cannot have peace without it. I am always saying to you, in one form or another,
He is industrious. He neither shirks his duty, nor wastes his time, nor scamps his work. He has an industrious heart.
He is kind. He is loving to his wife, tender to his children, faithful to his comrades, considerate for his servants, gentle to the weak, sympathetic to the sick. He has a kind heart.
He is compassionate. He pities the poor, yearns over the Backslider, fights for the Salvation of sinners in public, and cries to God for their deliverance in private. He has a soul-loving heart.
He is a holy man. His secret life is holy. In thought and feeling, conversation and disposition, he is able to please God and do His blessed Will. He has a Pure Heart.
Is not such a heart desirable, my Comrades? I thank God for as many of you as have been brought, by Divine Grace, into the possession of this beautiful treasure, but I want you all to come up to this standard.
I want you all to enter this holy state.
2. But, further, a Pure Heart will give you Peace. It is a condition of peace. You cannot have peace without it. I am always saying to you, in one form or another, that you must not expect a life of uninterrupted gladness in this world. It cannot be. Our imperfect bodies, with all their pains and weaknesses; the temptations of the Devil, and the miseries of a world in rebellion against God, prevent anything like a life of unmixed rejoicing for you and me.
But peace, "the peace of God, the peace that passeth all understanding," is your birthright, and with a Pure Heart, the treasure shall be yours. I say again, that while you are here you must have certain strife. You cannot help it. You will have strife with the Devil. War to the knife with hell. You will have strife with wicked men. They will fight you because you are for righteousness and God, and for the deliverance of men from their power.
But, Hallelujah! in the heart that is purified by the Holy Spirit, and sprinkled with the Blood of the Lamb, the strife with God has ceased, the war with conscience is ended, the fear of death and hell is over. The soul possessed of a Pure Heart has entered "the rest that remaineth to the people of God."
Do you enjoy this rest, my Comrades? Is the inward strife over? Oh, make haste, and let the Blessed Spirit, who waits to sanctify you wholly, cast out the enemies of your soul!
It is not your poverties, nor your persecutions, nor your afflictions, nor your ignorances, nor ever so many other things all put together, that prevent your perfect peace. Sin is the enemy; and when malice and indolence, and ambition