Mark 7:20

Thus then it is not meat that makes men unclean, but wickedness, which works in us the passions which come from within; wherefore it goes on: And he said, That which cometh out of a man, that defileth a man.

How weary the Savior must have been of the idle prattle of the scribes and Pharisees! They are forever talking about washing hands before meals and washing pots and cups—and He is all the while occupied with the great griefs and sins of men and how He can save them from the wrath to come. He must have felt as some true physician feels who looks upon a patient, marks the serious nature of the sickness and plans a remedy—while some quack is boasting his nostrums or performing ridiculous signs and passes over the dying man.

The corruption of human nature is a universal disease. It affects not only a man's heart, will, and conscience, but his mind, memory, and understanding. The very same person who is quick and clever in worldly things, will often utterly fail to comprehend the simplest truths of Christianity. He will often be unable to grasp the plainest reasonings of the Gospel. He will see no meaning in the clearest statements of evangelical doctrine. They will sound to him either foolish or mysterious.

The corruption of human nature is a universal disease. It affects not only a man's heart, will, and conscience, but his mind, memory, and understanding. The very same person who is quick and clever in worldly things, will often utterly fail to comprehend the simplest truths of Christianity. He will often be unable to grasp the plainest reasonings of the Gospel. He will see no meaning in the clearest statements of evangelical doctrine. They will sound to him either foolish or mysterious. He will listen to them like one listening to a foreign language, catching a word here and there, but not seeing the drift of the whole. "The world by wisdom knows not God." (1 Cor. 1:21.) It hears, but does not understand. We must pray daily for the teaching of the Holy Spirit, if we would make progress in the knowledge of divine things. Without Him, the mightiest intellect and the strongest reasoning powers will carry us but a little way. In reading the Bible and hearing sermons, everything depends on the spirit in which we read and hear. A humble, teachable, child-like frame of mind is the grand secret of success. Happy is he who often says with David, "Teach me Your statutes." (Psalm 119:64.) Such an one will understand as well as hear. We see, in the second place, from this passage, that the heart is the chief source of defilement and impurity in God's sight . Moral purity does not depend on washing or not washing — touching things or not touching them — eating things or not eating them, as the Scribes and Pharisees taught. "There is nothing from outside a man, that entering into him can defile him — but the things which come out of him, these are what defile the man." There is a deep truth in these words which is frequently overlooked. Our original sinfulness and natural inclination to evil are seldom sufficiently considered.

How weary the Savior must have been of the idle prattle of the scribes and Pharisees! They are forever talking about washing hands before meals and washing pots and cups—and He is all the while occupied with the great griefs and sins of men and how He can save them from the wrath to come. He must have felt as some true physician feels who looks upon a patient, marks the serious nature of the sickness and plans a remedy—while some quack is boasting his nostrums or performing ridiculous signs and passes over the dying man. To serious compassion, imposture is provoking and sincere truthfulness is grieved by the mockeries of pretense. The dear Savior, knowing the Truth about the whole thing and solemnly concerned about it, is pained with the talk of these pretenders of learning and religion who, knowing nothing at all about the real mischief, professed to purge away defilement by the washing