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I. Inquire into THE MEANING OF PURITY OF HEART.

1. The words carry us into the inner regions of man's being. At first sight they only suggest the absence of the impure. But, there is no purity apart from the absolute authority of God in the affections. Man is not made by negatives.

II. PURITY OF HEART GIVES THE VISION OF GOD. The phrase "see God" does not refer to any manifestation of His glory visible to the eye of sense. It is to the far deeper sight of the soul that Christ refers. Your best friend is not seen by the eye of the body; you see him spiritually, his qualities of mind and heart.

1. None but the pure in heart can see Him. It is useless to tell the selfish about the beauty of unselfishness; you might as well tell the blind about the glory of colour.

2. That to the pure in heart the full glory of the Divine nature reveals itself. God is light and love. These are seen by the pure soul.

III. THE VISION IS ITS OWN EXCEEDING BLESSEDNESS.

1. It is blessed because to see God satisfies the longings of the heart.

2. Because it clothes life in glory.

3. Because it is the dawning of immortal hope.

(E. L. Hull, B. A.)

I. Let us try to ascertain WHAT THIS PURITY Is which is here so extolled. It was in Adam by nature — it is in us by grace, etc. In us it is as seed cast into the soil, etc. It is a living principle, ever powerful, ever resisted, yet never beaten, growing daily in aspirations and likeness, until it is made perfect by seeing Christ as He is, when we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. Constantly enjoined. Is true beauty. The qualification for heaven. The Holy Spirit its author. The heart its seat. Manifest in the outer life. Will ever be ready to disclose itself to God in prayer.

II. Such persons are BLESSED. In having this characteristic. Evidence of being amongst the people of God. To them all things are pure. "Shall see God" — in life's trials, life's prosperity, providential dealings, in all creation, in the sacred page, in ordinances, and, above all, in glory — transforming, satisfying, joyful. "Create in me," etc.

(Dr. J. Caroming.)By the "heart" we are to understand the inward part of man, comprehending the mind and soul with all their faculties and affections, purposes and inclinations, the secret recesses into which mortal eye cannot penetrate.

I. The foliage and branches are of the same kind with the stock that bears them.

1. Before we can bring forth good fruit we must be renovated.

2. There may be the semblance of purity in the life when there is no real principle of holiness in the heart.

II. Purity is

(1)  the mind renewed, the

(2)  disordered spirit restored, and

(3)  conformed to the " image of God," in righteousness and true holiness.

III. From the definition of the principle there are three things which it. includes.

1. Frank and genuine sincerity in opposition to dissimulation and deceit.

2. Spiritual worship in opposition to that which is formal.

3. A holy and heavenly mind, in opposition to one that is polluted and sensual.

(J. E. Good.)

I. A great privilege proposed by our Saviour to His followers. "They shall see God" — in this life and in heaven.

II. The qualification required for this enjoyment — parity of heart. Nature and necessity of heart-purity.

1. Try your hopes of heaven by this rule.

2. Follow after purity — heart and life.

(Henry Grove.)See here what is the beauty that sets off a soul in God's eye: purity of heart.

I. Thou who art never so beautiful, art but a spiritual leper, till thou art pure in heart,

1. Therein God sees His own picture drawn.

2. Holiness is a beam of God.

II. Thou who art pure in heart hast the angel's glory in thee, and the embroidery and workmanship of the Holy Ghost upon thee.

III. The pure heart is God's paradise, where He delights to walk; it is His lesser heaven. The dove delights in the purest air; the Holy Ghost, who descended in the likeness of a dove, delights in the purest soul. How may this raise the esteem of purity! This is a beauty that, never fades!

(Thomas Watson.)

I. Purity of heart stands in direct opposition. to that external affectation of purity which is the offspring of hypocrisy.

1. Actions are the outward symbols or expressions of virtue and vice, not virtue and vice themselves.

2. Actions when separated from their motives are indifferent, but it is the disposition of benevolence by which the mind is actuated in which the virtue lies.

3. Words, like actions, when separated from their motives, are indifferent; but it is the inward malignity of soul from which the words proceed, in which the vice consists.

4. The form of purity, like that o! godliness without its power, is only a delusive counterfeit.

5. All external services and sacrifices are of no value without this internal purity.

II. Purity implies the absence of moral grossness. Whatever is defiled is essentially repugnant to the spirit of purity.

(1) By the law of nature clouds darken the face of the sky, fogs and vapours stagnate and corrupt the air.

(2) By the law of conscience and religion, moral blots and corruptions stain the beauty of the soul, and cast a shade upon its brightness.

III. Purity is an active and vigorous disposition, which incessantly prompts the soul in which it resides, to(1) admire what is amiable;

(2) To approve what is excellent;

(3) To relish what is delicate;

(4) To pursue what is refined. Purity is the only way to blessedness-purity is blessedness itself.

(David Lament, D. D.)

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

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