more than ordinary Title to the Happiness of the Beatific Vifion. This will include two things,

I. THAT the Pure in Heart fhall have a clearer and more inlarged Sight of God.

II. THAT they fhall take a greater Delight in what they do fee of him.

AND Firft, They fhall have a clearer and more inlarged Sight of God. This will depend upon Two Suppofitions.

I. UPON the peculiar Aptnefs of this Difpofition for the Vision of God.

II. UPON the Will of God to afford a greater and clearer Manifeftation of himself to a Soul fo difpofed.

THAT Purity of Heart has a peculiar Aptnefs in order to the Vifion of God, we need not doubt, if we confider that the only Reafon why we fee not God, now, is the Groffness of this Tabernacle wherein the Soul is incafed. This is that Glafs through which we now fee fo darkly, and which makes us do fo, 1 Cor. This is that black Skreen that parts 13. 12. the Material from the Intelligible World. The more abstract therefore we are from the Body, and from the Bodily Life, the more fit we shall be both to behold, and to endure the Rays of the Divine Light. We find that even now the purer and finer our Blood and Spirits are, the freer

freer and clearer are our Thoughts. The more bright and tranfparent this Glafs is, the more the Ideal Light will dart in upon our Souls. And the fame will hold in proportion hereafter. The purer the Soul is, the purer will all its Fa culties and Operations be; the lefs it will retain of corporeal Gufts and Relishes, the more recollected and undivided will be its: Powers; for Unity of Thought follows Unity of Defire; and the fewer things a Man defires, the fewer will be his Thoughts, and confequently the more ftrong and vigorous upon the Object where they fix. To which we may add, that the purer the Soul is, the purer will also be her Refurrection Body, which is of great moment to the Vifion of God, as well as to other Spiritual Operations. For we must then fee through a Glass as well as now; only the Glass will be clearer, according to the different Purity of the Soul, which even in this Life gives a particular Brightness of Air to the Countenance, and makes the Face to fhine with an unimitable Luftre. Purity of Heart therefore even upon this fingle account has a peculiar Aptness in order to the Vifion of God. But to this may be added, Secondly, the Will of God to afford a greater and clearer Manifeftation of himfelf to a Soul fo difpofed. For 'tis highly rational to believe, that God who is fo great a Lover, will also be a liberal Rewarder of inward Purity; and that he who delights to dwell in pure Hearts now, will reveal himself in a very

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plentiful measure to fuch hereafter. So that both from the Aptness of the Difpofition and from the Will of God we may conclude, That the Pure in Heart fhall have a larger Share of the Beatific Vision.

NOR fhall they only fee more of God, but, Secondly, take a greater Delight in what they do fee of him. And this is the principal Ingre dient of their Happiness: For 'tis not the meer having, but the delighting in a thing that makes a Man happy. And this is the Condition of Pure Souls. The fame Purity which procures them a more inlarged Sight of God, will also make them to delight in the Vifion of him, fo that they fhall Taste as well as See how good God is, Pfal. 34. For the purer the Soul is, the liker it is to God who is Effential Purity; and the more it resembles God, the more it must needs love and delight in him.

LIKENESS is the greatest Indearment of Love, and the most natural Foundation of Delight and Complacency. We fee this in all the Orders of Being, and in all the Degrees of Life. In the Sympathetic Affociations of Vegetables, in the Voluntary Confortings of Animals, and in the chofen Friendships of Men. But most of all may this be seen in God himself. What is it but the molt perfect Likenefs and Conformity of Effences, Underftandings and Wills that renders the Sacred Perfons of the myfterious and adorable Trinity fo infinitely lovely and agreeable to each other! This was that which made the Fa

ther

ther fay of the Son, Heb. 1.3. This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleafed, because he saw there the Brightness of his Glory, and the express Image of his Perfon. And upon this is founded that mutual Delight which the other Sacred Perfons enjoy from each other. That therefore which makes the Perfons of the Holy Trinity delight in one another, must needs make the pure Soul delight in the Holy Trinity. A pure Soul cannot but delight in a pure God, and the purer fhe is, the more fhe will love and delight in him. Purity of Heart does even here Anticipate, much more then will it hereafter increase the Joys of Heaven.

IT remains therefore, that having this excellent Hope, we study to purifie our felves even as God is pure, and fo endeavour to resemble and transcribe the Divine Perfections here, that we may contemplate them with the greater Complacency and Delight hereafter. To which purpose, let us now and always pray in the Words of our Holy and Devout Church,

O God, make clean our Hearts within us, And take not thy Holy Spirit from us. Amen.

DISCOURSE the Seventh.

MATTH. V. Ver. ix.

Bleffed are the Peace-makers, for they shall be call'd the Children of God.

T

HE Words very well become the Mouth of him that fpake them, who was himself the greatest Peace-maker in the World. He made Peace in Heaven by the Blood of his Cross, and endeavoured to promote it on Earth. He first reconciled God to Man, and then tried to reconcile Men to one another. He chofe to be born in the moft quiet and peaceful State of the Roman Empire, when Auguftus in token of an Univerfal Peace had fhut up the Mystical Gates of Janus his Temple. And when he came into the World his Proclamation by the Angels was Peace; and when he was to leave the World, the fame was his Legacy, John.14. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. The Order of his whole Life was a conftant Compliance with the Peace of the State, whereof he gave Two fignal Inftances, in Paying Tribute when not obliged, and in Forbidding Refiftance of the Officer that feized him; and his laft Prayer was for the Peace and Unity of the Church. And now, fince by this great Love and Study of Peace he fhewed

himfelf