The sacrifice a short sermon upon Psal. 51, 17, at St. Maries in Oxford, Sept. 3, 1637 / by Clement Barksdale ...

II. Broken and contrite.

I will not be curious in the termes, onely tell you this from a learned hand, that they seem to be borrowed from the man∣ner of Sacrificing among the Jews. Their Sacrifices were first cut in pieces, not mangled but joynted, as is observed out of the Jewish Rituals; that was their breaking: then were they burnt to ashes, that was their contrition. A breaking and contrition which doth not un∣fitly represent the breaking and contrition required in true re∣pentance.

Wherein we must after a sort take asunder every part and faculty of the Soul, and examin the particular de∣fects; not the greater defects onely, but piercing into the closest corruptions, in recessus animi; searching the most reti∣red Corners of this Laby∣rinth.

A necessary piece of work, this breaking and contrition; but hard and ungratefull to most Men: to such, as frame to themselves a new pleasing Divinity agreeable to their own lusts & ends: such as think to gain Heaven and Earth to∣gether: who, not remembring that Christ himself wore a Crown of thorns before that of glory, and bore the Cross

before the Scepter, hope to walk to Heaven on Roses, to live in all the delights & plea∣sures of this world, and be ne'r the further off from that eter∣nal happiness of the world to come. Scrupulous they are, in the judgement of these, & un∣politick, that require in a Chri∣stian life, such mourning in private, such breaking of the Heart, such contrition of the Spirit. Yet they will in the end appear the wiser sort, that are content to forgoe the plea∣sures of this life, for the joys of that hereafter. And indeed we must all be content, unless we can find a smoother way to Heaven, then God hath shew∣ed us, then Christ and all the Saints have led us, we must be

content I say; notwithstanding the tenderness of the Flesh, that prompts every Man, with pro∣pitius esto tibi, to take seriously in hand this work so necessary. Let the Flesh reclaim and de∣terre us from setting upon it: or when we are about it, let it move us to do it slightly, yet for all this we must do it, and we must do it throughly.

Now for the through per∣formance of this work let us take a view of the means. It is true, there is a Tribunal within us, and a witness also within us, and an executioner also to tor∣ment us sur do verbere; but neither is this torment so effe∣ctual, nor the witness so faith∣ful, nor the judge so incorrupt, that the business can be com∣pleated

without any further help. Our natural knowledge of the principles of good and evil is but weak: in the application of which principles to our par∣ticular actions we are not skil∣full. The Copy of the Law was written in our Hearts exactly at the first, when we had Hearts of Flesh, and capeable of a fair Impression; but since our hearts became stony, the Characters are much defaced, and we have need to repair to the authentick Copy, thereby to correct our errors and supply our defects. I mean the Law written in the Holy Bible, of which the Psal∣mist hath a fit Elogium: The Law of the Lord is perfect, con∣verting the Soul. Psal. 19. God that can out of stones raise up

Children unto Abraham, and draw water out of the hard Rock, can as well by the power of his word melt these Rocky Hearts of ours into tears of penitence, and of these stones make us new Hearts. Vox Domini confringens Cedros, Ps. 29. The voice of the Lord is mighty in operation; and although as it proceeds from the mouth of his weak Mini∣ster it be but wind, yet this wind accompanyed with the vertue of his Holy Spirit, is strong enough, not onely to shake the top branches, but e∣ven to rend up the bottom root of the tallest Cedar. The Sword of the Spirit hath a sharp point and a keen edge; when it is ma∣naged by a Paul or Apollos, Men

mighty in the Scriptures, and such as have boldness equall to their skill, it will pierce and cut deep, even to the dividing asunder of the Heart and Spirit.

Besides a powerfull appli∣cation of the Law unto a sin∣ners conscience, it pleaseth God many times to further this gracious work by joyning with it some affliction. Afflicti∣on sanctified hath a speciall in∣fluence to that effect. Worldly Crosses drive the Soul inward, and put us into a serious me∣ditation of their Original: Om∣nis paena propter culpam: All the evill of pain is for the evill of sin; the consideration where∣of brings a fresh report of Gods anger to the guilty conscience,

and makes the wound wider. And withall, it may be noted, Men are usually punished in the same kind wherein they have offended. The punishment so answers the offence, that the one serves to renew the memory of the other; and thus is the Book of conscience like unto some secret Letters, most plain∣ly read by the fire of tribula∣tion. These briefly I take to be the means, whereby a hard heart is broken, Conscience a∣waked and informed by the Law soundly applyed, the Law backed by Affliction.

The Sinner being arrested by the terrours of a naturall Conscience, the threats of the Law, and some present tokens of Gods anger; although like

a malefactor he be ready to try all shifts before he will fly to the mercy of the Judge, can∣not hold against so strong im∣pressions: to stand out, he sees, were but to make God redou∣ble his stroaks; now at length he understands, by his own feeling, the malignant quality of sin: he melteth into sorrow one while, other while he is cut to the Heart with a holy indig∣nation: Oh, saith he, in the de∣testation of his sins, that I should ever so ingratefully for∣get God, and so desperately neglect my own safety: that being a Man, I should lead a life so brutish: that without care so much as of common honesty, I should commit acts so shame∣full! What madness was it to

pretend to happiness, and ven∣ture upon such pernicious en∣terprizes: so greedily to swal∣low poyson, and to hug my own damnation! Oh, how am I am bashed and confounded, that for a trifle, a matter of nothing, a few ounces of gain, a little breath of applause, some mi∣nutes of delight, I should so, and so often, by such and such sins, offend so presumptuously against so glorious a God, so un∣dutifully against so kind a Fa∣ther, so ungratefully against so gracious a Redeemer!

The case of our penitent, whilst he hath one eye fixt on Gods Majesty, the other on his own guilt, is pittifull beyond expression. Da Christianum, & scit quod dico. The enter∣course between God and the

Soul is truly known onely to the experienced Christian. He alone conceives what it is to receive the word with fear and trembling: with what affectio∣nate longing, and thirsty desires the Soul panteth and gaspeth after mercy, choosing rather to hear of mercy then a King∣dom. He that hath felt the smart of sin, knows what dete∣station is due unto it, and that there is no sorrow like unto that sorrow. Ruben principium doloris mei: as some read it. Gen. 49. 3. Iacob calls Ruben the beginning of his sorrow, non quod in nullo, &c. because all his former griefs were swal∣lowed up in that which the Sin of Ruben brought him. If ano∣thers sin were so grievous, how

much more ones own. So hea∣vy is the burden of this sorrow, that it presseth down the Soul well nigh to desperation; it may be truly said, that a penitents way to Heaven lyes near the Gates of Hell: and Satan, that at first playes the Serpent, by fly temptation, turns Lyon in our distress, and endeavours by open force to draw us in. But our comfort is, that when we are cast down, God hath not cast us off: when wee walk through this shady vale, he shal lead us forth to the Streams of comfort; when our Heart and Spirit is broken and contrite, then are we his Sacrifices, then he doth not despise us. So from the qualification of this Sacri∣fice in the words broken and

contrite, we are fallen upon Gods acceptance and esteem of it, in the first and last words, these are the Sacrifices of God, these he will not despise.