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
thees; 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.