Godliness Part 5

Now I say, this is a very G.o.d-dishonoring experience, and there must be something wrong somewhere when this is the case. There must be something wrong either with the suppliants or the Giver. Oh! I feel often what a deeply G.o.d-dishonoring thing it is when Christians meet, as they frequently do, up and down the country, to pray for a revival, to pray for a specific thing in their Churches and in their families, and it never comes.

Some years ago, when the wave of revival was sweeping over Ireland and America, you know the Churches in this country held united prayer- meetings to pray that it might come to England; but it did not come, and the infidels wagged their heads, and wrote in their newspapers: "See, the Christians' G.o.d is either deaf or gone a-hunting, for they have had prayer-meetings all over the land for a revival, and it has not come." Oh! how my cheeks burned with shame as I thought of it; how I mourned over it! I knew it was not because our G.o.d was asleep --not because His arm was shortened--not because His bowels of compa.s.sion did not yearn over sinners--not because he could not have poured out His Spirit and have given us the same glorious times of refreshing they had in other places. _That was not the reason_.

There was only one reason, and that was, that His people asked amiss.

They did not understand the conditions of prevailing prayer. They did not fulfil them. If they had prayed till now, and maintained the same att.i.tude, they would not have got the answer, because there are conditions to these promises, as to all other promises; and we may pray ourselves black and blue in the face if we do not comply with the conditions. G.o.d will never move an inch to meet us, and never fulfil the promises in our experience. May you, who are awake to perceive your responsibilities and obligations in respect to the perishing world, take heed to my words, and take home what I say--think about it, pray over it, try to realize it is the Lord's message to you. These are only a t.i.the of the glorious promises with respect to prayer. There are plenty of them in the Book, in which G.o.d has bound Himself to answer the faithful prayers of His people.

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

Now, why is it that the great ma.s.s of professing Christians do not get answers to their prayers? In the first place, they are not the CHARACTERS to whom G.o.d has made the promises. These promises are made to G.o.d's saints--to those who keep His commandments, who walk in the light and have fellowship with Him through the Holy Spirit, and, therefore, the Spirit can make intercession for them. How can the Spirit make intercession for a man when He is not in him? Those who are walking in the light can see what sort of requests to put up, when to put them up, and how to put them up; they see it all, because they are _in the light_. Such people do ask, and receive. But, alas! it is because there are so few of these that G.o.d's character is traduced every day, and that infidels laugh at us and at our G.o.d, too.

Now, do not go round about, and try to put this off you. Who are these promises made to? I challenge anybody to find me promises in this Book, taken with the context (except in the case of repenting sinners, who are a special cla.s.s, and met with special promises), except to saints. There are no promises of answer to prayer, except to this cla.s.s of character. These promises are not made to everybody, are they? The prayer of the wicked is an abomination to G.o.d, except it be his prayer when he is forsaking his wickedness. Then that prayer is not an abomination; but all other prayers of the wicked are. These promises are made to righteous people--to people who are:

First, _in fellowship with G.o.d_. "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you;"--having been brought into living fellowship by a living faith, the promises are made to those people who MAINTAIN that union--who walk in it, who live in it, and who avail themselves of the opportunities and privileges which Jesus has bestowed upon them by virtue of that union.

Now, you see, friends, it is not enough that you were _once_ in union with Jesus, in order to get answers to your prayers. I am afraid there are thousands in a backslidden state. They have let go the grasp of faith; they are not abiding in Christ; they are abiding _out of Him_, and yet they are constantly praying and wondering why G.o.d does not answer their prayers. Don't you see, the first condition is wanting. There is no possible way of approach to the Father but through the Son. All prayers are an abomination to G.o.d which do not go up to Him through His Son, and in His Son, except such as those of Cornelius, who never heard of Christ; but to people who have ever had the light and known His Son, no prayers while out of living union with His Son are accepted. And that does not mean saying, "For the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ." It does not matter much what people _say_. G.o.d never pays any attention to people's words; it is what they mean and feel that He pays attention to; and He knows when people really offer their prayers in union with His Son. They are not in union, and, therefore, their prayers never rise any higher than the room in which they offer them. They hardly get out of their mouths; G.o.d never hears them. They are drowned and buried in their own throats.

Oh! you young converts, never drop out of living union with Jesus.

Keep in it--hold it fast--walk in it, and you will get answers to your prayers every day. You will be as sure of it as if you saw G.o.d doing what you ask, and heard Him speaking to you. You will be able to say, "I know that Thou hearest me always." Bless His name! Those who abide in Him can say that in their measure.

The next condition of prevailing prayer, is--_obedience to the light_. Now, what does it mean to walk in obedience? Well, it does _not_ mean, searching this New Testament to find out how little of G.o.d's grace will get you into Heaven! It does not mean, running round to see what this person says and the other person says about such and such a text, in order that you may escape from the real, practical meaning of the text! Such people are hypocrites at heart, whoever they are; or at least, insincere. They don't want to know G.o.d's will; they would much rather not know it. They want to get away from the plain, practical, common-sense meaning of the text, and then they say, "It doesn't mean exactly what it says," and "It should be interpreted so-and-so;" and they stroke themselves down, and try to make themselves feel comfortable when they are traitors at heart.

_That is not walking in the light_.

Walking in the light is like walking in the sun--not running behind a pillar there, and a tree yonder, to get away from the light. It is coming right out, and saying, "Now, Lord Jesus; I want to know Thy will. Lord, pour Thy light upon me. I am prepared to follow it, even though it is to the block and to the stake."

First, desire to have the light. Oh! it makes my heart ache--I was going to say boil--with righteous indignation, in jealousy for G.o.d's honor, to think that He should be so traduced and blasphemed by those who profess to love Him--who try to make out that they get wrong for want of light. Nothing of the kind. Here is plenty of light; but you must say, "Yes, Lord, I am willing to have it, even if it condemns me. If it condemns my heart, my head, Lord, pour it on me. If it condemns my life, pour it on me. If it condemns those companions, those indulgences, pour it on me: I will give them up. If it condemns my business, pour it on me: I will abandon such business, and sooner die in the workhouse than continue in it. If it condemns my family relations, I will come out from them, and follow Thee." The Lord will always answer such a soul as that. He will put His finger down on this sore spot and the other, and He will tell you what to do, and you will be as sure of it as if you heard His audible voice. What does it mean to walk in the light? Obey His voice. Don't stop to confer with flesh and blood, but, as Paul did, get up, and set off to commence the career which your Master commands. Paul did not stop to confer with flesh and blood. He did not stop to reckon what it would cost him, but on he went, and never stops, until he reaches the block. _That_ is walking in the light--obeying--not standing, quibbling with the Lord about it; not saying, "Oh! but,"--but _doing_ it.

Oh! friends, no matter who preaches another Gospel to you; no matter who comes with the doctrine that you can be accepted of G.o.d--be a saint on any other conditions. For Christ's sake and your soul's sake, don't believe them. As the apostle John says: "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into _your_ house, neither bid him G.o.d speed." You say, "But then it is such a costly sacrifice." It is, in one sense; but when you have paid the price, when you have made the sacrifice, when you have entered upon the road, the joy, the light, the power, and the glory are worth a hundred times as much. Did any man that ever got the Pearl of great price feel that he had given too much for it, even if he had given all that he had? _Never!_ Martyrs and confessors have gloried in the possession of it while they have writhed on the rack and in the flames, and you never heard one solitary testimony that any man or woman of G.o.d ever thought that they had paid too highly for it. Never! Do you want to have your prayers answered? That is the way. Walk so that your own heart condemns you not. The obedient child that lives in complacent affection with its parent has no fear in coming up to ask for favors. It knows it will get them.

Its own heart does not condemn it. "If our own heart condemn us not, _then_ have we confidence toward G.o.d." I defy any man to separate confidence and obedience. If you will not be obedient, you cannot have confidence. I challenge any Christian here to tell me that he can go up to the throne of G.o.d in faith for any blessing, when his own heart condemns him. He knows he cannot. HE HAS FIRST TO GET THAT STATE OF CONDEMNATION TAKEN AWAY before he can exercise faith for any blessing. Walk in the light, and then you shall have fellowship with Him, and His blood will cleanse you from all sin, and the Spirit will teach you how to pray, and what to pray for, which the great ma.s.s of professors know nothing about.

Further, the _leading, teaching, and urging of the Holy Ghost_ is the next condition of effectual prayer. We might call these conditions a four-linked chain, connecting our souls with the very heart of G.o.d. First, fellowship with Jesus; second, obedience to His commands, walking in the light; third, the intercession of the indwelling Spirit; and fourth, the exercise of faith; and if you miss any one of these links, your prayers are done for. You may have all the other three, but if you miss one, you will not get answers. It will cut communion, and there will be no response.

I am afraid a good many professors do not know what the Spirit of intercession means. They do not know anything about the Spirit making intercession for them with groanings that cannot be uttered. When we get more of this Spirit of intercessory prayer in parents, we shall see more spiritual children born. Now, the Holy Spirit says, here we know not what to pray for as we ought, unless the Spirit teaches; hence people are constantly, as James says, asking and not receiving, because they ask amiss. "Ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your l.u.s.ts"--that means, your earthly desires, affections, purposes, bound by the horizon of earth.

Now, I believe that this is the great reason why thousands of Christians pray and never, get answers. They ARE SELFISH IN THEIR PRAYERS; they are earthy; they ask amiss, that they may consume it upon their earthly desires, affections, and propensities. Mothers tell me that they have prayed for their children for years, and not got one of them converted. I say, "More the pity; more the shame on you." Why? Because they prayed merely selfish, instinctive prayers, because they were _their_ children, or because they wanted them to be religions, so that they would not go into sin, or bring disgrace or misery upon the family, or it would be so nice to have them religious; but they don't want them to be righteous over much; they don't want them to be so given up to G.o.d as to cut off the vanities and fooleries of this world, and to give themselves up wholly to Christ--that is too much; but just religion enough to make them a comfort to themselves. Would _you_ answer such prayers _if you were G.o.d?_ Hundreds and thousands of prayers are put up every day that go no deeper and no higher than that, if the motives were a.n.a.lyzed--and the Holy Ghost _does a.n.a.lyze_. I am afraid many wives pray for their husbands on the same tack. They are not troubled that their husbands are living in disobedience to G.o.d, squandering their time, talents, and money, and robbing the kingdom of Jesus Christ of what they might be doing for it;--the agonizing consideration is, that, if religious, they would spend so much more time at home; that they are wasting the money, instead of laying it up for the children; and that, if they were religious, all this would be right. Now, I say, G.o.d will never answer that wife's prayer for her husband! You must think of what your husband could be for G.o.d-- what he could do for G.o.d's kingdom--how Jesus Christ has shed His blood for him--how dishonoring a life of sin is to G.o.d; and you must dwell on this until your heart is ready to break, and you will soon get your husband converted, if you act wisely along with your prayers. G.o.d hates selfishness--selfishness is the devil, the very embodiment of him. You must get out of self; you must look at your child always as G.o.d's, as having a precious soul redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus, and having talents and capacities to _glorify Him_ and spread His kingdom; and you must ground your prayers on that, and say, "I would rather lay them in the grave, a thousand times--rather they were poor and despised--than they should grow up to _dishonor Thee_." Then you will get your prayers answered!

People pray about their business. G.o.d sees that the way to destroy that man is to let him get on. He does not want money in order to roll the old chariot along. G.o.d sees that prosperity would eat his soul like a canker, and so He won't let him get on. The Spirit of G.o.d never leads the soul to a selfish prayer. No; it leads the soul to weep because men keep not His law, to cry more about His interests than its own. It is willing for its own house to lie desolate, if that will promote the spread of G.o.d's kingdom. It is willing for the sparrow to find a nest on its own altar, if by that it can replenish and glorify the altar of Jehovah.

Then comes the last link--_faith_. Here is another secret. No believer can exercise faith for anything that the Holy Ghost does not lead him up to. You may pray, and pray, but you will never exercise faith until you have the Spirit making intercession in you. There is very little difficulty about believing with people who have taken the three preceding steps. Those who are in fellowship with Jesus, those who are walking in the light, those who have the Holy Ghost as an interceding Spirit--they know what to pray for; they know what the mind of the Spirit is; they know how the Spirit is leading them, and they can march up to the throne and "ask and receive." They know their request is according to the mind of G.o.d, and they can wrestle, if need be, like the Syrophenician woman, if He sees fit to try their faith. He does not always answer at once. He lets them wrestle with groans that cannot be uttered; but they know the Spirit is making intercession for them, and they hold on sometimes amidst great discouragement and temptation till the answer comes. They get the a.s.surance of faith, which says, "Yes, it shall be done." People look at them with wonder. Christian friends know the thing they are praying for has not come, and say, "You look as glad as if yon had it;" "I have got the earnest: I know it is coming: I have the a.s.surance that it shall be done." Now, every praying parent ought to wrestle till that is got for every child. You never ought to leave off till then, and then train as well as pray--co-work with G.o.d: that is the law of the kingdom, all the way through. Believe that ye receive it, and ye _shall_ have it. Oh! the confusion, the jumbling there is, in dealing with poor souls at that point. People say, "Believe you are saved, and you are saved." I have heard Christians give that advice to souls many a time. "Believe you are saved, and you are saved." Believe a lie, and it will come true. Is that G.o.d's philosophy? What is the use of telling a person to believe he is saved _before_ he is saved? That is telling him to believe a lie. People say, "Believe you are sanctified, and you are sanctified." Indeed! When were you sanctified? G.o.d never tells a person to believe a thing until it happens. He has made the bestowment of the gift to be simultaneous with the exercise of the faith. Believe that ye receive, and ye shall have--not that ye did receive an hour ago, for that would not be true; not that ye will receive an hour hence, for that would be presumption. There is no such promise, but believe that ye do now receive, and ye shall have.

"I will never disappoint the man who dares trust me to that extent."

He shall have it. You say the age of miracles is past. Yes, because the age of that sort of faith is past. You will get miracles back when that sort of faith returns. G.o.d has bound Himself over to the faith of His real people, and He would sooner break all the laws of nature, than He would break the laws of grace. He can easily set aside a law of nature; but He will never set aside a law of grace. He has bound Himself to faith--the only power in the universe to which He has bound Himself--and n.o.body ever rose up in this world yet, and said, "I trusted G.o.d, and He deceived me." Faith means TRUST--faith means ABANDONMENT--as if you were dying, and you had nothing left but the naked promise of G.o.d. You say, "I am dying: I must trust now,"

and that man jumps on to the promise. He gives up experimenting, and really trusts; and you have seen the light come into his eyes; you have heard the song of praise burst from his lips, because he believed he received, and he did receive.

Now, then, some of you who have written to me, know you are living in fellowship with Jesus. Some of you have lately commenced to walk in the light. You have cut off and put away the idols; you have abandoned yourself to the will of G.o.d, and sworn, by His grace, that you will follow Him all the way. You _do_ feel the Holy Ghost is in you. Oh! I entreat you to obey fully, to let the Spirit have His way. Do not restrain Him. Don't think it will hurt your bodies: don't think it is too much; don't think you are getting fanatical; don't think that, after all, G.o.d does not require this kind of thing-- follow the Spirit. Let the Spirit lead you, and groan through you; let the Spirit wrestle with G.o.d through you--follow Him. If we had more of this in these services, we should have more fruit; and if the church had more of this, there would be more souls born into the kingdom.

It was one of the things in which I grieved the Spirit of G.o.d in my early days that I would not let Him, to the extent He would have done, make me a woman of prayer; and yet, in comparison with many, perhaps, I was one. He used to lay particular people and subjects on my heart, so that I could not help praying; but oh! how bitterly I have regretted and wept before the Lord that I did not let Him have all His way with me in this respect. Take warning! and you whom He is beginning to lead, let Him lead you. Pour out your souls for others and with others. I believe that more souls are convinced in real prayer, than in speaking. I have noticed this many a time. I have seen at the bottom of a great hall or theatre, or in the gallery, a lot of the roughest men conceivable, behaving in the most unseemly manner, arrested by the influence of prayer. Perhaps, when the rowdyism has been ready to break into open tumult, a little woman has stretched out her hands over the congregation, and said, "Now, let us pray;" and I have seen the whole ma.s.s of men a.s.sume an att.i.tude of quietness and reverence. I have watched the aspect of the congregation, and seen great, rough, black-faced fellows get their heads down, and sometimes wipe their eyes; and when we have got up to sing, there has been no more disorderly conduct, but they have settled down with the solemnity of death, to listen. Hundreds of them were convinced of sin while under that prayer. It was the Holy Ghost wrestling for those souls in the heart of that woman, that struck them with conviction.

Prayer is agony of soul--wrestling of the Spirit. You know how men and women deal with one another when they are in desperate earnestness for something to be done. That is prayer, whether it be to man or G.o.d; and when you get your heart influenced, and melted, and wrought up, and burdened by the Holy Ghost for souls, you will have power, and you will never pray but somebody will be convinced,--some poor soul's dark eyes will be opened, and spiritual life will commence.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE PERFECT HEART.

For the eyes of the Lord ran to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him--2 CHRON. xvi. 9.

This pa.s.sage occurs in the history of Asa, one of the most G.o.dly and devoted kings that ever sat upon the throne of Judah. We are told in the fourteenth chapter that he commenced his reign by setting himself to destroy the idolatry into which the whole nation had been betrayed by its former ruler, and to restore the worship and service of the G.o.d of Israel. He set himself to bring back the nation to its allegiance and obedience to G.o.d; and his success is a great encouragement to any who shall set themselves, single-handed and with a perfect heart, towards G.o.d, to do this in any circle, under any circ.u.mstances.

_He succeeded_. G.o.d blessed him in his efforts to purge his kingdom inside, and G.o.d also delivered him from his enemies outside, and enabled him by His power to defeat the king of Ethiopia, who came against him with an exceeding great army, because King Asa was perfect in his heart towards G.o.d.

When this king came up against him, Asa went and cried unto the Lord, and cast himself upon his G.o.d, trusting Him to deliver him, and G.o.d never disappointed any man, either before or since Asa's day, who did that. G.o.d delivered his enemies into his hand and made him a successful and happy king, over a prosperous and increasing people.

But by-and-bye, after many years, for Asa was perfect in his heart towards the Lord for many years of his long reign; but whether it were, as, alas! too often happens, that a life of ease and prosperity brought forth in Asa the results of partial backsliding, we know not; but as years went on, another war was declared, and this time it was the king of Israel who came up against the king of Judah. What did Asa do? Did he go, as formerly, and cry unto the Lord, and put his battle into His hands? No, he did not. He had left His first love; he had become, in a measure, untrue to the Lord G.o.d of Israel. He forgot where his strength lay; his spiritual perceptions had become dim; he had lost his realization of G.o.d's ability to help and deliver him out of the hands of his enemies, and so he fell back upon worldly policy.

He went down to a.s.syria and courted Ben-hadad, the king of a.s.syria, and said, "Come and help me, that my enemies may depart, for I am sore pressed." Ah! what a picture of backsliders. On another occasion, when Jehosophat made an unG.o.dly alliance, a prophet met him and said, "Should'st thou help the unG.o.dly, and love them that hate the Lord?" No man ever did this without being sorely whipped, as poor Asa was. He succeeded, indeed, in the battle, and won the victory. It was a lawful end, but he accomplished it by unlawful means. He won the victory, and, I dare say, he was congratulating himself, and stroking his beard in self-complacency, when, lo! the prophet comes to deliver G.o.d's message to him, and he says:--

"Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy G.o.d, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand.

"Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and hors.e.m.e.n? yet because thou didst rely on the Lord He delivered them into thine hand.

"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards Him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars"--the very thing he went to a.s.syria to seek to avoid. He wanted _peace_, not war, and he went down to a.s.syria to enable him to spend the remainder of his days in peace, when, lo! the Word of G.o.d goes forth, "Thou shalt have wars." He was chastised in the very thing for which he sold himself and his G.o.d. "Be sure thy sin will find thee out." It is G.o.d's way to chastise His children by those very things in which they sell His interests. "Thou shalt have wars."

But we want to deal specially with the lesson which the prophet draws from this event; for he says, "Wherefore didst thou go to a.s.syria? Wherefore hast thou sinned against G.o.d? Hast thou forgotten who the G.o.d of Israel was? Didst thou not know that the eyes of the Lord run throughout the whole earth?" He would have helped thee now, Asa, as much as in the past. He will help any man who is whole- hearted towards Him--that trusts in Him. Now, I say, this is the lesson which the prophet draws, not only for Asa, but for all the Asas since his day, and those who are yet to come, for every man and woman who professes to be a servant of G.o.d, the prophet sounds down to the ages that "the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards Him."

Now, what is this perfect heart? "Ah!" you say, "that is the point."

Yes, that is the point, and we will try to show what kind of a heart this is. It must be A DIFFERENT KIND OF HEART TO HEARTS IN GENERAL; all hearts are not perfect towards G.o.d, or else His eyes would not have to be running to and fro throughout the earth to find them. They would be plentiful enough if they were the common sort of hearts, but evidently they are a different kind of hearts to ordinary hearts; and another thing is evident on the face of the text, that these kind of hearts are very precious in the sight of G.o.d. He delights in them; He makes greater store by one such than He does by thousands of the other kinds of hearts, of which there are so many. I say, these two lessons everybody with common sense will admit at once--that these hearts are not the common hearts, and that they are very precious in the sight of G.o.d.

Now, what is the meaning of this term "perfect heart," referring to the hearts of G.o.d's children, all the way through the Bible? As you know, I like to establish my points in the mouths of two or three witnesses, I will give you two or three texts, that we may find out G.o.d's meaning of this term, and then we will give you the very lowest rendering, where all schools are agreed, for I don't want controversy. We will just look at Psalm x.x.xvii. 37: "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace." There _are_ such people as G.o.d means in that verse. Psalm lxiv. 4: "That they may shoot in secret at the perfect," who have always been a favorite target of the devil. He does not shoot much at people whose hearts are perfect towards the Lord. It is at those perfect people he shoots. "Suddenly do they shoot at him," perhaps while he is thinking they are his friends. "Suddenly they shoot, and fear not."

"Be ye perfect," says the Saviour, "even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect." That means something. We will try to find out what it does mean (Matt. xix. 21)--

"Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come _and_ follow Me."

And, again, at 1 Cor. ii. 6--

"Howbeit, we speak wisdom among them that are perfect."

And (2 Timothy iii. 17)--

"That the man of G.o.d may he perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

There are numbers of others, but these are samples, and I suppose all Christians attach _some_ meaning to these terms. They must be terms signifying a great difference between the persons who are spoken of and ordinary men and women. Now, what do they mean? Well, the very lowest rendering of all divines and all schools is this, that it means _sincerity_ and _thoroughness_. Well, that is all I want.

Give me a man sincere and thorough in his love, and that is all I want; that will stretch through all the ramifications of his existence; it will go to the ends of his fingers and his toes, through his eyes, and through his tongue, to his wife, and to his family, to his shop, and to his business, and to his circle in the world. That is what I mean by _holiness_! Then, taking the lowest translation, it means that a man is whole-hearted in love, and thorough out-and-out in service! Amen. For that man who is thus perfect towards G.o.d, G.o.d will indeed show Himself strong in more ways than one!

This cannot mean a merely natural heart, it must mean a renewed heart, because there are no perfect hearts by nature. There is no one in this sense that doeth good and sinneth not, for every child of Adam has gone astray like a lost sheep, has done the things he ought not, and left undone the things he ought to have done, and the whole world has become guilty before G.o.d. There are no naturally perfect hearts. It must mean, then, a heart renewed by the Holy Ghost, put right with G.o.d, and then kept right. A heart cannot be kept right until it has been _put right_, and that is the secret of the failure with some of you. You are trying to bring forth fruits before the tree is planted. You are looking for the fruits of a perfect heart before you have got one. You may well be disappointed. You must get your heart renewed, and then kept right by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Then, what does this perfect heart imply?