2. From the foregoing explanations we can deduce the ethical and religious signification of the word fiearf. (1) As the heart is the home of the personal life, the workshop where all personal appropriation and elabora- tion of spiritual tilings have their seat, it follows that the moral and religious development of man — in fact, his whole moral personality, is also centred in it. Only that which has entered the heart constitutes a possession, hav- ing a moral wortli, while only that ^vhich comes from the heart is a moral jiroduct. From the nature and contents of the heart, by a law of natural connection — similar to tliat which exists between the tree and its fruits (Matt. xii, 33 sq.) — results the individual's course of hfe as a whole; and from them all his personal acts derive their character and moral signification. Hence Ik Kapciag is applied to whatever is of a real moral nature in contra- distinction from mere outward appearance (Rom. vi, 17 ; comp. IMatt. xv, 8 ; 1 Tim. i, 5). Even in sjieaking of God we find it said, in order to express the distinction between what is essential to his nature and the appearance as perceived by man, "He doth not lab's u-dlinr/b/ afflict" (Lam. iii, 33). That the divine judgment on man wiU be directed by what he is, not by what he may appear to be, is described as a looking upon his heart (1 Sam. xvi, 7 ; Jer. XX, 12) ; a knowing or trying of the heart (1 Kings
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viii, 39 ; Luke xvi, 15 ; Prov. xvii, 3 ; Psa. vii, 10 ; xvii, 3 ; Jer. xi, 20). Therefore also man is designated ac- cording to his heart in all that relates to liabitual moral qualities; thus we read of a wise heart (1 Kings v, 12; Prov. X. 8, etc.), a pure heart (Psa. xli, 12 ; Matt, v, 8 ; 1 Tim. i, 5; 2 Tim. ii, 22), an upright and righteous heart (Gen. XX, 5, 6; Psa.xi,2; Lxxviii,72; ci, 2), a sin- gle heart (Eph. v, 5 ; Col. iii,22), a pious and good heart (Luke viii, 15), a lowly heart (Matt, xi, 29), etc. In aU these places it would be difficiUt to introduce \l3?,3 or
(2) Wc must also obser\'e that the original divine rule of conduct for man was implanted in his heart, and there- fore the heart is the seat of tlie avvtiSriaiQ, or conscience, which has a mission to proclaim that rule (Rom. ii, 15). All subsequent divine revelations were also directed to the heart (Deut. vi, 6) ; so the law demands that God should be loved with the whole heart, and then, as though by radiation from this centre, with the whole soul (comp. Deut. xi, 18 ; Psa. cxix, 11, etc.). The teaching of wis- dom also enters the heart, and from thence spreads its healing and vivify mg influence through the whole organ- ism (Prov. iv, 21-23). The prophetic consolations must speak to the heart (Isa. xl, 2), in contradistinction from such consolations as do not reach the bottom of human natiu-e ; thus also, in INIatt. xiii, 9 ; Luke viii, 15, we find the heart described as the gromad on which the seed of the divine "Word is to be sowed. That which becomes assimilated to the heart constitutes the Bijcravpog r/jc icapciag (Matt, xii, 35). This, however, may not only be dyaBug, but also Trovj/pof ; for the human heart is not only a recipient of divine principles of life, but also of evil.
(3) In opposition to the superficial doctrine which jnakcs man in regard to morals an indifferent being. Scrip- ture presents to us the doctrine of the natiu-al wicked- ness of the human heart, the SP "i^li (Gen. viii, 21), or, more completel}', ^21)^ D? Plisdnp (vi, 5; compare 1 Chron. xxviii,9), and considers sin as having penetrated the centre of life, from whence it contaminates its whole course, "llow can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak- eth" (Matt, xii, 34; comp. Eccles. viii, 11 ; Psa. Ixxiii, 7) ; and those things which come out of the heart defile the man (IMatt. xv, 18). The heart is described as " de- ceitful (or, more properly, ip'S, crooked, the opposite of ^'C\ slraif)ht) above all things, and desperately wick- ed" (CliN) (Jer. xvii, 9) ; so that God alone can thor- oughly sound the depths of its wickcchiess (compare 1 John iii, 20). Hence the prayer in Psa. cxxxix, 23. In this natural state of unsusccptibiUty for good the heart is called uncircumcised. 5"i^ (Numb. xxvi,41 ; compare Deut. X, IG; Ezek. xliv, 9). INIan, frightened at the manifestation of divine holiness, may take within him- self the resolution of fulfilling the divine commands (Deut. V, 24) ; yet the divine voice complains (v, 29), "Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me !" etc. Therefore the whole Revelation has for its object to change the heart of man ; and its whole aim is to destroy, by virtue of its divine efficacy, the un- suseeptibility (" stupiditas, (jua centrum animre laborat," as Roos expresses it, p. 153) and the antagonism of the heart, an<l to sulistitutc for them the fear of (Jod in the heart (Jir. xxxii,40\ so that the law may be admitted (Jer. xxxi. 33). This is the effect of thc'oiiorations of the Holy Spirit, whose workings, as shown in the <). T., point to the regeneration of the heart in redemption (Ezek. xxxvi,26 sq.; xi, 19), transforming the prophets into new creatures by means of a change of heart (1 Sam. X, 0, 9), and implanting a willingness to obey (lod's law in the pious (Psa. Ii, 12-14).