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
Minister as his handling another mans sin Esay 50.4 The Lord hath given me Linguam Eruditorum the tongue of the Learned What to doe To dispute Controversies tie and untie knots in Divinity No but that I should know how to speak a word in season sitibundo lasso to him that is weary Lastly It is grateful to the Almighties 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to God himself though he will not own divisum dispersum Cor a heart and a heart yet he will accept and honour confractum contritum Cor a broken and contrite Spirit For 1. He preferres this alone to all typical ceremonial Sacrifices ver 16. Thou desirest not Sacrifice elsè would I give it thee thou delightest not in burnt-offerings Indeed we find not exprest any Sacrifice for Murther Adultery or any Capital crime therefore God desires them not 1. simply for themselves nor 2. comparativè in comparison of the inward Sacrifice of a contrite Spirit or of the all-sufficient Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross Nihil ergò offeremus saith S. Augustine Sic veniemus ad Deum Unde illum placabimus Shall we then offer nothing to God shall we come empty to him how then shall we appease him Habes in te quod offeras saith the same Author thou hast in thy self the Beast that thou maiest sacrifice and the Incense that thou maiest offer In me sunt Deus vota tua That O God is in me thou callest for from me 2. God preferres this before all Moral and Pharisaical perfections Hence the Publican is preferr'd before the Pharisee Luke 18.10 15. The Pharisee is on his tip-toes stands alone seorsim proud and censorious as that famous and great Divine D. Hammond speaks full of self-righteousness worldly confidence and earthly adherence Lord I thank thee I am not as other men or as this Publican The Publican in the sight and sense of his sin and the unreasonableness of it is ashamed dares not lift up his head but smites upon his breast with God be merciful to me a sinner I tell you saith Christ this man went down to his house justified rather then the other so our Translation but not the other Impropria est comparatio so Master Calvin And the weeping Prodigal before his insulting hypocritical elder brother Luke 15. For though he justles him and thrusts him away will not so much as own him for his brother but speaking to his Father saith this thy son v. 30. who hath devoured thy living with Harlots c. yet the Father tells him for all this he is his brother v. 32. This thy brother was dead and is alive again c. If I be thy Father he is thy Brother It is meet we should make merry and be glad Yea he preferres him for he receives embraces and kisses him clothes and adorns him feeds and feasts him In allusion to this Parable the now Arch-angel of this Church of England His Grace of Canterbury in whom expertus loquor Indulgentia Christi solicitudo Angeli officium Episcopi The Indulgence of Christ the solicitude of an Angel the office of Primitive Evangelical Catholick Episcopacy do verily meet I say he in the Chappel-Royal in a publick Sermon since printed told his Majesty whose mind is alwaies watered with the mild dews of meekness and moderation That it became him as a publick Father to look upon all his Subjects as Sons but upon his Prodigals with more kindness and tenderness when they once come to themselves and acknowledge their Error yea when he sees them returning though afarre off to meet them caress them call for the Ring and the Robe to set some mark of favour upon them more then ordinary that may give assurance to them and to the World that his Promises made and performed were not the effects of Necessity but the fruits of a gracious Princely minde inviolably resolved to out-doe all his Promises and Engagements And I hope saith that grave and religious Prelate the now Lord Bishop of Winchester Dr Mor. in the Epistle to his Coronation-Sermon That your Majesty herein will find a happy success in doing not onely as your Grand-father Henry the fourth of France did but as God himself doeth As Henry the fourth of France did who pardoned those Rebellious Subjects that came in to him how much soever they had before offended and to secure them from their fears and oblige them to his service he honoured some of them with Titles of quality and Places of Trust and I finde not saith that excellent Bishop that any of them ever gave him cause to repent But in doing as God himself doeth who receives the Prodigal yea and makes as much of him as if he had never offended though the elder Brother repine at it methinks this should bespeak those who would be called the sons of these spiritual Fathers to walk in their steps to goe and doe likewise Lastly God owns and honours the broken contrite Spirit for this is the especial grace he promises to his Church by which all other blessings are qualified and sanctified and without which they are nothing worth Ezek. 36.21 God opens the treasures of his mercy at the 24. verse he promiseth to take his People from amongst the Heathen gather them out of all Countries bring them to their own Land c. And yet as if all this were nothing unless a broken and contrite Spirit were vouchsafed them God promiseth at the 26. verse I will take away the heart of stone and I will give a heart of flesh first as an Antidote against sin secondly as a spiritual Potion to kill the worms of temptation which might lead them into Evil and thirdly as a preservative from Lamentation Mourning and future Woe And to speak to our own condition Though God hath brought us out of the dangers of tumultuous clamours and schismatical terrors given us our Religion and Laws our Properties and Immunities and which is the summe of all our King and Church yea though we have had many fair mornings after a black day though our Candle gives a clear light and we sleep in the arms of Peace yet if God break us not for our Sins and from them if he give not a broken contrite Spirit a worm may yet breed out of our Corruption and consume our Gourd But why will not God despise but so accept and honour a broken contrite Spirit that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Because it is a spiritual Sacrifice First the Sacrifice is the Spirit secondly the Spirit as broken 1. The Sacrifice is the Spirit that is the best of man Prov. 23.26 My son give me thy heart 2. The Spirit as broken and that is the best of the Spirit When we beat hard things into powder we call that powder the flour of it Brokenness and Contrition is * Dr W. flos Cordis the finest of the heart The finer the flour the fitter offering for God A contrite Spirit is fit for
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