Chapter XCIII: Introduction: To Each Treatise, Notes, (93)

A broken heart, therefore, suiteth with the heart of God; a contrite spirit is one spirit 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 oneness of mind; now the same mind is in thee which was also in Christ Jesus. This must needs be an excellent spirit; this must needs be better with God, and in his sight, than thousands of rams, or ten thousand rivers of oil. But does the carnal world covet this, 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 the reason is, because they want a broken heart, that heart so highly in esteem with God, 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 keep from that relapse, out of which a man cannot come unless his heart be wounded a second time. Doubtless David had a broken heart at first conversion, and if that brokenness had remained, that is, had he not given way to hardness of heart again, he had never fallen into that sin out of which he could not be recovered, but by the breaking of his bones a second time. Therefore, I say, a broken heart is of great esteem with God; for it--and I will add, so long as it retains its tenderness--covets none but God, 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 the advantages that a Christian gets by keeping of his heart tender. For, as to have a 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 their tenderness. A tender heart will be affected at the sin of another, much more it will be afraid of committing of sin itself (2 Kings 22:19).

Second. A tender heart quickly yieldeth to prayer, yea, prompteth to it, puts an edge and fire into it. We never are backward to prayer until our heart has lost its tenderness; though then it grows cold, flat, and formal, and so carnal to and in that 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; but if a Christian loseth his tenderness, if he says he has his repentance to seek, his heart is grown hard--has lost that spirit, that kind spirit of repentance, it was wont to have. Thus it was with the Corinthians; they were decayed, and lost their tenderness; 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 that is 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 the soul, 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. But now, 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 blemished with 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 forbear even that which may be done--for some Jew, or Gentile, or the church of God, or any member of it, should be offended, or made weak thereby; whereas the Christian that is not tender, that has lost his tenderness, is so far off of denying himself in lawful 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 need go no further than to the man in the text, who, while he was tender, trembled at little things; but when his heart was hardened, he could take Bathsheba to satisfy his 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 the scourging hand of God. 'With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure, but with the froward thou 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 unwise behaviour. When I say needless, I mean they are not necessary, but to reclaim us from our vanities; for we should not feel the smart of them, were it not for our follies. Hence the afflicted is called a fool, because his folly brings his affliction upon him. 'Fools,' says David, 'because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, 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 his children 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 blood of 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 looking after heaven. A companion that is not profitable to the soul, is hurtful. 'He that walketh 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 the presence 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 the snare 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 countenancing of that makes way for a bigger.[14] David's eye took his heart, and so his heart nourishing the thought, made way for the woman's company, the act of adultery, and bloody murder. Take heed, therefore, brethren, 'lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin' (Heb 3:12,13). And remember, that he that will rend the block, puts the thin end of the wedge first thereto, and so, by driving, does his work.

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

6. Take heed of unbelief, or atheistical thoughts; make no question of the truth and reality of heavenly things: for know unbelief is the worst of evils; nor can the 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 living God' (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; knowledge of 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 through the 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 that they are in his hand but as a scroll or vesture (Heb 1:11,12). (3.) The knowledge of his justice, that the rebukes of it are as devouring fire (Heb 12:19). (4.) The knowledge 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-destroying effects upon thy heart; be persuaded, that it is the only enemy of God, and that none hate, or are hated of God, but through that. (1.) Remember it turned angels into devils, thrust them down from heaven to hell. (2.) That it is the chain in which they are held and bound over to judgment (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6). (3.) That it was for 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 which cost Christ his blood to redeem thee from the curse it has brought upon thee; and that, if anything, will keep thee out of heaven for ever and ever. (4.) Consider the 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 durableness of the burning flame thereof, and of the gnawing of the neverdying worm that dwells there (Mark 9:43-48).

3. Consider of death, both as to the certainty of thy dying, and uncertainty of the time when. We must die, we must needs die; our days are determined--the number of our months are with God, though not with us; nor can we pass them, would we, had we them, give a thousand worlds to do it (2 Sam 14:14; Job 7:1, 14:1-5). Consider thou must die but once--I mean but once as to this world; for if thou, when thou goest hence, dost not die well, thou canst not come back again and die better. 'It is 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 Christ shall sit upon his great white throne, when the dead shall, by the sound of the trump of God, be raised up; when the elements, with heaven and earth, shall be on a burning flame; when Christ shall separate men one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; when the books shall be opened, the witnesses produced, and every man be judged according to his works; when heaven's gate shall stand open to them that shall be saved, and the jaws of hell stand gaping for them that shall be damned (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 and suffering 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 all pity, bowels, and compassion; yea, tender mercies, and did it. In his love and in his 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 to endeavour 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 to God has had his heart broken--his heart broken in order to his coming to him. And this 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, his new 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, and affections. 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 this condition, if they will but leave their sins, yet they will choose rather to abide in 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, wouldst thou but break thy league with this great enemy of God? Of God, do I say; if thou wouldst but break this league with this great enemy of thy soul? but couldst never yet be brought unto it; no, neither by threatening nor by promise couldst thou ever yet 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 what is 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, where God 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 better a bargain; that one that is so wise in all terrene things, should be such a fool in the thing that is most weighty? And yet such a fool he is, and he tells every one that goes by the way that he is such an one, because he will not break his league with 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 with them to leave it.

SECOND USE. Is this a truth, that the man that truly comes to God in order thereto has 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 would not 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 will have 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 with blood and tears, will not do. Men are resolved to put God to the utmost of it; if he will have them he must fetch them, follow them, catch them, lame them; yea, break their bones, or else he shall not save them.

Some men think an invitation, an outward call, a rational discourse, will do; but they 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 know these things are enough to leave men without excuse, but yet they are not enough to 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 held captive 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 horrible a 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 brought to him (Isa 26:9; John 6:44). Wherefore John might well say, 'Behold what manner of 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 broken heart 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 to Christ for life. The world know not what to make of it, nor what to say to one that has a broken heart, and therefore do despise it, and count that man that carries it in his bosom a moping fool, a miserable wretch, an undone soul: 'But a broken and a contrite spirit, O God, thou wilt not despise'; a broken heart takes thine eye, thy heart: thou choosest it for thy companion, yea, has given thy Son a charge to look well to such a man, and has promised him thy salvation, as has afore been proved.

Sinner, hast thou obtained a broken heart? has God bestowed a contrite spirit upon thee? He has given thee what himself is pleased with; he has given thee a cabinet to 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 painful now, 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; all this is because he hath a mind to make thee laugh; he has made thee sorry on earth that thou mightest rejoice in heaven. 'Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.--Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh' (Matt 5:4; Luke 6:21).

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 man may 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 flesh and a wound in the spirit; yea, a man's sin may be wounded, and yet his heart not broken: so was Pharaoh's, so was Saul's, so was Ahab's; but they had none of them the 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 the heart of sinners, doth not therefore break them. God gave Ahab such a blow that he made him stoop, fast, humble himself, gird himself with and lie in sackcloth, which was 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, Judas repented himself of his doings, Esau sought the blessing, and that carefully with tears, 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 with their sins, no hearty flight for refuge, to lay hold on the hope of glory, though they 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 not that for a broken and a contrite spirit that will not go for one at the day of death and judgment. Wherefore, seeking soul, let me advise thee, that thou mayest not be deceived as to this thing of so great weight.

First. To go back towards the beginning of this book, and compare thyself with those six or seven signs of a broken and contrite heart, which there I have, according to the Word of God, given to thee for that end; and deal with thy soul impartially about 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 readest of the conversion of men, and try if thy conversion be like, or has a good resemblance or oneness with theirs. But in this have a care that thou dost not compare thyself with those good folk of whose conversion thou readest not, or of the breaking of whose heart there is no mention made in Scripture; for all that are recorded in the Scripture 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 are laid down in Scripture; for that is the true effect of a broken heart, and of a wounded spirit. 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 their spirits that he intends to save. And for this read these scriptures: (1.) That in Jeremiah 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, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.' (3.) Read Ezekiel 6:9: 'And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which have departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a-whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe 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 be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.' (5.) Read Ezekiel 20:43: 'And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.' (6.) Read Ezekiel 37:31: 'Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe 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 the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for 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 promiseth that those whom he saveth shall have this heart, this spirit, and these holy effects in them; therefore consider again, and examine thyself, whether this is the state and condition of thy soul. And that thou mayest do it fully, consider again, and do thou,

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

2. Remember again that here is not only a self-abhorrence, but a sorrowful kind mourning unto 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 now out of love with sin for ever, and to be in heart and soul firmly joined and knit unto 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 weeping and 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 ask the way of those they meet with to Zion, or the heavenly country; whereby they confess their ignorance, as became them, and their desire to know the way to life: yea, thereby they 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 contrite spirit. Reader, be advised, and consider of these things seriously, and compare thy soul with them, and with what else thou shalt find here written for thy conviction and instruction.

FOURTH USE. If a broken heart and a contrite spirit be of such esteem with God, then this should encourage them that have it to come to God with it. I know the great encouragement for men to come to God is, for that there 'is a mediator between God and 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 subordinate to that, and a broken and a contrite spirit is one of them: this is evident from several 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 hast sorrow in thy heart, and art sorry for thy sins; but take heed of lying.[15] Confess also thy sins unto him, and tell him they are continually before thee. David made an 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 why so? O! says he, 'Thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger: neither is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. My wounds stink, and are corrupt, because of my foolishness. 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 my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken; I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my 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 also is gone from me. My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore': and so he goes on (Psa 38:1-4, &c.).

These are the words, sighs, complaints, prayers, and arguments of a broken heart to God for mercy; and so are they--'Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness; 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 acknowledge my 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 with him. 'I am poor and sorrowful,' said the good man to him, 'let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high' (Psa 69:29). Wherefore thou that hast a broken heart take courage, God bids thee take courage; say therefore to thy soul, 'Why are thou cast down, O my soul?' as usually the broken-hearted are. 'And why art thou disquieted within 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 themselves among the dead; they think God will remember them no more: the thoughts of the greatness of God, and his holiness, and their own sins and vilenesses, will certainly consume them. They feel guilt and anguish of soul; they go mourning all the day long; their mouth is full of gravel and gall, and they are made to drink draughts of wormwood and gall; so that he must be an artist indeed at believing, who can come to God under his guilt and horror, and plead in faith that the sacrifices of God are a broken heart, 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 esteem with God, then why should some be, as they are, so afraid of a broken heart, and so shy of a contrite spirit?

I have observed that some men are as afraid of a broken heart, or that they for their sins should have their hearts broken, as the dog is of the whip. O! they cannot away with such books, with such sermons, with such preachers, or with such talk, as tends to make a man sensible of, and to break his heart, and to make him contrite for his sins. 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 desperate in, 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, such books, such discourses tend to make one melancholy or mad; they make us that we cannot take 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 in anything, before thou hast mourned and been sorry for thy sins? That mirth that is before 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 unconverted man, and laugh! Shouldst thou see one singing merry songs that is riding up Holborn to 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 condemned by the Book of God for his trespasses. Man! man! thou hast cause to mourn; yea, thou must 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 tendency to make a man sensible of, and to break his heart for sin; and the reason is, because thou wilt never be as thou shouldst, concerned about, nor seek the salvation of thine own soul, before thou hast a broken heart, a broken and a contrite spirit. Wherefore be not afraid of a broken heart; be not shy of a contrite spirit. It is one of the greatest mercies that God bestows upon a man or a woman. The heart rightly broken at the sense of, and made truly contrite for transgression, is a certain forerunner of salvation. This is evident from those six demonstrations which were laid down to 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 break ALL 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 other man must smart for sin? smart, I say, either to repentance or to condemnation. He that mourns not now, while the door of mercy is open, must mourn for sin when the door 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 shall they so escape? No, no, because he called, and they refused; he stretched out his hand, and they regarded it not; therefore shall calamity come upon them, as upon one in travail; and they shall cry in their destruction, and then God will laugh at their destruction, and mock when their fear cometh. Then, saith he, 'they shall cry' (Prov 1:24-26). I have often observed that this threatening is repeated at least seven times in the New Testament, saying, 'There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth'; '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 out of glory, that have here despised the offer of his grace, and overlooked the day of his patience. 'There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.' They shall weep and wail for this.

There are but two scriptures that I shall use more, and then I shall draw towards a conclusion. One is that in Proverbs, where Solomon is counselling of young men to beware of strange, that is, of wanton, light, and ensnaring women. Take heed of such, 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, nor inclined 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, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did 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, but ye 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 to consider, but as a declaration from heaven that thus at last it shall be with all impenitent 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 broken heart, and prize a contrite spirit; I say, covet it now, now the white flag is hung out, now the golden sceptre of grace is held forth to you. Better mourn now God inclines to 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 has been said, and if duties cannot be rightly performed by a heart that has not been broken, then this shows the vanity of those peoples' minds, and also the invalidity of 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 flocks of such professors in the world in every age, but to little purpose, unless to deceive themselves, to mock God, and lay stumbling-blocks in the way of others; for a man whose heart was never truly broken, and whose spirit was never contrite, cannot profess Christ in earnest, cannot love his own soul in earnest; I mean, he cannot do these things 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 of his own soul, is sense of sin, and a godly fear of being overtaken with the danger which it brings a man into. This makes him contrite or repentant, and puts him upon seeking 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 is wanting. Profess men may, and make a noise, as the empty barrel maketh the biggest sound; 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 which they 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 have been replenished, succoured, and made to hope in God. Paul said, the love of Christ constrained him. But what was Paul but a broken-hearted and a contrite sinner? (Acts 9:3-6; 2 Cor 5:14). When God shows a man the sin he has committed, the hell he has deserved, the heaven he has lost; and yet that Christ, and grace, and pardon may be had; this will make him serious, this will make him melt, this will break his heart, this will show him that there is more than air, than a noise, than an empty sound in religion; and this is the man, whose heart, whose life, whose conversation and all, will be engaged in the matters of the eternal salvation of his precious and 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, discourage many an honest soul.

Answ. I answer, Not a jot, not an honest soul in all the world will be offended at my words; for not one can be an honest soul, I mean with reference to its concerns in 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 the same 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 contrite spirit, is no article of my belief. We speak not now of what is secret; revealed things 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 no need, but Christ will make them see their need before he ministers his sovereign grace unto them; and good reason, otherwise he will have but little thanks for his kindness.

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 another to receive it from God by the means. If thou art taught by an angel, yet if not taught of 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 such work 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; Habb 3:12-16; Eph 4:20,21; 1 Peter 2:2,3).

Object. Third. But some men are not so debauched and profane as some, and so need not 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 any that can pretend to civility now, I suppose; and yet that notwithstanding he was made to shake, and was astonished at himself at his conversion. And truly I think the more righteous any is in his own eyes before conversion, the more need he has of heart-breaking work, in order to his salvation; because a man is not by nature so easily convinced that his righteousness is to God abominable, as he is that his debauchery and profaneness is.

A man's goodness is that which blinds him most, is dearest to him, and hardly parted with; and therefore when such an one is converted, that thinks he has goodness of his 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 come to 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 his gainful things but loss and dung (Isa 64; Phil 3).

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

True; nothing is hard or difficult to God. But I speak after the manner of men. And let who will take to task a man debauched in this life, and one that is not so, and he shall see, if he laboureth to convince them both that they are in a state of condemnation by 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 upon his 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 near me, I am holier than thou. It is almost impossible, that a self-righteous man should be saved. But he that can drive a camel through the eye of a needle, can cause that even such a one shall see his lost condition, and that he needeth the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. He can make him see, I say, that his own goodness 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 immorality that men commit. The sum then is, that men that are converted to God by Christ, through the Word and Spirit--for all this must go to effectual conversion--must have their hearts broken, and spirits made contrite; I say, it MUST be so, for the reasons showed before. Yea, and all decayed, apostatized, and backslidden Christians must, in order to their recovery again to God, have their hearts broken, their souls wounded, their spirits made contrite, and sorry for their sins.

Come, come, conversion to God is not so easy and so smooth a thing as some would have men believe it is. Why is man's heart compared to fallow ground, God's Word to 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 ploughed too before the husbandman will venture his seed; yea, and after that oft soundly harrowed, 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 be done 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 tied on 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 conveyed from the root to the branch; and I say, this must be done by a wound. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia, as a man openeth the stock to graft in the scions, and so the word 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 arrows sharp, 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 would bow 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 in the ways of their own destruction; in their occasions, they are like the wild asses upon the wild mountains; nothing can break them of their purposes, or hinder them from ruining of their own precious and immortal souls, but the breaking of their hearts.

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 may see it so, if you compare the text with that verse which goes before it; I say, why is it counted better than all, were they all put together, if any one part or if all external parts of worship, were they put together, could be able to render the man a sound and a rightly made new creature without it? 'A broken heart, a contrite spirit, God will not despise'; but both thou, and all thy service, he will certainly slight and reject, if, when thou comest to him, a broken heart be wanting; wherefore here is the point, Come broken, come contrite, come sensible of, and sorry for thy sins, or thy coming will be counted no coming to God aright; and if so, consequently thou 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 family and 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 of the 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 means hale, hearty, free from disease, as a fish is happy in its native element--'They that are WHOLE, need not a physician, but they that are sick,' Luke 5:31. David had no smitings of conscience for his cruelty and enormous guilt; he was like a 'fish whole,' 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 the prophet 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 broken and a contrite hert, O God, shalt thou not despise.' The same Hebrew word occurs in the original, both as to the spirit and the heart. Bunyan is quite right in preferring our authorised version of this verse. Coverdale, Tindal, Taverner, and Cranmer, all agree. 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 been in deep waters--in soul-harrowing fear, while his heart--hard by nature--was under the 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.--Grace Abounding, No. 186.

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

'Ignor.--I am always full of good motions that come into my mind, to comfort me as I 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 worthless leaving or refuse. It is thus used by Shakespeare in his Troylus and Cresida, act 5, s. 2:--

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