advantage of the delay of punishment, thought they might indulge evil imaginations, and concupiscence, provided they did not break forth into the commission of the grosser acts of impiety and uncleanness. The same infatuation still reigns in the spirit of man. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”* But it is otherwise with the Christian, whose soul is renewed in righteousness and true holiness. He delights in holy thoughts, in thinking of God, and the operations of his hands; in meditation on his will, his commands, and his promises; and in the contemplation of his dispensations of Providence, grace, and eternal life, beyond the present state of impurity and vicissitude. This holiness is of a positive character. It is the heart set on God, as its chief good, whose secret desires are after him, and which loves nothing besides him. We have many passages in the Scriptures which express the strong breathings of such a sanctified spirit for Him, whose "presence is life, and whose loving-kindness is better than life." Thus, we read, "O God, thou art my God: early will I seek thee."+ "My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times. The law of thy mouth is dearer unto me than thousands of gold and silver. O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day." of old is likewise described as addressing the Most High,— "Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee: the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early."§ Yes, my brethren, as the indulgence of the sensual desire, and the lascivious imagination, is a strong and conclusive evidence of a polluted mind, so also is the

Thus the church

Eccles. viii. 11. Ps lxiii. 1. Ps. cxix. 20, 97. Isaiah xxvi. 8, 9.

ardent aspiration of the soul after the image and presence of God, a sure and certain indication of the commencement of sanctification in the heart. It is an infallible and scriptural test of our moral renovation. A man of such desires has the real principle of holiness within. The influence of the spirit is given for the accomplishment of this object, and it will not be withdrawn till it has perfected all that concerns it. If, therefore, "your affections are set on things above;" if, however, assailed and obstructed in your course, you have a prevailing desire after the smile and favour of God, you have the best proof of a saving change in your heart.

Permit me, however, to remark, that as there are various degrees of this purity in the present life, there will be innumerable shades of character among the members of the household of faith. God himself, the grand source of all happiness, is emphatically called "The Holy One." Angels and glorified saints are in a perfect state; they are, therefore, more holy than any of the church below, where all have to strive against sin. And there are different degrees and measures of holiness even here. We see an eminence of character in one Christian above another, "as one star differeth from another star in glory". talents, others five, and others one. others young men, and others are fathers in Christ. "There is first the blade, and that the full corn in the ear."

Some have ten Some are babes,

then the ear, and after Abraham appears most

eminent among the patriarchs; David among the pious kings of Israel; and Paul among the apostles of Christ, though "one born out of due time." All, indeed, shine, but not with the same splendour. All bring glory to Christ, but not to the same amount. All grow, but not to the same stature at once.

Let us not, however, despise the least of God's little ones, or look with disdain on "the day of small things."

"Are we not all members of one body? Shall the eye say to the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you? Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular."* Let us proceed to consider,

II. THE BLESSING TO WHICH THIS PURITY LEADS. "THEY SHALL SEE GOD."

It seems scarcely necessary to observe, that this beatific sight regards the mind, and not the senses;-the eye of the soul, rather than the eye of the body. The divine being is not the object of external vision; he is invisible-a pure spirit, "whom no man hath seen at any time, nor can see.” And even as it regards the apprehension of the intellect, and the eye of faith, we see him but as "through a glass darkly." The language, however, of the text, is borrowed from the Old Testament, where such a mode of speech frequently occurs; and which, during that significant and emblematic dispensation, was peculiarly appropriate. To see God was to enjoy his presence, and possess his blessing; not to see him, was to be in darkness and perplexity, without comfort and peace. It was a state the most distressing and painful.

In the consideration of this part of the subject, we may notice two things:

First. The blessing promised in the text.-It is to "see God." There are ways and occasions in which this is realized. To see the Most High, according to the meaning of this beatitude, is to have a spiritual apprehension of his presence and favour. View it with respect to his word. It is to see him there, shining forth in all the effulgence of his goodness and grace. And this blessed vision the sanctified heart enjoys. He never rejects the

1 Cor. xii. 21, 27.

holy volume because of its mysteries, or perverts its obvious meaning to make it accord with his own preconceived opinions. He desires to follow the truth wherever it may conduct him. He sees the impress of Deity in every page; hears a Creator's voice in every precept, and tastes a Fathers' love in every promise. View it with reference to divine ordinances. In these, the "pure in heart see God" as the fountain of love and mercy. They have a spiritual perception of their gracious design; and this blessed object they contemplate with delight. From the outward sign they pass on to the " thing signified," and ascend on the wings of love to the eternal throne. While thousands go and come without profit or serious impression, these sacred means, like so many streams of refreshment from some celestial reservoir of blessedness, revive and succour their spirits. View the promise with regard to affliction. With the "pure in heart" it will not be all dark, even in the most trying scene. They realize and feed on inward comforts, which the men of the world "know not of." They are able to follow the advice which was given to Job, at a time when he was overwhelmed with the heaviest calamity a mortal could sustain-" Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him."* And also the suitable direction of the prophet. "Who is

among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God."+ In a word, such a man has an holy and impressive apprehension of God in every place, in every object, and in every state. The heart of purity recognizes his agency and presence in the wonders of creation, in the arrangements of providence, in the salutary and successive seasons

of the year; but, above all, in the redemption of the soul by Jesus Christ, his only begotten "Son in whom the Father is well pleased."

But the promise of the text, like almost every other, has a double reference. "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. The soul that sees him now in the light of his countenance, shall presently behold him in the glory and fulness of his bliss. For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." The sentiment intimates a kind of intuitive recognition of each other, and of God, the centre of all. When we speak of that happy place, we cannot order our speech aright by reason of the darkness that is in us; but, thus much we know, "that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." The vision will be transforming. "We shall be changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the spirit of the Lord." This will comprise the whole of heavenly felicity. The blessed God is the prime source of blessedness to his creatures: and the nearer they approach him, the happier they will be. Delightful, even on earth, are the emotions which thrill through the soul, when we are permitted to draw nigh by faith in the act of devotion, what then must it be to " come even to his seat," there "to see him face to face" in all his ineffable glory? If the present view be sometimes "unspeakable," surely the future is inconceivable. If the anticipation be so overpowering, what must the actual possession be? Oh, believer! in the midst of all thy conflicts, rejoice in the prospect of everlasting triumph when the battle is over. In the saddest seasons of sorrow and gloom, when in the natural, moral, and spiritual world, “clouds

. 1 Tim. iv. 8.

+ 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

1 John iii. 2.