God Makes the Heart Tender

Is there anything in man that can cause God to do him good? No. Where God intends to do any good, he first works in the heart a gracious disposition: after which he looks upon his own work as upon a lovely object, and so does give them other blessings. Now in a tender heart these three properties concur: 1. It is sensible. 2. It is pliable. 3. It is yielding.
(1) A tender heart is always a sensible heart. It has life, and therefore sense. Some senses are not altogether necessary for the being of a living creature, as hearing and seeing; but sensibleness is needful to the being of every living creature. It is a sign of life in a Christian when he is sensible of dangers. God has planted such affections in man, as may preserve the life of man, as fear and love. Fear is that which makes a man avoid many dangers. God has given us fear to cause us to make our peace with him.
(2 &3) A tender heart is pliable and yielding. Now that is said to be yielding and pliable, which yields to the touch of anything that is put to it, as wax is yielding and pliable to the disposition of him that works it. In a tender heart there is no resistance, but it yields presently to every truth, and has a fitness to receive any impression. A tender heart, so soon as the word is spoken, yields to it. It quakes at warnings, obeys precepts, melts at promises, and the promises sweeten the heart. But hardness of heart is quite opposite. It will not yield to the touch. Such a heart may be broken in pieces, but it will not receive any impression. A hard heart is like a stone to God or goodness. It is not yielding but resists and repels all that is good. You may break it in pieces, but it is unframeable for any service. On the contrary, a melting and tender heart is sensible, yielding, and fit for any service both to God and man.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Richard Sibbes 'Refreshment for the Soul.'
Josiah's Reformation, pp. 6-10 [5-8]
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