are so are worthy to unloose the Seals of this Book This requires the utmost Purity that is consistent with the Measures of Morality Purity without and Purity within pure Hands and pure Hearts It requires it more expresly and in a greater degree than either the Heathen or Jewish Religion and what was wanting in the other under the Sanction of Rewards and Punishments and those the greatest imaginable It does not only command inward Purity but incourage it too by the strongest Proposals that can affect either the Sense or the Reason of Man One of the greatest of which Encouragements is that our Saviour inserts it into the order of his Beatitudes and gives it a special Title to the Beatifick Vision in these Words Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God The Subject to be here discoursed of is Christian Purity or Purity of Heart Whereof I shall represent I. The Nature by a Character or Description II. The Necessity III. The Blessedness By Purity of Heart in general is to be understood an inward Conformity of all the Thoughts and Desires of the Soul to the Will and Law of God When not only the external Actions are according to the Rule but the whole inward Frame and Position of the Mind stands right and well order'd and as the Apostle describes it not only the Body but the whole Spirit and Soul is blameless 1 Thes 5. 23. And to make it so these two things are particularly requisite First That we do not consent to any unlawful Desires no not so much as to the first Motions of Sin whether proceeding from the corruptness of our own Nature or from Diabolical Suggestion Secondly That we do not entertain with any delight the remembrances of our past Sins But more particularly yet Purity of Heart may be doubly consider'd either in opposition to Pollution or in opposition to Mixture In the first Sense it removes Sensuality in the Second Hypocrisie This
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 Mat. 5. 27. 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 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 Psal 50. 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 worshipp'd in Spirit and in Truth Joh. 4. 24. 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 instead of a Spiritual Service or accept of a polluted and unsanctified Spirit The Psalmist had a due sense of this when he said Psal 51. 6 10. 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 it is 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 Rom. 8. 6. 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 Ancient 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 Eph. 4. 23. 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