Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Ver. 8. Blessed are the pure in heart] That wash their hearts from wickedness, that they may be saved, Jeremiah 4:14. Not their hands only, with Pilate, but their inwards, as there; "How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?" בקרבף These, however the world censure them (for every fool hath a bolt to shoot at that purity, which yet they profess and pray for), are the Lord's darlings, that purify themselves (in some truth of resemblance) as God is pure.
" Pura Deus mens est, pura vult mente vocari:
Et puras iussit pondus habere preces. "
He will take up in a poor, but it must be a pure heart; in a homely, but it must be a cleanly house; in a low, but not in a loathsome lodging. God's Spirit loves to lie clean. Now the heart of man is the most unclean and loathsome thing in the world, a den of dragons, a dungeon of darkness, a sty and stable of all foul lusts, a cage of unclean and ravenous birds. The ambassadors of the Council of Constance, being sent to Pope Benedict XI (In Hist. Concil. Constant.), when he, laying his hand upon his heart, said Hic est Arca Noae, Here is Noah's ark; they tartly and truly replied, In Noah's ark were few men, but many beasts; intimating, that there were seven abominations in that heart, wherein, he would have them to believe, were lodged all the laws of right and religion. This is true of every mother's child of us. The natural heart is Satan's throne, he filleth it from corner to corner, Acts 5:3, he sits abrood upon it, and hatcheth all noisome and loathsome lusts, Ephesians 2:2. There (as in the sea) is that Leviathan, and there are creeping things innumerable, crawling bugs and baggage vermin, Psalms 104:25,26. Now as many as shall see God to their comfort, must cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the fear of God, 2 Corinthians 7:1. This is the mighty work of the Holy Spirit, which therefore we must pray and strive for; beseeching God to break the heavens and come down, Isaiah 64:1, yea, to break open the prison doors of our hearts by his Spirit, and to cleanse this Augaean stable. He comes as a mighty rushing wind, and blows away those litters of lusts, as once the east wind of God did all the locusts of Egypt into the Red Sea. And this done, he blows upon God's garden, the heart, and causeth the spices thereof so to flow forth that Christ saith, "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice," Song of Solomon 4:16; Song of Solomon 5:1 .
For they shall see God] Here in a measure, and as they are able; hereafter in all fulness and perfection: they shall see as they are seen. Here, as in a glass obscurely, or as an old man through spectacles, 1 Corinthians 13:12, εν αινιγματι, but there face to face. Happier herein than Solomon's servants, for a greater than Solomon is here. A good man is like a good angel, ever beholding the face of God. He looketh upon them with singular complacency, and they upon him to their infinite comfort: He seeth no iniquity in them, they no indignation in him. He looketh upon them in the face of Christ; and although no man hath seen God at any time, John 1:18, yet God, "who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts," saith the apostle, "to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," 2 Corinthians 4:6. Pure glass or crystal hath light coming through: not so stone, iron, or other grosser bodies. In like sort, the pure in heart see God, he shines through them: and as the pearl by the beams of the sun becomes bright and radiant as the sun itself, so "we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord," 2 Corinthians 3:18 .