Kierkegaard: Purity of Heart and Works of Love
The following two works, Purity of Heart and Works of Love, ought to have placed Kierkegaard in the ranks of classic devotional works. In 1846, Kierkegaard published Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing as part of the volume, Edifying Discourses in Various Spirits. He wrote it in his name. He dedicated it “that solitary individual.” He wrote a brief “Preface.” Chapter 1 has the title, “Introduction: Man and the Eternal.” He quotes from Ecclesiastes 3:11, “God made all things beautiful in his time; also he hath set eternity within man’s heart.” Eternity must be able to exist within us. A discussion of it must have a different ring. Something shall always have its time. For some people, repentance came late. Outgrowing the eternal is to fall away from God. Chapter 2 has the title, “Remorse, Repentance, Confession: Eternity’s Emissaries to Man.” Some things should always be done. Some things should never have their time. Ther