Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. If the foregoing Beatitude were one that turned its face principally to man, and looked as it were fixedly on him, yet with most undoubted aspect Godward, this, on the other hand, the eighth in order, must certainly be held (and all the more so by force of the latter clause of it)to place us face to face with God - how certainly, also, to the subsequent advantage of our fellow-man none can doubt. Simple as are the words of this Beatitude, the central word, that one on which the meaning of all hinges, may be rendered yet a little more expressively and unmistakably by the word "clean," which is the Authorized Version rendering ten times out of the twenty-eight times of its occurrence in the New Testament. Three other times is this "clean heart" spoken of, viz.: "The end of the commandment is charity out of a clean heart" (1 Timothy 1:5); "With them that call on the Lord out of a clean heart" (2 Timothy 2:22); "Love one another with a clean heart fervently" (1 Peter 1:22). And in addition twice is a "clean conscience" spoken of, viz.: "Holding the mystery of the faith in a clean conscience" (1 Timothy 3:9); "God, whom I serve from my forefathers with a clean conscience" (2 Timothy 1:3). It is a ." clean linen cloth" in which the sacred body is wrapped (Matthew 27:59); the "seven angels" are "clothed in clean and white linen" (Revelation 15:6); the "Lamb's wife" is "arrayed in fine linen, clean and white" (Revelation 19:8); and "the armies, which followed the Word of God," were "clothed in fine linen, white and clean" (Revelation 19:14). If it were possible to hesitate as to what "the pure heart" of this Beatitude might mean, few could hesitate as to the chief meaning of a "clean" heart.

I. THE CLEAN IN HEART ARE THOSE WHOSE AFFECTIONS, THOUGHTS, WISHES, ARE CLEAN. David's prayer, "Create in me a clean heart, O God," is ever a most practical commentary on the too solemn, too dangerous subject. And St. Peter's earnest entreaty to those whom he counts even as "dearly beloved," that they "abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul," is another. This unclean heart is described by the lips of Jesus Christ himself: "Out of it proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Matthew 15:19). And the description is followed on by St. Paul, when he speaks of the "works of the flesh" (Galatians 5:19). Human affections, pure, clean, innocent (partial and imperfect and temporary though they be), lead on to the Divine and eternal; but human passions and the desires of the flesh are the worst foes to the spirit. Into the heart contaminated by entertaining such guests, higher and purer cannot, will not, come. It cannot be pronounced "blessed;" it cannot be "blessed." It has its own eyes indeed, but they are not eyes with which God can be seen. Purity of heart must mean first of all pure thoughts, pure desires, pure affections. Love of the visible, the near, the present, always takes advantage to hinder the love of God, but impure affections fail not to destroy it absolutely.

II. THE PURE IN HEART ARE THOSE WHOSE HIGHER JUDGMENT, BETTER FEELING, TRUER VISION, ARE NOT DISTURBED BY THAT ILLUSION OF SELF-INTEREST WHICH HAS SO BRITTLE, AND AT THE BEST SO BRIEF, A TENURE OF LIFE. The larger examples of the disastrous interferences of what for a while wears all the semblance of expedience, policy, self-interest, and even justifiable self-regard, speak distinctly for themselves when they occur. But the amazing, the incredible work of mischief, invisibly, sometimes unconsciously, rarely enough confessedly, piled up with the effect of crushing unsuspectedly all that is best in the individual heart, it would seem only the plunge into the eternal world can reveal, whether to others or to the victims themselves, whose name is legion. Souls could not have been gambled away more mercilessly or in more ruinous number than they have by these ways committed suicide. They have melted down like the snow, and vanished like phantom troops. The pure in heart know and abide by the right, though it be dressed in rags, and they have no fellowship with the plausible, though arrayed in purple. The pure in heart have an instinct, which holds them faithful adherents to that higher judgment, that better feeling, that truer vision of which the world thinks so little, and which it sells for a delusive nothing. A pure heart believes in it all, without a sidelong glance and without" looking back;" guides itself by what it knows to be the right, and brushes off sophistry as it would a detected traitor-friend. That heart is training to "see God."

III. THE PURE IN HEART ARE THOSE WHOSE HEART ANSWERS AS FAR AS POSSIBLE TO PURE MOTIVE ONLY. Motives are those hidden impulses and inducements of individual actions which so soon usurp the authority of habitual guides of our conduct. Perhaps, to aid our feeble conception of a subject little within our grasp, we might imagine that our heart in its first form was just the scene and domain of feeling - feeling blessedly gentle like infants' breathing; blessedly innocent, that knew no evil; exquisitely sensitive, and - grateful, it knew not why nor to whom. In the midst of that calm scene the plant of thought grew up, inevitably coloured with colour's every tint by feeling. It was no clear thought of reason or of the intellect alone. It was warm with the warmth of human life, and with all its mystery of individual hope, wish, and inclinings. This peculiar domain of feeling and thought, the human soul, became the main place of the originating of action - the fruitful, too prolific seed-bed of all those deeds of the body for which, when we "all appear at the judgment-seat of Christ, we must receive... according to that done, whether good or bad." Now, that is a motive which determines feeling and thought to shape itself into action, and which decides its form. Whence those motives come (so multitudinous, so various, so mixed in their character), often enough the heart itself has lost the stern simplicity to know, and no earthly judge can safely pronounce. The complication has become what human skill cannot disentangle. Even the uncharitable and censorious world has, to a proverb, professed at any rate to renounce the judging of men's motives. None the less realities, yet are they fearful ghostly realities to summon before our bar, indeed I Grant all this, yet every one of us knows, if he will say it, whether those inducements of his actions within him are or are not honest, kind, useful, right, unpoisoned by absolute selfishness, fit to be brought to the light, good, holy - in a word, whether they are "pure," or prejudiced by every degree of the taintedness of impurity, from the least to the greatest. To set this house in order is indeed a task. To suffer, to harbour in it no ill motive, to encourage each better and higher motive, to keep a "clean conscience," the fairest flower and fruit of which is "charity" toward the motives of others, stern strictness toward our own, or humbly, earnestly to try and pray to do this, as far as it is not" impossible with man," is to have, or to approach toward having, the "pure heart," which begins even now to "see God."

CONCLUSION. Dwell upon the very encouraging light thrown on human nature, and on its future - that the vision of God is suggested as granted even here to a growing moral likeness to him, and a nearing moral sympathy with him; while every present and necessarily partial vision of him here is an earnest of the vision of full fruition to came. Partial though the clearest, brightest, best vision here confessedly is, yet is it not the deepest and purest bliss to be had? To this said the reputed Chrysosom of old, "So far as any one has rescued himself from evil, and works things that are good, so far does he see God, either hardly, or fully, or sometimes, or always, according to the capabilities of human nature." - B.

I. Purity of heart DEMANDS OUR ATTENTION.

1. It implies a change of heart.

2. It implies that the faculties of the soul are purified.

3. It implies the purity of the affections. 4, It implies the purity of the thoughts and desires.

5. It leads to purity of worship.

6. It leads to purity of life.

II. THE BLESSEDNESS PROMISED to the pure in heart.

1. What is denoted by seeing God.

2. This vision will constitute the blessedness of the pure in heart.

(J. Jordan.)

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.)

So came these peaceful words of Jesus: Blessed, not the man of force, but the man of heart.

(E. J. Haynes.)

We stood, the day we left home to begin life for ourselves, amid all the "creatures" of God, as stands the druggist's clerk on the first morning of his apprenticing, not knowing which is sweet, or sour, or would kill, or would make alive; aye, and with a perverted impulse for the wrong use of all. Behold that tree which nods at the church window. Sometimes there is too much moisture in the air; sometimes too much heat; poisons are at its root, its leaf, its stock. Yet so "pure" is the tree, so does it follow just God's law, that it chooses and uses, not abuses, but fructifies by all. So amid all nature will be the really pure in heart; not that pure heart is all-wise, but it is so in harmony with God's law, so far as it is instructed, that it uses all things according to the Creator's intention. How? For beauty, purity, peace, and joy.

(E. J. Haynes.)

He says, "I am not conscious of any desire within which shall go half-way to meet the allurements of sin; no little rivulets of half-indulgence which have eaten the sand from under my walls." Oh, how weak is guilt, how strong is purity! I have seen the hawk flap out of the top of tall hemlocks at my coming in the pasture. "Why, hawk, I'll not shoot you; it is but a walking-stick I carry in my hand." "All! yes, but I think it may have a ball in it." And he sails high above the village steeple. "Nay, hawk," says the steeple, "I'll not hurt. I'm but the finger pointing to your Maker." "Ah! but I think you are a trap." He even parts company with the harmless sparrow, for the sparrow " may be a snare." Not so the dove. It lives in the cornice of men's dwellings, and nods good morning to the children in the chamber crib; it touches the foot of the housemaid as she shakes her cloth of crumbs; it rests up in the steeples of old churches, and the Sabbath bell, far from being a fright, is but the signal for the cooing chorus to begin. The man of pure heart is blessed with peaceful self-respect. He is not happy who cannot respect himself. And no man can respect himself who is living in more or less constant communion with bad thoughts and evil pictures of imaginatian. Suppose we grunt that we are not altogether responsible for our thoughts, but, by the complications of daily life, before we know it we have planned a sin; or, by Satan's foes beleaguered, we are thrust upon by pictures of iniquity. Still my proposition is true, that no such life could be a happy one. Could the master of a strong house be at peace, even if bolts and bars and granite strength kept all his foes at bay; if, ever and anon, the mob thrust the death's head at his windows? Aye, more, could he respect-himself if, now and then, as impure hearts do, he showed a face for parley, or cautiously, yet surely, invited one of the red-shifted horde within, to see how ha looked near by? The sunflower might say of wasps, and hornets, and bees: "Why do they pester me, and so hang about? " and the wasps would reply: "You enter-rain us, sir; you have what we love." And so the judge within man, true to his heaven-given instinct, makes reply to him pestered by bad thoughts: "There's something, sir, about you that these buzzards love!" I saw by Lake Leman the old castle of Chillon. Up above, the royal, tapestry-hung apartments of the Duke of Savoy and his gay bride; down below, the dungeon where Bonnivard was chained; where creeping things crawl forth to ogle at the visitors, and instruments of torture are; and I wondered if never, in some scene of revelry above, the groans of martyrs rose to stir the arras on gorgeous walls. There are those we meet in social life, the rooms of whose souls which are open to friends are fair as a palace. But alas! who shall tell us of the secret kept unseen? Not so pure heart. I do not pretend to say that ever on this earth we are freed from all solicitations of evil; but there is many a soul so " blessed" that, when winged thoughts of sin come flying to the windows, God's angel rises up, and draws the shutters to; when disturbing thoughts of hate, revenge, avarice, and pride draw near, God's angel meets them at the outer gate, and bids them all begone.

(E. J. Haynes.)Pure heart is "blest" in his relations with his fellow-man. Pure Heart is blest because he knows no envy of another's success jealousy at another's praise. Dear, simple old heart, it never occurs to him that there is any less of summer's sun for him because a million others bask in its beams. O King Great Heart! thyself no man's enemy, thou thinkest no man thine, but dost beam upon the world like the October sunset upon the harvest fields. "He shall see God." How? Thus. Mozart and his friend, the royal huntsman, went forth arm-in-arm to the fields. The wind came up heavily through the copse of trees. "Look!" says the hunter, "it will startle a hare!" "Listen!" says Mozart, "what a diapason from God's great organ!" A ]ark rose on soaring wing, with its own sweet song. "Look!" says the gamester. "what a shot!" "Ah!" says Mozart, "what would I give could I catch that thrill!" There be dull souls who cannot see nor hear. Are they sick? "Oh! what misfortune!" Are they bereaved? "Some enemy hath done this!" Are they well and prosperous? "Good luck!" Not so Pure Heart. He can see God's hand in every sorrow chastening for good; God's face in every blessing; God's smile in the morning light, the blossoming harvest, and the evening shade; His heart is attuned.

(E. J. Haynes.)

I. God is a pure Spirit, and invisible. It cannot be with our bodily eyes that we shall see Him.

II. They shall see Him. This word expresses immediate intuition of what is plainly offered review. Now we see through a glass, darkly. Wilt thou see God's wisdom, power, love, holiness, glory?

1. This is an appropriating vision.

2. It is an assimilating vision.

3. It is a satisfying vision.

III. How excellent the soul of man which is capable of such felicity!

IV. If such be the nature of the future blessedness, then a change of heart is requisite to enable us to enjoy it.

V. What gratitude do we owe to that God who has provided such a felicity for His children.

VI. What a source of consolation under the afflictions of life.

VII. This subject calls us to mourn for the folly of the children of men, who for toys barter away glory and immortality.

(H. Kollock, D. D.)

1. In the work of creation.

2. In the ordinances of the gospel.

3. In the dispensation of Providence.

4. In the day of judgment.

5. In heaven for ever.

(J. C. Edwards, M. A.)

A thing is pure when there is nothing in it out of harmony with its nature. Water is pure, air is pure, when they contain only their constituent elements, and in the right proportion. Gold is pure when it has been separated by fire from all foreign matter. The diamond is pure, the crystal is pure, when there is nothing in them which binders the refraction and reflection of light. It is thus with the heart, which is the emotional part of the soul. It is pure, when it loves only that which it ought to love.

(The Abbe Beutain.)

1. It may be easily understood that impurity of heart hinders the soul from seeing God. Under the power of perverse affections the mind sees nothing aright — nothing in its just relations and proportions. Least of all can the mind thus blinded in its highest faculties see God aright; it gets no inspiring and attractive perception of His glory. As earthly vapours, condensed into clouds and darkening the world with storms, hide from the outward sense the beauty and glory of the visible heaven, so sensual passions, grovelling affections, and the dominion of sin in the soul, all the habits of an impure and unbelieving mind, intervene as with impenetrable clouds, to shut off from the view and reach of the spiritual faculties the grand realities of that upper sphere, where the eternal relations of duty are and where God is.

2. This is further illustrated by remembering distinctly that the normal or right state of the mind — the state in which its faculties and susceptibilities are properly adjusted in relation to each other and in relation to their objects — is just what our Saviour means by purity in heart. As the normal condition of the eye is not when the optic nerve is paralysed or otherwise diseased, nor when the surface is covered by a film, nor when inflammation or a mote under the eyelids makes the light painful, but only when all obstruction or disease is absent, so the normal condition of the mind, as made for the knowledge of things invisible and eternal, is not when its sensibilities are perverted by selfishness, not when sin reigns within, but only when the heart is pure.We may now inquire, What is the blessedness of thus seeing God?

1. To see God is to see the central light which reveals the order and beauty of the universe. The unity of all created things is found only in their relation to God's power, to His love and wisdom, to His plan and government.

2. To see God is to see the fountain of all blessedness. Such intuition of God's glory is identical with the peace of God that passeth all understanding

3. Such an intuition of God as this promise assures to the pure in heart is that for which the soul was created. It is the soul's chief end, and therefore it is the highest blessedness of which the soul is capable.

(L. Bacon.)

JesusGalilee, JerusalemBlessed, Clean, Happy, Heart, Pure1. Jesus' sermon on the mount:
3. The Beattitudes;
13. the salt of the earth;
14. the light of the world.
17. He came to fulfill the law.
21. What it is to kill;
27. to commit adultery;
33. to swear.
38. He exhorts to forgive wrong,
43. to love our enemies;
48. and to labor after perfection.

Matthew 5:8

     1145   God, transcendent
     1466   vision
     5017   heart, renewal
     5362   justice, believers' lives
     5909   motives, importance
     6185   imagination, desires
     6606   access to God
     8271   holiness, purpose
     8326   purity, moral and spiritual
     8474   seeing God
     9105   last things
     9414   heaven, community of redeemed

Matthew 5:3-10

     4938   fate, final destiny
     7621   disciples, calling

Matthew 5:3-12

     1620   beatitudes, the
     2318   Christ, as prophet
     4020   life, of faith
     5874   happiness
     8117   discipleship, benefits

Matthew 5:3-48

     1660   Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 5:7-8

     8203   character

Agree with Thine Adversary
Eversley, 1861. Windsor Castle, 1867. St. Matthew v. 25, 26. "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." This parable our Lord seems to have spoken at least twice, as He did several others. For we find it also in the 12th …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

June 9. "Ye are the Light of the World" (Matt. v. 14).
"Ye are the light of the world" (Matt. v. 14). We are called the lights of the world, light-bearers, reflectors, candle-sticks, lamps. We are to be kindled ourselves, and then we will burn and give light to others. We are the only light the world has. The Lord might come down Himself and give light to the world, but He has chosen differently. He wants to send it through us, and if we don't give it the world will not have it. We should be giving light all the time to our neighbors. God does not put …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Eighth Beatitude
'Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'--MATT. v. 10. We have seen the description of the true subjects of the kingdom growing into form and completeness before our eyes in the preceding verses, which tell us what they are in their own consciousness, what they are in their longings, what they become in inward nature by God's gift of purity, how they move among men as angels of God, meek, merciful, peace-bringing. Is anything more needed …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Salt Without Savour
'Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.'--MATT. v. 13. These words must have seemed ridiculously presumptuous when they were first spoken, and they have too often seemed mere mockery and irony in the ages since. A Galilean peasant, with a few of his rude countrymen who had gathered round him, stands up there on the mountain, and says to them, 'You, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The First Beatitude
'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.'--MATT. v. 2. 'Ye are not come unto the mount that burned with fire, nor unto the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of "awful" words.' With such accompaniments the old law was promulgated, but here, in this Sermon on the Mount, as it is called, the laws of the Kingdom are proclaimed by the King Himself; and He does not lay them down with the sternness of those written on tables of stone. No rigid 'thou shalt' compels, no iron 'thou …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Second Beatitude
'Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.'--MATT. v. 4. An ordinary superficial view of these so-called Beatitudes is that they are simply a collection of unrelated sayings. But they are a great deal more than that. There is a vital connection and progress in them. The jewels are not flung down in a heap; they are wreathed into a chain, which whosoever wears shall have 'an ornament of grace about his neck.' They are an outgrowth from a common root; stages in the evolution of Christian …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Fourth Beatitude
'Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.'--MATT. v. 6. Two preliminary remarks will give us the point of view from which I desire to consider these words now. First, we have seen, in previous sermons, that these paradoxes of the Christian life which we call the Beatitudes are a linked chain, or, rather, an outgrowth from a common root. Each presupposes all the preceding. Now, of course, it is a mistake to expect uniformity in the process of building …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Fifth Beatitude
'Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.'--MATT. v. 7. THE divine simplicity of the Beatitudes covers a divine depth, both in regard to the single precepts and to the sequence of the whole. I have already pointed out that the first of the series Is to be regarded as the root and germ of all the subsequent ones. If for a moment we set it aside and consider only the fruits which are successively developed from it, we shall see that the remaining members of the sequence are arranged in …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Sixth Beatitude
'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.'--MATT. v. 8. AT first hearing one scarcely knows whether the character described in this great saying, or the promise held out, is the more inaccessible to men. 'The pure in heart': who may they be? Is there one of us that can imagine himself possessed of a character fitting him for the vision of God, or such as to make him bear with delight that dazzling blaze? 'They shall see God,' whom 'no man hath seen at any time, nor can see.' Surely …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Seventh Beatitude
'Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.' MATT. v. 9. This is the last Beatitude descriptive of the character of the Christian. There follows one more, which describes his reception by the world. But this one sets the top stone, the shining apex, upon the whole temple-structure which the previous Beatitudes had been gradually building up. You may remember that I have pointed out in previous sermons how all these various traits of the Christian life are deduced from …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The New Sinai
'And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain: and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him: 2. And He opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 5. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 6. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 7. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Lamp and the Bushel
'Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.'--Matt. v. 14-16. The conception of the office of Christ's disciples contained in these words is a still bolder one than that expressed by the preceding metaphor, which …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The New Form of the Old Law
'Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20. For I say …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Swear not at All'
'Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 34. But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: 35. Nor by the earth; for it is His footstool; neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. 36. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. 37. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Non-Resistance
'Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39. But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.'--MATT. v. 38-42. The old law …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Law of Love
'Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45. That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Redemption
"Ye shall therefore be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect."--MATT. V. 48. "Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver from the body of this death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."--ROM. VII. 24, 25. We have studied the meaning of reconciliation through the Cross. We have said that to be reconciled to God means to cease to be the object of the Wrath of God, that is, His hostility to sin. We can only cease to be the objects of this Divine Wrath by identifying ourselves …
J. H. Beibitz—Gloria Crucis

On that which is Written in the Gospel, Matt. v. 16, "Even So Let Your Light Shine Before Men, that they May See Your Good Works,
1. It is wont to perplex many persons, Dearly beloved, that our Lord Jesus Christ in His Evangelical Sermon, after He had first said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven;" [1934] said afterwards, "Take heed that ye do not your righteousness [1935] before men to be seen of them." [1936] For so the mind of him who is weak in understanding is disturbed, is desirous to obey both precepts, and distracted by diverse, and contradictory …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

On the Words of the Gospel, Matt. v. 22, "Whosoever Shall Say to his Brother, Thou Fool, Shall be in Danger of the Hell of Fire. "
1. The section of the Holy Gospel which we just now heard when it was read, must have sorely alarmed us, if we have faith; but those who have not faith, it alarmed not. And because it does not alarm them, they are minded to continue in their false security, as knowing not how to divide and distinguish the proper times of security and fear. Let him then who is leading now that life which has an end, fear, that in that life which is without end, he may have security. Therefore were we alarmed. For …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

Upon Our Lord's SermonOn the Mount
Discourse 3 "Blessed are the pure in heart: For they shall see God. "Blessed are the peacemakers: For they shall be called the children of God. "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." …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The Christian Aim and Motive.
Preached January 4, 1852. THE CHRISTIAN AIM AND MOTIVE. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."--Matthew v. 48. There are two erroneous views held respecting the character of the Sermon on the Mount. The first may be called an error of worldly-minded men, the other an error of mistaken religionists. Worldly-minded men--men that is, in whom the devotional feeling is but feeble--are accustomed to look upon morality as the whole of religion; and they suppose …
Frederick W. Robertson—Sermons Preached at Brighton

A Call to Holy Living
Too many persons judge themselves by others; and if upon the whole they discover that they are no worse than the mass of mankind, they give themselves a mark of special commendation; they strike a sort of average amongst their neighbors, and if they cannot pretend to be the very best, yet, if they are not the very worst, they are pretty comfortable. There are certain scribes and Pharisees among their acquaintance, who fast thrice in the week, and pay tithes of all they possess, and they look upon …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872

Persistency in Wrong Doing.
6th Sunday after Trinity. S. Matt. v. 25. "Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him." INTRODUCTION.--I spoke to you the Sunday before last about the obstinacy of persisting in an opinion after you have good cause to believe that this opinion is unjust, or unreasonable. I am going to speak to you to-day of another form of obstinacy. SUBJECT.--My subject is Persistency in doing wrong, because you have begun wrong. This is only another form of the same fault. The other …
S. Baring-Gould—The Village Pulpit, Volume II. Trinity to Advent

"That the Righteousness of the Law Might be Fulfilled in Us,"
Rom. viii. 4.--"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us," &c. "Think not," saith our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, "that I am come to destroy the law,--I am come to fulfil it," Matt. v. 17. It was a needful caveat, and a very timeous advertisement, because of the natural misapprehensions in men's minds of the gospel. When free forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting, is preached in Jesus Christ, without our works; when the mercy of God is proclaimed in its freedom and fulness, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

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