The Soules Implantation

p. 1THE BROKEN HEART.

For thus saith the high and loftie One that inhabiteth eternity, whose Name is holy; I dwell in the high and holy place; that is, in heaven, which is his throne: and I will dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the heart of the humble, and the heart of the contrite ones.

THere are two maine parts of the preparative worke for Christ:

First, the manner of the worke on Gods part: and this discovers it selfe in these two particulars.

1. In proposing Christ in the Ministerie p. 2of the Gospell, as the most beautifull object which the soule can view or affect; Psal. 2.12. Cant. 5.9. with 6.1.

2. That God doth by an holy kind of violence plucke the sinner from sinne to himselfe; as in that place, Iohn 6.44. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me, draw him.

The second is on our part; a frame and temper of the heart that God workes upon us by this holy kind of violent drawing. This discovers it selfe in these two particulars:

1 Contrition.

2 Humiliation.

For the handling of these two, wee have chosen this place of Scripture. And I intend not to trade with every particular in the Verse, but so much in it as fitteth my intendment in hand.

[Expos.] That which I aime at, is in the middle of the Verse: I dwell with him that is of a broken heart. Give me leave to open the words. The great God of heaven, that inhabiteth eternity in glory, for the comfort of every poore broken-hearted sinner, [Gods two houses.] saith, hee will dwell with him. The Lord hath but two standing houses; the one is in heaven in glorie, the other is every broken heart, and every shivered soule.

[How he dwels in the heart.] Now how doth God dwell in the heart p. 3of a poore sinner? The Apostle, Ephes. 3.17. tells us, Christ dwells in our hearts by faith: and it implies the constant abode of Christ by his Spirit in the soule, being received, and entertained by faith. So that first there must bee a broken heart, before there can bee faith, or before Christ will dwell in our hearts to our comfort. Consider what a kind of heart it must be wherein God will dwell. It must bee an humble and a shivered spirit. Hee dwells in heaven by his glory: yet, though thou wert as low as hell in thy selfe, God will come and take possession of thy heart marvellous graciously.

p. 3In the words, so farre as they concerne my purpose, the thing mainly observable is, the necessitie, and excellencie of this broken and humble soule. It is the only receptacle of the Lord Iesus Christ. If you will have Christ and grace to dwell in you, you must get humble spirits.

Doct.

So the Doctrine in generall from hence is this: The soule must bee broken and humbled, [None but the broken heart is an house for Christ.] before the Lord Iesus Christ can, or will dwell therein, and before faith can be wrought therein. There must bee contrition, before there will bee an inhabitation of Christ in the soule.

As men, specially great men, will have their houses ayred, before they come to lie p. 4there; so this contrition is the ayring, or sweeping of the soule, that so it may be inhabited. [Foretold.] This was typified and foretold in the old law. When the people of Israel were to goe into the Land of Canaan (which shadowed the kingdome of grace here, and of glory hereafter) they must goe through the vast, terrible, troublesome, and roaring wildernesse, and through those streights and extreme hazzards, before God brought them to the Land of Promise. Whereby the Lord typified thus much unto us, that before the soule can bee truely possessed of Christ, it must goe through these rockie wayes of contrition and humiliation, Hos. 2.14. Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wildernesse, [Ad aperiendam spem. Hieron.] and speake comfortably to her. And in vers. 15. I will give her the valley of Achor for the dore of hope, and shee shall sing there, as in the dayes of her youth, and as in the dayes when she came out of Egypt. Compare that 15. verse with Ioshua 7.25. [The sloodgate of sorow, a dore of hope.] The doore of hope is nothing else, but the expectation of all good things from God, which hee hath promised. And here remember the story of Achor: Achan had stollen the wedge of gold, and the Babylonish garment, and therefore God departed away from the Campe. Now the Lord pursued him, and caused the people to stone him with stones; and they called the p. 5place, The Valley of Achor, to this day, .i. The Valley of trouble and affliction. The Lord hath reference to his former dealing As he did before in the time of Ioshua; hee first subdued Achan, and then hee gave them successe against all their adversaries: (As if he had said, I will give them the Valley of contrition and humiliation for the Gate to all comfort and sweet refreshing, here and hereafter:) So you must goe through the wildernesse to this Valley of Achor, before you can come to this doore of hope, to this Land of Canaan: you must stone these corruptions of yours, which have troubled the Spirit of God, and then there is a doore of hope set open for you.

p. 5And as it was foretold, so it was the end why the Lord Iesus Christ was sent: as Isa. 61.12. The Spirit of the Lord is upon mee, (saith Isaiah in the stead of Christ,) because the Lord hath annointed mee to preach glad tydings unto the meeke, hee hath sent mee to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaime libertie to the captives, and to comfort all that mourne. Nay, [2. Accomplished.] the Lord hath not onely sent Christ to this end, and promised this, but he hath done as hee did promise. And this is the condition upon which he hath promised and given all comfort to his people: as in Psal. 34.18. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of p. 6a contrite spirit. Hee is neere them, to comfort them, and to assist them, and deliver them: and thus the Saints of God have found it; as 2 Chron. 33.12. where the Text saith, that Manasses humbled himselfe mightily before the Lord, and hee found peace to his soule, and the Lord pardoned his sinne. Hee was a mighty sinner, and had mighty rebellions, and mighty pride of heart, and therefore the Lord laid him as low as the dust, though hee were a King. As hee had beene a mighty sinner, so hee was now a mighty patterne of humiliation, and the Lord had mercy on him.