The cleanness, amongst the works of the flesh. works of the flesh, fays he, are manifeft, which are thefe, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lafciviousnefs, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, ftrife, feditions, berefies, envyings, murder, drunkenness, revellings, and fuch like. True christian purity, therefore, is concern'd to purge out all these footy and ill-natur'd qualities which defile the mind, and like a fecret poifon, fwell it to an unnatural bulk, and tend to as certain (tho' a flower) ruin. For the proud in heart are an abomination to the Lord; God fets himself to refift the proud; and when the Almighty contends, he will certainly overcome at last. HAVING given you thus a full description of the perfons bleffed, the pure in heart, by the feveral particulars which fuch a purity reftrains, and stands in oppofition to; I muft conclude the first general head with this caution, that we are to take the character in its full extent and comprehenfion, and not in any one article feparate from the reft. The pure in heart, therefore, is the fincere and honeft man, who has devoted his best affections and his worship to the one true God, ferves him in the way of modefty and obedience, pays him adoration both with his mind and body; is really good and virtuous, as well as feems to be fo, and has refpect to all the commandments of God; is faithful in all his depofitions; true to his truft and to his promises; fincere in his friendships, and in all his converfation; and honeft in his dealings; indulges himfelf in no impurity of action, word, or thought; in no intemperance or excefs; in no covetous defires, no greediness of gain, no vile affection to his money; no pride, ambition, or oftentation. He must be all this, to conftitute him one of those * Gal. v. 19, 20, 21, Prov. xvi. 5. James iv. 6. K 4 purę pure in heart, to whom the bleffing (next to be confidered) appertains, for * without holiness no man fball fee the Lord. And now, II. SECONDLY, We are to enquire into the nature of that bleffing, they shall fee God; and this shall be done in as few words as poffible. (1.) IT may be obferved in Scripture language, that words fignifying any corporeal fenfe, as tafting, feeing, feeling, and the like, when God is reprefented as the object of fuch fenfes, are frequently put for knowing, enjoying, or being affected with fome attribute of his. As in the Pfalmift, to tafte and fee that the Lord is good; which fignifies no more than, Oh perceive and be affected with the goodness of God. So St. Peter also uses the phrafe; if fo be, ye have tafted that the Lord is gracious, have understood and found by experience that he is fo. And St. Paul in his defence at Athens, That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him, i. e. underftand and know him. This being apply'd to the prefent expreffion of feeing God, it may properly fignify thus much, That the pure in heart thall have rich communications of the grace and bleffing of God in this life; fhall enjoy a great meafure of his favour and love, and comfortable fense of it; fhall be bleffed with a clearer perception, and an higher relish than ordinary, of the divine excellencies, and know as much of the divine nature as can be communicated, known, and underftood by us in the prefent ftate of things: And all this as a pledge or feal, a foretafte of what we fhall know and enjoy more perfectly in the world to come; which is the ftate referred to in my fecond obfervation. *Heb. xii. 14. Acts xvii. 27. Pfal. xxxiv. 8. 1 Pet. ii. 3. (2.) THAT (2.) THAT though God is a Spirit, invifible to human eyes, as they are now qualify'd, there is a beatifick vifion of him to be enjoy'd in heaven; where our bodies being at the refurrection fpiritualiz'd, (as St. Paul has taught us, it is fown a natural body, it is raised a fpiritual body) fublimed into the difpofitions and qualities of a spirit, and fo the faculties of it more pure, and more intelligent, and capable of perceiving more refined objects, we thall fee God as he is, and be for ever happy in the bleffed fight of him. The eye fhall then fee after the manner of a fpirit, being part of a fpiritual body; and if the angels, which are fpirits, have an immediate and perceptive vifion of God, why may not the human nature, when it becomes fo fpiritualized? How indeed to defcribe that vifion, as yet we know not; for St. John, in the place above-cited, tells us, It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know only in general, that we shall fee him as he is. It will be fomething proportionable to our then more refined and excellent ftate; there will be that emanation or communication of the divine presence in the state of glory, which fhall be a real and lafting fatisfaction to the faculties of a glorified body. And it is obfervable that St. John applies it to the very cafe we are now upon; for having fpoke of this beatifick vifion of God, his next words are, . And every man that hath this hope in him, [viz. of fecing God in glory,] doth purify himself even as he is pure. The pure in heart, therefore, fhall fee God, in the manner above defcrib'd; and this I take to be the most proper meaning of the words in this Beatitude. Those pure and holy perfons, whofe temper and courfe of life in this world has fo well * I Cor. xv. 44. † John iii. 2. .. 1 John iii. 3. Matth. xviii. 10. qualify'd qualify'd them for a better, fhall be received into that most pure and excellent state of glory, into which there fhall in no wife enter any thing that defileth, nor any one that worketh abomination, or maketh a lie. They fhall there be admitted to that more glorious fight of God, than it was poffible they could be while the vail of dull mortality was upon them; for now we fee through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Think, Chriftian, upon the happiness of this; think how you are pleas'd with the fight and converfation of an intimate friend, efpecially after a long and tedious abfence, when at beft you could only converse with him by letters; and think how joyfully you behold the face of a reconciled enemy; and then confider what it will be for you to be admitted into the presence and the bright reflexions of that countenance which alone can speak peace and folid comfort to you. Think of the honour and privilege of it too, in being called up to ferve the King of glory, the fupreme and universal Sovereign of heaven and earth, in his own court, and near his perfon, where you may for ever contemplate, at the nearcft view, his infinite majefty, power, wisdom and goodness. Think of the peculiar agreeableness of this reward to that purity which it is defigned to recompense. Thou shalt be received into heaven, that most pure and perfect ftate, and fee and converfe with God, the moft pure and perfect object, that original ef fential purity, which thou haft here endeavoured (though with great imperfection) to imitate, and thalt then rejoice in to all eternity. And having raifed thy affections by fuch thoughts, adore and bless the mercy of thy Saviour, who has entail'd this bleffing upon the pure in beart, that they shall fee God. *Rev. zxi. 27. † Cor. xiii. 12. CHAP, CHAP. VII. Of PEACE. MATTH. V. 9. Bleffed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God. T HIS in order is the feventh of the Beatitudes, which we will confider in the fame method we have the former. I. THE character of the perfons here defcribed, the peace-makers. II. THE reward affigned unto them, they shall be called the children of God. I. IN our confideration of the perfons here bleffed, the peace-makers, it will be neceffary to premife fomething in general, with refpect to the latitude or fignification of the word, before we reckon up the particulars wherein this excellent and diffufive character exerts it felf. 'Eglwoods, is the word made use of in the text; and it may fignify either (1.) a reconciler and composer of differences as a third perfon, a promoter of peace and good agreement amongst others: And this is the fenfe to |