October 27

"O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved." Jeremiah 4:14.

THE words remind us that sin is of a defiling nature. It is therefore held forth by every kind of uncleanness; by wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores; by leprosy and the plague; by mire and dirt; by the rottenness and corruption of the grave. It defiles every thing it touches. In consequence of it the whole creation groaneth; and all our eyes behold is doomed to perish like the house of the leper, under the law, because of the infection of the inhabitant. "O do not," says God, "the abominable thing that I hate." "My soul loathed them." How great must that evil be which can induce the Creator to loathe the work of his own hands—the Father of all to loathe his very offspring! And even the God of love, the very essence of mercy, to say to them at last, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!" O my soul, does sin appear to thee as it does to him, exceeding sinful?

Secondly, that the purification we need extends to the heart. "Wash thy heart from wickedness." The reason is, because this is the very seat of the pollution. Some, who know their lives are open to censure, will yet plead for the goodness of their hearts. But a good heart will always produce a good life, as naturally as a good tree yieldeth good fruit. Others contend that our corruption is not innate, but acquired; derived, not from within, but from without. Yet, says the faithful and true Witness, "From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man." Hence,

"No outward forms can make us clean, The leprosy lies deep within."

And we must be pure in heart. How is this to be ascertained? By our deliverance from the love of sin. The love of sin defiles even more than the practice. But every man that is renewed in the spirit of his mind not only avoids sin, but hates it. He feels it to be his burden and his grief. And while any of the abomination continues adherent to him, he exclaims, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Thirdly, this purification is connected with salvation. "Wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved." It is necessary to salvation. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Indeed, in such a state, and with such a disposition, the enjoyment of heaven is as impossible as the attunment. The exclusion, therefore, is not arbitrary, but unavoidable. It will certainly terminate in salvation. This is not only fully implied in the declaration, but it is made the matter of express promise: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." It is a part of salvation. The man who has experienced it is not only an heir, but a subject of the blessedness. He has not indeed the perfection of the being, but he has more than the title and the pledge—he has the beginning. Being made free from sin, and become the servant of God, he has his fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.