hard-hearted wretch; yet, when God came to deal with him, he was soon
tamed, and his heart became exceeding soft and tender (Acts 16:29,30).
Men may speak long enough, and the heart not at all be moved; but ‘The
voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of
majesty,’ and breaketh the rocks and cedars (Psa 29:4). He turns ‘the
rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters’ (Psa
114:8). And this is a glorious work indeed, that hearts of stone should
be dissolved and melted into waters of godly sorrow, working repentance
not 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 hardening it; as the apostle cautions the Hebrews,
‘Take heed,—lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of
sin’ (Heb 3:13).
Sin is deceitful, and will harden all those that indulge it. The more
tender any man is to his lust, the more will he be hardened by it.
There is a native hardness in every man’s heart; and though it may be
softened by gospel means, yet if those means 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 keep close 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 which were at first blessed for the softening of
them.
The following treatise may be of great use to the people of God—through
his blessing accompanying it—to keep their hearts tender and broken,
when so many, after their hardness and impenitent heart, are treasuring
up wrath against the day of wrath (Rom 2:5).
O let none who peruse this book herd with that generation of hardened
ones, but be a companion of all those that mourn in Zion and whose
hearts are broken for their own, the church’s, and the nation’s
provocations; who, indeed, are the only likely ones 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 fenced
cities, 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 gracious message to them by Shemaiah the
prophet, the import whereof was, That because they humbled themselves,
the Lord would not destroy them, nor pour out his wrath upon them, 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 storm impending may be blown over, and the blessings enjoyed
may yet be continued. As long as there is a sighing party we may hope
to be yet preserved; at least, such will have the mark set upon
themselves which shall distinguish them from those whom the
slaughtermen 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’s entrance into the house, where I doubt not but he will be
pleased with the furniture and provision he finds in it. And I shall
only further assure him, that this whole book 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 of many
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’s heart into the book, may be transcribed out of the book
into the hearts of all who shall 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 is a 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 which you have in the 11th
and 12th of the Second of Samuel. Many workings of heart, as this 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 bewails the 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 take his 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 God did not dislike; ‘The sacrifices of God,’ says he, ‘are a
broken spirit’; as if he 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 that assertion. The assertion is this, ‘The sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit.’ The demonstration 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 which answereth to, or goeth beyond,
all sacrifices. ‘The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.’
The demonstration of this is plain: for that heart God will not despise
it. ‘A broken and 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 intended by this
saying, The sacrifices, because it answereth to all sacrifices which we
can offer to God; yea it serveth in the room of all: all our sacrifices
without this are nothing; this alone is all.
There are four things that are very acceptable to God. The
First is The sacrifice of the body of Christ for our sins. Of this you
read (Heb 10) for there you have it 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 of God.
Second. Unfeigned love to God is counted better than all sacrifices, or
external parts of worship. ‘And to love him [the Lord thy God] with all
the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and
with all the strength, and to love his 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 the voice of the Lord?—‘Behold, to obey is
better than sacrifice; and to hearken than the 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 excellent only 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 of a broken and a contrite
spirit. No, no, a man, a woman, that is blessed with a broken heart, is
so far off from getting by that esteem with the world, that they are
but burdens and trouble houses wherever they are or go. Such people
carry with them molestation and disquietment: they are in carnal
families as David was to the king of Gath, troublers of the house (1
Sam 21).
Their sighs, their tears, their day and night groans, their cries and
prayers, and solitary carriages, put all the carnal family out of
order.[1] Hence you have them brow-beaten by some, contemned by others,
yea, and their company fled from and deserted by others. But mark the
text, ‘A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise,’
but rather accept; for not to despise is with God to esteem and set a
high price upon.
[II. THE DOCTRINE, ASSERTION, DEMONSTRATION, AND CONCLUSION, THAT A
BROKEN AND TRULY CONTRITE HEART IS AN EXCELLENT HEART.]
But we will demonstrate by several particulars, that a broken spirit, a
spirit RIGHTLY broken, an heart TRULY contrite, is to God an excellent
thing.
First. This is evident from the comparison, ‘Thou desirest not
sacrifice, else would I give it, thou delightest not in burnt-offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,’ &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
nothing else 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, a broken spirit is above
them all, a contrite heart goes beyond them, yea, beyond them when 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 broken heart, 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 that is more than to be set before external duties. ‘Thus
saith the Lord, The heaven is my 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, and all those things
have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him
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 will look to them, that is, take complacency and
delight in them; no, there is that wanting in all that he hath made
that should take up and delight his heart. But now, let a
broken-hearted sinner come before him; yea, he ranges the world
throughout to find out such an one, and having found him, ‘To this
man,’ saith he, ‘will I look.’ I say 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 this man 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 doth sometimes signify. ‘Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister,
my spouse,’ saith Christ to his humble-hearted, ‘thou hast ravished my
heart with one of thine eyes’ (Cant 4:9). 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 the contrite spirit of his people (Cant 7:5,
1:15). But it is not thus reported of him with respect to heaven or
earth: them he sets more lightly by, them he ‘reserves unto 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, That a broken-hearted sinner, a sinner with a contrite spirit, is
of more esteem with God than is either heaven or earth. He saith he
hath made them, but he doth not say he will look to them. He saith they
are his throne and footstool, but he doth not say they have taken or
ravished his heart. No, it is those that are of a contrite spirit do
this. But there is yet more in the words, ‘To this man will I look’:
that is, For this man will I care, about this man will I camp, I will
put this man under my protection; for so to look to one doth sometimes
signify; and I take the meaning in this place to be such (Prov 27:23;
Jer 39:12, 40:4). ‘The Lord upholdeth all that fall, 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 set his
eyes upon such an one for good. This, therefore, is a second
demonstration to prove, 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, before heaven and earth, but he loveth, he desireth to have that
man for an intimate, for a companion; he must dwell; he must cohabit
with him that is of a broken heart, with such as are of a contrite
spirit. ‘For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth
eternity, whose name is Holy, I will dwell in the high and holy place,
with him also that 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 the broken-hearted man creep into a
mouse-hole to hide himself from such a majesty! But behold his heart,
his condescending mind; I am for dwelling also with him that hath a
broken heart, with him that is of a contrite spirit; that is the man
that I would converse 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 these things; 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 as are 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 Lord looked down from heaven,—to see if any did
understand and seek God’; that he might find some body in the world
with whom he might converse; for indeed there is none else 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, or be 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). But now the broken in heart can tend it; he
has leisure, yea, leisure, and will, and understanding, and all; and
therefore is a fit man to have to do with God. There is room also in
this man’s house, in this man’s heart, in this man’s spirit, for God to
dwell, for God to walk, for God to set up a kingdom.
Here, therefore, is suitableness. ‘Can two walk together,’ saith God,
‘except they be agreed?’ (Amos 3:3). The broken-hearted desireth God’s
company; when wilt thou come 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 the bones which thou
hast broken may rejoice’ (Psa 51:8). But here lies the glory, in that
the high and lofty One, the God that inhabiteth eternity, and that was
a high and holy place for his habitation, should choose to dwell with,
and to be a companion of the broken in heart, and of them that are of a
contrite spirit. Yea, and here also is great comfort for such.
Fourth. God doth not only prefer such a heart before all sacrifices,
nor esteems such 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-cherishing cordials. ‘I dwell,’ saith he,
with such to revive them, and to support and comfort them, ‘to revive
the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones’
(Isa 57:15). The broken-hearted man is a fainting man; he has his
qualms, his sinking 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 pines away in his iniquity; nor
can any thing keep him alive and make him well but the comforts and
cordials of Almighty God (Exo 33:10,11). Wherefore with such an one God
will dwell, to revive the heart, to revive the spirit. ‘To revive the
spirit of 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); and such 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; physicians are men of no esteem but
with them that feel their sickness; and this is one reason why God is
so little accounted of in the world, even because they have not been
made sick by the wounding stroke of God. But now when a man is wounded,
has his bones broken, or is made sick, and laid at the grave’s mouth,
who is of that esteem with him 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 with the
broken-hearted; he needs, and God has prepared for him plenty of the
comforts and cordials of heaven, to succour and relieve his sinking
soul.
Wherefore such a one lieth under all the promises that have succour in
them, and consolation for men, sick and desponding under the sense of
sin and the heavy wrath of God; and they, says God, shall be refreshed
and revived with them. Yea, they are designed for them; he hath
therefore broken their hearts, he hath therefore wounded their spirits,
that he might make them apt to relish his reviving cordials, that he
might minister to them his reviving comforts. For indeed, so soon as he
hath broken them, his bowels yearn, and his compassions roll up and
down within him, and will not suffer him to abide afflicting. Ephraim
was one of these; but so soon as God had smitten him, behold his heart,
how it works towards him. ‘Is Ephraim,’ saith he, ‘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
bowels are 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 heaven and 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 special a charge to take care of
such; yea, that was one of the main reasons he sent him down from
heaven, anointed for his work on earth. ‘The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon 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). Now that this is meant of Christ, is confirmed by his
own lips; for in the days of his flesh he takes this book in his hand,
when he was in the synagogue at Nazareth, and read this very place unto
the people; and then tells them that that very day that Scripture was
fulfilled in their ears (Luke 6:16-18).
But see, these are the souls whose welfare is contrived in the heavens.
God consulted their 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 a contrite spirit, is of great
esteem with God. I have often wondered at David that he should give
Joab and the men of war a charge, that they take heed that they carry
it tenderly to that young rebel Absalom his son (2 Sam 18:5). But that
God, the high God, the God against whom we have sinned, should, so soon
as he has smitten, give his Son a command, a charge, a commission to
take care of, to bind up and heal the broken in heart; this is that
which can never be sufficiently admired or wondered at by men or
angels.
And as this was his commission, so he acted; as is evidently set forth
by the parable of the man who fell among thieves. He went to him,
poured into his wounds wine and oil; he bound him up, took him, set him
upon his own beast, had him to an inn, gave the host a charge to look
well to him, with money in hand, and a promise at his return to
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 in heart; he has given a charge to Christ
his Son, to look well to them, and to bind up 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
falls into the practical part thereof. ‘He healeth the broken in heart,
and bindeth up their wounds’ (Psa 147:3).
And behold again into whose care a broken heart and a contrite spirit
hath put this poor creature; he is under the care of God, the care and
cure of Christ. If a man was sure that his disease had put him under
the special care of the king and the queen, 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 their life; wherefore this man must live; Christ has in commission
not only to bind up his 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 not only be taken in
hand, but healed; healed of his pain, grief, sorrow, sin, and fears of
death and hell-fire; wherefore he adds, that he must give unto such
‘beauty for ashes, 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 will
lead him also, and restore comforts unto him, and to his mourners;—and
I will heal him’ (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 desires his company, has provided for him his cordials, and given
a charge to Christ to heal him, so he has promised in conclusion to
save him. ‘He saveth such as be of a contrite spirit,’ 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 without forgiveness of sins we cannot be saved. To
save, is to preserve one in this miserable world, and to deliver one
from all those devils, temptations, snares, and destructions that
would, were we not kept, were we not preserved of God, destroy us body
and soul for ever. To save, is to bring a man body and soul to glory,
and to give him an eternal mansion house in heaven, that he may dwell
in the presence of this good God, and the 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 of the
sinner. Now, this is to be the lot of him that is of a broken heart,
and the end that God will make with him that is of a contrite spirit.
‘He saveth such as be contrite of spirit.’ He saveth such! This is
excellent!