The Tupelo journal., 1904-02-19

ately wicked" Man is sometimes de-
luded into the thought that he can car
ry on the heart housekeeping alone, as
the man to whom Jesus referred who
drove out the evil and swept and
himself that he had done a splendid and
enduring bit of work. But it wal the
| same old heart with its s~in-scarred
walls, and there was a fatal emptiness
which invited back the evil reinforced
by other evil spirits more wicked than.
the first. And the man woke up to find
his latter condition worse than the first.
No, man cannot clean his heart so that
it can be called pure. He can polish up
and cover up and 'garnish," but he
cannot purify. The alchemist Of the
middle ages had no more hopeless task
of transmitting the baser metals into
gold thar has the man tries to make
of his s~in-stained, sin-scarred, sin
breeding heart a pure heart such as is
necessary to admit to Gods presence.
David realized the utter hopelessness of
the task of trying to purify his sin
full heart, and so in helplessness he
cries out: Create for me a clean
heart, o Cod" What man cannot do
for himself, God is able and willing and
anxious to do for him. blessed are the
pare in heart" because they bear the
stamp of the Divine touch, because they
come fresh and clean and spotless from
the marvellous laboratory of God, where
the foul has been made clean, where the
base metal of human conditions has
been transmitted into the pure gold OF
Heaven. The pure heart is the handi-
work of God. And Blessed" indeed,
then ARE the pure in heart, for they
shall see God"
DUT what about the process by which
- the pure heart is created? What is
mans part and what is Gods? Mans
part is to submit to the Divine process
and Gods part is to create a new and
pure heart. Man must place himself
in the hands of God like the inert clay
rests IN the hands of the potter. Then
God through the power OF Jesus blood
~cleanses from all sin and gives the
pure heart into which He comes to
dwell in the person of His Son. Then
begins mans active and positive rela-
ton to the pure heart which God has
created for him. All sin has been taken
away, but the capacity, the tendency to
sin has not been eradicated, and can
not be while the soul is clothed upon
with the mortal flesh of the earthly
body. The struggle begins to keep the
heart pure. 1t must begin and the war;
fare against the sins of the heart and
life must be waged increasingly. But
here again human strength and power
fail. 1t is just as impossible for man
in his own strength to keep pure the
cleansed heart which God has given
him as it is for him to make the pure
heart for himself at the start. But
God again comes to the relief of poor
human need and offers the strength Of
His conquering Son. And what is i'm
possible for human strength and will
alone becomes possible by Divine help,
for His strength is made perfect in
weakness" So it is not only a question
of The securing of a pure heart, but
the maintenance of a pure heart.
PURE heart may be kept pure in
~ two ways. First, by excluding all
impurity, and second, by removing i'm
p~urities when they succeed in getting
in. The first is the ideal condition and
must be constantly and earnestly
striven for. The secret of success in
excluding from the heart the evil
thought and desire and purpose, and
thus preventingt their fruition in the life
in the sinful act, is found not so much
in aggressive attitude against the evil
as in eager, earnest pursuit of the good.
A man succeeds best in keeping the
cleansed heart pure by filling it so full
of the presence of Christ that there is
no chink or Granny through which evil
can enter. And he must keep SO busy
that there are no idle moments in which
the lurking enemy, sin, may take him
unawares and bring him into subjec-
ton. Jesus said to His disciples: Now
we are clean through the Word which
l have spoken unto you" And His
Word, abiding in the heart, is the
strongest kind of defense against evil.
Paul's prescription to the Christian
who would keep his heart pure is found
in the fourth chapter of his letter to
the Philippians. He says: "Whatso-
ever things are true, whatsoever things
are honorable, whatsoever things are
just, whatsoever things are pure, what
soever things are lovely, whatsoever
things are of good report; if there be
any virtue, and if there be any praise,
think on these things"
DUT if sin enter the heart the second
- method of maintaining a pure
heart is to be applied. The heart must
be cleansed from the impurity, the sin.
And blessed be God, He has made am
pie provision for such condition. For
eff n man sin, we have an Advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the right
eous, and He is the Precipitation for
our sins, and not for ours only but also
for the whole world" And because He
is the blood sprinkled mercy seat. for
that is literally what Precipitation
means, eff we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and cleanse us from all unrighteous-
ness And how we have to keep
bringing to Him u Sustained hearts
that He may forgive and cleanse. But
He does not rebuke or chide us as we
ezz1 @Lo4 ryo r,,N r1o x,o aO-x4 -