A PREFACE TO THE READER.

The author of the ensuing discourse, now with God, reaping the fruit of all his labour,diligence, and success, in his Master's service, did experience in himself, throughthe grace of God, the nature, excellency, and comfort of a truly broken and contritespirit. So that what is here written is but a transcript out of his own heart: forGod, who had much work for him to do, was still hewing and hammering him by his Word,and sometimes also by more than ordinary temptations and desertions. The design,and also the issue thereof, through God's goodness, was the humbling and keepingof him low in his own eyes. The truth is, as himself sometimes acknowledged, he alwaysneeded the thorn in the flesh, and God in mercy sent it him, lest, under his extraordinarycircumstances, he should be exalted about measure; which perhaps was the evil thatdid more easily beset him than any other. But the Lord was pleased to overrule it,to work for his good, and to keep him in that broken frame which is so acceptableunto him, and concerning which it is said, that 'He healeth the broken in heart,and bindeth up their wounds' (Psa 147:3). And, indeed, it is a most necessary qualificationthat should always be found in the disciples of Christ, who are most eminent, andas stars of the first magnitude in the firmament of the church. Disciples, in thehighest form of profession, need to be thus qualified in the exercise of every grace,and the performance of every duty. It is that which God doth principally and moreespecially look after, in all our approaches and accesses to him. It is to him thatGod will look, and with him God will dwell, who is poor, and of a contrite spirit(Isa 57:15, 66:2). And the reason why God will manifest so much respect to one soqualified, is because he carries it so becomingly towards him. He comes and liesat his feet, and discovers a quickness of sense, and apprehensiveness of whatevermay be dishonourable and distasteful to God (Psa 38:4). And if the Lord doth at anytime but shake his rod over him, he comes trembling, and kisses the rod, and says,'It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good' (1 Sam 3:18). He is sensible hehath sinned and gone astray like a lost sheep, and, therefore, will justify God inhis severest proceedings against him. This broken heart is also a pliable and flexibleheart, and prepared to receive whatsoever impressions God shall make upon it, andis ready to be moulded into any frame that shall best please the Lord. He says, withSamuel, 'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth' (1 Sam 3:10). And with David, 'Whenthou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek'(Psa 27:8). And so with Paul, who tremblingly said, 'Lord, what wilt thou have meto do?' (Acts 9:6).

Now, therefore, surely such a heart as this is must needs be very delightful to God.He says to us, 'My son, give me thine heart' (Prov 23:26). But, doubtless, he meansthere a broken heart: an unbroken heart we may keep to ourselves; it is the brokenheart which God will have us to give to him; for, indeed, it is all the amends thatthe best of us are capable of making, for all the injury we have done to God in sinningagainst him. We are not able to give better satisfaction for breaking God's laws,than by breaking our own hearts; this is all that we can do of that kind; for theblood of Christ only must give the due and full satisfaction to the justice of Godfor what provocations we are at any time guilty of; but all that we can do is toaccompany the acknowledgments we make of miscarriages with a broken and contritespirit. Therefore we find, that when David had committed those two foul sins of adulteryand murder, against God, he saw that all his sacrifices signified nothing to theexpiating of his guilt; therefore he brings to God a broken heart, which carriedin it the best expression of indignation against himself, as of the highest respecthe could show to God (2 Cor 7:11).

The day in which we live, and the present circumstances which the people of God andthese nations are under, do loudly proclaim a very great necessity of being in thisbroken and tender frame; for who can foresee what will be the issue of these violentfermentations that are amongst us? Who knows what will become of the ark of God?Therefore it is a seasonable duty with old Eli to sit trembling for it. Do we notalso hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of wars; and ought we not, with theprophet, to cry out, 'My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heartmaketh a noise in me, I cannot hold my peace, ' &c. (Jer 4:19). Thus was thatholy man affected with the consideration of what might befall Jerusalem, the templeand ordinances of God, &c., as the consequence of the present dark dispensationsthey were under. Will not a humble posture best become us when we have humbling providencesin prospect? Mercy and judgment seem to be struggling in the same womb of providence;and which will come first out we know not; but neither of them can we comfortablymeet, but with a broken and a contrite spirit. If judgment comes, Josiah's postureof tenderness will be the best we can be found in; and also to say, with David, 'Myflesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments' (Psa 119:120).It is very sad when God smites, and we are not grieved; which the prophet complainsof, 'Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved, ' &c. 'They have madetheir faces harder than a rock, they have refused to return' (Jer 5:3).

But such as know the power of his anger will have a deep awe of God upon their hearts,and, observing him in all his motions, will have the greatest apprehensions of hisdispleasure. So that when he is coming forth in any terrible dispensation, they will,according to their duty, prepare to meet him with a humble and broken heart. Butif he should appear to us in his goodness, and farther lengthen out the day of ourpeace and liberty, yet still the contrite frame will be most seasonable; then willbe a proper time, with Job, to abhor ourselves in dust and ashes, and to say, withDavid, 'Who am I that thou hast brought me hitherto'! (Job 42:6; 2 Sam 7:18).

But we must still know that this broken tender heart is not a plant that rows inour own soil, but is the peculiar gift of God himself. He that made the heart mustbreak the heart. We may be under heart-breaking providences, and yet the heart remainaltogether unbroken; as it was with Pharaoh, whose heart, though it was under thehammers of ten terrible judgments, immediately succeeding one another, yet continuedhardened against God. The heart of man is harder than hardness itself, till God softenethand breaks it. Men move not, they relent not, let God thunder never so terribly;let God, in the greatest earnest, cast abroad his firebrands, arrows, and death,in the most dreadful representations of wrath and judgment, yet still man tremblesnot, nor is any more astonished than if in all this God were but in jest, till hecomes and falls to work with him, and forces him to cry out, What have I done? Whatshall I do?

Therefore let us have recourse to him, who, as he gives the new heart, so also therewiththe broken heart. And let men's hearts be never so hard, if God comes once to dealeffectually with them, they shall become mollified and tender; as it was with thosehardened Jews who, by wicked and cruel hands, murdered the Lord of life: though theystouted it out a great while, yet how suddenly, when God brought them under the hammerof his Word and Spirit, in Peter's powerful ministry, were they broken, and, beingpricked in their hearts, cried out, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' (Acts 2:37).

And the like instance we have in the jailor, who was a most barbarous, hard-heartedwretch; yet, when God came to deal with him, he was soon tamed, and his heart becameexceeding soft and tender (Acts 16:29, 30).

Men may speak long enough, and the heart not at all be moved; but 'The voice of theLord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty, ' and breaketh the rocksand cedars (Psa 29:4). He turns 'the rock into a standing water, the flint into afountain of waters' (Psa 114:8). And this is a glorious work indeed, that heartsof stone should be dissolved and melted into waters of godly sorrow, working repentancenot to be repented of (2 Cor 7:10).

When God speaks effectually the stoutest heart must melt and yield. Wait upon God,then, for the softening thy heart, and avoid whatsoever may be a means of hardeningit; as the apostle cautions the Hebrews, 'Take heed, - lest any of you be hardenedthrough the deceitfulness of sin' (Heb 3:13).

Sin is deceitful, and will harden all those that indulge it. The more tender anyman is to his lust, the more will he be hardened by it. There is a native hardnessin every man's heart; and though it may be softened by gospel means, yet if thosemeans be afterwards neglected, the heart will fall to its native hardness again:as it is with the wax and the clay. Therefore, how much doth it behove us to keepclose to God, in the use of all gospel-means, whereby our hearts being once softened,may be always kept so; which is best done by repeating the use of those means whichwere at first blessed for the softening of them.

The following treatise may be of great use to the people of God, through his blessingaccompanying it, to keep their hearts tender and broken, when so many, after theirhardness and impenitent heart, are treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath (Rom2:5).

O let none who peruse this book herd with that generation of hardened ones, but bea companion of all those that mourn in Zion and whose hearts are broken for theirown, the church's, and the nation's provocations; who, indeed, are the only likelyones that will stand in the gap to divert judgments. When Shishak, king of Egypt,with a great host, came up against Judah, and having taken their frontier fencedcities, they sat down before Jerusalem, which put them all under a great consternation;but the king and princes upon this humbled themselves; the Lord sends a graciousmessage to them by Shemaiah the prophet, the import whereof was, That because theyhumbled themselves, the Lord would not destroy them, nor pour out his wrath uponthem, by the hand of Shishak (2 Chron 12:5-7).

The greater the party is of mourning Christians, the more hope we have that the stormimpending may be blown over, and the blessings enjoyed may yet be continued. As longas there is a sighing party we may hope to be yet preserved; at least, such willhave the mark set upon themselves which shall distinguish them from those whom theslaughtermen shall receive commission to destroy (Eze 9:4-6).

But I shall not further enlarge the porch, as designing to make way for the reader'sentrance into the house, where I doubt not but he will be pleased with the furnitureand provision he finds in it. And I shall only further assure him, that this wholebook was not only prepared for, but also put into, the press by the author himself,whom the Lord was pleased to remove, to the great loss and unexpressible grief ofmany precious souls, before the sheets could be all wrought off.

And now, as I hinted in the beginning, that what was transcribed out of the author'sheart into the book, may be transcribed out of the book into the hearts of all whoshall peruse it, is the desire and prayer of

A lover and honourer of all saints as such,

George Cokayn
September 21, 1688



THE ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE; OR, THE EXCELLENCY OF A BROKEN HEART.

'THE SACRIFICES OF GOD ARE A BROKEN SPIRIT: A BROKEN AND A CONTRITE HEART, O GOD,THOU WILT NOT DESPISE.', Psalm 51:17

This psalm is David's penitential psalm. It may be fitly so called, because it isa psalm by which is manifest the unfeigned sorrow which he had for his horrible sin,in defiling of Bathsheba, and slaying Uriah her husband; a relation at large of whichyou have in the 11th and 12th of the Second of Samuel. Many workings of heart, asthis psalm showeth, this poor man had, so soon as conviction did fall upon his spirit.One while he cries for mercy, then he confesses his heinous offences, then he bewailsthe depravity of his nature; sometimes he cries out to be washed and sanctified,and then again he is afraid that God will cast him away from his presence, and takehis Holy Spirit utterly from him. And thus he goes on till he comes to the text,and there he stayeth his mind, finding in himself that heart and spirit which Goddid not dislike; 'The sacrifices of God, ' says he, 'are a broken spirit'; as ifhe should say, I thank God I have that. 'A broken and a contrite heart, ' says he,'O God, thou wilt not despise'; as if he should say, I thank God I have that.

[I. THE TEXT OPENED IN THE MANY WORKINGS OF THE HEART.]

The words consist of two parts. FIRST. An assertion. SECOND. A demonstration of thatassertion. The assertion is this, 'The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.' Thedemonstration is this, 'Because a broken and a contrite heart God will not despise.'

In the assertion we have two things present themselves to our consideration. First.That a broken spirit is to God a sacrifice. Second. That it is to God, as that whichanswereth to, or goeth beyond, all sacrifices. 'The sacrifices of God are a brokenspirit.'

The demonstration of this is plain: for that heart God will not despise it. 'A brokenand a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.' Whence I draw this conclusion:That a spirit rightly broken, a heart truly contrite, is to God an excellent thing.That is, a thing that goeth beyond all external duties whatever; for that is intendedby this saying, The sacrifices, because it answereth to all sacrifices which we canoffer to God; yea it serveth in the room of all: all our sacrifices without thisare nothing; this alone is all.

There are four things that are very acceptable to God. The first is The sacrificeof the body of Christ for our sins. Of this you read (Heb 10) for there you haveit preferred to all burnt-offerings and sacrifices; it is this that pleaseth God;it is this that sanctifieth, and so setteth the people acceptable in the sight ofGod.

Second. Unfeigned love to God is counted better than all sacrifices, or externalparts of worship. 'And to love him [the Lord thy God] with all the heart, and withall the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to lovehis neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices'(Mark 12:33).

Third. To walk holily and humbly, and obediently, towards and before God, is another.Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying thevoice of the Lord?, 'Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice; and to hearken thanthe fat of rams' (Micah 6:6-8; 1 Sam 15:22).

Fourth. And this in our text is the fourth: 'The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit:a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.'

But note by the way, that this broken, this broken and contrite heart, is thus excellentonly to God: 'O God, ' saith he, 'THOU wilt not despise it.' By which is implied,the world have not this esteem or respect for such a heart, or for one that is ofa broken and a contrite spirit. No, no, a man, a woman, that is blessed with a brokenheart, is so far off from getting by that esteem with the world, that they are butburdens and trouble houses wherever they are or go. Such people carry with them molestationand disquietment: they are in carnal families as David was to the king of Gath, troublersof the house (1 Sam 21).

Their sighs, their tears, their day and night groans, their cries and prayers, andsolitary carriages, put all the carnal family out of order.[1] Hence you have thembrow-beaten by some, contemned by others, yea, and their company fled from and desertedby others. But mark the text, 'A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt notdespise, ' but rather accept; for not to despise is with God to esteem and set ahigh price upon.

[II. THE DOCTRINE, ASSERTION, DEMONSTRATION, AND CONCLUSION, THAT A BROKEN AND TRULYCONTRITE HEART IS AN EXCELLENT HEART.]

But we will demonstrate by several particulars, that a broken spirit, a spirit RIGHTLYbroken, an heart TRULY contrite, is to God an excellent thing.

First. This is evident from the comparison, 'Thou desirest not sacrifice, else wouldI give it, thou delightest not in burnt-offering. The sacrifices of God are a brokenspirit, ' &c. Mark, he rejecteth sacrifices, offerings and sacrifices: that is,all Levitical ceremonies under the law, and all external performances under the gospel;but accepteth a broken heart. It is therefore manifest by this, were there nothingelse to be said, that proves, that a heart rightly broken, a heart truly contrite,is to God an excellent thing; for as you see such a heart is set before all sacrifice;and yet they were the ordinances of God, and things that he commanded; but lo, abroken spirit is above them all, a contrite heart goes beyond them, yea, beyond themwhen put all together. Thou wilt not have the one, thou wilt not despise the other.O brethren, a broken and a contrite heart is an excellent thing. Have I said a brokenheart, a broken and a contrite heart is esteemed above all sacrifices; I will add,

Second. It is of greater esteem with God than is either heaven or earth; and thatis more than to be set before external duties. 'Thus saith the Lord, The heaven ismy throne, and the earth is my footstool, where is the house that ye build unto me?and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, andall those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even tohim that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word' (Isa 66:1, 2).Mark, God saith, he hath made all these things, but he doth not say, that he willlook to them, that is, take complacency and delight in them; no, there is that wantingin all that he hath made that should take up and delight his heart. But now, leta broken-hearted sinner come before him; yea, he ranges the world throughout to findout such an one, and having found him, 'To this man, ' saith he, 'will I look.' Isay again, that such a man to him is of more value than is either heaven or earth;'They, ' saith he, 'shall wax old'; 'they shall perish' and vanish away; but thisman he continues: he, as is presented to us in another place, under another character,'he shall abide for ever' (Heb 1:10-12; 1 John 2:17).

'To this man will I look, ' with this man will I be delighted; for so to look dothsometimes signify. 'Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse, ' saith Christto his humble- hearted, 'thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes' (Cant4:9). While it is as a conduit to let the rivers out of thy broken heart. I am taken,saith he, 'with one chain of thy neck' (Can 4:9). Here you see he looks and is ravished,he looks and is taken, as it saith in another place, 'The king is held in the galleries';that is, is taken with his beloved, with the dove's eyes of his beloved, with thecontrite spirit of his people (Cant 7:5, 1:15). But it is not thus reported of himwith respect to heaven or earth: them he sets more lightly by, them he 'reservesunto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men' (2 Peter 3:7),but the broken in heart are his beloved, his jewels.

Wherefore, what I have said as to this must go for the truth of God, to wit, Thata broken-hearted sinner, a sinner with a contrite spirit, is of more esteem withGod than is either heaven or earth. He saith he hath made them, but he doth not sayhe will look to them. He saith they are his throne and footstool, but he doth notsay they have taken or ravished his heart. No, it is those that are of a contritespirit do this. But there is yet more in the words, 'To this man will I look': thatis, For this man will I care, about this man will I camp, I will put this man undermy protection; for so to look to one doth sometimes signify; and I take the meaningin this place to be such (Prov 27:23; Jer 39:12, 40:4). 'The Lord upholdeth all thatfall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down' (Psa 145:14). And the broken-hearted are of this number; wherefore he careth for, campeth about, and hath sethis eyes upon such an one for good. This, therefore, is a second demonstration toprove, that the man that hath his spirit rightly broken, his heart truly contrite,is of great esteem with God.

Third. Yet further, God doth not only prefer such an one, as has been said, beforeheaven and earth, but he loveth, he desireth to have that man for an intimate, fora companion; he must dwell; he must cohabit with him that is of a broken heart, withsuch as are of a contrite spirit. 'For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabitetheternity, whose name is Holy, I will dwell in the high and holy place, with him alsothat is of a contrite and humble spirit' &c. (Isa 57:15).

Behold here both the majesty and condescension of the high and lofty One; his majesty,in that he is high, and the inhabiter of eternity; 'I am the high and lofty One,' saith he, 'I inhabit eternity.' Verily this consideration is enough to make thebroken-hearted man creep into a mouse-hole to hide himself from such a majesty! Butbehold his heart, his condescending mind; I am for dwelling also with him that hatha broken heart, with him that is of a contrite spirit; that is the man that I wouldconverse with, that is the man with whom I will cohabit; that is, he, saith God,I will choose for my companion. For to desire to dwell with one supposeth all thesethings; and verily, of all the men in the world, none have acquaintance with God,none understand what communion with him, and what his teachings mean, but such asare of a broken and contrite heart. 'He is nigh unto them that are of a broken spirit'(Psa 34:18). These are they intended in the 14th Psalm, where it is said, 'The Lordlooked down from heaven, - to see if any did understand and seek God'; that he mightfind some body in the world with whom he might converse; for indeed there is noneelse that either understand, or that can tend to hearken to him. God, as I may say,is forced to break men's hearts, before he can make them willing to cry to him, orbe willing that he should have any concerns with them; the rest shut their eyes,stop their ears, withdraw their hearts, or say unto God, Be gone (Job 21:14). Butnow the broken in heart can tend it; he has leisure, yea, leisure, and will, andunderstanding, and all; and therefore is a fit man to have to do with God. Thereis room also in this man's house, in this man's heart, in this man's spirit, forGod to dwell, for God to walk, for God to set up a kingdom.

Here, therefore, is suitableness. 'Can two walk together, ' saith God, 'except theybe agreed?' (Amos 3:3). The broken-hearted desireth God's company; when wilt thoucome unto me? saith he. The broken-hearted loveth to hear God speak and talk to him.Here is a suitableness. 'Make me, ' saith he, 'to hear joy and gladness, that thebones which thou hast broken may rejoice' (Psa 51:8). But here lies the glory, inthat the high and lofty One, the God that inhabiteth eternity, and that was a highand holy place for his habitation, should choose to dwell with, and to be a companionof the broken in heart, and of them that are of a contrite spirit. Yea, and herealso is great comfort for such.

Fourth. God doth not only prefer such a heart before all sacrifices, nor esteemssuch a man above heaven and earth; nor yet only desire to be of his acquaintance,but he reserveth for him his chief comforts, his heart-reviving and soul-cherishingcordials. 'I dwell, ' saith he, with such to revive them, and to support and comfortthem, 'to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contriteones' (Isa 57:15). The broken-hearted man is a fainting man; he has his qualms, hissinking fits; he ofttimes dies away with pain and fear; he must be stayed with flagons,and comforted with apples, or else he cannot tell what to do: he pines, he pinesaway in his iniquity; nor can any thing keep him alive and make him well but thecomforts and cordials of Almighty God (Exo 33:10, 11). Wherefore with such an oneGod will dwell, to revive the heart, to revive the spirit. 'To revive the spiritof the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.'

God has cordials, but they are to comfort them that are cast down (2 Cor 7:6); andsuch are the broken-hearted; as for them that are whole, they need not the physician(Mark 2:17). They are the broken in spirit that stand in need of cordials; physiciansare men of no esteem but with them that feel their sickness; and this is one reasonwhy God is so little accounted of in the world, even because they have not been madesick by the wounding stroke of God. But now when a man is wounded, has his bonesbroken, or is made sick, and laid at the grave's mouth, who is of that esteem withhim as is an able physician? What is so much desired as are the cordials, comforts,and suitable supplies of the skilful physician in those matters. And thus it is withthe broken-hearted; he needs, and God has prepared for him plenty of the comfortsand cordials of heaven, to succour and relieve his sinking soul.

Wherefore such a one lieth under all the promises that have succour in them, andconsolation for men, sick and desponding under the sense of sin and the heavy wrathof God; and they, says God, shall be refreshed and revived with them. Yea, they aredesigned for them; he hath therefore broken their hearts, he hath therefore woundedtheir spirits, that he might make them apt to relish his reviving cordials, thathe might minister to them his reviving comforts. For indeed, so soon as he hath brokenthem, his bowels yearn, and his compassions roll up and down within him, and willnot suffer him to abide afflicting. Ephraim was one of these; but so soon as Godhad smitten him, behold his heart, how it works towards him. 'Is Ephraim, ' saithhe, 'my dear son?' that is, he is so; 'is he a pleasant child?' that is, he is so;'for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still; therefore my bowelsare troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord' (Jer 31:18-20).This therefore is another demonstration.

Fifth. As God prefers such a heart, and esteems the man that has it above heavenand earth; as he covets intimacy with such an one, and prepares for him his cordials;so when he sent his Son Jesus into the world to be a Saviour, he gave him in speciala charge to take care of such; yea, that was one of the main reasons he sent himdown from heaven, anointed for his work on earth. 'The Spirit of the Lord God isupon me, ' saith he; 'because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, ' &c. (Luke 4:18; Isa 61:1). Nowthat this is meant of Christ, is confirmed by his own lips; for in the days of hisflesh he takes this book in his hand, when he was in the synagogue at Nazareth, andread this very place unto the people; and then tells them that that very day thatScripture was fulfilled in their ears (Luke 6:16-18).

But see, these are the souls whose welfare is contrived in the heavens. God consultedtheir salvation, their deliverance, their health, before his Son came down from thence.Doth not therefore this demonstrate, that a broken- hearted man, that a man of acontrite spirit, is of great esteem with God. I have often wondered at David thathe should give Joab and the men of war a charge, that they take heed that they carryit tenderly to that young rebel Absalom his son (2 Sam 18:5). But that God, the highGod, the God against whom we have sinned, should, so soon as he has smitten, givehis Son a command, a charge, a commission to take care of, to bind up and heal thebroken in heart; this is that which can never be sufficiently admired or wonderedat by men or angels.

And as this was his commission, so he acted; as is evidently set forth by the parableof the man who fell among thieves. He went to him, poured into his wounds wine andoil; he bound him up, took him, set him upon his own beast, had him to an inn, gavethe host a charge to look well to him, with money in hand, and a promise at his returnto recompence him in what farther he should be expensive while he was under his care(Luke 10:30-35). Behold, therefore, the care of God which he has for the broken inheart; he has given a charge to Christ his Son, to look well to them, and to bindup and heal their wounds. Behold also the faithfulness of Christ, who doth not hide,but read this commission as soon as he entereth upon his ministry, and also fallsinto the practical part thereof. 'He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth uptheir wounds' (Psa 147:3).

And behold again into whose care a broken heart and a contrite spirit hath put thispoor creature; he is under the care of God, the care and cure of Christ. If a manwas sure that his disease had put him under the special care of the king and thequeen, yet could he not be sure of life, he might die under their sovereign hands.Ay, but here is a man in the favour of God, and under the hand of Christ to be healed;under whose hand none yet ever died for want of skill and power in him to save theirlife; wherefore this man must live; Christ has in commission not only to bind uphis wounds, but to heal him. He has of himself so expounded it in reading his commission;wherefore he that has his heart broken, and that is of a contrite spirit, must notonly be taken in hand, but healed; healed of his pain, grief, sorrow, sin, and fearsof death and hell-fire; wherefore he adds, that he must give unto such 'beauty forashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,' and must 'comfort all that mourn' (Isa 61:2, 3). This, I say, he has in the commission,the broken-hearted are put into his hand, and he has said himself he will heal him.Hence he says of that same man, 'I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I willlead him also, and restore comforts unto him, and to his mourners; - and I will healhim' (Isa 57:18, 19). And this is a fifth demonstration.

Sixth. As God prefers such a heart, and so esteems the man that has it; as he desireshis company, has provided for him his cordials, and given a charge to Christ to healhim, so he has promised in conclusion to save him. 'He saveth such as be of a contritespirit, ' or, as the margin has it, that be 'contrite of spirit' (Psa 34:18).

And this is the conclusion of all; for to save a man is the end of all special mercy.'He saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.' To save, is to forgive; for withoutforgiveness of sins we cannot be saved. To save, is to preserve one in this miserableworld, and to deliver one from all those devils, temptations, snares, and destructionsthat would, were we not kept, were we not preserved of God, destroy us body and soulfor ever. To save, is to bring a man body and soul to glory, and to give him an eternalmansion house in heaven, that he may dwell in the presence of this good God, andthe Lord Jesus, and to sing to them the songs of his redemption for ever and ever.This it is to be saved; nor can any thing less than this complete the salvation ofthe sinner. Now, this is to be the lot of him that is of a broken heart, and theend that God will make with him that is of a contrite spirit. 'He saveth such asbe contrite of spirit.' He saveth such! This is excellent!

But, do the broken in spirit believe this? Can they imagine that this is to be theend that God has designed them to, and that he intended to make with them in theday in which he began to break their hearts? No, no; they, alas! think quite thecontrary. They are afraid that this is but the beginning of death, and a token thatthey shall never see the face of God with comfort, either in this world or that whichis to come. Hence they cry, 'Cast me not away from thy presence'; or, Now I am 'freeamong the dead whom God remembers no more' (Psa 51:11, 88:4, 5). For indeed theregoes to the breaking of the heart a visible appearance of the wrath of God, and ahome charge from heaven of the guilt of sin to the conscience. This to reason isvery dreadful; for it cuts the soul down to the ground; 'for a wounded spirit who[none] can bear?' (Prov 18:14).

It seems also now to this man, that this is but the beginning of hell; but as itwere the first step down to the pit; when, indeed, all these are but the beginningsof love, and but that which makes way for life. The Lord kills before he makes alive;he wounds before his hands make whole. Yea, he does the one in order to, or becausehe would do the other; he wounds, because his purpose is to heal; 'he maketh sore,and bindeth up; he woundeth, and his hands make whole' (Deut 32:39; 1 Sam 2:6; Job5:18). His design, I say, is the salvation of the soul. He scourgeth, he breakeththe heart of every son whom he receiveth, and woe be to him whose heart God breakethnot.

And thus have I proved what at first I asserted, namely, that a spirit rightly broken,an heart truly contrite, is to God an excellent thing. 'A broken and a contrite heart,O God, thou wilt not despise.' For this say I, First. This is evident; for that itis better than sacrifices, than all sacrifice. Second. The man that has it is ofmore esteem with God than heaven or earth. Third. God coveteth such a man for hisintimate and house companion. Fourth. He reserveth for them his cordials and spiritualcomforts. Fifth. He has given his Son a Charge, a commandment to take care that thebroken-hearted be healed; and he is resolved to heal them. Sixth. And concluded,that the broken-hearted, and they that are of a contrite spirit, shall be saved,that is, possessed of the heavens.

[III. WHAT A BROKEN HEART, AND WHAT A CONTRITE SPIRIT IS.]

I come now in order to show you what a broken heart and what a contrite spirit is.This must be done, because in the discovery of this lies both the comfort of themthat have it, and the conviction of them that have it not. Now, that I may do thisthe better, I must propound and speak to these four things. FIRST. I must show youwhat an one that heart is that is not broken, that is not contrite. SECOND. I mustshow you how, or with what the heart is broken and made contrite. THIRD. Show youhow, and what it is, when broken and made contrite. And, FOURTH. I shall, last ofall, give you some signs of a broken and contrite heart.

FIRST. For the first of these, to wit, What an one that heart is, that is not a broken,that is not a contrite heart.

First. The heart, before it is broken, is hard and stubborn, and obstinate againstGod, and the salvation of the soul (Zech 7:12; Deut 2:30, 9:27).

Second. It is a heart full of evil imaginations and darkness (Gen 18:12; Rom 1:21).

Third. It is a heart deceitful and subject to be deceived, especially about the thingsof an eternal concernment (Isa 44:20; Deut 11:16).

Fourth. It is a heart that rather gathereth iniquity and vanity to itself than anythingthat is good for the soul (Psa 41:6, 94:11).

Fifth. It is an unbelieving heart, and one that will turn away from God to sin (Heb3:12; Deut 17:17).

Sixth. It is a heart not prepared for God, being uncircumcised, nor for the receptionof his holy word (2 Chron 12:14; Psa 78:8; Acts 7:51).

Seventh. It is a heart not single, but double; it will pretend to serve God, butwill withal lean to the devil and sin (Psa 12:2; Eze 33:31).

Eighth. It is a heart proud and stout: it loves not to be controlled, though thecontroller be God himself (Psa 101:5; Prov 16:5; Mal 3:13).

Ninth. It is a heart that will give place to Satan, but will resist the Holy Ghost(Acts 5:3, 7:51).

Tenth. In a word, 'It is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked'; sowicked that none can know it (Jer 17:9).

That the heart before it is broken is such, and worse than I have described it tobe, is sufficiently seen by the whole course of the world. Where is the man whoseheart has not been broken, and whose spirit is not contrite, that according to theWord of God deals honestly with his own soul? It is one character of a right heart,that it is sound in God's statutes, and honest (Psa 119:18; Luke 8:15). Now, an honestheart will not put off itself, nor be put off with that which will not go for currentmoney with the merchant; I mean, with that which will not go for saving grace atthe day of judgment. But alas! alas! but few men, how honest soever they are to others,have honesty towards themselves; though he is the worst of deceivers who deceivethhis own soul, as James has it, about the things of his own soul (1:22, 26). But,

SECOND. I now come to show you with what and how the heart is broken, and the spiritmade contrite.

[First. With what the heart is broken, and the spirit made contrite.]

The instrument with which the heart is broken, and with which the spirit is madecontrite, is the Word. 'Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord; and like ahammer, that breaketh the rock in pieces?' (Jer 23:29). The rock, in this text, isthe heart, which in another place is compared to an adamant, which adamant is harderthan flint (Zech 7:11, 12; Eze 3:9). This rock, this adamant, this stony heart, isbroken and made contrite by the Word. But it only is so, when the Word is as a fire,and as a hammer to break and melt it. And then, and then only, it is as a fire, anda hammer to the heart to break it, when it is managed by the arm of God. No man canbreak the heart with the Word; no angel can break the heart with the Word; that is,if God forbears to second it by mighty power from heaven. This made Balaam go withouta heart rightly broken, and truly contrite, though he was rebuked by an angel; andthe Pharisees die in their sins, though rebuked for them, and admonished to turnfrom them, by the Saviour of the world. Wherefore, though the Word is the instrumentwith which the heart is broken, yet it is not broken with the Word, till that Wordis managed by the might and power of God.

This made the prophet Isaiah, after long preaching, cry out, that he had labouredfor nought, and in vain; and this made him cry to God, 'to rend the heavens and comedown, ' that the mountains, or rocky hills, or hearts, might be broken, and meltat his presence (Isa 44:4, 64:1, 2). For he found by experience, that as to thisno effectual work could be done, unless the Lord put to his hand. This also is oftenintimated in the Scriptures, where it saith, when the preachers preached effectuallyto the breaking of men's hearts, 'the Lord wrought with them;[2] the hand of theLord was with them, ' and the like (Mark 16:20; Acts 11:21).

Now when the hand of the Lord is with the Word, then it is mighty: it is 'mightythrough God to the pulling down of strong holds' (2 Cor 10:4). It is sharp, then,as a sword in the soul and spirit; it sticks like an arrow in the hearts of sinners,to the causing of the people to fall at his foot for mercy (Heb 4:12). Then it is,as was said afore, as a fire and as a hammer to break this rock in pieces (Psa 110:3).And hence the Word is made mention of under a double consideration. 1. As it standsby itself. 2. As attended with power from heaven.

1. As it stands by itself, and is not seconded with saving operation from heaven,it is called the Word only, the Word barely, or as if it was only the word of men(1 Thess 1:5-7; 1 Cor 4:19, 20; 1 Thess 2:13). Because, then, it is only as managedby men, who are not able to make it accomplish that work. The Word of God, when ina man's hand only, is like the father's sword in the hand of the sucking child; whichsword, though never so well pointed, and though never so sharp on the edges, is notnow able to conquer a foe, and to make an enemy fall and cry out for mercy, becauseit is but in the hand of the child. But now, let the same sword be put into the handof a skilful father, and God is both skilful and able to manage his Word, and thenthe sinner, and then the proud helpers too, are both made to stoop, and submit themselves;wherefore, I say, though the Word be the instrument, yet of itself doth do no savinggood to the soul; the heart is not broken, nor the spirit made contrite thereby;it only worketh death, and leaveth men in the chains of their sins, still fasterbound over to eternal condemnation (2 Cor 2:15, 16).

2. But when seconded by mighty power, then the same Word is as the roaring of a lion,as the piercing of a sword, as a burning fire in the bones, as thunder and as a hammerthat dashes all to pieces (Jer 25:30; Amos 1:2, 3:8; Acts 2:37; Jer 20:9; Psa 29:3-9).Wherefore, from hence it is to be concluded, that whoever has heard the Word preached,and has not heard the voice of the living God therein, has not as yet had their heartsbroken, nor their spirits made contrite for their sins.

[Second. How the heart is broken, and the spirit made contrite.]

And this leads me to the second thing, to wit, To show how the heart is broken andthe spirit made contrite by the Word, and verily it is when the Word comes home withpower. But yet this is but general; wherefore, more particularly,

1. Then the Word works effectually to this purpose, when it findeth out the sinnerand his sin, and shall convince him that it has found him out. Thus it was with ourfirst father; when he had sinned, he sought to hide himself from God; he gets amongthe trees of the garden, and there he shrouds himself; but yet, not thinking himselfsecure, he covers himself with fig-leaves; and now he lieth quiet. Now God shallnot find me, thinks he, nor know what I have done. But lo! by and by, he 'hears thevoice of the Lord God walking in the garden.' And now, Adam, what do you mean todo? Why, as yet, he skulketh, and hides his head, and seeks yet to lie undiscovered;but behold, the voice cries out, ADAM! and now he begins to tremble. 'Adam, whereart thou?' says God; and now Adam is made to answer (Gen 3:7-11). But the voice ofthe Lord God doth not leave him here: no, it now begins to search, and to inquireafter his doings, and to unravel what he had wrapt together and covered, until itmade him bare and naked in his own sight before the face of God. Thus, therefore,doth the Word, when managed by the arm of God. It findeth out, it singleth out thesinner; the sinner finds it so; it finds out the sins of the sinner; it unravelshis whole life, it strips him and lays him naked in his own sight before the faceof God; neither can the sinner nor his wickedness be longer hid and covered; andnow begins the sinner to see what he never saw before.

2. Another instance for this is David, the man of our text. He sins, he sins grossly,he sins and hides it; yea, and seeks to hide it from the face of God and man. Well,Nathan is sent to preach a preaching to him, and that in common, and that in special:in common, by a parable; in special, by a particular application of it to him. WhileNathan only preached in common, or in general, David was fish- whole, [3] and stoodas right in his own eyes as if he had been as innocent and as harmless as any manalive. But God had a love for David; and therefore commands his servant Nathan togo home, not only to David's ears, but to David's conscience. Well, David now mustfall. Says Nathan, 'Thou art the man'; says David, 'I have sinned, ' and then hisheart was broken, and his spirit made contrite; as this psalm and our text doth show(2 Sam 12:1-13).

3. A third instance is that of Saul; he had heard many a sermon, and was become agreat professor, yea, he was more zealous than were many of his equals; but his heartwas never broken, nor his spirit ever made contrite, till he heard one preach fromheaven, till he heard God, in the Word of God, making inquiry after his sins: 'Saul,Saul, why persecutest thou me?' says Jesus; and then he can stand no longer: forthen his heart brake, then he falls to the ground, then he trembles, then he criesout, 'Who art thou, Lord?' and, 'Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?' (Acts 9). Wherefore,as I said, Then the word works effectually to this purpose, when it findeth out thesinner and his sin, and also when it shall convince him that it has found him out.Only I must join here a caution, for every operation of the Word upon the conscienceis not saving; nor doth all conviction end in the saving conversion of the sinner.It is then only such an operation of the Word that is intended, namely, that showsthe sinner not only the evil of his ways, but brings the heart unfeignedly over toGod by Christ. And this brings me to the third thing.

THIRD. I am therefore come to show you how and what the heart is when broken andmade contrite. And this I must do, by opening unto you the two chief expressionsin the text. First. What is meant by this word broken. Second. What is meant by thisword contrite.

First. For this word broken, Tindal renders it a troubled heart;[4] but I think thereis more in it. I take it, therefore, to be a heart disabled, as to former actions,even as a man whose bones are broken is disabled, as to his way of running, leaping,wrestling, or ought else, which vainly he was wont to do; wherefore, that which wascalled a broken heart in the text, he calls his broken bones, in verse the eighth:'Cause me, ' saith he, 'to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hastbroken may rejoice' (Psa 51:8). And why is the breaking of the heart compared tothe breaking of the bones? but because as when the bones are broken, the outwardman is disabled as to what it was wont to do; so when the spirit is broken, the inwardman is disabled as to what vanity and folly it before delighted in; hence, feeblenessis joined with this brokenness of heart. 'I am feeble, ' saith he, 'and sore broken'(Psa 38:8). I have lost my strength and former vigour, as to vain and sinful courses.

This, then, it is to have the heart broken; namely, to have it lamed, disabled, andtaken off by sense of God's wrath due to sin, from that course of life it formerlywas conversant in; and to show that this work is no fancy, nor done but with greattrouble to the soul, it is compared to the putting the bones out of joint, the breakingof the bones, the burning of the bones with fire, or as the taking the natural moisturefrom the bones, the vexing of the bones, &c. (Psa 23:14; Jer 20:9; Lam 1:13;Psa 6:2; Prov 17:22). All which are expressions adorned with such similitudes, asdo undeniably declare that to sense and feeling a broken heart is a grievous thing.

Second. What is meant by the word contrite. A contrite spirit is a penitent one;one sorely grieved, and deeply sorrowful, for the sins it has committed against God,and to the damage of the soul; and so it is to be taken in all those places wherea contrite spirit is made mention of; as in Psalm 34:18; Isaiah 57:15, 66:2.

As a man that has by his folly procured a broken leg or arm, is heartily sorry thatever he was so foolish as to be engaged in such foolish ways of idleness and vanity;so he whose heart is broken with a sense of God's wrath due to his sin, hath deepsorrow in his soul, and is greatly repentant that ever he should be such a fool,as by rebellious doings to bring himself and his soul to so much sharp affliction.Hence, while others are sporting themselves in vanity, such a one doth call his sinhis greatest folly. 'My wounds stink, and are corrupt, ' saith David, 'because ofmy foolishness.' And again, 'O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins arenot hid from thee' (Psa 38:5, 69:5).

Men, whatever they say with their lips, cannot conclude, if yet their hearts wantbreaking, that sin is a foolish thing. Hence it says, 'The foolishness of fools isfolly' (Prov 14:24). That is, the foolishness of some men, is that they take pleasurein their sins; for their sins are their foolishness, and the folly of their soullies in their countenancing of this foolishness. But the man whose heart is broken,he is none of these, he cannot be one of these, no more than he that has his bonesbroken can rejoice that he is desired to play a match at football. Hence, to hearothers talk foolishly, is to the grief of those whom God has wounded: or, as it isin another place, their words are 'like the piercings of a sword' (Psa 69:26; Prov12:18). This, therefore, I take to be the meaning of these two words, a broken anda contrite spirit.

FOURTH. Lastly, As to this, I now come more particularly to give you some signs ofa broken heart, of a broken and a contrite spirit.

First. A broken-hearted man, such as is intended in the text, is a sensible man;he is brought to the exercise of all the senses of his soul. All others are dead,senseless, and without true feeling of what the broken-hearted man is sensible of.

1. He sees himself to be what others are ignorant of; that is, he sees himself tobe not only a sinful man, but a man by nature in the gall and bond of sin. In thegall of sin: it is Peter's expression to Simon, and it is a saying common to allmen: for every man in a state of nature is in the gall of sin; he was shapen in it,conceived in it; it has also possession of, and by that possession infected the wholeof his soul and body (Psa 51:5; Acts 8:23). This he sees, this he understands; everyprofessor sees not this, because the blessing of a broken heart is not bestowed onevery one. David says, 'There is no soundness in my flesh'; and Solomon suggest thata plague or running sore is in the very heart. But every one perceives not this (Psa38:3; 1 Kings 8:38). He saith again, that his 'wounds stank, and were corrupted':that his 'sore ran, and ceased not' (Psa 38:5, 77:2). But these things the brutishman, the man whose heart was never broken, has no understanding of. But the broken-hearted,the man that has a broken spirit, he sees, as the prophet has it, he sees his sickness,he sees his wound: 'When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound'; he seesit to his grief, he sees it to his sorrow (Hosea 5:13).

2. He feels what others have no sense of; he feels the arrows of the Almighty, andthat they stick fast in him (Psa 38:2). He feels how sore and sick, by the smitingof God's hammer upon his heart to break it, his poor soul is made. He feels a burdenintolerably lying upon his spirit (Hosea 5:13). 'Mine iniquities, ' saith he, 'aregone over mine head; as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me' (Psa 38:4). Hefeels also the heavy hand of God upon his soul, a thing unknown to carnal men. Hefeels pain, being wounded, even such pain as others cannot understand, because theyare not broken. 'My heart, ' saith David, 'is sore pained within me.' Why so? Why!'The terrors of death are fallen upon me' (Psa 55:4). The terrors of death causepain, yea, pain of the highest nature; hence that which is here called pains, isin another place called pangs (Isa 21:3).

You know broken bones occasion pain, strong pain, yea, pain that will make a manor woman groan 'with the groanings of a deadly wounded man' (Eze 30:24). Soul painis the sorest pain, in comparison to which the pain of the body is a very tolerablething (Prov 18:14). Now here is soul pain, here is heart pain; here we are discoursingof a wounded, of a broken spirit; wherefore this is pain to be felt to the sinkingof the whole man, neither can any support this but God. Here is death in this pain,death for ever, without God's special mercy. This pain will bring the soul to, andthis the broken-hearted man doth feel. 'The sorrows of death, ' saith David, 'compassedme, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me, I found trouble and sorrow' (Psa 116:3).Ay, I'll warrant thee, poor man, thou foundest trouble and sorrow indeed; for thepains of hell and sorrows of death are pains and sorrow the most intolerable. Butthis the man is acquainted with that has his heart broken.[5]

3. As he sees and feels, so he hears that which augments his woe and sorrow. Youknow, if a man has his bones broken, he does not only see and feel, but oft-timesalso hears what increases his grief; as, that his wounds are incurable; that hisbone is not rightly set; that there is danger of a gangrene; that he may be lostfor want of looking to. These are the voices, the sayings, that haunt the house ofone that has his bones broken. And a broken-hearted man knows what I mean by this;he hears that which makes his lips quiver, and at the noise of which he seems tofeel rottenness enter into his bones; he trembleth in himself, and wishes that hemay hear joy and gladness, that the bones, the heart, and spirit, which God has broken,may rejoice (Habb 3:16; Psa 51:8). He thinks he hears God say, the devil say, hisconscience say, and all good men to whisper among themselves, saying, there is nohelp for him from God. Job heard this, David heard this, Heman heard this; and thisis the common sound in the ears of the broken- hearted.

4. The broken-hearted smell what others cannot scent. Alas! sin never smelled soto any man alive as it smells to the broken-hearted. You know wounds will stink:but [there is] no stink like that of sin to the broken-hearted man. His own sinsstink, and so doth the sins of all the world to him. Sin is like carrion; it is ofa stinking nature; yea, it has the worst of smells; however, some men like it (Psa38:5). But none are offended with the scent thereof but God and the broken-heartedsinner. 'My wounds stink, and are corrupt, ' saith he, both in God's nostrils andmine own. But, alas! who smells the stink of sin? None of the carnal world; they,like carrion-crows, seek it, love it, and eat it as the child eats bread. 'They eatup the sin of my people, ' saith God, 'and they set their heart on their iniquity'(Hosea 4:8). This, I say, they do, because they do not smell the nauseous scent ofsin. You know, that what is nauseous to the smell cannot be palatable to the taste.The broken-hearted man doth find that sin is nauseous, and therefore cries out itstinketh. They also think at times the smell of fire, of fire and brimstone, is uponthem, they are so sensible of the wages due to sin.

5. The broken-hearted is also a tasting man. Wounds, if sore, and full of pains,of great pains, do sometimes alter the taste of a man; they make him think his meat,his drink, yea, that cordials have a bitter taste in them. How many times doth thepoor people of God, that are the only men that know what a broken-heart doth mean,cry out that gravel, wormwood, gall, and vinegar, was made their meat (Lam 3:15,16, 19). This gravel, gall, and wormwood, is the true temporal taste of sin; andGod, to make them loathe it for ever, doth feed them with it till their hearts bothache and break therewith. Wickedness is pleasant of taste to the world; hence itis said they feed on ashes, they feed on the wind (Isa 44:20; Hosea 12:1). Lusts,or any thing that is vile and refuse, the carnal world think relishes well; as isset out most notably in the parable of the prodigal son. 'He would fain have filledhis belly, ' saith our Lord, 'with the husks that the swine did eat' (Luke 15:16).But the broken- hearted man has a relish that is true as to these things, though,by reason of the anguish of his soul, it abhors all manner of dainty meat (Job 33:19,20; Psa 107:17-19). Thus I have showed you one sign of a broken-hearted man; he isa sensible man, he has all the senses of his soul awakened, he can see, hear, feel,taste, smell, and that as none but himself can do. I come now to another sign ofa broken and contrite man.

Second. And that is, he is a very sorrowful man. This, as the other, is natural;it is natural to one that is in pain, and that has his bones broken, to be a grievedand sorrowful man. He is none of the jolly ones of the times; nor can he, for hisbones, his heart, his heart is broken.

1. He is sorry for that he feels and finds in himself a pravity of nature; I toldyou before he is sensible of it, he sees it, he feels it; and here I say he is sorryfor it. It is this that makes him call himself a wretched man; it is this that makeshim loathe and abhor himself; it is this that makes him blush, blush before God andbe ashamed (Rom 7:24; Job 42:5, 6; Eze 36:31). He finds by nature no form nor comelinessin himself, but the more he looks in the glass of the Word, the more unhandsome,the more deformed he perceiveth sin has made him. Every body sees not this, thereforeevery body is not sorry for it; but the broken in heart sees that he is by sin corrupted,marred, full of lewdness and naughtiness; he sees that in him, that is, in his flesh,dwells no good thing; and this makes him sorry, yea, it makes him sorry at heart.A man that has his bones broken finds he is spoiled, marred, disabled from doingas he would and should, at which he is grieved and made sorry.

Many are sorry for actual transgressions, because they do oft bring them to shamebefore men; but few are sorry for the defects that sin has made in nature, becausethey see not those defects themselves. A man cannot be sorry for the sinful defectsof nature, till he sees they have rendered him contemptible to God; nor is it anything but a sight of God that can make him truly see what he is, and so be heartilysorry for being so. Now 'mine eye seeth thee, ' saith Job, now 'I abhor myself.''Woe is me, for I am undone, ' saith the prophet, 'for mine eyes have seen the Kingthe Lord.' And it was this that made Daniel say his 'comeliness was turned in himinto corruption'; for he had now the vision of the Holy One (Job 42:6; Isa 6:1-5;Dan 10:8). Visions of God break the heart, because, by the sight the soul then hasof his perfections, it sees its own infinite and unspeakable disproportion, becauseof the vileness of its nature.

Suppose a company of ugly, uncomely, deformed persons dwelt together in one house;and suppose that they never yet saw any man or woman more than themselves, or thatwere arrayed with the splendours and perfections of nature; these would not be capableof comparing themselves with any but themselves, and consequently would not be affectedand made sorry for their uncomely natural defections. But now bring them out of theircells and holes of darkness, where they have been shut up by themselves, and letthem take a view of the splendour and perfections of beauty that are in others, andthen, if at all, they will be sorry and dejected at the view of their own defects.This is the case; men by sin are marred, spoiled, corrupted, depraved, but they maydwell by themselves in the dark; they see neither God, nor angels, nor saints, intheir excellent nature and beauty: and therefore they are apt to count their ownuncomely parts their ornaments and their glory. But now let such, as I said, seeGod, see saints, or the ornaments of the Holy Ghost, and themselves as they are withoutthem, and then they cannot but must be affected with and sorry for their own deformity.When the Lord Christ put forth but little of his excellency before his servant Peter'sface, it raised up the depravity of Peter's nature before him to his great confusionand shame; and made him cry out to him in the midst of all his fellows, 'Depart fromme, for I am a sinful man, O Lord' (Luke 5:4- 8).

This therefore is the cause of a broken heart, even a sight of divine excellencies,and a sense that I am a poor, depraved, spoiled defiled wretch; and this sight havingbroken the heart, begets sorrow in the broken-hearted.

2. The broken-hearted is a sorrowful man; for that he finds his depravity of naturestrong in him, to the putting forth itself to oppose and overthrow what his changedmind doth prompt him to; 'When I would do good, ' saith Paul, 'evil is present withme' (Rom 7:21). Evil is present to oppose, to resist, and make head against the desiresof my soul. The man that has his bones broken, may have yet a mind to be industriouslyoccupied in a lawful and honest calling; but he finds, by experience, that an infirmityattends his present condition that strongly resists his good endeavours; and at thishe shakes his head, makes complaints, and with sorrow of heart he sighs and says,I 'cannot do the thing that I would' (Rom 7:15; Gal 5:17). I am weak, I am feeble;I am not only depraved, but by that depravity deprived of ability to put good motions,[6] good intentions and desires into execution, to completeness; O says he, I amready to halt, my sorrow is continually before me!

You must know that the broken-hearted loves God, loves his soul, loves good, andhates evil. Now, for such an one to find in himself an opposition and continual contradictionto this holy passion, it must needs cause sorrow, godly sorrow, as the apostle Paulcalls it. For such are made sorrow after a godly sort. To be sorry for that thy natureis with sin depraved, and that through this depravity thou art deprived of abilityto do what the Word and thy holy mind doth prompt thee to, is to be sorry after agodly sort. For this sorrow worketh that in thee of which thou wilt never have causeto repent; no, not to eternity (2 Cor 7:9-11).

3. The broken-hearted man is sorry for those breaches that, by reason of the depravityof his nature, are made in his life and conversation. And this was the case of theman in our text. The vileness of his nature had broken out to the defiling of hislife, and to the making of him, at this time, base in conversation. This, this wasit, that all to[7] brake his heart. He saw in this he had dishonoured God, and thatcut him, 'Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight'(Psa 51:4). He saw in this he had caused the enemies of God to open their mouthsand blaspheme; and this cut him to the heart. This made him cry, I have sinned againstthee, Lord. This made him say, 'I will declare mine iniquity, I will be sorry formy sin' (Psa 38:18).

When a man is designed to do a matter, when his heart is set upon it, and the broken-hearteddoth design to glorify God, an obstruction to that design, the spoiling of this work,makes him sorrowful. Hannah coveted children, but could not have them, and this madeher 'a woman of a sorrowful spirit' (1 Sam 1:15). A broken-hearted man would be wellinwardly, and do that which is well outwardly; but he feels, he finds, he sees heis prevented, prevented at least in part. This makes him sorrowful; in this he groans,groans earnestly, being burdened with his imperfections (2 Cor 5:1-3). You know onewith broken bones has imperfections many, and is more sensible of them, too, as wassaid afore, than any other man; and this makes him sorrowful, yea, and makes himconclude that he shall go softly all his days in the bitterness of his soul (Isa38:15).

Third. The man with a broken heart is a very humble man; or, true humility is a signof a broken heart. Hence, brokenness of heart, contrition of spirit, and humblenessof mind, are put together. 'To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive theheart of the contrite ones' (Isa 57:15).

To follow our similitude. Suppose a man, while in bodily health, stout and strong,and one that fears and cares for no man; yet let this man have but a leg or an armbroken, and his courage is quelled; he is now so far off from hectoring of it witha man, that he is afraid of every little child that doth but offer to touch him.Now he will court the most feeble that has ought to do with him, to use him and handlehim gently. Now he is become a child in courage, a child in fear, and humbleth himselfas a little child.

Why, thus it is with that man that is of a broken and contrite spirit. Time was,indeed, he could hector, even hector it with God himself, saying, 'What is the Almighty,that we should serve him?' or what profit shall I have if I keep his commandments?(Job 21:15; Mal 3:13, 14). Ay! But now his heart is broken; God has wrestled withhim, and given him a fall, to the breaking of his bones, his heart; and now he crouches,now he cringes, now he begs of God that he will not only do him good, but do it withtender hands. 'Have mercy upon me, O God, ' said David; yea, 'according unto themultitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions' (Psa 51:1).

He stands, as he sees, not only in need of mercy, but of the tenderest mercies. Godhas several sorts of mercies, some more rough, some more tender. God can save a man,and yet have him a dreadful way to heaven! This the broken- hearted sees, and thisthe broken-hearted dreads, and therefore pleads for the tenderest sort of mercies;and here we read of his gentle dealing, and that he is very pitiful, and that hedeals tenderly with his. But the reason of such expressions no man knows but he thatis broken-hearted; he has his sores, his running sores, his stinking sores; whereforehe is pained, and therefore covets to be handled tenderly. Thus God has broken thepride of his spirit, and humbled the loftiness of man. And his humility yet appears,

1. In his thankfulness for natural life. He reckoneth at night, when he goes to bed,that like as a lion, so God will tear him to pieces before the morning light (Isa38:13). There is no judgment that has fallen upon others, but he counts of righthe should be swallowed up by it. 'My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraidof thy judgments' (Psa 119:120). But perceiving a day added to his life, and thathe in the morning is still on this side hell, he cannot choose but take notice ofit, and acknowledge it as a special favour, saying, God be thanked for holding mysoul in life till now, and for keeping my life back from the destroyer (Job 33:22;Psa 56:13, 86:13).

Man, before his heart is broken, counts time his own, and therefore he spends itlavishly upon every idle thing. His soul is far from fear, because the rod of Godis not upon him; but when he sees himself under the wounding hand of God, or whenGod, like a lion, is breaking all his bones, then he humbleth himself before him,and falleth at his foot. Now he has learned to count every moment a mercy, and everysmall morsel a mercy.

2. Now also the least hopes of mercy for his soul, O how precious is it! He thatwas wont to make orts[8] of the gospel, and that valued promises but as stubble,and the words of God but as rotten wood; now, with what an eye doth he look on thepromise? Yea, he counted a peradventure of mercy more rich, more worth, than thewhole world. Now, as we say, he is glad to leap at a crust; now, to be a dog in God'shouse is counted better by him than to 'dwell in the tents of the wicked' (Matt 15:16,27; Luke 15:17-19).

3. Now he that was wont to look scornfully upon the people of God, yea, that usedto scorn to show them a gentle cast of his countenance; now he admires and bows beforethem, and is ready to lick the dust of their feet, and would count it his greatest,the highest honour, to be as one of the least of them. 'Make me as one of thy hiredservants, ' says he (Luke 15:19).

4. Now he is, in his own eyes, the greatest fool in nature; for that he sees he hasbeen so mistaken in his ways, and has not yet but little, if any true knowledge ofGod. Every one now, says he, have more knowledge of God than I; every one serveshim better than I (Psa 73:21, 22; Prov 30:2, 3).

5. Now may he be but one, though the least in the kingdom of heaven! Now may he bebut one, though the least in the church on earth! Now may he be but loved, thoughthe least beloved of saints! How high an account doth he set thereon!

6. Now, when he talketh with God or men, how doth he debase himself before them!If with God, how does he accuse himself, and load himself with the acknowledgmentsof his own villanies, which he committed in the days wherein he was the enemy ofGod! 'Lord, ' said Paul, that contrite one, 'I imprisoned and beat in every synagoguethem that believed on thee. And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, Ialso was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of themthat slew him' (Acts 22:19, 20). Yea, I punished thy saints 'oft in every synagogue,and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecutedthem even unto strange cities' (Acts 26:9-11).

Also, when he comes to speak to saints, how doth he make himself vile before them!'I am, ' saith he, 'the least of the apostles; that am not meet to be called an apostle';I am 'less than the least of all saints'; I was a blasphemer; I was a persecutor,and injurious, &c. (1 Cor 15:9; Eph 3:8; 1 Tim 1:13). What humility, what self-abasingthoughts, doth a broken heart produce! When David danced before the ark of God, alsohow did he discover his nakedness to the disliking of his wife; and when she tauntedhim for his doings, says he, 'It was before the Lord, ' &c., 'and I will yetbe more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight' (2 Sam 6:20-22). O, theman that is, or that has been kindly broken in his spirit, and that is of a contriteheart, is a lowly, humble man.

Fourth. The broken-hearted man is a man that sees himself in spirituals to be poor.Therefore, as humble and contrite, so poor and contrite are put together in the Word.'But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit'(Isa 66:1, 2). And here we still pursue our metaphor. A wounded man, a man with brokenbones, concludes his condition to be but poor, very poor. Ask him how he does, andhe answers, 'Truly, neighbours, in a very poor condition!' Also you have the spiritualpoverty of such as have, or have had their hearts broken, and that have been of contritespirits, much made mention of in the Word. And they go by two names to distinguishthem from others. They are called THY poor, that is, God's poor; they are also called'the poor in spirit' (Psa 72:2, 74:19; Matt 5:3). Now, the man that is poor in hisown eyes, for of him we now discourse, and the broken-hearted is such an one, issensible of his wants. He knows he cannot help himself, and therefore is forced tobe content to live by the charity of others. Thus it is in nature, thus it is ingrace.

1. The broken-hearted now knows his wants, and he knew it not till now. As he thathas a broken bone, knew no want of a bone-setter till he knew his bone was broken.His broken bone makes him know it; his pain and anguish makes him know it; and thusit is in spirituals. Now he sees to be poor indeed is to want the sense of the favourof God; for his great pain is a sense of wrath, as hath been shown before. And thevoice of joy would heal his broken bones (Psa 51:8). Two things he thinks would makehim rich. (1) A right and title to Jesus Christ, and all his benefits. (2) And savingfaith therein. They that are spiritually rich are rich in him, and in the faith ofhim (2 Cor 8:9; James 2:5).

The first of these giveth us a right to the kingdom of heaven; and the second yieldsthe soul the comfort of it; and the broken-hearted man wants the sense and knowledgeof his interest in these. That he knows he wants them is plain; but that he knowshe has them is what, as yet, he wants the attainment of. Hence he says, 'The poorand needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst' (Isa41:17). There is none in their view; none in their view for them. Hence David, whenhe had his broken heart, felt he wanted washing, he wanted purging, he wanted tobe made white. He knew that spiritual riches lay there but he did not so well perceivethat God had washed and purged him. Yea, he rather was afraid that all was going,that he was in danger of being cast out of God's presence, and that the Spirit ofgrace would be utterly taken from him (Psa 51). That is the first thing. The broken-hearted is poor, because he knows his wants.

2. The broken-hearted is poor, because he knows he cannot help himself to what heknows he wants. The man that has a broken arm, as he knows it, so he knows of himselfhe cannot set it. This therefore is a second thing that declares a man is poor, otherwisehe is not so. For suppose a man wants never so much, yet if he can but help himself,if he can furnish himself, if he can supply his own wants out of what he has, hecannot be a poor man. Yea, the more he wants, the greater are his riches, if he cansupply his own wants out of his own purse.

He then is the poor man, that knows his spiritual want, and also knows he cannotsupply or help himself. But this the broken-hearted knows, therefore he in his owneyes is the only poor man. True, he may have something of his own, but that willnot supply his want, and therefore he is a poor man still. I have sacrifices, saysDavid, but thou dosts not desire them, therefore my poverty remains (Psa 51:16).Lead is not gold, lead is not current money with the merchants. There is none hasspiritual gold to sell but Christ (Rev 3:18). What can a man do to procure Christ,or procure faith, or love? Yea, had he never so much of his own carnal excellencies,no, not one penny of it will go for pay in that market where grace is to be hand.'If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly becontemned' (Can 8:7).

This the broken-hearted man perceives, and therefore he sees himself to be spirituallypoor. True he has a broken heart, and that is of great esteem with God; but thatis not of nature's goodness, that is a gift, a work of God; and that is the sacrificesof God. Besides, a man cannot remain content and at rest with that; for that, inthe nature of it, does but show him he is poor, and that his wants are such as himselfcannot supply. Besides, there is but little ease in a broken heart.

3. The broken-hearted man is poor, and sees it; because he finds he is now disabledto live any way else but by begging. This David betook himself to, though he wasa king; for he knew, as to his soul's health, he could live no way else. 'This poorman cried, ' saith he, 'and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles'(Psa 34:6). And this leads me to the fifth sign.

Fifth. Another sign of a broken heart is a crying, a crying out. Pain, you know,will make one cry. Go to them that have upon them the anguish of broken bones, andsee if they do not cry; anguish makes them cry. This, this is that which quicklyfollows, if once thy heart be broken, and thy spirit indeed made contrite.

1. I say, anguish will make thee cry. 'Trouble and anguish, ' saith David, 'havetaken hold on me' (Psa 119:143). Anguish, you know, doth naturally provoke to crying;now, as a broken bone has anguish, a broken heart has anguish. Hence the pains ofone that has a broken heart are compared to the pangs of a woman in travail (John16:20- 22).

Anguish will make one cry alone, cry to one's self; and this is called a bemoaningof one's self. 'I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, ' saith God (Jer 31:18).That is, being at present under the breaking, chastising hand of God. 'Thou hastchastised me, ' saith he, 'and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to theyoke.' This is his meaning also who said, 'I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise.'And why? Why, 'My heart is sore pained within me' (Psa 4:2-4).

This is a self-bemoaning, a bemoaning themselves in secret and retired places. Youknow it is common with them who are distressed with anguish, though all alone, tocry out to themselves of their present pains, saying, O my leg! O my arm! O my bowels!Or, as the son of the Shunammite, 'My head! my head!' (2 Kings 4:19). O the groans,the sighs, the cries, that the broken-hearted have, when by themselves, or alone!O, say they, my sins! my sins! my soul! my soul! How am I loaden with guilt! Howam I surrounded with fear! O this hard, this desperate, this unbelieving heart! Ohow sin defileth my will, my mind, my conscience! 'I am afflicted and ready to die'(Psa 88:15).[9]

Could some of you carnal people but get behind the chamber-door, to hear Ephraimwhen he is at the work of self-bemoaning, it would make you stand amazed to hearhim bewail that sin in himself in which you take delight; and to hear him bemoanhis misspending of time, while you spend all in pursuing your filthy lusts; and tohear him offended with his heart, because it will not better comply with God's holywill, while you are afraid of his Word and ways, and never think yourselves betterthan when farthest off from God. The unruliness of the passions and lusts of thebroken-hearted make them often get into a corner, and thus bemoan themselves.

2. As they thus cry out in a bemoaning manner of and to themselves, so they havetheir outcries of and against themselves to others; as she said in another case,'Behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow' (Lam 1:12). O the bittercries and complaints that the broken- hearted have, and make to one another! Stillevery one imagining that his own wounds are deepest, and his own sores fullest ofanguish, and hardest to be cured. Say they, if our iniquities be upon us, and wepine away in them, how can we then live? (Eze 33:10).

Once being at an honest woman's house, I, after some pause, asked her how she did?She said, Very badly. I asked her if she was sick? she answered, No. What then, saidI, are any of your children ill? She told me, No. What, said I, is your husband amiss,or do you go back in the world? No, no, said she, but I am afraid I shall not besaved. And broke out with heavy heart, saying, 'Ah, Goodman Bunyan! Christ and apitcher; if I had Christ, though I went and begged my bread with a pitcher, it wouldbe better with me than I think it is now!' This woman had her heart broken, thiswoman wanted Christ, this woman was concerned for her soul. There are but few women,rich women, that count Christ and a pitcher better than the world, their pride, andpleasures. This woman's cries are worthy to be recorded; it was a cry that carriedin it, not only a sense of the want, but also of the worth of Christ. This cry, 'Christand a pitcher, ' made a melodious noise in the ears of the very angels![10]

But, I say, few women cry out thus; few women are so in love with their own eternalsalvation, as to be willing to part with all their lusts and vanities for Jesus Christand a pitcher. Good Jacob also was thus: 'If the Lord, ' said he, 'will give me breadto eat, and raiment to put on, then he shall be my God.' Yea, he vowed it shouldbe so. 'And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me inthis way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on; so thatI come again to my father's house in peace: then shall the Lord be my God' (Gen 28:20).

3. As they bemoan themselves, and make their complaints to one and another, so theycry to God. 'O God, ' said Heman, 'I have cried day and night before thee.' But when?Why, when his soul was full of trouble, and his life drew near to the grave (Psa88:1-3). Or, as it says in another place, out of the deep, 'out of the belly of hellcried I' (Psa 130:1; Jonah 2:2). By such words expressing what painful conditionthey were in when they cried.

See how God himself words it. 'My pleasant portion, ' says he, is become 'a desolatewilderness, and being desolate, it mourneth unto me' (Jer 12:11). And this also isnatural to those whose hearts are broken. Whether goes the child, when it catchethharm, but to its father, to its mother? Where doth it lay its head, but in theirlaps? Into whose bosom doth it pour out its complaint, more especially, but intothe bosom of the father, of a mother, because there are bowels, there is pity, thereis relief and succour? And thus it is with them whose bones, whose hearts are broken.It is natural to them; they must cry; they cannot but cry to him. 'Lord, heal me,' said David, 'for my bones are vexed; Lord, heal me, for my soul is also sore vexed'(Psa 6:1-3). He that cannot cry feels no pain, sees no want, fears no danger, orelse is dead.

Sixth. Another sign of a broken heart, and of a contrite spirit is, it tremblethat God's Word. 'To him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at myWord' (Isa 66:2).

The Word of God is an awful Word to a broken-hearted man. Solomon says, 'The wordof a king is as the roaring of a lion'; and if so, what is the Word of God? for bythe wrath and fear is meant the authoritative word of a king. We have a proverb,'The burnt child dreads the fire, the whipped child fears the rod'; even so the broken-heartedfears the Word of God. Hence you have a remark set upon them that tremble at God'sWord, to wit, they are they that keep among the godly; they are they that keep withincompass; they are they that are aptest to mourn, and to stand in the gap, when Godis angry; and to turn away his wrath from a people.

It is a sign the Word of God has had place, and wrought powerfully, when the hearttrembleth at it, is afraid, and stands in awe of it. When Joseph's mistress temptedhim to lie with her, he was afraid of the Word of God. 'How then can I do this greatwickedness, ' said he, 'and sin against God?' He stood in awe of God's Word, durstnot do it, because he kept in remembrance what a dreadful thing it was to rebel againstGod's Word. When old Eli heard that the ark was taken, his very heart trembled withinhim; for he read by that sad loss that God was angry with Israel, and he knew theanger of God was a great and terrible thing. When Samuel went to Bethlehem, the eldersof the town trembled; for they feared that he came to them with some sad messagefrom God, and they had had experience of the dread of such things before (Gen 39:7-9;1 Sam 4:13, 16:1- 4). When Ezra would have a mourning in Israel for the sins of theland, he sent, and there came to him 'every one that trembled at the words of theGod of Israel, because of the transgressions of those that had been carried away'(Ezra 9:4).

There are, I say, a sort of people that tremble at the words of God, and that areafraid of doing ought that is contrary to them; but they are only such with whosesouls and spirits the Word has had to do. For the rest, they are resolved to go ontheir course, let God say what he will. 'As for the word' of the Lord, said rebelliousIsrael to Jeremiah, 'that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we willnot hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth outof our own mouth' (Jer 44:16). But do you think that these people did ever feel thepower and majesty of the Word of God to break their hearts? No, verily; had thatbeen so, they would have trembled at the words of God; they would have been afraidof the words of God. God may command some people what he will, they will do whatthey list. What care they for God? what care they for his Word? Neither threats norpromises, neither punishments or favours will make them obedient to the Word of God;and all because they have not felt the power of it, their hearts have not been brokenwith it. When king Josias did but read in God's Book what punishment God had threatenedagainst rebellious Israel, though he himself was a holy and good man, he humbledhimself, 'he rent his clothes, ' and wept before the Lord, and was afraid of thejudgment threatened (2 Kings 22; 2 Chron 34). For he knew what a dreadful thing theWord of God is. Some men, as I said before, dare do anything, let the Word of Godbe never so much against it; but they that tremble at the Word dare not do so. No,they must make the Word their rule for all they do; they must go to the Holy Bible,and there inquire what may or may not be done; for they tremble at the Word. Thisthen is another sign, a true sign, that the heart has been broken, namely, 'Whenthe heart is made afraid of, and trembleth at the Word' (Acts 9:4-6, 16:29, 30).Trembling at the Word is caused by a belief of what is deserved, threatened, andof what will come, if not prevented by repentance; and therefore the heart melts,and breaks before the Lord.

[IV. THE NECESSITY THERE IS THAT THE HEART MUST BE BROKEN.]

I come, in the next place, to speak to this question.

But what necessity is there that the heart must be broken? Cannot a man be savedunless his heart be broken? I answer, Avoiding secret things, which only belong toGod, there is a necessity of breaking the heart, in order to salvation; because aman will not sincerely comply with the means conducing thereunto until his heartis broken. For,

First. Man, take him as he comes into the world, as to spirituals, as to evangelicalthings, in which mainly lies man's eternal felicity, and there he is as one dead,and so stupefied, and wholly in himself, as unconcerned with it. Nor can any callor admonition, that has not a heart- breaking power attending of it, bring him toa due consideration of his present state, and so unto an effectual desire to be saved.

Many ways God has manifested this. He has threatened men with temporal judgments;yea, sent such judgments upon them, once and again, over and over, but they willnot do. What! says he, 'I have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities; Ihave withholden the rain from you; I have smitten you with blasting and mildew; Ihave sent among you the pestilence; I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrewSodom and Gomorrah. Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord' (Amos 4:6-11).See here! Here is judgment upon judgment, stroke after stroke, punishment after punishment,but all will not do, unless the heart is broken. Yea, another prophet seems to saythat such things, instead of converting the soul, sets it further off. If heart-breaking work attend such strokes, 'Why should ye be stricken any more?' says he,'ye will revolt more and more' (Isa 1:5).

Man's heart is fenced, it is grown gross; there is a skin that, like a coat of mail,has wrapped it up, and inclosed it in on every side. This skin, this coat of mail,unless it be cut off and taken away, the heart remains untouched, whole; and so asunconcerned, whatever judgments or afflictions light upon the body (Matt 13:15; Acts28:27). This which I call the coat of mail, the fence of the heart, has two greatnames in Scripture. It is called, 'the foreskin of the heart, ' and the armour inwhich the devil trusteth (Deut 10:16; Luke 11:22).

Because these shield and fence the heart from all gospel doctrine, and from all legalpunishments, nothing can come at it till these are removed. Therefore, in order untoconversion, the heart is said to be circumcised; that is, this foreskin is takenaway, and this coat of mail is spoiled. 'I will circumcise thy heart, ' saith he,'to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart', and then the devil's goods are spoiled,'that thou mayst live' (Deut 30:6; Luke 11:22).

And now the heart lies open, now the Word will prick, cut, and pierce it; and itbeing cut, pricked, and pierced, it bleeds, it faints, it falls, and dies at thefoot of God, unless it is supported by the grace and love of God in Jesus Christ.Conversion, you know, begins at the heart; but if the heart be so secured by sinand Satan, as I have said, all judgments are, while that is so, in vain. Hence Moses,after he had made a long relation of mercy and judgment unto the children of Israel,suggests that yet the great thing was wanting to them, and that thing was, an heartto perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear unto that day (Deut 29:2, 3). Theirhearts were as yet not touched to the quick, were not awakened, and wounded by theholy Word of God, and made tremble at its truth and terror.

But I say, before the heart be touched, pricked, made smart, &c., how can itbe thought, be the danger never so great, that it should repent, cry, bow, and breakat the foot of God, and supplicate there for mercy! and yet thus it must do; forthus God has ordained, and thus God has appointed it; nor can men be saved withoutit. But, I say, can a man spiritually dead, a stupid man, whose heart is past feeling,do this; before he has his dead and stupid heart awakened, to see and feel its stateand misery without it? But,

Second. Man, take him as he comes into the world, and how wise soever he is in worldlyand temporal things, he is yet a fool as to that which is spiritual and heavenly.Hence Paul says, 'the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God;for they are foolishness unto him, ' because he is indeed a fool to them; 'neither,' says the text, 'can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned' (1 Cor2:14). But how now must this fool be made wise? Why, wisdom must be put into hisheart (Job 38:36). Now, none can put it there but God; and how doth he put it there,but by making room there for it, by taking away the thing which hinders, which isthat folly and madness which naturally dwelleth there? But how doth he take thataway but by a severe chastising of his soul for it, until he has made him weary ofit? The whip and stripes are provided for the natural fool, and so it is for himthat is spiritually so (Prov 19:29).

Solomon intimates, that it is a hard thing to make a fool become wise. 'Though thoushouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishnessdepart from him' (Prov 27:22). By this it appears that it is a hard thing to makea fool a wise man. To bray one in a mortar is a dreadful thing, to bray one therewith a pestle; and yet it seems a whip, a mortar, and a pestle is the way. And ifthis is the way to make one wise in this world, and if all this will hardly do, howmust the fool that is so in spirituals be whipped and beaten, and stripped beforehe is made wise therein? Yea, his heart must be put into God's mortar, and must bebeaten; yea, brayed there with the pestle of the law, before it loves to hearkenunto heavenly things. It is a great word in Jeremiah, 'Through deceit, ' that is,folly, 'they refuse to know me, saith the Lord.' And what follows? Why, 'Therefore,thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold I will melt them, and try them, ' that is, withfire, 'for how shall I do for the daughter of my people' (Jer 9:6, 7). I will meltthem: I will put them into my furnace, and there I will try them; and there willI make them know me, saith the Lord. When David was under spiritual chastisementfor his sin, and had his heart under the breaking hand of God, then he said, Godshould make him know wisdom (Psa 51:6). Now he was in the mortar, now he was in thefurnace, now he was bruised and melted; yea, now his bones, his heart, was breaking,and now his folly was departing. Now, says he, thou shalt make me to know wisdom.If I know anything of the way of God with us fools, there is nothing else will makeus wise men; yea, a thousand breakings will not make us so wise as we should be.

We say, Wisdom is not good till it is bought; and he that buys it, according to theintention of that proverb, usually smarts for it. The fool is wise in his own conceit;wherefore there is a double difficulty attends him before he can be wise indeed.Not only his folly, but his wisdom, must be removed from him; and how shall thatbe, but by ripping up of his heart by some sore conviction, that may show him plainlythat his wisdom is his folly, and that which will undo him. A fool loves his folly;that is, as treasure, so much is he in love with it. Now then, it must be a greatthing that must make a fool forsake his folly. The foolish will not weigh, nor consider,nor compare wisdom with their folly. 'Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom.''As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly' (Prov 15:21,26:11). So loth are they when driven from it to let it go, to let it depart fromthem. Wherefore there must go a great deal to the making of a man a Christian; foras to that, every man is a fool, yea, the greatest fool, the most unconcerned fool,the most self- willed fool of all fools; yea, one that will not be turned from hisfolly but by the breaking of his heart. David was one of these fools; Manasseh wasone of these fools; Saul, otherwise called Paul, was one of these fools; and so wasI, and that the biggest of all.[11]

Third. Man, take him as he comes into the world, and he is not only a dead man, anda fool, but a proud man also. Pride is one of those sins that first showeth itselfto children, yea, and it grows up with them, and mixeth itself with all they do:but it lies most hid, most deep in man as to his soul-concerns. For the nature ofsin, as sin, is not only to be vile, but to hide its vileness from the soul. Hencemany think they do well when they sin. Jonah thought he did well to be angry withGod (Jonah 4:9). The Pharisees thought they did well when they said, Christ had adevil (John 8:48). And Paul thought verily, that he ought to do many things against,or contrary to, the name of Jesus; which he also did with great madness (Acts 26:9,10). And thus sin puffs up men with pride, and a conceit of themselves, that theyare a thousand times better than they are. Hence they think they are the childrenof God, when they are the children of the devil; and that they are something as toChristianity, when they neither are such, nor know what it is that they must haveto make them such (John 8:41-44; Gal 6:3).

Now, whence flows this but from pride, and a self-conceit of themselves, and thattheir state is good for another world, when they are yet in their sins, and underthe curse of God? Yea, and this pride is so strong and high, and yet so hid in them,that all the ministers in the world cannot persuade them that this is pride, notgrace, in which they are so confident. Hence they slight all reproofs, rebukes, threatenings,or admonitions that are pressed upon them, to prevail with them to take heed, thatthey be not herein deceived. 'Hear ye, ' saith the prophet, 'and give ear: be notproud, for the Lord hath spoken.' 'But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weepin secret places for your pride' (Jer 13:15-17). And what was the conclusion? Why,all the proud men stood out still, and maintained their resistance of God and hisholy prophet (Jer 43:2).

Nor is there any thing that will prevail with these to the saving of their souls,until their hearts are broken. David, after he had defiled Bathsheba, and slain herhusband, yet boasted himself in his justice and holiness, and would by all meanshave the man put to death that had but taken the poor man's lamb, when, alas! poorsoul, himself was the great transgressor. But would he believe it? No, no; he stoodupon the vindicating of himself to be a just doer; nor would he be made to fall untilNathan, by authority from God, did tell him that he was the man whom himself hadcondemned; 'Thou art the man, ' said he: at which word his conscience was awakened,his heart wounded, and so his soul made to fall under the burden of his guilt, atthe feet of the God of heaven for mercy (2 Sam 12:1-13).

Ah! pride, pride! thou art that which holds many a man in the chains of his sins;thou art it, thou cursed self-conceit, and keepest them from believing that theirstate is damnable. 'The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seekafter God' (Psa 10:4). And if there is so much in the pride of his countenance, whatis there, think you, in the pride of his heart? Therefore Job says it is to hidepride from man, and so to save his soul from hell, that God chasteneth him with painupon his bed, until the multitude of his bones stick out, and until his life drawsnigh to the destroyer (Job 33:17-22).

It is a hard thing to take a man off his pride, and make him, instead of trustingin, and boasting of his goodness, wisdom, honesty, and the like, to see himself asinner, a fool, yea, a man that is cruel, as to his own immortal soul. Pride of hearthas a power in it, and is therefore compared to an iron sinew, and an iron chain,by which they are made stout, and with which they are held in that stoutness, tooppose the Lord, and drive his Word from their hearts (Lev 26:19; Psa 73:6).

This was the sin of devils, and it is the sin of man, and the sin, I say, from whichno man can be delivered until his heart is broken; and then his pride is spoiled,then he will be glad to yield. If a man be proud of his strength or manhood, a brokenleg will maul him; and if a man be proud of his goodness, a broken heart will maulhim; because, as has been said, a broken heart comes by the discovery and chargeof sin, by the power of God upon the conscience.

Fourth. Man, take him as he comes into the world, and he is not only a dead man,a fool, and proud, but also self- willed and headstrong (2 Peter 2:10). A stubbornungain creature is man before his heart is broken. Hence they are so often calledrebels, rebellious, and disobedient: they will only do what they list. 'All day long,' says God, 'have I stretched out my hand to a disobedient and gainsaying people.'And hence, again, they are compared to a self- willed or headstrong horse, that will,in spite of his rider, rush into the battle. 'Every one, ' says God, 'turneth tohis course, as the horse rusheth into battle' (Jer 8:6). They say, 'With our tonguewill we prevail, our lips are our own; who is lord over us' (Psa 12:4).

Hence they are said to stop their ears, to pull away their shoulder, to shut theireyes, and harden their hearts, 'against the words of God, and contemned the counselof the Most High' (Psa 107:11; Zech 7:10, 12). They are fitly compared to the rebelliousson who would not be ruled by his parents, or to the prodigal, who would have allin his own hand, and remove himself far away from father and father's house (Deut21:20; Luke 15:13). Now for such creatures, nothing will do but violence. The stubbornson must be stoned till he dies; and the prodigal must be famished out of all; nothingelse, I say, will do. Their self- willed stubborn heart will not comply with thewill of God before it is broken (Deut 21:21; Luke 15:14-17). These are they thatare called the stout-hearted; these are said to be far from righteousness, and sowill remain until their hearts are broken; for so they must be made to know themselves(Isa 9:9-11).

Fifth. Man, as he comes into the world, is not only a dead man, a fool, proud, andself-willed, but also a fearless creature. 'There is, ' saith the text, 'no fearof God before their eyes' (Rom 3:18). No fear of God! There is fear of man, fearof losing his favour, his love, his good-will, his help, his friendship; this isseen everywhere. How do the poor fear the rich, the weak fear the strong, and thosethat are threatened, them that threaten! But come now to God; why, none fear him;that is, by nature, none reverence him; they neither fear his frowns, nor seek hisfavour, nor inquire how they may escape his revenging hand that is lifted up againsttheir sins and their souls because of sin. Little things they fear the losing ofthem; but the soul they are not afraid to lose. 'They fear not me, saith the Lord'(Mal 3:5).

How many times are some men put in mind of death by sickness upon themselves, bygraves, by the death of others? How many times are they put in mind of hell by readingthe Word, by lashes of conscience, and by some that go roaring in despair out ofthis world? How many times are they put in mind of the day of judgment. As, 1. ByGod's binding the fallen angels over to judgment. 2. By the drowning of the old world(2 Peter 2:4, 5; Jude 6, 7). 3. By the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire fromheaven (2 Peter 2:6; Jude 7). 4. By appointing a day (Acts 17:29-31). 5. By appointinga judge (Acts 10:40-42). 6 By reserving their crimes in records (Isa 30:8; Rev 20:12).7. By appointing and preparing of witnesses (Rom 2:15). 8. And by promising, yea,threatening, yea, resolving, to call the whole world to his bar, there to be judgedfor all which they have done and said, and for every secret thing (Matt 25:31-33,12:36; Eccl 11:9, 12:14).

And yet they fear not God: alas! they believe not these things. These things, tocarnal men, are like Lot's preaching to his sons and daughters that were in Sodom.When he told them that God would destroy that place, he seemed unto them as one thatmocked; and his words to them were as idle tales (Gen 19:14). Fearless men are notwon by words; blows, wounds, and killings, are the things that must bring them underfear. How many struggling fits had Israel with God in the wilderness? How many timesdid they declare that there they feared him not? And observe, they were seldom, ifever, brought to fear and dread his glorious name, unless he beset them round withdeath and the grave. Nothing, nothing but a severe hand, will make the fearless fear.Hence, to speak after the manner of man, God is put upon it to go this way with sinnerswhen he would save their souls; even bring them, and lay them at the mouth, and withinsight of hell and everlasting damnation: and there also charge them with sin andguilt, to the breaking of their hearts, before they will fear his name.

Sixth. Man, as he comes into the world, is not only a dead man, a fool, proud, self-willed,and fearless, but he is a false believer concerning God. Let God report of himselfnever so plainly, man by nature will not believe this report of him. No, they arebecome vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart is darkened; whereforethey turn the glory of God, which is his truth, into a lie (Rom 1:21-25). God says,He sees; they say, He seeth not; God saith, He knows; they say, He doth not know:God saith, None is like himself; yet they say, He is altogether like to them: Godsaith, None shall keep his door for naught; they say, It is in vain, and to no profitto serve him: he saith, He will do good; they say, He will neither do good nor evil(Job 22:13, 14; Psa 50:21; Job 21:14, 15; Mal 3:14; Zeph 1:12). Thus they falselybelieve concerning God; yea, as to the word of his grace, and the revelation of hismercy in Christ, they stick not to say by their practice, for a wicked man speakethwith his feet (Prov 6:13), that that is a stark lie, and not to be trusted to (1John 5:10).

Now, what shall God do to save these men? If he hides himself and conceals his glory,they perish. If he sends to them by his messengers, and forbears to come to themhimself, they perish. If he comes to them and forbears to work upon them by his word,they perish: if he worketh on them, but not effectually, they perish. If he workseffectually he must break their hearts, and make them, as men wounded to death, fallat his feet for mercy, or there can be no good done on them; they will not rightlybelieve until he fires them out of their misbelief, and makes them to know, by thebreaking of their bones for their false faith, that he is, and will be, what he hassaid of himself in his holy Word.[12] The heart, therefore, must be broken beforethe man can come to good.

Seventh. Man, as he comes into the world, is not only a dead man, a fool, proud,self-willed, fearless, and a false believer, but a great lover of sin; he is captivated,ravished, drowned in the delights of it. Hence it [the Word] says, they love sin,delight in lies, do take pleasure in iniquity, and in them that do it; that theysport themselves in their own deceivings, and glory in their shame (John 3:19; Psa62:4; Rom 1:32; 2 Peter 2:13; Phil 3:19).

This is the temper of man by nature; for sin is mixed with and has the mastery ofall the powers of his soul. Hence they are said to be captives to it, and to be ledcaptive into the pleasures of it, at the will of the devil (2 Tim 2:26). And youknow it is not an easy thing to break love, or to take the affections off that objecton which they are so deeply set, in which they are so deeply rooted, as man's heartis in his sins. Alas! how many are there that contemn all the allurements of heaven,and that trample upon all the threatenings of God, and that say, 'Tush, ' at allthe flames of hell, whenever these are propounded as motives to work them off theirsinful delights! so fixed are they, so mad are they, upon these beastly idols. Yea,he that shall take in hand to stop their course in this their way, is as he thatshall attempt to prevent the raging waves of the sea from their course, when drivenby the mighty winds.

When men are somewhat put to it, when reason and conscience shall begin a littleto hearken to a preacher, or a judgment that shall begin to hunt for iniquity, howmany tricks, evasions, excuses, demurs, delays, and hiding-holes will they make,invent, and find, to hide and preserve their sweet sins with themselves and theirsouls, in the delights of them, to their own eternal perdition? Hence they endeavourto stifle conscience, to choke convictions, to forget God, to make themselves atheists,to contradict preachers that are plain and honest, and to heap to themselves suchof them only as are like themselves, that speak unto them smooth things, and prophesydeceits; yea, they say themselves to such preachers, 'Get you out of the way; turnaside out of the path; cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us' (Isa30:8-11). If they be followed still, and conscience and guilt shall, like blood-hounds, find them out in their secret places, and roar against them for their wickedlives, then they will flatter, cogg, dissemble, and lie against their soul, promisingto mend, to turn, to repent, and grow better shortly; and all to daff[13] off convictionsand molestations in their wicked ways, that they may yet pursue their lusts, theirpleasures, and sinful delights, in quiet, and without control.

Yea, further, I have known some that have been made to roar like bears, to yell likedragons, and to howl like dogs, by reason of the weight of guilt, and the lashesof hell upon their conscience for their evil deeds; who have, so soon as their presenttorments and fears were gone, returned again with the 'dog to his vomit; and as thesow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire' (Hosea 7:14; 2 Peter 2:20- 22).

Once again, some have been made taste of the good Word of God, of the joy of heaven,and of the powers of the world to come, and yet could not by any one, nay, by allof these, be made to break their league for ever with their lusts and sins (Heb 6:4,5; Luke 8:13; John 5:33-35). O Lord! what is man, that thou art mindful of him? Whereinis he to be accounted of? He has sinned against thee; he loves his sins more thanthee. He is a lover of pleasures more than he is a lover of God!

But now, how shall this man be reclaimed from this sin? How shall he be brought,wrought, and made, to be out of love with it? Doubtless it can be by no other means,by what we can see in the Word, but by the wounding, breaking, and disabling of theheart that loves it, and by that means making it a plague and gall unto it. Sin maybe made an affliction, and as gall and wormwood to them that love it; but the makingof it so bitter a thing to such a man, will not be done but by great and sore means.I remember we had in our town some time since, a little girl that loved to eat theheads of foul tobacco-pipes, and neither rod nor good words could reclaim her, andmake her leave them. So her father takes advice of a doctor, to wean her from them,and it was this: Take, saith he, a great many of the foulest tobacco-pipe heads youcan get, and boil them in milk, and make a posset of that milk, and make your daughterdrink the posset-drink up. He did so, and gave his girl it, and made her drink itup; the which became so irksome and nauseous to her stomach, and made her so sick,that she could never abide to meddle with tobacco-pipe heads any more, and so wascured of that disease. Thou lovest thy sin, and neither rod nor good words will asyet reclaim thee. Well, take heed; if thou wilt not be reclaimed, God will make theea posset of them, which shall be so bitter to thy soul, so irksome to thy taste,so loathsome to thy mind, and so afflicting to thy heart, that it shall break itwith sickness and grief, till it be loathsome to thee. I say, thus he will do ifhe loves thee; if not, he will suffer thee to take thy course, and will let theego on with thy tobacco-pipe heads!

The children of Israel will have flesh, must have flesh; they weep, cry, and murmur,because they have not flesh; the bread of heaven, that is but light and sorry stuffin their esteem (Num 11:1-6). Moses goes and tells God how the people despised hisheavenly bread, and how they longed, lusted, and desired to be fed with flesh. Well,says God, they shall have flesh, they shall have their fill of flesh; I will feedthem with it; they shall have to the full; and that 'ye shall not eat one day, nortwo days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; but even a whole month,until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you; because ye havedespised the Lord' (Num 11:11-20). He can tell how to make that loathsome to theeon which thou most dost set thine evil heart. And he will do so, if he loves thee;else, as I said, he will not make thee sick by smiting of thee nor punish thee foror when thou committest whoredom, but will let thee alone till the judgment-day,and call thee to a reckoning for all thy sins then. But to pass this.

Eighth. Man, as he comes into the world, is not only a dead man, a fool, proud, self-willed,fearless, a false believer, and a lover of sin, but a wild man. He is of the wildolive tree, of that which is wild by nature (Rom 11:17, 24). So, in another place,man by nature is compared to the ass, to a wild ass. 'For vain or empty man wouldbe wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt' (Job 11:12). Isaac was a figureof Christ, and of all converted men (Gen 4:28). But Ishmael was a figure of man bynature; and the Holy Ghost, as to that, saith this of him, 'And he will be a wildman' (Gen 16:12). This man, I say, was a figure of all carnal men, in their wildnessor estrangedness from God. Hence it is said of the prodigal, at his conversion, thathe came to himself then; implying that he was mad, wild, or out of his wits before(Luke 15:17). I know there is a difference sometimes betwixt one's being wild andmad; yet sometimes wildness arriveth to that degree as to give one rightly the denominationof being mad. And it is always true in spirituals; namely, that he that is wild,as to God, is mad, or besides himself, and so not capable, before he is tamed, ofminding his own eternal good as he should. There are these several things that aretokens of one wild or mad; and they all meet in a carnal man.

1. A wild or mad man gives no heed to good counsel; the frenzy of his head shutsall out, and by its force leads him away from men that are wise and sober. And thusit is with carnal men; good counsel is to them as pearls are that are cast aforeswine; it is trampled under foot of them, and the man is despised that brings it(Matt 7:6). 'The poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard' (Eccl9:16).

2. A wild or mad man, let him alone, and he will greatly busy himself all his lifeto accomplish that which, when it is completed, amounts to nothing. The work, thetoil, the travel of such a one comes to nothing, save to declare that he was outof his wits that did it. David, imitating of such a one, scrabbled upon the gateof the king, as fools do with chalk; and like to this is all the work of all carnalmen in the world (1 Sam 21:12, 13). Hence, such a one is said to labour for the wind,or for what will amount to no more than if he filled his belly with the east wind(Eccl 5:16; Job 15:2).

3. A wild or mad man, if you set him to do anything, and he does it, he will yetdo it, not by or according to your bidding, but after the folly of his own wild fancy;even as Jehu executed the commandment of the Lord; he did it in his own madness,taking no heed to the commandment of the Lord (2 Kings 9:20, 10:31). And thus docarnal men do, when they meddle with any of God's matters, as hearing, praying, reading,professing; they do all according to their own wild fancy; they take no heed to dothese after the commandment of the Lord.

4. Wild or mad men, if they deck or array themselves with ought, as many times theydo, why, the spirit of their wildness or frenzy appears even in the mode and wayin which they do it. Either the things themselves which they make use of for thatpurpose are very toys and trifles; or if they seem to be better, they are put onafter an antic manner, rather to the rendering of them ridiculous, than to bespeakthem sober, judicious, or wise; and so do natural men array themselves with whatthey would be accepted in with God. Would one in his wits think to make himself fineor acceptable to men by arraying himself in menstruous cloths, or by painting hisface with dross and dung? And yet this is the finery of carnal men, when they approachfor acceptance into the presence of God (Isa 64:6; Phil 3:7, 8).

O the wildness, the frenzy, the madness, that possesses the heart and mind of carnalmen! they walk according to the course of this world, according to or after thatspirit which is in truth the spirit of the devil, which worketh in the children ofdisobedience (Eph 2:1-3). But do they believe that thus it is with them? No, theyare, in their own account, as other madmen are, the only ones in the world. Hencethey are so taken and tickled with their own frantic notions, and deride all elsethat dwell in the world. But which is the way to make one that is wild, or a madman,sober? To let him alone will not do it; to give him good words only will not do it;no, he must be tamed; means must be used to tame him. 'He brought down their heartswith labour, ' or by continual molestation; as you have it (Psa 107:10-12). He speakeththere of madmen that are kept up in darkness, and bound in afflictions and irons,because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of theMost High.

This, therefore, is the way to deal with such, and none but God can so deal withthem. They must be taken, they must be separated from men; they must be laid in chains,in darkness, afflictions, and irons; they must be blooded, half- starved, whipped,purged, and be dealt with as mad people are dealt with. And thus they must be dealtwith till they come to themselves, and cry out in their distresses. And then theycry to the Lord in their troubles, and he saveth them out of their distresses; thenhe brings them out of darkness, and the shadow of death, and breaks their bands insunder (Psa 107:13-15). Thus, I say, God tames the wild, and brings mad prodigalsto themselves, and so to him for mercy.

Ninth. Man, as he comes into the world, is not only a dead man, a fool, proud, self-willed,fearless, a false believer, a lover of sin, and a wild man; but a man that disrelishesthe things of the kingdom of God. I told you before, that unconverted man is suchas did not taste things; but now I add, that he disrelishes things; he calls bitterthings sweet, and sweet bitter; he judges quite amiss. These are they that God threatenethwith a woe. 'Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darknessfor light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter'(Isa 5:20).

This latter part of this text shows us evidently that the things of God are disrelishedby some. They call his sweet things bitter, and the devil's bitter things sweet;and all this is for want of a broken heart. A broken heart relishes otherwise thana whole or unbroken one doth. A man that has no pain, or bodily distress, cannotfind or feel virtue or good in the most sovereign plaister, were it applied to armor leg; no, he rather says, Away with these stinking daubing things. O! but lay thesame plaisters where there is need, and the patient will relish, and taste, and savourthe goodness of them; yea, will prize and commend them to others.

Thus it is in spirituals. The world, they know not what the anguish or pain of abroken heart means; they say, 'Who will show us any good, ' that is, better thanwe find in our sports, pleasures, estates, and preferments. 'There be many, ' saysthe Psalmist, speak after this sort. But what says the distressed man? Why, 'Lord,lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us'; and then adds, 'Thou hast putgladness in my heart'; namely, by the light of thy countenance, for that is the plaisterfor a broken heart. 'Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time thattheir corn and their wine increaseth' (Psa 4:1-7). O! a broken heart can savour pardon,can savour the consolations of the Holy Ghost. Yea, as a hungry or thirsty man prizesbread and water in the want thereof, so do the broken in heart prize and set a highesteem on the things of the Lord Jesus. His flesh, his blood, his promise, and thelight of his countenance, are the only sweet things both to scent and taste, to thosethat are of a wounded spirit. The full soul loatheth the honey-comb; the whole despisethe gospel, they savour not the things that are of God.

If twenty men were to hear a pardon read, and but one of those twenty were condemnedto die, and the pardon was for none but such; which of these men, think you, wouldtaste the sweetness of that pardon, they who are not, or he that was condemned? Thecondemned man, doubtless. This is the case in hand. The broken in heart is a condemnedman; yea, it is a sense of condemnation, with other things, that has indeed brokenhis heart; nor is there anything but sense of forgiveness that can bind it up, orheal it. But could that heal it, could he not taste, truly taste, or rightly relishthis forgiveness? no; forgiveness would be to him as it is to him that has not senseof want of it.

But, I say, what is the reason some so prize what others so despise, since they bothstand in need of the same grace and mercy of God in Christ? Why, the one sees, andthe other sees nothing, of this woeful miserable state. And thus have I showed youthe necessity of a broken heart. 1. Man is dead, and must be quickened. 2. Man isa fool, and must be made wise. 3. Man is proud, and must be humbled. 4. Man is self-willed,and must be broken. 5. Man is fearless, and must be made to consider. 6. Man is afalse believer, and must be rectified. 7. Man is a lover of sin, and must be weanedfrom it. 8. Man is wild, and must be tamed. 9. Man disrelishes the things of God,and can take no savour in them, until his heart is broken.

[V. THE REASONS WHY A BROKEN HEART IS ESTEEMED BY GOD SUCH AN EXCELLENT THING.]

And thus have I done with this, and shall come next to the reasons of the point,namely, to show you, why or how it comes to pass, that a broken heart, a heart trulycontrite, is to God such an excellent thing. That to him it is so, we have provedby six demonstrations; what it is, we have showed by the six signs thereof; thatit must be, is manifest by those nine reasons but now urged; and why it is with Godor in his esteem an excellent thing, that is shown by that which follows.

First. A broken heart is the handiwork of God; an heart of his own preparing, forhis own service; it is a sacrifice of his own providing, of his providing for himself;as Abraham said in another case, 'God will provide himself a lamb' (Gen 22:8).

Hence it is said, 'The preparations of the heart in man, &c., is from the Lord.'And again, 'God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me' (Job 23:16).The heart, as it is by nature hard, stupid, and impenetrable, so it remains, andso will remain, until God, as was said, bruiseth it with his hammer, and melts itwith his fire. The stony nature of it is therefore said to be taken away of God.'I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you, ' saithhe, 'an heart of flesh' (Eze 36:26). I will take away the stony heart, or the stoniness,or the hardness of your heart, and I will give you a heart of flesh; that is, I willmake your heart sensible, soft, wieldable, governable, and penitent. Sometimes hebids men rend their hearts, not because they can, but to convince them rather, thatthough it must be so, they cannot do it; so he bids them make themselves a new heart,and a new spirit, for the same purpose also; for if God doth not rend it, it remainsunrent; if God makes it not new, it abides an old one still.

This is that that is meant by his bending of men for himself, and of his workingin them that which is pleasing in his sight (Zech 9:13). The heart, soul, or spirit,as in itself, as it came from God's fingers, a precious thing, a thing in God's accountworth more than all the world. This heart, soul, or spirit, sin has hardened, thedevil has bewitched, the world has deceived. This heart, thus beguiled, God covetethand desireth: 'My son, ' saith he, 'give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observemy ways' (Prov 23:26).

This man cannot do this thing: for that his heart has the mastery of him, and willnot but carry him after all manner of vanity. What now must be done? Why, God musttake the heart by storm, by power, and bring it to a compliance with the Word; butthe heart of itself will not; it is deluded, carried away to another than God. WhereforeGod now betakes him to his sword, and bring down the heart with labour, opens it,and drives out the strong man armed that did keep it; wounds it; and makes it smartfor its rebellion, that it may cry; so he rectifies it for himself. 'He maketh sore,and bindeth up; he woundeth, and his hands make whole' (Job 5:18). Thus having wroughtit for himself, it becomes his habitation, his dwelling-place: 'That Christ may dwellin your hearts by faith' (Eph 3:17).

But I would not swerve from the thing in hand. I have told you a broken heart isthe handiwork of God, a sacrifice of his own preparing; a material fitted for himself.

1. By breaking of the heart he openeth it, and makes it a receptacle for the gracesof his Spirit; that is the cabinet, when unlocked, where God lays up the jewels ofthe gospel; there he puts his fear; 'I will put my fear in their hearts'; there hewrites his law; 'I will write my law in their heart'; there he puts his Spirit: 'Iwill put my Spirit within you' (Jer 31:31-33, 32:39-41; Eze 36:26, 27). The heart,I say, God chooses for his cabinet: there he hides his treasure; there is the seatof justice, mercy, and of every grace of God; I mean, when it is broken, made contrite;and so regulated by the holy Word.

2. The heart, when broken, is like sweet gums and spices when beaten; for as suchcast their fragrant scent into the nostrils of men, so the heart when broken castsits sweet smells in the nostrils of God. The incense, which was a type of prayerof old, was to be beaten or bruised, and so to be burned in the censer. The heartmust be beaten or bruised, and then the sweet scent will come out: even groans, andcries, and sighs, for the mercy of God; which cries, &c. to him, are a very excellentthing, and pleasing in his nostrils.

Second. A broken heart is in the sight of God an excellent thing; because a brokenheart is submissive; it falleth before God, and giveth to him his glory. All thisis true from a multitude of scriptures, which I need not here mention. Hence sucha heart is called an honest heart, a good heart, a perfect heart, a heart fearingGod, and such as is sound in God's statutes.

Now, this cannot but be an excellent thing, if we consider, that by such a heart,unfeigned obedience is yielded unto him that calleth for it. 'Ye have obeyed fromthe heart, ' says Paul to them at Rome, 'that form of doctrine which was deliveredyou' (Rom 6:17). Alas! the heart, before it is broken and made contrite, is quiteof another temper: 'It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.'The great stir before the heart is broken, is about who shall be Lord, God or thesinner. True, the right of dominion is the Lord's; but the sinner will not sufferit, but will be all himself; saying 'Who is Lord over us?' and again, say they toGod, 'We are lords, we will come no more unto thee' (Psa 12:4; Jer 2:31).

This also is evident by their practice; God may say what he will, but they will dowhat they list. Keep my sabbath, says God; I will not, says the sinner. Leave yourwhoring, says God; I will not, says the sinner. Do not tell lies, nor swear, norcurse, nor blaspheme my holy name, says God; O but I will, says the sinner. Turnto me, says God; I will not, says the sinner. The right of dominion is mine, saysGod; but, like that young rebel (1 Kings 1:5), I will be king, says the sinner. Now,this is intolerable, this is unsufferable, and yet every sinner by practice saysthus; for they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

Here can be no concord, no communion, no agreement, no fellowship. Here, here isenmity on the one side, and flaming justice on the other (2 Cor 6:14-16; Zech 11:8).And what delight, what content, what pleasure, can God take in such men. None atall; no, though they should be mingled with the best of the saints of God; yea, thoughthe best of saints should supplicate for them. Thus, says Jeremiah, 'Then said theLord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, ' that is, to pray for them,'yet my mind could not be toward this people; cast them out of my sight, and letthem go forth' (Jer 15:1).

Here is nought but open war, acts of hostility, and shameful rebellion, on the sinner'sside; and what delight can God take in that? Wherefore, if God will bend and bucklethe spirit of such an one, he must shoot an arrow at him, a bearded arrow, such asmay not be plucked out of the wound: an arrow that will stick fast, and cause thatthe sinner falls down as dead at God's foot (Psa 33:1, 2). Then will the sinner deliverup his arms, and surrender up himself as one conquered, into the hand of, and begfor the Lord's pardon, and not till then; I mean not sincerely.

And now God has overcome, and his right hand and his holy arm has gotten him thevictory. Now he rides in triumph with his captive at his chariot wheel; now he glories;now the bells in heaven do ring; now the angels shout for joy, yea, are bid to doso, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost' (Luke 15:1-10). Nowalso the sinner, as a token of being overcome, lies grovelling at his foot, saying,'Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fallunder thee' (Psa 45:3-5).

Now the sinner submits, now he follows his conqueror in chains, now he seeks peace,and would give all the world, were it his own, to be in the favour of God, and tohave hopes by Christ of being saved. Now this must be pleasing, this cannot but bea thing acceptable in God's sight: 'A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wiltnot despise.' For it is the desire of his own heart, the work of his own hands.

Third. Another reason why a broken heart is to God such an excellent thing is this,a broken heart prizes Christ, and has a high esteem for him. The whole have no needof a physician, but the sick; this sick man is the broken-hearted in the text; forGod makes men sick by smiting of them, by breaking of their hearts. Hence sicknessand wounds are put together; for that the one is a true effect of the other (Mark2:17; Micah 6:13; Hosea 5:13). Can any think that God should be pleased, when mendespise his Son, saying, He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him,there is no beauty that we should desire him? And yet so say they of him whose heartsGod has not mollified; yea, the elect themselves confess, that before their heartswere broken, they set light by him also. He is, say they, 'despised and rejectedof men, - and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemedhim not' (Isa 53:2, 3).

He is indeed the great deliverer; but what is a deliverer to them that never sawthemselves in bondage, as was said before? Hence it is said of him that deliveredthe city, 'No man remembered that same poor man' (Eccl 9:15). He has sorely suffered,and been bruised for the transgression of man, that they might not receive the smart,and hell, which by their sins they have procured to themselves. But what is thatto them that never saw ought but beauty, and that never tasted anything but sweetnessin sin? It is he that holdeth by his intercession the hands of God, and that causeshim to forbear to cut off the drunkard, the liar, and unclean person, even when theyare in the very act and work of their abomination; but their hard heart, their stupefiedheart, has no sense of such kindness as this, and therefore they take no notice ofit. How many times has God said to this dresser of his vineyard, 'Cut down the barrenfig-tree, ' while he yet, by his intercession, has prevailed for a reprieve for anotheryear! But no notice is taken of this, no thanks is from them returned to him forsuch kindness of Christ. Wherefore such ungrateful, unthankful, inconsiderate wretchesas these must needs be a continual eye-sore, as I may say, and great provocationto God; and yet thus men will do before their hearts are broken (Luke 13:6-9).

Christ, as I said, is called a physician; yea, he is the only soul-physician. Heheals, how desperate soever the disease be; yea, and heals who he undertakes forever. 'I give unto them eternal life, ' and doth all of free cost, of mere mercyand compassion (John 10:28). But what is all this to one that neither sees his sickness,that sees nothing of a wound? What is the best physician alive, or all the physiciansin the world, put all together, to him that knows no sickness, that is sensible ofno disease? Physicians, as was said, may go a-begging for all the healthful. Physiciansare of no esteem, save only to the sick, or upon a supposition of being so now, orat any other time.

Why, this is the cause Christ is so little set by in the world. God has not madethem sick by smiting of them; his sword has not given them the wound, his dart hasnot been struck through their liver; they have not been broken with his hammer, normelted with his fire. So they have no regard to his physician; so they slight allthe provision which God has made for the salvation of the soul. But now, let sucha soul be wounded; let such a man's heart be broken; let such a man be made sickthrough the sting of guilt, and be made to wallow himself in ashes under the burdenof his transgressions; and then, who but Christ, as has been showed afore, then thephysician; then, wash me, Lord, then supple my wounds, then pour thy wine and oilinto my sore; then Lord Jesus cause me to hear the voice of joy and gladness, thatthe bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Nothing now so welcome as healing;and so nothing, no man, so desirable now as Christ. His name to such is the bestof names; his love to such is the best of love; himself being now not only in himself,but also to such a soul, the chiefest of ten thousand (Can 5:10).

As bread to the hungry, as water to the thirsty, as light to the blind, and libertyto the imprisoned; so, and a thousand times more, is Jesus Christ to the wounded,and to them that are broken-hearted. Now, as was said, this must needs be excellentin God's eyes, since Christ Jesus is so glorious in his eyes. To contemn what a mancounts excellent, is an offence to him; but to value, esteem, or think highly ofthat which is of esteem with me, this is pleasing to me, such an opinion is excellentin my sight. What says Christ? 'My Father loveth you, because ye loved me' (John16:27). Who hath an high esteem for Christ, the Father hath an high esteem for them.Hence it is said, 'He that hath the Son, hath the Father'; the Father will be his,and will do for him as a Father, who receiveth and sets an honourable esteem on hisSon.

But none will, none can do this, but the broken-hearted; because they, and they only,are sensible of the want and worth of an interest in him.

I dare appeal to all the world as to the truth of this; and do say again, that these,and none but these, have hearts of esteem in the sight of God. Alas! 'the heart ofthe wicked is little worth, ' for it is destitute of a precious esteem of Christ,and cannot but be destitute, because it is not wounded, broken, and made sensibleof the want of mercy by him (Prov 10:20).

Fourth. A broken heart is of great esteem with God, because it is a thankful heartfor that sense of sin and of grace it has received. The broken heart is a sensibleheart. This we touched upon before. It is sensible of the dangers which sin leadethto; yea, and has cause to be sensible thereof, because it has seen and felt whatsin is, both in the guilt and punishment that by law is due thereto. As a brokenheart is sensible of sin, in the evil nature and consequences of it; so it is alsosensible of the way of God's delivering the soul from the day of judgment; consequentlyit must be a thankful heart. Now he that praises me, glorifies me, saith God; andGod loves to be glorified. God's glory is dear unto him; he will not part with that(Psa 50:23; Isa 42:8).

The broken-hearted, say I, forasmuch as he is the sensible soul, it follows thathe is the thankful soul. 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, ' said David, 'and all thatis within me bless his holy name.' Behold what blessing of God is here! and yet notcontent herewith, he goes on with it again, saying, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, andforget not all his benefits.' But what is the matter? O! he has 'forgiven all thineiniquities, and healed all thy diseases. He has redeemed thy life from destruction,and crowneth thee with loving kindnesses and tender mercies' (Psa 103:1-4). But howcame he to be affected with this? Why, he knew what it was to hang over the mouthof hell for sin; yea, he knew what it was for death and hell to beset and compasshim about; yea, they took hold of him, as we have said, and were pulling of him downinto the deep; this he saw to the breaking of his heart. He saw also the way of life,and had his soul relieved with faith and sense of that, and that made him a thankfulman. If a man who has had a broken leg, is but made to understand, that by the breakingof that he kept from breaking of his neck, he will be thankful to God for a brokenleg. 'It is good for me, ' said David, 'that I have been afflicted.' I was by thatpreserved from a great danger; for before that I went astray (Psa 119:67, 71).

And who can be thankful for a mercy that is not sensible that they want it, haveit, and have it of mercy? Now, this the broken-hearted, this the man that is of acontrite spirit, is sensible of; and that with reference to mercies of the best sort,and therefore must needs be a thankful man, and so have a heart of esteem with God,because it is a thankful heart.

Fifth. A broken heart is of great esteem with, or an excellent thing in, the sightof God, because it is a heart that desires now to become a receptacle or habitationfor the spirit and graces of the Spirit of God. It was the devil's hold before, andwas contented so to be. But now it is for entertaining of, for being possessed with,the Holy Spirit of God. 'Create in me a clean heart, ' said David, 'and renew a rightspirit within me. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me, uphold me with thy free Spirit'(Psa 51:10-12). Now he was for a clean heart and a right spirit; now he was for thesanctifying of the blessed spirit of grace; a thing which the uncircumcised in heartresist, and do despite unto (Acts 7:51; Heb 10:29).

A broken heart, therefore, suiteth with the heart of God; a contrite spirit is onespirit with him. God, as I told you before, covets to dwell with the broken in heart,and the broken in heart desire communion with him. Now here is an agreement, a onenessof mind; now the same mind is in thee which was also in Christ Jesus. This must needsbe an excellent spirit; this must needs be better with God, and in his sight, thanthousands of rams, or ten thousand rivers of oil. But does the carnal world covetthis, this spirit, and the blessed graces of it? No, they despise it, as I said before;they mock at it, they prefer and countenance any sorry, dirty lust rather; and thereason is, because they want a broken heart, that heart so highly in esteem withGod, and remain for want thereof in their enmity to God.

The broken-hearted know, that the sanctifying of the Spirit is a good means to keepfrom that relapse, out of which a man cannot come unless his heart be wounded a secondtime. Doubtless David had a broken heart at first conversion, and if that brokennesshad remained, that is, had he not given way to hardness of heart again, he had neverfallen into that sin out of which he could not be recovered, but by the breakingof his bones a second time. Therefore, I say, a broken heart is of great esteem withGod; for it, and I will add, so long as it retains its tenderness, covets none butGod, and the things of his Holy Spirit; sin is an abomination to it.

[VI. ADVANTAGES THAT A CHRISTIAN GETS BY KEEPING HIS HEART TENDER.]

And here, as in a fit place, before I go any further, I will show you some of theadvantages that a Christian gets by keeping of his heart tender. For, as to havea broken heart, is to have an excellent thing, so to keep this broken heart tender,is also very advantageous.

First. This is the way to maintain in thy soul always a fear of sinning against God.Christians do not wink at, or give way to sin, until their hearts begin to lose theirtenderness. A tender heart will be affected at the sin of another, much more it willbe afraid of committing of sin itself (2 Kings 22:19).

Second. A tender heart quickly yieldeth to prayer, yea, prompteth to it, puts anedge and fire into it. We never are backward to prayer until our heart has lost itstenderness; though then it grows cold, flat, and formal, and so carnal to and inthat holy duty.

Third. A tender hearts has always repentance at hand for the least fault or slip,or sinful thought that the soul is guilty of. In many things the best offend; butif a Christian loseth his tenderness, if he says he has his repentance to seek, hisheart is grown hard, has lost that spirit, that kind spirit of repentance, it waswont to have. Thus it was with the Corinthians; they were decayed, and lost theirtenderness; wherefore their sin, yea, great sins, remained unrepented of (2 Cor 12:20).

Fourth. A tender heart is for receiving often its communion with God, when he thatis hardened, though the seed of grace is in him, will be content to eat, drink, sleep,wake, and go days without number without him (Isa 17:10; Jer 2:32).

Fifth. A tender heart is a wakeful, watchful heart. It watches against sin in thesoul, sin in the family, sin in the calling, sin in spiritual duties and performances,&c. It watches against Satan, against the world, against the flesh, &c. Butnow, when the heart is not tender, there is sleepiness, unwatchfulness, idleness,a suffering the heart, the family, and calling to be much defiled, spotted, and blemishedwith sin; for a hard heart departs from God, and turns aside in all these things.

Sixth. A tender heart will deny itself, and that in lawful things, and will forbeareven that which may be done, for some Jew, or Gentile, or the church of God, or anymember of it, should be offended, or made weak thereby; whereas the Christian thatis not tender, that has lost his tenderness, is so far off of denying himself inlawful things, that he will even adventure to meddle in things utterly forbidden,whoever is offended, grieved, or made weak thereby. For an instance of this, we needgo no further than to the man in the text, who, while he was tender, trembled atlittle things; but when his heart was hardened, he could take Bathsheba to satisfyhis lust, and kill her husband to cover his wickedness.

Seventh. A tender heart, I mean, the heart kept tender, preserves from many a blow,lash, and fatherly chastisement; because it shuns the causes, which is sin, of thescourging hand of God. 'With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure, but with the frowardthou wilt shew thyself unsavoury' (2 Sam 22:27; Psa 18:25-27).

Many a needless rebuke and wound doth happen to the saints of God through their unwisebehaviour. When I say needless, I mean they are not necessary, but to reclaim usfrom our vanities; for we should not feel the smart of them, were it not for ourfollies. Hence the afflicted is called a fool, because his folly brings his afflictionupon him. 'Fools, ' says David, 'because of their transgression, and because of theiriniquities, are afflicted' (Psa 107:17). And therefore it is, as was said before,that he call his sin his foolishness. And again, 'God will speak peace unto his people,and to his saints; but let them not turn again to folly' (Psa 38:5, 85:8). 'If hischildren transgress my laws, then will I visit their transgression with the rod,and their iniquity with stripes' (Psa 89:30-32).

[How to keep the heart tender.]

QUEST. But what should a Christian do, when God has broke his heart, to keep it tender?

ANSW. To this I will speak briefly. And, first, give you several cautions; secondly,several directions.

[First, Several cautions.]

1. Take heed that you choke not those convictions that at present do break your hearts,by labouring to put those things out of your minds which were the cause of such convictions;but rather nourish and cherish those things in a deep and sober remembrance of them.Think, therefore, with thyself thus, What was it that at first did wound my heart?And let that still be there, until, by the grace of God, and the redeeming bloodof Christ, it is removed.

2. Shun vain company. The keeping of vain company has stifled many a conviction,killed many a desire, and made many a soul fall into hell, that once was hot in lookingafter heaven. A companion that is not profitable to the soul, is hurtful. 'He thatwalketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed'(Prov 13:20).

3. Take heed of idle talk, that thou neither hear nor join with it. 'Go from thepresence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge'(Prov 14:7). 'Evil communications corrupt good manners. And a fool's lips are thesnare of his soul.' Wherefore take heed of these things (Prov 18:7; 1 Cor 15:33).

4. Beware of the least motion to sin, that it be not countenanced, lest the countenancingof that makes way for a bigger.[14] David's eye took his heart, and so his heartnourishing the thought, made way for the woman's company, the act of adultery, andbloody murder. Take heed, therefore, brethren, 'lest any of you be hardened throughthe deceitfulness of sin' (Heb 3:12, 13). And remember, that he that will rend theblock, puts the thin end of the wedge first thereto, and so, by driving, does hiswork.

5. Take heed of evil examples among the godly; learn of no man to do that which theword of God forbids. Sometimes Satan makes use of a good man's bad ways, to spoiland harden the heart of them that come after. Peter's false doing had like to havespoiled Barnabas, yea, and several others more. Wherefore take heed of men, of goodmen's ways, and measure both theirs and thine own by no other rule but the holy Wordof God (Gal 2:11-13).

6. Take heed of unbelief, or atheistical thoughts; make no question of the truthand reality of heavenly things: for know unbelief is the worst of evils; nor canthe heart be tender that nourisheth or gives place unto it. 'Take heed, therefore,lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the livingGod' (Heb 3:12). These cautions are necessary to be observed with all diligence,of all them that would, when their heart is made tender, keep it so. And now to come,

[Second], to the Directions.

1. Labour after a deep knowledge of God to keep it warm upon thy heart; knowledgeof his presence, that is everywhere. 'Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?'(Jer 23:24). (1.) Knowledge of his piercing eye, that it runneth to and fro throughthe earth, beholding in every place the evil and the good; that his eyes behold,and his eyelids try the children of men (Prov 15:3). (2.) The knowledge of his power,that he is able to turn and dissolve heaven and earth into dust and ashes; and thatthey are in his hand but as a scroll or vesture (Heb 1:11, 12). (3.) The knowledgeof his justice, that the rebukes of it are as devouring fire (Heb 12:19). (4.) Theknowledge of his faithfulness, in fulfilling promises to them to whom they are made,and of his threatenings on the impenitent (Matt 5:18, 24:35; Mark 13:31).

2. Labour to get and keep a deep sense of sin in its evil nature, and in its soul-destroyingeffects upon thy heart; be persuaded, that it is the only enemy of God, and thatnone hate, or are hated of God, but through that. (1.) Remember it turned angelsinto devils, thrust them down from heaven to hell. (2.) That it is the chain in whichthey are held and bound over to judgment (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). (3.) That it wasfor that that Adam was turned out of paradise; that for which the old world was drowned;that for which Sodom and Gomorrah was burned with fire from heaven; and that whichcost Christ his blood to redeem thee from the curse it has brought upon thee; andthat, if anything, will keep thee out of heaven for ever and ever. (4.) Considerthe pains of hell. Christ makes use of that as an argument to keep the heart tender;yea, to that end repeats and repeats, and repeats, both the nature and durablenessof the burning flame thereof, and of the gnawing of the neverdying worm that dwellsthere (Mark 9:43-48).

3. Consider of death, both as to the certainty of thy dying, and uncertainty of thetime when. We must die, we must needs die; our days are determined, the number ofour months are with God, though not with us; nor can we pass them, would we, hadwe them, give a thousand worlds to do it (2 Sam 14:14; Job 7:1, 14:1-5). Considerthou must die but once, I mean but once as to this world; for if thou, when thougoest hence, dost not die well, thou canst not come back again and die better. 'Itis appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment' (Heb 9;27).

4. Consider also of the certainty and terribleness of the day of judgment, when Christshall sit upon his great white throne, when the dead shall, by the sound of the trumpof God, be raised up; when the elements, with heaven and earth, shall be on a burningflame; when Christ shall separate men one from another, as a shepherd divideth hissheep from the goats; when the books shall be opened, the witnesses produced, andevery man be judged according to his works; when heaven's gate shall stand open tothem that shall be saved, and the jaws of hell stand gaping for them that shall bedamned (Acts 5:30-31, 10:42; Matt 25:31, 32, 34, 4; Rev 2:11; 1 Cor 15:51; Rev 20:12,15; 2 Peter 3:7, 10, 12; Rom 2:2, 15, 16; Rev 22:12).

5. Consider, Christ Jesus did use no means to harden his heart against doing andsuffering those sorrows which were necessary for the redemption of thy soul. No;though he could have hardened his heart against thee in the way of justice and righteousness,because thou hadst sinned against him, he rather awakened himself, and put on allpity, bowels, and compassion; yea, tender mercies, and did it. In his love and inhis pity he saved us. His tender mercies from on high hath visited us. He loved us,and gave himself for us. Learn, then, of Christ, to be tender of thyself, and toendeavour to keep thy heart tender to God-ward, and to the salvation of thy soul.But to draw to a conclusion.

[VII. THE USE.]

Let us now, then, make some use of this doctrine. As,

FIRST USE. From the truth of the matter, namely, that the man who is truly come toGod has had his heart broken, his heart broken in order to his coming to him. Andthis shows us what to judge of the league that is between sin and the soul, to wit,that it is so firm, so strong, so inviolable, as that nothing can break, disannul,or make it void, unless the heart be broken for it. It was so with David, yea, hisnew league with it could not be broken until his heart was broken.

It is amazing to consider what hold sin has on some men's souls, spirits, will, andaffections. It is to them better than heaven, better than God, than the soul, ay,than salvation; as is evident, because, though all these are offered them upon thiscondition, if they will but leave their sins, yet they will choose rather to abidein them, to stand and fall by them. How sayest thou, sinner? Is not this a truth?How many times hast thou had heaven and salvation offered to thee freely, wouldstthou but break thy league with this great enemy of God? Of God, do I say; if thouwouldst but break this league with this great enemy of thy soul? but couldst neveryet be brought unto it; no, neither by threatening nor by promise couldst thou everyet be brought unto it.

It is said of Ahab he sold himself to work wickedness: and in another place, yea,'for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves' (1 Kings 21:25; Isa 50:1). But whatis this iniquity? Why, a thing of nought; nay, worse than nought a thousand times;but because nought is as we say nought, therefore it goes under that term, whereGod saith again to the people, 'Ye have sold yourselves for nought' (Isa 52:3). But,I say, what an amazing thing is this, that a rational creature should make no bettera bargain; that one that is so wise in all terrene things, should be such a foolin the thing that is most weighty? And yet such a fool he is, and he tells everyone that goes by the way that he is such an one, because he will not break his leaguewith sin until his heart is broken for it. Men love darkness rather than light. Ay,they make it manifest they love it, since so great a proffer will not prevail withthem to leave it.

SECOND USE. Is this a truth, that the man that truly comes to God in order theretohas had his heart broken? then this shows us a reason why some men's hearts are broken;even a reason why God breaks some men's hearts for sin; namely, because he wouldnot have them die in it, but rather come to God that they might be saved? Behold,therefore, in this how God resolved as to the saving of some men's souls! He willhave them, he will save them, he will break their hearts, but he will save them;he will kill them, that they may live; he will wound them, that he may heal them.And it seems by our discourse that now there is no way left but this; fair means,as we say, will not do; good words, a glorious gospel, entreatings, beseeching withblood and tears, will not do. Men are resolved to put God to the utmost of it; ifhe will have them he must fetch them, follow them, catch them, lame them; yea, breaktheir bones, or else he shall not save them.

Some men think an invitation, an outward call, a rational discourse, will do; butthey are much deceived, there must a power, an exceeding great and mighty power,attend the Word, or it worketh not effectually to the salvation of the soul. I knowthese things are enough to leave men without excuse, but yet they are not enoughto bring men home to God. Sin has hold of them, they have sold themselves to it;the power of the devil has hold of them, they are his captives at his will; yea,and more than all this, their will is one with sin, and with the devil, to be heldcaptive thereby: and if God gives not contrition, repentance, or a broken heart,for sin, there will not be no not so much as a mind in man to forsake this so horriblea confederacy and plot against his soul (2 Tim 2:24, 25).

Hence men are said to be drawn from these breasts, that come, or that are broughtto him (Isa 26:9; John 6:44). Wherefore John might well say, 'Behold what mannerof love the Father hath bestowed upon us!' Here is cost bestowed, pains bestowed,labour bestowed, repentance bestowed; yea, and an heart made sore, wounded, broken,and filled with pain and sorrow, in order to the salvation of the soul.

THIRD USE. This then may teach us what estimation to set upon a broken heart. A brokenheart is such as God esteems, yea, as God counts better than all external service:a broken heart is that which is in order to salvation, in order to thy coming toChrist for life. The world know not what to make of it, nor what to say to one thathas a broken heart, and therefore do despise it, and count that man that carriesit in his bosom a moping fool, a miserable wretch, an undone soul: 'But a brokenand a contrite spirit, O God, thou wilt not despise'; a broken heart takes thineeye, thy heart: thou choosest it for thy companion, yea, has given thy Son a chargeto look well to such a man, and has promised him thy salvation, as has afore beenproved.

Sinner, hast thou obtained a broken heart? has God bestowed a contrite spirit uponthee? He has given thee what himself is pleased with; he has given thee a cabinetto hold his grace in; he has given thee a heart that can heartily desire his salvation,an heart after his own heart, that is, such as suits his mind. True, it is painfulnow, sorrowful now, penitent now, grieved now; now it is broken, now it bleeds, now,now it sobs, now it sighs, now it mourns and crieth unto God. Well, very well; allthis is because he hath a mind to make thee laugh; he has made thee sorry on earththat thou mightest rejoice in heaven. 'Blessed are they that mourn, for they shallbe comforted., Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh' (Matt 5:4; Luke6:21).

But, soul, be sure thou hast this broken heart. All hearts are not broken hearts,nor is every heart that seems to have a wound, a heart that is truly broken. A manmay be cut to, yet not into the heart; a man may have another, yet not a broken heart(Acts 7:54; 1 Sam 10:9). We know there is a difference betwixt a wound in the fleshand a wound in the spirit; yea, a man's sin may be wounded, and yet his heart notbroken: so was Pharaoh's, so was Saul's, so was Ahab's; but they had none of themthe mercy of a broken heart. Therefore, I say, take heed; every scratch with a pin,every prick with a thorn, nay, every blow that God giveth with his Word upon theheart of sinners, doth not therefore break them. God gave Ahab such a blow that hemade him stoop, fast, humble himself, gird himself with and lie in sackcloth, whichwas a great matter for a king, and go softly, and yet he never had a broken heart(1 Kings 21:27, 29). What shall I say? Pharaoh and Saul confessed their sins, Judasrepented himself of his doings, Esau sought the blessing, and that carefully withtears, and yet none of these had a heart rightly broken, or a spirit truly contrite;Pharaoh, Saul, and Judas, were Pharaoh, Saul, and Judas still; Esau was Esau still;there was no gracious change, no thorough turn to God, no unfeigned parting withtheir sins, no hearty flight for refuge, to lay hold on the hope of glory, thoughthey indeed had thus been touched (Exo 10:16; 1 Sam 26:21; Matt 27:3; Heb 12:14-17).

The consideration of these things call aloud to us to take heed, that we take notthat for a broken and a contrite spirit that will not go for one at the day of deathand judgment. Wherefore, seeking soul, let me advise thee, that thou mayest not bedeceived as to this thing of so great weight.

First. To go back towards the beginning of this book, and compare thyself with thosesix or seven signs of a broken and contrite heart, which there I have, accordingto the Word of God, given to thee for that end; and deal with thy soul impartiallyabout them.

Second. Or, which may and will be great help to thee if thou shalt be sincere therein,namely, to betake thyself to the search of the Word, especially where thou readestof the conversion of men, and try if thy conversion be like, or has a good resemblanceor oneness with theirs. But in this have a care that thou dost not compare thyselfwith those good folk of whose conversion thou readest not, or of the breaking ofwhose heart there is no mention made in Scripture; for all that are recorded in theScripture for saints have not their conversion, as to the manner or nature of it,recorded in the Scripture.

Third. Or else, do thou consider truly of the true signs of repentance which arelaid down in Scripture; for that is the true effect of a broken heart, and of a woundedspirit. And for this see Matthew 3:5, 6; Luke 18:13, 19:8; Acts 2:37-40, &c.,16:29, 30, 19:18, 19; 2 Corinthians 7:8-11.

Fourth. Or else, take into consideration how God has said, they shall be in theirspirits that he intends to save. And for this read these scriptures: (1.) That inJeremiah 31, 'They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them'&c. (v 9). (2.) Read Jeremiah 50:4, 5: 'In those days, and in that time, thechildren of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going andweeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zionwith their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lordin a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.' (3.) Read Ezekiel 6:9: 'Andthey that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall becarried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which have departedfrom me, and with their eyes, which go a-whoring after their idols: and they shallloathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.'(4.) Read Ezekiel 7:16: 'But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall beon the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for hisiniquity.' (5.) Read Ezekiel 20:43: 'And there shall ye remember your ways, and allyour doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in yourown sight for all your evils that ye have committed.' (6.) Read Ezekiel 37:31: 'Thenshall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shallloathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.'(7.) Read Zechariah 12:10: 'And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon theinhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shalllook upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mournethfor his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitternessfor his first-born.'

Now all these are the fruits of the Spirit of God, and of the heart, when it is broken:wherefore, soul, take notice of them, and because these are texts by which God promiseththat those whom he saveth shall have this heart, this spirit, and these holy effectsin them; therefore consider again, and examine thyself, whether this is the stateand condition of thy soul. And that thou mayest do it fully, consider again, anddo thou,

1. Remember that here is such a sense of sin, and of the irksomeness thereof, asmaketh the man not only to abhor that, but himself, because of that; this is worththe noting by thee.

2. Remember again that here is not only a self-abhorrence, but a sorrowful kind mourningunto God, at the consideration that the soul by sin has affronted, contemned, disregarded,and set at nought, both God and his holy Word.

3. Remember also that here are prayers and tears for mercy, with desires to be nowout of love with sin for ever, and to be in heart and soul firmly joined and knitunto God.

4. Remember also that this people here spoken of have all the way from Satan to God,from sin to grace, from death to life, scattered with tears and prayers, with weepingand supplication; they shall go weeping, and seeking the Lord their God.

5. Remember that these people, as strangers and pilgrims do, are not ashamed to askthe way of those they meet with to Zion, or the heavenly country; whereby they confesstheir ignorance, as became them, and their desire to know the way to life: yea, therebythey declare that there is nothing in this world, under the sun, or this side heaven,that can satisfy the longings, the desire, and cravings of a broken and a contritespirit. Reader, be advised, and consider of these things seriously, and compare thysoul with them, and with what else thou shalt find here written for thy convictionand instruction.

FOURTH USE. If a broken heart and a contrite spirit be of such esteem with God, thenthis should encourage them that have it to come to God with it. I know the greatencouragement for men to come to God is, for that there 'is a mediator between Godand men, the man Christ Jesus' (1 Tim 2:5). This, I say, is the great encouragement,and in its place there is none but that; but there are other encouragements subordinateto that, and a broken and a contrite spirit is one of them: this is evident fromseveral places of Scripture.

Wherefore, thou that canst carry a broken heart and a sorrowful spirit with thee,when thou goest to God, tell him thy heart is wounded within thee, that thou hastsorrow in thy heart, and art sorry for thy sins; but take heed of lying.[15] Confessalso thy sins unto him, and tell him they are continually before thee. David madean argument of these things, when he went to God by prayer. 'O Lord, ' saith he,'rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.' But whyso? O! says he, 'Thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. Thereis no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger: neither is there any rest inmy bones, because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as a heavyburden they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink, and are corrupt, because of myfoolishness. I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in myflesh. I am feeble and sore broken; I have roared by reason of the disquietness ofmy heart. Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light for mine eyes, it alsois gone from me. My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore': and so he goeson (Psa 38:1-4, &c.).

These are the words, sighs, complaints, prayers, and arguments of a broken heartto God for mercy; and so are they, 'Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledgemy transgressions; and my sin is ever before me' (Psa 51:1-3).

God alloweth poor creatures that can, without lying, thus to plead and argue withhim. 'I am poor and sorrowful, ' said the good man to him, 'let thy salvation, OGod, set me up on high' (Psa 69:29). Wherefore thou that hast a broken heart takecourage, God bids thee take courage; say therefore to thy soul, 'Why are thou castdown, O my soul?' as usually the broken-hearted are. 'And why art thou disquietedwithin me? Hope thou in God.' 'I had fainted, ' if I had not been of good courage;therefore 'be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart' (Psa 42:11, 43:5,27:12-14).

But alas! the broken-hearted are far off from this; they faint; they reckon themselvesamong the dead; they think God will remember them no more: the thoughts of the greatnessof God, and his holiness, and their own sins and vilenesses, will certainly consumethem. They feel guilt and anguish of soul; they go mourning all the day long; theirmouth is full of gravel and gall, and they are made to drink draughts of wormwoodand gall; so that he must be an artist indeed at believing, who can come to God underhis guilt and horror, and plead in faith that the sacrifices of God are a brokenheart, such as he had; and that 'a broken and a contrite spirit God will not despise.'

FIFTH USE. If a broken heart, if a broken and contrite spirit, is of such esteemwith God, then why should some be, as they are, so afraid of a broken heart, andso shy of a contrite spirit?

I have observed that some men are as afraid of a broken heart, or that they for theirsins should have their hearts broken, as the dog is of the whip. O! they cannot awaywith such books, with such sermons, with such preachers, or with such talk, as tendsto make a man sensible of, and to break his heart, and to make him contrite for hissins. Hence they heap to themselves such teachers, get such books, love such company,and delight in such discourse, as rather tends to harden than soften; to make desperatein, than sorrowful for their sin. They say to such sermons, books, and preachers,as Amaziah said unto Amos, 'O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah,and there eat bread, and prophesy there, but prophesy not again any more at Bethel;for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court' (Amos 7:12, 13).

But do these people know what they do? Yes, think they, for such preachers, suchbooks, such discourses tend to make one melancholy or mad; they make us that we cannottake pleasure in ourselves, in our concerns, in our lives. But, O fool in grain![16]let me speak unto thee. Is it a time to take pleasure, and to recreate thyself inanything, before thou hast mourned and been sorry for thy sins? That mirth that isbefore repentance for sin will certainly end in heaviness. Wherefore the wise man,putting both together, saith that mourning must be first. There is 'a time to weep,and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance' (Eccl 3:4). What, an unconvertedman, and laugh! Shouldst thou see one singing merry songs that is riding up Holbornto Tyburn, [17] to be hanged for felony, wouldst thou not count him besides himself,if not worse? and yet thus it is with him that is for mirth while he standeth condemnedby the Book of God for his trespasses. Man! man! thou hast cause to mourn; yea, thoumust mourn if ever thou art saved. Wherefore my advice is, that instead of shunning,thou covet both such books, such preachers, and such discourses, as have a tendencyto make a man sensible of, and to break his heart for sin; and the reason is, becausethou wilt never be as thou shouldst, concerned about, nor seek the salvation of thineown soul, before thou hast a broken heart, a broken and a contrite spirit. Whereforebe not afraid of a broken heart; be not shy of a contrite spirit. It is one of thegreatest mercies that God bestows upon a man or a woman. The heart rightly brokenat the sense of, and made truly contrite for transgression, is a certain forerunnerof salvation. This is evident from those six demonstrations which were laid downto prove the point in hand, at first.

And for thy awakening in this matter, let me tell thee, and thou wilt find it so,thou must have thy heart broken whether thou wilt or no. God is resolved to breakALL hearts for sin some time or other. Can it be imagined, sin being what it is,and God what he is, to wit, a revenger of disobedience, but that one time or otherman must smart for sin? smart, I say, either to repentance or to condemnation. Hethat mourns not now, while the door of mercy is open, must mourn for sin when thedoor of mercy is shut.

Shall men despise God, break his law, contemn his threats, abuse his grace, yea,shut their eyes when he says, See; and stop their ears when he says, Hear; and shallthey so escape? No, no, because he called, and they refused; he stretched out hishand, and they regarded it not; therefore shall calamity come upon them, as uponone in travail; and they shall cry in their destruction, and then God will laughat their destruction, and mock when their fear cometh. Then, saith he, 'they shallcry' (Prov 1:24-26). I have often observed that this threatening is repeated at leastseven times in the New Testament, saying, 'There shall be weeping and gnashing ofteeth'; 'there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth' (Matt 8:12, 13:42, 50, 22:13,24:51, 25:30; Luke 13:28). There. Where? In hell, and at the bar of Christ's tribunal,when he comes to judge the world, and shall have shut to the door to keep them outof glory, that have here despised the offer of his grace, and overlooked the dayof his patience. 'There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.' They shall weepand wail for this.

There are but two scriptures that I shall use more, and then I shall draw towardsa conclusion. One is that in Proverbs, where Solomon is counselling of young mento beware of strange, that is, of wanton, light, and ensnaring women. Take heed ofsuch, said he, lest 'thou mourn at the last, ' that is, in hell, when thou art dead,'when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, and say, How have I hated instruction,and my heart despised reproof, and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, norinclined mine ears to them that instructed me!' (Prov 5:11-13).

The other scripture is that in Isaiah, where he says, 'Because when I called, yedid not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, anddid choose that wherein I delighted not. Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold,my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, butye shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed;behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart,and shall howl for vexation of spirit' (Isa 65:13, 14).

How many beholds are here! and every behold is not only a call to careless ones toconsider, but as a declaration from heaven that thus at last it shall be with allimpenitent sinners; that is, when others sing for joy in the kingdom of heaven, they,they shall sorrow in hell, and howl for vexation of spirit there.

Wherefore, let me advise that you be not afraid of, but that you rather covet a brokenheart, and prize a contrite spirit; I say, covet it now, now the white flag is hungout, now the golden sceptre of grace is held forth to you. Better mourn now God inclinesto mercy and pardon, than mourn when the door is quite shut up. And take notice,that this is not the first time that I have given you this advice.

USE SIXTH. Lastly, If a broken heart be a thing of so great esteem with God as hasbeen said, and if duties cannot be rightly performed by a heart that has not beenbroken, then this shows the vanity of those peoples' minds, and also the invalidityof their pretended Divine services, who worship God with a heart that was never broken,and without a contrite spirit. There has, indeed, at all times been great flocksof such professors in the world in every age, but to little purpose, unless to deceivethemselves, to mock God, and lay stumbling-blocks in the way of others; for a manwhose heart was never truly broken, and whose spirit was never contrite, cannot professChrist in earnest, cannot love his own soul in earnest; I mean, he cannot do thesethings in truth, and seek his own good the right way, for he wants a bottom for it,to wit, a broken heart for sin, and a contrite spirit.

That which makes a man a hearty, an unfeigned, a sincere seeker after the good ofhis own soul, is sense of sin, and a godly fear of being overtaken with the dangerwhich it brings a man into. This makes him contrite or repentant, and puts him uponseeking of Christ the Saviour, with heart-aching and heart-breaking considerations.But this cannot be, where this sense, this godly fear, and this holy contrition iswanting. Profess men may, and make a noise, as the empty barrel maketh the biggestsound; but prove them, and they are full of air, full of emptiness, and that is all.

Nor are such professors tender of God's name, nor of the credit of that gospel whichthey profess; nor can they, for they want that which should oblige them thereunto,which is a sense of pardon and forgiveness, by the which their broken hearts havebeen replenished, succoured, and made to hope in God. Paul said, the love of Christconstrained him. But what was Paul but a broken-hearted and a contrite sinner? (Acts9:3-6; 2 Cor 5:14). When God shows a man the sin he has committed, the hell he hasdeserved, the heaven he has lost; and yet that Christ, and grace, and pardon maybe had; this will make him serious, this will make him melt, this will break hisheart, this will show him that there is more than air, than a noise, than an emptysound in religion; and this is the man, whose heart, whose life, whose conversationand all, will be engaged in the matters of the eternal salvation of his preciousand immortal soul.

[VIII. OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.]

Object. First. But some may object, that in this saying I seem too rigid and censorious;and will, if I moderate not these lines with something milder afterward, discouragemany an honest soul.

Answ. I answer, Not a jot, not an honest soul in all the world will be offended atmy words; for not one can be an honest soul, I mean with reference to its concernsin another world, that has not had a broken heart, that never had a contrite spirit.This I will say, because I would be understood aright, that all attain not to thesame degree of trouble, nor lie so long there under, as some of their brethren do.But to go to heaven without a broken heart, or to be forgiven sin without a contritespirit, is no article of my belief. We speak not now of what is secret; revealedthings belong to us and our children; nor must we venture to go further in our faith.Doth not Christ say, 'The whole have no need of a physician'; that is, they see noneed, but Christ will make them see their need before he ministers his sovereigngrace unto them; and good reason, otherwise he will have but little thanks for hiskindness.

Object. Second. But there are those that are godly educated from their childhood,and so drink in the principles of Christianity they know not how.

Answ. I count it one thing to receive the faith of Christ from men only, and anotherto receive it from God by the means. If thou art taught by an angel, yet if not taughtof God, thou wilt never come to Christ; I do not say thou wilt never profess him.But if God speaks, and thou shalt hear and understand him, that voice will make suchwork within thee as was never made before. The voice of God is a voice by itself,and is so distinguished by them that are taught thereby (John 6:44, 45; Psa 29; Habb3:12-16; Eph 4:20, 21; 1 Peter 2:2, 3).

Object. Third. But some men are not so debauched and profane as some, and so neednot to be so hammered and fired as others; so broken and wounded as others.

Answ. God knows best what we need. Paul was as righteous before conversion as anythat can pretend to civility now, I suppose; and yet that notwithstanding he wasmade to shake, and was astonished at himself at his conversion. And truly I thinkthe more righteous any is in his own eyes before conversion, the more need he hasof heart-breaking work, in order to his salvation; because a man is not by natureso easily convinced that his righteousness is to God abominable, as he is that hisdebauchery and profaneness is.

A man's goodness is that which blinds him most, is dearest to him, and hardly partedwith; and therefore when such an one is converted, that thinks he has goodness ofhis own enough to commend him in whole or in part to God, but, but few such are converted,there is required a great deal of breaking work upon his heart, to make him cometo Paul's conclusion, 'What! are we better than they? No, in no wise' (Rom 3:9).I say, before he can be brought to see his glorious robes are filthy rags, and hisgainful things but loss and dung (Isa 64; Phil 3).

This is also gathered from these words, 'Publicans and harlots enter into the kingdomof God before the Pharisees' (Matt 21:31). Why before them? But because they liefairer for the Word, are easier convinced of their need of Christ, and so are broughthome to him without, as I may say, all that ado that the Holy Ghost doth make tobring home one of these to him.

True; nothing is hard or difficult to God. But I speak after the manner of men. Andlet who will take to task a man debauched in this life, and one that is not so, andhe shall see, if he laboureth to convince them both that they are in a state of condemnationby nature, that the Pharisee will make his appeals to God, with a great many God,I thank these; while the Publican hangs his head, shakes at heart, and smites uponhis breast, saying, 'God be merciful to me a sinner' (Luke 18:11-13).

Wherefore a self-righteous man is but a painted Satan, or a devil in fine clothes;but thinks he so of himself? No! no! he saith to others, Stand back, come not nearme, I am holier than thou. It is almost impossible, that a self- righteous man shouldbe saved. But he that can drive a camel through the eye of a needle, can cause thateven such a one shall see his lost condition, and that he needeth the righteousnessof God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. He can make him see, I say, that his owngoodness did stand more in his way to the kingdom of heaven than he was aware of;and can make him feel too, that his leaning to that is as great iniquity as any immoralitythat men commit. The sum then is, that men that are converted to God by Christ, throughthe Word and Spirit, for all this must go to effectual conversion, must have theirhearts broken, and spirits made contrite; I say, it MUST be so, for the reasons showedbefore. Yea, and all decayed, apostatized, and backslidden Christians must, in orderto their recovery again to God, have their hearts broken, their souls wounded, theirspirits made contrite, and sorry for their sins.

Come, come, conversion to God is not so easy and so smooth a thing as some wouldhave men believe it is. Why is man's heart compared to fallow ground, God's Wordto a plough, and his ministers to ploughmen? if the heart indeed has no need of breaking,in order to the receiving of the seed of God unto eternal life (Jer 4:3; Luke 9:62;1 Cor 9:10). Who knows not that the fallow ground must be ploughed, and ploughedtoo before the husbandman will venture his seed; yea, and after that oft soundlyharrowed, or else he will have but a slender harvest?

Why is the conversion of the soul compared to the grafting of a tree, if that bedone without cutting? The Word is the graft, the soul is the tree, and the Word,as the scion, must be let in by a wound; for to stick on the outside, or to be tiedon with a string, will do no good here. Heart must be set to heart, and back to back,or your pretended ingrafting will come to nothing (Rom 11:17, 24; Jer 1:21).

I say, heart must be set to heart, and back to back, or the sap will not be conveyedfrom the root to the branch; and I say, this must be done by a wound. The Lord openedthe heart of Lydia, as a man openeth the stock to graft in the scions, and so theword was let into her soul, and so the word and her heart cemented, and became one(Acts 16:14).

Why is Christ bid to gird his sword upon his thigh? and why must he make his arrowssharp, and all, that the heart may with this sword and these arrows be shot, wounded,and made to bleed? Yea, why is he commanded to let it be so, if the people wouldbow and fall kindly under him, and heartily implore his grace without it? (Psa 45;55:3, 4). Alas! men are too lofty, too proud, too wild, too devilishly resolved inthe ways of their own destruction; in their occasions, they are like the wild assesupon the wild mountains; nothing can break them of their purposes, or hinder themfrom ruining of their own precious and immortal souls, but the breaking of theirhearts.

Why is a broken heart put in the room of all sacrifices which we can offer to God,and a contrite spirit put in the room of all offerings, as they are, and you maysee it so, if you compare the text with that verse which goes before it; I say, whyis it counted better than all, were they all put together, if any one part or ifall external parts of worship, were they put together, could be able to render theman a sound and a rightly made new creature without it? 'A broken heart, a contritespirit, God will not despise'; but both thou, and all thy service, he will certainlyslight and reject, if, when thou comest to him, a broken heart be wanting; whereforehere is the point, Come broken, come contrite, come sensible of, and sorry for thysins, or thy coming will be counted no coming to God aright; and if so, consequentlythou wilt get no benefit thereby.



FOOTNOTES:

[1] This is beautifully and most impressively described in the Pilgrim's Progress,when the bitter feelings of poor Christian under convictions of sin, alarm his familyand put it quite 'out of order.', Ed.

[2] This quotation is from the Genevan or Puritan version of the Bible., Ed.

[3]. 'Fish-whole' is a very striking and expressive term, highly illustrative ofthe feelings and position of David when he was accosted by the prophet. The word'whole' is from the Saxon, which language abounded in Bunyan's native county of Bedford,first introduced by an ancient colony of Saxons, who had settled there. It meanshale, hearty, free from disease, as a fish is happy in its native element, 'Theythat are WHOLE, need not a physician, but they that are sick, ' Luke 5:31. Davidhad no smitings of conscience for his cruelty and enormous guilt; he was like a 'fishwhole, ' in the full enjoyment of every providential blessing; while, spiritually,he was dead in sin. God loved and pitied him, and sent a cunning angler. Nathan theprophet there in the bait, which David eagerly seized; the hook entered his conscience,and he became as a fish wounded, and nigh unto death., Ed.

[4] The words of Tindal are, 'The sacrifice of God is a troubled sprete, a brokenand a contrite hert, O God, shalt thou not despise.' The same Hebrew word occursin the original, both as to the spirit and the heart. Bunyan is quite right in preferringour authorised version of this verse. Coverdale, Tindal, Taverner, and Cranmer, allagree. The Genevan uses 'a contrite spirit, ' and the Bishops 'a mortified spirit.',Ed.

[5] No one could speak more feelingly upon this subject than our author. He had beenin deep waters, in soul- harrowing fear, while his heart, hard by nature, was underthe hammer of the Word., 'My soul was like a broken vessel. O, the unthought of imaginations,frights, fears, and terrors, that are affected by a thorough application of guilt,yielded to desperation!' Like the man that had his dwelling among the tombs., GraceAbounding, No. 186.

[6] The Christian, if he thinks of possessing good motions, joins with such thoughtshis inability to carry them into effect. 'When I would do good, evil is present withme.' How different is this to the self-righteous Ignorance, so vividly pictured inthe Pilgrim's Progress:,

'Ignor., I am always full of good motions that come into my mind, to comfort me asI walk.

Chris., What good motions? pray tell us.

Ignor., Why, I think of God and heaven.

Chris., So do the devils and damned souls!'

The whole of that deeply interesting dialogue illustrates the difficulty of self-knowledge,which can only be acquired by the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

[7] 'All to brake'; an obsolete mode of expression for 'altogether broke.', Ed.

[8] 'Orts'; an obsolete word in England, derived from the Anglo-Saxon. Any worthlessleaving or refuse. It is thus used by Shakespeare in his Troylus and Cresida, act5, s. 2:,

'The fractions of her faith, orts of her love: The fragments, scraps, the bits andgreasy relics Of her ore-eaten faith.', Ed.

[9] This is in exact agreement with the author's experience, which he had publishedtwenty-two years before, under the title of Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners,, 'I was more loathsome in my own eyes than was a toad, and I thought I was so inGod's eyes too. Sin and corruption, I said, would as naturally bubble out of my heartas water would out of a fountain. I thought that none but the devil himself couldequal me for inward wickedness and pollution of mind.' A sure sign that God, as hisheavenly Father, was enlightening his memory by the Holy Spirit., Ed.

[10] This account of the author's interview with a pious, humble woman, is an agreeableepisode, which relieves the mind without diverting it from the serious object ofthe treatise. It was probably an event which took place in one of those pastoralvisits which Bunyan was in the habit of making, and which, if wisely made, so endearsa minister to the people of his charge. Christ and a crust is the common saying toexpress the sentiment that Christ is all in all. The pitcher has reference to thecustom of pilgrims in carrying at their girdle a vessel to hold water, the staffhaving a crook by which it was dipped up from a well or river., Ed.

[11] However hard, and even harsh, these terms may appear, they are fully justified;and with all the author's great ability and renown, he has the grace of humilityto acknowledge that, by nature and practice, he had been the biggest of fools., Ed.

[12] Man must be burnt out of the stronghold in which he trusted. 'Saved, yet soas by fire.' 'Baptized with the Holy Ghost, even fire.' 'His word is as a fire.'Reader, the work of regeneration and purification is a trying work; may each inquire,Has this fire burnt up my wood, hay, stubble?, Ed.

[13] To 'daff' or 'doff'; to do off or throw aside, used by Shakespeare, but nowobsolete,

Where is his son,
The nimble-footed madcap, Prince of Wales,
And his comrades, that daft the world aside
And let it pass?, Ed.

[14] 'Sin will at first, just like a beggar, crave One penny or one halfpenny tohave;
And if you grant its first suit, 'twill aspire From pence to pounds, and so willstill mount higher To the whole soul!', Bunyan's Caution Against Sin., Ed.

[15] This is faithful dealing. How many millions of lies are told to the All-seeingGod, with unblushing effrontery, every Lord's day, when the unconcerned and careless,or the saint of God, happy, most happy in the enjoyment of Divine love, are led tosay, 'Have mercy upon us miserable sinners.', Ed.

[16] 'In grain' is a term used in dyeing, when the raw material is dyed before beingspun or wove; the colour thus takes every grain, and becomes indelible. So with sinand folly; it enters every grain of human nature., Ed.

[17] These frightful exhibitions, by drawing a criminal from Newgate to Tyburn tobe executed, were of common occurrence until the reign of George III, when such numberswere put to death that it was found handier for the wholesale butchery to take placeat Newgate, by a new drop, where twenty or thirty could be hung at once!! When willsuch brutalizing exhibitions cease?, Ed.