Reformation Must Begin At the Heart
Psalm 51:10
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.


A reformation which beginneth at the members and external actions is neither true nor constant. As if a man intending to dress his garden, and purge it from thistles and such-like weeds, would cut off the upper part and leave the roots, which would spring up again: so if thou wouldest chastise thy body and let thine heart remain luxurious, it is nothing. The heart is the fountain, wherefrom springeth all evil, the root from which all sin groweth. He speaketh not of the substance but of the affections and qualities of the heart. No honest man will lodge in a filthy house, or drink or eat except the vessel be made clean; and God cannot abide in a foul, swinish heart. "Keep thine heart diligently," saith the Spirit. As a vessel of gold or silver being through long use wasted and broken, is sent to the goldsmith's to be renewed, so our hearts worn by sin must be sent to God, that He may put them in the fire, end east them in a new mould, and make them up again. Alas, that we are careful to renew everything, clothes, vessels and all, only careless to renew our hearts.

(A. Symson.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

WEB: Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.




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