A Clean Heart
George Asbury McLaughlin
Chapter 9: The Popular Error
The chief error of every age is to make religion consist of mere externals. Outside religion
to the neglect of inside religion is the popular error of religionists of this and of every age thus far.
The most bitter foes that Jesus had to encounter were those who had this notion of religion.
The churchmen of his day expended all their religious zeal and effort on the externals of religion.
Prayers, tithes, fasting, religious dress, keeping of feast days, zeal in making converts, ostentatious
giving, attendance on church and the rehearsal of their own excellencies made up the religion of
the day.
Many of these things were right in themselves when they became the expression of a pure
heart, but in the case of these churchmen they were offered as a substitute for a clean heart. Jesus
said, "These things ought ye to have done and not to have left the other undone."
Since this is still the great mistake of the majority of religious devotees of our own time
also, we may well notice what Jesus said to these people who did not believe in the religion of a
clean heart, "How do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your
inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools did not he that made that which is
without, make that which is within also?"
There are many such fools among religionists today who have no more idea of religion than
these churchmen. To them we would quote the words of Jesus, "Did not he that made that which is
without make that which is within also?" Is not the inner man the real man? Is not the thought and
motive and passion world within greater and more extensive than the word and act world without?
And is not this man within the author of all the words and acts of life?
Jesus said that these religionists who made much of the outward and little or nothing of the
inward were like beautiful sepulchers, whitewashed and clean without, but full of uncleanness
within. Are not those the same today, who neglect heart cleansing no matter however zealous they
may be in their religious performances?
This seems a hard saying, but it was what Jesus said. The question of heart cleansing is
looked upon as fanaticism by the majority of the church. The chief part of their religion is to go to
church and pay their dues. The Romanists do penance, count their beads, say or read their prayers.
The heathen offer sacrifices and torture their shrinking flesh. The nominal Protestant as a rule
simply joins the church and leads a decent moral life, but does not expect a clean heart or give his
time to any consideration of the subject. It is the old Phariseeism of every age simply manifesting
itself.
Culture veneering and whitewashing; growth, naturalism, evolution and other forms of
devilution are substituted for heart cleansing and furnishing.
It is getting to be considered the thing to teach the children etiquette, dancing and the other
fads of "polite society," instead of teaching them Jesus' method -- the blessing of a clean heart. The
result is that in many so-called Christian homes the children know all about the steps taught by the
dancing master, who do not know the steps to God. Many parents who belong to the church never
have family prayer, but their children know all about the frippery of society. Doing has taken the
place of being; fleshly activity has substituted itself for heart purity and culture. Testimony for
Jesus has almost faded out in many churches and in the place of it is a narration of what "we have
done" or want to do -- mostly the latter. Some churches have become so engaged in doing, as a
substitute for being, that they have forgotten what a real testimony for Jesus is. We asked the
people in a meeting a short time ago to tell just what the Lord was doing for them, as we wished to
know how to go to work to help them. Th ere was not a testimony given to what Jesus was doing,
but a declaration of what they wanted to do and be. One "wanted to be a consistent Christian."
Another "wanted to be faithful." Another "wanted to gain heaven at last." And so it went on. The
whole meeting was an expression of want which was very painful to us, to hear. To think that these
people had been converted so long and Jesus had done nothing for them was more than we could
believe. Since then, we have observed much and have discovered that definite testimony to the
power of Jesus in the heart is becoming one of "the lost arts." This may seem severe. We wish it
were not true, but, alas, it is! Doing, or a desire to do, has taken the place of being. It is one of the
alarming features of the religion of the day.
Jesus declared that we must first make the tree good and then the fruit would be good. No
tree can be made good by hanging good fruit on the outside. No man can transform a sour crab
apple tree into a peach tree by hanging peaches on the outside. And yet that is just what the
majority of the church seem to be trying to do. They are supposing that the performance of good
works makes a man good, instead of seeing that a good man performs good works because it is his
nature, while a bad man sometimes does them because it seems to him the best thing for his present
advantage. Jesus proposed to make the tree good, and then it would not be necessary to hang good
fruit on it, for it would put the fruit there without effort as a matter of nature. The religion of Jesus
begins on the inside and works out, while the religion of man begins on the outside and tries to
work in.
This is the test as to whether our religion is of Christ or of human invention -- the place
where it begins. "Know all men by these presents" is a legal phrase with which deeds and legal
instruments are usually prefaced. This means that these present writings or this legal instrument is
a sure indication or proof that all that is written therein is what men can rely on. So it is here
"Know all men that only the religion that begins within and works out is of God." If any new order
of religion or ism shall arise at any time that does not begin in the heart and work out, let all men
know that it is not divine but simply a base imitation. Solomon says, "Keep thy heart with all
diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." He here likens the heart to a fountain out of which
flow the streams of thoughts, words and actions. Just as a man would be foolish to stand outside a
fountain and purify the water as it came out and thus expect to make the fountain pure, so would a
man as successfully purify the heart b y simply attending to the outward life.
Some years ago the writer had a clock that would not run. The pendulum refused to move,
and the hands were motionless. He might have varnished the case, but that would have done no
good. He might have frescoed and beautifully painted the dial, but that would have accomplished
nothing. He might have gilded the hands, but still it would have done no good. This is what many
are trying to do in their religious performances. They are varnishing the case -- going through the
ordinances of religion. They are painting the face -- smiling and flattering others while their hearts
are not right. They are gilding the hands -- full of works of benevolence which are right in their
place but can never make the heart right.
But the writer found that the inside of the clock was unclean and that all the work on the
outside was wasted if the inside was not right. He therefore took off the dial and hands and took
out the works, and cleaned and replaced them, and then the hands went all right. Wooden hands
would go better with the inside right than golden hands with the heart of the clock unclean. That
clock would run down when there was a cold snap, and had to be put over a hot air register to be
made to run. But as soon as it was set back on the shelf where it was cold, it refused to go. There
are many people like that clock. They run down very easily when there is a cold time in the church.
They get revived in the winter revival and then cool off before the next winter's "protracted effort"
takes place. The trouble is, the heart needs cleaning. They have to be all the time watching their
words and acts and are under constant condemnation. What they want, like the clock, is to have the
inside fixed. We heard of a colored man who refused to believe that the trouble with his watch
was on the inside; he insisted that it was only the hands that needed fixing, and that the watch
repairer was attempting to rob him when he said the inside needed fixing; and there are many who
act that way today. They seem to think him their enemy who insists that they need a clean heart.
Jesus who knew just what the heart of man is, said of it, "Out of the heart proceed, evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, blasphemies; these are the things
that defile a man." We are accustomed to hear much said today about the wickedness of our great
cities. The wickedness of our great cities and little cities, and of the whole world, is in men's
hearts, and all the expressions of it in thought and words are simply the working out of what was
inside all the time.
The effort of all the laws and nearly all the religions of the world is to get men to behave
better than their hearts want to behave. And the effort is a prodigious one -- to behave better than
the heart inclines to do. All the crimes and sins of society are born in men's sinful hearts. If any
religion is to be of benefit to man, it must have its chief sway in the heart. There never was a more
successful wile of the devil than this -- to keep men's minds on the externals of religion to such an
extent as to keep their attention from the heart. The result is that there is a cry that religion is
declining. The decay of genuine old-time revivals, the decrease of membership in the churches, the
decline of family religion as witnessed by the increasing number of deserted family altars, the
growing Sabbath desecration, the increasing hunger of the professed church for the theater and
dance, the small number who attend the means of grace in our churches, are all indications that the
heart is wrong. They are certain symptoms of the heart disease which higher criticism, the
preaching of evolution, the increasing number of organizations in the church do not check, but, like
quack medicines, they only aggravate the disease and kill the patient.
There must soon be a revival of heart religion in the present church organizations or God
will take these candlesticks out of their place and give them to the keeping of some other whom he
will raise up for the purpose.
The fig tree that cumbers the ground will soon be cut off and some other will take its place,
for without heart religion the church and the world are dead.
If religion in the heart is not a reality, if it is not the supernatural power and presence of
God, then there is no need of any religion, for the world all about us can duplicate and practice all
the morality of the church without religion, as well as the church that has no real heart religion.
As long as the world stands there is a place for heart religion and God will always have it
in the world. It is the only hope of the world. Let us each stand for heart religion, and let us
remember that the greater part of religion is on the inside, and hence needs great attention.
Continue to Chapter 10: How To Obtain a Clean Heart
