any service any Sacrifice yea it is all Sacrifice God will not despise but own and honour a contrite Spirit because it is very gracious and amiable Tricameratum it is Avicenna's word wherein you have not the three Persons personally but the Love of the Father the Grace of the Son and the Renovation of the holy Ghost mystically Hence Cor Pauli Cor Christi Chrysost the Heart of Paul is the Heart of Christ This broken contrite Spirit in the purpose and preparation of it is Amor Dei the Love of God in the inspiration and infusion of it it is Donum Dei the Gift of God in the comforts of it it is Osculum Dei the Kiss of God It is no chance-Gift inter missilia Fortunae as that Excellent Prelate speaks D. B. B. E. but God's choice Gift In other blessings God kisseth us sleeping we know not how we come by them but this is given non dormientibus sed vigilantibus not to them that sleep but to those that watch and weep cry and wait for it But more particularly The broken contrite Spirit is gracious and very amiable For You have in it all the lineaments of the new Creature the new Birth the Divine Nature 1. Conviction 2. Compunction 3. Conversion See all drawn to the life in Primitiis Evangelii in the first famous Conversion wrought by the Apostles in the Christian Church the Pattern and great Exemplar of all Conversions to the World's end There was Conviction 2. Acts 36. Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ Compunction 37. v. And when they heard this they were prickt at their heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if the points of so many poisoned daggers or scorpions stings had been struck into every part of their hearts at once in the cruellest manner imaginable so the word imports Conversion 38. For they Repented and were Baptized c. The Hebrew calls Repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we Conversion the main joynt of Repentance which implyes not only an aversion from sin a dying to it in the passions of the mind Fear Grief and Hatred but a turn in the Will to God Not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a grief for what is past but a change of mind for the time to come not grief of mind only so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sometimes taken but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which implyes a grief for sin mixt with Faith which is repentance to Salvation never to be repented of 2 Cor 7.10 Whose rise is godly sorrow whose nature is a purpose to sin no more whose fruit is amendment of life A Contrite spirit is gratious Lastly because there is in it the Evidence of God's immediate Omnis potent and Efficacious working upon the Soul not in a way of Providence or Justice but in a way of Grace Vis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 regenerationis as the Renown'd Mead hath it 36. Eze. 26. I will take away the heart of stone and I will give a heart of flesh 1. A very stone made flesh A Monster of Vice a Miracle of Virtue Monstrum vitii Miraculum virtutis This is modus rei 2. I will do it this is modus dicti I will take away the heart of stone stupid senseless rebellious and I will give a heart of flesh tender pliable flexiible to every good word and work Hitherto you have had these Sacrifices naked and open 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the skin pul'd of and the Intrails expos'd to open view I now come to the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 2.15 His rightly dividing the word and giving every one their due General discourses are like the beams of the Sun dispers't in the air which may warm us a little and that 's all but close application is like the Burning glass which gathers all the Beams into one point or Centre fastens them on the Soul and so Verba not inflantia but inflammantia kindle and enflame Then learn here from this Doctrine of a Broken and contrite Spirit What the issue of sin in the end will be It may be sweet in thy Mouth but it will be bitter in thy Bowels The little pleasure sin brings thee in if it be not thy bane thou must vomit it up again and that may tear and torture thy very Soul 2. Jer. 19. It is an evil thing and bitter to provoke the Lord. Extrema gaudii luctus occupat the end of that mirth is mourning If ever God save any of your Souls it will be by brokenness and Contrition If ever God by his Grace come to dwell in any of your hearts he will make a forcible entrance Consider how dreadful the condition of despair is if these whom God intends Mercy Grace and Peace to be so broken and beaten so bruis'd and ground to powder what are their racks and tortures their Tribulation and Anguish Whom God strikes and wounds with the sight and sence of his wrath as most deserved and due to them as most unavoidable and unsupportable by them These racks and tortures are Primitiae infernalis flammae the first fruits of the infernal flame the greatest part of the torment of the damn'd in Hell where the worm never dies and the fire never goes out Quid patientur quos reprobet si sic cruciantur quos amat saith Gregor If David's bones were so broken for his adultery what furious reflexions What a Hell was in Achitophels conscience for his Perjury Treachery and Treason How did his sorrow rise into horror and that horror into despair God grant that both you and I may know what this despair is rather by relation then experience See the blessed estate of those whose hearts and Spirits are broken and Contrite They will be preserved from sin and the sad effects of it and inabled to perform all duties acceptably 31. Jer. 18. I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself c. I have surely heard i. e. hearing I have heard heard attentively so as to regard c. This will make the soul patient under the greatest affliction and thankful for the least mercy glad with the woman of Canaan for a Crum taste with the Church a little honey in an Ocean of Gall Lamen 3.22 It it the Lords mercies we are not consumed Their Obedience will be highest when their Condition is lowest and their hearts lowest when their condition in the world is highest This brokenness and Contrition will make the heart the only fit soyl for the word of God to take root in and bring forth thirty sixty and a hundred fold The hearts of the Corinthians were first tables of flesh then written upon by the spirit of God and so declared to be the Epistle commendatory of Christ seen and read of all men 2 Cor. 3.3 I might here demonstrate the Vast odds betwixt
Glory here may be the Pledge and First-fruits of your Crown hereafter May it please your Grace I am The humblest and most unworthy of the Sons of the Church of England Rich. Lee. Cor Humiliatum Contritum PSAL. 51.17 The Sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit A broken and contrite Heart O God thou wilt not despise THIS Psalm is justly styled David's Recantation to which Head we must reduce all his and all other Confessions of God's Saints in Scripture as to the common Remedy of that lability error and sin which is congenious to their and our Natures This is one of those seven Penitential Psalms penn'd by David and appointed by the Church to be used in time of Penance and Contrition Psalms which S. Augustine was so great a lover and admirer of that he commanded them to be written in Capital Letters and hung upon the Wall over against his Bed or about the Curtains of his Death-bed within next to him that so he might die as he had lived in the Contemplation and Meditation of them with tears in his eyes in the practice of Repentance praying for the remission of his sins alwaies judging this as Possidonius speaks the safer and surer way to blessedness then that of Raptures and the fittest disposition for dying Christians especially for such of the Ministry who have by their omissions flatteries and silences the sins of others to answer for as well as their own This Psalm is Psalmus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Junius A Psalm of prayer for mercy is the scope of it which David praies for in the negative and positive effects of it And indeed this sweet Singer of Israel never prayed more pathetically then when his heart was broke most penitentially as Birds in Spring sing melodiously when it rains sadly or as some faces which are most oriently beautiful when most wash'd with tears The occasion of this Psalm was David's sin and Nathan's Ministry 2 Sam. 11 12 Ch. The effect whereof was not an itching ear but an aking heart for whilest he tells him a Parable David suspects not that it concerns him but when Nathan no longer brandishes the sword in the air but by a close application falls in with him Thou art the man David feels the wound and nè evanescat saeviat dolor lest the sense might vanish and his wound fester he cries out for help Have mercy upon me O God according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions as in the first verse The Parts of his Prayer are two Petition for himself Supplication for the Church 1. For himself who by his Murder and Adultery had so offended and dishonoured God from the 1 verse to the 18. 2. For the Church which by his fall was so scandalized and endangered that from Dan to Beersheba 70 thousand die of the Plague 2 Sam. 24.15 The Arguments by which he enforceth his Prayer are three 1. Taken from his Repentance which was sound and serious as having in it not only the necessity of a Duty he had sinn'd if he had not repented but the necessity of a Remedy for he had perish'd if he had not repented 2. From others whom by his experience of God's pardoning mercy he might with more skill humility and tenderness recover and cure v. 13. Docebo praevaricatores vias tuas Then shall I teach transgressors thy waies and sinners shall be converted to thee Spiritual Physicians must not only be knowing but men of practice and experience that can tell what it is to have a broken heart and contrite spirit 3. From the glory of God's pardoning mercy which would be made more illustrious 1. By his publishing of it and therein his righteousness in keeping promise and forgiving those sins for which our Surety hath satisfied v. 14 15. Deliver me from bloud-guiltiness O God or from blouds Uriah's and others with him and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness Praebe mihi materiam Cantici gratiarum actionis ignoscendo peccato so Muis upon the place Open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise 2. By his thankful offering to God not the Sacrifices of the Law those he desires not delights not in but these of the Gospel A broken and contrite Heart For the Sacrifices of God are c. In the Text we have two Propositions Affirmative Negative Affirmative The Sacrifices of God are a broken Heart Negative A broken and contrite Heart O God thou wilt not despise These Propositions are one for substance yet doubled as Pharaoh's dream to make the truth more certain Wherein you have 1. The Subject A broken and contrite Spirit 2. The Predicate The Sacrifices of God c. 3. The Copula Are not in the Original therefore put in a different character to perfect the sense For the better opening these Sacrifices I shall doe with them as the Priests under the Law Medium animal per cervicem spinam dividere Cut them through the middle from the neck downwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this bears saith my Author * Dr W. a huge proportion to the Text for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an iron sinew in the neck and a stone in the heart signifie in Scripture one and the same sin and must be alike sacrificed First then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These two Participles make two full Epithetes One signifies to break whole things all of a piece The other to beat hard things all to pieces and powder This breaking and beating in other Scriptures is exprest in terms of extremity As the smiting of the heart 2 Sam. 24.10 The wound of the spirit Prov. 18.14 Thus it is applied to Christ Esay 53.10 Jehova autem voluit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conterere eum It pleased the Lord to bruise him c. Thus to Saints Esay 57.15 I dwell in the high and holy place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum contrito humili so Vatab. to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the spirit of the contrite ones So as a broken and contrite Heart is a whole Heart broken to pieces and a hard Heart so beaten to powder that there remains not a sheard as Isaiah speaks to take up igniculam tentationis or modicum noxiae voluptatis the spark of a temptation or a drop of hurtful pleasure as Parisiensis elegantly interprets it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sacrifices in the plural number for the greater Emphasis and Amplification instar omnium instead of all All sacrifices nothing to these all nothing without these all summ'd up in these For these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sacrifices of the Almighties of God The adding God's Name to any thing in Scripture gives it an eminency a glory above other things As in the Old Testament the Waters Mountains Cedars of God in the New Testament the Peace of God and here the Sacrifices of God
Heart Lastly Obedientially resigns up its self into Gods hands For it is a heart after his heart that is ready to do or suffer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all his Wills The will of his Word and the will of his works of Precept and Providence This was the character God gives of David 13. Act. 22. I have found David the Son of Jesse a man after my own Heart which shall fulfil all my wills 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Like melted Oar Secondly it will run into his mould and receive every lineament of it Rom 6.17 You have have received that form of Doctrine that was delivered to you or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into which you are deliver'd With Abraham it will come to Gods foot Thirdly 4. Es 2. come at his call Vocavit eum ad pedem suum calls him to his foâ—t ut sequeretur eum quocunque vellet eum ire ut prompti morigeri famuli solent qui Domini vestigia sequuntur tametsi incerti sint quo ipsos ducant so the Cald. Paraph. that he might follow him whither soever he would have him goe follow him as a good servant his Master though he knows not whither all his Saints come to his hand and receive the law from his mouth Deut. 33.3 But Secondly Try your selves as by the Qualities in it so by the effects and Consequents of it which are these Four It will repress censoriousness A truly broken and Contrite heart is most sensible of its own sin knows most evil by it self judgeth its own sin greatest and its own state saddest hath neither list nor leisure to censure others as knowing that Censoriousness is a complicated evil that there is in it first a Usurpation of one of those immediate Prerogatives of God Glory Vengeance Judgement Secondly Rashness thirdly Uncharitableness fourthly Scandal 14. Rom. 13. Let us not judge one another but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block in his brothers way and therefore a sin justly damnable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 merito paenas luens Rom. 3.8 St. Paul calls himself the least of Saints and greatest of sinners The least of Saints 3. Eph. 8. To me the least of all Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Comparative made of a Superlative Minimissimo so Estius The greatest of sinners 1 Tim. 1.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very chief signiferum peccatorem me confiteor I profess my self so He was not so saith St. Aug. but seem'd so to himself and the reason is good For he set his own sins in debita proximitate and so they appeared in justa magnitudine in a due distance and they appeared in the just magnitude but he look't at the sins of others remotely and so they lost their proportion St. Peter before his fall thought best of himself and worst of others Though all men should forsake thee yet will not I. He fell by this censorious comparison and was so broken and bruised with his fall that he durst never after compare with others much less prefer himself before others or censure and reproach them In the 2. Acts you have some of the Apostles Auditors scoffing in their faces and censuring them at the 7. ver for simple and illiterate Galileans at the 13. ver for drunkards but no sooner by the dint of the word are their hearts broke but they leave their censuring and fall to beseeching 37. ver Men and brethren what shall we do Words of great humility and reverence St. Jerome complained of a sort of men in his time that plac't religion in sifting censuring and speaking evil of others Omnibus maledicere bonae conscientiae officium putant This was an Epidemical disease in St. Aug. time Temerariis judiciis plena sunt omnia In brief a censorious spirit is not a contrite spirit A censorious man is another Doeg Dophi which the Hebrew Doctors thus interpret do duo pi os one that hath two tongues To him God speaks 50. Psalm 20. Thou sits and speaks against thy brother thou slanderest thy own mothers son Ponis probrum struis calumniam so Vatab. thou strowest thy seat with censures blowest them into thy neighbours ear but 21. ver Arguam te ordinabâ— in oculis tuis quicquid fecisti I will reprove thee and I will set all thy own faults in thy eyes resistam tibi in faciem so the Hebrew Text and I will resist thee to thy face hold thy eye upon them till I have fill'd thee with conviction and fear Consider this you that herein forget God lest he tear you in pieces when there is none to deliver the Metaphor is taken from Lyons that catch their prey and tear it out of whose jaw none can rescue A Broken Contrite heart meekly and patiently submits to Gods afflicting hand for sin Thus David 2 Sam. 15.25 Absolom had stoln the hearts of all Israel into a rebellion against his Father the conspiracy and insurrection was sudden and strong In this storm you find no estuations of spirit no invectives no cursing his Stars the dirt of a foul heart but he lies down at Gods feet in a gracious poyze and evenness of soul not knowing what God will do with him whether he will take him up or tread upon him weighs the events but casts anchor here If I shall find favour he will bring me back shew me both the Ark and the Tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sepâ—uagint the beauty and holiness of it But if he thus say I have no delight in thee here am I let him do to me what seems good to him If the worst come that can I am determined to submit to Gods hand to resolve all events Pro and Con and my self too into his blessed will though the issue seem not good to me it is enough it seems good to him A stone in the fire will sooner flie in your face then melt and an unbroken heart sooner fret rage and blaspheme God then submit to God But a contrite spirit will say with the Church I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him and with David here 4. ver Against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified acquitted glorified by my Confession Justified when thou speakest in the reproof of Nathan and clear when thou judgest me by sentencing my sin and punishment for it or when thou art judged by others who may think I am dealt too sharply with A Broken Contrite heart under Gods afflicting hand is like a box of Spicknard broken or like sweet flowers pounced many fragrant graces spread and give their spiced smells The fire discovers mettals whether good or bad tempests Trees whether well rooted or no and afflictions our hearts whether broken and contrite or not A broken and contrite spirit Thirdly will freely and fully recant and retract all its errors and sins Confession is the genuine effect of
that Account God and the World make of a broken and contrite Heart But I will conclude all in a use of Examination whether our hearts and spirits were ever truly broken and contrite or no He that will fish for Souls must bait his hook with the worm of Conscience which as St. Chrysostom speaks is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an unpopular Tributial Now the office of Conscience is fourfold To know the rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To take notice of the Entity and existence of our Actions whether done or not done with such and such circumstances or without To apply the Action to the Rule and compare these two together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To judge of the quality of the Action according to the Rule and of its agreeing or disagreeing to it This Act is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is the last and perfectest act of reason or of Conscience If this work of Conscience were throughly done men would know and own their misery It would take off their Edge and mettle if they did but seriously think how directly their ways point towards eternal damnation There is no man but will stoop under self conviction and self judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then 't is the Baptists word prepare the way of the Lord. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 't is St. Pauls word Examine your selves yea 't is Gods word 17. Prov. 3. The fining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold but God trieth the hearts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Septuagint renders it the allusion is to Goldsmiths who try their mettals by the Touchstone and by fire If you will not try your selves by the Touchstone of the word God will try you by fire by the fire of inward conviction and outward affliction Now Examination is not for Examination sake but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that we may find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that is a broken and contrite Heart To direct herein I shall lay down two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or characters by which we may make a certain judgement whether our hearts and spirits are truly broken or contrite or no. First the qualities in them Secondly the effects or consequents of them The qualities in a Broken Contrite spirit are these five It is Evangelical and Active There is a brokenness and contrition which is Natural and Legal Natural such was Josephs weeping over his brethren and St. Aug. weeping in reading the history of Dido before his conversion which were not Acts of grace but of nature Legal such was the incestuous Corinthians who was almost swallowed up of sorrow 2 Cor. 2.7 the sinfulness of which sorrow appears in two things It keeps from duty it unfits for duty that like Paper too wet which receives no writing But the contrite heart is Evangelical another Isaac a child of promise that grows not out of the bodies constitution and temperament but out of the promise 36. Ezek. 26. I will take away the heart of stone and I will give a heart of flesh And as it is Evangelical so it is Active There is a passive contrition dolor morbi a soreness sorrows and pangs that seize on us whether we will or no but the brokenness here is deliberate elective Active for It is a grace seated in the heart and making it willing to mourn and repent It is a duty and to be performed Rent your hearts Plough up the fallow ground c. It is a condition of the Covenant and to be fulfill'd If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray c. 2 Chr. 7.14 A Broken and Contrite heart is tender and melting yields to threatnings melts under promises Secondly 2 Chr. 34.27 Propterea quod emollitum est cor tuum humiliasti te à facie Jehovah saith God to Josiah Because thy heart was tender and thou didst humble thy self before God c. There is a tenderness which ariseth from the Natural sympathy betwixt the heart and the eye Lamen 3.51 My eye affects my heart c. but this tenderness comes from Faith which doth not only purifie but mollifie the heart by applying first the word of God that hammer arrow fire Secondly The blood of Christ Thirdly The love of God With this hammer it breaks with this arrow it pierceth with this fire it melts the heart in this blood it dissolves the Adamant on this pillow it breaks the flint A broken and contrite Heart Thirdly is of a quick sense and lively apprehension It discerns in the Soul intima minima the least thing and most secret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first workings of our Understandings and apprehensions of our passions and affections rendred in the 5. Heb. 14. The bones marrow the thoughts and intents of the heart the secrets of the belly Prov. 20. latentes sensus as Drusius speaks It discerns in sin 1. Offence 2. Dishonour 3. Unkindness 4. Ingratitude Offence and dishonour of God unkindness and ingratitude against God Hence Davids Contrition in the 3. v. Against thee thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tibi tibi soli Not only because David a King and his Crown imperial and so exempt from all Coercive and Vindicative power and force of his Subjects and only left to Gods own judgment But because this was his greatest grief that he had sin'd against God such a God as had been so good to him 2 Sam. 7.18 19. And that this God should so suffer in his sin 2 Sam. 12.14 Who only could pardon his sin A broken and contrite Heart Fourthly is Docible and flexible docible in the Understanding and flexible in the Will That men are able to understand and will Aright this is of Pure nature status institutus in which anima est integra That the Understanding is indocible and the Will inflexible this is of corrupt nature status destitutus in which anima est laesa illusa illisa Laesa in naturals illusa in morals illisa bruised beaten broken in meerly spirituals and supernaturals But that the Understanding is tractable and docible and the Wil flexible this is of Sanctified nature status restitutus and here anima is rectificata here the Grace of God is flexanima and Vorticordis 'T is S. Aug. word it bores the ear and bows the Soul See this in the Converts in the 2. Acts 37. Men and Brethren what shall we do In S. Paul Act. 9.6 Lord what wouldst thou have me to do In the Jayler Act. 16.30 Sirs what must I do to be saved These are not only Verba ignorantiae words of men at a loss how to get ease but verba docilitatis promptitudinis words of men whose spirits are broken and contrite whose Understandings are docible and whose Wills are flexible ready to hear any Instruction and to undertake any direction for Life and Salvation A broken contrite