“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” Does this benediction apply to me? Assuredly not if my words and deeds are not pure, and assuredly not also if my thoughts and desires are not pure. For it is written that without holiness no man shall see the Lord; and again, that every one that bath this hope, of seeing the Lord Jesus as He is and of being made like unto Him, purifieth himself even as He is pure.”
I have been baptized into Christ and made a member of His Body, and therefore a child of God, and a temple of the Holy Ghost; and shall I ruin myself and lose all this great good for the miserable gratification which impurity in thought, or word, or deed. may perhaps afford for the moment, but for the moment only? Shall I receive the grace of God in vain, and deprive myself also of all that God has promised, because I allow myself to be led by others, or by the naughtiness of my own heart, to indulge in a form of evil which I must myself despise, and which will utterly ruin all happiness and peace both now and evermore?
It is hard to fling this temptation from us and to fight unceasingly against it. But whoever shrank from doing what was right and good because it was hard? Let such a one stand aside, for if he cannot take up this cross he cannot be a disciple of Christ the Lord. But if hard, it is not impossible. No, it rests with me, and with me alone, whether I shall be free or not. What must then be done?
Be thoroughly in earnest with yourself in this matter. Do not let your mind dwell on such matters, but resolutely divert your thoughts from them always. Keep from looking at, or listening to, anything which may arouse thoughts of this kind. In all times of temptation pray yet again and again, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; Give me the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
It may be that all this does not concern you. If so thank God, and pray for those to whom it does apply.
Prayer
Collect for Sixth Sunday after Epiphany.
O God, whose blessed Son was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil, and make us the sons of God, and heirs of eternal life; Grant us, we beseech thee, that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves, even as he is pure; that, when he shall appear again with power and great glory, we may be made like unto him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where with thee, O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost, he liveth and reigneth ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Cathedral Close 
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