"The pure in heart" ANNIE M. KNOTT, CSD         Chief among those gems of thought known as the Beatitudes, is this saying of the Master, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." Teachers in Christian Science Sunday Schools may well rejoice at the opportunity given them to lift the thought of their pupils to the spiritual sense of being, found in the opening of the Sermon on the Mount, where the law and the gospel are so wonderfully linked together by Christ Jesus, showing that obedience to the Commandments is only possible where spiritual sense dominates material belief, and where God is known and loved.          The word pure is thus defined in the Standard Dictionary: "Free from mixture or contact with that which weakens, impairs, or pollutes; free from adulteration; unvitiated; unmixed; clear; clean; hence, genuine; sincere; stainless; free from moral defilement; guiltless; innocent; chaste; unsullied." Of old, St. Paul said to young Timothy, "Keep thyself pure;" and Mrs. Eddy says, "It is chastity and purity, in contrast with the downward tendencies and earthward gravitation of sensualism and impurity, which really attest the divine origin and operation of Christian Science" (Science and Health, p. 272). The necessity for purity has been recognized to some extent in all religious teaching, but unfortunately it has in too many instances been shorn of its true meaning and value by material sense. Against this false sense Christ Jesus contended when he said: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also." The Pharisees had complained that Jesus and his disciples neglected the ceremonial washing before meals; hence this sharp rebuke.          The cleansing for which the Master contended is aptly characterized by Paul as "the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;" or, to quote Mrs. Eddy again, "spiritual baptism and regeneration" (Science and Health, p. 242). This purification removes the elements of earthliness which "weaken, impair, or pollute" both mind and body. Without this cleansing process the impure thoughts of mortals are liable to break out at any time in wicked deeds or in bodily sickness. There is no safety and no happiness for the one who cherishes evil thoughts until these are washed away by the truth.          To all who are "pure in heart" comes the promise of the Master that they shall "see God" — which also means that they shall see good — at every step of the way. Even in medical practice the demand at the present time is for absolute cleanliness, but unless this go deeper than the physical it cannot establish or maintain a health that is worthwhile. Where the demand for purity springs up in the depths of consciousness, in recognition of the absolute purity of one infinite Father-Mother God, this demand will extend to all the avenues of our being, and will cast out every thing (and every thought) "that defileth, . . . or maketh a lie." The cleansing that stops short of one's thinking can never bring health to mind or body. With purity of heart, — that which springs from the consciousness of spiritual being, — temptation has no power; the clarified vision penetrates the mists of sense and sees God, good, forever triumphant; sees the jeweled gates of the city of Spirit, shutting out all sin, pain, sorrow, and death. Then is seen the life-giving stream which flows from enthroned Life and Love, the thought of which is expressed with great clearness in Wesley's beautiful hymn: Let the healing streams abound: Make and keep me pure within. Thou of life the fountain art, Freely let me take of thee: Spring thou up within my heart, Rise to all eternity.   "'The pure in heart'" by Annie M. Knott, CSD Christian Science Sentinel, June 12, 1909

 

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