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mere mockery, a shadow without the substance. Whether there be any such amongst us or not, there is not one in whom the work of purification can be supposed to be complete, nor one, consequently, who is not called upon to endeavour to carry it on vigorously. Let us endeavour, then, my Christian friends and brethren, by every means in our power, to strengthen our faith in these important doctrines, and not only so, but also to strengthen the connection between our faith and our practice, that the work of God may be perfected in us, that our hearts may be purified by faith, and that we may be thus gradually prepared for a happy entrance into His everlasting kingdom, through his infinite and unmerited grace and mercy, made known to us by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.

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Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

How few are there amongst us, my brethren, who act as if they understood these words of our divinely inspired teacher! How few that endeavour constantly to maintain purity of heart, as well as of life and conversation! And yet, is there one amongst us, capable of reflection, who will venture to deny, even in thought, the existence of a God, who searcheth the heart? How can we be so infatuated as to suppose that an omniscient God will accept of a homage which is merely external! Let us, then, delay no longer seriously to examine how far we have been hitherto deceiving ourselves upon this subject. Let us impartially inquire what claims we can venture to lay to the blessing here pronounced upon the pure in heart. Let us listen to the words of the text as though they had now for the first time reached our ears, and endeavour to derive from them that

practical instruction which, when received with candour and humility, and applied with diligence, integrity and perseverance, may be expected, under the Divine blessing, to assist us in our preparation for another and a better world. "Blessed," said Jesus, " are the pure

in heart, for they shall see God."

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Let us attend, first, to the character described by our Lord, and, secondly, to the reward annexed to the possession of it.

The heart must be understood here, and in many other passages of Scripture, to represent the supposed source of all our thoughts, as well as feelings. Purity of heart, then, implies the absence not merely of every bad passion and unlawful desire, but likewise of all such evil thoughts and impure imaginations as are likely to lead to them.

And, first, my fellow Christians, let us be careful to impress our minds with the conviction that the habitual indulgence of any uncharitable thoughts or rancorous passions is totally inconsistent with purity of heart. His heart cannot be clean in the sight of God who hates, or envies, or despises a fellow creature. To desire to revenge injuries, however unprovoked

they may have been, or whatever may have been their magnitude; to wish ill to a fellow creature, however unamiable, or to look with contempt upon the humblest of our brethren, is to sully the purity of the heart. Let us be ready, my brethren, at all times to apply these principles to the regulation of our own conduct; and let us learn to pronounce an unbending judgment upon the maxims of the world, when we see them running counter to the precepts of the Gospel. What claim can he lay to purity of heart who dares, in compliance with a barbarous and bloody custom, and in the very teeth of the precepts of Him whose disciple he falsely professes to be, to aim at taking away the life of a fellow creature? What shall we say of his purity of heart who, in the name of the God of love and peace, undertakes an enterprise which he has reason to expect can never be accomplished but at the expense of the blood of thousands? Oh, for a voice that could carry the precepts of Jesus to the ears of princes, and make them as anxious to cherish mutual affection, and to promote happiness, as they have ever been found to be to gratify revenge and pride, and to erect upon the bodies of prostrate nations new monuments to their ambition! What pretensions can they make to purity of heart, the violence of whose party

feeling makes them hail with delight the discovery of a new means of galling and oppressing a portion of their countrymen, and who can see nothing admirable, respectable, or even tolerable in those whose opinions upon religious or political subjects differ from their own? What claim, alas, my Christian friends and brethren, can any of us make to purity of heart whilst so many uncharitable judgments, and bad feelings, and unsocial passions, are permitted to enjoy a too frequent and easy access to our bosoms? If we wish to be numbered with the pure in heart, we must learn to curb our passions; we must take the yoke of Jesus upon us; we must be meek and patient, forgiving and benevolent.

But, secondly, the indulgence of unlawful desires or impure imaginations is no less inconsistent with the character described in the text. To cherish, or even to tolerate in our minds, the desire of anything which there is no possibility, or even reasonable probability, of our attaining, consistently with the laws of God, is to impair the purity of the heart. His heart, therefore, is not clean in the sight of God, who covets the property of another. The very contemplation of an act of dishonesty, if the idea be not instantly rejected with disgust, is sufficient to sully the purity of the Christian. Are there

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