I intend, with God's Assistance, to ex­plain to you Christ's famous Ser­mon on the Mount, contain'd in the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Chapters of St. Matthew's Gospel. A great Work, and which will take up much time; some years may be to dispatch it in; and whether I shall live to finish it, he alone knows, in whose hand our time is; but a Work, I am sure, exceeding pro­fitable and usefull for all, that name the Name of Christ, and are desirous to know whether they belong to that Ma­ster, whose Name they bear, and whose Patronage they crave.

[Page 2] And I chuse to begin the Exposition of this celebrated Discourse of our Sa­viour at this time, because of the com­mon Account, which saith, this Ser­mon was deliver'd, the second Year of Christ's Ministry, about this time of the Year, the middle of May.

This Sermon may justly be call'd the Pandects of Christianity, the most com­plete Body of practical Divinity, and the most perfect System of the Duties we owe to God, and Man. It con­tains not only all that's good and sound in Moral Philosophy, but a great deal more, and gives the best Directions for perfecting of humane Nature, and how a Man may come up to emulate the Life of Angels: And yet, this doth not make the particular Lessons here laid down unpracticable, or impossible to be perform'd; so far from it, that the King­dom of Heaven, and the everlasting Enjoyment of God, is denied to those who refuse to live up to these Canons, Matth. V. 20. and VII. 24, 25, 26. which shews, the Life prescribed here is at­tainable, the Duties practicable, the Neglect inexcusable, and the Perfor­mance possible; it being contrary to the infinite Goodness, and Righteousness of [Page 3] God, to require things for which he gives no Power, or Capacity.

So that he, who aims at a Happiness greater, and higher than the present World affords, sees here the Steps he is to make, and the Way he is to walk in.

By this Sermon, the Christian World will be judg'd in the last Day, and by the Particulars of it, we all must either stand or fall.

All that's necessary to Salvation is plainly deliver'd here, and lies within the narrow Compass of three Chapters; so that no Man (if his Reason be sound) can pretend either want of time to read them, or want of Memory to remember them; for in less than half an Hour's time, the whole Duty of a Christian may be survey'd, and there is no Man scarce of so weak a Memory, but doth and may remember a great deal more, than is contain'd in this Sermon: in the handling of which, we shall meet with great Variety of Sub­jects; and though heretofore I have occasionally treated of some of them, picking here and there a Flower, yet I shall not upon that Account forbear to consider those Passages over again; not [Page 4] only because I judge it profitable for my Auditory to do so, but because the Me­thod and Manner of handling them, will be different from the former, and besides, several material things, which God's Spirit, and Study, and Time, and a ri­per Judgment may suggest, will be ad­ded to the former Observations.

I begin with the Preliminaries of this admirable Sermon; a Sermon preach'd by the Great Saviour of the World, deliver'd by the Son of God, and pub­lish'd by him, in whom are all the Trea­sures of Wisdom and Knowledge, even by him, who could not be mistaken in the Law he gave, or in the Sanction of it, who knew very well what with the Assistance of his Grace we are able to do, what the neglect of so solemn a Message doth deserve, and how great the Encouragements are, that are here given to those who have the boldness to force their way through the impedi­ments of this present World, into Eter­nal Glory.

The Words, I have read to you, are purely historical, and shew what was the occasion of the ensuing Sermon; for seeing the Multitudes, he went up in­to a Mountain, and when he was set, his Disciples came unto him.

[Page 5] This is the Introduction or Preface to the following Discourse: And be­cause I am loath to leave any thing un­touch'd, that is material in these three Chapters: I shall,

I. Endeavour to reconcile the diffe­rent relations of the Evangelists, con­cerning this Sermon of our Saviour.

II. Enquire, what the Multitudes were that appeared here.

III. Why Christ ascended into a Mountain to teach the People.

IV. What his sitting down doth im­port.

V. What, and who the Disciples were that came unto him.

I. To reconcile the different relati­ons of the Evangelists concerning this Sermon (for St. Luke ch. VI. 12. seems to contradict St. Matthew,) you must know,

1. That the Evangelists, St. John ex­cepted, who seems to be more accurate, do not always concern themselves in declaring the exact Order of time, when every thing was spoke, or done, but content themselves with amassing, or collecting the Matters of Fact, the sub­stantial [Page 6] Parts of Christ's Discourses, his Miracles, and his Actions, without be­ing very curious about every Minute circumstance, or order, or method; for their business was not to make men Chronologers, but Christians. This is the reason, why one brings in a Dis­course of Christ, after such a remarka­ble Passage, another before it, which is suitable enough to their Design; which was to give us an Account of the Trea­sure, no matter in what order the Jewels lie. And accordingly St. Luke sets down the Delivery of this Sermon, or the Substance of it after the miracu­lous Cure wrought upon the Man who had the wither'd Hand, Luke VI. 12. but St. Matthew chuses to speak of it before he mentions the Miracle; not that one saith, it was done before, and the other after, that would be a contra­diction. Only one thinks fit to take notice of it before he records the Mi­racle; the other thinks it convenient to record the Miracle first, and then the Sermon.

2. The Agreement of the Evangelists appears chiefly in this, that none denies, what the other saith; One mentions a Circumstance, which another leaves out, [Page 7] but though all do not mention the same, yet none denies the thing. To apply this to the Sermon before us, St. Luke ch. VI. 12. saith, Christ went up into the Mountain to pray, which St. Matthew takes no notice of; yet his silence is no denial of that Circumstance, St. Luke adds, That going up into the Mountain, he chose Twelve Disciples, which might very well be, though St. Matthew says nothing of it in this Chapter. Both these Evangelists agree, That Christ went up into a Mountain; one indeed seems to affirm, that he deli­ver'd this Sermon on the Mount, the other after he came down from the Mount. Both are in the right, especi­ally if we say, that he deliver'd this Sermon on the Mount at large, and when he came down, by way of Sum­mary, or Epitome, for the easier re­membrance of his Hearers; for indeed St. Luke's relation is nothing but a Sum­mary of this Sermon. And we know, it's customary with the Evangelists, not only for one, to set down the very Words of Christ, for the other, the Sense; but also, for one to repeat such a Discourse in its full Scope and Latitude, and for another to give us only the Heads of it. But, [Page 8] II. What were the Multitudes that appear'd here? and why did they come? St Matthew ch. IV. 25. tells us, They were great Multitudes of People from Ga­lilee, and Decapolis, from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan; and so saith St. Luke ch. VI. 17. who adds, That some came from the Coasts of Tyre, and Sidon.

1. It was a mixt Multitude, some good, some bad, some well inclin'd, others averse from Seriousness, some whom meer Curiosity brought hither, others whom a Sense of another World encourag'd to come; and this is what we may say of all Multitudes, that press into our Churches at this Day; some are of Gallio's Mind, and care for none of these things, only, come for fashion's sake; others of Lydia's Temper, whose Hearts God opens, to attend to the things spoken by his Messengers. Some with Festus make themselves merry with the Preacher's Discourse, and Ex­pressions; others like Agrippa are al­most perswaded to be Christians, but very few prove true Converts.

2. The end for which they came was partly to hear, and partly to be healed, [Page 9] as we find, Luke VI. 17. Though in hearing it was with them, as with the Seed in the Parable; Some fell by the Way-side, some in stony ground, some a­mong thorns, some in a good natur'd soil, as it is Matth. XIII. yet hearing was their end; and I wonder not to find them ambitious to hear this wonderfull Person, who to his Doctrine join'd the Testimony of Heaven, which is Mira­cles. Had all Judaea believ'd him to be the Messiah, where one ran after him, Thousands and Millions would have come to hear him; however the greater part took him for a Prophet, mighty in Word, and Deed, and inspired, and one that had more than ordinary con­verse with God, and this was Tempta­tion enough to hear him. They had for many Years heard the insipid Dis­courses of the Scribes, and Pharisees, and were even tired with their supersti­tious Niceties, and Traditions, and Ce­remonies, and pressing the cleansing of the out-side of the Cup, and Platter. But here was a Person, that spoke to the Heart, and with Authority, and things solid and great, and weighty, without design, or interest, or affectation of ap­plause, and there appear'd in his Dis­courses [Page 10] something more than humane, even a Divine Light and Power, which made them leave their Work, and Em­ployments to hear him.

Another reason of their coming was to be cured of their Diseases, and Infir­mities. Though Christ's curing Gratis, without Fee, or Money, might be a Temptation to many of the poorer sort to make use of him; yet to others, his miraculous Way of chasing away Di­stempers, with a Word and By-way of Command, and healing Diseases, which mock'd all the Attempts of Surgeons, and Physicians, might be the greater Motive. Christ's curing Distempers of the Body, was in order to heal their distemper'd Souls.

To set up for a Physician only, had been too mean an Employ, and there­fore we must suppose, that his Charity to their outward, was in order to con­ferr a greater Charity on their inward Man; and their acknowledgment of his Power and Goodness was to lead them to a holy Obedience to his Precepts, and particularly to Repentance, and Re­formation of Life; and though it's pro­bable, few came with that intent, I mean, to have their Souls freed from [Page 11] the Corruptions they had no Sense of; yet being come, many found by blessed Experience, strange Cures wrought up­on their Consciences, and went away not only sound in Body, but with a lively Sense of their Duty: The out­ward Cure astonish'd them into con­sideration of their ways, and they thought they could do no less in Gra­titude, than become Subjects to his Will, who had conquer'd their Diseases. Christ's Touch went farther than their Bodies, and their Souls felt the Power of it, as much as their Flesh; and he that felt his Distemper departing, found at the same time, that his love to sin stole away, and a new love succeeded, a fervent love to God, and his Holy Precepts. But,

III. The next thing, that occurs in this Historical Part, is Christ's going up into the Mount; St. Jerom takes notice, that some weak Brethren of his time took this Mount to be the Mount of Olives; others believe it to have been a Mountain distant about three Miles from Capernaum. But the Scripture gives the Mount no Name, and therefore they only speak their Guesses, that are not [Page 12] content with these general Notices. There is a Mountain at this Day in Ju­daea, they say, which is call'd Christ's Mount; and the Fryars that get Mony by shewing Ancient Monuments, will needs have it to be the Mountain spo­ken of in the Text, and for Confirmati­on of their Story, pretend to shew the very Stone on which Christ sat when he deliver'd the ensuing Precepts, but there is no Credit to be given to such Reports, nor indeed is it material to know what Mountain it was. The rea­sons why he ascended into a Mountain will be more to the purpose, and they are briefly these.

1. It was to imitate the Eternal Fa­ther, that at divers times, and in di­vers manners spake to the Fathers of old. He gave his Law to the Jewish People on Mount Sinai, Exod. XIX. II. The Son being to give a Law to the Christian World, begins the Promulga­tion of it on a Mountain too, and in do­ing so, discover'd his Divine Authority; and it was an Item, that the same God, that spoke on Mount Sinai, spoke in this Mountain too; only here lay the difference; the Law on Mount Sinai was publish'd in the Midst of Thunder [Page 13] and Lightning, for which reason we find it call'd a Fiery Law, Deut. XXXIII. 2. The Law of the Gospel was deliver'd in a sweet and still Voice, to represent the Nature and Temper of it, to express the Calmness of Mind, the secret Satis­faction, the spiritual Joy it causes, and the Rest it leads to, both Temporal and Eternal.

2. He thought fit to deliver this com­prehensive Sermon on a Mountain, to shew the Sublimity and Grandeur of his Doctrine and Precepts, that the Law he intended to give transcended the Laws of all Nations in the World in wholsomeness and excellency; that the Laws, which had hitherto govern'd Mankind, were low, creeping things, to what he was going to publish, and what an Excellent, and Heroick Spirit, Obedience to his Precepts would give to his true Followers, raise them above the World, make them despise subluna­ry Vanities, advance them above the common level of Philosophical Vertues, and fit them for dwelling at last on the everlasting Hills, on the Mount where God is seen, and will be seen to Eternal Ages, even the Kingdom, that fades not away. But,

[Page 14] I must go on, and take notice of an­other Circumstance here mention'd, and that is

IV. Christ's sitting down on the Mount. Even this Posture hath some Mystery in it: For,

1. In doing so, Christ asserted the Greatness and Majesty of his Person, even in sitting down to speak, while the Multitude, and the Disciples stood round about him. This may be call'd an Early Act of his Royalty, as Kings do sit, while their Subjects of all sorts and degrees stand about them. Sitting among the Jews was a Posture denoting liberty, and freedom from slavery, which was the reason why the Synagogue chang'd the Posture of standing at the Passover, a Posture, or sign of Servi­tude, into sitting, or leaning; and with very good reason might Christ sit down here, when he taught the People; whose business it was to proclaim liberty to the Captives, to free the World from the bondage of sin, and to rescue them from the Tyranny of the Devil. But,

2. In sitting down to teach, we may add, Christ imitated the Jewish Custom which was, that the Teachers sat, and [Page 15] the Hearers stood: Unto this St. Luke alludes, Ch. IV. 20. where speaking of Christ teaching in the Synagogue, he says, He closed the Book, and gave it again to the Minister, and sat down, and the Eyes of all that were in the Synagogue, were fastened upon him. In these Synagogues, which were in the Nature of our Parish-Churches, there was a Seat, whereon the Teacher sat, and the Auditours stood at his Feet, which gave occasion to that proverbial Phrase, That such a one had been brought up at the Feet of such a Teacher, as St. Paul saith of himself, That he had been brought up at the Feet of Gamaliel, Acts XXII. 3. And of this Nature was the other Expression, the Jews made use of, viz. To wallow, or roll in the Dust of such a Master's Feet; whereby they no­ted the Humility, that the Auditour ought to shew to him that teaches him. But,

V. One circumstance more must here be consider'd, and this relates to the Disciples that came unto him. The following Sermon being directed to them, it concerns us to know who these Disciples were. And,

[Page 16] 1. They were the Twelve Apostles, who are call'd so by way of Eminency, as being the Chief, the principal Disci­ples of Christ, by whose Life and Do­ctrine men were to conclude, and learn the Nature of Christ's Kingdom. The word Disciple [...], Talmid in the He­brew, [...], Mathetes in the Greek, is one that is taught by another, and puts himself under his Tuition, and Dis­cipline, following his Doctrine, and way of living. And so did the Holy Apo­stles, with respect to Christ, and though Judas proved a Devil, and an Apostate afterward; yet at first, without all per­adventure, he shew'd the same Zeal that the rest did, and was true to his Master's interest: These Twelve Christ chose as Patriarchs of the Christian Common­wealth, in imitation of the Twelve Sons of Jacob, which were the Pillars, and Foundation of the Jewish Republick, and these Apostles trod exactly in their Master's Steps (the Son of Perdition ex­cepted) and therefore call'd Disciples.

2. Not only these Twelve, who were Christ's Domesticks were call'd so, but all such of the Multitude, that believ'd in the Great Jesus, and took him for the Messiah, or Saviour of the World; for [Page 17] to such also, the Name of Disciples is given, Luke VI. 13. Acts IX. 26. Acts XI. 26. John VI. So that all, that have given their Names to Christ Jesus, re­sign'd themselves to the Rules of his Discipline, and profess his Religion, are concern'd in this Sermon; Every one that names the Name of Christ: The Les­sons here given reach all such, whether high or low, whether Princes, or Sub­jects, whether rich or poor, whether Nobles, or Peasants. Christ in the fol­lowing Sermon lays down one way for all, nor must any Man be so foolish, as to hope to be excused from the Obliga­tion of the following Commands, upon the Account of his Rank, and Condition; and as impossible as the Practice of some of the following Precepts, particularly that of forbearing private Revenge, do­ing good to them that hate them, &c. may seem to Gentlemen, and Persons of Quality; yet Christ considered Men here not as Gentlemen, or Noblemen, but as Christians; if Christians, they must be his Servants; if Servants, they must do what their Master bids them do; if not, the bare Name will never save them.

HAving resolv'd upon an Explicati­on of Christ's Sermon on the Mount, and begun already with the first Verse; I proceed this Day to the se­cond, which is part of the Evangelist's Preface or Introduction; and though this Passage as well, as the preceeding, is purely Historical, yet it affords very usefull Lessons and Instructions: Of this I have already given a Specimen or Proof in the first, and do not doubt but I shall make good the Assertion in the Exposi­tion of the second. And he opened his Mouth, and taught them, saying.

For the understanding of which Ex­pression you must know, that this Phrase [Page 27] opening the Mouth, is used in Scriprure, when the Oratour or Speaker intends to speak something great, and weighty, and of mighty Importance. To this purpose it is, that when David was go­ing to rehearse the wonderfull Works and Providences of God toward the Chil­dren of Israel, he thus begins. Give ear, O my People, to my Law; and incline your Ears to the word of my Mouth. I will open my Mouth in a Parable, Ps. LXXVIII. 1, 2. so Ps. XLIX. 1, 2, 3, 4. Hear this all ye People, give ear all ye Inhabitants of the World: Both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will in­cline mine Ear to a Parable, I will open my dark saying upon the Harp.

So that this word, and he open'd his Mouth, bespeaks the Attention of all considerate Men, and imports that the Lord of Preachers is going to publish things of the greast Consequence, things of that Concernment, that a Soul that hath any Sense of a future Salvation, is bound to listen to the par­ticulars, and not to do it is as much as our life is worth.

[Page 28] To be sure, the Son of God would not spend his sacred Breath in vain: There never dropt any thing from his Mouth but what was grave, and serious; and being to teach the whole World, as it were, the way to Bliss; we may sup­pose, that matters relating to that Bliss are things of greater Concernment, than all the Intrigues of Achitophel, or any Politician in the World.

And therefore it will be neither un­suitable to Christ's design in this Ser­mon, nor any way injurious to the Context, or Connexion of these Words, with the following; To take notice here,

That Matters relating to the Bliss and Happiness of men's Souls, are matters of the greatest weight and moment. For, of these Christ is going to speak here in the following Discourse; and in order thereunto, it's said, And he opened his Mouth; which, as it hath been already hinted, imports uttering things of more than ordinary Consequence.

To be happy, is that which most men seem to endeavour after; for this the Souldier takes the Field, and the Mer­chant plows the Sea; for this the Hus­bandman dresses his Ground, and the [Page 29] Artificer sits up late, and rises early, and puts himself into a sweat; for this the Man of an Estate applies himself to va­riety of Sports, and others run out in­to monstrous Sins and Vices. Accor­ding as Men fancy happiness, one in one thing, another in another, so they follow hard after it, and pursue it with very great Eagerness.

Thus all desire to be happy, though the greater part mistake Pebbles for Pearls, and the Meat which perisheth for that which endures to everlasting Life. And yet all this does not make true Happiness a matter of fancy only; for though the generality act as if it were so, yet it is not; and there are cer­tain Laws, and measures of real Happi­ness, which like the Laws of the Medes and Persians, alter not: Men's mistaking the true Object of their Happiness, shews indeed their Nature is corrupted, and their Understandings vitiated; but is no Argument, that there is no true standard of solid Happiness, no more than a blind Man's missing of the Mark, proves there is none to shoot at.

Nothing can be call'd true Bliss with respect to Man, but what makes the Soul happy; for that being the great [Page 30] Agent, that moves, and orders, and rules, and actuates the Body, it must needs be infinitely nobler than the Body; and consequently, if the nobler Part be de­stitute of its proper Happiness, all the other Felicity the Body shares in, must be nothing but shew and vanish.

This Happiness peculiar to the Soul, cannot possibly consist in living, or in having and enjoying Life; for Plants, and Trees, and Herbs do that, as well as the most Godlike, and Angelical Spirits; nor can it consist in smelling, or tasting, or seeing, or hearing, or feeling, agreea­ble Objects, or in eating and drinking, or in gratifying a sensual Appetite; for that Brutes can do as well as we, nay better. The Soul as it doth surmount all vegetable, and sensitive Creatures in dignity and excellency, so its Bliss must necessarily exceed theirs, and it must be a Bliss that's adaequate, and suitable to her Nature, which being rational, it must necessarily follow, that the happi­ness of the Soul consists in living up to the Dictates, and Principles of right Reason.

But because Reason through the Fall of Adam, is become dull and dim-fighted, and hath lost much of its Beauty and [Page 31] Splendour, God hath thought fit by the Revelation of his Will, and Word, to polish and brighten these Principles, that we might not mistake in this reasonable Service; and Christ particularly in this Sermon on the Mount, hath set Reason on its Throne again, and specified the true Principles of it, shewing how and in what manner we are to live up to these Principles.

In this consists the happiness of the Soul, while it sojourns in this World; and this fits and qualifies her for a grea­ter, more lasting, and more glorious Happiness hereafter.

And that matter relating to this Bliss and Happiness of the Soul, are matters of the greatest moment and consequence, will appear from the following Parti­culars.

1. Name me any one Concern in the whole World that is so great, or of that Moment. The Prosperity of a King­dom is a great Concern, but you can­not reap half the Comfort, and satisfa­ction from that Prosperity, which you can do from the Bliss and Happiness of your Souls. The welfare of a Family is a great Concern, but the bliss of your Souls is much greater; for the want of [Page 32] the former may be sweetned by Argu­ments, but the want of the other can­not be excused, or qualified by all the Logick in the World. Health is a great Concern, but the bliss of your Souls is greater; the former makes you robust, and fit to bear Burthens, but the latter enables you to conquer Sin, to over­come Temptations, and to vanquish Lusts, and vain Desires. A livelihood or competency in the World is a great Concern, but the bliss of your Souls is greater. The former indeed may give you credit, and reputation among your Neighbours; but the other is a mo­tive to God and his holy Angels, to re­spect and honour you. A good Name is a great Concern, but the bliss of your Souls is greater; for if you be deprived of the former, you are still in a capaci­ty of being loved of God, and enjoying the light of his Favour, but wanting the other; God can have no kind thoughts, no favourable inclinations to­wards you.

2. Matters which concern the bliss and happiness of your Souls relate to Eternity, and therefore must needs be the weightiest Concern; whatever is in this World fades, perishes, and dies. [Page 33] Nothing is firm, or stable, or perma­nent; and therefore, what lasts but for a few moments, cannot be comparable in Excellency to that which lasts for ever. The happiness we speak of hath indeed a beginning, but knows no end­ing; it is a Bliss which doth not fade with your Death, nor expire when the Breath goes out of your Nostrils; but a happiness which as the end of your days, qualifies you for the embraces of Angels, and these deliver you into the Arms, and Care, and Protection of an Omnipotent God, who will love you with an everlasting Love; and, whereas your Comforts here were in the Nature of dim-burning Candles, he'll increase that shine into a light equal to that of the Sun, and the light of that Sun he will multiply seven times, and make it as the light of the seven days in the first Creation. The things which are seen are all Temporal, saith the Apostle, 2 Cor. IV. 18. but the things which are not seen, and such are our Souls, and the Bliss they are design'd for, they are Etergal; and then it is soon decided which are the weightiest Concerns, the Temporal or Eternal.

[Page 34] 3. The very Heathen have look'd up­on the things belonging to the Bliss of their Souls, as things of the greatest moment. It is enough to astonish the considerate Reader, what Pagans and Infidels have done for their Bliss, more than they would have done for Father and Mother, for Brethren and Sisters, for Wife and Children, for Women and Concubines. It's granted, that with all this, they have retain'd their customa­ry Sins, and Vices; yet the Punish­ments and Acts of Justice, and Revenge, or Cruelty rather, they have sometimes inflicted upon themselves, Punishments they would not have undergone for the dearest Friends they had, sufficiently shew in what esteem the things belong­ing to the Bliss of their Souls were with them. Time was when they sacrificed their dearest Children unto Moloch, and caus'd their Sons and Daughters to pass through the Fire to the Honour of that God, or Devil: And at this day in Ja­pan and China, some starving themselves to Death, others shutting themselves up in Caves and Dens, and receiving Air thro' some hollow Canes or Pipes; others charging themselves with heavy Iron-Chains, others putting themselves to most [Page 35] uneasie and tormenting Postures, and continuing in them a considerable time, and all this for the Bliss of their Souls; is an Argument, that they look upon the Concerns relating to the Bliss of their Souls, as Concerns of the greatest weight and moment.

4. The wisest Men in all Ages have thought so: Who wiser than Solomon? He hath God's own Testimony, that none was so wise before him, and none should be so wise after him. It's true, in his Old-age be plaid the fool, but while his Wisdom was vigorous, and in its Prime and Glory, he was fully per­swaded that these Concerns were of the greatest Importance, and made it his business to draw others into the same Belief; and what is the Book of Proverbs, and the other of Ecclesiastes, but a De­monstration of this Truth. Nay, men of all Conditions have been of this Judg­ment, how different soever in other matters. If Divines and Preachers of the Word only, had spread this Doctrine, the profaner Sort would have imagin'd that it was Interest, which made us cry up these Concerns, as the weightiest of all; but men of divers Callings, Employ­ments, and Professions have judg'd so; [Page 36] David a King, Sergius Paulus a Governour of a Province, Cornelius a Captain, the Souldiers that addressed themselves to John the Baptist, Zenas a Lawyer, Luke a Physician, Lydia a Purple-seller, Simon a Tanner, Stephanas a Jaylour, Aquila and Priscilla Tent-makers, Zachaeus a Publican, Nicodemus a Ruler, Joseph a Rich man, Lazarus a Beggar; and when Men of various Professions do all con­curr in this Assertion, their Testimony deserves to be valued.

5. Even wicked Men either in some great Affliction, or upon their Death-beds, do look upon the things belong­ing to the Bliss of their Souls as the greatest; and their Testimony is the more considerable, because it is press'd and forc'd out of them as it were. Take them in their natural bent and inclina­tion, or in their Prosperity, they pro­fess nothing less than this, but at such times by a secret instinct, or strong im­pulse which they are not able to con­quer, they are compell'd to acknowledge so much. A wicked Man ordinarily is a profess'd Enemy of this Truth, viz. that the Concerns relating to the Bliss of his Soul are of any great importance, for he labours hard, and doth what he [Page 37] can to ruine the Happiness of his Soul; but upon a Sick-bed or Death-bed, some­times he is not able to smother this Truth; and now you hear him cry out, O how have I hated Instruction! how hath my Heart despised Reproof! O that I had obeyed the Voice of my Teachers! O that I had inclined mine Ear to instruction! O wretched Man, that I am, who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death! Now he would give all he is worth for the Bliss of his Soul. This was the Sense of Ma­nasseh, when the Iron enter'd into his Soul. This was the Judgment of the Prodigal, when he was denied so much as the Husks that the Swine did feed on; this is the Sentiment of thousands, and thousands, whose Eyes do not open till approaching Death doth clear them, and the Testimony of an Enemy is sometimes very considerable. But,

6. What matter is it what Men think. God surely cannot be mistaken, and he is intirely of this mind: For what shall it profit a Man, if he gain the whole World and lose his own Soul, or what shall a Man give in exchange for his Soul, saith Christ, Matth. XVI. 24. a known place, a place most Children can repeat, a place often quoted in Sermons; but where are [Page 38] the Persons that are concern'd at it, I mean concern'd like Men that are in danger of losing so great a Treasure? When a Man is in danger of losing an Estate, or a few Acres of Land, or his good Name, or his Goods: How pen­sive, how melancholy doth he grow! His mirth all flies away, and how doth he storm and fret, and rage sometime! This very Man many times is in dan­ger of losing his Soul, yet he is mer­ry and chearfull, and sings and dances, and one would think nothing ails him. Notwithstanding all this, the Foundati­on of God stands sure; and God having affirm'd, and pronounc'd, that the gain of the whole World cannot counterbal­lance the loss of one Soul: The matters relating to the Bliss and Happiness of our Souls, must needs be the greatest and weightiest Concerns imaginable.

I might easily enlarge upon this Sub­ject, but it's needless. Your understandings are commonly better than your Wills and Affections; and being sensible that it is a greater and nobler Work to prevail with the latter, than to convince the former; give me leave to turn these As­sertions into a serious Expostulation.

[Page 39] 1. Are the things belonging to the Bliss and Happiness of your Souls the greatest Concerns of all; how is it that they are minded no more than they are? How are they the greatest when they are regarded least of all? How the weightiest when a Trifle is preferr'd be­fore them? What doth it signify to con­fess so much when your Actions give your Mouths the lye? And do not you expose your selves to the laughter of all judicious Men, when your Practices do so manifestly contradict your Professi­on? How will you answer this Argu­ment in the last Day? How can you hope to come off, when the Judge shall argue with you from this Topick? Did you really look upon the Concerns re­lating to the Bliss of your Souls, as the greatest, how could you be so indiffe­rent as to knowing whether your Souls are in a State of Bliss, or not? How could you forbear examining your selves by the Rules laid down by Christ in this Sermon, whether Happiness is like to be the Portion of your Souls at last, or not? Can it be safe to take it for gran­ted, that your Souls are in a blessed State, when a mistake in this matter is the most dangerous thing in the World? [Page 40] What satisfaction can it be to you to believe at random, that all is well, when that very Confidence is an Argument that the Foundation is rotten, and un­sound? If you do in good earnest be­lieve these Concerns to be of the grea­test importance, I will tell you what the Effects will be, and to avoid Prolixi­ty, I shall only name them.

1. Your thoughts will be much em­ploy'd about them, you will certainly find time to think of them, and all the little Excuses, that you have a Trade and Business, and a Family to look after will be laid aside, for all this you may do in a moderate way, and yet make these weighty Concerns the frequent Objects of your serious Thoughts. What? Are these the greatest Concerns and doth it not deserve one sober reflection, have I Soul that is immortal? Is this Soul ca­pable of being either happy or miserable? Is there a way to make it happy? What is that way? Where shall I find it? If God hath revealed it in his word, is it not worth enquiring or searching into it? &c.

2. In your lawfull Callings and Em­ployments, you will be very cautious of doing any thing that shall hurt or [Page 41] spoil, or prejudice the Bliss and Happi­ness of your Souls, as all sins against Knowledge, and all wilfull sins will cer­tainly do.

3. You will take care that the Briars and Thorns of the World, I mean, the Riches, the Cares, the Pleasures of this Life do not choak your Care and Solli­citude about this Bliss of your Souls, and to this end you will avoid burthen­ing your selves with over-much Busi­ness, which will engross your Care, and Thoughts, and Time, and drown the other.

4. You will not content your selves with general Notions of this Bliss, but you'll go deeper, and descend to parti­culars, and examine the special Ingredi­ents that must make your Souls truly happy, and which are described in this admirable Sermon of our Saviour, and take them into consideration.

5. You will pray hard, and with fer­vour, and importunity to be strengthen'd from above, in order to a chearfull Per­formance of the Rules specified in this Sermon.

6. If at any time you find that you grow dull and lazy in the conscientious observance, and performance of these [Page 42] particulars, you will rouze your selves by fresh Arguments into your first love; and if at any time surpriz'd by a strong Temptation, you neglect any Lesson injoin'd here, you will chide and check, and force your selves into a more vi­gorous watchfulness and diligence.

7. You will not neglect the proper means, whereby this Bliss of your Souls must be promoted, one of which is the frequent and conscientious use of the Sa­crament of the Lord's Supper; for here you see how dear your Souls were to the Son of God, what he did for them to make them happy, how he laid down his Life to procure their Life and Bliss, and can there be a greater motive to prosecute the Bliss of your immortal Souls?

These will certainly be the effects of your Belief, i. e. if from your Heart you believe, that the Concerns relating to the Bliss and Happiness of your Souls, are the greatest and weightiest Concerns; if these effects appear not, it's plain, you do not look upon these Concerns as things of the greatest importance, and consequently you are unfit for the King­dom of God.

[Page 43] 2. As Christ open'd his mouth and taught the People; so the Ministers of the Gospel after their Great Master's Ex­ample, are to read and learn their Du­ty, for they are sent by Christ to sup­ply his place on Earth to the end of the World. Teaching is their Business, not only with their Lips, but with their Lives. Their lives must be visible Com­ments upon the word they publish; and as one said, they must be like Gideon's Souldiers, carry Trumpets of sound Do­ctrine in one Hand, and Lamps of good Lives in the other. A Minister whose Life contradicts his Preaching, is one of the worst Men in the World, and makes himself Two-fold more the Child of Hell than his Hearers, that imitate his ill Example; and if there be one place hotter than another in the burning Lake, that will be his Portion.

As Christ taught his Hearers nothing but what was grave and solid, and weigh­ty, so the Ministers of the Word must feed their Auditours with solid Food, not with Trifles, or Legends, or dry in­sipid Stuff, but with things that may make them wise unto Salvation.

This Phrase, opening the mouth, is some­times used in Scripture, for speaking [Page 44] with boldness and courage in the Name of the Lord, as Ephes. VI. 19. Pray for me, that I may open my mouth boldly; So the Ministers of the Word must not be meally-mouth'd, but Cry aloud, and spare not, lift up their Voices like Trumpets, and shew the People of God their Transgressi­ons and the House of Jacob their Sins, Isa. LVIII. 1. There is no dallying with the sins of Men, no complementing their Souls with flattering and en­ticing Words. Their Sores must be rubb'd, and Salt and Vinegar thrown into their Wounds where it is so that gentler means will do no good: Nor must we fear the anger, or displeasure of Men, for we have a greater Master to please, who will bring forth our Righteousness as the light, and our Judg­ment as the Noon-day; nay, and make our very Enemies to be at peace with us; however, if he doth not, there is huge comfort in the discharge of a good Conscience, to which purpose Christ bids his Messengers, or Ministers re­joyce when they are reviled, and de­spightfully used; and accordingly of the Apostles we read, That they depar­ted from the Council rejoycing, because they were counted worthy to suffer shame [Page 45] for the Name of the Lord Jesus, Acts V. 41.

3. As it is our Office to teach you, so it is your Duty to be taught; I say, to be taught not to quarrel with our Admonitions, to shew your selves tra­ctable, to suffer the Word of exhortati­on, and to admit the good Seed we sow, into a good and honest Heart. It's true, you are not to be believe every Spirit, but to try the Spirits, whether they be of God, 1 John V. 1.

But then, when you have try'd our Do­ctrines and find them agreeable to the Word of the living God, there is no Tergiversation to be used, but our words must be receiv'd, as if God himself spoke to you; for we press no other things upon you, than God hath com­manded you in the Scriptures. These Scriptures you have in your Hands, and with the Beraeans you are exhorted to search whether things are so, as we re­present them.

What a sad thing is it in Popery; not one of the common People, not a Lay-man dares bring a Bible to Church with him; if he doth, he is no good Catholick; nay, in some Countries in danger of being burnt for a Heretick. A [Page 48] [...] [Page 49] [...] [Page 46] good Catholick must have no Bible, must not read it, must not meddle with it, it's a dangerous Book, he must not look into it, for fear he should learn Heresie there; or rather, for fear he should discover how he hath been de­luded by the Priests, and taught for Do­ctrines the Commandments of Men.

See here the mighty advantages the Reformation hath brought to you: You can come to Church with your Bibles under your Arms, and have not only leave, but are entreated to compare what we say with the Oracles of God, to satisfie your selves of the Truth of what we deliver, and to believe your own Eyes. But then, as I said, having found that our Exhortations and Do­ctrines are according to the Law, and to the Testimony; let it not be said of you, as it was of Ezekiel's Hearers, Ezek. XXXIII. 31. They came and sat before the Prophet, they heard his words, but they would not do them; with their Mouths they shew'd much love, but their hearts went after Covetousness. What a happiness doth that Minister enjoy, that can say of his Disciples, as St. Paul of the Thessalonians, 2 Thess. 1. 3. We are bound to give thanks to God always for [Page 47] you, as it is meet, because your Faith grows exceedingly, and the Charity of you all toward each other abounds. I con­clude with St. Paul's Admonition, Heb. XIII. 17. Obey them that have the Rule over you, and submit your selves, for they watch for your Souls, as they that must give an account, that they may do it with Joy, and not with Grief; for that is un­profitable for you.

HAving done with the Historical, and Circumstantial Part of this Sermon, contain'd in the First and Se­cond Verses; we go on to the Doctri­nal. And here a very glorious Scene opens; a Scene of admirable Truths, of Truths which are Paradoxes, to persons who rise no higher than the Animal life, perfect Mysteries, which the Prin­ces of this World know not, which the Great understand not, and which the sensual part of Mankind are ready to laugh at, and which none but a think­ing or thoughtfull Person can ad­mire.

[Page 49] As the inspired David, or whoever was the Collectour of the Psalms, be­gins that Volume with the way to Bliss, so our Saviour begins his Sermon with the same Subject. Indeed, this was his peculiar Province, and of the weighty and momentous Errands he was sent up­on, this was one, to teach Men the true way to Bliss endless and eternal. Moses had done it before, the Prophets had attempted the like, Philosophers had made some Essays of that kind, but their Notions were imperfect, and they had no distinct notices of all the mate­rials necessary and convenient for that excellent Structure; and there was a Providence in it, because the fuller Re­velation of God's Will was reserv'd to the coming of the Messiah, or the Son of God: And it is remarkable that Christ in his Directions, how to attain to solid Bliss runs counter to the World; and such as are commonly counted the most wretched and miserable, are here pronounc'd blessed. It's like some that were by when Christ deliver'd this Ser­mon, expected he should have begun in another strain, such as Blessed are the Rich, and the Men whose Barns are large, and who have much Goods laid [Page 50] up for many Years, who have Money at command, can eat what they list, and drink what they please, whose Lands bring forth plentifully, and whose Presses run over, who are courted and respected by all that know them, whe­ther great or low, and are in a capaci­ty of denying themselves in nothing that their fond Appetite craves. But my thoughts are not as your thoughts, saith God: He takes other Measures, and therefore Blessedness is here ascribed to Persons, where a Man would least ima­gine or expect to find it, even to the poor in Spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Hea­ven.

Three things do here very naturally offer themselves to our Consideration.

I. Who the poor in Spirit are, or what poverty in Spirit is.

II. In what sense the Kingdom of Hea­ven is theirs, and belongs to them. And,

III. How their Title to this Kingdom makes them blessed.

I. What poverty in Spirit is. And here negatively, it is not,

[Page 51] 1. A bare outward Poverty, or be­ing destitute of the Necessaries and Con­veniencies of this Life; not a Poverty in Purse, not a worldly Poverty, not a State of Beggery. We do not deny but Poverty hath great advantages, with respect to being good, and the poor Man is more expedite in his Journey to Heaven; for he hath none of those Clogs, none of those Briars and Thorns, which too often hinder the Richer sort of Men from discerning or prosecuting their everlasting Happiness. This di­vers of the Heathen Philosophers saw, Vid. Grot in Loc. who therefore spoke a Thousand pretty things concerning Poverty; what a help it was to Virtue, what a means to become truly wise, what an Advantage to arrive to solid goodness? Nay, some went so far as to abandon their Riches, and throw their Gold and Silver into the Sea, that they might be more at leisure to im­prove their Minds, and to enrich their better Part.

And indeed, Our Saviour seems very much to favour this Condition; and there are so many things spoken against Riches, and rich Men in the Gospel, as are enough to make Men that enjoy any Plenty or Prosperity afraid, for fear [Page 52] their Reward should be with Men, who have their Portion in this Life; and it is to be noted, that Christ says a very great thing concerning this state of Poverty. To the Poor the Gospel is preach'd, and this he reckons among the Miracles he wrought to prove him­self the promis'd Messiah, or Redeemet of the World. It is Matth. XI. 5. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are rais'd up, and the poor have the Gospel preach'd unto them.

The poor! It must be confess'd our Sa­viour did not go to Court, nor did he associate himself much with Rich men, except they were of a better Temper than ordinary, and he seem'd to be the poor Men's Preacher, as if he thought the Rich were not capable of receiving his stricter Discipline, and as if the Poor were the most likely Persons to espouse his severer Doctrines. Carnal reason would have thought, that when Christ appear'd first on the Stage of the World, he should have made his first Addresses to the Grandees of Judaea, and Men of Estate and Fortune: But no, his Con­verse was chiefly with poor Fisher-men, and the needy Multitude; and here lay [Page 53] the Miracle, and the Reason of it we may guess at, viz. to shew, that the Poor are in a greater Capacity of listening to his Oracles, than the Rich, who have so many things to divert them from the way to Eternal Bliss; so much Business and Pleasure to mind here on Earth, that they are not at leisure to think of Hea­ven.

And yet, notwithstanding all this, a bare outward Poverty doth not entitle a Man to the Kingdom of Heaven.

It's a great help to Seriousness, if san­ctified and improved; and the want of Comforts here on Earth, be made a motive to seek them in Heaven; but the bare outward want doth not make Men happy; for we see too often, that the poorer Men are, the wickeder they are, and their outward want makes them more daring in Impiety; and surely, this can be no qualification for Eternal Bliss.

The Punctilio's of State, which the Richer sort of Men think themselves obliged to observe, the Luxury they are apt to run into, the pampering of their Bodies, their pride in Cloaths and ex­ternal Habits, their sinfull compliances with Persons of their Rank and Qua­lity, [Page 54] their Care to encrease their Riches, to get an Estate suitable to the figure they make in the World, their ambiti­on, oppressions, and domineering over the meaner sort, and their study to keep up their Credit with the Great and Po­tent, all which too often are very pow­erfull imediments in the Richer sort to be truly wise to Salvation; These the poor Man is freed from, nor hath he so great an Account to give, there being but little given him, and consequently, is in a greater Capacity, and possibility of being wise, and good, and happy; but his bare outward Poverty will not do the Work, and therefore is not inten­ded here. Nor,

2. A vowed voluntary Poverty. This some Champions of the Church of Rome contend for, as if their Monastick vows were commended here. Even a Poverty whereby Men and Women do volunta­rily renounce their Estates and Riches, and bestow them either upon their Re­lations, or the Poor, or the Church; and thereupon entring into a Monaste­ry, or Nunnery, Vow perpetual Pover­ty, Chastity, and blind Obedience; and this they make a piece of Evangelical perfection, which all Men are not obli­ged [Page 56] to, but such as some Persons do vo­luntarily undertake to encrease their own Merits, and sometime to merit for others too.

But certainly this cannot be the sense here; for the Poverty here mention'd, is represented as a Duty incumbent up­on all Men, and without which a Chri­stian will certainly miss of a future Bliss; for thus saith Christ in the Conclusion of this Sermon; Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doth them not, him will I liken to a foolish Man, that built his House upon the Sand, and when the Rain descended, &c.

We make do doubt of it, but that God is pleased with Self-denials in our Estates and Fortunes, if well-grounded, and proceeding upon very good Princi­ples, and we believe that such free Will­offerings are very acceptable to him, and by his special Grace and Favour, may encrease a Man's glory and felicity in another World. A Man that hath a thousand Pound a Year, and resolves to live upon two or three Hundred, and to consecrate the rest to pious Uses; or whatever a man's Income is, greater or lesser, if he religiously confines himself to a small Pittance, that he may be in a [Page 56] greater capacity of doing good: We are so far from discouraging such a Person, that we commend and applaud him, and believe the Love of God is strong and vigorous in his Soul, and do no: doubt, but he will be recompens'd ac­cordingly in the Resurrection of the dead, provided this self-denial be not intended as a way to satisfie God, or to make him compensation and amends for some sins, men are loath to part with.

But we cannot be so foolish as to think, that by such self-denials a Man merits any thing of God, or may chal­lenge a higher degree of Glory, as his due for that savours of monstrous Pride, and instead of exalting to, will certain­ly exclude the Soul from the Kingdom of Heaven. And what need Men talk of Merit, when they have a most boun­tifull Master to deal with, who rewards those that diligently seek him, beyond what they are able to think, or to ex­press. Nor can we be so sottish as to think, that a Man who thus denies him­self can spare some of his good Works, or that the Vertue of them may be ap­plied to others, who are either defective in goodness, or suffer in Purgatory, and [Page 57] consequently such a Poverty cannot be intended here.

To quit therefore the Negative, and to come to an Affirmative resolution of this Point. By poverty in Spirit, is meant, True CHRISTIAN HUMILI­TY; for we cannot suppose, that Christ would here lay down the way to Eter­nal Life, and forget to press this darling Vertue, and of all Accomplishments the most amiable, and most charming, in­deed the very Foundation of all saving Religion; and since there is no formal mention made of it in the ensuing Dis­course, we must necessarily referr it to this place, and believe it to be compre­hended in this Expression; the rather, because nothing expresses this Christian Humility better, than poverty in Spi­rit.

A poor spirited Man, we know, is a Coward, but such a poor Spirit could never be design'd by Christ here, whose intent was to enable all his Followers to tread on Serpents and Scorpions, and to trample on all the Powers of Darkness, Luke X. 19. and they that do so, or can do so, are sar from being Cowards; so far, that nothing argues greater Cou­rage and Magnanimity.

[Page 58] To represent to you the Nature of this poverty in Spirit, or Christian Humili­ty, I shall describe it in the following Particulars.

As Humility is nothing but a gene­rous contempt of our selves; so this felf-contempt imports,

1. A lively Sense of God's Greatness, Holiness and Goodness. That's it which gives Humility being; that's it where­by the sacred Fire is kindled. A lively Sense of God's greatness, gives the Soul a clear sight of her own nothingness; A lively Sense of God's holiness, a clear sight of her sinfulness, a lively Sense of his goodness, and a clear view of her own Unworthiness. The greater this Sense is, the greater is the Humility; while that Sense lasts, this Humility lasts when that decays, this vanishes. This lively Sense sows the seed of Humility in the Soul, and makes it grow, and advance into fruitfulness; it produces it waters it, cherishes, and keeps it warm. Where that Sense is very lively, the Soul knows not how to lay low enough before God. A lively Sense of God's greatness makes Abraham cry out, I have undertaken to speak to the God of Heaven, who am but dust and ashes, [Page 59] Gen. XVIII. 27. A lively Sense of God's holiness makes Job fall down and say, I ahhorr my self in dust and ashes, Job XLII 6. A live Sense of God's goodness compels Jacob to prostrate himself before God, and forces him into this Ejaculation; I am not worthy of the least of all the Mer­cies, and of all the Truth which thou hast shew'd unto thy Servant, Gen. XXXII 10. And though I grant that all this may be said, and is said daily by Hypocrites, and Persons in whom Sin and the World are predominant; yet it is not the bare saying so that makes a Man humble, but the Sense which dictates these Ex­pressions.

2. From hence flow very low and de­spicable thoughts of our selves, not tran­sitory thoughts in the nature of flying Sparks, once in a Month, or once in a quarter of a Year, or once in a me­lancholy Fit; but habitual, lowly thoughts, which are constant Guests with the Soul, and whereby the Soul for the most part entertains a very low or small opinion of her self; or worth, or any thing that belongs to her; and if any proud or arrogant thoughts arise, presently pulls them down again, with such considerations as these.

[Page 60] What a poor contemptible Creature am I? What have I, that I have not re­ceiv'd? My Body, what is it, but the re­sult of God's bounty? My Soul the work of his hands; what Parts, what Abili­ties, what external Accommodations and Conveniencies I have, they are Effects of his liberality; what Gifts, what Ac­complishments, what Perfections, what Excellencies, what Graces, what Vertues I have; what are they but the Products of his undeserved Charity? Of my self, what am I but a sinner, a Name which must fill me with horrour, when I think of it; a wretched Creature that have de­serv'd the wrath and indignation of an offended God, and the burning Lake! a very poor inconsiderable thing, or ra­ther an inconiderable nothing! And shall so vile, so pitifull a thing, the sport of Winds, and whose Life is a shadow, a dream, and a vapour, be proud of any thing? Who live upon Alms, and am maintain'd by the pure Charity, and Compassion of an Omnipotent God? Su­stain'd by his breath, upheld by his pow­er, cherish'd by his providence, subsisting by his Will, and moving at his pleasure, and a thing no better than a Tennis-ball in his hand, which he may strike away, [Page 61] and call for another. What? proud of being in debt, and having a severer Ac­count to give? For of this Nature are all my Mercies, shew how much I am indebted to God, and how great my Account will be, when the Great Ma­ster of the World shall come and reckon with his Servants! These are some of the low and despicable thoughts the humble Soul entertains, I Tim. I. 15. And from hence flows,

3. A hearty detestation and abhor­rency of self-conceitedness, self-admira­tion and desire of vain-glory; so that if the humble Soul at any time admits vain imaginations, whereby she pleases her self with what she hath done, as her own Work, or let drop a Word, which look'd like admiring her own per­formances, or done any thing which tended to raise her Credit, and Reputa­tion with Men, though it was but by a side-wind, that she sailed to that dange­rous Port, she presently chides her self, laments her weakness, cries out against her folly, is angry with her inadverten­cy, and declares an everlasting War a­gainst all such sinister and preposterous Purposes, 2 Cor. XI. 15, 16.

[Page 62] 4. From hence flows Humility to Men too, and preferring others in honour be­fore our selves, according to the Com­mand and Character of Humility given, Rom. XII. 10. Surely that Man cannot be truly humble to God, that is not so to Men; and in vain doth he talk of lowli­ness, that shews no respect to his lawfull Superiours and Magistrates; that will not let abler and wiser Men speak, or sit, or go before him; that cannot be content Men of greater worth should be pre­ferr'd to the Place he aim'd at; that knows not how to condescend to Men of low Estate, and is loath to shew civili­ty to Persons that are good, because they are miserable in the World; that thinks it below him to lend his helping hand, and to minister unto those whose Condition is mean; or never learn'd yet in his practical Esteem, to preferr a poor Saint before a rich Man, who is a stran­ger to real Goodness; that will not go one step out of the Road of his humour, and will be affable and courteous no far­ther than is consistent with his Interest. To be sure, such a Person doth not think better of others than of himself, which yet is the great ingredient of Humility. It's true, the humble Soul is not to think [Page 63] of Persons openly profane, and atheisti­cal, better than of her self; yet the Rule holds, where others appear to be vigilant, and watchfull, and sober, at least live in-offensive, and without scan­dal; and the ground upon which this piece of Humility rises, is partly the se­cret defects the humble Man finds in himself, and which he hath a greater sense of, than of the faults of others, and which really appear greater to him, than the offences of other Men, partly the se­cret Gifts, and latent Vertues, that may be for ought he knows in another Man. Upon this Account, the humble Person is to think of others better than of him­self, yet with this caution, so to think of others better than of himself, as not to run into despair, nor to conceal, or hide the Grace of God bestow'd upon him, when the Edification of others requires a declaration of it, as is evident from Psal. LXVI. 16. and 1 Cor. XV. 10. And from hence flows,

5. A holy Contentedness in the mean Condition, God hath placed us in. Hu­mility is particularly seen in outward Poverty, and he whom Providence hath brought to a very mean and low Estate in the World, and who is contentedly [Page 64] poor, is truly humble. For he humbles himself under the mighty hand of God, submits to his Will, and bears it chear­fully, because he is confident it will work for his good. The same is to be ap­plied to other outward Afflictions. The humble Man gives his back to the smi­ter, and when he suffers, he threatens not only from a sense of the Demerit of his sins, which he knows have deserv'd worse Usages; but from consideration of the mighty alteration of his conditi­on, when the Lord Jesus shall appear from Heaven, to be admired in all his Saints. Humility is more seen in bear­ing Afflictions and Reproaches, and In­juries than any where. In these cases, for our thoughts to work downward, and to strike the Soul into an humble Sense, and to quiet her as a weaned Child, this looks like the Humility of a Disciple of Christ, 1 Pet. II. 19, 20, 21. But,

6. And lastly, This Humility is not complete, without a chearfull and hum­ble Submission to what God requires to be done. Pride is the cause of Diso­bedience, and because Men insolently oppose their Wills to God's Will, They walk in the imagination of their [Page 65] hearts. Hence we read, Jer. XIII. 15. Hear this, and give ear, be not proud for the Lord hath spoken: To shew that Pride causes Men to turn their backs to the wholsome Commands and Admonitions of the Lord: And if this be the Nature of Pride, it must necessarily be the Tem­per of Christian Humility, chearfully and humbly to take Christ's Yoak upon us, and let the Commands of the Gospel, be never so contrary to the in­terest of Flesh and Blood, where Humi­lity reigns, there none of those Com­mands will be grievous, 1 John V. 3.

This as near as I can guess, is the true Idea of Christian Humility commanded in the Text; for though it be no for­mal Command, yet a Blessing being en­tailed upon the Vertue, which Blessing is not to be had without the qualifica­tion, it must be Tantamount to a Com­mand. But, Why is this Humility call'd poverty in Spirit? I answer: Poverty it's call'd,

1. Because the humble Man hath no good thing of his own. He carefully distinguishes what is God's, and what is his own. He is sensible, that all the Evil he hath is his own; and if what he may call his own be consider'd, [Page 66] he will appear a very poor, miserable Wretch destitute of Mercy, and Favour, and Comfort, and fit only to fall a Prey to the rage of the Devil. What good he hath or finds in himself, he ascribes to the true cause God blessed for ever­more. Not I, but the grace of God, which was in me, I Cor. XV. 10. He freely and feelingly acknowledges, that he is nothing, hath nothing, and can do nothing that's good, without the power and influence of God. He sees nothing in himself that can help, or save, or se­cure him. All his riches, hope, life and power, and strength and vertue is in Christ Jesus: And having nothing of his own, that he can boast of, he may tr [...] ­ly be call'd poor.

2. Poor, because he is always in want, always in want of God's grace and good­ness to guide him, to lead him, to con­duct him, to strengthen him, to keep him, to preserve him. He is always begging, always imploring the Divine goodness to remember him. Begging is his Trade and Profession, I mean beg­ging the Mercy and Charity of the Fa­ther of Mercy; and he gives not over begging, till his Prayers be turn'd into everlasting Praises.

[Page 67] But he is not only poor, but poor in Spirit.

1. Because Humility must take up its chief Residence in his Spirit, and inward Man. Outward prostrations, humilia­tions, cringings, bowings, raggs, a sordid habit, sackcloath; and the course cloath he wears, signify nothing except the Soul, or the Mind be lowly: If that be so, the outward Man will be truly so, if the inward Man be a stranger to this Humility, the leathern Girdle, and the Garment of Camel's-hair without, will soon be seen thorough. And therefore the young Man in Cassian for all his fre­quent aggravations of his sins, and won­derfull semblances of an humble mind, discover'd his Hypocrisie, when he could not endure a reproof from Serapion. Lucian makes himself very merry with a Cynick, a Man who pretended to more than ordinary Humility and Austerity of life; A friend of his searching his Pockets, and thinking to find there some old Raggs and mouldy Bread, and the Parings of Cheese, or some such stuff, to his surprize found there a Bale of Dice, a Box of Perfume, and the Picture of his Mistriss. A very fit Emblem of a Person, who makes a shew of Humi­lity [Page 68] without, but within is self-conceit­ed, and an admirer of his own worth. The heart must feel the power of this Virtue. That's the Garden where the Flower must grow, and there it must take root, if not, it's not a Plant of our hea­venly Father's planting; and a Christi­an may easily perceive, that it is lodged in his inward Parts, by the lowly and humble Thoughts he cherishes within. It was from what he felt within, that the Martyr said, Lord, I am Hell, Thou art Heaven; and another, I am the most hypocritical Wretch, not worthy that the Earth should bear me; and a third, I am the unfittest Man for so high an Honour, as suffering for Christ, that ever was ap­pointed to it; and a fourth writing to his Friend, that was going to be burnt at the Stake for the Gospel of Christ; O that my life, and a thousand such Wret­ches lives, might go for yours! Why doth he suffer me, and such other Caterpillars to live, who can-do nothing but consume the Alms of the Church, and take you away a mighty Workman, and Labourer in his Vineyard. The inward Humility sancti­fied these Expressions; and whatever indiscretion might be in such Speeches, the humble Sense of their own vile­ness [Page 69] within made them rational and elegant.

2. Poverty in Spirit; because this Hu­mility is an effect of God's spirit, the Holy Ghost breathes upon the Soul, and plants it there. The Spirit of God disposes and inclines the Soul to these humble Sentiments, scatters the strong holds of iniquity, and the vain imaginations, that exalt themselves against the Obe­dience of Christ Jesus; throws down the high Conceits the man did formerly har­bour in his mind, and suggests to the Soul, arguments to baffle and resist the Reasons of Flesh and Blood, and of the World; for where a Person endeavours to bring his Heart to an humble Tem­per, the Devil is present with his Baits; What? will you be a Fool? will you be laught at by your Neighbours? what? put up such affronts, which no Flesh is able to endure? what? shew your self tame under such an Aspersion? what will Men say of you? But the Spirit of God teaches the Soul, how to answer all such Objections with the Example and Command of Christ, and the hope of the Grace and Glory of God. And therefore this Humility is justly call'd, Poverty in Spirit.

[Page 70] II. How the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs, and upon what Account it belongs to them?

By the Kingdom of Heaven, in Scri­pture, particularly in the New Testa­ment, is meant, sometime the Kingdom of Grace, sometime the Kingdom of Glory. The Kingdom of Grace is that sweet and gentle Government which Christ Jesus, the Son of God, the Head of his Church, and the King of Saints, doth by his Spirit exercise over his Dis­ciples, Followers, and such as have gi­ven themselves up to his Conduct; by which Spirit he teaches, enlightens, guides, assists, strengthens, and comfort and preserves them, makes them wil­ling and obedient, and communicate strength and life, and power to them more or less, according to the improve­ment of the Stock committed to their Trust. This is the Kingdom of Grace, and in this Sense the Expression is used, Matth. III. 2. Matth. XIII. 44. and in other places. The Kingdom of Glory is the future reward and recompence, God intends and designs for those, who have resolutely taken Christ's Yoak up­on [Page 71] them, even that Glory, Honour and Immortality St. Paul speaks of, Rom. II. 7. consisting in seeing God face to face, and triumphing over Hell, and Devils, and enjoying him, in whose Presence there is fulness of joy for ever. This is the Kingdom of Glory, and in this Sense we find the Phrases used, Matth. VII. 21. Matth. XIII. 43. Matth. XIX. 23.

In both Senses, the Kingdom of Hea­ven belongs to the Poor in Spirit, or to the Humble.

I. The Kingdom of Grace, and this you cannot doubt of, if you reflect up­on the signal Favours, God on this side Heaven confers on the Soul that's truly humble. To the humble he gives Grace, saith St. Peter, 1 Pet. V. 5. Nay, more Grace as St. James notes, Ch. IV. 6. ac­cording as this Humility takes deeper root, or runs out into larger Branches. The humble Man is dispos'd to receive the warmer and stronger influences of God's goodness and mercy. The Soul that purifies, and cleanses her self from all high and losty thoughts, or rejoyces in her meanness and low Estate; and being nothing, renders her self apt and fit for the Almighty's abode in her, and [Page 72] invites him to take possession of her; and from God's dwelling there, a Man may date a thousand Blessings. To such a Person the Father of Lights commu­nicates wonderfull Treasures; to such there arises a light in darkness, and in­to such low and humble Valleys, the richest Showers, and the clearest Rivers flow: O that you were all sensible of this Truth! O that you did but feel this Christian Humility working in your Souls! You would find what Wisdom, what spiritual Wisdom God would in­fuse into your Souls, even that Wisdom which is from above; first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easie to be entrea­ted, without partiality, without hypocrisie, full of good works, James III. 17. I thank thee, O Father, that thou hast reveal'd these things unto Babes, saith our Savi­our, Matth. XI. 25. These Babes are the humble, the poor in Spirit: To these God reveals the heighth, and breadth, and depth, and length of the love of God; such may promise themselves the larger Portions of God's Spirit; such Persons are most likely to grow in Grace, to advance in Goodness, to a rise to perfection, and to be satisfied with the Corn of Heaven, with Angel's [Page 73] Food. Such a Soul is fitted for Uni­versal Obedience; the severest Laws of the Gospel go down with her, and she embraces the Yoak with Joy. Who can express the Comforts, the Peace, the Sa­tisfaction that the humble feel! It must needs be so, for it's the lowly in heart that are promised Rest for their Souls, Matth. XI. 29. Such get strength a­gainst their Corruptions, Temptations, Lusts, and sinfull Inclinations; such make a mighty progress in Goodness, and get Courage in the greatest fiery Trials.

For this, I might appeal to the Ex­amples of the Saints of Old, but I need not go so high; I will appeal to the Experience of some pious Christians a­mong us, who feel what David said of himself; O God mine heart is not haugh­ty, nor mine eyes losty; surely, I have behaved and quieted my self as a Child, that's wean'd of his mother, Ps. CXXXI. 1, 2. Let such among you tell me, when they have been in a very humble frame, when they have had a lively sense of God's greatness, and goodness, and ho­liness, and a very deep Sense of their own vileness; have not you seen more of God than ever; have not your Souls [Page 74] been satisfied as with marrow and fat­ness; have not you been ready to go through Fire and Water for God; have not you baffled and scorn'd the stron­gest assaults of the Devil, and torn the snares and grins that were laid for you, with as great ease as Sampson did his Bonds? Have not your hearts been rea­dy to leap within you, and your joys like mighty Rivers, been ready to over­flow your Souls? This is the Kingdom of Grace, and this belongs to the hum­ble. But,

II. The Kingdom of Glory is theirs too; theirs by purchase, theirs by pos­session taken already in their Names, theirs by promise, theirs by way of earnest.

1. Theirs by purchase, and therefore call'd the purchased Possession, Eph. I. 19. Purchas'd, by whom? Even by Christ Jesus, the great Shepherd of the Sheep, who laid down his life for them, and thereby obtain'd an everlasting inheri­tance for them. None could purchase it but he, for whoever undertook the Work, must be not only a Man inno­cent, spotless, and without sin, and die, but of that Divine excellency too, as [Page 75] to be able to give his Death an infinite value; the vertue whereof might ex­tend it self to all Ages, and to all sorts of Persons too: This none could do, but he that was the Son of God, and the Son of David too. He did it, and wonderfull was the Enterprise; nothing was ever attempted like it. He died, and purchas'd this Kingdom of Glory for the humble; his purchase makes it theirs. He was both able to purchase it, and when he had done, to apply it to those for whom it was purchas'd. If a rich Man buys an Estate for a Beggar, the Beggar may justly call it his; for he that had right, and means, and power, and ability to buy it, bought it for his Use.

2. Theirs by possession taken already in their Name. The same Jesus, that purchas'd this Kingdom for them; he it is that hath taken possession of this King­dom for them, and in their Name. For in my Father's house are many mansions If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, saith Christ, John XIV. 2. All the Christian World knows, that Christ ascended in­to Heaven. There he actually enjoys the Kingdom of Glory, which he keeps [Page 76] for the humble. He is the great Trustee, that secures and manages that vast Estate for their Use: So that it may ju [...]ly be call'd theirs, because of the forerunner Jesus, who is enter'd into Heaven, being made a Priest for ever after the order of Melchi­sedeck, as it is said, Heb. VI. 20. There he appears for them as their Advocate and keeps their places for them, against they come thither: As a Guardian takes care, and possession of the Orphan's Estate, till the Pupil comes to Age; so Christ takes possession of this Kingdom, with an intent to deliver it up to the humble, when they come in the Unity of the Faith unto a perfect Man in Christ Jesus, to the measure of the Stature of the fulness of Christ, Eph. IV. 13.

3. Theirs by promise; for so we read, Matth. XVIII. 3, 4. Except ye be con­verted, and become as little Children, ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Whosoever shall humble him­self as this little Child, the same is grea­test in the Kingdom of Heaven. He hath promis'd it, who is able to give it, even God, who cannot be worse than his word. The humble Man may de­pend upon this Promise, more than he can upon Bonds, and Bills, and Securi­ties [Page 77] that Men can give him of an Estate in the World. God cannot fail him, he cannot disappoint him: He not only will not, but cannot, as the Apostle saith, He cannot lye, Tit. I. 2. because that would imply an imperfection. If a Man of Honour doth faithfully promise his Neighbour a living, a place, or an office in his gift, the Man makes bold to call it his, for he hath confidence in his honesty, and word, knowing him to be a Person that stands upon his cre­dit, and reputation, and scorns to do any thing that's base and mean: How much more then may the humble Soul, call the Kingdom of Glory hers; since the God, the Fountain of Truth, and Truth it self, hath peremptorily said, it shall fall to her share; and though such Persons do not actually as yet enjoy it, yet they shall enjoy it as surely, as if they did already walk through that Jerusa­lem, and view the Towers, and Bull­works, and all because they have to deal with a God, who changes not, Mal. III. 6.

4. Theirs by way of earnest. In hu­mane Contracts men give earnest, and that makes the Bargain sure; and tho' the Covenant, God makes with Men, [Page 78] is not such a formal Contract as is be­twixt Man and Man, in buying and sel­ling, yet some resemblance there is in that, God a most bountifull Master, is willing to give earnest to the humble Soul, to assure her, that this Kingdom of Glory shall be hers.

This earnest is his Spirit, which is therefore call'd, The earnest of our future inheritance, Eph I. 14. This Spirit is no fancy, but a real thing, which the hum­ble Soul feels as much as other Men do the moving of the Wind, by the effects. This Spirit of God is discover'd by its operations, which are kindly, and great, and powerfull, and make a very wonder­full alteration in the Soul for the better.

This Spirit works Grace, and that Grace is the earnest of Glory.

III. How, and in what manner a Title to this Kingdom makes the poor in Spirit, or the Humble, blessed.

In the Greek it is [...], which is as much as [...], Men that may rejoyce much, or who have very great reason to rejoyce; or as much as [...], Men not subject to Death or Corruption. the word an­swers [Page 79] to the Hebrew [...], which im­ports a perfection, or confluence of all good things. The Isle of Cyprus, was anciently call'd Macaria, because of the mighty affluence, and abundance of all good things, that wer to be had there, which was the cause, why the Romans seiz'd it for their use. But what is all this to the Kingdom of Heaven, to the Kingdom of Grace and Glory? Where all things that can make a Man truly, and eternally happy, do concur; where there is no want of any thing, that Rea­son can desire; and all things that fill and satisfie the Soul are present; where God gives himself the perfection of Beauty, and Wisdom, and Greatness, and Love, and Delight; which gift, as it is begun in the Kingdom of Grace; so it shall be perfected in the Kingdom of Glory.

The humble Man is blessed:

1. Blessed in himself: 2. Blessed in the sight of God: 3. Blessed in the Eyes of all good Men: 4. blessed in the midst of all his outward Miseries: 5. Blessed in the opinion of all Reprobates: 6. Bles­sed, because he hath a Title to the King­dom of Heaven.

[Page 80] 1. Blessed in himself: He hath reason to rejoice. His humility gives him that content and secret Satisfaction, that it may justly be call'd the Philosopher's-stone; Content, which surpasses all the Satisfaction, that the luxurious, the proud, the voluptuous, the sensual, the carnal part of Mankind boasts of.

He hath Riches within, and Pleasures within, and a new Name within him, even the white Stone, which no Man knows, save he who receives it. Nor is he subject to corruption; for when he dies, he dies into an immortal life.

There is nothing of him dies, but the garment of flesh; nothing of him cor­rupts but the Clay and Dust, he wears about him; the earthly Tabernacle in which his Soul, that noble Inhabitant lived, decays and moulders, and falls; but his Soul at his Death is born again, gets new life, new light, new irradiati­ons; nay, and his Body must at last fol­low his Soul to Glory; and therefore blessed, blessed in himself, for he feels that Bliss within, which all the Gold of Ophir cannot purchase. So true is that saying of our Saviour. He that believes in me shall never die, Joh. XI. 26.

[Page 81] 2. He is blessed in the sight of God: God counts him so; God looks upon him as happy, and he must needs be so, whom God judges to be so. God can­not be mistaken: He cannot be out in his Verdict. He sees his heart, sees the lovely, the amiable, the charming Ver­tue, he is most enamour'd withal, a Ver­tue very agreeable to his Divine Nature, a Vertue which very much resembles the Great God, who dwells on high; yet humbles himself to behold the things in Heaven, and in Earth; and seeing his own Image there, he counts him blessed.

3. Blessed in the Eyes of all good Men. A good Man that beholds Humility shi­ning in his Neighbour, and finds that this Grace hath taken deep root in his heart, that he hath very low thoughts of him­self, that he is willing to submit to Per­sons wiser and abler in things ambigu­ous and doubtfull, that he thinks more kindly, and favourably of others than of himself; that he ascribes all his Gifts and Blessings to the free and underseved Bounty of God, and attributes nothing to his own merits and desert; that he thinks himself unworthy of Honour, and is not ambitious of worldly Glory; that [Page 82] he speaks humbly of himself, and is wil­ling to converse with Persons, mean, yet good, and to contribute to their welfare; that he can bear reproof, and bear injuries well, &c. The good Man, that sees these admirable effects of Hu­mility in his Neighbour, what doth he see, but the Character of God's Chil­dren? And what can be more blessed here on Earth than a Child of God, than a Son or Daughter adopted in Christ: Jesus?

4. Blessed in the midst of all his out­ward Misery: Blessed he is in the midst: of stripes, and lashes, and reproaches, and calumnies. Blessed in a Prison, bles­sed in Dungeon, blessed when Men con­temn and despise him, when all things go cross, when he is reviled, abused, un­dervalued, and despightfully handled▪ for while this spiritual Poverty like a good Angel dwells in him, while this Humility reigns in his Soul, God's Spi­rit hovers over him, the Almighty carresses him, Angels visit and attend him, his Conscience justifies him, and the Lord Jesus, that Pattern of Humili­ty loves him, and therefore blessed still.

[Page 83] 5. Blessed in the opinion of all Repro­bates, not in this World, but in the next; when they shall see the humble Man advanced above the Stars of Hea­ven, seated among the Elder Sons of God, rais'd from this dunghil World, and made to sit with Christ together in heavenly Places; then the proud, the vain, the foolish, that counted the hum­ble Man's life madness, will all change their Notes; and they that once look'd upon his Humility, as baseness of Spi­rit, will then be forced to acknowledge, that such a Man chose the better part, understood himself, and was truly sen­sible of the Veracity of what God had said so long ago. I am the lofty and ho­ly one, who inhabits Eternity; with him also will I dwell that is of an humble Spi­rit, Isa. LVII. 15.

6. Blessed because he hath a Title to the Kingdom of Heaven. The World calls an Heir to a great Estate, or Honour, or Dignity a happy Man. And must not then the humble Man be happy and blessed, that is Heir to the Crown immarcescible, Heir to all the vast Territories of Heaven, Heir of all the Land of Canaan, Heir to all the huge Tract above, that flows with Milk and [Page 84] Honey? Nothing can make a Man so happy, as the full enjoyment of God. Is God happy or not? The Epicureans held, nay the Devil himself dares not deny, that God is the most happy Be­ing; and is it possible to enjoy that God, to be united to him, to live in his glorious Presence, and to participate of his Felicity, and not be happy? This blessedness the Kingdom of Heaven gives the humble Man. He hath a right to the Tree of life; and therefore blessed, as we read, Revel. XXII. 14.

IN the Account our Saviour gives of blessed Men; the mourners you see succeed the humble, or the poor in Spirit. It was very convenient it should be so; for Humility is the cause of mour­ning, mourning the effect of Humility, or spiritual Poverty; and therefore we find the one immediately subjoin'd to the other. The poor Man mourns; it's natural to do so, and so doth the poor in Spirit. As the poor Man mourns for the presence of Temporal Evils, and the absence of Temporal Blessings, so the poor in Spirit mourns for the presence of Spiritual Evils, and the absence of Spiritual Blessings; and this mourning, [Page 94] as will appear in the Sequel, is some­times great and loud, and vehement, like the mourning of a Funeral, but as great as it may be there is comfort in it; for Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Three things will deserve our consi­deration.

I. Whether all mourners are blessed, and if not, who they be that are so.

II. Wherein their Blessedness con­sists.

III. How, and when they shall be comforted.

I. Whether all mourners are blessed, and if not, who they be that are so.

1. There is a natural Sorrow, or mourning for the Loss of Parents, or Children, or other Relatives, or Friends, or Goods, or Necessaries, or outward Accommodations. This Sorrow even the best of Men are subject to; and if it be moderate, not long, not violent, not excessive, not bordering upon de­spair, as if all our happiness were gone, not join'd with mistrust of God's Providence, but sweetened and qualified [Page 95] with thoughts of the Will of God, and our own Demerits, and God's holy and wise Designs, it is allowable, and there is no hurt in it; but still this cannot make a Man blessed, for at the best it is but a natural Infirmity, and that's no ingredient of Blessedness. Ex­cessive mourning for outward Losses, or an impatient Sorrow, is a down­right Sin; and I need not tell you, that this is incapable of making a Man bles­sed. And of this Nature is sorrow or mourning, because we cannot accom­plish our wicked Design, or because we cannot revenge our selves upon an Ad­versary, as we would, or because we cannot have that Plenty, and Estate, and Fortune, and Prosperity, which other voluptuous Men enjoy. All such mour­ning is offensive to God, and makes Men miserable, and therefore cannot make them blessed. There is besides all this, a sorrow proceeding from melancholy, which makes People lament and mourn, and take on, and sigh, and look sad, and they cannot tell why: This must needs be the effect of a Distemper, and there­fore can be no part of Blessedness, or true Happiness. And therefore,

[Page 96] 2. The mourners who are pronoun­ced blessed here, must be mourners of another sort. And they are,

1. Such as mourn for their sins: Such a mourner was David, whom Sin and a due Sense of it, made even roar by rea­son of the disquietness of his heart, Psal. XXXVIII. 8. Such a mourner was Pe­ter, who after the denial of his Ma­ster went out, and wept bitterly, Matth. XXVI. 75. Such a mourner was Mary Magdalen, or whoever the Woman was, that wash'd our Saviour's Feet with her Tears, Luke VII. 38. The mourners, that are said to be blessed here, are Persons that deny themselves, mourn not for such things as the World mourns for, but such as sensual Men take no notice of. There is no self denial in mourning for outward Losses; even Children can do that; but in mourning for his sins a Man must go contrary to the stream of natural inclination, and offer a kind of violence to himself, and that makes it a pleasing Sacrifice, and he mourns happi­ly, that takes on, because he is sensible how evil a thing, and how bitter it is to forsake the LORD, and that his fear hath not been in him, as it is said, Jer. II. 19. Repentance cannot but make a [Page 97] Man happy, and the Nature of it is said to consist in this, in looking at that Jesus, that Saviour, that Redeemer whom we have pierc'd by our Sins, and whose Love and Blood we have affronted, and to mourn, as one that mourns for his only Son, Zachar. XII. 10.

2. Such as mourn for other Men's sins, whether publick or private; such a mourner was the Royal Prophet; Ri­vers of Tears ran down his Eyes, because other Men did not keep God's Laws, Psal. CXIX. 136. Such a mourner was Jere­miah, whom we hear wishing, Jer. IX. 1, 2. O that my head were Water, and mine eyes a fountain of Tears, that I might weep day and night; because my People are Adulte­rers, an assembly of treacherous Men. Such mourners were those pious Men we read of, Ezek. IX. 4. Who cried for the abo­minations of the House of Israel; and last­ly, such were the faithfull Corinthians, who sorrow'd after a Godly sort; for having given the incestuous Person too much incouragement to come into their Congregations, a sorrow upon which St. Paul makes this remark, 2 Cor. VII II. What carefulness hath it wrought in you, yea what clearing of your selves, yea what fear, yea what vehement desire, yea what [Page 98] zeal, yea what revenge? Such mourners are Persons of true Christian compassi­on; their sorrow is noble and generous, and like the sorrow of God, Ezek. VI. 9. I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me.

3. Such as mourn for the loss or ab­sence of God's spiritual Blessings; I say, Spiritual; because there is a favour of God, which relates to the gay, and great things of the World; such as Riches, Plenty, and outward Prosperity, a fa­vour bestow'd even upon the worst of Men, and to mourn for the loss or ab­sence of this favour makes no Man hap­py; that which makes us so, is mour­ning for the loss or absence of God's spi­ritual Blessings, such as being deprived of the use of God's publick Ordinances, a remarkable instance where of we have in David, when forced during Saul's per­secution, to wander in Deserts and Wil­dernesses, among Heathens and Infidels, where he had no opportunity of visiting the House of God, and participating of the Prayers and Praises of God's People a lively Description of which mourning he gives us, Psal. XLII. 3, 4. My tears have been my meat day and night, while they say daily unto me, where is thy God? [Page 99] When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me, for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with the multitude which keeps holy-day. How this afflicted him he expresses more fully, Vers. 5. where he talks of his Soul being cast down, and disquieted within him: And of this nature is the mour­ning of many pious Christians, who have sometime felt great peace, great joy, great satisfaction in the practice of Religion, but find the light of God's countenance withdrawn, terrour dwells in their minds, and horrour fills their Souls, they find not that chearfulness, that fervour that alacrity in God's ser­vice which once they felt, and for this they mourn; blessed are these mour­ners.

4. Such as mourn, because they can­not as yet perfectly overcome the cor­ruptions, which do so easily beset them. Indeed the Reign, the Tyrannizing Power, the Dominion of sin is broken in them; but as it was with the seven Nations, after that their Empire was destroyed, some of the Enemies here and there re­main'd to exercise the Courage of the Israelites; so in good Men, after they [Page 100] have shaken off the Yoak of the Devil; some reliques of their old sins remain, against which they fight; they strive, they labour, they watch, they pray, that their Pride, their desire of vain-glory, their passion, their hastiness of Spirit, their pusillanimity and cowardice in speaking for God, their timorousness in reproving their Neighbours, their mistrust of God's mercy, their love and affection to the World, &c. may be gone, that God would arise, and that these Enemies may be scatter'd, they use means, they enquire what they must do to mortify these unruly desires, they de­ny themselves, they fast, they are an­gry with these Corruptions, yet ever and anon before they are aware they fall, and imprudently yield to Tempta­tions of this nature; they would feign be Masters of those vertues, accomplish­ments and perfections, which did shine so bright in the primitive Saints, but cannot as yet arrive to that excellent Temper; for this they mourn, and are dejected, and sorrow seizes upon their hearts and minds; yet still, blessed are these mourners.

5. Such as mourn, because their stay in this World is long, because they are [Page 101] kept out of Heaven, and from the per­fect enjoyment of God, because they are obliged to continue in this barren Wilderness of the World; where they must see their God dishonoured, his Name profaned, his Creatures abused, his Ordinances derided, his Providences disregarded, his Precepts slighted, his Promises undervalued, his Threatnings scorned, and Charity grow cold, and Iniquity abound: This draws from them David's complaint, Wo is me, that I must dwell in Mesech, and have my habi­tation in the Tents of Kedar, Ps. CXX. 5. Indeed such mourners are but few, most Men being desirous to enjoy the World, as long as they can; yet some there are that have made their Calling and Ele­ction sure; and long to be gone, long to be dissolved and to be with Christ, and to be cloath'd upon with their House from Heaven, long to join the Quire of Angels, long to be freed from this Earthly Tabernacle, and all this upon the excellent Principle of the love of God, not from impatience under their pain and sickness, or frowns of the World, or their mean condition here; but because the love of God is shed a­broad in their hearts, and because they [Page 102] are kept from enjoying their desire, be­cause the amorous Needle is with-held from clinging to the beloved Magnet, they mourn; blessed mourning!

But what? You'll say, do no mour­ners under Temporal losses and crosses come into the Number of these blessed Men? I answer, yes.

1. If the cause for which, and in which they suffer losses of their Goods, or Friends be great and noble; if they sul­fer for the Gospel's sake, upon the Ac­count of Righteousness, and a good Con­science, in this case their mourning un­der their Temporal losses may inti­tle them to blessedness, provided that their mourning be mingled with faith and hope, and a holy self-resignation; and that they mourn more for the wick­edness of the Person, who are the in­struments of their Persecution, than for the want of their Corn and Wine, and Oil, and the Garlicks, and Onions of Egypt.

2. If under their Temporal losses they mourn chiefly for their sins, which have both caused and deserved these suffer­ings; Sorrow, barely for Temporal los­ses, and for being deprived of the satis­factions of the flesh, cannot be recon­ciled [Page 103] to that Spiritual life the Gospel presses; something there must be to sweeten that sour Sop; as it stands a­lone, it comes under the notion of sor­row of the World, and that we are told works death, 2 Cor. VII. 10. And con­sequently happiness cannot be the fruit or effect of it. The Soul therefore that mourns under such outward Calamities, must look off from the Calamity to the cause of it, or Sin which hath procured it; and that sanctifies the sorrow, and makes the mourner blessed.

Yet to prevent mistakes, I must necessarily add these following cauti­ons.

1. We are not to think, that in order to arrive to this Blessedness, a Man or Woman must do nothing but mourn: There is a time for every thing, and there are other things to be done besides mourning, even the particular Duties, and Vertues, and Self-denials, required and commanded in this Chapter; so that when it is said here, blessed are they that mourn, the meaning is, blessed are they that do so as they have occasion to reflect either upon the Spiritual Evils which are present, or upon the Spiritual Blessings that are absent from them. [Page 104] It's enough that there be a disposition or aptitude to mourn, which exerts it self whenever any opportunity offers it self to consider, and to think of such Objects as deserve and require our mourning, else Spiritual Joy would be no Duty; and if our lives were to be fill'd with mourning, the Apostle's Exhortati­on had been useless, Phil. IV. 1. Rejoyce in the Lord always, i. e. upon all occasions, and again I say, Rejoyce. Neither,

2. Must the stress be laid upon the bare mourning, as if the mourning and weeping, and sadness alone were pleasing to God, and groans were the only livery of Heaven; but this mourning must be in order to a greater end, even to esta­blish our Souls in the love of God, to strengthen our graces, to corroborate our repentance, and aversion from sin, and to purifie our outward and inward Man more and more, and therefore it is emphatically call'd, sorrowing to Repen­tance, 2 Cor. VII. 9. Nor,

3. Are we to think, that a certain de­gree of mourning is always necessary, even mourning expressed in so much weeping, and sorrowing, as we find in other Christians of our Acquaintance. All men's conditions are not alike; a [Page 105] Person that hath been profane and lewd hath reason to mourn more, than he, whose Sins have been of a lesser size; not but that it was commendable to weep bitter­ly even for infirmities, but the obligati­on of mourning is greater certainly upon a rapacious Publican, than upon the pious Couple, Zacharias and Elizabeth. Besides, all men's Constitutions are not alike, some being of that tender Com­plexion, that the least touch or sense of things makes them weep; others of a hardier make, who may be astonish'd and concern'd at great things, but can­not make that outward shew of mour­ning, that others can. It's enough there­fore that the sorrow be rational, and that the mind be so affected with the object, that causes or deserves mour­ning, as to work in us a willingness to mourn more if we could, and an indig­nation against the Spiritual Evils which are present, and an earnest longing and endeavour after the Spiritual Blessings which are absent, and we stand in need of.

Having set down these cautions, I proceed to the second Part to acquaint you.

[Page 106] II. Wherein the Blessedness of such mourners consists.

1. This mourning is the Character of Saints, Ezek. IX. 4. 2 Cor. XII. 21. Why? what Blessedness is there in this? will some say. How? no Blessedness in being a Saint? what's the reason then that Kings and Princes wish they were so? what's the reason that most wicked Men, when they come to die, would fain be of that Number? Nay, what's the reason that in your Creed you be­lieve a Communion of Saints? Is it not in this Creed, that you profess the greatest Blessings, that were ever bestow'd upon the Children of Men? And if the Com­munion of Saints be one, must it not be a most blessed thing to be a Saint, and of that Communion? According to the account the Holy Ghost gives of a Saint, such a Man must be a greater Person, than the most potent Monarch of the World; and although Solomon's Treasure in all his Glory was not so dear to God, as a Saint is, one that is really so; not one that proudly assumes that Title; not one whom Men in civility call so; not one who out of self-concei­tedness [Page 107] thinks himself one, but one in whom the true Characters of Sanctity meet.

2. He that particularly mourns for the sins of others, for the sins of the Times, or for the sins of the Nation, or of the whole Christian World, is thereby made conformable to the Son of God, of whom we read, that he drew near the City and wept over it, because of the impiety that reigned in it, Luke XIX. 41. And to be like the Son of God, must be both a great and a blessed State. Greatness and Blessedness do not always go together, but here they do; for as nothing can be greater than the Son of God, so nothing can be more blessed: Seems it to you a small thing to be the King's Son-in-law, said the shepherd's Son, and is it not more magnificent to be like the Son of God? If he were blessed in this mourning, certainly he that imi­tates him in that sort of mourning must be so, for he was the Pattern both of our Vertue and Reward.

3. Such mourners are the Eriends of God; God takes care of them, and in the midst of their mourning is concern'd for them; his Bowels yearn over them; and though he lets them mourn for their [Page 108] good, because their Souls thrive and prosper under it, yet he leaves them not, forsakes them not, but is with them in that mourning Condition; his Eyes are open upon them, not to punish but to bless, not to destroy but to build up, not to kill but to revive; and as despi­cable as their State may seem, they shall be comforted, which calls me to the last Part.

III. How, and when they shall be comforted.

They shall be comforted in this World, and in the World to come.

1. In this World, and the steps or particulars of this Comfort are as fol­lows.

1. They shall be supported by God's Spirit, and in their weakness shall be made strong, as St. Paul was, when he mourned under strong Temptations, un­der the buffetings of Satan's Angel; My Grace, saith God, is sufficient for thee, 2 Cor. XII. 9. that is, though I do not think fit to deliver thee as yet, there shall be sufficient Grace given to sup­port thee under the Temptation; Or,

[Page 109] 2. They shall be enlightned in the midst of their mourning, and they shall see the wise and holy Designs of God, who suffers them to mourn, which sight shall cause a serenity and calmness in their minds; such a calm as shall re­create them in darkness, and make their Burthen tolerable, or easie to be born: And this is the effect of that famous Promise, Psal. CXII. 4. Vnto the upright there arises a light in darkness. Or,

3. God will send Men to comfort them, as he did Philip to the Eunuch, who was perplexed about a place of Scri­pture, and knew not how to help him­self. His good Providence will so order it, that either some faithfull Minister of the Word, or some other good Man shall come to them, and speak a word in season to them, whereby their Souls shall receive strength and courage to hold out; as it was in Hezekiah's case, Isa. XXXVIII. 2, 3. and following Ver­ses: Or,

4. His word shall comfort them, ei­ther publickly preach'd, or read in pri­vate: When they are meditating in the Law of God, something shall come in, that like the dawning of the day shall revive the weary Traveller, and this [Page 110] David found by experience: This is my comfort in my affliction, for thy word hath quickned me, Psal. CXIX. 50. Or,

5. They shall be deliver'd from the Temptation, or vanquish the Corrupti­on under which they groan, and such Power shall be given them, as shall en­able them to mock all the fiery Darts of the Devil, and to overcome the Evil with Good, as we see in St. Paul, Rom. VIII. 2. Or,

6. God will make their very mour­ning sweet to them, make their Tears their Cordials, their Sorrow shall be comfortable to them; and they shall find greater content and satisfaction in their Tears, than others do in their Corn and Wine, and Oil, as we see in the Apostles, 2 Cor. VII. 4. 2 Cor. XII. 10. Or,

7. God will give them a livelier sight and clearer apprehensions of the things which are not seen, and these shall buoy them up in the Flood that rises against them, and with these Bladders they shall swim through the salt Sea, and be pre­serv'd from sinking, as we see in the Believers spoken of, 2 Cor. IV. 16, 17, 18. Or,

[Page 111] 8. Their death shall comfort them, which shall deliver them from all their Miseries and Annoyances; put a stop to all the rage of their Spiritual and Tem­poral Enemies, and make an end of all their bitter Draughts; insomuch that they shall be able to say with old Simeon, Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace; for mine eyes have seen thy sal­vation, Luke II. 29, 30.

Some of these ways they shall be comforted in this present World. But,

2. More amply, more fully, more a­bundantly in the World to come.

The comforts to come are comforts in­deed. These comforts David speaks of, Psal. XXIII. 2. He shall make me to lie down in green pastures; he shall lead me beside the still waters. To this purpose Isaiah, Chap. XXXV. 10. The ransom'd of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joys upon their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow, and sighing shall fly away. They shall have beauty for ashes, the oyl of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heavi­ness, Isa. LXI. 3. When such mourners leave this World; such a scene of com­fort will open to them, as will make [Page 112] them for a while like unto them that dream, the surprize and the comfort will be so great. St. John describes their comforts more particularly, Rev. XXI. 4. and Rev. XXII. 4, 5. God shall wipe a­way all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death; neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed a­way. And they shall see his face, and his name shall be upon their foreheads and there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever.

THIS Blessedness, or Beatitude in some Latin Copies of the New Testament is the second, but in the Ori­ginal, and in the Syriack and Arabick Versions it is the third; and these as the most authentick, our Translation fol­lows; what is said of Meekness here, is taken out of Psal. XXXVII. 11. where we read as it is in the Text, The Meek shall inherit the Earth. Christ came not to reverse the Morals under the Law, but to ratifie and confirm, and to re­fine them into greater perfection, and to enforce them with new Motives, and Arguments. Moral Vertue hath been the same in all Ages; and being founded [Page 122] on the Law of Nature, must needs be un­alterable: The encouragements for the practice of it, are greater in the Chri­stian Religion, than in any other what­foever, and the lines of the Duty are here drawn in livelier Colours, but the Vertue it self, like the Nature of that God from whom it flows, receives no changes.

In the explication of the Text, we are to consider, as in the preceding Sen­tences.

I. What Meekness is, and who the Meek are, and what their Character is.

II. Wherein their Blessedness con­sists.

III. How they shall inherit the Earth.

I. What Meekness is.

1. To be meek is not to be mealy­mouth'd, or gentle, or calm, when it is our Duty to be angry; and it is our Duty to be so partly with our selves, when we sin against Heaven, and in the presence of an Omnipotent God, and that is the anger or indignation spoken of, 2 Cor. VII. 11. partly with others when they do notoriously affront the [Page 123] Divine Majesty, and wrong their Con­sciences, Gall. III. 1, 2. particularly,

1. With those who are under our Command, and Power, and Jurisdiction, such as Children, Servants, and other Re­lations; or Persons whose Masters, Go­vernours, Guardians, Teachers, or Tu­tours we are, when they prove incorri­gible in their sins, Gen. XLIX. 6, 7.

2. Even with others of our Acquain­tance, and Persons whom we converse with, when they profane the Name of God, or run out into licentiousness, and will not be reclaim'd by softer means, Gal. V. 12. Moses, though one of the meekest Men in the World, yet his an­ger justly wax'd hot, when he saw the Israelites commit Idolatry, Exod. XXXII. 19. And our Saviour himself, tho' the Pattern of Meekness, yet could not be­hold the profanation of the Temple without anger, John II. 15, 17. and St. Paul, and Barnabas, though Preachers of this Christian Meekness, yet were obliged to break out into Passion, when they saw the Priest of Jupiter bringing Oxen, and Garlands to do Sacrifice to them, Acts XIV. 14, 15. Elis Meek­ness to his Children prov'd his folly, and his Calmness is a Cause where God [Page 124] was dishonour'd, pulled down God's Vengeance upon his Posterity. A soft Expostulation here was altogether un­seasonable; and instead of saying to his Sons, why do you do so, he should have severely punish'd them, when their stubbornness baffled all the gentler means of their Reformation.

Meekness properly relates to injuries done to our selves, where the injury is directly offer'd to God, our Meekness must turn into Zeal; in all sins against our Neighbours, and our own Souls: God is wrong'd because all sin is a Trans­gression, and dishonouring of the Law of God, but some sins are more immedi­ately levell'd against God; yet even in God's cause, where the anger is just and lawfull, discretion must guide the Pas­sion; in a good Cause men may be too hot; and where the anger turns into fury, it becomes madness; and instead of advancing, diminishes and darkens the glory of Religion. There is a ra­tional anger, which with some warmth and heat, pleads and argues for God's Honour, but runs not out into unseemly Behaviour, or into reviling Language. And this is that anger we are to shew, when God is dishonoured, when we dis­honour [Page 125] him, and when others do so. So that Meekness doth not exclude all anger; for as all Meekness is not lawfull, so all Anger is not sinfull. Be ye angry, and sin not, saith St. Paul, Eph. IV. 26. which shews that some sort of anger is innocent: And it is so, when it is,

1. In God's cause, and from a sense of his Glory, which we see dishonour'd by the sin, or by the wrong our Neighbours do either to God, or to their fellow Christians; for though it be lawfull sometimes to be angry at a fault we see in our Brethren, yet the anger must be more upon the account of the indigni­ty offer'd to God by the offence, than upon the Account of the wrong, or pre­judice we our selves suffer by it.

2. It must be kept within due bounds and limits, must not turn into rage, and throwing about Coals, and Fire-brands, and odious and offensive Names. Nor,

3. Must it turn into malice, and ha­tred, but must still be follow'd with Acts of Charity. And,

4. It must be after that we find gent­ler means useless, and ineffectual. There are indeed some extraordinary occasions which require a present indignation, as it was in the case of Zimri, and Cozbi, [Page 126] when Phineas executed Judgment, Numb. XXV. 7. but ordinarily the rougher re­medy is not to take place, till the softer medicine be refused and scorn'd, Matth. XVIII. 15. And from hence,

2. You may easily guess at the na­ture of that Meekness which my Text saith, makes its Votaries blessed. Its Definition or Description rather is brief­ly this. It is a temper of Mind, a Grace, or Gift of God's Spirit, whereby a man is enabled to curb, and subdue, and mo­derate his Anger, Wrath and Passion, and Peevishness, and cholerick Dispo­sition, when it is necessary; and to be­have himself with Calmness, Gentle­ness, and great Modesty and Moderati­on in his Speeches and Answers, in his Actions and Transactions with his Neighbours. I call it a gift of God's Spirit, because, though some are natu­rally meek, and no Choler seems to mingle with their Blood and Complexi­on; and though they are born as it were into Vertue, yet even this natural Meekness must be resin'd and polish'd by Grace, and the Spirit of God before it can be truly acceptable to God in Christ Jesus. This Spirit must inspire it with Wisdom and Discretion, when [Page 127] and where it is to keep within, and when and where it is to go beyond it's natural bounds, when and where it is to use a Staff, and when and where it is to turn that Staff into a Rod. Di­vines do commonly reckon up five de­grees of this Christian Qualification.

1. Vid. Cor­nel. à Lap. in Luc. Conversing with, and speaking to all sorts of persons calmly, gently, mo­destly, without Wrath, or Anger, or Rage, or Fury, according to the com­mand, Tit. III. 2. Shew all Meekness unto all men.

2. By our calm and soft Speeches and Answers to endeavour to break, and asswage the Rage and Anger of our in­censed and offended Neighbours, accor­ding to Solomon's rule, Prov. XV. 1. A soft answer turns away, or ought to turn away Wrath.

3. Calmly to bear and to endure in­juries and affronts offered to us in word or deed, without rendring railing for railing, or reviling for reviling, for so we read, 1 Pet. III. 8, 9. Love as Bre­thren, be pitifull, be courteous, not ren­dring evil for evil, nor railing for railing.

4. Even to rejoyce in this calm bear­ing and enduring of injuries, according to the Precept we have, 1 Pet. IV. 13,

[Page 128] 14. which imports, Rejoycing in such cases, in as much, as we are partakers of Christ's sufferings: for so Christ suffered Reproaches, Threatnings, Calumnies, Injuries, &c. and committed himself to him that judges righteously, 1 Pet. II. 23.

5. By acts of Meekness to endeavour to overcome our enraged and ill-natured Neighbours, according to the rule, Rom. XII. 20, 21. If thine Enemy hun­ger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: Be not overcome with evil, but overcome the evil with wood.

These are the degrees of which I shall have occasion to speak more particular­ly, when I come to explain v. 22. In the mean while, give me leave to tell you, that he that arrives to one of these degrees, must not rest there, but pro­ceed, till he come to the top of the Lad­der. This is the race a Christian is to run in. He that will not go on to the furthermost Stage of his course, hath reach'd the first and second in vain. The difficulty of the task must be no discouragement; if it be, we are not truly sensible of the blessedness which attends this Meekness, which is the second point I am to speak to.

[Page 129] II. Wherein the blessedness of meek Christians doth consist.

1. This Vertue renders us acceptable to God and Man. How acceptable it makes us to God, St. Peter shews, 1 Pet. III. 4. where we read, that a meek and quiet Spirit is in the Sight of God of great price. God sets a mighty value upon it, and the vertue makes men great and ho­nourable in his Eyes. What pains do poor Mortals take to gain credit and re­putation with men of high rank and quality, when they are to act, or speak, or do any exercise before them, they do their best, and all the powers of their Soul are employ'd to come off with Ap­plause. But how few take the way to gain credit and reputation with God the great rewarder of them that diligently seek him. To be meek is the way to his esteem, and to gain his approbation and commendation. Meekness exalts the Soul, and hath such charms about it, as make a glorious God look with a very favourable Eye upon the person a­dorn'd with this wedding Garment. Its the very Livery of Christ's Disciples, the mark of his Sheep, and therefore [Page 130] cannot but be acceptable to the great Shepherd of Mens Souls. Add to all this, That it makes us acceptable to men too, not only, because most men had rather deal with a meek than with a fiery or cholerick Person, but be­cause the vertue hath such advantages in it, as even force esteem and veneration. Brutish and sensual Men esteem nothing that serves to aggrandize the Soul, and indeed their Verdict is so inconsiderable, that it is not worth regarding. But Men of Sense, and Reason, and Under­standing cannot but value the Person in whom this Meekness shines, it being an argument of the noblest Conquest, greater certainly than Pompey or Caesar could boast of. Esau, though a profane Person, could not but admire it in his Brother Jacob, Gen. XXXIII. 4. And if the great Saviour of the World, was justly counted blessed, because he grew in favour with God and Man, the meek Christian must needs be so, for his Meek­ness hath the same Vertue, and renders him acceptable to God and Man.

2. It fits and dispose a man for the influx of Celestial Wisdom, for it is of the same nature with Humility; and that, as I said before, prepares for the [Page 131] richer influences of God's Communica­tions. Humility and Meekness, like Twins, live and die together. He that would be meek, must first learn to be humble; for it's Pride makes men fret­full, and fly out into Passion; and as these two Vertues go hand in hand to­gether, so they participate of the same blessings. Elisha, 2 Kings III. XV. was unfit for the Illapses of God's Spirit, while he was in a Passion, and therefore a Minstrell was brought to play before him, to compose his Thoughts, to al­lay the Storms his Soul was in, and to rock the Waves of his disorder'd Passi­ons into a calm; and when this was done, the Spirit descended upon him in gifts of Prophecy. It is this Spirit of God, that must illuminate the Mind, and fill it with Celestial Wisdom, and no subject so fit for it, as a meek and quiet Spirit. This is no new Divinity, but as old as David's time, for thus he saith, Psal. XXV. 9. The meek will he guide in judgment, the meek will he teach his ways. And this even some Heathen Philosophers have been sensible of, and with them agrees the Author of the Wis­dom of Solomon, ch. I. 4. Turbulent Passions keep out this Spirit of God. [Page 132] But where the Soul is calm, this Spirit spreads his wings over it, as a Hen over her Brood, and teaches her the myste­ries of Godliness, displays to her the glories of the Gospel, represents to her the designs of God's Providences, given her a lively sight of God's Goodness, and the Reward to come, and at once discovers to her, and presses upon her the powerfull arguments of the Love of God, which prevail with her to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. And since the meek have the honour of be­ing blessed with this Celestial Wisdom whatever the World thinks of them they must be blessed and happy.

III. Blessed they are because they shall inherit the Earth, and how they do that must be our last enquiry.

1. Some by inheriting the earth, un­derstand the millennary Reign, or the Reign of the Saints here on Earth for a thousand Years. But surely this cannot be the meaning of it, for if there be such a millennary Reign, which I will neither affirm nor deny; it is evident from Rev. XX. 4. that that Reign is confin'd to Martyrs, and those that have been be­headed [Page 133] for the Testimony of Jesus; and surely men may be meek, and ex­pect a reward of God without being Martyrs. Therefore others more justly understand it of the present Earth we all inhabit, and referr the blessedness here spoken of to the quiet possession the meek enjoy, or have of the blessings God's liberal hand bestows upon them. For though sometimes they lose all they have in the world, though they are harrass'd by their enemies, though their Meekness is sometime their loss, though barbarous men sometime take advantage of their meekness to undo them, yet for the most part they quietly and con­tentedly enjoy, what God gives them, be it more or less; to be sure they have the best means in their hands to possess what they have in peace. And that's their Meekness which makes them re­cede frequently from their right for peace and quiet's sake: and God will not suffer them to be losers by their Meek­ness; and therefore rewards that with content which they seem to want in o­ther things, it being his method to take care of, and to fight for those who will not fight for themselves. But though the meek may in this sense be said to inherit the Earth.

[Page 134] 1. With respect to their quiet Posses­sion of the temporal things God gives them.

2. With respect to the favour of men God makes them Heirs of.

3. With respect to the success that some times attends their temporal con­cerns, as a present recompence of their Vertue, as it was said of a great man in this Kingdom, that rose from a small to a very great Estate, and used to o­vercome the malice of his Enemies with Meekness and Patience; that he never sued any man, nor any man ever sued him: Though I say, we must grant, that in this sense the meek may be said to inherit the Earth: Yet,

2. This sense methinks in this place is not great enough, where we find our Saviour intends to encourage his fol­lowers to the noblest Enterprizes by the noblest and most excellent Rewards. When David spoke these words, The meek shall inherit the earth; it's like he meant the Land of Canaan, and a quiet Possession of their own in that Country: but as the Land of Canaan was an Em­blem of the Land of eternal Glory: so Christ, whose Province it was to bring Life and Immortality to light, must be [Page 135] supposed to speak of this Earth in a more sublime and exalted sense, and therefore by the Earth here must be understood something greater, even the happy Re­gions of immortal Bliss, call'd some­times the new Heaven and the new Earth, Rev. XXII. 1. sometimes a heavenly Country, Heb. XI. 16. sometimes the Land of the living, at least in the sense of some of the Fathers, Psal. CXVI. 9. even those Regions which were prefi­gured by the Land of Promise, by the Land that flow'd with Milk and Honey. In a word, the Holy Ghost in Scripture loves to express those happy Regions of eternal Love and Felicity by various Names; sometimes by a River, because the Joys are in a perpetual Flux and Motion there, sometimes by a Moun­tain or Hill, because the glorified Saints will be exalted to Seats high and lofty, and overlooking all the World; some­times by a City, because of the Unani­mity of the Inhabitants; sometimes by a Kingdom, because of the Splendor and Glory of that State; and here by the Earth, because of the affluence of all things, that can make the Meek rich, and blessed, and happy. And they are said to inherit this glorious Land.

[Page 136] 1. Because as Children they have a right to it while they live here, as a Son hath a right to his Father's Land.

2. Because after death they shall a­ctually possess this Estate of their Fa­ther which is in Heaven: so that their inheriting, speaks them Children, Sons and Daughters of the Almighty, to whose share the rich Demesnes of the o­ther World will fall, not after their Fa­ther's death, who is immortal and can­not die, but after their own death; and this shews the difference betwixt inheriting Estates here on Earth, and inheriting the Regions of eternal Bliss. There Men inherit after their Father's death, here after their own death.

There is nothing more common in Scripture, than to express the Doctrine or Lessons God hath thought fit to reveal to us, by Meat, and Bread, and Food, and Milk, and Wine, and Water; and our docility or readiness to imbibe, or digest, and obey these Lessons by eating and drinking; all which is done on purpose, to give us clearer, and livelier apprehensions of things spiritual and unseen, and as our knowledge comes by our senses; so by those external Objects and Actions, to lead us to higher thoughts, sublimer no­tions. [Page 148] This being so, we need not wonder to find our Saviour speaking here of a hunger and thirst after Righ­teousness, for this is but a continuation of the same Metaphor, for though hun­ger and thirst be properly the office and function of the Body, yet there being an appetite in the Soul which is very like it, Christ chuses to express it by these known natural actions or inclina­tions. And lest this hunger and thirst should be interpreted as a punishment rather than a mercy; the God-like Preacher here not only pronounces a blessing upon it, but encourages to it by a very weighty and precious promise in the Text, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

THree things, call them Doctrines, or Propositions, or Conclusions, or what you will, are here suggested to us.

I. That there is a hunger and thirst after Righteousness, which is very com­mendable.

II. Without this hunger and thirst af­ter Righteousness, a man cannot be bles­sed or happy.

[Page 149] III. The happiness of those who do hunger and thirst after Righteousness, consists in being filled.

I. There is a hunger and thirst after Righteousness, which is very commen­dable. That's as little as a man can ga­ther from the Text; this State being pronounc'd blessed, that Blessedness makes it commendable at least. By Righteousness here, some do piously un­derstand, Christ Jesus, who is call'd, The Lord our Righteousness, Jer. XXIII. 6. and is said to be made unto us of God, Righteousness, 1 Cor. I. 30. and the rea­sons why he is called so, are,

1. Because he is the Fountain of all Righteousness.

2. Because he is the Author of that Righteousness which is in us.

3. Because by his perfect righteousness, he covers the accidental and unallow'd of defects of our sincere, though imper­fect Righteousness. And no doubt they that truly hunger and thirst after Christ, desirous to be taught by him, as their Prophet; to be saved by him, as their Priest; and to be ruled by him, as their King, may be said to be in a blessed State; but though the word here used, may [Page 150] lawfully be applied to Christ, yet this cannot be the direct sense of it in this place, where Christs design is to repre­sent all the Graces a Christian is to be adorn'd with; and therefore by Righ­teousness here, must be meant the whole circle of Vertues, the whole compass of Goodness, which a Christian is capable of on this side Heaven, and this is the common acceptation of the word, and in this sense we find it oppos'd to a sin­full life in general, Rom. VI. 20. When you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness, and this Righteousness is afterward, v. 22. call'd becoming ser­vants of God, and having our fruit unto holiness. The righteous man is indeed represented in Scripture, as a just man in his dealings: and Righteousness stands often for doing justice, and rendring to all their due, and doing every man right; but it is not with an intent to se­parate the other vertues from it, but to shew, that the good man, who is faithfull and conscientious in his worship and doing the will of God, among o­ther vertues which he practiseth, exer­cises this also, and doth by others as he would have others do by him. So that by Righteousness here, is to be under­stood [Page 151] an universal Goodness in all con­ditions and relations, whereby both the outward and inward man becomes en­tirely subject to God; and without it he cannot be said to deal justly and righ­teously with God; and after this Righ­teousness it is that a hunger and thirst is commended here, which hunger and thirst imports,

1. A great sense, that there is no true satisfaction either in sin, or in a world­ly carnal life. This we must necessari­ly suppose; for how should a man hun­ger or thirst after Righteousness, except he be sensible, that here is not his rest neither in sin nor in the contentments of this present world, these being the grand impediments of that Righteousness. That's the reason why men, who place their chiefest happiness in sublunary en­joyments, have nothing of this hunger and thirst after Righteousness, till they become sensible of the vanity of this world, and the danger of a sinfull life, their appetite after Righteousness is in­significant, nor can their feeble wishes be call'd so, but when they have a tho­rough view of the rottenness of the bot­toms they have sailed in; then they af­fect and desire this plank to swim out of the gulph of perdition.

[Page 152] 2. It imports a high esteem of this Righteousness and Goodness, and with­out it, it's impossible to hunger and thirst after it, for men do not use to long after things they do not value, nor are their desires very strong after objects they see no satisfaction in. A man hungry and thirsty, prizes the meat and drink that is before him, so must he the righteousness we speak of that doth truly hunger and thirst after it. If he doth not prize it above Gold, and Silver, and Pearls, and precious Stones, his hunger and thirst after it cannot be considerable, but when he comes to count all things dross and dung in comparison of it, then he is most likely to hunger and thirst after it.

3. It imports a very earnest desire to be righteous and good in all points. Such a desire, as men very hungry and thirsty have after meat and drink, and that we know is not very faint. The Scri­pture therefore expresses by a very em­phatical similitude, Psal. XLII. 1. As the Hart pants after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. The Hart or Stag is a creature naturally hot, but being chas'd and hunted, his desire after the cooling streams becomes more [Page 153] earnest and vehement; and such must be this desire after righteousness, even as it is, Psal. LXIII. 1. My soul thirsteth, my flesh longs for thee in a dry Land, i. e. as a man or traveller spent with the la­bour or the trouble of his journey in a dry land where no water is. These expres­sions import a very strong desire, a de­sire which hath no reserves, no sinister ends and designs, but is sincere, and lively, and vigorous, and importunate, which will not be denied, and prevails by its fervour and importunity.

4. It imports actual and earnest en­deavours to be truly good and righteous, by a diligent and conscientious use of the proper means. We do not look up­on a man that talks of having a thing, or pretends his heart set upon it, as be­ing in good earnest, if his endeavours be not suitable to his desires. The Mer­chant or Trades-man that desires to be rich, we know what pains they take; nay the Day-Labourer that desires a livelihood. So he that hungers and thirsts after Righteousness indeed, will enquire, and hear, and read the word of God, and ponder it in his mind, and pray hard, and deny himself, and break off from loose Company, and meditate, [Page 154] and think, and shun occasions of evil, and follow God, as the man in the Go­spel did his Neighbour at Midnight for three Loaves, and will leave no stone unturn'd, to compass this Goodness and Righteousness, as a man who is ve­ry hungry or thirsty doth not sit still, but bestirs himself to get Food and Drink which he stands in need of.

5. It imports a Progress in this hun­ger and thirst, and when we are arrived to such a degree of Righteousness, then to hunger, and thirst, and endeavour af­ter higher degrees of it. To this pur­pose are those frequent exhortations, Grow in Grace, and see that ye abound more and more in faith, in love, and cha­rity: And give all diligence to add to your faith, vertue; unto vertue, know­ledge; unto knowledge, temperance; un­to temperance, godliness; unto godliness, patience; unto patience, brotherly kind­ness; and unto brotherly kindness, chari­ty, 1 Thess. III. 12. IV. 1. 2. Pet. I. 5, 6, 7. II. 18. A Christians labour, like the Husbandmans, is never at an end; when one lust is mortified, he must begin to subdue and mortifie ano­ther, and when he hath made one ver­tue his domestick, he must take ano­ther [Page 155] into his Family. The hunger and thirst here spoken of, is not a momen­tary appetite, which is to last for a day, or so; but an appetite perpetual, which is to run through the whole course of our lives, and which is still encreas'd by being filled; insomuch that if a good Christian were to live here a thousand years, he would still find degrees and acts of Righteousness to hunger and thirst after.

6. It imports such a spiritual hunger and thirst, or such a desire after Righ­teousness, as is content to undergo and endure bodily hunger and thirst, and other temporal inconveniencies both for the attainment and preservation of it. He that is loath to be at any trou­ble for it, or unwilling to abridge him­self in any thing that's pleasing to the flesh either for the gaining of it, or the maintaining of it, hath but a weak appetite after it, to be sure no such ap­petite as the man of honour hath after worldly Glory, who can dispence with scratch'd faces, with scars, and wounds, and hard lodging, and puddle-water, and a homely dyet, and all to attain to an empty name of a valiant man. Sure­ly righteousness deserves as generous a [Page 156] desire; we see what men will do in a Famine, even venture reproach, and contempt, and being abused, and revi­led, to get food convenient; such must be this hunger and thirst after Righte­ousness: for to be truly righteous, a Christian must reckon upon afflictions, persecutions, and calumnies, and nick­names, and being laught at; and he that longs for the fragrant Rose, must not stand upon its being encompass'd with pricks, but resolve out of love to the one, to dispense with the other. And that which enforces the duty, is the

II. Proposition, That without this hunger and thirst after Righteousness, a man cannot be blessed or happy. As the former Proposition made this hun­ger and thirst commendable, so this makes it absolutely necessary; for if he is blessed who hungers and thirsts, cer­tainly he is not so that wants this ap­petite. And that there is no true bles­sedness without it, will appear from the following considerations.

1. Without this hunger and thirst the Soul is sick, as much as we conclude a man is not well, when his appetite is gone, nay if he have no appetite at all [Page 157] we conclude him dead. A Carkass hath not appetite, and most certainly, he that hath no hunger and thirst after Righteousness at all, is dead in God's ac­count, dead in Law, dead in the Law of the Gospel, a sad condition, and which deserves to have the Motto of the Plague written over it, Lord have mercy upon him. The Scripture gene­rally makes him who is dead to Righte­ousness, a very miserable man, gives so dismal an account of him, that no­thing can be supposed more wretched. You know the Parable of the Prodigal, till he got a hunger and thirst after Righ­teousness, the holy Ghost represents him as a very contemptible person, as one sent into the field to keep swine, and that would have fill'd his belly with the husks the swine did feed on, but none gave unto him, Luke XV. 14, 15. nay v. 32. he is pronounced a dead man, dead to the favour of God, and the in­fluences of God's Spirit, and to any right to the precious promises of the Gospel; so is the man that hath no hunger at all after Righteousness, and if his appe­tite to it be weak and feeble; still its an argument of sickness, and neither the one nor the other is a sign of bliss and happiness.

[Page 158] 2. He that doth not hunger or thirst after Righteousness, is a Fool, so Solo­mon tells us, Prov. I. 7. For the wisdom he speaks of there, is this Righteousness, and he that despises it, hates his own soul, and loves death, Prov. VIII. 36. than which there cannot be a greater argument of madness, and surely this is no sign of blessedness. Wisdom in­deed such a man hath, who is a stran­ger to this hunger and thirst, but it is earthy, sensual, devilish, Jam. III. I5. Earthy, i. e. he minds nothing but earth, his contrivances are altogether how to compass the contents and pleasures of this life, the world is his highest and chiefest good, the fashions of this world are the rules of his life; he governs him­self by the punctilio's of State, and Ho­nour, and worldly Policy; he doth as the world doth, and what worldly men say or do, he imitates, and in endeavou­ring after temporal advantages, he stands not upon the stricter rules of Consci­ence.

It is sensual too, all his caterings are for the flesh, and how to live easie and delicately is all his care. He suffers him­self to be discourag'd from things truly good by carnal reasons; and if his flesh [Page 159] and carnal desires be but gratified, he is pleased, and more than pleased, than with all the comforts of the Holy Ghost. His flesh is his sovereign, and the Lord that rules in him, and its Di­ctates are the Law he lives by.

It is devilish too, for having no hun­ger, no thirst after Righteousness, the Devil is his friend, his companion, though he sees him not, but he may feel him by the suggestions which he yields to, and whereby his mind is ren­dred vain, and averse from real Good­ness: That Aversion comes by the De­vils Instigation, and in rellishing no­thing but what pleads in favour of the brutish part about him, he suffers him­self to be made a Prisoner, to that Con­queror, becomes his Slave and Captive: and surely such a man cannot possibly be happy, and consequently without this hunger and thirst after Righteous­ness the only thing that can make a man truly wise, a man is a stranger to real Bliss, to be sure he is not capable of be­ing enrich'd by the Consolations of God, nor is God concern'd to fill him in order to this bliss, which leads me to the [Page 160] III. Proposition, viz. That the hap­piness of those who truly hunger and thirst after Righteousness, consists in being filled. Filled! How?

1. Their very hunger and thirst af­ter Righteousness shall be and is a satis­faction to them. For it is a sign of Grace, a sign that God loves them, a sign that he visits them with the favour he bears to his own people, and that they are born again; that there is a sig­nal alteration wrought in their natures, and that their deceitfull lusts and unru­ly desires of the flesh are abated in or­der to a total destruction. This hunger and thirst after Righteousness being pre­dominant in them, is an item that God's Spirit hath got the better of corrupted nature, and from hence flows a calm­ness and serenity into their Souls, and when the enemy beats them out of all their strong holds, and they can fasten on nothing to give themselves comfort, this hunger and thirst after Righteousness upholds their hope, and supports their confidence, when they are so weakned, that they dare not pretend to St. Paul's having labour'd more than all; to the [Page 161] Apostle's invincible patience under inju­ries, to Zacharias and Elizabeth's walk­ing in all the Commandments of the Lord blameless, to Anna's serving the Lord with fasting and prayer Night and Day, to the faith of the Thessalonians, which grew ex­ceedingly, to the Galatians readiness to pluck out their own eyes, and give them to their Teachers; or to the Charity of the Macedonians, who did to their Power, nay beyond their Power, though, I say, the hungry Soul from an humble sense of her frailty dares not pretend to these Accomplishments; yet this Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness, in the midst of all assaults of the Devil, is the sacred Anchor, which she can make use of, and thereby preserve her Vessel from sinking; so that this very Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness is filling.

2. They shall be filled with Righte­ousness, that goodness they did thirst after, they shall have great store of; all their faculties shall be filled with it, and like the rich ointment poured out on Aaron's Head, and running down upon his Beard, and from thence into the very Skirts of his cloathing it shall perfume their out­ward and inward Man, and fill both their Hearts and Lives; what they ask [Page 162] for they shall have, what they seek they shall find, and the Door they knock at shall be open'd to them. They shall find goodness growing in them as the Lilies, and spreading its Roots as the Cedars in Libanon; Their desire is, that God may totally subdue their hearts, and accor­dingly their Souls shall become Temples of the Holy Ghost; they earnestly with, that every imagination which exalted it self against the obedience of Christ Je­sus, may become subject to him, and they shall have their Heart's desire, and the request of their Lips shall be gran­ted them. They shall be filled with the spirit by degrees; so filled, that in time they shall be abounding in the Work of the Lord, flourish in the Courts of the Lord's House, bringing forth fruit in old Age, till they become full of good Works, and Alms-deeds as Dorcas was, Acts IX. 36. and old Disciples, as Mnason was, Acts XXI. 16. The duties they per­form but weakly, now, they shall perform with greater vigour, and with their vertues their comfort shall encrease, and the consolations of Christ shall abound in them, 2 Cor. I. 5. Thus they shall be filled in this Life: But is this promise ever fulfilled to any? will some say, all [Page 163] I shall say is, go and ask those, who hun­ger and thirst after Righteousness, and they will tell you by Experience in the Psalmist's Language, Psal. LXXXIV. 11. The Lord is a Sun, and Shield, he will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he with-hold from them, that walk up­rightly. But this is not all:

3. They shall be filled in the other World, with the plenty of God's House, with the light of his Countenance for ever; when their Bodies do drop from them, and their Souls shall be trans­planted from this barren Wilderness, in­to Eden the Garden of God; and of this fulness David speaks, Psal. XVII. 15. As for me I shall behold thy face in Righ­teousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. They shall be filled with the Joys of God; their mouths shall be filled with laughter, and their tongues with singing, they shall be filled with the finest of the Wheat, and with Honey out of the Rock shall they be satisfied, not with material Honey, not with such Ho­ney as enlightned Jonatha's Eyes, but with the sweetness of God's glorious pre­sence for ever: All their senses, all their faculties shall be filled with unspeakable satisfaction, with water of life that springs [Page 164] from the Rock of Ages, for they shall be filled with infinite love, like Vessels thrown into the Sea, all shall be filled, and their fulness shall last while the foun­tain of goodness and the Ocean of felici­ty lasts, i. e. for ever.

A Mmianus Marcellinus, a grave Hea­then Writer, taking notice of the differences among Christians in matters of Religion, and the hatred one Sect bore to another, and the Tumults that were caused at the Election of Bishops, and the Blood that was spilt upon that account, hath a very unlucky Expression concerning it; There are saith he no wild Beasts so cruel, or so barbarous one to another, as some of these Christian Sects are to those, that differ from them in opinion; a very sad Character this, and Pudeat haec de nobis, &c. It is a shame, that Heathens and Infidels should have occasion given them to [Page 175] speak so reproachfully of this Noble Religion.

But surely, this cannot be the fault of Religion but of the proud, and chole­rick Men, who profess it, or have the management of it. Christ their Ma­ster never taught them to do so. His Precepts run in another strain; they sa­vour of another Genius; No command of cruelty, or animosity is to be found in all the Gospel; so far from a Com­mand, that the very appearances of it are forbidden. Mercy and Charity is the Soul, the Breath of those lively Ora­cles; Mercy is the Language of that Book, and to Mercy runs the Promise of the Text; Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

For the understanding of which words, I shall

I. Give you a true description of the mercifull.

II. Explain to you the reason of the truth implied here, that those who are not mercifull cannot be blessed; No mercifulness, no happiness.

III. Shew how the mercifull shall ob­tain mercy.

[Page 176] I. To give you a true description of the mercifull, we must search into the nature of Mercy, and in doing so, we shall find this vertue to be of a vast ex­tent, insomuch that there is none so mean in the world, that can justly plead impossibility of practising it upon the account of his circumstances in the world, all being capable, all able, one way or other to exercise it. And,

1. One principal ingredient of this mercifull temper, is a compassionate heart, or an inward pity and compun­ction at the sight or hearing of the mi­sery of others; and therefore we are expresly call'd upon to put on [...], Bowels of Mercy, Col. III. 12.

This is so necessary, that without it the most pompous external Acts of Mercy, prove fruitless and ineffectual; at least the Apostle seems to intimate so much in that known passage, Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and have not Charity, I am nothing, 1 Cor. XIII. 3. Where by Charity must be meant true Christian pity and compassion, which may be absent from the most stately beneficence; for a Man may give all a­way in a humour, or in a bravado, or [Page 177] when he can keep his Riches no longer, or out of a design to get himself a Name, which makes the Charity no­thing worth, because destitute of true inward pity. The Stoicks of old look'd upon inward pity as a thing below a rational Man; doing good and actual liberality to Men in distress, they al­low'd was a wise Man's part, but to be troubled within for the Calamity of any Man, whether friend or stranger, they said, became not a Man of reason. But in this, they talk'd like Mad-men more than Philosophers. Neither reason, nor Christianity destroy the inward affecti­ons of the Soul; both teach indeed to moderate and curb them, or to keep them within bounds, but do not era­dicate, or pull them up. Christ there­fore, whose business it was by his Ex­ample to shew the way to perfection, was touch'd with inward pity; so he commiserated Lazarus, when dead, and the People who were ready to faint for want of Bread, and the Multitude that were scatter'd abroad like Sheep without a Shepherd; and Jerusalem when her Ruine was approaching, and his Exam­ple as well as God's will in this particu­lar warrant a moderate inward trou­ble, [Page 178] and a compassionate resentment of our Neighbour's Calamity. But here Mercy rests not, if it be in a Capacity of going farther: And therefore,

2. There is required in the Exercise of this Vertue an actual relief of our calamitous and miserable Neighbour. The Compliment St. James speaks of, James II. 16. Depart you, be you warmed, and filled, without giving such things, as are needfull for the body, is perfect mock­ing of the Poor, and of God too, who made them so, that they might be assi­sted by the gifts and beneficence of the wealthier sort. The particulars of the Mercy, that is to be shewn to the Bo­dies or Temporal Concerns of our di­stressed Neighbours, are commonly com­prehended in that Latin Verse; ‘Visito, poto, cibo, redimo, tego, colligo, condo.’ i. e. Visiting them, when sick or in prison, and contributing to their Cure, when distemper'd according to St. Paul's Example, Acts XXVIII. 8, 9. and James I. 27. giving them drink, when thirsty, Rom. XII. 20. and feeding them, when hungry, Acts XVI. 34. rescuing and de­livering [Page 179] them from danger, if it be in our Power, and the deliverance be just, Acts XX. 10, 12. covering their naked­ness, and giving them Cloaths, when they have none, Acts IX. 39. receiving them into our Houses, or providing lodging and harbour for them, when they have no place to rest in, Acts XVI. 15. and burying them decently, when they leave, or have no means, to dis­charge the Expences of their Funerals, Acts VIII. 12. These are some of the principal Acts of that Mercy, which is due to the Bodies of our miserable Bre­thren; indeed we find them specified by our Saviour himself, Matth. XXV. 35, 36. and so great a stress laid upon them, that they are made the chief Subject of the last Assizes. But this is not all; and therefore,

3. Mercy must also be shewn to the Souls of our necessitous Brethren, as we find them oppress'd with sin and igno­rance; and the particular Duties of this Mercy also, we find summon'd up in that old Verse. ‘Consule, castiga, solare, remitte, fer, ora.’

[Page 180] i. e. Admonishing, teaching and dire­cting them, when they know not the way to Eternal life, according to the Rule given, Heb. XII. 12, 13. reproving them when they sin, and correcting them if obstinate, Ephes. V. 11. 1 Cor. V. 5. Comforting them when distressed, and speaking peace to them when de­jected, 2 Cor. I. 4. forgiving their offen­ces, and pardoning the affronts and in­juries they have done us, especially where they profess sorrow and repen­tance, Matth. XVIII. 21, 22, 25. bear­ing with their infirmities; especially where they appear invincible, Rom. XV. 1. and lastly, praying for them, whether they be friends or enemies, James V. 16. Matth. V. 44. He whose necessities are such, that he cannot relieve the Tempo­ral wants of his Neighbour, may be in a condition to redress his Spiritual; and indeed where this Spiritual mercy takes effect, and that the admonitions and entreaties, and reproofs, &c. work a Reformation in him, it proves one of the greatest Mercies in the World, for it is no less than saving a Soul from death, James V. 20. But,

4. This Mercy runs out into more Branches still, and there are some higher [Page 181] degrees of it, which mercifull Christi­ans in all Ages have justly thought themselves obliged to exercise, and such is particularly our relieving others un­askt, and preventing the wishes and sol­licitations of the Needy by our Aims, and Liberalities. It is therefore recor­ded to the Eternal Praise of Onesiphorus, 2 Tim. I. 16, 17. That when he was at Rome he sought out St. Paul very dili­gently, to minister to his Necessities. Some niggardly Christians, whose Religi­on lies all in hearing and talking, when they have hints given them of their su­pine Neglect of this Mercy, are very apt to excuse themselves with this Eva­sion, that they know no objects of Cha­rity: A pitifull shift! Did you ever en­quire, did you ever consult with your pi­ous Neighbours, or some charitable Di­vine? If you did, your ignorance would soon be cured. When Christians under­stood themselves better, they did not wait to be courted to this Mercy. The Disci­ples of Antioch, Acts XI. 29. when they did but fear a Famine, they presently and chearfully determin'd every Man accord­ing to his ability, to send relief to the Bre­thren, which dwelt in Judaea, and of this re­ligious Generosity St. Austin understands [Page 182] that saying of the Psalmist, Ps. XLI. 1. Blessed is he that considereth the poor, i. e. He that prevents the poor Man's cry, and the Original will very well bear it, for there it is [...] Maschil: He that gives his mind to think, how he may do good to his poor Neighbour; or he that judiciously regards the distressed Man, which implies doing good before we are put in mind of it. Some whom Providence hath reduced to a very low condition, are bashfull and ashamed to beg, or to make their wants known, but their Neighbours see and perceive, how hard it is with them, and what shifts they make to subsist; to enquire and to find out such objects, and to re­lieve them before they ask, this is Chri­stian like, and becoming those whom God hath given a liberal Portion, and a liberal Heart, and is an Argument, that we have right apprehensions of the Na­ture of our Religion, which bids us go beyond Scribes and Pharisees, and Hea­thens, and the sinners of the World, in our Mercy.

5. There is yet a higher Act of Mer­cy, and that is denying our selves even in necessaries, and other advantages, that we may be the better able to succour [Page 183] others in distress. This must necessari­ly have been the Case of the Macedoni­an Christians; who to their Power, nay beyond their Power, express'd their Mer­cy to the Churches of Judaea, 2 Cor. VIII. 3. i. e. denied themselves even in necessaries for their Brethren's good. This denying and abridging our selves in necessaries, and laying by the price of them, that we may be in a better condition to shew Mercy, as it is com­mendable at all times, so it becomes a very great Duty when the Church of God is under Persecution, and Multi­tudes of our Fellow-Christians suffer for Righteousness sake. This was the rea­son why the Primitive believers sold their Lands and Possessions, and brought the Price of them, and laid them at the Apostle's Feet, that distribution might be made to all as they had need, Acts IV. 34, 35. To deny our selves in super­fluities, in order to be the better able to shew Mercy, is far from being the ut­most limit of this Mercy: The Love of God being shed abroad in the Soul, will constrain the Soul to do it in times of Peace and Prosperity; but self-denial in necessaries is a Duty peculiar to a time, when our Brethren, and such as are of [Page 184] the Houshold of Faith, like the Prophets of old, are forced to wander about in Sheep-skins, and Goat-skins, being desti­tute, tormented, afflicted, as it is said, Heb. XI. 37.

6. The highest Act of Mercy, is to lay down our lives for our Brethren, and of this St. John speaks as a Christi­an Duty, 1 John III. 16. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought also to lay down our lives for the Brethren. This Act of Mercy is chiefly to be shewn in times of publick Danger; where it is so, that by our dying we may save a Mul­titude of Christians alive, or contribute signally to the Welfare and Prosperity of God's Church, or preserve some emi­nent Instruments of God's Glory, who may do much good in their Generation: The ancient Christians were loath to be out-done by Heathens in their Heroick Attempts, and since there was much talk in Heathenish History of Pylades, offering to die for Orestes, though that was only an effect of carnal Affection, and perhaps of vain Glory too; yet they thought themselves unworthy of the Name they bore, if they did not whenever there was occasion, shew a [Page 185] readiness to die one for another, and of this we have a remarkable instance in Aquila, and Priscilla, of whom the Apo­stle bears witness, that for his sake they laid down their own Necks, Rom. XVI. 4. This Act of Mercy, it's true, is out of the common road, and there is seldom occasion to practise it, but if there should be such an opportunity, it's a glorious Death, and such as a pious Man would even be glad of, it being a Transcript of the Death of the Son of God for us; and Mercy can go no higher. It's like some of you will wonder at these Acts of Mercy, and fancy that I strain the Vertue too high; but the proofs I have brought for all that I have said, will suf­ficiently confute that conceit. Mercy is a very excellent Vertue, so excellent, that without it there is no true Blessed­ness, which is the second thing, I am to speak to,

II. When the mercifull are pronounc'd blessed here, a very ordinary capacity may soon inferr, that he, who is not mercifull cannot be blessed, and the rea­sons are these.

1. How should a Man be happy with­out being mercifull, when in not being [Page 186] so, he acts below the Dignity of Man. Notwithstanding the Fall, Man is still a very excellent Creature. The very Ru­ines of God's Image in him, even before the Grace of God transforms and re­news him, will justifie David's Exclama­tion; Lord what is Man, that thou so regardest him, and the Son of Man that thou visitest him? Even the Reliques of that perfection, which was once in him, teach him many admirable things, of which Mercy is not the least. Nature it self prompts him to it, and the instances of it in the very Heathens, make it a Dictate of the Law of Nature. Now the Dignity of Man, considered, even abstractedly from Grace and the Go­spel, consists in acting according to the honest Principles of Nature, so that he, who is not mercifull sins against a natu­ral instinct: The Gospel indeed refines and exalts this Mercy in him, but still Nature it self instructs him in it; nay, Mercy is so riveted into our make, and frame, that he who neglects it, or de­bauches himself into contempt of it, unmans himself. God hath furnish'd other Creatures with Claws and Bills, and Horns, and Arms, to secure them­selves against Assaults; but Man is born [Page 187] helpless, without weapons, or defensa­tives, on purpose to let us see the need he hath of Mercy, and of being merci­full, and helpfull to others of his kind; so that what I have said stands firm, that he who is not mercifull, acts be­low the Dignity of Man, for he forgets the end of his make, and therefore can­not be blessed; so far from being so, that he makes himself worse than the Beasts that perish; for even among these we see so great a resemblance of it, and the Histories of all Ages confirm it, that to fall short of it, must be more than brutish.

2. He shall have judgment without mercy, that shewed no mercy, saith St. James, Chap. II. 13. And surely, this can be no blessed Estate. God's method in punishing, is retaliation, and propor­tioning the Nature of the Punishment, to the Nature of Sin, and so it is here; He that is not mercifull to his Neigh­bour, the Judge who is to sit upon him, at last will shew him no mercy; nay in the Flames, which by the Judge's Or­der shall seize him, there will be no mixture of mercy. Wicked men, who have been kind and neighbourly, and in some measure mercifull: though they [Page 188] are not capable of Glory and Salvation, because they die without true Repen­tance, and Reformation of Life; yet their former Mercy will in some re­spect qualifie their misery in the next World; some drops of cold Water may be vouchsafed to them, to take off some­what from the excess of their Tor­ment, but he that shew'd little or no mercy, will be forced to drink of the Cup of God's wrath without mixture; even of the Cup of trembling and asto­nishment, without the least ingredient of sweetness, without any interval of comfort, as we see it fulfilled in Dives, Luke XVI. 24. This being a very mi­serable condition, it must be far froth having any relation to Blessedness. But the mercifull Man meets with other dea­lings, which calls me to the third and last point.

III. How the mercifull shall obtain Mercy. And here what I noted in the preceeding Beatitudes, holds good here too, that the recompence here promi­sed relates both to this, and the other Life.

And as to this present World:

[Page 189] 1. The mercifull Man may promise himself great Comfort in his Trouble; whether it be sickness, or some other sad accident; to this purpose we have an excellent saying, Psal. XLI. 1, 2, 3. Blessed is he that considers the poor, the Lord will deliver him in the time of trou­ble: The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon Earth, and thou wilt not deliver him into the hand of his enemies: The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness. These words are not much regarded, because the generality of men have but a very low opinion of the pro­mises of the Bible; though they believe it to be the Word of their God, to which God will stand; yet they dare not trust his Promises; and so it fares with this that I have mention'd; and yet would you make the experiment with an hum­ble Confidence in God's veracity, you would certainly find extraordinary As­sistances in the time of sickness: I will not say, that you would recover with­out means or Physick, but your sick­ness would either become more easie and tolerable, or you would recover sooner, or you would prepare for a long life; [Page 190] your Acts of Mercy would be your se­curity, that you should find mercy in your distress. This is a great truth, and as loath as some of you may be to be­lieve it, I might furnish you, if it were needfull, with variety of Examples, and instances of men, who have found it by experience; but God having asserted, and promis'd it, it is enough to engage you to believe it, and to make the Trial.

2. This mercy God rewards signally, even in this present World, by blessing the mercifull Man's endeavours; not only by turning the hearts of other men toward him into mercy, when he stands in need of it, but by encreasing or prospering his Substance. Merciful­ness is the true Art of thriving in the World; what a multitude of examples could I alledge here of Persons, who have given away either the tenth, or the fifth Part, or more of their incomes to pious Uses, and have been blessed e­ven to admiration. It is a mighty mi­stake, that you will be losers by being very mercifull. Every thing you take in hand, will prosper the better for it, except your unbelief or wavering, and trembling faith should hinder God from [Page 191] doing any mighty Works for you. In shewing mercy you make God your debtor, you lend him and he is concer­ned even in this life, to repay you with Usury, Prov. XVIII. 17. Men, that consider not the operations of God's hand, will continue Infidels under all these asseverations; but we know, and find it so, and are confident, that there is one, That scattereth and yet increases, scatters in Charity, and encreases in Temporal mercies; The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be water'd himself, Prov. XI. 24, 25. But▪

3. The greatest mercy is yet behind, even the everlasting Mercy of God in the next life, which the mercifull Man will certainly obtain. God drops only some mercies on the mercifull man here, but he will visit him with Showers in the other World: He will take him in­to the bosom of mercy, encompass him with mercy on every side, and make mercy his Crown, and Diadem. He will be mercifull to his sins, and remem­ber them no more. The mercies the Father of mercy sheds on him here, are Items of larger mercies hereafter, and what is but a Brook, and a River here, will be all Sea, and Ocean there. The [Page 192] mercifull Man will find God exceeding mercifull to him when he dies, and his Soul enters into the Regions of Eternity, a mercy which surpasses all the mercies he enjoy'd here; to be sure the Souls in Hell, the Spirits in the Everlasting Prison would value God's mercy upon their leaving this World at a higher Rate, than all the rich Blessings they glutted themselves with on this side the Grave. Here the mercies God sends upon the mercifull Soul are mixt with Clouds, and Crosses; in the next life they will be pure, uninterrupted, endless, high, and like the God that bestows them, in­finite; and the mercifull Man will see, and taste, and feel the meaning of that glorious Promise, Isa. LIV. 8, 9, 10. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee. For this is as the Waters of Noah unto me: as I have sworn, that the Waters of Noah should no more cover the Earth; so have I sworn that I will not be wrath with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the Mountains shall de­part, and the Hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee; nei­ther shall the Covenant of my Peace be re­moved, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee.

PVritan was once a Nick-name, Vid. Cornel. à Lap. in Jacobi 1. v. ult. a Name of Reproach, intended I sup­pose to traduce those who made a great shew of external Piety, but were stran­gers to good Morals; stumbled at a Straw, and leapt over a Block; strained at a Gnat, and swallow'd down Camels; prayed to God, and reviled his Church; scrupled a Ceremony, and cheated the next Neighbour they met withall: What justice there was in giving this Title to a certain Party, whether they de­served it, or not, and whether many of those that were called so were not very upright, and truly pious Men, I shall not now enquire; but sure I am, that [Page 204] this Name rightly understood, and ta­ken in that sense, it naturally bears or should bear, is what every Christian ought to be ambitious of: Purity is what every good Man must and doth desire; and indeed his goodness is mere vanity and shew, if Purity be not the great object of his love. A true Puri­tan, and a true Christian, are converti­ble Terms; and he that laughs at this Character, understands not the Religi­on he is baptized into. He that renoun­ces Purity, renounces his Baptism; and whatever his outward Profession may be, he is a meer Infidel under a bor­row'd Title. Purity is that which the Christians of old did triumph in, not in the Name, but in the Thing; and he that neglects it, must needs continue a stranger to all solid Consolation. As ridiculous as it appears to carnal Men, it is our greatest security; pur-blind Souls may not see the Beauty of it, but he that is Truth it self assures us, that it is the way to real Bliss. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

The method in handling these words, must be the same with that I used in the Explication of the preceeding Beatitudes, and that which any Man that hears, or [Page 205] reads these words, would naturally de­sire to be satisfied in, is

I. The Nature of this Purity where­in it consists, and who the pure in heart are.

II. Upon what account we cannot sup­pose those blessed, who are not pure in heart, for that's implied here;

III. How the pure in heart shall see God.

I. The Nature of this Purity, where­in it consists, and who the pure in heart are.

Children know, that by the Heart in Scripture, is for the most part meant the Soul, the Spirit, and the inward Man; and so a pure Heart, is a pure Mind, a pure Soul, and a pure Conscience; as we find it called, 1 Tim. III. 9. 2 Tim. I. 3. 2 Pet. III. 1. and the true ingredients of this inward Purity are as follows.

1. An antipathy to sinfull Thoughts, or a setled abhorrency of such thoughts, desires, passions, and affections, as are manifestly contrary to the Will of God. Purity imports cleansing, and that the thing which is cleansed, is pure from [Page 206] something, and the unclean thing here, is evil thoughts, not their bare coming in, but concurring with them, which the Heart must be pure from. A pure Heart is an Enemy to impure Speeches, and all impure and sinfull Actions, but more immediately to sinfull Thoughts and Desires, which are the Parents and Cau­ses of the other; so that the pure Heart nips the Evil in the Bud, and is so far from yielding deliberately to a bad Acti­on, or an undecent Expression, that it dreads an evil Thought. All men it's true hate some evil Thoughts or other, and there is scarce any Man so debaucht or vitious, but hates the thought of murthering his Father and Mother, or the thought of some monstrous ingrati­tude, or the thought of doing hurt to an innocent Babe in the Cradle; but this doth not make them pure in Heart, and therefore this Purity must extend to other, indeed all the Laws of God; without which there would be no di­stinction, no difference betwixt the Saint and the Sinner; the latter pretending to the hatred of some evil Thoughts, and Desires, as well as the other. So then this Purity imports an antipathy, not only to thoughts of unnatural Crimes, [Page 207] but to lascivious, covetous, malitious, revengefull, proud, foolish, vain, impe­rious, romantick Thoughts, even before they break out into Words and Actions, to thoughts whereby wronging, defrau­ding, slandering, abusing, reviling of our Neighbours, and neglect of our spiritu­al and everlasting Concerns are sugge­sted to us; in a word, to all thoughts which are injurious to God, to our Neighbour, or to the interest of our Souls, for these assented to defile the heart, Mark VII. 21, 22. Such thoughts like Flies, or Bees may buz, and hum about the Mind; but if the Mind drives them away, as Abraham did the Birds from the Sacrifice, the Heart loses no­thing of its Purity. The mind may be assaulted with evil Thoughts, the As­saults do not presently render it impure, for if it hold out against them, gives no consent, no approbation, shews them no countenance, no favour, no respect, but that like Bullets shot against a Wall of Brass, they fall off as fast as they are shot, the Heart still continues pure, and therefore David expresses the Purity of his Heart by this very Character, I hate vain thoughts, Psal. CXIX. 113. and to this purpose is that Expostulation of God [Page 208] in Jeremy, Chap. IV. 14. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee! It's gi­ving them lodging and entertainment, that pollutes the Mind, but if they knock at the Door, and are either permitted no entrance, or are thrust out, the Heart preserves its Purity.

2. A pure Heart imports also a Purity from sinister Ends, or Aims, or Intenti­ons, especially in religious Actions. This must needs be the intent of our great Master here, since we see he finds fault so often with Men, that aimed to be seen of Men, to have Glory of Men, to gain the Applause and Commendations of Men, and designed their Profit, and Gain in Actions relating to Devotion. The Christian, that's free from such sini­ster Aims in praying, praising, fasting, giving of Alms, preaching, speaking to others of his Experiences, and hath nothing before his Eyes but the Glory of God, the good of his Neighbour, the peace of his own Conscience, and the Salvation of his own Soul, may justly be said to be pure in Heart, and this is agreeable to that simplicity, which we hear so often press'd, and which the Apostles did so much rejoyce in, 2 Cor. I. 12. Without this our services want [Page 209] that Sincerity, which must make them amiable to the searcher of hearts; and the Apostle insists upon it, Rom. XII. 9. when he saith, Let love be without dis­simulation; and since love to God is ex­pressed by our religious exercises, it must necessarily follow, these must be free from sinister ends, which if they be not, they fall under the brand and character of Dissimulation.

3. A pure heart delights in holy Thoughts: These are Meat and Drink to it, and such a person delights in thinking of the works of God, and the operations of his hands, of his will, and of his commands, of his promises and of his threatnings, of his various provi­dences and dispensations, of Heaven and eternal happiness. These Thoughts wonderfully purifie the heart, and keep it clean; these keep up the Spirit of Reli­gion, and make the soul a fit temple for the Deity to lodge in: it's true, there is no man so holy, and who lives in the world, or hath a lawfull calling, but must think of his concerns in the world, how to manage them to the good of his family and relations and others; such thoughts are very necessary in order to a prudent ordering of our affairs, and [Page 210] without doubt are allowable and lawfull, for which of you intending to build a tower, sits not down first, and counteth the cost whether he have sufficient to finish it, saith our Saviour, Luk. XIV. 28. But all this may be done, and yet the heart delight in holy thoughts, in these more than in the other, in these for pleasure, in the other for necessity; to this pur­pose Solomon, The thoughts of the righte­ous are right, Prov. XII. 5. but St. Paul more emphatically, 2 Cor. IV. 18. We look not so much at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. Looking here, is thinking, and there is no beholding things invisible, but by con­templation of the Heart and Mind. Con­templation represents things eternal in lively colours, and in seeing these the primitive Believers rejoyced more than in gazing on the riches and glories of this vi­sible world; temporal things they thought on by the by, but the strength of their thoughts was reserved for the other.

A pure heart, is a heart enamour'd with God, a heart that loves nothing like him; a soul whose secret desires are after him, and whose desires are strong and vehement, and though it hath obli­gations to love the creature, yet it is [Page 211] in subordination to him and for him who is altogether lovely; a heart which discovers its love, not only by ex­ternal obedience, but by inward breath­ings, and sighs, and groans which can­not be uttered, and loves any thing that belongs to him, his word, his laws, his sacraments, his faithfull ministers, and those that truly fear him; what this inward love is, the admirable David describes at large, Psal. CXIX, and when in this Psalm you read such expressions as these, With my whole heart have I sought thee, v. 10. My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times, v. 20. Horror hath taken hold of me, because of the wicked that forsake thy law, v. 53. The law of thy mouth is dear­er unto me, than thousands of gold and silver, v. 72. my soul fainteth for thy sal­vation, v. 81. O how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day, v. 97. How sweet are thy words unto my mouth, yea, sweeter than honey unto my taste, v. 103. I say, when you read such expressions as these, you may guess at the nature of this love which purifies the heart.

Cassianus hath an observation, which I cannot pass by without making some remarks upon it, and it is this, That [Page 212] the greatest sign of a pure heart is, when that inward purity influences our very dreams, and that a man instead of dream­ing of trifles and impertinencies, dreams of God and spiritual objects. The obser­vation seems a little odd, because in dreams the fancy plays, her Mistress, reason (because the bodily organs, the tools whereby she works are asleep) suspending her operations: and dreams we know, depend much upon the con­stitution and complexion of the body, and yet there is some truth in it, for if, as Solomon notes, Eccles. V. 3. A dream comes through multitude of business Men have been engaged in in the day time, or from things they have heard, or seen, or discours'd of: it may very well be, that a person who hath got a habit of contemplating things divine, and hea­venly, whose thoughts are taken up all day with spiritual objects, may find a tincture of all this in his very dreams, and the things he most delighted in, and was most conversant with, may present themselves to his fancy, and there appear in lively shapes and dresses in the night; and I do not doubt, where a man could arrive to that felicity, as to dream for the most part of Heaven and a future Hap­piness, [Page 213] and pray and praise God in his dreams, whenever his Imagination wakes in his sleep, as it would argue, that the person makes religion his business, so it would be a very good sign of Purity of heart, and that his heart and affections are truly set upon God; but I will lay no stress upon this observation, because it hath not the Scripture for its guide: the characters I have given of the pure in heart, are warranted by the word of God, and in these we cannot be mista­ken, and those who are so are certainly blessed.

But then,

II. If the pure in heart are blessed, those that are not so, or will not be so, cannot be happy; which is the second point I am to speak to, and I shall e­vince it by these following familiar arguments.

1. Such persons cannot converse with God: in this converse mans happiness consists, and the reason why they can­not, is, because their hearts are impure. Can two walk together except they be a­greed, saith God, Amos III. 3. Purity and Impurity are incapable of commu­nion. [Page 214] When God converses with man, he takes possession of the heart, there he dwells, there is his seat, but if that be impure, and full of darkness, God a­voids the infected place. In this case, the castle is already in possession of Gods enemy, and therefore there is no enter­tainment for him whose purity is infi­nite; for the law of this converse is, with the mercifull, thou wilt shew they self mer­cifull, and with the pure, thou wilt shew thy self pure, Psal. XVIII. 25.

2. As the impure cannot converse with God, so they cannot appropriate him to themselves, and therefore cannot be bles­sed: for mans blessedness arises from be­ing able to say, That God is his God, his Friend and peculiar Treasure. It's true, the man whose heart is impure, profes­ses an interest in God, as well as the purest souls; but words, and sayings, and boastings do not make the title good; God will not be his God, that will not have him reign over him; his indeed to judge him, but not his to save him; his to send him to Hell, but not his to give him a right to the tree of Life. He, whose heart is impure, lets Sin and World reign over him, of­fers the Throne of God, i. e. his heart [Page 215] to an usurper, puts the Scepter into a Traitors hand, and sets open the Gates for Thieves and Robbers to come in, and surely this cannot be the way to appropriate God to our selves, or to take comfort in his love, and therefore no right to blessedness.

3. Such are not blessed, because they cannot see God. The sinfull worldly Lusts, and Thoughts, and Desires which like Vermin crawl in their hearts, darken their sight. There is a thick veil over their hearts, that they cannot see and tast how sweet and gracious the Lord is. Their Souls are oppressed, there lies much earth upon them, a very great weight of earthly, carnal, disorderly Thoughts and Desires, that like Swine, they cannot look up to things above them. Their Souls indeed are in the nature of Glass, but the Glass is greazy and sullied with the Smoak of vain Ima­ginations which hinders them from be­holding his goings in the Sanctuary, or at the best, they look upon God, as men do upon objects through the wrong end of a perspective, which represents things great, and near, as little, and afar off. He that lacketh these things, saith St. Peter, is blind and cannot see afar off. [Page 216] He that wants a pure heart, is that per­son, and wants that which must give him right apprehensions of God: the impure Lusts he cherishes in his heart, shut the eyes of his heart, and under­standing, that he hath nothing but con­fused Notions and Ideas of God and his ways; an estate very different from theirs, who are pure in heart, for they shall see God, which calls me to the

III. Third and last particular, How the pure in heart shall see God; and since this Vision relates both to this pre­sent Life, and that to come, we must take a distinct view of both: And,

1. How they see, and shall see God in this present Life. And here it must be taken for granted, that God cannot be seen with the Organs of the body, for he is a Spirit infinite, immaterial, un­compounded, and though he fills Hea­ven and Earth with his presence, and is not far from every one of us, yet no man ever saw him, and indeed none can see him, 1 Tim. VI. 16. but this is still to be understood of the Eyes of the Flesh; with the Eye of the Understanding without all peradventure, he may be [Page 217] seen, and that's the seeing Christ aims at here; for it's evident, he speaks of the purity of Heart and Mind, and therefore what he says of seeing God, must be meant of the Eyes of that pure Mind. Even Heathen Philosophers re­quired Purification of the heart from all gross, lustfull, covetous, and worldly de­sires, without which they said a man could never arrive to the brighter know­ledge of Philosophy. Christ leads his fol­lowers to a higher object, and promises not so much a clear insight into the my­steries of Nature, as a sight of the best of Beings, God blessed for evermore.

And that no man may think, that this blessedness reaches only Divines and other learned men, whose Studies carry them to contemplate God, his Nature, Attributes, and Providences, I must tell you, that this Blessing is pronounced with respect even to the meanest capaci­ty, and a poor man that follows his trade, or gets his livelihood in the sweat of his Brows, may see God, as well as the learnedest Men alive, nay many times better, having none of the preferments of this World to blind his Eyes. For this seeing God, is an affectionate seeing him, and such a seeing as assimilates the [Page 218] Soul to him. This seeing is not a bare Speculation, or being able to talk or write much concerning God; but such a seeing as charms, and ravishes, and unites the Soul to God; and as this seeing God relates to this present World, such as are pure in heart, shall see him more clearly, more distinctly, more to their satisfaction and edification than other men. All men that say they believe in God, and talk of his divine Attributes, and have occasion to take notice, and are sensible of his works, pretend a share in the seeing God; but none sees him so well as the pure in heart. Their inward purity helps them to see him; they see him in his Word, in his Ordi­nances, in his Providences, in his Mer­cies and Afflictions.

They see him in his Word; how e­quitable, how just, how reasonable all his precepts are, how agreeable to the divine Nature, how suitable to the Soul, how glorious, how sweet, how precious all his promises are, how just his threat­nings.

They see him in his Ordinances, what Profit, what Advantage he intends by them, how he designs them as Channels or Pipes whereby to convey his Grace, [Page 219] and Spirit, and Influences to their Souls.

They see him in his Providences, how righteous, how holy, how potent, how orderly he is in the management of the great affairs of the World.

They see him in his Mercies, how he condescends, how tender he is to them, how like a Father, how like a Shepherd he deals with them.

They see him in their Afflictions, how wise, how kind, how good he is in send­ing them, what Favour, what Love, what edification he designs by them.

They see him in all his Works, how admirable, how wonderfull, how pow­erfull he is; and all this they see with joy and delight, and so see him, as to love him more fervently; and this is called, Seeing him in the Sanctuary, Psal. LXIII. 2. Thus the pure in heart see God here. But,

2. There is a vision of God in the next life, which surpasses all understanding. Though they see him here to their com­fort and edification; yet at the best, they see him but as it were through a glass darkly, but then face to face, 1 Cor. XIII. 12. There that Sun will shine directly in their faces, and their sight shall be [Page 220] made so strong, that they shall be able to look upon that astonishing light with­out being weakned by its lustre. Here they see but his back parts, there his face. That seeing him in the everlast­ing kingdom, imports a comprehension. They comprehend in some small degree here what is the depth, the height, the length, and breadth of the love of God; but then they will understand perfectly all the mysteries of his nature, provi­dence, attributes and love to them in Christ Jesus.

And from this sight must necessarily arise joy inexpressible, Such as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor is the heart of man able to conceive. The Sun beams are amiable and pleasing here, but how would a man be surprized, if he were at the spring of that universal fire, and saw how it rises, and how it is managed? So God is very lovely to the pure in heart when they see him here, but when they shall come near that inaccessible Light, and be perfectly united to him, who can express the satisfaction? indeed it cannot be express'd, for it is immense and infinite.

AS in this divine Sermon of our Sa­viour, Men and Women are pro­nounced blessed and happy, with respect to things which the dull sensual World spies no felicity in; or as here, those are counted happy whom the World counts miserable, and those miserable whom the World counts happy; so it fares with the persons mentioned in the words before you, and the Blessedness which attends them; the world, you know, magnifies great Generals, and Soldiers, and Martial Men who can fight well, and are very skilfull in besieging Towns, and in scaling Walls, in bombarding Castles, and surprizing Forts, and de­feating [Page 243] Armies, and slaying Men; and he, that with Saul hath kill'd his thousands, and with David his ten thousands, is cry'd up, and the Bells ring at his entrance into a conquer'd Town, all sing his Praises, Flowers of Rhetorick and Applause are strow'd in his way, publick Intelligen­ces are fill'd with his Commendations; and who so much talk'd of, as the man who is very expert in making, main­taining and managing a War.

Our blessed Master over-looks all these partial verdicts of the World, and knowing that Nature, and Vice, and Profit, and Honour, Ambition, and Lust are enough to inspire a man with courage and Wisdom to fight, and to cause Disorders and Disturbances among Men, instead of commending men, who are skilfull in making War; set a pecu­liar mark of favour on those who are skilfull in making Peace in the words, I have read to you, Blessed are the Peace-makers, for they shall be called the Chil­dren of God.

Blessed are the Peace-makers; what? All Peace-makers? Then Turks, and Infidels, Heathens, and Pagans, and the most licentious of Christian Princes do all come into the number of the blessed, [Page 244] and all must be Children of God. For there is no Prince, though never so great a Tyrant, though he hath spilt Blood like Water in his Conquests, though he hath made no more of destroying mens Lives, than Tarquinius did of taking off the heads of Poppies, or Domitian of killing Flies, yet makes Peace some­times, and tired with the Toyl and Fa­tigue of the War, concludes a Truce at last with his Enemy; and what? Do all these come into the society of the blessed?

To give you light into this affair, I shall enquire,

I. Who these Peace-makers are that are pronounced blessed here.

II. I shall examine the reasons of the supposition or the thing supposed and implied here, that those who have an aversion from this Peace-making are, and cannot be blessed.

III. I shall take the blessedness of these Peace makers into consideration, and shew how, and upon what account they are, and shall be call'd the Children of God.

[Page 245] I. Who these Peace-makers are, that are said to be blessed here.

The word in the Original is [...], which as Interpreters observe in Greek Authors signifies and denotes strictly those who make or procure Peace among Persons who disagree, and unite those who are at variance, but in Scripture the expression is of a larger ex­tent, and includes a great deal more than a bare reconciling of Enemies, and the persons here aimed at are as follows.

1. Such as do make Peace with God and with their Consciences. To this purpose is the exhortation, Job XXI. 22. Acquaint now thy self with him, and be at Peace, and great good shall come un­to thee: And from this Peace with God, arises that Peace in believing, we read of, Rom. XV. 13. Man naturally is at Enmity with God, Rom. V. 10. to be sure, an Enemy of the Cross of Christ, for the Law of the Cross is directly op­posite to the Principles and Dictates of sinfull Flesh, Phil. III. 18. and this En­mity still grows greater and greater, as corrupt nature is improved or abused in­to more corrupt practices, and from hence [Page 246] flows Mans misery. So that to be hap­py, a Man must be at Peace with God, which is a Maxim so natural, that Hea­thens do not think themselves safe with­out appeasing their angry Deities, and this puts them upon offering Sacrifices to them. But this doth not take with the true God, who delights not in burnt-offerings. The Sacrifices of God, which unite the Soul to him, and esta­blish a Peace betwixt God and the Sin­ner, are a broken and a contrite Heart, and laying aside voluntarily and delibe­rately, and from a sense of the madness of the attempt, even of resisting and clash­ing with an Omnipotent Being, those things which God professes and declares his Hatred and Abhorrency of, and a chearfull Compliance with his revealed Will; and you all know that the things he hates are our sinfull customs, practices and inclinations, for your Iniquities have separated betwixt you and your God, and your sins have hid his Face from you, saith God, Isa. LIX. 2.

To be at Peace with God, a man must be at War with his sinfull Inclina­tions. To live in Peace with these, is to fall out with God, and the longer we maintain Friendship and Familiarity [Page 247] with these, the greater becomes the di­stance betwixt God and our Souls, the breach is still made wider, till we sin away at last all hopes of Reconciliation; where the Soul hath any reasonable as­surance, that God is at Peace with her, there Joy, and Gladness, and Serenity flows naturally into her bosom, and that is the Peace of Conscience, St. Paul speaks of, Rom. XIV. 17. And indeed there are no persons more likely to be successfull in making Peace among men, than those who first make Peace with God, and with their own Consciences.

2. Such as make it their business to live peaceably in humane societies, and seek to maintain that Peace, which ei­ther Nature, or Religion, or Friendship, or Neighbourhood have settled among men, with whom we live; and con­cerning this sort of Peace-making, St. Paul speaks, Rom. XII. 18. If it be possi­ble, as much as in you lies, live peaceable with all men. To maintain Peace, is part of Peace-making, for this is to make that Peace which is begun and which we find settled to our hands to continue and flourish; in a word, to preserve it, and according to the old saying, Non minor est vertus, &c. It is as great a Vertue [Page 248] to preserve the good thing which we have purchas'd, as to purchase it; and while we behave our selves inoffensive­ly, unblameably, and keep a Conscience void of offence toward God and Man, we take the readiest way to live peace­ably. It's granted, that the most inof­fensive actions, nay even Acts of Duty and Devotion may stir up the wrath and fury of cholerick and prejudiced men, as we see the Apostles by preach­ing the Gospel, and attempting to be­claim men from their Vices, and telling them their Duty, rais'd all the World a­gainst themselves; but this is not our fault, as long as we give no just occasi­on to men to quarrel with us, or give no just offence; while we are ready to do good offices, do by others as we would have others do by us, and in our Discourses, and behaviour observe the rules of Modesty, Decency, Sobriety, and Charity; if after all, men will speak ill of us, and be angry, because we will not run out with them into excess of ri­ot, as it seems those did St. Peter speaks of, 1 Pet. IV. 4. We have dis­charged a good Conscience, and may comfort our selves with this, That we have given no just occasion to break the Peace.

[Page 249] 3. And here comes in the stricter signification of the word, such as from a sense of Christian Love and Charity endeavour to reconcile disagreeing Per­sons, and Neighbours, and their fellow Christians that are at variance: And concerning this peace-making, St. Paul gives this grave and serious Admoniti­on, 1 Cor. VI. 5, 6. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man a­mong you? no not one that is able to judge between his Brethren? But Brother goes to law with Brother. And this must needs be his meaning in that other Exhorta­tion, Rom. XIV. 9. where he bids us fol­low after the things which make for Peace. And indeed, where there is true Chri­stian Compassion, a man will not only be ready to run to make up differences, when he is entreated, but of his own ac­cord, and before he be entreated, espe­cially, where either Friendship and a long Acquaintance, or some near Rela­tion gives the invitation. It was barba­rous language of Cain, Gen. IV. 9. Am I my Brother's keeper. Such a word must not drop from the Hearts and Mouths of those who are adjured by Bowels of Mercy, not to look every one on his own things, but every man also on the [Page 250] things of his Neighbours, as all Christi­ans are, Phil. II. 4. The common laws of humane societies, require this Peace-making, much more the Laws of Chri­stianity; and since we are bound to love our Neighbours as our selves, how is it possible to obey that Law, without endeavouring to foder and join the clash­ing and dis-jointed Members of Christ's mystical body; in doing so, we love our Neighbours as our selves, even in endeavouring to keep others from dis­agreeing, as we would keep our selves from being at variance with others. How good and how pleasant a thing is it for Brethren to dwell together in unity; it is like the precious ointment that ran down from Aaron's head into his Beard, and so on to the skirts of his cloathing, saith the Royal Psalmist, Psal. CXXXIII. 1, 2. As Christians, we are all Brethren, and then it must be our duty to see the Beauty, Order and Harmony of that brotherly society preserved, which is impossible to be done, without actual and personal endeavours of reconciling those who are at difference, and this ar­gument Moses made use of, when he saw two Israelites striving together, and would have set at one, Why do you [Page 251] wrong one to another, seeing ye are Bre­thren, Act. VII. 26.

4. Such as endeavour to make others like themselves, and do instill this Chri­stian Principle of reconciling Persons, that quarrel and live in Enmity, into o­thers. This is still making Peace, when we labour to make others enamour'd with this duty of Peace-making, which is done either by Exhortation, or Entrea­ty, or Representing to others the No­bleness, Excellency, and Profitableness of this peaceable and peace-making Tem­per. It's natural for men to endeavour to make others of the same Temper and Principles with our selves, which is the reason that men of all Persuasions do what they can to make Proselytes. A truly good man cannot forbear saying with St. Paul, I wish that all men were even as my self, 1 Cor. VII. 7. I mean with respect to the good things, the Grace of God hath infused into him: And as no man can be sincerely good, without endeavouring to unite, and reconcile his disagreeing Neighbours, so that Goodness will farther prompt him to be­speak those of his Acquaintance in St. Paul's language, Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them that walk [Page 252] so, as you have us for ensamples, Philip. III. 17.

And from hence it will be an easie mat­ter to give a just answer to the Objection I proposed at first; whether all Peace-ma­kers are indifferently concerned in the blessedness of the Text; It's plain from hence, that not every one that makes Peace either by force, or of necessity, or for pro­fit, and interest, or being tired with a long and tedious War. Not every one of these comes into the number of those blessed men. All the four Qualifications I have mention'd are requisite to entitle a man to this happiness making Peace with God, and our Consciences, living peaceably, and from a sense of Christi­an love and charity, endeavouring to reconcile disagreeing Neighbours, and instilling this reconciling Principle into others.

And having thus laid down the true Characters of these Peace-makers, where­by you may examine your selves, let's go on, and,

II. Enquire into the reasons of the supposition, or that which is implied here, that those who have an aversion from this Peace-making, cannot be bles­sed or happy.

[Page 253] The reasons are,

1. Selfishness is plainly predominant in such persons, and that's no good cha­racter of bliss, so far from it, that the Apostle reckons it among the Plagues of the last days, 1 Tim. III. 1, 2. This know also, that in the last days perillous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of them­selves. It's true to love our selves, is a natural principle, but to love our selves so as not to be concerned for the good of others, is a sinfull self love, which ren­ders us contemptible to God, and de­spicable to rational men. He that mat­ters not whether his Neighbours fight or agree, whether they live in love or wrath, and sees a fire kindled in their Breasts, a fire lighted by the Flames of Hell, a fire which breaks forth, and threatens to lay their Consciences wast, and doth not offer his helping hand to quench it, hath a Soul base and low, a poor pitifull Spirit, guilty enough to suffer in Hell, but alienated from that life which must give him a title to Hea­ven.

2. He that doth not make Peace with God or with his own Conscience, and cares not for it, robs himself of the greatest [Page 254] comfort; and surely that man can ne­ver be happy. To be at Peace with God, is to be at Peace with our judge, with him who hath the same power over us, that the Potter hath over his Clay, and is able to destroy both Soul and Body into Hell; with him whose voice breaks the Cedars, divides the Flames of Fire, shakes the Wilderness, and makes the Mountains tremble, and who hath a Prison to tame men in, a Prison from whence there is no coming out till they have paid the uttermost Farthing. To be at Peace with this Al­mighty and Sovereign Being, must needs be a mighty satisfaction to the Soul that knows what God is, and looks beyond this world: To enjoy his Friend­ship, to be sure of his favour, to be se­cured of his good will, this establishes the Soul, and gives her courage in the time of the greatest Danger. He that is indifferent, whether he be at Peace with God or not, not to mention that he is a Sot and a Fool, and understands not his true interest, he deprives himself of that which ought to be the greatest stay and staff of his life, and therefore whatever his outward conveniencies, and Accommodations may be, he is un­happy.

[Page 255] 3. He that doth not or will not live peaceably with his Neighbours, I need not tell you that he is unhappy, for he himself finds by sad experience, that he is so. The Disorders and Tumults he finds within, the uneasiness of his condition, the danger he is in from without, and the vexation and discontent he runs into are sufficient Items that he is as far from being happy, as he is from being wise: His lusts war within his members, as St. James speaks, Jam. IV. 1. His Soul is like the troubled Sea, when it cannot rest, Isa. LVII. 20. He is no kin to God, for he is the God of Peace, Rom. XVI. 20. No kin to Angels, for they rejoyce in Peace on Earth, Luk. II. 14. No kin to good men, for they seek Peace and ensue it, 1 Pet. III. 11. If he be related to any thing, it is to the Prince of Darkness, who delights in wrath and envy, Rev. XII. 17.

4. Such men are no Children of God, and therefore cannot be blessed; that's the argument of the Text, Blessed are the Peace-makers, for they shall be called the Children of God; therefore those that have an aversion from this Peace-ma­king are not blessed, because no Children of God; surely no Children of God, when so much of that Spirit reigns in [Page 256] them, which rules in the Children of Disobedience: He particularly that seeks not to be at Peace, or to live peaceably with his Neighbour, most certainly doth not love his Brother, and he that loves him not, is by the Holy Ghost in Scripture put into the number of strange Children, for so we read, 1 Joh. III. 10. Herein the Children of God are manifest, and the Children of the Devil: he that works not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his Brother. Not to love our Brother, and to hate him in Scri­pture are equivalent, different expressi­ons for the same sin; and if any man say, I am in the light, and hate his Bro­ther, he is in darkness, and walks in dark­ness, and knows not whither he goes, be­cause the darkness hath blinded his Eyes, 1 Joh. II. 11.

So that true Blessedness lies altogether in the opposite temper, viz. the Peace-makers, and of these it is, that it's said, They shall be called the Children of God; and how, and upon what account they shall be called the Children of God, is the

III. And last particular, I am to speak to.

[Page 257] And here I must premise, that in Scripture Language, to be called so, is very often as much as to be so; And thou Child shalt be called the Prophet of the most High, i. e. thou shalt be a Pro­phet, Luk. I. 76. and after the same manner, That holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God, i. e. shall be the Son of God; so Matth. I. 23. They shall call his name Emanuel, i. e. he shall be so, God with us, God and Man. And after this stile, you are to understand the Phrase of the Text, They shall be called the Children of God, i. e. they are and shall be so.

Children of God! Why? What great blessedness is there in this title, beyond what other men enjoy? Are not Princes and great Men, who are commonly none of the best, called the Children of God, Psal. LXXXII. 6. and is not God the Father of all mankind. It is very true, but still there is a very great difference between Chil­dren and Children. All rational creatures, both Men and Angels, are God's Children, as they are the works of his hands, and with this respect, even Devils come in­to that number, because they owe their Being to an Omnipotent God. Princes and great Men particularly are the [Page 258] Children of God upon the account of Power, and Grandure, and Authority God communicates to them, but for all these respects, they may be everlast­ingly miserable. To be a Child of God by Regeneration, to be born again, to be born of God, to be begotten again through a lively hope, by the Word and Spirit, this is it, that makes the ti­tle truly comfortable, and such Chil­dren are the Peace-makers commended here. To be a Child of God in this sense, is more, and a greater honour, than to be related to all the greatest Prin­ces in the World. For,

1. Such Children of God have higher marks of favour set upon them. They enjoy the Blessings of God's left hand in common with the rest, but besides these, they have Blessings of the right hand heap'd upon them. Besides the Preser­vation, Protection, Provision for their bodies, and common Deliverances from dangers, they participate of with the greater number, their Souls are visited by very magnificent Guests; For if a­ny man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him, saith our Saviour, Joh. XIV. 23. [Page 259] God Governs them by his Spirit, and feeds them like a Shepherd, gathers the lambs into his arms, carries them in his bosom, and gently leads those that are with young, Isa. XL. 11. They are made Partakers of the divine nature, love what God loves, hate what he hates, desire what he desires, and aim at the same end God himself aims at, to wit, the Glo­ry of God, blessed for evermore.

2. To such Children of God belong the Promises of the everlasting Cove­nant; and there is no condemnation in them. They are deliver'd from the wrath to come, and Christ intercedes for them in Heaven. For them the balm of Gilead flows, and when their Souls are sick, Physick is administred to them from the Clouds. They are wash'd, they are justified, they are san­ctified, and shall at last be glorified. To such power is given to tread on Ser­pents, and upon all the powers of dark­ness: For their sakes, God spares whole Nations. To go no farther than our own: All sober men believe we are ripe for God to put in the Sickle of vengeance. The Atheism, Profaneness and Hypocrisie, the dull Formality we are sunk into under the greatest encou­ragements, [Page 260] together with other crying Sins, which are among us, are enough to make a rational man wonder, that the Viols of the wrath of God are not yet poured out upon us, but it's for the Children of God's sake, who are among us, that we are spared thus long; for their sakes it is that God brings the strangest things about, and though they are try [...]d often by Affliction, yet the Fire, that proves them, doth only cleanse, not crush the Frame. To pro­tect them, God sends his own Guard, a Troop of Angels to surround their per­sons and habitations; and if so, the blessedness of such must infinitely exceed the happiness of those, who are called Children of God, upon the account ei­ther of their Creation, or Power and Au­thority.

But to come closer to the words, the Peace-makers are in a very special man­ner the Children of God, if you consi­der them either with respect to this life, or with regard to that to come, for to both these states, as I have told you of­ten, does the recompences mention [...]d in these Beatitudes relate.

As to this present life.

[Page 261] 1. They are Children of God, be­cause they are like him. They express his Nature in their own: For God is the God of Peace, Philip. IV. 9. His Divine Essence is the true Pattern of Peace and Order. The ever-blessed Trinity is the grand Exemplar of Concord and Unity. It's God, that makes Peace within thy Borders, saith David, Psal. CXLVII. 14. He speaks Peace to his People, Ps. LXXXV. 8. He creates Peace, Isa. LVII. 19. And calls to Peace, 1 Cor. VII. 15. And is the Au­thour of Peace, 1 Cor. XIV. 33. And is the Lord of Peace, 2 Thess. III. 16. The peaceable, and such as are of a peace­able Temper, resemble this God of Peace; He lives in them; There is a great simi­litude betwixt that inexhausted Spring, and these little Rivulets; a great Con­formity betwixt these Copies, and that Original. The features and lineaments of Peace, that appear upon their Souls, discover that they are the Children of God.

2. They are the adopted Children of God in Christ Jesus. Christ is the true, natural, and only begotten Son of God. The peaceable, and such as are of a peace-making Temper, tread in the Steps of Christ, imitate his peaceable [Page 262] Nature, and upon that Account are ad­mitted to the Honour of his Filiation, and Son-ship. The Spirit of Peace, which dwelt in Christ Jesus, dwells in them, Col. III. 15. Christ is the Prince of Peace, so he is call'd, Isa. IX. 6. Nay he is our Peace, who made both one, and pulled down the middle Wall of Parti­tion between us, having abolish'd in his Flesh, the Enmity, even the Law of Commandments, contain'd in Ordinan­ces, making in himself of twain, one new Man, so making Peace, Eph. II. 14, 15. And he came and preach'd Peace to them that were a far off, and to them who are nigh, vers. 17. He is the great Peace-maker, who made Peace betwixt Hea­ven and Earth, which makes the An­gels sing at his Nativity; Glory be to God on high, and on Earth Peace, Luke II. 14.

Nor doth Christ's Saying, Matth. X. 34. Think not that I am come to send Peace upon Earth, I am not come to send Peace, but a Sword. I am come to set a Man at variance against his Father, and the Daughter against the Mother, &c. I say, this Oracle doth not at all invalidate, or weaken the Character, or Title gi­ven him, which is Prince of Peace; for [Page 263] in so saying, he only describes the unna­tural Events, and Consequences of his Gospel.

1. When a Man is truly converted to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is immediately infused into him a mighty hatred and indignation against sin, and vice, where-ever he meets with it, though it be in a Father, or Mo­ther, or Brethren, or Sisters. To find it in such Relations, doth not make him like it the better, nor can all their per­suasions make him have any good opi­nion of it; and therefore if the Father be carnal and wicked, he will hate his Son for being so holy and precise, and keeping such a stir about Religion; or if the Father be good, and the Son nought, the Son will be either secretly, or open­ly angry with his Father, for having so strait-laced a Conscience. Hence arise quarrels and dissensions, which are not the natural Effects of the Gospel, but of Men's vitious humours, which hate to be controll'd by the Gospel; and hither must be referr'd the Persecutions, that befell the Primitive believers, when they would not offer incense to the Hea­then Gods, whereupon they were im­prison'd, harrass'd, persecuted with Fire [Page 264] and Sword. The Son rose against his Father, if he were a Christian, and the Daughter did her best to throw the be­lieving Mother into the Fire, and the nearest Relations became mortal Ene­mies one to another; not that Christia­nity made the Christians hate their Hea­then Relations, but it made the Heathen Relations hate their Christian Kindred.

2. This Christ speaks with relation to those Carnal and Hypocritical Profes­sours of his Religion, who in After-ages, pusht on by Pride and by the Devil un­der a pretence of Zeal for his Honour, and Glory, would kill, butcher, burn, massacre thousands of their Brethren, who retain'd the Substantials of Christi­anity, only differ'd from them in things which Carnality, and Pomp, and Su­perstition, and Ambition to regulate the Church by the Court of Princes, should add to the ancient Faith deliver'd unto the Saints, and of this we have seen very sad instances: But still, these are only accidental Effects of Men's Pride and Passions, not the natural Products of the Design and Tendency of the Gospel; so that notwithstanding all these quar­rels and dissensions ill Men raise about the Gospel, Christ is still the Prince of [Page 265] Peace, and the Peaceable, and such as are of a peace-making Temper, are up­on that account his Brethren, for he is not asham'd to call them Brethren, Heb. II. 11. and therefore the Children of God.

As to the Life to come.

These Peace-makers shall be, and shall be treated like darling Children of God. This St. John assures us of, 1 John III. 2. Beloved, now are we the Sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know, that when he shall appear we shall be like him. Like him! How? Like him in Eternal Glory and Honour, and Splendour. They were like Christ in their peace-making Tem­per here, and they shall be like him in a glorious Immortality. Their Father which is in Heaven will let Men and Angels sees that they are his Children, that they are so not in Name only, but in Deed. He will give the unbelieving World a visible Demonstration, that they are so in the last Day, in the great Day of Account; he will place them at Christ's Right-hand, and the Men that would not believe and repent, shall behold how dear they are to him; for the great Re­deemer shall carry them up into his Fa­ther's [Page 266] Kingdom: If Sons then Heirs, Heirs of God, and joint Heirs with Christ, saith the Apostle, Rom. VIII. 17. Christ as Man, and Mediatour, became Heir of his Father's Royalty, and Power; so shall they in the right of adopted Children. As Christ ascended into Heaven so shall they; as Christ was exalted so shall they; as Christ was enthroned so shall they; as Christ was advanced from a low E­state to the highest Dignity so shall they; as Christ lives for ever so shall they; as Christ cannot be hurt by the second Death no more shall they; as Christ had power given him over the Nations, o­ver Hell and Devils, so shall they reign over all their Enemies; as Christ shall judge the World, and the Apostate An­gels so shall they; being Fellow-sons, Fellow-heirs, they all share in his Au­thority and Grandeur: It's true, all this must be believed, for it is not seen yet; but who can forbear to believe it, when we have the Word of the living God for it?

In a word, They shall be Possessours of Heaven and Earth; for not only their Father, but their Elder Brother is so. Crowns and Diadems are preparing for them; Crowns which fade not away, [Page 267] Crowns which the Moth cannot corrupt, nor Thieves break through and steal; Crowns made of Beams of Eternal Light; Crowns which not only adorn their Heads, but fill their Faces with incom­parable Beauty; Crowns such as Angels wear; Crowns which cannot be view­ed, cannot be thought of, without Eter­nal Admiration.

I Did once think to have joined this Verse and the next in the Explicati­on, but upon a more accurate Exami­nation, I find, that this Verse I have read to you treats of Persecution in ge­neral, but the next of a particular Per­secution with the Tongue; i. e. Calum­niating and Reviling, and therefore shall allow them a distinct Discussion, or Consideration. To be persecuted, is to be robb'd, plunder'd, beaten, buffeted, bruised, imprison'd, tormented, hanged, burnt, drowned, &c. And are these marks of Blessedness, saith the Carnal Man? What! to be beaten, and think it a Kindness! to be buffeted, and look upon it as a Favour! To be put in a Dungeon, and delight in sinking into the mire! To be led to the Stake, and sing! To be tormented, and give God [Page 291] thanks! To be robb'd of all, and make a low bow for being so! What! be hap­py in Misery! and blessed in Chains, and glorious in Torments, and honou­rable in a fiery Furnace! Yes, all this is very good Divinity, and very agreeable to the Doctrine of the Gospel of Christ; and if the Cause be good, Gibbets, and Gallows, and Chains, and Shackles, and Fetters, and Fire, and Sword, are a Christians Jewels, and Pearls, and Pen­dants, and Necklaces, and Ornaments; For blessed are they which are persecuted for Righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Three things will here deserve Consi­deration.

I. What it is, to be persecuted for Righteousness sake; and who they be, that fall under that denomination.

II. Whether these words, as well as the preceding, imply a Negative, That those who are not persecuted for Righ­teousness sake are not blessed.

III. I shall enquire into the Nature of the Blessedness here mentioned, and shew, how the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs, that are persecuted for Righteous­ness sake.

[Page 292] I. What it is to be persecuted for Righteousness sake, and who they be, that fall under that denomination: In answer to this,

1. To persecute, [...] in the Origi­nal is properly to follow hard after a thing, and with great earnestness to en­deavour to seize upon a thing we desire, or to pursue it as Hunters do their Prey, which they quit not till they take it. The word in Scripture is used sometimes in a good, sometimes in a bad sense: In a good sense, when it is applied to Ver­tue, as 1 Thess. v. 15. Follow that which is good. Heb. xii. 14. Follow Peace with all men. 1 Cor. xiv. 1. Follow after Cha­rity. 1 Tim. VI. 11. Follow after Righ­teousness. In all which places, for fol­low in the Original, the word [...] is used, which in other places we render persecute, to shew, that till it be joined with something else that alters the Sense, it is no more, than following hard after a thing. When it is applied to Persons, it is commonly taken in a bad Sense, and implies pursuing with a desire or in­tent to hurt the Person pursued; and that's the usual Notion and Acceptation of the word, even to prosecute or pur­sue a Person with an intent to afflict, or hurt, or punish him; and that's the [Page 293] meaning of the word in the Text, where the persecuted must be persons hunted or haunted, teazed, tormented, impri­soned, abused, or, in a word, evil en­treated, as is evident from Christ's scope in these Beatitudes, which is to comfort those whom the World counts miserable.

2. By Righteousness here, is meant the whole Circle of Religious Duties and Offices, or Obedience to the Laws of God or of the Gospel; and it takes in both believing and practising, i. e. be­lieving what God hath commanded us to believe, and practising what God in his Word hath commanded us to pra­ctise, and consequently forbearing to believe or practise, either what God hath not revealed, or hath forbid to believe or practise. I know the word Righteousness, is used sometime for just dealing, some­time for Mercy and Alms-giving, but then there is some word in the Context that shews, it must be restrained or con­fined to that Sense, but here is nothing to give it that determinate Sense; and there­fore it must be the same with Goodness as it is opposed to Wickedness; and in this Sense it's ordinarily used both in this and the next Chapter; in this v. 6. and 20. in the next, v. 33. and is sometimes called, The Righteousness of Faith, as Rom. [Page 294] iv. 13. i. e. a chearfull performance of the duties God hath commanded in the Gospel; as the Righteousness of the Law is complying with God's Will and Com­mands under the Law, or the Old Testament.

This being premised, it follows;

1. That to be persecuted for Righte­ousness sake, is not barely to suffer or to endure Punishment; for at this rate all Malefactors, and such as our Law punishes either with the Sword, or with Fire, or the Gallows, for Crimes which are destru­ctive to Humane Societies would fall un­der this Notion. No, no, to suffer as an evil doer, is a very different thing from being persecuted for Righteousness sake. St. Peter hath determined this long agoe, 1 Pet. ii. 20. What glory▪ is it if when ye are buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently, but if when you do well, and suf­fer for it, ye take it patiently, this is ac­ceptable with God; and again, 1 Pet. iv. 15. Let none of you suffer as a Murtherer, or as a Thief, or as an evil doer, or as a busy-body in other mens matters; but if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be a­shamed. That old Saying is very true, Not the Suffering but the Cause makes the Mar­tyr. Indeed, it is to be considered in all Sufferings, and it skills very much what it is we suffer, and what we suffer for, [Page 295] and what manner of man the person is who suffers. Some we read of that have suffer'd for Vain-glory, as Peregrinus in Lucian, and the Gymnosophists, and Regu­lus, and Mutius, and the Alexandrian Wo­man, and others in the Greek and Roman Histories: And the Circumcelliones of old were so fond of suffering Martyrdom, that some would cast themselves down head-long from steep Hills, or throw themselves into Fire, or into Water, and even courted men to knock them on the head: And therefore the Church, Ps. xliv. 21, 22. to remove all suspicions that she suffer­ed upon a wrong Principle, or for a si­nister End, appeals to God the searcher of all Hearts; He knows the secrets of the Heart: for thy sake are we killed all the day long; as if she had said, Thou, O Lord, who knowest all things, knowest, that it is not for a sinister End, or for Trifles that we suffer, but it is for thy Name's sake, and because we will not lift up our Hands to a strange God.

2. Nor is it to suffer for every Cause where Conscience is pretended. He that is persecuted for Righteousness sake suf­fers for his Conscience, but not every one that suffers, and pretends he suffers for Conscience, is therefore persecuted for Righteousness sake. We know the [Page 296] greatest Villanies have been carried on under a shew of Religion, and Conscience hath been pleaded by Murtherers of Kings, and Princes, and Bishops, and o­thers; and when such abominable wretches have suffered for it, they have been most justly punished, but far from being persecuted, farther from being per­secuted for Righteousness sake. To pre­tend Conscience when Men act against a known Law of God is mocking of God, and if it were lawfull to laugh at a thing so sad and dreadful, deserves to be ridi­culed more than argued. Felix Mauz a turbulent Anabaptist in Helvetia, being put to death for practising against the State and Government, had the Impu­dence to thank God that he had called him to seal the Truth with his Blood; and among other expressions before his death, said, Lord, into thy hands I do commend my Spirit. It's like unwary and weak Specta­tors look'd upon his suffering as being per­secuted for Righteousness sake, but it was nothing less, indeed no more than a just Punishment for his Treasonable Practices, however colour'd over with Expressions and Sayings of Consciencious Men. He that deceives himself, or suffers himself to be deceiv'd into an erroneous Doctrine or Practice, and believes that his Consci­ence [Page 297] dictates to him both that Belief and Practice, and suffers for it, cannot pro­perly be said to suffer for Righteousness sake, if that Righteousness he pretends to, and for which he thinks he suffers, have no relation to the express word of God. Conscience must be guided by the plain word of God; I say, plain, for I do not think that obscure, hard, and knotty pla­ces of Scripture which have exercised the Wits of the Learnedst Men are an or­dinary Rule of Conscience. If a Man fancies that his Doctrine or Practice for which he suffers is commanded in the Word of God when really it is not, he suffers indeed for an erroneous Consci­ence, which he should have taken care to rectify and inform better, but cannot be said to be persecuted for Righteousness sake, because he suffers not for a notori­ous Doctrine or Action, manifestly com­manded in the Word of God; and tho' I grant that the Magistrate who punishes him may be too severe upon him, and the Officers of Justice who execute the Law may handle him rudely and barbarously, and though I believe God will pardon his Error, if accompanied with simplici­ty of Heart, and free from Malice or sini­ster Designs, yet still he cannot be said to be persecuted for Righteousness sake.

[Page 298] And having told you, what being per­secuted for Righteousness sake is not, I must in the next place tell you what it is. And here though you may guess at the Nature of it by what hath been said already; yet for Orders sake,

1. To be persecuted for Righteousness sake, is to be evil entreated for asserting or maintaining a Principle or Doctrine which God hath plainly reveal'd either by the light of Nature, or by the light of Scripture, and for not subscribing to a Doctrine manifestly false, or contrary to the Scripture. I mention here the light of Nature, for the light of Nature is the light of God as well as the Scripture. It's granted the Scripture is the brighter and the clearer light, but still the light of Na­ture is the light of God. And he that is persecuted for asserting there is but one God, and that Polytheism, or a multi­tude of Gods is Non-sense, or a Fable, as Socrates the Heathen Philosopher was, who died for that Doctrine, may be just­ly said to be persecuted for Righteousness sake, because he suffers for a true and ma­nifest Principle of the light of Nature, and for a Truth written by God upon the Heart, and which every Man is bound to assert and maintain; which is the reason that Justin Martyr makes Socrates a kind of [Page 299] Christian, and a Martyr for a standing Principle of Divinity.

After the same manner, if a Man should be persecuted for maintaining the Resurrection of the Dead, or that the Scripture is the Word of God, or that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah, and Saviour of the World, and that he is God, as well as Man, and that he died for our sins, and rose again from the Dead, &c. as the Apostles were persecu­ted by the Sadduces, Pharisees, and Hea­thens; such a Person is truly persecuted for righteousness sake; for these Truths are very clearly revealed in Scripture, and every Christian is bound to profess them; and the same may justly be said of those late Sufferers in the neighbour­ing Kingdom, who suffer'd for not belie­ving, or not subscribing to the Doctrines of Transubstantiation, the Sacrifice of the Mass, Purgatory, &c. for these Doctrines are not only not to be found in the Word of God, but are contrary to it.

2. To be persecuted for righteousness sake, is to be evil entreated for espousing a Worship, or Practice, which God hath plainly commanded; on for not yielding to a Worship or Practice, which he hath plainly forbid Thus the three young men in Daniel were persecuted for righeteous­ness [Page 300] sake, because thrown into a fiery Furnace for not worshipping the golden Image which Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and thus Daniel himself was persecuted for righteousness sake, when cast into the Lion's Den, for worshipping the true God three times a Day: Thus the Primi­tive believers were persecuted for righ­teousness sake, when imprison'd, con­demn'd to the mines, butcher'd, tormen­ted, thrown to the Lions, forced to fight with Beasts, &c. because they would not sacrifice to Idols, nor offer Incense to Jupiter, nor swear by the Emperours, and their genius, &c. And thus the poor Waldenses and Albigenses were persecuted for righteousness sake, when pursued with Fire and Sword, for not worshipping Saints and Angels, and for not believing the Infallibility and Truth of the Roman Church. And the same may be said of a­ny Christian, that loses his place, or the favour of his Master, Prince, or Relatives, for not telling a lye, for not profaning the Lord's Day, for being loath to cheat, or defraud, or to comply with others in their sins. In a word, to suffer for obeying any affirmative, or negative, standing Precept or Command of God, is to be persecuted for righteousness sake; and such Persons are pronounced blessed in my Text; which leads me to the

[Page 301] II. Point; whether these words, as well as the preceeding, imply a negative Truth, viz. that they who are not perse­cuted for righteousness sake, are not bles­sed. You may remember, that in the ex­plication of the preceeding Beatitudes, I have still proved the Negative implied, as that those who are not poor in spirit, or are not meek, or not pure in heart, &c. are not blessed. Here one would think the Negative should not hold, for it seems impertinent and absurd to say, that those good Christians, who have lived and died in times of Peace and Plenty, and Tran­quility, are not blessed, nor made parta­kers of the Kingdom of Heaven. But, not­withstanding all this, the negative is as true as the affirmative, provided we take Christ's meaning by the right handle; as thus,

1. Those who are persecuted, and are not persecuted for righteousness sake, their bare Persecution will not, cannot make them blessed, and this is very true. For,

1. A Man, as I said before, may be per­secuted for his Crimes, for robbing or stealing upon the High-way, for clipping the King's Coin, for breaking open a House, and may suffer for it. This may be call'd Persecution, because the same severities are used upon him, that are [Page 302] upon Men, who suffer for righteousness sake, but still, this suffering cannot make him blessed, or happy, because he is not persecuted for righteousness sake, 'tis true, such a Man being apprehended, and im­prison'd may repent, and become a new Creature, and upon that account he may be blessed, but his bare Persecution doth not make him so, because he is not per­secuted for righteousness sake.

2. A Man may be persecuted for a false erroneous Doctrine, yet that cannot make him blessed, i. e. if the Law, or the Officers of Justice should persecute a Man that teaches that the Pope is Christ's Vi­car, and hath Power to depose Kings, and to excommunicate them when they prove Hereticks, and to give their Kingdoms away to others, or that there is no Sal­vation out of the Church of Rome, &c. Considering the Penalties and Punish­ments, the Law inflicts in such Cases on such pragmatical Men, this may be cal­led a Persecution, but this Persecution cannot make the Teacher of these Do­ctrines blessed, much less intitle him to the Kingdom of Heaven, because all this while he is not persecuted for righteous­ness sake; and he cannot be supposed to suffer as a Confessour or Martyr, but ra­ther as a Criminal: It's true, the Tea­cher [Page 303] of such Doctrines may apprehend them to be part of the righteousness taught in the Gospel; but it's evident to all unbyass'd, impartial, and unprejudic'd Men, that they are not, but rather that they are as false as God is true, and con­trary to the Word of God, and therefore his suffering cannot make him blessed, no, not if he should be canoniz'd by his own party, because here is nothing of righteousness in the case, no Doctrine, no Precept plainly revealed by the Word of God; a pretended righteousness may be, but no real one.

2. The Negative also holds, if we say, that those who are loath to suffer for righteousness sake, when call'd to it, are not blessed, and cannot be; and this is the Negative chiefly intended here; even that those who in times of persecution for righteousness sake, preferr their ease and quiet, and Temporal prosperity be­fore suffering for Christ, are very unhap­py Men; and the reasons are plain.

1. The Threatnings of Christ pro­nounced against all such Persons are ve­ry dreadfull; Whosoever shall deny me be­fore men, him will I deny before my Fa­ther which is in Heaven. He that loves Father or Mother more than me, is not worthy of me. He that loves Son or Daugh­ter [Page 304] more than me, is not worthy of me: He that doth not deny himself, and follow after me, is not worthy of me. He that shall seek to save his life shall lose it, Matth. X. 33, 37, 38, 39. And again, Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words in this adulterous and sinfull Generation, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he comes in the Glory of his Father, Mark VIII. 38. And surely, this can be no blessed Estate. It's true, we are not to run into the Fire of persecu­tion without need, or without a call, and the ancient Church justly blamed those forward Men, who offer'd and accus'd themselves to the Heathen Judges and Executioners, and even provok'd them to dispatch them, because they were Christians, but when we are call'd to suffering for righteousness sake, and God thinks fit to try us by that Fire; there to refuse it, and for worldly profit, great­ness, power, and honour, and an easie life to deny the truth, or to subscribe to er­rours which we are perswaded in our Consciences are so; this is such a blot upon Religion, such a dishonour to Christ, such an affront to truth, that such a Per­son must needs appear very odious in the sight of God, and an object of his wrath and anger, cannot be blessed.

[Page 305] 2. Such Persons forfeit all their Title to the Kingdom of Heaven, and therefore can­not be blessed; this is implied in the Text; and if a Man had all the Kingdoms of the World in Possession, and were excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven, he would be a very miserable Man, miserable in all his greatness, power and authority, and so much the more miserable, because after the height of all this splendour, he is to sink into the nethermost Hell, from one extream to another, from the greatest felicity to the greatest misery. The Kingdom of Heaven is intended for Conquerours. He that is loath to suffer for righteousness sake, when God calls him to it, and flinches, and shrinks, and like the Children of Ephraim turns back in the day of battle, is so far from conquer­ing, that he falls basely, loses ground cow­ardly, kisses the Temptation and is enthral­led by the worst of Enemies, and therefore must necessarily fall a Prey to that Enemy, by whom he suffers himself to be conquer­ed, and judge you whether such a Man can be blessed.

And now, that I am talking of the King­dom of Heaven, I speak of the very blessed­ness, which attends those that are persecu­ted for righteousness sake; and consequent­ [...]y, this calls me to explain the third, and last Point.

[Page 306] III. How the Kingdom of Heaven shall be theirs.

This reward you see is the same with what was promised to poverty of Spirit, or deep Humility, v. 3. Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. And the reason why Christ promises the same recompence to the persecuted for righteousness sake, he doth to the humble, is, because there is a very great affinity be­twixt humility, and suffering for righteous­ness sake. Suffering for righteousness sake is the deepest Act of Humiliation, especially if that suffering be accompanied with death. Humility can go no lower; a Man in suf­fering and dying for righteousness sake, pulls down all his lofty thoughts, makes all stoop to the Cross of Christ, submits his Faith to the Gospel, and for things invisi­ble denies himself in all the visible comforts of this life, and that's Humility in its Glory. Therefore the reward is express'd in the same language; but then, as suffering for righteousness sake is the deepest Act of Hu­miliation, so we must suppose, that the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs in a peculiar manner; and how that is, the following particulars, will declare.

And here to keep to the rule, I have so often mention'd in the preceding Beati­tudes, that these rewards respect both this present, and the next life.

[Page 307] 1. The Kingdom of Heaven is theirs on this side Heaven, because even here they feel Heaven in their Souls, and the Kingdom of Heaven is within them. There is hardly a­ny History of Martyrs and Confessours, hardly any Martyrology, but gives an ac­count of the wonderfull joy that poor per­secuted Christians have felt in the heighth of their Persecutions, and what is this but a Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth? what is it, but a Heaven in their Souls? The three young Men, Dan. III. sang in a fiery Furnace; St. Paul and Silas in a Dungeon, lifted up their Voices in Hallelujah's: The Apostles when beaten and whipt, and scour­ged, departed from the Council rejoycing, because they were counted worthy to suf­fer shame for the Name of Christ, and St. Paul, 2 Cor. VII. 4. I am filled with comfort, yea, I exceedingly rejoice in all our Tribu­lation. But not to mention any more passa­ges of this nature out of ancient Histories, our own Book of Martyrs shall serve to furnish us with instances; I mean of the Protestant Martyrs, that suffer'd in Queen Marys Days.

One Rogers coming to the Stake where he was to be burned, fetcht a great leap for joy. One Dr. Taylour, approaching the Fire in which he was to be sacrificed, danced and skipt to the Wonder and Admiration of [Page 308] the Sheriff. I thank God for this Prison, said one Bradford, more than for the richest Par­lour, more than for any pleasure I ever found, for here I find God, my sweet God always After I came into this Prison, said one Glover in a Letter to his Wife, and had repos'd my self there awhile, I wept for joy, and gladness, my belly full, and said to my self, Lord, what am I, that I should be counted worthy to be num­bred among those that suffer for the Gospel's sake! I am now in the Coal-house, said one Philpott, as dark, and ugly a Prison, as any is about London; but I have six other faithfull Companions, who merrily rouz upon the Straw, and in our darkness do cheerfully sing Hymns and Praises to God. I was never merrier in Cbrist, than I am now in Prison, said one Tims. One Pierson, with a cheerfull Coun­tenance embraced the Stake, at which he was to be burnt, and kissing it, said; Now welcome my sweet Wife, for this day thou and I shall be married together. O how my heart leaps and skips for joy, said another. One Bainham, when his Arms and Legs were half consumed by the Fire, cry'd out in the Midst of the Flames, Behold, ye Papists, ye are much for Miracles: Here you may see a Miracle, for in this Fire I feel no more pain, than if I lay on a Bed of Down, it is to me as a Bed of Roses. Abundance more I could name to this purpose, and what was all this but a Kingdom of Heaven in their Souls?

[Page 309] 2. In the next World, the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs in a peculiar manner too, because of the high degree of Glory, they arrive to in the next life. This hath been the belief of the Church in all Ages, that for the Martyrs, the higher and loftier Man­sions of Heaven are reserv'd; the ruines of this truth are preserv'd among Mahometans and Heathens. The Mahometans fancy, that those who die in the War against Christians are Martyrs, and they assign them a higher place in Paradise, and Geographers tell us of a People in the West Indies, who believ­ing the Immortality of the Soul, fancy that those who die in defence of their Country, are advanced after death to a very high de­gree of felicity. These are nothing but re­liques, and remains of the Chri [...]ian Do­ctrine, which Tradition hath left among them, that those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, are, and shall be made partakers of higher degrees of Glory. It's certain their Bodies shall rise before the Bo­dies of other Men; for so we read, Revel. XX. 4, 5. And I saw the Souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worship­ped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark in their foreheads, or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand Years. But the rest of the [Page 310] dead lived not again, until the thousand Years were ended. This is the first Resurrection.

And in the Kingdom of Heaven, they will out-shine other Saints in brightness and splendour. All those that by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for Glory, Honour and Immortality, shall inherit E­ternal life, but those who have been perse­cuted for righteousness sake, their suffer­ings work for them a far more exceeding Eternal weight of Glory, 2 Cor. IV. 17. a reward, enough to make a Man fond of dy­ing, in love with suffering, enamour'd with a Prison, and desirous of Chains and Fetters for righteousness sake: Wonder at this Bles­sing, O my Soul! For, Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

THE preceding Verse, which I have already considered, treated of Persecution in general; this I have read to you, of a particular or peculiar Persecution, in which the Tongue is chiefly instrumental; and Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, is as much as, Blessed are you when men shall so persecute you, as to revile you, and speak all manner of evil against you falsly for my sake. Persecution is not on­ly a Sin of the Hand or Actions; there is a smiting with the Tongue, as well as [Page 330] with the Hand, Jer. XVIII. 18. and Ishmael, who was a Scoffer, is said to persecute him that was born of the Spirit, i. e. Isaac, Gal. IV. 29. I need not tell you what it is to Revile; for there are few of you but are very sensible of it, without a Monitor or Interpreter, when it falls to your share to be reviled: how­ever, it is either to load a Person with reproachful Names, or to object Crimes to him, great and base, odious and abo­minable: and if this be done without a just Cause, falsly, and for the Name of Christ, because Men will not sin against Christ, it seems by the Rule of the Text that it turns to very good Account to those who lie under the Pressure or sharp Arrows of such evil and slanderous Tongues: for, Blessed are you when men shall revile you, &c.

To entertain you with something use­ful and edifying, I shall enquire,

I. What Instances there are of Men who have reviled, and do revile, and speak all manner of Evil of Persons who sincerely and conscientiously believe in Christ.

II. What it is that moves them to be so base, as to revile, and to speak evil of such Conscientious Persons.

[Page 331] III. How that which is a Sin to one, can be a Blessing to another. Reviling innocent Persons being a great Sin, how that can make those blessed who are re­viled.

1. What Instances there are of Persons who are guilty of the Crime in the Text. When a Sin looks black, a charitable Man hopes that few or none are guilty of it: So here, reviling Men, and speak­ing all manner of evil of Persons who con­scientiously believe and obey their God and Saviour, seems to be a Crime of a deep Dye; and therefore it's worth en­quiring, what Instances there are of such Sinners. And here I must tell you, That this Reviling of Conscientious Chri­stians began very early; and having call'd the Master of the House Beelzebab, we may suppose that his Apostles, and those of his Houshold, could not long escape their virulent Tongues. When St. Paul and his Company, out of Cha­rity to Mens Souls, preach'd the Gospel at Philippi, their Reward was Calum­ny; and instead of Gratitude, they char­ged them with Rebellion, for they brought them before the Magistrates, Acts XVI. 20. saying, These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our City, and [Page 332] teach Customs which are not lawful for us to receive, being Romans. And so in Thes­salonica, Acts XVII. 6. These men, cry'd they, which have turn'd the world upside down, are come hither also. And in the same Chapter, Ver. 18. The Philosophers and others, call St. Paul a Babler, because he preach'd to them Jesus and the Resurre­ction of the Dead. And Acts XXIV. 5. We have found this man, saith Tertullus, meaning St. Paul, a pestilent fellow, a mover of Sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a Ring-leader of the Sect of the Nazarenes. Nor did this Trade of Reviling Conscientious Christi­ans die with the Apostles, but their Suc­cessors, and those who surviv'd and li­ved after them, met with the same Fate; and the Crimes the Heathens did most commonly charge the Primitive Belie­vers with, were Atheism, eating their own Children, and the Vse of promiscuous Lusts: and this Calumny being once rais'd, spread like Lightning. There is no Fable, you will say, but hath some Foundation in History. What could be the Occasion of this Calumny? Why? in short, it was this; There were some lewd Societies of Men, Disciples of Si­mon Magus, Gnosticks, Carpocratians, who [Page 333] were Villains, obscene, and brutish be­yond the rest of Mankind; these, by the Instigation of the Devil, call'd them­selves Christians; whereupon the Hea­thens, making no Distinction at all, charged all Christians with these Crimes; and it's like, some cowardly Christians, who were tortured and put to the Rack, to be freed from their Torments confes­sed what the Executioners would have them confess, and charged themselves with Crimes they were never guilty of. This was the Condition of the Christi­ans of the first three Centuries after Christ. Nor was this all; for some time they call'd them Asinini, Follow­ers of an Ass, either upon the old Ca­lumny fix'd upon the Jews, that they were Worshippers of an Ass's-Head, or possibly because they were Worshippers of Jesus, who rode on an Ass when he made his Entrance into Jerusalem: some­times the best Name they could give them was Semistii or Semaxii, or Sarmen­titii, Words that cannot be well expres­sed in English without a Paraphrase, but thus they call'd them to jeer them, upon the Account of their Sufferings, and because they were tied to a Post or a Board divided or cut in two, [Page 334] which they bought very cheap, and threw Faggots and Rubbish under­neath, which they kindled, and so burn'd them. I omit here several other odi­ous Names they gave them, such as Praters, and Sibyllists, and Beggars, and Cross-worshippers, Credulous, and Night-walkers, &c. Julian the Apostate call'd them Galileans; this was the Nick­name, or the Name of Contempt, he gave them, as the Arians call'd the Disciples of Athanasius Followers of Sa­thanasius, or of the Devil: and hither may be referr'd the Vollies of Calum­nies the Donatists shot against the Or­thodox Christians. The Church of Rome hath punctually follow'd this Track, when it pleas'd God to raise Men who had the Courage to confute or to speak against their Errors. The Waldenses, because they could not believe that the Emperor depended upon the Pope, and spoke against the debauch'd and disso­lute Lives of the Roman Clergy, were accused of Manicheism; sometimes they were call'd Arians, and Deniers of the Divinity of Christ, because they could not digest Transubstantiation. Wickliff was traduced, that he call'd the Saints of God Wicked Varlets, because in his [Page 335] Version of the Bible, he translated, Paul a Knave of Jesus Christ; which Word, was good and harmless in those days, being as much as a Servant, tho since that time it hath been changed into a Name of Reproach. It were endless to heap together all the Calumnies and re­proachful Names which Jesuits, Monks, and Friars, have vomited against Pro­testants: sometime Calvin and Luther died being drunk; sometime Theodorus Beza died a Papist; but the best of it was, Beza was then alive when this Calumny was published and printed, and had the opportunity to confute it; a Passage much like that in the Year 1621. when the Roman Missionaries gave out, that Dr. John King, Bishop of Lon­don, was upon his Death-bed reconciled to the Church of Rome by one Preston a Romish Priest; and that in his last Sickness he composed a Book call'd The Bishop of London' s Legacy; wherein he gave the Reasons of his Conversion, and exhorted all his Brethren to follow his Example: But not only the Book was found to be a Forgery, but Preston being examined before the Archbishop of Canterbury, openly confess'd, That he had never been at the Bishop's House, never [Page 336] spoken with him, nay never so much as seen him. After the same manner they gave out, that Bucer at his Death denied Christ; that Oecolampadius died sudden­ly, tho' he was sixteen days sick in his Bed. Sometimes they have had the Confidence to tell the World, that we Protestants teach that no God is to be worshipp'd; that a Man may break his Faith whenever he sees it for his Inte­rest; and that a Man must suit his Re­ligion to the Times, &c. Salmero pub­lickly taught, that the Lutherans look upon Fornication to be no Sin at all. A little before the Massacre of Paris, the Monks reported, that the Protestants met together to fill their Bellies with good cheer, and then put out the Candles, and went together promiscuously as brute Beasts. When the House in Black Friars in the Year 1623. Octob. 26. the House I mean where the Papists met to hear Mass and a Sermon, fell upon the People assem­bled there, and kill'd a hundred Persons, and among the rest, Drury the Priest, and their Preacher, it was given out, that the Puritans had saw'd in two the Beams and Timber of the House, and that this Fall came by their Treachery; and so the Powder-Plot, if it had succeed­ed, [Page 337] should have been laid upon the Non-Conformists. Bolseck's Life of Calvin, what is it, but a Collection of the great­est Calumnies, where the Lyes seem to keep pace with the Lines? And what horrid things have the Priests in some Popish Countries possessed their People with against the Reformation? b. e. That our Churches here in England are turned into Stables; that the People here are be­come barbarous; that they eat young Chil­dren, and are grown as black as Devils since the Lightnings of the Vatican have scorch'd us, i. e. since the Pope hath Excommunicated the Protestants: All which I mention to let you see, that there are too many and too sad Instan­ces of Men guilty of the Sin mention'd in the Text, viz. Reviling, and speak­ing Evil of Christians who sincerely be­lieve in Christ. But,

II. What can be the Motive to all this? What it is that makes Men so base and wicked?

1. A preposterous and unhappy Edu­cation. Where Men have been bred and born in a false Religion, they im­bibe great Prejudices against those that would inform and teach them better. Education rivets Errors into the Mind [Page 338] as well as Truths, and an Error being taken for a fundamental Truth, what­ever crosses it, is look'd upon as dange­rous and heretical, and therefore abo­minable; and unthinking Persons, ha­ving no convenient Means to satisfy themselves as to the Truth of the oppo­site Doctrine, they speak as they are taught, and talk bitterly against those that would undeceive them, according to the Idea's imprinted on their Mind by ill Men, and deluded Teachers. This was the Case of the Jews, who had been taught, that out of Galilee could arise nothing that was good, and that no Prophet could come out of Galilee, John I. 46. John VII. 52. And that was the Reason why they cast so many Re­proaches upon Christ, who was report­ed to be a Native of Galilee. The same may be said of the Opinion they had suck'd in with their Mother's Milk, That the Messiah was to be a Temporal Prince, and appear with outward Splen­dor; which being wanting in Jesus of Nazareth, they despised and reviled him.

2. Another Reason is, a blind Zeal, the effect of an unhappy Education. This blind Zeal appears chiefly in pas­sionate and cholerick Men, who being [Page 339] bred up in a false Religion, are not on­ly able to do, but do a world of Mis­chief, their Tongues being set on fire of Hell, with the Fool in the Proverbs, will throw about Swords, and Arrows, and Firebrands, and spit Flames against those who contradict their darling and per­haps profitable Principles. Thus it was in a great measure with St. Paul before his Passion was sanctified, and himself converted, his Zeal was blind and vio­lent, and that made him not only bla­spheme Christ and his Saints, but think it his Duty to do so; as himself confes­ses 1 Tim. I. 13.

3. Another, is Pride. A proud Man is naturally tempted to slandering and abusing those who do not please him. His Pride makes him undervalue the Person that opposes his Insolence; and that undervaluing provokes him to bit­ter Words and abusive Language. The Pharisees were monstrously proud, swel­led with a mighty Conceit of their Ho­liness and Strictness; and this was the Cause of the horrid Language they gave to the Saviour of Mankind, calling him Samaritan, a Devil, and an Impostor, and the People that follow'd him, Cursed, John VII. 49.

[Page 340] 4. A fourth Reason, is Malice and Envy, bitter Roots, which produce ve­ry bitter Fruit, even bitter Language: Malice is a Soil which evil Spirits do de­light in, and they dictate this hellish Rhetorick: Malice will make Faults where it finds none, and misinterpret harmless Actions as unpardonable Crimes: It turns accidental Reports into Verities; the shadow of a Sin into a real Crime; and idle Peoples Talk in­to Demonstration and Evidence. And in this Art the High Priest that sat Judg in Christ's Cause seem'd to be very well skill'd, who could spell Blasphemy out of Christ's Confession, That he was the Son of God, Matth. XXVI. 63.

5. Another Reason is, Want of a se­date, even, serious, and attentive Con­sideration of the Cause of such innocent Christians. From a precipitate Judg­ment a Man can expect little but incon­siderate Speeches and Expressions; and where Men do inspect a thing hastily, survey it only superficially, and will not take time to weigh the Circumstances of it, we need not wonder if they take the Cause by the wrong Handle; and when that appears dreadful to them, which upon a deliberate View would be [Page 341] found harmless, and tolerable, and very rational, rash Censures and ill Language will be the Effects and Consequences of it; as we see in the Proceedings of the Jews in St. Paul's Case, Acts XXII. 27, 28, 29. They had seen one Trophimus an Ephesian with him in the Streets; without any Examination of the matter, they suppose he must be his Companion in the Temple too; whereupon they raise a Cry, That he had brought Greeks into the Temple, and profaned that holy place.

More Reasons might here be drawn from Profit, and Interest, and worldly Advantages; from the Company Men keep, and from the high Places and Sta­tions they possess in the World, and the Figure they make in a Commonwealth, all which very often tempt them to re­vile those whom in their own Conscien­ces they think innocent: but what hath been said may serve for a Taste. But let's go on, and see

III. How that which is a Sin to one can be a Blessing to another. Reviling and speaking Evil falsly of good men being a great Sin, how this can make the Persons who are unjustly reviled, blessed?

[Page 342] 1. A very ill thing may be the Occa­sion of a very good one. It's true, a corrupt Tree cannot bring forth good Fruit, nor do Men look for Grapes from Thorns, nor for Olive-berries from a Bramble, nor for sweet Water from salt Springs; but tho' a bad Thing cannot be the proper efficient Cause of a good one, yet it may prove the Occasion of it, as we see Mens dissolute and disor­derly Actions are Occasions of very ex­cellent Laws. And as the Man whom History speaks of, his Enemy who struck him with an Intent to kill, broke the Im­posthume in his Body, which proved his Health and Recovery; so the Devil's accu­sing the Brethren before God day and night, is the Occasion of their steddy Protecti­on. After the same manner, from wic­ked Mens reviling Conscientious Christi­ans, God takes Occasion to reward them with Love and tender Mercies, turns those Revilings into Blessings; as Joseph's being sold into Egypt, and turned out of Potiphar's House with Infamy, and Dis­grace, and his Imprisonment, into Gran­deur and Royalty.

2. Not so much the Revilings of wicked Men make such Persons blessed, as their Innocence under those Revilings. [Page 343] God, that sees them wrongfully abused, and reproach'd, takes their part. An ordinary Judg is bound in Conscience to plead the Cause of him whom he knows to be unjustly arraign'd, much more the righteous Judge of the World may be sup­posed to take notice of the Innocence of his Servants whom Men unjustly calum­niate, and to take them into his Prote­ction. Shall not the Judg of the whole World judge righteous Judgment? saith the Patriarch, Gen. XVIII. 24. And this makes them blessed.

3. It's not these Revilings so much that makes them blessed, as their Beha­viour and Deportment under them, even their Patience, and Meekness, and Calm­ness, and committing themselves to him that judges righteously. Should he that is unjustly reviled render railing for railing, or reviling for reviling, in doing so, he would spoil his Blessedness; but bearing the Reproach of Christ, and esteeming it greater Riches than the Treasures of the World, without recriminating, this is it that makes him blessed, the rather, be­cause this is to be a Disciple of Christ Jesus, 1 Pet. II. 21, 22.

4. That which makes them blessed, is, the Cause for which they are reviled; [Page 344] and therefore it is said, for my sake. In our worldly Concerns, to be unjustly traduced, hath something of Blessedness in it, because we have the Testimony of our Conscience, that we have done what is lawful and right, much more when we are evil spoken of falsly for Christ's sake, because we adhere close to the Gospel of Christ, because we obey our Master's Will, and because we will not dishonour him by doing things which he hath forbid. This makes the Bles­sedness great, as the Person is for whom we suffer. So that tho' (as I said be­fore) these Revilings may occasion their Blessedness, yet the Particulars I have mention'd are properly the ministerial Causes that make them blessed, and consequently it's no Absurdity to say, That a thing which is a Sin to one is a Blessing to another, no more than we count it a Solecism to say, that what is one Man's Meat is another Man's Poi­son.

THE future Rewards which God hath promised to them that love him, are things we have often occasion to speak of, partly because the Holy Ghost is our Guide, partly we can never say too much of it, and partly because it is a thing which so nearly concerns us, that it requires our daily Thoughts and Contemplations: But as familiar as the Subject is, it is always useful. Christ having in all the preceding Beatitudes [Page 355] still shewn wherein the Blessedness of those vertuous Men whom he com­mends doth consist, he doth the like in this; for having in the foregoing Ver­ses pronounc'd those Persons blessed who are reviled, and evil spoken of for Righte­ousness sake, or for the Name of Christ, he declares in this the Nature of their Blessedness, Rejoyce, saith he, and be ex­ceeding glad, for great is your Reward in Heaven. And to encourage to a more chearful bearing of these unjust Re­proaches, he sets before them the Ex­ample of the Prophets of old, For so persecuted they, saith he, the Prophets that were before you; as if he had said, so they used them, so they dealt with them, so they calumniated them. This was the Custom of the World many hun­dred, a thousand, two thousand, three thousand Years agone, to speak all man­ner of evil of those excellent Men; so they call'd Moses a pragmatical Man, and Samuel an old Dotard, and Elijah a Trou­bler of Israel, and an Enemy to the Com­monwealth, and Elisha Bald pate, and Mi­caiah an impertinent Fellow, and Amos a Man ungentile and clownish; and so they dealt with Isaiah, whom after many Revilings they saw'd asunder; and so they [Page 356] used Jeremias, whom after a thousand Reproaches they stoned to Death. So persecuted they the Prophets that were before you.

And this will give me occasion to ob­serve to you,

I. That the great Rewards of Hea­ven are just matter of Joy and Gladness to pious Sufferers: Rejoyce and be exceed­ing glad, for great is your Reward in Hea­ven.

II. It's comfortable to suffer in good Company: For so persecuted they the Pro­phets of old.

1. The great Rewards of Heaven are just matter of Joy and Gladness to pi­ous Sufferers. If it were not so, Christ would never have encouraged those who are unjustly reviled for his Names sake to rejoyce and be exceeding glad for this Reason, because great is their Reward in Heaven. At once to prove and para­phrase upon this Subject;

1. The Question is not, Whether the Rewards of Heaven are matter of Joy and Gladness to those who are already actually possess'd of them, who have left this World, and exchanged this Life for a better, and as they have heard, see in the City of our God, and see no more [Page 357] darkly, as through a glass, but face to face. There is no Dispute among Christians, but that these Rewards are Joy and Gladness to such. What! Can they forbear rejoycing that lie at the Foun­tain, drink of the River of God, which is full of Water, even Water of Life? Can they be sorrowful, that have the Bridegroom always present with them, and are out of all Danger to be deprived of his Company? Can they be sad that are united to the bright increated Sun, which irradiates the vast Territories of Heaven, and are perpetually warmed into Strength and Vigor to praise and adore the Author, and Life, and Glory of their Being?

The Question is not concerning these, but such as are on this side Heaven, in this Land of the Living, in this Valley of Misery, and are afflicted, reviled, persecuted, abused, as if they were for­saken not only of Men, but of Heaven too. Whether the Rewards of Heaven, things invisible and unseen, out of their reach and sight, and for which they have nothing to shew but a few Lines in a Book call'd the Bible; whether such things as these can be just Cause of Joy and Gladness, and to Persons who are [Page 358] despicable and miserable, and perhaps made the off-scouring of all things. This is the Point I am to prove; and there­fore,

2. That these Rewards of Heaven, as much out of sight as they are, have been, and are matter of Joy and Glad­ness to wise, rational, and inquisitive Persons, is evident from what Experi­ence tells us; and when I was upon the Tenth Verse of this Chapter, I gave you very considerable Instances of it: nor is this Age so barren of Goodness, but that several excellent Christians do rejoyce and are exceeding glad at these Rewards, and are able to say with the Apostle, and the Believers of old, We rejoyce in the hope of the Glory of God, Rom. V. 2. So that the matter of fact is certain. All the Difficulty lies here, Whether these Rewards so much talk'd of, are Ground sufficient and solid e­nough to build such Joy and Gladness upon; for Men may delude themselves with Fancies, as we see People in Bed­lam do. But even this will soon be made out; for if a Man have sufficient ground to believe that there are such Rewards in Heaven, and that the Book call'd the Bible contains the Promises and Oracles [Page 359] of the Living God, and that God hath certainly promis'd such Rewards, and Rewards so great, so wonderful as that Book speaks of, to Persons duly quali­fied, then such a Man hath sufficient reason to rejoyce in the Hope and Expe­ctation of it. And that what the Bible saith of these Rewards, is the express Word and Promise of God, is evident from hence, because the several Writers of that Book, and particularly the As­sertors of these Rewards, whose Preva­rication and Aberration from the Truth could never be proved, do peremptorily affirm it: And that they affirm nothing but the Truth, the Miracles they wrought before whole Multitudes in Confirmation of what they say, and the Truth of which hath been convey'd and handed down from Age to Age, and sealed with a thousand and a thousand Deaths, do sufficiently demonstrate. And as true Miracles can be nothing but the Effects of an Omnipotent Power, so it is absurd to think, that God would lend or vouchsafe his Omnipotent Power to confirm a Lye. And we may as well question the Publick Acts and Edicts in such a King's Reign, who lived two or three hundred years ago, attested by pub­lick [Page 360] Authority, as the Records of these Miracles; for the former we have only the Testimony of a single Nation, for the other the Testimony of the whole Christian World, even that of Enemies, not to mention, that the natural Di­ctates of Reason, and the Light of Na­ture, speaks, though more darkly, to the same purpose: So that there is no room left for any rational Doubt that there are such Rewards, which may certainly be had, and consequently they are just matter of Gladness and Rejoy­cing. And yet,

3. We see that these Rewards do not cause this Joy in all, the generality re­joycing more in Temporal and Exter­nal, than Spiritual and Eternal Bles­sings: nor indeed do we find this Joy in all Persons who are in Distress; for the Sorrow they lie under, and their secret Fondness of these outward Enjoyments, we see, drown their Joy or Rejoycing in these Rewards: Tho' I know Heaven at such times is often talk'd of, yet it's evident it moves not; the Discourse, may be, amuses the Party, or for the present makes him attentive; but being over, like a Stone forced up into the Air, when that Force is withdrawn, it [Page 361] sinks to its Mother Earth again. We must suppose therefore, that he who can rejoyce in this Reward, I mean tru­ly rejoyce, must be a Person duly qua­lified; and that which qualifies a Man for it, is a lively Belief of it, a lively Representation of it to the Mind and Understanding, a firm Perswasion of the Certainty, and of our Right and Title to it, a very high Esteem of it, and an actual preferring it before the Sa­tisfactions of this present World: and accordingly we find that those who have been thus qualified, have rejoyced in these Rewards with joy unspeakable and full of glory; as we see 1 Pet. I. 8. But

4. Besides this, there are two Quali­fications more which very much pro­mote this Joy, or help towards it, and that's, 1. A blameless Life. 2. Suffering in the midst of that blameless Life.

1. A blameless Life. A Man that lives in Sin, or minds little but the World, or allows himself in any thing that's manifestly contrary to the Gospel, cannot possibly rejoyce in these Re­wards; as well may a Beggar rejoyce in such a Nobleman's Estate who is a meer Stranger to him, as a Person who is loth to submit to Christ's Yoke rejoyce in [Page 362] the hopes of these Rewards, which do not at all belong to him. Purity of Life hath the Promise of this Reward, and there­fore the pure Liver only is the Person that can justly rejoyce in it; especially,

2. If he suffers notwithstanding his blameless Life; for in this case, the Re­wards of Heaven he takes a View of, as­sure him, that the time will shortly come, when all this Troubles shall va­nish away like Smoak at the glorious Presence of God; that it will not be long before he shall be out of the reach of all slanderous and malicious Tongues; and that the greater his Sufferings are, the greater will his Glory, and Tri­umph, and Satisfaction be. His Suffer­ings fix his Thoughts upon this Re­ward, and move him to dwell upon it. The Bitterness of his Affliction gives that Reward a greater Sweetness, and is the same that makes him relish it the more: Hence comes this Joy; and the nobler the Cause is, in and for which he suffers, the greater is the Joy.

But 5. Though all this helps, yet the Holy Spirit of God must work with it, and work in and upon the Heart, and make the Impression of the future Re­ward so lively, that it shall cause Joy [Page 363] and Rejoycing: much depends upon the Spirits mingling those Rewards with the Thoughts of the Mind, where­by the Affections are affected, and rouz'd, and elevated into Joy and Rejoycing, and such Joy as shall carry the Soul a­bove her Sufferings, and make her con­tentedly want those Accommodations, and Conveniencies, and Advantages, that others do enjoy: For this Spirit, as it must assure us of our Right to that Reward, Rom. VIII. 16, 17. so it is from that Assurance that this Joy rises, which is the Reason why it is emphati­cally called Joy in the Holy Ghost, Rom. XIV. 17. And yet after all, it must be confessed, that good Company doth not a little contribute toward their Joy. Which leads me to the

Second Proposition; viz. It's comfor­table to suffer in good Company; so perse­cuted they the Prophets that were before you. That's the Comfort Christ gives here to Persons suffering, and bids them solace themselves with the Company of the antient Prophets. And this Propositi­on also I shall explain in these following Paragraphs.

1. Solitariness in Affliction aggravates Affliction; which is the Reason that Je­remy [Page 364] makes it an Ingredient of the great­ness of Jerusalem's Misery, Lam. I. 1. How doth the city sit solitary, which was full of people! how is she become as a wi­dow, that was great among the nations! she that was a princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! All the Hea­then Nations round about swam in Plen­ty, Prosperity crown'd their Labours, and Ease and Liberty was their Compa­nion: Jerusalem alone sigh'd under her Load, and groan'd under her Burthen, and wept while her Neighbours re­joyc'd and triumph'd in the Success of their Attempts and Enterprizes. Com­pany in Affliction is a kind of Balm which supplies the Spirit, and gives some Refreshment to a wounded Soul: it takes off from the greatness of the Grief, and makes the Burthen lighter. Solitariness looks strange, like a stink­ing Weed in a curious Flower-garden, and coming in the shape of that, which is unusual, it surprizes more, and conse­quently afflicts more; and that's the Reason, may be, why Men bear a com­mon Calamity, where many fare alike, better than they do a private, where they have no Partners in their Sorrows. And yet,

[Page 365] 2. It's hard to conceive how a Man can be solitary in Affliction, except by Solitariness we mean, that in the Parish or Street, or House, or Family we live in, there is none that is afflicted as we are. Set this aside, there can hardly any Affliction be named, but some or other in the World have been and are as great or greater Sufferers than we are; and in this sense a Man cannot want Com­pany in Affliction: But then, in this case, the Mind must call the Company in, and the Understanding represent their Sufferings to the Thoughts, and Meditation must make their Afflictions present; which being a thing generally neglected by Persons who suffer, they are very apt to sink into this Fancy, That none are miserable in the World as they are: as we see Jerusalem com­plained, Lam. I. 12. Behold and see whe­ther there be such a sorrow as my sorrow is, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his anger. And yet,

3. It is not suffering in every Com­pany that is comfortable: To suffer with Evil-doers, is a Grief rather than a Con­solation; and to be afflicted with Male­factors, is made an Ingredient of the Bitterness of our blessed Saviour's cup, [Page 366] Mark XV. Nor will Company in Hell be any Ease to the Sufferers, but rather increase their Torments, none being able to help the other. The Comfort arising from suffering in Company, is confined to this present World; and in this case, the Company must be such as a Man hath no reason to be ashamed of, and that must be the Company of truly pious Men, whether they be present or absent, whether they have lived lately, or a thousand or two thousand Years agone, whether they dwell in the same Town, or City, or Village we are of, or a hundred Miles off: for this Com­pany of good Men with whom we suffer are either as good as we are, or better than we.

1. If they be as good as we our selves are, the Reflexion is very natural. If this be the Lot and Portion of Persons under the same Circumstances I am un­der, then no strange thing happens to me, then God deals with me as he doth with his other Children. If I am not better than they, why should I expect more favourable Dealings at his hands? and yet these Dealings are favourable too: If Men as good as my self have look'd upon the Crosses that have befal­len [Page 367] them as Marks of God's Favour, why should not I look upon mine thro' the same Glass! How can it be said that I am as good as they, if I make not the same pious Constructions of these Pro­vidences! if I fall short of these rational Interpretations of God's Dispensations, I must needs fall short of their Good­ness. Or,

2. The good Men in whose Compa­ny I suffer are better than I; and then the Argument of Comfort will be stron­ger still. Have the Heroes of Religion suffered so much, and shall I, a puny Christian, complain? Have the great Champions of the Gospel endured as much or more than I, and shall a Chri­stian of an ordinary size find fault? Have such Men as St. Paul and the Holy Apo­stle's gone thro' firy Tryals, and shall I, a Disciple of those great Masters, trem­ble at the Fire? Have the Fathers, the strong Men in Grace, old Disciples, been scratch'd, and wounded with Briars and Thorns, and shall I a Babe look to tread on Carpets? Have the Generals, the Captains in Christ's Army, gone thro' a Sea of Adversity, and shall I, a common Soldier, shrink at the Waves? Have such Men as Samuel, Elijah, and Elisha, Men [Page 368] that could in a manner command Hea­ven by their Prayers, been reviled, tra­duced, reproach'd, and shall I, a Shrub, take it ill that I am call'd out of my Name? This is a very strong Argument of Comfort. So that you see, that the Comfort arising from suffering with o­ther good Men, lies partly in the Ease the Mind receives by their Society, and partly in that their Examples give us opportunity to make use of the same Motives to Patience which held them up.

1. In the Ease the Mind receives from the suffering Society. It gives a sort of Content which all the Physick in the World cannot give, especially if the suf­fering Company be present; for then the Sufferers being able to disburden their Grief into one anothers Bosom, it gives such Satisfaction as People who are ready to burst with Grief do find when a shower of Tears does give their Sorrow vent. This Ease is chiefly in the Mind, and if the Mind be easie, the whole Man receives Comfort; if that be easie, it is as much as if a Man did not suffer at all. It's our Minds and Thoughts that make us either happy or miserable. If a Man thinks himself hap­py [Page 369] in Misery, he is so; and if he thinks himself miserable in his Sufferings, he is so. It's our Thoughts, certainly, that make us uneasie in Adversity; and mu­sing at such times upon wrong Topicks and Arguments, puts all into disorder; whereas calling to mind such Reason­ings as are proper and suitable, allevi­ates our Grief, and makes our Minds ea­sie. And of this nature is the good So­ciety we suffer with: For,

2. This gives us opportunity to make use of the same Motives to Patience that those other good Men have used to bear up under their Crosses; and in all like­lihood they will have the same Effect upon us, and end in the same Consola­tion. The Primitive Believers look'd upon their Afflictions as Tryals of their Faith, and that gave them Ease; so must I: They had a regard to the End for which God did correct them, viz. to produce in them the peaceable fruits of Righteousness, and that taught them Contentedness; so must I: They en­couraged themselves to Patience with the Example of Christ, and that quiet­ed them; and so must I: They relied upon the Promises of God without wa­vering, and that revived them; so must [Page 370] I: They look'd upon their Troubles as short momentary things, and that made them lightsome; so must I: They thought their Afflictions necessary to make them breath after their heavenly Country, and that made them cheerful; so must I. So that if their way be fol­low'd, and our Fellow-sufferers be con­sider'd under these Notions, their Com­pany in suffering will certainly afford more than ordinary Consolations.

HAving consider'd the several Beati­tudes, or Blessednesses mention'd in the preceding Verses, and which are an Introduction to the admirable Discourse which follows in this Chapter; we proceed to the Characters Christ gives of his true Followers. Divers and vari­ous are the Names and Titles the Holy Ghost gives of Christ's Disciples, calling them sometimes Sheep, to put them in mind of the Obligation that lies upon [Page 379] them to be innocent, and meek, and pa­tient, and Enemies to Revenge; Some­times, Brethren, to shew how dearly, how tenderly, how affectionately they ought to love one another. Sometime new Creatures, because it is supposed they have put off the Old Man, and put on the New Man, created after God in righ­teousness and true holiness. Sometimes Babes, because of their imbibing the sin­cere Milk of the Word, that they may grow thereby. Sometime lively Stones, because they are built up a spiritual House, of which Christ is the Corner­stone, and in which he dwells by Faith. Sometime Priests, because of the spiri­tual Sacrifices of Prayer and Praise, and Righteousness, which they offer to God. Sometimes Kings, because their Province is to Conquer their Lusts and evil De­sires, and Worldly Affections. Some­times Virgins, because they keep them­selves undefiled, and unspotted from the World. Sometimes Free-men, because Christ hath made them free from the Dominion of Sin, and the Bondage of Iniquity, and themselves are and must be ambitious of that Liberty. And to come to the Words of the Text, there they are call'd Salt, even the Salt of the [Page 380] Earth, Ye are the Salt of the Earth; but if the Salt, &c.

For the understanding of which words, I shall enquire,

I. Upon what account Christians are, and ought to be the Salt of the Earth.

II. How this Salt comes to lose its Savour.

III. I shall examine the Consequences of this Corruption, and the Commina­tion added to it: It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be tro­den under foot of Men.

I. Upon what account Christians are and ought to be the Salt of the Earth. I proved in the beginning of these Me­ditations on Christ's Sermon, that the Disciples of Christ, to whom the follow­ing Rules and Commands are directed and enjoin'd, were not barely the Apo­stles, nor the Apostles consider'd only as Ministers of the Gospel, but all that have enter'd themselves into the Discipline of the Holy Jesus; and therefore the En­quiry here is very justly extended to all that call themselves Christians: And that none may wonder at Christ's saying, that they are the Salt of the Earth, as if all that have the name of his Disciples were actually so, either born so, or became [Page 381] so immediately upon their Profession. You must know, that this way of speak­ing expresses the Nature and Tendency of the Christian Religion, and shews, what those who are true Disciples are, and what those who would be so, ought to be; and the meaning is, If you are true followers of me, thus it is with you, and thus it will certainly be with you, even as it is with Salt; what Salt doth, you will do in a Spiritual sense, and in your Actions and Conversations you will imitate the Nature of that Mineral.

The dullest Papist imaginable, that hears or reads these words cannot ima­gine, or from hence conclude a Tran­substantiation, as if therefore the Disci­ples of Christ were Transubstantiated into Salt, because it is said, Ye are the Salt of the Earth; and this may justly raise our Wonder, they should be so blind as to fancy a Transubstantiation intended in the words, This is my Body, when the ab­surdities flowing from the Sacramental Bread being changed into the Natural Body of Christ, are every whit as great as the other would be, if we should be­lieve, that every true Disciple of Christ is Transubstantiated into natural Salt. There is nothing more common in Scripture, [Page 382] than by the Verb is, and am, and art, and are, to express a likeness, or repre­sentation, or resemblance, or a memo­rial, and that must necessarily be the meaning here, viz. If you be my Dis­ciples indeed, you do, and will resemble the Salt of the Earth, and in what things this resemblance consists, the following Particulars will inform you.

1. Salt is a very useful thing, one of the most beneficial things in the World; It is as it were the Balsom of Nature, which preserves all things; Than Salt and the Sun nothing is more profitable, said the Philosopher; Pliny. so a true Christian is a very useful Creature: When Men of this Profession first appeared in the World, the rude Pagans, a great many of them, were loath to believe that they were of any use to Mankind; and though they usually called them Christians, which is as much as useful, yet this was by way of Contempt; and in saying so, they meant the contrary.

Hence it was, that when a Land-Flood came, or an Inundation rose, or a Plague broke forth, or the Corn was blasted, or any publick Calamity befell them, the fault was presently laid upon the Christians: Notwithstanding all this, [Page 383] they were, and all true Christians at this Day are very useful Persons, for their Nature and Temper, to teach, to in­struct, to comfort, and to edifie their Neighbours; and as heretofore God did, so still he doth very often, for the good Christians sake, (who are Inhabitants there) spare a Place, Town, City, Na­tion, and Country; an Emblem where­of God gave in the Case of Sodom, when he professed his readiness to spare the City, if but ten righteous Men could be found in it, Gen. xviii. 32. And to this purpose he told St. Paul in the Ship, wherein he sailed, God hath given thee all them that Sail with thee, i. e. For thy sake they shall be saved from Drowning: And if Men observ'd Providence more, they would see and admire some very strange Instances of this nature, the safety that is vouchsafed to wicked Men, being clearly upon the account of the Pious Christians that live near them, or about them.

2. Salt is the Symbol of Wisdom. So we read Colos. iv. 6. Let your Speech be always with Grace, season'd with Salt, i. e. with Wisdom. To this purpose is the Saying of the Old Comick, Si quis haberet salem, &c. If a Man had that Salt which [Page 384] yon have, i, e. that Wisdom; and that of Catullus, ‘Nulla in tam magno corpore mica sali [...].’ There is not a Grain of Salt in that vast Body, i. e. of Wisdom: And Livy for this reason calls Greece, where the wisest Men then lived, The Salt of the Gentiles, or of the Heathen World. A true Christian is a truly Wise Man; a Fool indeed in the Eyes of the World, but Wise toward God, and unto Salva­tion; so Wise as to walk circumspectly, and redeem the time, Ephes. V. 15. He walks in Wisdom toward them that are with­out, Col. IV. 5. and he orders his affairs with discretion, Psal. CXIV. 5. And for this reason he is said to be a wise and faithful Servant, who keeps himself ready, and doth the work his Master hath set him, that when the Master of the House returns, he may commend, and reward him, Matth. XXIV. 45.

3. In Salt there is a mixture of Fire and Water. It's hot, like Fire; and yet cools like Water. These two different qua­lities you'll find in a true Christian, not that he is inconstant, and unstable in his ways, sometimes hot, then cold [Page 385] again, sometime all Fire, and then all Ice again; sometime very serious, then vain and foolish again; but by his Zeal he warms others, and by his meek and peaceable Temper, he lays and cools the Feverish Heats of others: Of the for­mer St. Paul speaks, 2 Cor. IX. 2. Of the other, we have an instance in the Apostles, who when Contentions arose among the Grecians about the relief of Widows, by their moderation composed them, Acts VI. 1, 2, 3. and when a Fire of Dispute was kindled about Circum­cision, by their Prudence and peaceable Disposition quieted the Tumults that rose about that Controversy. Acts XV. 23, 24.

4. Salt renders Things savoury, and cre­ates an Appetite. In this also we see the Temper of a true Christian, who by his pious Discourses and gracious Speeches, creates many times an Appetite after Things Spiritual and Divine, in those who hear him, and whose Hearts God touches, that they attend to the things which are spoken; as we read of Lydia, Acts XVI. 14. Nor is this all, but by his Pious and self-denying Behaviour he renders many of those Severities he pra­ctiseth, Amiable and Charming in the [Page 386] Eyes that observe and take notice of them, as is evident from the Constancy and Fortitude which appeared in the Primitive Believers in their Sufferings: Virtues which look'd so lovely, that Thousands were enamour'd with them, and follow'd their example. And what are the Acts of the Holy Apostles, but Comments upon this Truth? The Cou­rage and Heroick Patience of those ex­cellent Men, were transcribed into the Lives of those who beheld them.

5. Salt raises Thirst; so a Pious Chri­stian by his delight in God, and the sa­tisfaction he takes and finds in the ways of Religion, raises in others a hunger and thirst after Righteousness. Paul and Silas sing Praises to God at Midnight, and in a Dungeon too: The Jaylor awa­ken'd with that as well as with the Earthquake, feels a strange Commotion in his Soul, and cries out, Sirs what must I do to be saved? Acts XVI. 30.

6. The thing chiefly intended by this similitude is this: Salt preserves from pu­trefaction; for it consumes the sangui­neous Humours of Meat, or extracts them; whereby it is preserv'd from stinking. So a true Christian, partly by his blameless Life, partly by Entreaties, [Page 387] partly by fraternal Correption, and part­ly by friendly Admonitions, preserves, and is to preserve others from running into Sin and Errour. All that I have said before concenters in this, and this is it which is expected from us, if Christianity be more than a Name, even as much as in us lies to prevent the corruption of others, whether Relatives or Strangers we converse with, whether Friends or Foes; As no Religion in the World presses Love and Charity to our Neighbours, more than that we profess, so thit hearty endeavour to preserve others from sin, and offending God, is the natural result of this Charity. There is no Man but grants, that to preserve a Neighbour from Drowning, or doing himself a Mis­chief, is a Duty incumbent on all that have any thing of Humane Compassion in them; and if the concerns of the Soul are greatest, as we ordinarily con­fess they are, it will follow, that to pre­serve Men from wounding and undoing their own Souls, must be absolutely ne­cessary. Religion exalts Nature, and the kindnesses which the Law written upon our Hearts requires of us toward the Bo­dies of our Neighbours, Religion bids us exercise to their Souls, which are the no­bler [Page 388] substances. Religion, as it makes us concerned for our own Souls, so it raises a desire to do good to the Souls of others. Till a Man comes to be con­cerned about spiritual Affairs, he is a Stranger to Religion: As things unseen are the proper Object of the Soul, so to be truly concerned about things unseen, is the proper Character of a Religious Man. And as Religion, in imitation of its Author is communicative, so the Soul of another Man comes to be very dear to us, if our care and solicitude be once seriously employ'd about our own; and this is the ground of the great Duty pressed here, viz. preserving others from Sin and Corruption; to which purpose, our Saviour tells Peter with respect to his resurrection from his Apostacy, when thou art converted, strengthen thy Brethren, Luke XXII. 32. And St. Paul in larger terms, Exhort one another daily, taking heed lest any of you be harden'd through the deceitfulness of sin, Heb. III. 13. This being the true import of the similitude used here; Let us

II. Consider how this Salt comes to lose its Savour. And this happens,

1. When a Man after he comes to know his Duty, either by reading, or hearing the [Page 389] Word preached in season and out of sea­son, acts contrary to his Profession, and enticed, or overcome by the Cares, Riches, and Pleasures of this Life, grows sensless of the weighty Concerns of his own and other Mens Souls, and will­fully and obstinately (maugre all the Checks of his Conscience to the contra­ry) continues so. We all know, that when Salt hath lost its Picquancy, and Sharpness, and Quickness, it is gone, and it can be call'd Salt no more. Just so it is with a Man that owns himself a Christian, if taken with these outward things that please the Flesh, and pamper the Body, and gratifie his Carnal Inte­rest, he boldly neglects exerting his Zeal and Fervour for his own and other Mens Souls, which his Religion presses and urges him to; he ceases to be a Christian; for a Christian is a Person active, that acts according to the Rules of his Pro­fession. Where it is so, that the love of the World doth so blind and intoxicate him, that he looks neither after his own Soul, nor the Soul of his Neighbour, and feels no love to either; or if he feels something of it, choaks it again with the Bryars and Thorns of this Life, he loses the Spirit of Religion; and then [Page 390] as the Body without the Soul is dead, so his Christianity without this Love, becomes dead also. Indeed we call the dead, Men still; but that's only a Name: Properly speaking, they are no Men; and so it is here, he that is a stranger to this Love is no Christian; for this Love is as much of the Essence of Christianity, as sharpness, or quickness is to Salt.

2. This Salt loses his Savour: When a Man hath been for some time solicitous about his own Soul, and the spiritual Concerns of his Neighbours, and grows weary of it; or for Carnal Reasons quits those hearty Endeavours of pre­serving others from Sin and Corruption; This the Holy Ghost calls departing from the Holy Commandment delivered to us, 2 Pet. II. 21. Though losing in Scrip­ture imports sometimes, neglecting that which is a Mans greatest interest to mind, yet for the most part, loss supposes ha­ving; and that we once had that which is now gone from us; and this is an ag­gravation of the fault, and consequently of the Sin mentioned in the Text: And he loses his Savour as a Christian, i. e. loses his Christianity and Sense of God with a witness, that begins in the Spirit, and ends in the Flesh; runs well for a time, and [Page 391] suffers himself to be stopt in his Race, hath endeavour'd to do good to the Souls of others, and taken care that his Life and Actions might be edifying to those who conversed with him; but having laid his hand to the Plough, looks back, with Lot's Wife, who became a Pillar of Salt, and of Disgrace and Infamy too. Salt is used in Scripture for permanen­cy, that's the reason of the expression Numb. XVIII. 19. A Covenant of Salt, i. e. a lasting Covenant; and a Christian that is to be Salt in one sense, i. e. pre­serve others as much as he can from sin­ning, must be Salt in the other sense too, i. e. continue patiently in well-doing; if he doth not, he loses his Savour, and Reli­gion; and then if the Salt hath lost its Savour, wherewith shall it be salted?

Whether Salt can lose its Savour, I leave to Naturalists to enquire and de­termine; if it cannot, the possibility of it may, however safely be supposed, for the instruction, of the ignorant as St. Paul supposes an Angels Preaching a new Doctrin, If an Angel from Heaven should Preach another Gospel to you than what we have Preach'd unto you, let him be ac­curs'd; not that its possible an Angel can do so, but such a supposition makes the [Page 392] Argument in hand more powerful and convincing. And having considered how the Salt, or the Persons represented by Salt, lose their Savour, lets go on and consider

III. The nature of the Commination here spoken of, which is, That the Salt after that cannot recover its taste, but is cast forth and troden under foot of Men. To explain this,

1. As Salt when it hath lost its Sharp­ness is render'd incapable of recovering that Sharpness, there being nothing in Nature that can give it the taste of Salt again; so where People will not be per­swaded either by good Examples, or by other means to endeavour the preserva­tion of others from Sin, God very often hardens them, and takes away from them a Heart and Will to do it for the future. When Men neglect their known Duty, or delay applying themselves to it, though they have many Motions of God's Spirit to that purpose, and hope to do it this time and that time, and yet still find Impediments, there it is just with God to put them in an incapacity of doing it at all; and to take from them that Grace and Power he gave them to preserve others from Corruption, or to [Page 393] bring upon them an impossibility of re­covering that Grace and Power, as much as Salt cannot be Salted again, or recover its Sharpness when it hath once lost its Acrimony. God cannot endure to see Men play with his Gifts. He makes anotherguess account of his Gospel he vouchsafes to Men, than the generality do, and those who give up their Names to him, and will not by the strongest Arguments be prevail'd with to act ac­cording to their Profession, shall be in danger of being so infatuated, that they shall not be salted again with the Salt of Grace and Favour, and influences of his Spirit; for this is to bury our Talents in the Earth, or to lay them up in a Napkin, and from such shall be taken away even that which they have, Matth. XXV. 29.

2. As Salt having lost its savour is thereby rendered incapable of recover­ing its sharpness, and is thence forth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and troden under foot of Men; so it shall be with such unprofitable Servants, that would not take any care or pains to Convert their Neighbours from the Errors of their ways, God will cast them out, and tread them under foot, as base and unjust Stewards of his Gifts, as Lyars and per­jured [Page 394] Persons, that made nothing of their Baptismal Covenant; as Contem­ners and Despisers of his Gospel, as un­grateful Wretches to the best of Masters, who enlighten'd and assisted them with his Spirit, gave them Opportunities re­veal'd his Will to them, directed them how to order their Steps, yet would not be moved by all he hath done for them, nor by their own Interest, nor by their Neighbours Necessities and Miseries to make any Attempts to rescue them from the Devil's Snare; and this as it is an Argument of Cruelty and Unmercifulness, so it follows, that they shall have Judgment without Mercy, that have shewn no Mercy, Jam. II. 13.

IT cannot be denied, but that the Ti­tles Christ gives his Followers are magnificent and glorious; but then it is not to flatter, or to puff them up, but to make them know their Duty. As he brought the best Religion with him into the World, so he would have his Followers distinguish themselves from the rest of Mankind by something ex­traordinary. Those that improve, or rather abuse the lofty Names which are given to Christians, into self-conceited­ness and contempt of others, mistake their Masters design, and pervert the hopes of his Commendations. The Ti­tles do no farther belong to them than they make them good, nor doth the [Page 403] Name entitle them to real Happiness, while that which is signified by it is wanting. It will serve indeed to aggra­vate their future Misery, but cannot contribute any thing to their Salvation. God is not taken with outward shews, and they may stand knocking at Heaven-gate long enough before the Door is open'd, that have nothing to plead for their entring, but that they were Abra­ham's Children. Here on Earth Men may be admitted into the Royal Pre­sence, because of their Titles of Dukes, Earls, Marquesses, &c. but in the Court above Men have no respect shewn them, but such as express'd the Elegies and Epithets given them by their Actions. This as it is to be observ'd with respect to the Title Christ gives to his Followers in the preceding Verse, where he calls them the Salt of the Earth, so it is par­ticularly to be applied to that which follows in the Text, where Christ re­flecting on the Sun and Moon, and Stars, and all the Lamps of Heaven, and con­sidering how beneficial they are to this nether World, thinks fit to describe and represent the Manners of his Disciples by that Simile, Ye are the Light of the World.

[Page 404] And that you may see what this Title imports, I shall

I. Examine the Qualities of Light; and then it will easily appear what Du­ties are implied.

II. Whether this addition, Of the World, Ye are the Light of the World, hath any thing of Emphasis or Weight in it, or imports something more than the bare Title; and of these in order.

I. What the qualities of Light are; and here to insist only upon such qualities, which fall under the Cognisance of the meanest Capacity.

1. Shining is the great quality of Light, so a Christian is to shine in Virtues and good Works; and what these Vir­tues and good Works are, you may see Gal. V. 22, 23. 2 Pet. I. 5, 6, 7. Rom. XII. 8, 9. and following. Man is na­turally in a State of darkness; For ye were sometime darkness, but now are ye Light in the Lord, saith St. Paul, Eph. V. 8. Not but that unregenerate Men may be very quick and sagacious in Worldly concerns, and things relating to their gain and profit, and thriving in the World; nay, and may be very great Scholars, Philosophers, and speculative Men; in which sense they may be said [Page 405] to have a quick natural Light, but with respect to real and substantial goodness, they are in a state of darkness; and though I doubt not, but that in their Baptism they receive some degrees of spiritual Light; for which reason they are said to be enlightned, Heb. VI. 5. yet that Light as they grow up, we see very often drown'd by the Vanities and ill Examples of the World, so that they sink into darkness again, and sometimes greater darkness than those, who never heard of the Gospel labour under. But when the Light of God's Grace, and the Spirit of the Holy Jesus irradiates their Minds, that Light which shines within even in their Understandings, doth and will certainly break forth, it being im­possible to be shut up or imprison'd, and shine without upon their Lives; and that Shine is nothing but good Works: And the Sun does not gild the Earth more, than good Works the outward Man. These adorn the Christian, and are the Splendour of his Life; and they transfigure him in a manner, as Christ was transfigured on Mount Tabor, of whom we read Luke IX. 29. That his raiment became white and glistering. Good Works are a true Christians Raiment, [Page 406] and they are glistering too. They are so many Stars that spangle that Firma­ment; and though the Kings Daughter be all glorious within, Psal. XLV. 13. yet that Glory within is of such force, that it will shine without; and in this sense he is truly changed from Glory to Glory, even as by the Spirit of our God, as it is said 2 Cor. III. 18.

2. Light is of an illuminating Nature; it enlightens Houses, Rooms, Caves and Dens, and an infinite variety of things▪ so a Christian must make it his business to enlighten other Men, those especi­ally who walk in the dark, are Children of the Night, and live in sin; for that is called darkness in Scripture. In our Converses, Dealings, Business, Employ­ments, we meet very ordinarily with Persons ignorant; and not only igno­rant, but wicked; for Ignorance is the Mother of Impiety, and there is no doubt, abundance of Men do things odious to God, and pernicious and destructive to their own Souls, because they know no better. We whom God hath enlight­ned into greater Knowledge and Purity, give but a bad Evidence of our being so, if we do not as occasion and oppor­tunity serves, endeavour to enlighten [Page 407] them into a better sense of things. Bash­fulness in this case is sinful; and where Nature is backward to the work, it must be forced by Motives and Argu­ments, into Courage to discharge this Duty of our Christian Calling, to teach them better Principles. The Light we have must be communicative; if it be not it is painted and counterfeit, not na­tural and genuine; not is this being a busie body in other Mens matters and things, which do not concern us. Our Neigh­bours Souls are precious things; in the saving of which we must not be negli­gent; but resolutely imitate the exam­ple of Aquila and Priscilla, who finding that Apollos, though an eloquent Man, yet was not throughly instructed in the Mystery of the Gospel, they took him unto them, and expounded to him the way of God more perfectly, Acts XVIII. 26.

3. Light is warming. The light of the Sun is so. So must a Christian not only heat and chafe the Principles of Light God hath bestow'd upon him, into spiri­tual Fervour; but by that Fervour en­deavour to warm others into the same Zeal and Earnestness. This must be one great end of his Fervour, to attempt to make others like him. Lukewarmness is [Page 408] the great Distemper, that the generali­ty of Christians who enjoy Ease and Plenty are sick of. To Cure others of that Malady is part of our Imployment; and this we cannot do, except our Love to God be strong and vehement; where it is so, and that we love him with all our Might, we may hope that others, who see our ardent Desires, will write Copies after us. This Fervour as it rises upon Motives drawn from what God hath done for us, and the particular instances of his miraculous goodness to us; so if those Motives be suggested, and repre­sented to our Neighbours, they may by the Blessing of God, have the same effect upon them; at least, we have this sa­tisfaction, That we have done what be­came us as Lights. It was no doubt from the mighty Zeal that appeared in St. Paul, that the Galatians were warmed into that Fervour, that if it had been possible, they would have pluckt out their own Eyes, and given them unto him, Gal. IV. 15.

4. Light is comfortable: It comforts not only the Spirit of Man, but all other sensitive and vegetable Creatures; so must a Christian comfort others that are in any trouble, with that comfort where­with [Page 409] himself hath been comforted of God, 2 Cor. I. 4. This is pure Religion, to vi­sit the Fatherless and Widows in their Affli­ction, Jam. I. 27. And when he saith Visit, he means such Visits as are attend­ed with suitable Consolations; and this we shall be the better able to do, if we call to mind the Comforts we our selves have felt, and the Means whereby we have come to feel them. This is my com­fort in my affliction; for thy Word hath quickened me, Psal. CXIX. 50. The Word of God affords the richest Comforts; to which purpose the Apostle, Rom. XV. 4. That we through Patience and Comfort of the Scriptures, might have Hope; so that acquainting our selves with the Word of God, containing so many excellent Examples, and precious Promises, and making use of that Word in our own Troubles, we shall be able to Administer Comfort to others also. A Christian is a Person that imitates Christ; not in his Miracles, not in Raising the Dead, not in Curing the Lepers, not in Opening the Eyes of the Blind; but in Charita­ble Actions: And we all know what his Language was to Persons that were in Distress; Be of good comfort, saith he to the Woman who was troubled with a [Page 410] Bloody Issue, Matth. IX. 22. so he said to others; and this was suitable to the Prophecies which went before of him, particularly that Isa. LXI. 2. where the Prophet speaking of him, expresly tells us, That his business would be to pro­claim the acceptable year; and to Comfort those that Mourn.

5. Light is Cleansing; for it clears the Air of Fogs and Mists. So a Christian, as much as in him lies, is to cleanse his Neighbour from that Filthiness which sticks to him: And as this is to be done by gentle Reproofs, mingled with Pity and Compassion; so if those Reproofs light upon a Person of Ingenuity, it will be taken as a Kindness, and prove an excellent Oyl; which as it doth not break the Head, so it very often breaks the Heart; not into Despair, but Repen­tance; not to Destruction, but Edifica­tion, Psal. CXLI. 5.

This Cleansing the Apostle aim'd at, when he said, Eph. V. 11. Have no Fel­lowship with the unfruitful Works of Dark­ness, but rather Reproach them: And he calls the Sins of others, Works of Dark­ness, with Allusion to the Light of Reproof; which he thought would be the most likely way to dispel them: And a Light [Page 411] it is, which very often shines into the Heart, and inlightens the inward Man, and dissipates the wrong Notions Men had of Religion, and which makes them come to themselves again; as it is said Luke XV. 17.

6. Light is directing; so it is to the Traveller that hath lost his way in the Night. So a Christian seeing his Neigh­bour go astray, what should he do, but direct him into the good way? He is bound to do so much to his Neighbours Ass or Ox by virtue of that Law of Equity Deut. XXII. 1. and what! not use the same Civility to his Neighbours Soul? Doth God take care of Oxen, and not of the Souls of Men? But here it is to be noted, that this Duty of directing others, hath respect not only to errone­ous Opinions in Matters of Religion, but to erroneous Practices too. If the Errour in Opinion be an Errour of no great Consequence, it's not worth while to take pains to rectifie his Mistake; but the erroneous Practices are more dangerous. And this was the Duty intended in the preceding Chara­cter, Ye are the Salt of the Earth; and it is reinforced in this of Light, to shew it is not a thing indifferent. The Com­mand [Page 412] being doubled, and reiterated, dis­covers the great necessity, and the migh­ty importance of this Act of Charity, and God's peremptory Will. And as our own good Example is one part of this Direction, so our Advice and Counsel is another; to which purpose St. Paul, Gal. VI. 1, 2. Brethren, if any Man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are Spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of Meekness; considering thy self, lest thou also be tempt­ed: Bear ye one anothers burden, and so fulfil the Law of Christ.

Having thus explain'd the qualities of Light, and shewn what Duties are required in the similitude, let us

II. Enquire, whether this addition in the Text, of the World, Ye are the Light of the World, makes the Command more Emphatical; and the Duty of being Beneficial to others in spiritual Concerns more Extensive. And to this I must an­swer in the Affirmative; for as the Light of the World is the Sun, so we know

1. That the Sun Shines at all Seasons, Spring and Fall, Winter and Summer. So a Christians good Works and Virtues, are to Shine not only in Adversity, but Prosperity too; not only in the Winter of Affliction, but also in the Summer of [Page 413] Ease and Plenty; both in the Spring of his Years, and in the Fall of his Age. His doing Good must not be confined to a certain Time, or to a certain Stage of his Life, such as Sickness, or a Death-bed; but discover it self in the various Conditions God hath placed him in. His Goodness must not Shine by fits. Being inconstant, it betrays its weak Founda­tion; and when either a ruffling Wind can blow it away, or the Sun melt it as Wax, its a sign it did not fall from Hea­ven.

2. The Sun shines in all Places, in all Parts of the Hemisphere; so a Christians Goodness must shine and display its Glory in all Companies, and Places too. He must not with Peter, Eat with the Gentiles, and withdraw himself when those of the Circumcision come in; must not only maintain his strict Obedience to the Gospel, when he is in Company with mean, little, and inconsiderable People; but even in Caesar's Family; not only when it is safe to do it, but also when he is in danger of losing by it ei­ther his Credit, or Place, or Estate; not only in private, but in publick too; not only in Gethsemane, but in the High Priests Palace too.

[Page 414] 3. The Sun, the Light of the World, shines upon all sorts of Men and Things, good and bad; Dunghills as well as Gardens and Vineyards, participate of his Shine and Splendour. So a Christian is to bestow his pains in illuminating and warming others, not only on the tractable, and such as are easily wrought upon, but even on the stubborn and ob­stinate; and not only on those who have already made some progress in good­ness, but on such too who are very bad, and wholly destitute of the Life of God, and Plough the barren Rock as well as the kinder Soil. This makes his Good­ness truly Catholick and Universal, and in that resembles the Light of the World, or the Sun exactly, which gives Life to the Wormwood as well as to the Rose, to the Thorn as well as to the Lilly, and influences both the Thistle and the La­vender.

IN these Words, our Saviour prose­cutes his Design in the preceding Characters, he had given of his Disci­ples and Followers. He had called them the Salt of the Earth, and the Light of the World, and these Characters he illu­strates and inlarges upon, not only in the Text, but in the two Verses follow­ing. He had told them, that their Lives must be Exemplary, their Conversation Edifying, and their Actions such, as might serve both to reform and enlight­en others; to this he adds another simile, ye are, saith he, and God expects, and intends, you should be like a City set up­on a Hill; now, a City set upon a Hill, cannot be hid, i. e. Men will take notice [Page 427] of you, as they do of a City seated upon a Hill; if your Lives are not according to the rules of my Gospel, your Christiani­ty, and Discipleship will soon be seen through, and you will quickly betray your Hypocrisy: Your business is, to own and profess the Truth in the Face of the Sun, and by your conformity to my holy Laws, to let the World see, that you are of the same Mind and Spi­rit, and Temper, that I am of: Cities are conspicuous, all Men that pass by them, look upon them; especially, if they be set on a Hill, so the Eyes of the World are, and will be upon you; and it will soon appear, what manner of Spirit you are of. Let it be therefore your care, so to behave your selves, that those who look upon you, and observe your deportment, may be convinc'd, that you do not profess one thing and practise another.

This is the natural Sense and Design of our Saviour's Expression here, as will appear to any one that shall examine the Drift and Scope of Christ in this Ser­mon on the Mount, and the antecedent, and consequent Passages. But because the Church of Rome lays a great stress upon this Place, and makes use of it to [Page 428] prove the perpetual visibility of their Church, I must necessarily discover to you the Vanity of that pretence, before I draw any Inferences from this Passage, to in­struct you, how to govern your Lives and Actions according to the import of this Similitude; not that I am fond of controversy, or love to insult over a dy­ing Religion; but the Subject lies in my way, and to balk it, would look like betraying the noble Cause, we have e­spoused, built upon the eternal Pillars of Truth and Reason.

The pretence therefore is this: ‘It must be granted say they, that the Church of Christ must have been visible in all Ages; for it is a City set upon a Hill, which cannot be hid; and there is no reason it should, for how should Heathens and Infidels be converted to the Faith of Christ, if the Church which must teach them that Faith, were not visible. If it had lain hid and obscure in the World for several Ages, confined to Caves and Dens, to Corners and Deserts, as you Prote­stants pretend, Christ must have miss'd of his Design, which was by the conspicuousness of his Church to draw Unbelievers into the bosom of it. [Page 429] Now it's evident, that the Church of Rome hath been visible in all Ages, conspicuous and splendid for many Centuries together, without any in­terruption; yours never began to ap­pear, till Luther and Calvin, and Hen­ry VIII. made it visible; therefore the Church of Rome must be the true Church, and yours the false, because it hath not been visible in all Ages.’

This is the Pretence, and now let us briefly consider the Weakness and Ab­surdity of it.

1. Whatever may be said for the per­petual visibility of Christ's Church, it is plain, that from this Text it cannot be proved; for Christ doth not speak here of his Followers considered as a Church, or a body of Men united under their Pastors in the Profession of the Doctrin of the Gospel; and in the Use and Ad­ministration of the Sacraments of the New Testament; but of every individual Disciple considered as a Christian, and a follower of Christ to teach him how he ought to live and behave himself in the World to the Edification of others. And this is evident, from the Virtues of Meekness, and Humility and Patience, and Peaceableness, &c. press'd in the [Page 430] foregoing Verses, which are things ap­pertaining to every private Christian; and this saying, you are a City set on a Hill, which cannot be hid, is spoken to the very same Persons, of whom the a­foresaid Virtues are required. So that these Words relate to a Christian Duty; not to the State, or Condition, or Splen­dour, or visibility of Christ's Church. But,

2. Suppose they do relate to Christ's Church, considered as a Church, they must necessarily relate to Christ's universal Church; for here is no particular Church mention'd. Christ's universal Church of all Ages, Nations, Countrys may he called a City, as it is in other places sti­led a Body; for as a City is made up of various Buldings, and as a Body consists of many Members, so Christ's universal Church consists of many particular Churches which make up that great City, and that vast Body, and if these. Words relate to Christ's universal Church, how can they be applied to a particular, and especially to the Church of Rome more then to the Church of Ethiopia, or Greece, or Ar­menia, and how absurd must be the Consequence. The universal Church of Christ, is a City set upon a Hill, which cannot be hid; therefore the Church of [Page 431] Rome is that Church, or therefore the Church of Rome is that City? It's true, they call themselves the Vniversal or Catholick Church, so did the Donatists of old; but what doth calling them­selves so signify when it is evident, and clear as the Sun at Noon, that the Church of Rome is but a particular Church? There were Churches in the World before the Church of Rome was heard of, and there are at this Day, and have been all along Churches which may Vye with the Church of Rome for Antiquity and Dura­tion; and though they may not be able to boast of the same outward Splendor, Plenty and Prosperity, yet what is out­ward Splendor and Prosperity to a Chri­stian Church, when in Scripture it is made the Character of wicked Men, more then of those who will live godly in Christ Jesus?

3. We do not deny, that the Church of Christ hath been visible; so far from it, that we believe it to have been visible in all Ages; indeed some of our Divines talk of a visible and invisible Church, but when they do so, they consider the Church, as we consider a Man, who consists of two Parts, a Body and a Soul, the Body is visible, the Soul invisible, so [Page 432] it is with the Church, the outward So­ciety, in which true and sincere Belie­vers live, is the Body, and that's visible, the sincere Believers are the Soul of that Body, and they are, and must be invisi­ble being known only to God, the searcher of Hearts; but the outward Society, which profess the Faith of Christ, and which is the Body wherein that Soul lives, is, and hath been al­ways visible; and that which makes it so, is the Profession of the Fundamental Principles of Christianity, contain'd in the Apostles Creed, and understood in that Sense, that the Primitive Church understood them in; this makes and constitutes a Christian Church, and there is none but must grant that these Fun­damental Principles of Christianity have been visible in all Ages, even in times of the greatest Persecution, even in the midst of Arianism, and consequently the Church of Christ hath been visible in all Ages, and shall continue so to the end of the World; and though in abun­dance of Churches for some Ages toge­ther these Fundamental Principles of Christianity have been mingled with many accidental Errours, Superstitions and Idolatries; yet still so far as these [Page 433] Fundamental Principles have been re­tained in the respective Churches, so far the Church of Christ hath been al­ways visible, as a sound Egg swiming in a filthy, nasty, stinking Pool of Wa­ter, is visible notwithstanding the Filth, which surrounds it, and therefore as sickly and corrupt as the Church might be in some Ages, the essentials of Chri­stianity being every where retain'd, Hea­thens and Infidels had still Opportunity and Motives to joyn themselves to it, for in these Principles and the Professi­on of them it was visible. So that,

4. To that common impertinent Que­ry, Where was your Church before Luther, Calvin, or Henry VIII? The answer is this. It was all the Christian World over, even in all the Christian Societies that were either in Ethiopia, or Egypt, or Africa, or Asia, or Greece, or Constanti­nople, or Alexandria, or Antioch, or in Muscovy, and even in the Church of Rome her self; for since we profess the same Faith, or the same Fundamental Principles of Christianity, which were profess'd in all these Churches all along, our Church must necessarily have been in all those Churches where those Fun­damental Principles were Retain'd and [Page 434] Professed; so that it is in vain to urge that our Church was not visible two hundred Years ago; for it's enough that the universal Church of Christ is al­ways visible, I mean the Church of Christ dispers'd through the four Quar­ters of the World. This will be always some where, and God will never suffer it to decay, according to his Promise, Matth. XVI. that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. As for particular Churches, they may either become in­visible by being destroy'd, or become visible whenever they appear in the World, and hold the same Catholick Faith that the universal Church holds; but from thence it follows not, that ei­ther these particular Churches which have been destroy'd, or which rise at such a time, be it sooner or later, are no true Churches: As to particular Churches which decay, it's evident that the Churches of Africa, of Carthage, Hippo, Numidia, where St. Cyprian, St. Austin, St. Fulgentius, and other emi­nent Bishops govern'd, are totally de­stroy'd, but no Man will therefore say that they were no true Churches, when they were in being; and as to Churches which are of no long standing, their be­ing [Page 435] of a late Plantation or Erection doth not make them false Churches, else the Church of Rome her self would be in an ill case; for the Churches they pretend to have erected in China, and in other Eastern parts of the World, are not much above a Hundred years Standing, yet they will not think them false Churches, because their Plantation is late and they cannot boast of many Hundred years continuance. So that the Faith a Church holds must be the great Standart to judge by both of the Truth and Visibility of it; where the a­foresaid Fundamental Principles of Chri­anity are retain'd, professed, Preacht and Maintain'd there the Church is visible, and consequently the Church of Christ hath been visible in all Ages; for in one part of the World or other, those Fun­damental Principles have been Profess'd and Retained from the beginning of Christianity unto this Day, and if a Church appear'd but yesterday, it hold­ing these Fundamental Principles, the Pillars and Foundations of Truth, it would be a true Church and Visible, and consequently hath been visible in those Churches where the same Truths have been Profess'd; and had the Church of [Page 436] England been raised but Forty or Fifty years agon, that would not make her either a false or invisible Church; be­cause she retains the Principles on which Christianity is founded. But,

5. Lest any Person should infer from this Discourse, that since the Church of Rome hath been visible for many Ages, as well as other Churches; and hath retain'd, and doth retain to this Day the Fundamental Principles of Christi­anity, there is no reason to separate our selves from her, or to leave her Com­munion: I answer, were it possible in that Church to eat only of the wholsome Fruit she hath kept and preserv'd, with­out Participating of the Poison she hath added to it, or mingled with it, some­thing might be pleaded for continuing in that Communion: But that's impossi­ble now, as the Case stands. Of Child­ren that are Baptiz'd in that Church, and Baptiz'd only into the Faith deliver'd in the Apostles Creed, and die before they come to be of Age, we cannot but entertain a fa­vourable Opinion: But for the adult, and Persons who are of years of Discretion that joyn with that Church, It is evi­dent, they cannot be Members of that Church, except they swallow the Rats­bane [Page 437] as well as the Milk, the unwhol­some as well as the wholsome Food; especially since the Confession of Pope Pius IV. and the Councel of Trent, which hath made the monstrous Sacri­fice of the Mass, Transubstantiation, In­vocation of Saints, worshiping of Ima­ges, Purgatory, Indulgences, seven Sa­craments, the Belief of human Tradi­tions, &c. of the same necessity to Salva­tion that the Incarnation of the Son of God is. They do indeed retain the Foundation of Christianity; but then they have added also Fundamental Er­rours which every Christian who be­lieves God more then Men, is bound to abhor; and since it is impossible at once to abhor them, and to continue in Communion with that Church, it must necessarily follow, that Separating from it is a Duty; and a Duty, as much as our life is worth. But,

6. Though with respect to the Fun­damental Principles of Christianity, we grant the Church of Rome hath been vi­sible for many Ages, as well as other Churches, yet in regard of those additi­onal Articles I mention'd just now, if the Doctrin makes a Church visible, we must with very great Assurance affirm, that [Page 438] the Church of Rome hath not been vi­sible in all Ages; for it will appear to any impartial Considerer, that the pre­sent Doctrins which they have added to the old Foundation were neither taught in the primitive Church for the first three Hundred years after Christ, nor even in the Church of Rome her self a Thousand years ago. Not in the pri­mitive Church; for in all the genuine Writers of the first three Hundred years, we find not a Word of Invocation of Saints, of Transubstantiation, of Worship­ing of Images, of religious Veneration of Relicks, or of the Supremacy of the Church of Rome, much less of her In­fallibility. Nay, for a Thousand years after Christ the Church of Rome never had the Boldness to call her self Infallible, not till Hildebrand's time, or Pope Gre­gory VII. by the Confession of some Romanists, a Monster of Pride and Vice: He was the first that gave himself and his Church that pompous and ridiculous Title.

And as I said, the present Doctrins of the Church of Rome added to the Creed, and made Articles of Faith, were not believed, much less look'd upon as ne­cessary Articles, even in the Church of [Page 439] Rome her self, a Thousand years ago, I mean in the time of Pope Gregory the First; the Doctrins which are visible in that Church now were not visible then; for in that Gregory's time the Sacrament was administred to the Laity in both kinds; Worshiping of Images was coun­ted abominable; the Title of Vniversal Bishop was thought Antichristian; pri­vate Masses, where the Priest only re­ceives and communicates were reputed unlawful; the Books of the Maccabees were not taken into the Canon; Purga­tory was not yet lick'd into a perfect Shape, much less into an Article of Faith; No Masses were yet said, for the Dead to deliver Souls from that Fire; Auri­cular confession, and extreme Vnction, were not yet made Sacraments, &c. And therefore the Church of Rome could not possibly be visible in all Ages, since her Doctrins she now Professes were not profess'd, no not by her own Members in all Ages.