when the heart trembleth at it, is afraid, and stands in awe of it.
When Joseph’s mistress tempted him to lie with her, he was afraid of
the Word of God. ‘How then can I do this great wickedness,’ said he,
‘and sin against God?’ He stood in awe of God’s Word, durst not do it,
because he kept in remembrance what a dreadful thing it was to rebel
against God’s Word. When old Eli heard that the ark was taken, his very
heart trembled within him; for he read by that sad loss that God was
angry with Israel, and he knew the anger of God was a great and
terrible thing. When Samuel went to Bethlehem, the elders of the town
trembled; for they feared that he came to them with some sad message
from 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 the land, he sent, and there came to
him ‘every one that trembled at the words of the God 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 are afraid of doing ought that is contrary to them; but they
are only such with whose souls and spirits the Word has had to do. For
the rest, they are resolved to go on their course, let God say what he
will. ‘As for the word’ of the Lord, said rebellious Israel to
Jeremiah, ‘that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we
will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing
goeth forth out of our own mouth’ (Jer 44:16). But do you think that
these people did ever feel the power and majesty of the Word of God to
break their hearts? No, verily; had that been so, they would have
trembled at the words of God; they would have been afraid of the words
of God. God may command some people what he will, they will do what
they list. What care they for God? what care they for his Word? Neither
threats nor promises, 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 broken with it. When king
Josias did but read in God’s Book what punishment God had threatened
against rebellious Israel, though he himself was a holy and good man,
he humbled himself, ‘he rent his clothes,’ and wept before the Lord,
and was afraid of the judgment threatened (2 Kings 22; 2 Chron 34). For
he knew what a dreadful thing the Word of God is. Some men, as I said
before, dare do anything, let the Word of God be 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. This then is another sign, a true sign, that the heart has
been broken, namely, ‘When the 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, and of 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 saved unless his heart be broken? I answer, Avoiding secret things,
which only belong to God, there is a necessity of breaking the heart,
in order to salvation; because a man will not sincerely comply with the
means conducing thereunto until his heart is broken. For,
First. Man, take him as he comes into the world, as to spirituals, as
to evangelical things, 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 call or admonition, that has not a
heart-breaking power attending of it, bring him to a 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 will not do. What! says he, ‘I have given you cleanness
of teeth in all your cities; I have withholden the rain from you; I
have smitten you with blasting and mildew; I have sent among you the
pestilence; I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom 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 say that 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 as unconcerned, whatever judgments or
afflictions light upon the body (Matt 13:15; Acts 28:27). This which I
call the coat of mail, the fence of the heart, has two great names in
Scripture. It is called, ‘the foreskin of the heart,’ and the armour in
which the devil trusteth (Deut 10:16; Luke 11:22).
Because these shield and fence the heart from all gospel doctrine, and
from all legal punishments, nothing can come at it till these are
removed. Therefore, in order unto conversion, the heart is said to be
circumcised; that is, this foreskin is taken away, 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 it being cut, pricked, and pierced, it bleeds, it faints, it
falls, and dies at the foot 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 sin and 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 heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear unto that
day (Deut 29:2,3). Their hearts were as yet not touched to the quick,
were not awakened, and wounded by the holy 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 it be thought, be the danger never so great, that it should repent,
cry, bow, and break at the foot of God, and supplicate there for mercy!
and yet thus it must do; for thus God has ordained, and thus God has
appointed it; nor can men be saved without it. 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
state and misery without it? But,
Second. Man, take him as he comes into the world—and how wise soever he
is in worldly and 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 Cor 2:14). But
how now must this fool be made wise? Why, wisdom must be put into his
heart (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 is that folly and madness which naturally dwelleth
there? But how doth he take that away but by a severe chastising of his
soul for it, until he has made him weary of it? The whip and stripes
are provided for the natural fool, and so it is for him that is
spiritually so (Prov 19:29).
Solomon intimates, that it is a hard thing to make a fool become wise.
‘Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a
pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him’ (Prov 27:22). By
this it appears that it is a hard thing to make a fool a wise man. To
bray one in a mortar is a dreadful thing, to bray one there with a
pestle; and yet it seems a whip, a mortar, and a pestle is the way. And
if this is the way to make one wise in this world, and if all this will
hardly do, how must the fool that is so in spirituals be whipped and
beaten, and stripped before he is made wise therein? Yea, his heart
must be put into God’s mortar, and must be beaten; yea, brayed there
with the pestle of the law, before it loves to hearken unto 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, with fire, ‘for how shall I do for the daughter of
my people’ (Jer 9:6,7). I will melt them: I will put them into my
furnace, and there I will try them; and there will I make them know me,
saith the Lord. When David was under spiritual chastisement for his
sin, and had his heart under the breaking hand of God, then he said,
God should make him know wisdom (Psa 51:6). Now he was in the mortar,
now he was in the furnace, 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 make us 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 the intention 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 that be, but by ripping
up of his heart by some sore conviction, that may show him plainly that
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 great thing 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 from them. Wherefore there must go a great deal to the making of
a man a Christian; for as 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 his folly but by the
breaking of his heart. David was one of these fools; Manasseh was one
of these fools; Saul, otherwise called Paul, was one of these fools;
and so was I—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, and a fool, but a proud man also. Pride is one of those sins
that first showeth itself to 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 of sin, as sin, is not only
to be vile, but to hide its vileness from the soul. Hence many think
they do well when they sin. Jonah thought he did well to be angry with
God (Jonah 4:9). The Pharisees thought they did well when they said,
Christ had a devil (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 they are a thousand times
better than they are. Hence they think they are the children of God,
when they are the children of the devil; and that they are something as
to Christianity, when they neither are such, nor know what it is that
they must have to make them such (John 8:41-44; Gal 6:3).
Now, whence flows this but from pride, and a self-conceit of
themselves, and that their state is good for another world, when they
are yet in their sins, and under the 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, not grace, 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, that they be not herein deceived. ‘Hear ye,’
saith the prophet, ‘and give ear: be not proud, for the Lord hath
spoken.’ ‘But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in 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 his holy 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 her husband, yet boasted himself in his justice
and holiness, and would by all means have the man put to death that had
but taken the poor man’s lamb, when, alas! poor soul, himself was the
great transgressor. But would he believe it? No, no; he stood upon the
vindicating of himself to be a just doer; nor would he be made to fall
until Nathan, by authority from God, did tell him that he was the man
whom himself had condemned; ‘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, at the 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 their state is damnable. ‘The wicked, through the pride
of his countenance, will not seek after God’ (Psa 10:4). And if there
is so much in the pride of his countenance, what is there, think you,
in the pride of his heart? Therefore Job says it is to hide pride from
man, and so to save his soul from hell, that God chasteneth him with
pain upon his bed, until the multitude of his bones stick out, and
until his life draws nigh to the destroyer (Job 33:17-22).
It is a hard thing to take a man off his pride, and make him, instead
of trusting in, and boasting of his goodness, wisdom, honesty, and the
like, to see himself a sinner, a fool, yea, a man that is cruel, as to
his own immortal soul. Pride of heart has 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, to
oppose 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 which no 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 broken leg will maul him; and if a
man be proud of his goodness, a broken heart will maul him; because, as
has been said, a broken heart comes by the discovery and charge of 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 stubborn ungain creature is man before his heart is
broken. Hence they are so often called rebels, 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 to his course, as the horse
rusheth into battle’ (Jer 8:6). They say, ‘With our tongue will 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 their eyes, and harden their hearts, ‘against the words of God,
and contemned the counsel of the Most High’ (Psa 107:11; Zech 7:10,12).
They are fitly compared to the rebellious son who would not be ruled by
his parents, or to the prodigal, who would have all in his own hand,
and remove himself far away from father and father’s house (Deut 21:20;
Luke 15:13). Now for such creatures, nothing will do but violence. The
stubborn son must be stoned till he dies; and the prodigal must be
famished out of all; nothing else, I say, will do. Their self-willed
stubborn heart will not comply with the will of God before it is broken
(Deut 21:21; Luke 15:14-17). These are they that are called the
stout-hearted; these are said to be far from righteousness, and so will
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, and self-willed, but also a fearless creature. ‘There is,’ saith
the text, ‘no fear of God before their eyes’ (Rom 3:18). No fear of
God! There is fear of man, fear of losing his favour, his love, his
good-will, his help, his friendship; this is seen everywhere. How do
the poor fear the rich, the weak fear the strong, and those that 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 his favour, nor inquire how they may escape his
revenging hand that is lifted up against their sins and their souls
because of sin. Little things they fear the losing of them; 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, by graves, by the death of others? How many times are they
put in mind of hell by reading the Word, by lashes of conscience, and
by some that go roaring in despair out of this world? How many times
are they put in mind of the day of judgment. As, 1. By God’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 from heaven (2 Peter 2:6; Jude 7). 4. By appointing a day (Acts
17:29-31). 5. By appointing a 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 judged for 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, to carnal 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 that mocked; and his words to
them were as idle tales (Gen 19:14). Fearless men are not won by words;
blows, wounds, and killings, are the things that must bring them under
fear. How many struggling fits had Israel with God in the wilderness?
How many times did they declare that there they feared him not? And
observe, they were seldom, if ever, brought to fear and dread his
glorious name, unless he beset them round with death 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 sinners when he would save their souls; even bring them, and lay
them at the mouth, and within sight of hell and everlasting damnation:
and there also charge them with sin and guilt, 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 himself never so plainly, man by nature will not
believe this report of him. No, they are become vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart is darkened; wherefore they 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: God saith, None shall keep his door for
naught; they say, It is in vain, and to no profit to 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
falsely believe concerning God; yea, as to the word of his grace, and
the revelation of his mercy in Christ, they stick not to say by their
practice—for a wicked man speaketh with his feet (Prov 6:13)—that that
is a stark lie, and not to be trusted to (1 John 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 them himself, 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 works effectually he
must break their hearts, and make them, as men wounded to death, fall
at his feet for mercy, or there can be no good done on them; they will
not rightly believe until he fires them out of their misbelief, and
makes them to know, by the breaking of their bones for their false
faith, that he is, and will be, what he has said of himself in his holy
Word.[12] The heart, therefore, must be broken before the 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 they sport
themselves in their own deceivings, and glory in their shame (John
3:19; Psa 62:4; 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 of all the powers of his soul. Hence they are said to be
captives to it, and to be led captive into the pleasures of it, at the
will of the devil (2 Tim 2:26). And you know it is not an easy thing to
break love, or to take the affections off that object on which they are
so deeply set, in which they are so deeply rooted, as man’s heart is 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 all the flames of hell, whenever these are propounded
as motives to work them off their sinful 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 that shall
attempt to prevent the raging waves of the sea from their course, when
driven by the mighty winds.
When men are somewhat put to it, when reason and conscience shall begin
a little to hearken to a preacher, or a judgment that shall begin to
hunt for iniquity, how many tricks, evasions, excuses, demurs, delays,
and hiding-holes will they make, invent, and find, to hide and preserve
their sweet sins with themselves and their souls, in the delights of
them, to their own eternal perdition? Hence they endeavour to 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 such of them only as are like themselves, that speak
unto them smooth things, and prophesy deceits; yea, they say themselves
to such preachers, ‘Get you out of the way; turn aside out of the path;
cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us’ (Isa 30:8-11). 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 wicked lives, then they will flatter, cogg, dissemble,
and lie against their soul, promising to mend, to turn, to repent, and
grow better shortly; and all to daff[13] off convictions and
molestations in their wicked ways, that they may yet pursue their
lusts, their pleasures, and sinful delights, in quiet, and without
control.
Yea, further, I have known some that have been made to roar like bears,
to yell like dragons, and to howl like dogs, by reason of the weight of
guilt, and the lashes of hell upon their conscience for their evil
deeds; who have, so soon as their present torments and fears were gone,
returned again with the ‘dog to his vomit; and as the sow that was
washed, to her wallowing in the mire’ (Hosea 7:14; 2 Peter 2:20-22).