fent the Neceffity and Happiness of this Difpofition of Soul; and then, II. Suggest some of the most probable Means, that may be conducive to our attaining it.

I. The best of the Heathen Writers did not always refolve the Goodness of moral Duties into a true Principle: They argued, indeed, from the Convenience, the Utility, the Beauty, and Credit of it, but they feldom derived its Origin from the Spring-Head, or discovered, that all its regular, its proper and vital Motions proceeded from the Heart. Nay, the Jews themselves feemed, in a great Measure, to be ignorant of this Doctrine; and their Ignorance herein was the Ground of a common Error among them, that Concupifcence, actual Concupifcence, had not formally the Nature of Sin; and provided they performed the exterior Act, commanded by the Law of Mofes, they were lefs follicitous what became of the inward Difpofitions of the Mind. But our bleffed Saviour has raised human Virtue to its proper Height, and his improving Expofitions of the Mofaic Law have taught and inftructed us, wherein the Holinefs of a Chriftian muft confift. Ye have beard, that it has been faid by them of old Time, Thou shalt not commit Adultery; but I fay unto you, that whofoever looketh upon a Woman, to luft after her, bath committed Adultery with her already in his Heart. By lufting, however, here, as we faid in another Place, muft not be understood the bare natural Appetite of Concupifcence, which, as fuch, is indifferent; but the irregular Determination of it, always attended with the Confent of the Will; which Confent may either relate to the Defire itself, or to the Acting of it: If to the A, then the Man is, in all moral Accounts, a compleat Adulterer, and will be fo esteemed by God, who, as he fees, fo he judges by the Heart, and will not think a Man more in

nocent,

nocent, only for wanting an Opportunity of committing what he intended. But if the Confent be only to the Defire, then, though the Man be not a compleat Adulterer, yet he may be truly faid, in the Stile of the Pfalmift, to be a Partaker with the Adulterer, to have entered within fome Degrees of Unchastity, and to have tranfgreffed against that Chriftian Purity, which forbids all Confent, not only to the compleat Acts, but alfo to the first Motions of Sin.

And indeed, the very Genius and Design of the Christian Religion, is, to destroy Corruption, efpecially that, which is in the World through Luft; to teach us, to crucify our Affections, and inordinate Defires; and to wash and fanctify us in the Name of the Lord Jefus, and by the Spirit of our God: For this is the Will of God, fays the Apoftle, even your Sanctification; that ye fhould abstain from Fornication; that every one of you should know how to poffefs his Veffel in Sanctification and Honour; for God hath not called us unto Uncleanness, but unto Holiness. And as he has thus called us, fo he hath given us Reasons, entirely new, and fuch as the World never knew before, to engage our Practice of this Duty: For know ye not, fays the fame Apostle, that your Bodies are the Members of Chrift? Know ye not, that they are the Temples of the Holy Ghoft, which is in you, and which ye have of God? Know ye not, that ye are not your own, but are bought with a Price; therefore glorify God in your Body, and in your Spirit, which is God's? Our Bodies are not our own to use, or to abuse at Pleasure, because our Saviour has actually purchased them to himself, by his Death and Sufferings for their Redemption. They are the Members of Chrift, who, having thought fit to honour the whole human Nature, Body as well as Soul, by his appearing in it, has taken us into fo near a Relation to him, as ought not to be abafed to Filthinefs and Pollution:

3

Pollution: And lastly, they are the Temples of the Holy Ghoft, dwelling in them, to direct and influence our Minds, and therefore fhould not be employed in any Thing unworthy his Prefence, or repugnant to his Purity.

And if the Spirit of God is to dwell and abide in our Minds, there is an abfolute Neceffity for their Sanctification For this Reason, though all Men may, at fome Time or other, be Partakers of the common and ordinary Motions of the Spirit, yet none but very good Men can be faid to be the Temples of his Refidence; which feems to be intimated to us, in that remarkable Paffage of the Revelation: Behold I ftand at the Door, and knock ;' if any Man hear my Voice, and open the Door, I will come in to him, and fup with him: For by ftanding at the Door, and knocking, is meant common and preventing Grace; and this indeed is used to all, without any previous Qualifications; but he does not come in and fup, he does not take up his Refidence, and become a familiar Gueft, till his Voice be beard, and the Door opened, i. e. till the Man has well attended to, and complied with, thofe antecedent Motions and Suggestions.

Good Reason therefore had our gracious Saviour to pronounce a Blessing upon the Pure in Spirit, and to recommend this amiable Difpofition of Mind, under no less a Confideration, than that they shall fee God. They see him in his Word, how good and reasonable all his Precepts are, how precious his Promifes, and how juft his Threatenings. They fee him in his Ordinances, what Profit, what Advantage he intends by them, how he defigns them for Channels to convey his Grace, and Spirit, and Influences to their Soul. They fee him in his Works, how wonderful and powerful he is, with what rare Art and Contrivance he hath founded the Earth upon nothing, and spread out the Heavens like a

Curtain.

Gurtain. They fee him in his Providence, how righteous, and holy, and regular he is, in managing the Affairs, and adjusting the great Revolutions of the World. They fee him in his Mercies, how gracious and condefcenfive he is, how vigilant in his Care, and how bountiful in his Provifion for them. They fee him in their Afflictions, how wife and kind he is in fending them, and what Love, and Benefit, and Edification he defigns by them: They fee him, in fhort, in the Knowledge and Contemplation of his Divine Nature and Perfections here; and, when their own Nature is spiritualised, fhall fee him more clearly and perfectly hereafter.

That inward and spiritual Purity has a peculiar Aptnefs, in order to the Vifion of God, we need not doubt, if we confider, that the only Reason, why we fee not God now, is the Groffnefs of this Tabernacle, wherein the Soul is incafed. This is that Skreen, which parts the material from the intelligible World; and therefore the more abstractwe are from the Body, and from the bodily Life, the more fit we fhall 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 and clearer are our Thoughts; the brighter and more transparent this Glass is, the more the ideal Light will dart in upon our Souls: And in like Manner hereafter, the purer the Soul is, the purer will all its Faculties and Operations be; the less it retains of corporeal Gufts and Relishes, the more recollected and undivided will its Powers be, and, confequently, more strong and vigorous upon the Object where they fix. Nor will the Soul itself only be prepared for the blissful Vi fion, but convey a Fitness likewise to its fpiritual Body: For, though we muft fee through a Glass then, as well as now, yet will the Glafs be clearer, E

accord

according to the different Purity of the Soul, which, as we may observe even in this Life, gives a particular Brightness of Air to the Countenance, and makes the Face to fhine with an inimitable Luftre.: Nor can we fuppofe, but that God, who is fo great a Lover, will also be a liberal Rewarder of inward Purity, and, as he delights to dwell with Souls of this Complexion now, will reveal himself more plentifully, and make larger Communications of his Prefence, and Emanations of his Goodness to them bereafter.

Who then shall afcend unto the Hill of the Lord, fays the Royal Pfalmift, and who shall ftand up in bis holy Place? Even be that hath clean Hands, and a pure Heart: A pure Heart is indeed the indifpenfable Condition of everlasting Happiness; for without Holiness none fball fee the Lord; and, confidering the close and neceffary Connexion there is between Purity of Heart and Purity of Life, it may not improperly be faid, that it is the only Condition requifite. For, if our Heart be pure, our. Hands will be clean too, and if our Heart be with God, and all our Actions, our whole Service, tho' otherwise very imperfect, will be graciously accepted, and rewarded by him.

II. How then shall we acquire to ourselves this neceffary, and fo beneficial a Virtue? And what Endeavours fhall we ufe, in order to cleanse our Hearts, and purify our Minds 1. The firft Thing we are to do is, to attain right Notions of God, and a strong Conviction of his Omniscience, that be fearcheth all Hearts, and understandeth our Thoughts afar off; that he compaffeth our Thoughts, and our lying down, and is acquainted with all our Ways: And, as he fees our Hearts, and is of purer Eyes, than to behold Vanity and Iniquity, fo will he never dwell in that Breaft, where depraved Appetites and vicious Imaginations have

taken