But purity may also be understood in opposition to uncleanness : and, if we suppose that our Lord designed to condemn the sensuahty of those who expected the Messiah as a temporal Prince, we must of course annex that meaning to his words. Perhaps the more enlarged sense of the text, as comprehend- ing both ideas, is the more just : but as the latter idea is of singular importance, we shall consider the character chiefly in reference to that.
We observe, then, that the person who is pure m heart,
1. Abstains from all acts of uncleanness — [Others may make light of fornication and adultery: but
he knows them to be ruinous and damning sins : and he ab- stains from them, not merely from the fear of detection and disgrace, but from a dread of displeasing Almighty God, and of plunging his soul into everlasting misery. He is well con- vinced, that " the body was not for fornication, but for the Lord ; and the Lord for the body^" He considers " his body as a member of Christ himself:" and, if tempted to " take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot," he exclaims with horror, " God forbid'' !"]
2. Harbours no evil desires in his heart —
[Being of like passions with others, he cannot but feel as others on some occasions : but he has learned through grace to counteract the propensities of nature, and to " crucify the flesh with the aifections and lusts ^" He knows that " fleshly lusts war against the souF;" and that, if not vigorously opposed in the first instance, they will soon gain the ascendant, and lead him captive. He sees how others are enslaved, " having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin^." He has heard of that confession in the book of Proverbs, " I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and the assembly'^:" and he dreads lest he in like manner should be- come a prey to his evil passions. If evil thoughts or desires arise, he regards them as fire, which, if not extinguished speedily, will inflame and consume his soul. Hence he prays day and night, " Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me'." He is not contented with being '* like a whited sepulchre, beautiful without, but full of all uncleanness within:" he is as attentive to " the inside of the cup and platter," as he is to its exterior appearance'^.]
<= 1 Cor. vi. 13. d 1 Cor: vi. 15. ^ Gal. v. 24.
f 1 Pet. ii. 11. g 2 Pet. ii. 14. ^ Prov. v. 14.
' Ps. Ii. 10. k Matt, xxiii. 25—28.