XXXI.

THE BEATITUDE OF THE PURE IN HEART.*

MATTHEW, v., 8: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

[Preached at Broadmead, Bristol, Lord's Day evening, February 24th, 1828.]

OUR Lord commenced his ministry by describing the essential features of the Christian character, and the real ingredient of happiness. It is obvious how different is his doctrine on the subject of happiness from the notions of men: He places felicity in quite another quarter from that in which the world seek it. He came to communicate blessedness; and He propounded the doctrine, before He bestowed the blessings themselves; He taught us where happiness is to be found. We are not to expect to find it by chance; it does not light upon us of itself from above: it must be sought, and sought in the right way: in the way revealed by the gospel. If "the pure in heart are blessed," none who are of a different character can be happy. We e may consider, first, the character; and, secondly, the blessedness here presented.

I. The character is that of "the pure in heart." Purity, in its most usual acceptation, denotes the restraint of the bodily appetites and passions, especially as it relates to the virtue of chastity; a most distinguished part of Christian morality, as contrasted with the notions and manners of an evil world. "Uncleanness," says the apostle, "let it not be so much as named among you, as becometh saints;" "on account of which," he adds, "the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience." Purity in heart implies a care of the heart; a discipline of the imagination; a covenant with the eyes not to look upon vanity; an avoidance of all appearance of evil; a conscientious regulation of our secret thoughts and affections, as in the sight of that God with whom we have to do, and who requires purity, as well as truth, in the inward part. Sin is represented in Scripture as defilement, pollution; the Holy Spirit is represented as effecting a purifying process in the soul. As filthiness dooms a person to shame and solitude, so sin alienates and separates from God this was the first effect of sin on our first parents, who hid themselves from their Maker. When any one lives in amity with sin, there can exist no communion with the Divine Being. "What agreement hath light with darkness? what concord hath Christ with Belial, or the temple of God with idols ?" The Spirit of holiness, whose very nature is the highest purity, will hold no friendly association with a heart in which impure affections are permitted to dwell. Accordingly, the Apostle John, when he says, "Truly our fellowship is with the Fa

. From the notes of the Rev. T. Grinfield.

ther and with his Son," adds, "if we have this fellowship, we walk in the light, as He is in the light."

Who, then, are "the pure in heart?" Their purity is opposed, first, to the semblance of virtue, the appearance of purity, assumed for worldly purposes. The thoughts must be regulated; the affections purified; a law of order, conformable with the Divine law, established in the inmost recesses of the mind. Secondly, this purity is opposed to mere external acts; there may be a correct exterior, and an outward reform; while extreme pollution remains within, while the heart is closed against the beauty of holiness, while no respect is felt for the Divine will and law, no thirst experienced after interior and real purity such a character will be of no account with God. The pure in heart make a conscience of their desires, control their thoughts and passions within; abstain from coveting as well as injustice, from impure imaginations as well as actions; do not act a part before men, but aim to "perfect holiness in the fear of God." They make the department of the heart the object of their care. as God requires; and have "respect to all his commandments." Of such it is said that "they shall see God," and of such only. None but candidates for holiness, none but those whose hearts are smitten with desires of spiritual perfection, shall ever see God, or prove successful candidates for heaven. Yet let it not be supposed that we can here attain the perfection which we desire; far otherwise: if you have ever asked any humble Christian, he would tell you that he is conscious of innumerable defilements in his inner man; but such a person continually purifies himself more and more, until the day when he is presented holy and without blame before the throne of God.

II. Consider the blessedness of the pure in heart: "they shall see God." Our Lord, you observe, has placed happiness not in external relations; these are temporary, and pass away like the fashion of this world-they are a flower, which, however graceful, is fugitive and evanescent but happiness is placed by our Lord in the internal state of the mind, is regulated by the will, and conformed to the likeness, of the Eternal Being; for this alone is permanent. Purity is the health of the mind; in proportion as the mind is purified, in that proportion it is reinstated in a capacity of true enjoyment. For some the promise of such a blessedness may have little attraction: such are not accustomed to connect with the idea of Deity any other ideas than those of authority, power, and retiring majesty; their notions of felicity are not associated with the character or presence of God. But in what an unnatural posture of soul towards the best of Beings must such persons stand! How deeply alienated must they have become from the eternal and all-loving Parent of the universe, the Father of our spirits, the Fountain of good, in whose presence and favour is the fulness of joy! To see his face, however, is promised by our Lord as the consummation of felicity. This expression denotes,

1. The knowledge of God, as enjoyed by the saints in a future state. God the Father dwells in light which none can approach; He is the

King invisible; none hath seen Him, none can see.

To" see God" is to have that full knowledge of his character, his providence, and his grace, which constitutes the bliss of eternity. Now we see God as by a dim reflection, but then face to face; now we know Him in part, but then even as we are known; then this imperfect vision of faith will be changed into a Divine and beatific manifestation of God. All that majesty, which now overawes us, will then be revealed to our prepared spirits; the Divine beauty will then fill all the powers, and irradiate all the recesses, of the mind. And to those who have here delighted to trace God in his works, his providence, and more especially in his word and grace, how delightful will be this intimate knowledge of the Father of spirits!

2. By seeing God" we may understand that nearness to God, that taste of his favour, which belongs to those whose hearts are purified by faith through the Spirit's operation. Thus, in Esther, we read of the seven princes "which saw the king's face ;" and, in Daniel, of the four chosen persons "who stood before the king, Nebuchadnezzar." And our Lord, speaking of little children as patterns of his disciples, says that "in heaven their angels behold the face of My Father;" meaning, not merely that those angels are in heaven, but that there they hold an eminent station, that they are highest in his kingdom. "The pure in heart" will be distinguished by such a near approach to God, such a delightful intimacy with their heavenly Father; He will welcome such in the words, "Ye shall be heirs of all things; I will be your God, and ye shall be My sons and daughters!"

III. Let us next consider the connexion which subsists between purity in heart and this vision of God. Abstractions may be pursued independently on any peculiar state of the heart; but character cannot be appreciated or enjoyed but by congeniality of mind. The impure cannot discern the beauty of holiness; the selfish cannot rejoice in the philanthropy of a Howard, a Thornton, a Wilberforce, brothers of kindred spirit; the sensual and filthy cannot sympathize with the saints in their abhorrence of impurity, their hatred of the garment spotted by the flesh. Let the beams of the Divine character be shed on the unholy mind, and its darkness would not only not comprehend, it would repel, that brightness; it would recoil from such a contrast to its own nature. But to come into immediate contact with a holy God; this must be, to those who love darkness, insufferable pain, in proportion to the fulness of that light! to stand before infinite purity, what must it be to those who roll sin as a sweet morsel under their tongue! for God is holiness personified. On the contrary, those who love holiness, those who war against sin, those who have repented a thousand times of the evil that dwells within them, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, to them holiness must be heaven; they will then reach the goal, rest in the haven where they would be, and, like the Psalmist who speaks their mind," be satisfied when they awake in the likeness of God, and behold his face in righteousness!"

IV. With respect to the means of attaining this character: there must be the habit of meditation on God, and communion with God:

we must set Him always before our eyes, if we would attain true holiness. 66 Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we may be changed into the same image from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord." And to behold the Divine character, we must "behold the Lamb of God;" Christ being the image of the invisible God, the shining forth of his glory. We must endure as seeing Him who is invisible, and have a constant respect to the recompense of his reward. The essence of that reward consists in the perfection of those dispositions which we here pursued, and imperfectly attained. This is the fruition of God, which He will give to "the pure in heart." God will make himself over, as it were, to such, in all the plenitude of his holy blessedness.

V. By way of improvement, let me inquire,

:

1. Are you in such a progress of character as may fit you to see God? You are drawing near to death: you will very soon go hence, and enter into that state where God is all in all the question whether we are in a process of sanctification, in a state of convalescence from our fatal malady, is that on which all our destinies turn. And the Christian religion alone opens the way to holiness and God, by the doctrine, the grace, the blood, and Spirit of Christ: acquaint yourself with God, and be at peace, through the medium of the Saviour. How can you escape if you neglect so great salvation? Can you suppose that the awful penalties of the gospel will be cancelled in your behalf? Nothing but condemnation can be your lot, if you are found preferring darkness to light, because your deeds are evil! if you refuse to enter in when such a glorious door is opened before you!

2. Let such of us as profess themselves the followers of God, such as unite in the bands of Christian fellowship, see that we are aiming at holiness; purging ourselves from all impurity of the flesh and spirit; using the precepts, promises, comforts of the gospel with a view to our sanctification: that we are overcoming the world by our faith; subduing our whole will to the will of God! Otherwise we may have a name to live, while we are dead. We must consecrate ourselves to walk as He who has called us walked; to be pure as He is pure. Soon we must all appear before Him; we must be brought into contact with God: the thought of God must be with us as an eternal thought, and possess our spirits, either as the thought of an infinite good gained, or an infinite good lost forever! Let us now seek a complete deliverance from the power of sin, by the purifying Spirit of grace this is the very purpose for which Jesus Christ came: "He came to bless us, in turning away every one of us from our iniquities." He came that we might be pardoned, justified, sanctified, and prepared for eternal glory!

XXXII.

THE CHRISTIAN WARFARE.*

EPH., vi., 12: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

[Preached at Cambridge, in July, 1802.]

THE Christian life, my brethren, is set forth in a great variety of forms in the New and Old Testaments, in order to impress us with just conceptions of it, and to point out its high necessity and importance. The Bible affords this variety of forms, that we may the more fully comprehend it; and thus the Holy Ghost gives us "line upon line, and precept upon precept." It is of the greatest consequence to become true Christians; and it is of equal importance to know the character, and be acquainted with the situation of true Christians, in order that we may form a right estimate of the requirements of God, and, by comparing ourselves with this standard, receive that admonition or warning which we need.

Great earnestness must be employed, if we wish to attempt the Christian warfare with any success. It would be strange, indeed, for any one to be thus engaged, as in a combat, and not to know that he was engaged. It would betray great indifference in a warrior engaged in a conflict, not to show sensibility to his circumstances; so, equally strange would it be for a Christian to live in profound security, as if there were no powers to engage, and no victory to obtain.

Without any farther preface, permit me to explain, first, The phrases here employed; and, secondly, The nature of the warfare, and the enemies we have to engage.

I. These phrases are evidently figurative. A Christian is not at war in the literal sense of the words; but these are very apt and proper figures, which the Holy Spirit adopts to reveal the fact under sensible forms. The phrase "flesh and blood" is intended to denote the principle of corruption in man; and it stands opposed to that principle of holy rectitude implanted by the Spirit: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." In a similar manner, the Apostle Paul, in another epistle, places them in opposition to each other: "For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these two are contrary the one to the other." Sometimes the phrases are used in a more general sense, for human nature at large, or for all mankind. The same apostle, when declaring

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From the notes of John Greene, Esq.