The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. Psalm 51:17

David, after having slept with Bathsheba and after having murdered her husband Uriah, undoubtedly felt the crushing weight of his own depravity and the shame and guilt which comes as a result.

In this book, Bunyan expounds on Psalm 51:17 and shows what it is to have a broken and contrite spirit and why it is only through God that such sacrifice can and must be made.