UPON OUR LORD’S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. DISCOURSE III. MATT. v. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
_Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God. Blessed are the peace-makers; for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness-sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you._
I. 1. HOW excellent things are spoken of the love of our neighbour! It is _the fulfilling of the law, the end of the commandment_. Without this all we have, all we do, all we suffer, is of no value in the sight of God. But it is that love of our neighbour which springs from the love of God: otherwise itself is nothing worth. It behoves us therefore to examine well upon what foundation our love of our neighbour stands: whether it is really built upon the love of God? Whether _we_ do _love him, because he first loved us_? Whether we are _pure in heart_? For this is the foundation, which shall never be moved. _Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see_ God.
2. _The pure in heart_ are they, whose hearts God hath _purified even as he is pure_; who are purified thro’ faith in the blood of _Jesus_, from every unholy affection; who being _cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfect holiness in the_ loving _fear of_ God. They are, through the power of his grace, purified from pride, by the deepest poverty of spirit; from anger, from every unkind or turbulent passion, by meekness and gentleness; from every desire but to please and enjoy God, to know and love him more and more, by that hunger and thirst after righteousness, which now engrosses their whole soul: so that now they love the Lord their God, with all their heart, and with all their soul and mind and strength.
3. But how little has this _purity of heart_ been regarded, by the false teachers of all ages? They have taught men barely, to abstain from such outward impurities, as God hath forbidden by name. But they did not strike at the heart; and by not guarding against, they in effect, countenanced inward corruptions.
A remarkable instance of this, our Lord has given us, in the following words: _Ye have heard, that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery_.[59] And in explaining this, those blind leaders of the blind, only insist on men’s abstaining from the outward act. [60]_But I say unto you, whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart_, for God requireth truth in the inward parts. He searcheth the heart and trieth the reins. And _if_ thou _incline unto iniquity with_ thy _heart, the_ Lord _will not hear_ thee.
4. And God admits no excuse for retaining any thing, which is an occasion of impurity. Therefore _if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of ♦thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell_, ver. 29. If persons as dear to thee as thy right eye, be an occasion of thy thus offending God, a means of exciting unholy desire in thy soul; delay not; forcibly separate from them. _And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell_, ver. 30. If any who seem as necessary to thee as thy right hand, be an occasion of sin, of impure desire; even though it were never to go beyond the heart, never to break out in word or action: constrain thyself to an entire and final parting: cut them off at a stroke; give them up to God. Any loss, whether of pleasure or substance or friends, is preferable to the loss of thy soul.
Two steps only it may not be improper to take, before such an absolute and final separation. First, Try whether the unclean spirit may not be driven out by fasting and prayer, and by carefully abstaining from every action and word and look, which thou hast found to be an occasion of evil. Secondly, If thou art not by this means delivered, ask council of him that watcheth over thy soul, or at least of some who have experience in the ways of God, touching the time and manner of that separation. But confer not with flesh and blood, lest thou be _given up to a strong delusion to believe a lie_.