Flavel, Fountain of Life, File 25.
( ...continued from File 24)
Sermon 25. Christ's memorable Address to the Daughters of Jerusalem,
in his Way to the Place of his Execution.
Luke 23:27,28,&c.
And there followed him a great company of people, and of women,
which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning unto them
said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for
yourselves, and for your children.
The sentence of death once given against Christ, the execution
quickly follows. Away they lead him from Gabbatha to Golgotha,
longing as much to be nailing him to the cross, and feeding their
eyes with his torments, as the eagle does to be tearing the flesh,
and drinking the blood of that lamb she has seized in her talons,
and is carrying away to the top of some rock to devour.
The Evangelist here observes a memorable passage that fell out
in their way to the place of execution; and that is, the laments
lions and wailing of some that followed him out of the city, who
expressed their pity and sorrow for him most tenderly and
compassionately: all hearts were not hard, all eyes were not dry.
"There followed him a great company of people, and of women, which
also bewailed and lamented him," &c.
In this paragraph we have two parts, viz. the lamentation of
the daughters of Jerusalem for Christ, and Christ's reply to them.
1. The lamentation of the daughters of Jerusalem for Christ.
Concerning them, we briefly enquire who they were, and why they
mourned.
(1.) Who they were? The text calls them "daughters", i.e.
inhabitants of Jerusalem"; for it is a Hebraism; as "daughters of
Zion, daughters of Israel". And it is like the greatest part of them
were women; and there were many of them, a troop of mourners, that
followed Christ out of the city towards the place of his execution,
with lamentations and wailings.
(2.) What the principle, or ground of these their lamentations
was, is not agreed by those that have pondered the story. Some are
of opinion their tears and lamentations were but the effects and
fruits of their more tender and ingenuous natures, which were moved
and melted with so tragical and sad a spectacle as was now before
them. It is well observed by a judicious author, "That the tragical
story of some great and noble personage, full of he royal virtue and
ingenuity (yet inhumanely and ungratefully used) will thus work upon
ingenuous spirits who read or hear of it, - which when it reaches no
higher, is so far from being faith, that it is but a carnal and
fleshly devotion, springing from fancy, which is pleased with such a
story and the principles of ingenuity stirred towards one, who is of
a noble spirit, and yet abused. Such stories use to stir up a
principle of humanity in men unto a compassionate love; which Christ
himself at his suffering found fault with, as being not spiritual,
nor raised enough in those women that went weeping to see the
Messiah so handled. Weep not for me, (saith he) i.e. weep not so
much for this, to see me so unworthily handled by those for whom I
die." This is the principle from which some conceive those tears to
flow.
But Calvin attributes it to their faith, "looking upon these
mourners as a remnant reserved by the Lord in that miserable
dispersion; and though their faith was but weak, yet he judges it
credible that there was a secret seed of godliness in them, which
afterwards grew to a maturity, and brought forth fruit". And to the
same sense others give their opinion also.
2. Let us consider Christ's reply to them; "weep not for me, ye
daughters of Jerusalem," &c. Strange, that Christ should forbid them
to weep for him, yea for him under such unparalleled sufferings and
miseries. If ever there was a heart melting object in the world, it
was here. O who could hold, whose heart was not petrified, and more
obdurate than the senseless rocks? This reply of Christ undergoes a
double sense and interpretation, suitable to the different
construction of their sorrows. Those that look upon their sorrows as
merely natural, take Christ's reply in a negative sense, prohibiting
such tears as those. They that expound their sorrows as the fruit of
faith, tell us, though the form of Christ's expression be negative,
yet the sense is comparative, as Mat. 9: 13. "I will have mercy, and
not sacrifice," i.e. mercy rather than sacrifice. So here, weep
rather upon your own account, than mine; reserve your sorrows for
the calamities coming upon yourselves and your children. You are
greatly affected, I see, with the misery that is upon me; but mine
will be quickly over, yours will be long. In which he shows his
merciful and compassionate disposition, who was still more mindful
of the troubles and burdens of others than of his own.
And indeed, the days of calamity coming upon them and their
children were doleful days. What direful and unprecedented miseries
befell them at the breaking up and devastation of the city, who has
not read or heard? And who can refrain from tears that hears or
reads it?
Now if we take the words in the first sense, as a prohibition
of their merely natural and carnal affections, expressed in tears
and lamentations for him, no otherwise than they would have been
upon any other like tragical story; then the observation from it
will be this,
Doct. 1. That melting affections and sorrows, even from the
sense and consideration of the sufferings of Christ, are no
infallible signs of grace.
If you take it in the latter sense, as the fruit of their
faith, as tears flowing from a gracious principle; then the
observation will be this,
Doct. 2. That the believing meditation of what Christ suffered
for us, is of great force and efficacy to melt and break the
heart.
I shall rather choose to prosecute both these branches, than to
decide the controversy; especially since the notes gathered from
either may be useful to us. And therefore I shall begin with the
first, viz.
Doct. 1. That melting affections and sorrows, even from the
sense of Christ's sufferings, are no infallible marks of grace.
In this point I have two things to do, to prepare it for use.
First, To show, what the melting of the affections by way of
grief and sorrow is.
Secondly, That they may be so melted, even upon the account of
Christ, and yet the heart remain unrenewed.
First, What the melting of the affections, by way of grief and
sorrow, is.
Tears are nothing else but the juice of a mind oppressed, and
squeezed with grief. Grief compresses the heart; the heart so
compressed and squeezed, vents itself sometimes into tears, sighs,
groans, &c. and this is two-fold: gracious, and wholly supernatural;
or common, and altogether natural. The gracious melting or sorrow of
the soul, is likewise two-fold; habitual or actual. Habitual bodily
sorrow is that gracious disposition, inclination, or tendency of the
renewed heart to mourn and melt, when any just occasion is presented
to the soul that calls for such sorrow. It is expressed, Ezek. 36:
26. "By taking away the heart of stone, and giving a heart of
flesh;" i.e. a heart impressive, and yielding to such arguments and
considerations as move it to mourning.
Actual sorrow is the expression and manifestation of that its
inclination upon just occasions; and it is expressed two ways,
either by the internal effects of it, which are the heaviness,
shame, loathing, resolution, and holy revenge begotten in the soul
upon the account of sin: or also by more external and visible
effects, as sighs, groans, tears, &c. The former is essential to
godly sorrow, the latter contingent and accidental, much depending
upon the natural temperature and constitution of the body.
Natural and common meltings are nothing else but the effects of
a better temper, and the fruit of a more ingenuous spirit, and
easier constitution, which shows itself on any other, as well as
upon spiritual occasions: as Austin said, he could weep plentifully
when he read the story of Dido. The history of Christ is a very
tragical and pathetical history, and may melt an ingenuous nature,
where are is no renewed principles at all. So that,
Secondly, Our affections may be melted, even upon the score and
account of Christ; and yet that is no infallible evidence of a
gracious heart. And the reasons for it are,
1. Because we find all sorts of affections discovered by such
as have been no better than temporary believers. The stony ground
hearers in Mat. 13: 20. "received the word with joy," and so did
John s hearers also, who for "a season rejoiced in his light," John
3: 35. Now, if the affections of joy under the word may be
exercised, why not of sorrow also? If the comfortable things
revealed in the gospel may stir up the one, by a parity of reason,
the sad things it reveals may answerably work upon the other. Even
those Israelites whom Moses told they should fall by the sword, and
not prosper, for the Lord would not be with them, because they were
turned away from him; yet when Moses rehearsed the message of the
Lord in their ears, they mourned greatly, Numb. 14: 39. I know the
Lord pardoned many of them their iniquities, though he took
vengeance on their inventions; and yet it is as true, that with many
of them God was not well pleased, 1 Cor. 10: 5. Many instances of
their weeping and mourning before the Lord we find in this sacred
history; and yet their hearts were not steadfast with God.
2. Because though the object about which our affections and
passions are moved, may be spiritual; yet the motives and principles
that set them on work, may be but carnal and natural ones. When I
see a person affected in the hearing of the word, or prayer, even
unto tears, I cannot presently conclude, surely this is the effect
of grace; for it is possible, the pathetical quality of subject
matter, the rhetoric of the speaker, the very affecting tone, and
modulation of the voice, may draw tears as well as faith working
upon the spirituality, and deep concernment the soul hath in those
things.
Whilst Austin was a Manichee, he sometimes heard Ambrose; and,
saith he, "I was greatly affected in hearing him, even, unto tears
many times:" howbeit, it was not the heavenly nature of the subject,
but the abilities and rare parts of the speaker that so affected
him. And this was the case of Ezekiel's hearers, chap. 33: 32.
Again, 3. These motions of the affections may rather be a fit
and mood, than the very frame and temper of the soul. Now there is a
vast difference betwixt these; there are times and seasons, when the
roughest and most obdurate hearts may be pensive and tender: but
that is not its temper and frame, but only a fit, a pang, a
transient passion. So the Lord complains of them, Hos. 6: 4. "O
Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto
thee? for your goodness is as a morning cloud and as the early dew,
it goeth away. And so he complains, Psal. 78: 34, 35, 36. When he
slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired
early after God. And the remembered that God was their rock, and the
most high God their redeemer; nevertheless they did flatter him with
their lips, and lied unto him with their tongues." For had this
remembrance of God been the gracious temper of their souls, it would
have continued with them; they would not have been thus wavering
thus hot and cold with God, as they were. Therefore we conclude,
that we cannot infer a work of grace upon the heart, simply and mere
from the meltings and thaws that are sometimes upon it. And hence,
for your use, I shall infer, that,
Inference 1. If such as sometimes feel their hearts thawed and
melted with the consideration of the sufferings of Christ, may yet
be deceived; What cause have they to fear and tremble, whose hearts
are as unrelenting as rocks, yielding to nothing that is proposed,
or urged upon them? How many such are there, of whom we may say, as
Christ speaks of the inflexible Jews, "We have piped unto you, but
ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, but you have not
lamented" Mat. 11: l7. They must inevitably come short of heaven,
who come so short of those that do come short of heaven. If those
perish that have rejoiced under the promises, and mourned under the
threats of the word; what shall become of them that are as
unconcerned, and unteached by what they hear, as the seats they sit
on, or the dead that lie under their feet? Who are given up to such
hardness of heart, that nothing can touch or affect them? One would
think, the consideration of the sixth chapter to the Hebrew should
startle such men and women, and make them cry out, Lord, what will
become of such a senseless, stupid, dead creature as I am? If they
that shave been enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift,
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good
word of God, and the powers of the world to come, may,
notwithstanding such high raised affections as these, so fall away,
that it shall be impossible to renew them again by repentance, what
shall we then say, or think of his estate, to whom the most
penetrating and awakening truths are no more than a tale that is
told? The fire and hammer of the gospel can neither melt nor break
them; they are iron and brass, Jer. 6: 28, 29.
Inference 2. If such as these may eternally miscarry; then let
us look carefully to their foundation, and see that they do not
bless themselves in a thing of nought. It is manifest from 1 Cor.
10: 12. that many souls stand exceeding dangerously, who are yet
strongly conceited of their own safety. And if you please to consult
those scriptures in the margin, you shall find vain confidence to be
ruling folly over the greatest part of men; and that which is the
utter overthrow, and undoing of multitudes of professors.
Now there is nothing more apt to beget and breed this vain soul-
undoing confidence, than the stirrings and meltings of our
affections about spiritual things, whilst the heart remains
unrenewed all the while. For (as a grave divine has well observed)
such a man seems to have all that is required of a Christian, and
herein to have attained the very end of all knowledge; which is
operation and influence upon the heart and affections.
Indeed (thinks such a poor deluded soul) if I did hear, read,
or pray, without any inward affections, with a dead, cold, and
unconcerned heart, or if I did make a show of zeal and affection in
duties, and had it not, well might I suspect myself to be a
self-cozening hypocrite; but it is not so with me, I feel my heart
really melted many times, when I read the sufferings of Christ; I
feel my heart raised and ravished with strange joys and comforts,
when I hear the glory of heaven opened in the gospel: Indeed if it
were not so with me, I might doubt the root of the matter is
wanting; but if to my knowledge, affections be added; a melting
heart joined with a knowing head, then I may be confident all is
well. I have often heard ministers cautioning and warning their
people not to rest satisfied with idle and unpractical notions in
their understandings, but to labour for impressions upon their
hearts; this I have attained, and therefore what danger of me? I
have often heard it given as a mark of a hypocrite, that he has
light in his head, but it sheds not down its influence upon the
heart: whereas in those that are sincere, it works on their heart
and affections: So I find it with me, therefore I am in a most safe
estate. O soul! of all the false signs of grace, none more dangerous
than those that most resemble true ones; and never does the devil
more surely and incurably destroy, than when transformed into an
angel of light. What if these meltings of thy heart be but a flower
of nature? What if thou art more beholden to a good temper of body,
than a gracious change of spirit for these things? Well, so it may
be. Therefore be not secure, but fear, and watch. Possibly, if thou
wouldest but search thine own heart in this matter, thou mayest
find, that any other pathetical, moving story, will have the like
effects upon thee. Possibly too, thou mayest find, that,
notwithstanding all thy raptures and joys at the hearing of heaven,
and its glory, yet after that pang is over, thy heart is habitually
earthly, and thy conversation is not there. For all thou canst mourn
at the relations of Christ's sufferings, thou art not so affected
with sin, that was the meritorious cause of the sufferings of
Christ, as to crucify one corruption, or deny the next temptation,
or part with any way of sin that is gainful, or pleasurable to thee
for his sake.
Why now, reader, if it be so with thee, what art thou the
better for the influence of thy affections? Dost thou think in
earnest, that Christ has the better thoughts of thee, because thou
canst shed tears for him, when notwithstanding thou every day
fiercest and woundest him? O! be not deceived. Nay, for ought know,
thou mayest find, upon a narrow search, that thou puttest thy tears
in the room of Christ's blood, and divest the confidence and
dependence of thy soul to them; and if so, they shall never do thee
any good.
O therefore search thy heart, reader be not too confident: take
not up too easily upon such poor weak grounds as these, a
soul-undoing confidence. Always remember the wheat and tares
resemble each other in their first springing up; that an egg is not
liker to an egg, than hypocrisy, in some shapes and forms into which
it can cast itself, is like a genuine work of grace. O remember that
among the ten virgins, that is, the reformed professors of religion
that have cast off and separated themselves from the worship and
defilements of Antichrist, five of them were foolish.
There be first, that shall be last; and last, that shall be
first, Mat. 19: 30. Great is the deceitfulness of our hearts, Jer.
17: 9. And many are the subtleties and devices of Satan, 2 Cor. 11:
3. Many also are the astonishing examples of self-deceiving souls
recorded in the word. Remember what you lately read of Judas. Great
also will be the exactness of the last judgement. And how confident
soever you be, that you shall speed well in that day, yet still
remember that trial is not yet past. Your final sentence is not yet
come from the mouth of your Judge. This I speak not to affright and
trouble, but excite and warn you. The loss of a soul is no small
loss, and, upon such grounds as these, they are every day cast away.
This may suffice to be spoken to the first observation, built
on this supposition, that it was but a pang of mere natural
affection in them. But if it were the effect of a better principle,
the fruit of their faith, as some judge; then I told your the
observation from it would be this,
Doct. 2. That the believing meditation of what Christ suffered
for us, is of great force and efficacy to melt and break the
heart.
It is promised, Zech. 12: 10. that "they shall look upon him
whom they have pierced, and 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." Ponder seriously here, the spring
and motive, They shall look upon me; it is the eye of faith that
melts and breaks the heart. The effect of such a sight of Christ;
they shall look and mourn; be in bitterness and sorrow. True
repentance is a drop out of the eye of faith; and the measure or
degree of that sorrow caused by a believing view of Christ. To
express which, two of the fullest instances of grief we read of, are
borrowed; that of a tender father, mourning over a dear and only
son; that of the people of Israel, mourning over Josiah, that
peerless prince, in the valley of Megiddo.
Now to show you how the believing meditation of Christ, and his
sufferings, come kindly and savingly to break and melt down the
gracious heart, I shall propound these four considerations of the
heart-breaking efficacy of faith, eyeing a crucified Jesus.
First, The very realising of Christ and his sufferings by
faith, is a most affecting and melting thing. Faith is a true glass
that represents all those his sufferings and agonies to the life. It
presents them not as a fiction, or idle tale, but as a true and
faithful narrative. This (saith faith) is a true and faithful
saying, that Christ was not only clothed in our flesh; even he that
is over all, God blessed for ever, the only Lord, the Prince of the
kings of the earth, became a man; but it is also most certain, that
in this body of his flesh, he grappled with the infinite wrath of
God, which filled his soul with horror and amazement; that the Lord
of life did hang dead upon the tree; that he went as a lamb to the
slaughter, and was as a sheep dumb before the shearer; that he
endured all this, and more than any finite understanding can
comprehend, in my room and stead; for my sake he there groaned and
bled; for my pride, earthliness, lust, unbelief, hardness of heart,
he endured all this. I say, to realise the sufferings of Christ
thus, is of great power to affect the coldest, dullest heart. You
cannot imagine the difference there is in presenting things as
realities, with convincing and satisfying evidences, and our looking
on them as a fiction or uncertainty.
Secondly, But faith can apply as well as realise; and if it do
so, it must needs overcome the heart.
Ah! Christian, canst thou look upon Jesus as standing in thy
room, to bear the wrath of a Deity for thee? Canst thou think on it,
and not melt? That when thou, like Isaac, wast bound to the altar,
to be offered up to justice, Christ, like the ram, was caught in the
thicket, and offered in thy room. When thy sins had raised a fearful
tempest, that threatened every moment to entomb thee in a sea of
wrath, Jesus Christ was thrown over to appease that storm! Say,
reader, can thy heart dwell one hour upon such a subject as this?
Canst thou with faith, present Christ to thyself, as he was taken
down from the cross, drenched in his own blood, and say, These were
the wounds that he received for me; this is he that loved me, and
gave himself for me: out of these wounds comes that balm that heals
my soul; out of these stripes my peace: When he hanged upon the
cross, he bore my name upon his breast, like the high priest. It was
love, pure love, strong love to my poor soul; to the soul of an
enemy that drew him down from heaven, and all the glory he had
there, to endure these sorrows in soul and body for me.
O you cannot hold up your hearts long to the piercing thoughts
of this, but your bowels will be pained, and, like Joseph, you will
seek a place to vent your hearts in.
Thirdly, Faith cannot only realise and apply Christ, and his
death, but it can reason and conclude such things from his death, as
will fill the soul with affection to him, and break the heart in
pieces, in his presence. When it views Christ as dead, it infers, Is
Christ dead for me? then was I dead in law, sentenced and condemned
to die eternally; 2 Cor. 5: 14. "If one died for all, then were all
dead." How woeful was my case when the law had passed sentence on
me? I could not be sure when I lay down, but that it might be
executed before I rose; nothing but a puff of breath betwixt my soul
and hell.
Again, Is Christ dead for me? then I shall never die. If he be
condemned, I am acquitted. "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of
God's elect? It is God that justifieth, it is Christ that died,"
Rom. 8: 34. My soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the
fowler; I was condemned, but am now cleared; I was dead, but am sow
alive; O the unsearchable riches of Christ! O love past finding out!
Again, Did God give up Christ to such miseries and sufferings
for me? How shall he with-hold any thing from me? He that "spared
not his own Son, will doubtless with him freely give me all things",
Rom. 8: 32. Now I may rest upon him for pardon, peace, acceptance,
and glory for my soul. Now I may rely upon him safely for provision,
protection, and all supplies for my body. Christ is the root of
these mercies; he is more than all these, he is nearer and dearer to
God than any other gift. O what a blessed, happy, comfortable state
has he now brought my soul into!
To conclude, Did Christ endure all these things for me? then it
is past doubt, he will never leave nor forsake me: It cannot be that
after he has endured all this, he will cast off the souls for whom
he endured it. Here the soul is evangelically broken, considering
the mercies that emerge and flow to it out of the sea of Christ's
blood.
Fourthly, and lastly, Faith can not only realise, apply, and
infer, but it can also compare the love of Christ in all this, both
with his dealings with others, and with the soul's dealing with
Christ, who loved it. To compare Christ's dealings with others, is
most affecting: he has not dealt with every one, as with me; nay,
few there are that can speak of such mercies as I have from him. How
many are there that have no part nor portion in his blood? Who must
bear that wrath in their own persons, that he bare himself for me!
He espied me out, and singled me forth to be the object of his love,
leaving thousands and millions still unreconciled; not that I was
better than they, for I was the greatest of sinners, far from
righteousness, as unlikely as any to be the object of such grace and
love: my companions in sin are left, and I am taken. Now the soul is
full, the heart grows big, too big to contain itself.
Yea, faith helps the soul to compare the love of Christ to it,
with the returns it has made to him for that love. And what, my
soul! has thy carriage to Christ been, since this grace that wants a
name, appeared to thee? Hast thou returned love for love? Love
suitable to such love? Hast thou prized, valued, and esteemed this
Christ, according to his own worth in himself, or his kindness to
thee? Ah no, I have grieved, pierced, wounded his heart a thousand
times since that, by my ingratitude; I have suffered every trifle to
jostle him out of my heart? I have neglected him a thousand times,
and made him say, Is this thy kindness to thy friend? Is this the
reward I shall have for all that I have done, and suffered for thee?
Wretch that I am, how have I requited the Lord! This shames, humbles
and breaks the heart.
And when from such sights of faith, and considerations as
these, the heart is thus affected, it affords a good argument,
indeed, that thou art gone beyond all the attainments of temporary
believers? flesh and blood has not revealed this.
Inference 1. Have the believing meditations of Christ, and his
sufferings, such heart melting influences? Then sure there is but
little faith among men. Our dry eyes and hard hearts are evidences
against us, that we are strangers to the sights of faith.
God be merciful to the hardness of your hearts. How is Christ
and his love slighted among men! How shallow does his blood run to
some eyes? O that my head were waters, and mine eyes fountains of
tears for this! What monsters are carnal hearts? We are as if God
had made us without affections, as if all ingenuity and tenderness
were dried up. Our ears are so accustomed to the sounds of Christ,
and his blood, that now they are become as common things. If a child
die, we can mourn over our dead: but who mourns for Christ as for an
only son? We may say of faith, when men and women sit so unaffected
under the gospel, as Martha said of Christ concerning her brother
Lazarus, If thou (precious faith) hadst been here, so many hearts
had not been dead this day, and in this duty. Faith is that
burning-glass which contracts the beams of the grace, and love, and
wisdom, and power of Jesus Christ together, reflects these on the
heart, and makes it burn; but without it, we feel nothing savingly.
Inf. 2. Have the believing meditations of Christ, and his
sufferings, such heart melting influences? Then surely the proper
order of raising the affections, is to begin at the exercise of
faith. It grieves me to see how many poor Christians strive with
their own dead hearts, endeavouring to raise and affect them, but
cannot: they complain and strive, strive and complain, but can
discover no love to the Lord, no brokenness of heart; they go to
this ordinance and that, to one duty and another, hoping that now
the Lord will affect it, and fill the sails; but come back
disappointed and ashamed, like the troops of Tema. Poor Christian,
hear me one word; possibly it may do thy business, and stand thee in
more stead, than all the methods thou hast yet used. If thou wouldst
indeed get a heart evangelically melted for sin, and broken with the
kindly sense of the grace and love of Christ, thy way is not to
force thy affections, nor to vex thyself, and go about complaining
of a hard heart, but set thyself to believe, realise, apply, infer,
and compare by faith as you have been directed; and see what this
will do: "They shall look on me whom they have pierced, and mourn."
This is the way and proper method to raise the heart, and break it.
Inf. 3. Is this the way to get a truly broken heart? Then let
those that have attained brokenness of heart this way, bless the
Lord whilst they live, for so choice a mercy; and that upon a double
account.
1. For as much as a heart so affected and melted, is not
attainable by any natural or unrenewed person; if they would give
all they have in the world, it cannot purchase one such tear, or
groan over Christ; mark, what characters of special grace it bears,
in the description that is made of it, in that aforementioned place,
Zech. 12: 10. Such a frame as this is not born with us, or to be
acquired by us; for it is there said to be poured out by the Lord
upon us, "I will pour upon them," &c. There is no hypocrisy or
dissimulation in these mournings, they being compared to the
mourning of a man for his only son: an sure parents hearts are not
untouched when they behold such sights.
Nature is not the principle of it, but faith; for it is there
said, they shall look on me; i.e. believe and mourn. Self is not the
end and centre of these sorrows; it is not so much for damning
ourselves, as for piercing Christ: "They shall look on me whom they
have pierced, and shall mourn;" so that this is sorrow after God,
and not a flesh of nature, as discoursed in the former point.
Therefore you have cause to bless the Lord, whilst you live for such
a special mercy as this is. And
2. As it is the right, so it is the choicest, and most precious
gift that can be given you; for it is ranked among the prime mercies
of the new covenant, Ezek. 36: 26. This shall be the covenant; "A
new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I
will give you an heart of flesh." What wouldest thou have given
sometimes for such a heart as now thou hast, though it be not yet as
thou wouldest have it? And however you value and esteem it, God
himself sets no common value on it: for mark what he saith of it,
Psal. 51: 17. "The sacrifices of God are a broken heart: a broken
and a contrite spirit, O God, thou wilt not despise;" i. e. God is
more delighted with such a heart, than with all the sacrifices in
the world; one groan, one tear, flowing from faith, and the spirit
of adoption, are more to him, than the cattle upon a thousand hills.
And to the same sense he speaks again, Isa. 66: 1, 2. "Thus saith
the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool,
Where is the house that ye build to me? And where is the place of my
rest? - But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and
of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word;" q. d. All the
magnificent temples and glorious structures in the world, give me no
pleasure in comparison of such a broken heart as this.
O then, for ever bless the Lord, that has done that for you,
which none else could do, and which he has done but for few besides
you.
(continued in file 26...)
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file: /pub/resources/text/ipb-e/epl-09: flafn-25.txt
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