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 thelove 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; andby 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.
5. Nor may marriage itself, holy and honourable as it is, be used, as a pretence for giving a loose to our desires. Indeed, It hath been said, Whosoever will put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement. And then all was well, tho’ he alledged no cause, but that he did not like her; or liked another better. But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication (that is, adultery; the word πορνεία signifying unchastity in general, either in the married or unmarried state) causeth her to commit adultery; if she marry again;and whosoever shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery, ver. 31, 32.