249.

SERMON X.

ON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN PURITY OF HEART, AND SEEING GOD.

Matthew v. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.

"OUT of the heart are the issues of life;" and on the state of the heart it must chiefly depend, whether the course of life shall be calm and joyous, or tempestuous and wretched. Hence the first aim of our Lord's teaching, and of all the moral discipline which he prescribes, is either to keep the heart pure, or to restore its purity where it has been corrupted. He was well aware, that when the fountain of desire is polluted, the stream which issues from it must be turbid and noxious. It is vain to look for virtuous practice, where no pains are bestowed to implant and cherish virtuous affections. Our Lord, therefore, commences his public ministry, by pointing out the indissoluble

dissoluble union between internal dispositions, and the happiness or misery which is their natural result. To purity of heart he annexes the highest blessing, the most enviable privilege, that can be conferred on a rational being: Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God."

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This is not one of those general promises, which would be equally suited to any other virtuous endowment. On the contrary, there is a necessary connection between the quality and its recompense; and, what I propose, at present, after having inquired what purity of heart implies, is to consider this connection, with a practical reference to its important

consequences.

The heart, in common, as well as in Scripture language, is regarded as the seat of feeling, good or bad, in which all human activity originates, and on the regulation of which all human virtue depends. Now when the Scriptures speak of purifying the heart, the intention is not merely, that it should be delivered from the contamination of those animal propensities, in the indulgence

of

of which we assimilate ourselves to the beasts that perish, but from all those base desires and malignant passions, which lead, in their habitual tendency, to the contraction of moral guilt.

The heart that harbours pride, or covetousness, or envy, or vengeance, though it may never have known the power of the grosser appetites, is not therefore entitled to the praise of being pure. On the contrary, it is soiled with the very worst feelings that can infest the human nature,-feelings directly opposed to the divine spirit of Christianity, and which render it utterly impossible, that those in whose bosoms they are cherished, should see God in our Saviour's sense. He who would realize the promise of the text, must accustom himself to contemplate purity in its great original; to rise in devout aspirations to the Holy of Holies: to draw thence elevated affections, and spiritual joys; and to look down with habitual contempt upon every pleasure, that might contaminate the better feelings, or interfere with the nobler purposes of the soul.

It is the glory of gospel morality, that it strikes at the very root of moral evil, by directing us thus to purge its source, in extirpating the baser propensities, and cherishing the finer emotions of our nature; and he who truly desires to be virtuous and happy, must labour this essential point with unceasing perseverance. He must bend his attention to the state of his natural affections; he must search the recesses of the heart, with a view to detect that sin which easily besets him; and when the discovery is made, he must give it no quarter, but offer it as a victim at the shrine of duty, even if the sacrifice were as painful, as the cutting off of a right hand, or the plucking out of a right eye.

The great hindrance to purity, in most characters, is not so much any grosser vice, avowedly indulged, as a concealed mixture of evil, which we suffer to incorporate itself with our better qualities,-a leaven which works almost imperceptibly, till it poisons our very virtues. The desire of reputation, for instance, which, in itself, is laudable, and acts as an encouragement to generous deeds, is

permitted

permitted to degenerate gradually into pride and vanity, and thus to soil even that benevolence, which, when it proceeds from pure motives, is, next to piety, the distinguishing glory of man. Hence the importance of ascertaining the purity of the heart, by endeavouring to detect that alloy, which is so apt to mingle with and to deteriorate the genuine gold. Hence we ought seriously to inquire into the motives upon which we act, as well as into our actions themselves; to examine, whether we are upright throughout, making no compromise between duty and inclination, but following the same course, when there is no eye to see, as when the eyes of the whole world are upon us. It is the principle which

The

determines the character of the action. man, therefore, who wishes to be approved of God, must look to the nature and quality of the principle. If, amidst the consciousness of much frailty, and many aberrations from the way of wisdom, we can appeal to the searcher of hearts, for the general rectitude of our views; if we feel confident, that the habitual bent of our minds is to love and practise

that