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^ PRINCETON, N. J. ^
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BV 4811 .A8 1841
Ashe, Simeon, d. 1662.
A treatise on divine
contentment
EPISTLE TO THE READER. if
the scene turn, and God puts thee under the
hlack-rod ? Whereas he useth a rod, he might
"^■^ ^ 'Spistle to the reader.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
BY SIMEON ASHl^
MIA'ISTKH OF THE GOSPEL, LONDON.
NEW-YORK :
M. W. DODD,
BRICK CHURCH CHAPEL, OPPOSITE THE CITY HALL.
184.1.
EPISTLE TO THE READER. y
the scene turn, and God puts thee under the
hlack-rod ? Whereas he useth a rod, he might
use a ^'"
Epistle to the reader.
Christian Reader :
Having seriously considered the great dis-
honour done to Ahnighty God, as well as the
prejudice which doth arise to our own selves,
by the sin of discontent — a catholic and epi-
demical sin — it did at first put me upon the
study of this subject. Nor is it inconsistent to
handle this next in order to the Christian
Charter. I showed you before the great things
which a believer hath in reversion — Things to
come are his. And here behold a Christian's
holy and gracious deportment in this life,
which discovers itself in nothing more emi-
nently than in Contentment. Discontent is to
the soul, as a disease to the body ; it puts out
of temper, and doth much hinder its regular
and sublime motions heavenward. Discontent
is hereditary ; and no doubt but it is much
augmented by the many sad eclipses and
changes that have fallen out of late in the
1
ed, because sinful. That which should,
us out of love with this sullen distemper, is
the contemplating the beautiful Queen of Con-
tentment. For my part, I know not any orna-
ment in religion that doth bespangle a Chris-
tian, or glitter in the eye of God and man,
more than this of contentment ; nor, certainly,
is there any thing wherein all the Christian
virtues do work more harmoniously, or shine
more transparently, than in this orb. Every
grace doth act its part here, and help to keep
the soul in its proper frame. This is the true
philosopher's stone, which turns all into gold —
this is the curious enamel and embroidery of
the heart, which makes Christ's spouse all
glorious within. How should every Christian
be ambitious to wear such a sparkling diamond !
If there be a blessed life before we come at
heaven, it is the contented life. And why not
contented ? Why art thou wroth, and why is
thy countenance fallen? Gen. iv. 6. Man, of
all creatures, hath the least cause to be discon-
tented. Canst thou deserve any thing from
God ? Doth he owe thee any thing ? What, if
EPISTLE TO THE READER. 9
the scene turn, and God puts thee under the
black-rod ? Whereas he useth a rod, he might
use a scorpion ; he might as well destroy thee,
as whip thee. Why, then, art thou so queru-
lous ? Why dost thou give way to this irra-
tional and unthankful sin of discontent ? The
good Lord humble his own people from
nourishing such a vnper in their breast, as
doth not only cut out the bowels of their com-
fort, but spits venom in the face of God hirn-
self. Oh, Christian ! who art overspread with
this fretting leprosy, thou carriest the man of
sin about thee ; for thou settest thyself above
God, as if thou wert wiser than he, and wouldst
saucily prescribe him what condition is best
for thee. Oh this devil of discontent ! which
whomsoever it possesseth, it makes his heart a
little hell. I know there will not be perfect
contentment here in this life. Perfect plea-
sure is only at God^s right hand ; yet we may
begin here to tune our instrument, before we
play the sweet lesson of contentment exactly
in heaven. I should be glad if this little piece
might be like Moses casting the tree into the
waters, Exod. xv. 25, to make the uncouth
bitter condition of life more sweet and pleasant
10 EPISTLE TO THE READER.
to drink of. I have once more adventured into
public. This piece I acknowledge to be but a
homespun one ; some better hand might have
made a more curious draught: but, having
preached upon the subject, I was earnestly
solicited by some of my hearers to publish it ;
and although it is not dressed in that rich at-
tire of eloquence as it might, yet I am not about
poetry or oratory, but divinity. Nor is this in-
tended for fancy, but practice. If I may here-
in do any service, or cast but a mite into the
treasury of the Church's grace, I have my de-
sire. The end of our living is to live to God,
and to lift up his name in the world. The
Lord add an effectual blessing to this work,
and fasten it as a nail in a sure place. He of
his mercy make it as spiritual physic, to purge
the ill-humour of discontent out of our hearts,
that so a crown of honour may be set upon the
head of Religion, and the crystal streams of
Joy and Peace may ever run in our souls —
which is the prayer of him who is desirous to
be a faithful orator for thee at the Throne of
Grace. SIMEON ASHE.
From mv Study, at St. Slephen's,
Walbrook, May 3, 1653.
TO THE
CHRISTIAN READER.
A WORD spoken in due season, how good is
it ! Prov. XV. 23. As God giveth to his
creatures their meat in season, Psal. civ. 27, so
his faithful stewards provide for his household
their portion of meat in due season. Luke xii.
42. And as it is with corporal food, the
season addeth much both to the value and use-
fulness thereof: in like manner it is with food
spiritual. In this regard, the brokenness of
these times — wherein the bosoms of most people
are filled w^ith disquietude, and their mouths
withmurmurings — may well render this Treatise
more acceptable. The seas are not so stormy
as men's spirits are tempestuous, tossed to and
fro with discontent, Eccles. iii. 11. And now
the Lord, who maketh every thing beautiful
in his time, hath most seasonably put into thy
hand a profitable discourse to calm unquiet
hearts. Adam, in Paradise, dashed upon the
rock of discontent — which some divines con-
1*
12 TO THE CHRISTIAN READER.
ceive was his first sin. This, with many in-
stances more in Scripture, together wath our
own sad experience, doth both speak our dan-
ger and call for caution. Now godliness is
the only sovereign antidote against this spread-
ing disease ; and God's grace alone, being
settled and exercised in the heart, can cause
steadiness in stormy times, Heb. xiii. 9. Where-
as contentment ariseth either from the fruition
of all comforts, or from a not desiring of some
which we have not. True piety doth put a
Christian into such a condition : hereby we
both possess God, and are taught how to im-
prove Him who is the only satisfying ever-
lasting Portion of his people, Psal. xvi. 5, 6.
Matt. viii. 20. Psal. Ixxiii. 25, 26. Herein
Christ, though poor in this w^orld, greatly re-
joiced. " The Lord is the portion of my in-
heritance ; the lines are fallen unto me in
pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly herit-
age." Upon this account, also, Jacob said — /
have nothing, Gen. xxxiii. 11 ; or, as it is in
the original, / have all. God the Father, and
Christ his Son, had sweet satisfaction in each
other, when there was no other being, Prov.
viii. 30, 31. Therefore such who possess and
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER. 13
improve God, through Christ, cannot possibly
be dissatisfied. The Almighty is the God of
all grace, 1 Pet. v. 10, of all comforts, 2 Cor.
i. 4, and of salvation, Psal. Ixviii. 20 ; in
which respect neither deficiencies or disap-
pointments, losses or crosses, can cause dis-
quieting discontent in that bosom where Faith
is commander in chief. The Prophet Habak-
kuk rejoiced in the " God of his salvation,
when the pestilence went before him," Hab.
iii. 5, 11, 17, "and burning coals came forth
of his feet ;" and when he supposed all crea-
ture-succours, both for delight and necessity, to
be quite removed. This, this is the life which
Christians should endeavour, and may attain
by the vigorous regular actings of precious
faith. This is the gain of contentment, which
comes in by godhness, when providences are
black and likely to be bloody. Now, " the
just shall live by his faith," Hab. ii. 4, Heb. x.
23. That speech of the learned ]\Ir. Gataker
is weighty, and well worth remarking — " A
contented mind shows a religious heart ; and a
discontented mind shows an irrehgious heart."
This likewise was a holy breathing of the
Rev. Dr. Hall in his Meditations — " I have
somewhat of the best things; I will with
14 TO THE CHRISTIAN READER.
thankfulness enjoy them, and will want the
rest with contentment." By attaining and
maintaining this frame of heart, we might have
much of heaven on this side heaven. Holy
contentment maketh them truly rich, whom the
oppressing world maketh very poor. Hereby
our sweetest morsels shall be well seasoned,
and our bitterest portions well sweetened, Prov.
xvii. 1. Had we learned to enjoy contentment
in Jehovah, who is immutable and all-sufficient,
this heavenly frame of spirit would never de-
cay or change in the midst of the most ama-
zing alterations in Church and State with
which we are exercised : whereas, because
we live alone upon sublunaries, therefore
we are apt with Nabal to die upon the nest,
1 Sam. XXV. 37, through dejectedness, upon
the approach of imagined danger. When God
seeth cause to cut us short of many creature ac-
commodations, faith will moderate our desires
after them ; assuring the soul, that nothing is
withdrawn or withheld which might be really
advantageous : and doubtless it is a great piece
of happiness upon earth, not to long after that
which the Lord is pleased to deny. Indeed,
men act rather like Heathens than Christians,
when they fret upon some particular inferior
TO THS CHRISTIAN READER. 15
disappointments, notwithstanding God's lib-
erality laid forth upon them in many other
respects : as Alexander, the monarch of the
world, was discontented, because ivy would
not grow in his gardens at Babylon. Diogenes,
the Cynic, was herein more wise ; w^ho, finding
a mouse in his satchel, said, he saw that himself
was not so poor, but some were glad of his
leavings. Oh, how might we, if we had hearts
to improve higher providences, rock our peevish
spirits quiet by much stronger arguments ! Let
us then lay before our eyes the practices of
pious men, recorded in Scripture for our imita-
tion, as Jacob, Agur, Paul, &c.. Gen. xxviii. 20,
Prov. XXX. 8, 1 Tim. vi. 7, and let us charge
home upon our consciences divine exhortations,
backed with strong reasons, and encouraged
with sweet promises. It w^as the grave counsel
of holy Greenham — " Having food and raiment,
take the rest as an overplus," Gen. xxxii. 10.
Are we not less than the least of God's mer-
cies ? Is not God our bountiful Benefactor ?
Why then do we not rest contented with his
liberal allowance ? Oh ! let us chide our
wrangling spirits, and encourage confidence
with contentment in God, as blessed David did,
Psal. xliii. 4. My pen hath outrun my pur-
16 TO THE CHRISTIAN READER.
pose when I undertook this preface ; but I will
no longer, good reader, detain thee in the
Porch, wherein I have designed to quicken and
to prepare thee to the more fruitful improve-
ment of this seasonable and useful Treatise,
wherein the Author has exercised to good pur-
pose both the Christian graces and ministerial
gifts with which God hath enriched him. Here-
in the doctrine of Christian contentment is
clearly illustrated, and profitably applied ; the
special cases — wherein, through change of
providences, discontents are most commonly
occasioned — are particularized, and preserva-
tives applied to secure the soul. Although
some other worthy divines have been helpful to
the church of God by their discourses upon this
subject ; yet there is much of peculiar use in
this Treatise. The Apostle tells us that some
manifestation of the Spirit is given to every
man to profit withal. Thy soul-profit is pro-
pounded as the Author's end in pubhshing this
piece : and that this end may be accomplished,
is the unfeigned desire and hearty prayer of
him, who is
Thy Servant in and for Christ,
SIMEON ASHE.
May 3, 1653.
A TREATISE
DIVINE CONTENTMENT
CHAPTER I.
THE INTRODUCTION.
Phil. iv. 11. — I have learned, in whatsoever state lam,
therewith to be content.
The inspired Apostle in the former verses of
this chapter has left, for our instruction, some
useful and heavenly exhortations ; among the
rest, to be careful for nothing ; but, in every
thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanks-
giving, let your request be made known unto
God, V. 6c Not to exclude a prudential care ;
for he that provideth not for his house, hath
denied the faith, 1 Tim. v. 8. Nor yet a reli-
gious care ; for we must give all diligence to
18 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
make our calling and election sure, 2 Pet. i. 10.
But to exclude all anxious care about the issue
and event of things. Take no thought for your
life, what you shall eat ; and in this sense it
should be a Christian's care not to be careful.
The word careful, in the Greek, comes from a
primitive, that signifies. To cut the heart in
pieces ; a soul-dividing care. Take heed of
this. We are bid to commit our ways unto the
Lord, Psal. xxxvii. 5. The Hebrew w^ord is,
Roll thy way upon the Lord. It is our work to
cast our care on him, 1 Pet. v. 7, but it is God's,
work to take care. By our immoderacy, we
take his work out of his hand.
Care, when it is eccentric, either distrustful
or distracting, is very dishonourable to God. It
takes away his providence, as if he sat in hea-
ven, and minded not what became of things
here below ; like a man that makes a clock,
and then leaves it go of itself. Immoderate
care takes the heart off from better things ;
and usually, while we are thinking how we
shall do to live, we forget how to die. Care is
a spiritual cancer, that doth waste and dispirit,
and does no good to the soul. We may sooner,
by our care, add di furlong to our grief, than a
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 19
cubit to our comfort. God doth threaten it as
a curse, They shall eat their bread with care-'
fulness, Ezek. xii. 19. Better fast, than eat of
that bread. Be careful for nothing.
Now, lest any one should say — " Yea, Paul,
thou preachest that to us which thou hast scarce
Jearned thyself: hast thou learned not to be
careful ?" The Apostle seems immediately to
answer that, in the words of the text — I have
learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to
be content.
Noble sentence! A speech worthy to be
engraven upon our hearts and treasured up in
our memory for ever. The text doth branch
itself into these two general parts.
I. The scholar, Paul — I have learned.
IL The lesson— 7/1 every state to be content.
20 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
CHAPTER II.
The first Branch of the Text— The Scholar ; with the
first Proposition.
I. Begin with the first — i. The scholar, and
his proficiency, / have learned : out of which I
shall observe two things, by way of paraphrase.
1. It is not, " I may," but " I have." The
Apostle doth not say — " I have heard, that in
every state I should be content, but I have
learned.'''' Observe : " It is not enough for
Christians to hear their duty, but they must
learn their duty."
It is one thing to hear, and another thing
to learn ; as it is one thing to eat, and another
thing to digest. St. Paul was a practitioner.
Christians hear much ; but, it is to be feared,
learn little. There were four sorts of ground
in the parable, Luke viii. 5, and but one good
ground. An emblem of this truth — many
hearers, but few learners. There are two
things which keep us from learning.
1. Slighting what we hear. Christ is the
Pearl of Price : when we disesteem this Pearl
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 21
we shall never learn either its value, or its vir-
tue. The Gospel is a rare mystery. In one
place, it is called the Gospel of Grace ; in ano-
ther, Acts, XX. 24, the Gospel of Glory ; be-
cause in it, as in a transparent glass, the glory
of God is resplendent: but he that hath learned
to contemn this mystery, will hardly ever learn
to obey it. He that looks upon the things of
heaven, as things by the by ; and, perhaps,
the driving of a trade, or carrying on some po-
litic design, to be of greater importance ; this
man is in the high road to destruction, and will
hardly ever learn the things of his peace. Who
will learn that which he thinks is scarce worth
learning ?
2. Forgetting what we hear, Jam. i. 25. If
a scholar have his rules laid before him, and he
forgets them as fast as he reads them, he will
never learn. Aristotle calls the memory the
scribe of the soul, and Bernard calls it the sto-
mach of the soul ; because it hath a retentive
faculty, and turns heavenly food into nourish-
ment. We have great memories in other
things ; we remember that which is vain. Cy-
rus could remember the name of every soldier
in his large army; we remember injuries.
22 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
This is to fill a precious cabinet with dung ;
but how soon do we forget the sacred truths of
God ! We are apt to forget three things : our
faults, our friends, our instructions. Many
Christians are like sieves. Put a sieve into
the water, and it is full ; but take it forth of the
water, and it all runs out : so, while they are
hearing of a sermon, they remember something ;
but, take the sieve out of the water — as soon as
they are gone out of the church — all is forgotten.
Let these sayings, saith Christ, sink down into
your ears, Luke v. 44. In the original, it is —
Put these sayings into your ears: as a man,
that would hide a jewel from being stolen, locks
it up safe in his chest. Let them sink. The
word must not only fall as the dew that wets
the leaf, but as rain which soaks to the root of
the tree, and makes it fructify. how often
doth Satan, that fowl of the air, pick up the
good seed that is sown !
Use. Let me put you upon a serious trial.
Some of you have heard much ; you have lived
forty, fifty, sixty years, under the blessed trum-
pet of the Gospel : What have you learned ?
You may have heard a thousand sermons, and
yet not have learned one. Search your con-
sciences.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 23
I. You have heard much against sin. Are
you hearers, or are you scholars!
How many sermons have you heard against
covetonsness, that it is the root on which pride,
idolatry and treason, do grow 1 2 Tim. ii. 4.
One calls it a metropolitan sin : it doth twist a
great many sins in w^ith it. There is hardly any
sin, but covetousness is a main ingredient in it ;
and yet you are like the two daughters of the
horse-leech, which cry. Give, give.
How much have you heard against rash
anger ? That it is a short frenzy, a dry drunk-
enness ; that it rests in the hosom of fools ;
and, upon the least occasion, do your spirits
begin to take fire ? How much have you heard
against swearwg ? It is Christ's express man-
date. Swear not at all, Matt. v. 34. This sin,
of all others, may be termed. The unfruitful
work of darkness, Eph. v. 11. It is neither
sweetened with pleasure, nor enriched with
profit, the usual vermilion w^herewith Satan doth
paint sin. Swearing is forbidden with a suh-
pcena. WTiile the swearer shoots his oaths,
like flying arrows, at God, to pierce his glory,
God shoots 2i flying roll of curses against him,
Zech. V. 2, 3, and do you make your tongue a
2*
24 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
rocket, by whi(ih you toss oaths as tennis-balls ?
Do you sport yourselves with oaths, as the
Philistines did with Samson, which will at last
pull the house about your ears ? Alas ! how
have they learned what sin is, that have not yet
learned to leave sin ? Doth he know what a
viper is, that plays with it ?
2. You have heard much of Christ. Have
you learned Christ ? The Jews, as one saith,
carried Christ in their Bibles, but not in their
hearts, Rom. xiv., their sound went into all the
earth, Rom. x. 18. The Prophets and Apostles
were as trumpets, whose sound went abroad
into .the world ; yet many thousands, who heard
the noise of these trumpets, had not learned
Christ. They have not all obeyed, verse 16.
1. A man may know much of Christ, and
yet not learn Christ. The devils knew" Christ,
Matt. viii. 29.
2. A man may preach Christ, and yet not
learn Christ : as Judas.
3. A man may profess Christ, and yet not
learn Christ. There are many professors in
the world that Christ will profess against, Matt.
vii. 22,23.
Quest. What is it then to learn Christ ?
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 25
Answ. 1. To learn Christ is, to be made
like Christ, when the divine characters of his
holiness are engraven upon our hearts. " We
all, with open face beholding as in a glass the
glory of the Lord, are changed into the same
image," 2 Cor. iii. 18. There is a transforma-
tion. A sinner, viewing Christ's image in the
glass of the Gospel, is transformed into that
image. Never did any man look upon Christ
with a spiritual eye, but went away quite
changed. A true saint is a divine landscape,
or picture, where all the rare beauties of Christ
are lively portrayed and drawn forth. He hath
the same spirit, the same judgment, the same
will, with Jesus Christ.
2. To learn Christ, is to believe him to be
my Lrn'd and my God, John xx. 28, which is
the actual application of Christ to ourselves ;
and, as it were, the spreading of the sacred me-
dicine of his blood upon our soul. You, that
have heard much of Christ, and yet cannot,
with an humble adherence, say, my Jesus and
my God, be not offended if I tell you, the devil
can say his creed as well as you.
3. To learn Christ, is to live to Christ.
When we have Bible-conversations, our lives.
26 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
as rich diamonds, cast a sparkling lustre in the
church of God, Phil. i. 27, and are, in some
sense, parallel with the life of Christ, as the
transcript with the original. So much for the
first sentiment in the text.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 27
CHAPTER III.
Containing the Second Proposition.
II. This word / have learned, is a word im-
porting difficulty. It shows how hardly the
Apostle came by his contentment of mind. St.
Paul did not come naturally by it, but he had
learned it. It cost him many a prayer and tear
— it was taught him by the Spirit of God.
From whence we may learn that, 2. Good
things are hard to come hy. The business of
religion is not so easy as most do imagine. /
have learned, saith St. Paul. Indeed, you need
not learn a man to sin. This is natural, Psal.
Iviii., and therefore easy : it comes as w^ater out
of a spring. It is an easy thing to be wicked :
hell will be taken without storm, but matter of
religion must be learned. To cut the flesh is
easy ; but to prick a vein, and not to cut an
artery is hard. The trade of sin needs not to
be learned ; but Divine Contentment is not
achieved without holy industry. I have learned.
There are tw^o pregnant reasons why there
must be so much study and exercise.
28 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
1. Because spiritual things are against na-
ture. Every thing in rehgion is antipodes to
nature. There are, in rehgion, two things :
faith, and practice ; and both are against nature.
1. Faith, or matters of faith ; as, for a man to
be justified by the righteousness of another ; to
become a fool, that he may be wise : to save
all, by losing all — this is against nature. 2. Mat-
ters of practice. As, 1. Self-denial ; for a man
to deny his own wisdom, and see himself Wind ;
his own nrlU, and have it melted into the will
of God ; plucking out the right eye, beheading
and crucifying that sin, which is the favourite,
and hes nearest to the heart : for a man to be
dead to the world ; and, in the midst of want,
to abound : for a man to take up the cross, and
follow Christ, not only in golden, but bloody
paths ; to embrace religion, when it is dressed
in its night-clothes, all the jewels of honour
and preferment being pulled off. This is
against nature ; and, therefore, must be learned.
2. Self-examination : for a man to take his
heart, as a watch, all in pieces ; to set up a
spiritual inquisition, or court of conscience, and
traverse things in his own soul ; to take David's
candle and lanthorn, Psal. cxix. 105, and
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 29
search for sin ; nay, as judge, to pass the sen-
tence upon himself, 2 Sam. xxiv. 17. This is
against nature^ and will not easily be attained
to without learning. 3. Self -reformation. To
see a man, as Caleb, of another spirit, walking
antipodes to himself, the current of his life al-
tered, and running into the channel of religion
— this is wholly against nature. When a
stone ascends, it is not a natural motion, but a
violent ; the motion of the soul heavenward, is
a violent motion — it must be learned. Flesh
and blood is not skilled in these things. Nature
can no more cast out Nature, than Satan can
east out Satan.
2. Because spiritual things are above nature.
There are some things in nature, that are hard
to find out, as the causes of things, which are
not learnt without study. Aristotle, a great
philosopher, whom some have called an eagle
fallen from the clouds ; yet could not find out
the motion of the river Euripus, therefore threw
himself into it. What then are divine things,
which are in a sphere above nature, and beyond
all human conception ? As the Trinity, the
Lord's incarnation ; the mystery of faith, to
believe against hope ; only God's Spirit can
30 DIVL\E CONTENTMENT.
light our candle here. The Apostle calls these
the deep things of God, 1 Cor. ii. 10. The
Gospel is full of jewels, but they are locked up
from sense and reason. The anoels in heaven
o
are searching into these sacred depths, 1 Pet.
i. 12.
Use. Let us beg the Spirit of God to teach
us : we must be divinely instructed. The eu-
nuch could read, but he could not understand,
till Philip joined himself to his chariot, Acts
viii. 29. God's Spirit must join himself to our
chariot ; he must teach, or we cannot learn.
All thy children shall he taught of the Lord,
Isa. liv. 13. A man may read the figure on the
dial ; but he cannot tell how the day goes, un-
less the sun shine upon the dial : we may read
the Bible over, but we cannot learn to purpose
till the Spirit of God shines into our hearts^
2 Cor. iv. 6. Oh, implore this blessed Spirit \
it is God's prerogative-royal to teach. I am
the Lord thy God, that teacheth thee to proft^
Isa. viii. 17. Ministers may tell us our lesson,
God only can teach us : we have lost both our
hearing and eye-sight ; therefore are very unfit
to learn. Ever since Eve listened to the Ser-
pent, we have been deaf ; and since she looked
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 31
on the tree of knowledge, we have been bhnd :
bat when God comes to teach, he removes these
impediments, Isa. xxxv. 5. We are naturally
dead, Eph. ii. 1. \Mio will go about to teach
a dead man ? Yet behold, God undertakes to
make dead men to understand mysteries ! God
is the grand Teacher. This is the reason the
word preached works so differently upon men :
two in a pew, the one is wrought upon effec-
tually ; the other lies at the ordinances as a
dead child at the breast, and gets no nourish-
ment. What is the reason ? Because the
heavenly gale of the Spirit blow^s upon one, and
not upon the other. One hath the anointing of
God, ichich teacheth him all things, 1 John ii. 27,
the other hath it not. God's Spirit speaks
sweetly, and often irresistibly. In that hea-
venly doxology, none could sing the new song
but those who were sealed in their foreheads.
Rev. xiv. 3. The wicked could not sing it.
Those that are skilful in the mysteries of salva-
tion, must have the seal of the Spirit upon them.
Let us make this our prayer — " Lord, breathe
thy Spirit into thy Word :" and we have a
Promise, which may add wings to prayer — " If
ye then being evil, know how to give good
3
32 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
gifts to your children, how much more shall
your heavenly Father give his holy Spirit to
them that ask him ?' Luke xi. 13.
And thus much for the first part of the text,
the scholar ; which I intended only as a short
gloss or paraphrase.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 33
CHAPTER IV.
The second Branch of the Text— The Lesson itt^elf ;
with the Proposition.
II. I COME now to the second, which is the
main thing — The lesson itself: In whatsoever
state I am, therewith to he content.
Here was a rare piece of learning, indeed !
and certainly more to be wondered at in St.
Paul, that he knew how to turn himself to
every condition, than all the learning in the
world besides, which hath been so applauded
in former ages by Julius Caesar, Ptolemy, Xeno-
phon, the great admirers of learning.
The text hath but a few words in li^In
every state he content. But if that be true,
which once Fulgentius said, that the most gol-
den sentence is ever measured by brevity and
suavity, then this is a most accomplished
speech ; here is a great deal in a little. The
text is like a precious jewel, little in quantity,
but great in worth and value.
The main proposition I shall insist upon is
this, that a gracious spirit is a contented spirit.
34 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
The doctrine of contentment is very superla-
tive ; and till we have learned this, we have
not learned to be Christians.
1. It is a hard lesson. The angels in hea-
ven had not learned it ; they were not con-
tented : though their estate was very glorious,
yet they were still soaring aloft, and aimed at
something higher, Jude i. 6. The angels
which kept not their first estate ; they kept not
their estate, because they were not contented
with their estate. Our first parents, clothed
with the white robe of innocency in Paradise,
had not learned to be content : they had aspi-
ring hearts ; and, thinking their human nature
too low and homespun, would be crowned
with the Deity, and be as gods. Though they
had the (Gen. iii. 5) choice of all the trees in
the garden ; yet none would content them but
the tree of knowledge, which they supposed
would have been as eye-salve to have made
them omniscient. Oh, then, if this lesson were
so hard to learn in innocency, how hard shall
we find it, who are clogged with corruption !
2. It is of universal extent — concerns all.
1. It concerns rich men. One would think it
needless to press those to contentment, whom
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 35
God hath blessed with great estates, but rather
persuade them to be humble and thankful ; nay,
but I say. Be content. Rich men have their
discontents as well as others ; as appears,
1. When they have a great estate, yet they are
discontented that they have no more ; they
would make the hundred talents a thousand.
A man in wine, the more he drinks, the more
he thirsts. Covetousness is a dry dropsy : an
earthly heart is like the grave that is never
satisfied. Therefore I say to you rich men — Be
content.
2. Rich men, if we may suppose them to be
content with their estates, which is very seldom;
yet, though they have estate enough, they have
not honour enougli, Prov. xxx. 16 ; if their
hams are full enough, yet their turrets are not
high enough. They woidd be somebody in the
w^orld, as Theudas, who boasted himself to he
somebody ; they never go so cheerfully as when
the wind of honour and applause fills their sails ;
if this wind be down, they are discontented.
One would think Haman had as much as his
proud heart could desire ; he was set above all
the princes, and advanced upon the pinnacle of
honour to be the second man in the kingdom,
3*
36 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
Est. iii. 1 ; yet, in the midst of all his pomp, be-
cause Mordecai would not uncover and kneel,
he is discontented (verse 2), and full of wrath,
(verse 5), and there is no way to assuage this
pleurisy of revenge, but by letting all the Jews'
blood, and offering them up in sacrifice. The
itch of honour is seldom allayed without blood ;
therefore I say to you rich men — Be content.
3. Rich men, if we may suppose them to
be content with their honour and magnificent
titles, yet they have not always contentment in
their relations. She that lies in the bosom,
may sometimes blow the coals ; as Job's wife,
who in a pet would have him fall out with God
himself — Curse God, and die. Sometimes
children cause discontent. How oft is it seen,
that the mother's milk doth nourish a viper !
And he that once sucked her breast, goes about
to suck her blood ! Parents do often of grapes
gather thorns, and oi figs thistles. Children
are a sweet-brier : like the rose, which is a fra-
grant flower ; but, as a Basil saith, it hath its
prickles. Our relative comforts are not all
pure wine, but mixed ; they have in them more
dregs than spirits, and are like that river Plu-
tarch speaks of, where the waters in the morn-
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 37
ing run sweet, but in the evening run bitter.
We have no charter of exemption granted us in
this hfe ; therefore rich men had need be called
upon to be contented.
2. The doctrine of contentment concerns
poor men. You that do suck so liberally from
the breasts of Providence, be content ; it is a
hard lesson, therefore it had need be set upon
the sooner. How hard it is, when the liveli-
hood is even gone — a great estate boiled away
almost to nothino; — then to be content ! The
means of subsistence is in Scripture called our
life, because it is the very sinews of life. The
woman in the Gospel spent all her living icpon
the physicians, Luke viii. 43, which, in the
Greek, imphes, that she spent her whole life
upon the physicians, because she spent the
means by which she should live. It is much,
when poverty hath clipped our wings, then to
be content ; but, though hard, it is excellent :
and the Apostle here had learnt, in every state
to be content.
God hath brought St. Paul into as great
variety of conditions, as ever we read of any
man, and yet he was content ; else, sure, he
could never have gone through it with so much
38 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
cheerfulness. See into what vicissitudes this
blessed Apostle was cast — We are troubled on
every side ! There was the sadness of his con-
dition ; but, not distressed, there was his con-
tent in that condition. We are perplexed ;
there is his affliction : but not in despair ; there
is his contentment. And if w^e read a little fur-
ther — " In afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults," &c.,
2 Cor. vi. 4, there is his trouble. And behold
his content — " As having nothing, yet possess-
ing all things," verse 10. When the Apostle
was driven out of all ; yet, in regard of that
sweet contentment of mind, w-hich was like
music in his soul, he possessed all things. We
read a short map or history of his sufferings —
"In prisons more frequent, in death oft," &c.
2 Cor. xi. 23, 24, 25. Yet behold the blessed
frame and temper of his spirit — "I have learned,
in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be con-
tent."
Which way soever Providence did blow, he
had such heavenly skill and dexterity, that he
knew how to steer his course. For his out-
w^ard estate he was indifferent ; he could be
either on the top of Jacob's Ladder, or the bot-
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 39
torn ; he could sing either the dirge or the an-
them ; he could be any thing that God would
have him. " I know how to want, and how to
abound." There is a rare pattern for us to
imitate ! Paul, in regard of his faith and cou-
rage, was like a cedar ; he could not be stirred :
but, for his outward condition, he was like a
reed, bending every way with the wind of Pro-
vidence. When a prosperous gale did blow
upon him, he could bend with that — I know
how to be full ; and when a boisterous gust of
affliction did blow, he could bend in humility
with that — / know how to he hungry. St.
Paul was, as Aristotle speaks, like a die that
hath four squares; throw it which way you
will, it falls upon a bottom : let God throw the
Apostle which way he would, he fell upon this
bottom of contentment. A contented spirit is
like a watch; though you carry it up and
down with you, yet the spring of it is not sha-
ken, nor the wheels out of order, but the watch
keeps its perfect motion : so it was with St.
Paul ; though God had carried him into various
conditions, yet he was not lifted up with the
one, nor cast down with the other. The spring
of his heart was not broken, the wheels of his
40 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
affection were not disordered, but kept their
constant motion toward Heaven- — still content.
The ship that Hes at anchor may sometimes be
a httle shaken, but never sinks : flesh and blood
may have its fears and disquiets, but Grace
doth check them. A Christian, having cast
anchor in Heaven, his heart never sinks : a
gracious spirit is a contented spirit.
This is a rare lesson ! Paul did not learn it
at the feet of Gamaliel — I am instructed, Phil,
iv. 11. "I am initiated into this holy mystery :"
as if he had said — " I have gotten the divine
art, I have the secret of it." God must make
us right artists. If we should put some men
to an art that they are not skilled in, how unfit
would they be for it ! Put a husbandman to
limning or drawing pictures, what strange work
would he make ! This is out of his sphere.
Take a limner that is exact in laying of colours,
and put him to plough, or set him to planting
and grafting of trees ; this is not his art, he is
not skilled in it. Bid a natural man live by
faith ; and, when all things go cross, he con^
tented : you bid him do that he has no skill
in ; you may as well bid a child guide the
stern of a ship. To live contentedly upon God,
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 41
in the deficiency of outward comforts, is an art
which flesh and hlood hath not revealed : nay,
many of God's own children, who excel in
some duties of religion ; when they come to this
of contentment, how do they stumble ! They
have scarcely commenced scholars in the school
of Christ.
42 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
CHAPTER V.
The Resolving of some (Questions.
For the illustrating of this doctrine, I shall
propound these questions :
Quest. 1. Whether a Christian may not be
sensible of his condition, and yet be contented ?
Answ. Yes ; for else he is not a Saint, but
a stoick. Rachel did well to weep for her
children — there was nature ; but her fault was,
she refused to be comforted — there was discon-
tent. Christ himself was sensible, when he
sweat great drops of blood, and said — Father,
if it he possible, let this cup pass from me,
Matt. xxvi. 39; yet He was contented, and
sweetly submitted his will. JYevertheless, not
as I will, hut as thou wilt. The Apostle bids us
humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God,
1 Pet. V. 6, which we cannot do unless we are
sensible of it.
Quest. 2. Whether a Christian may not
lay open his grievances to God, and yet be con-
tented ?
Answ. Yes — Unto thee have I opened my
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 43
cause, Jer. xx. 12. And David 'poured out his
complaint before the Lord, Psal. cxliii. 2. We
may cry to God, and desire him to write down
all our injuries : shall not the child complain to
his Father ? When any burden is upon the
spirit, prayer gives vent : it easeth the heart.
Hannah's spirit was burdened — / am, says she,
a woman of a troubled spirit, 1 Sam. i. 15.
Now, having prayed and wept, she went away,
and was no more sad : only here is the differ-
ence between a holy complaint, and a discon-
tented complaint ; in the one w^e complain to
God; in the other, we complain of God.
Quest. 3. What is it, properly, that con-
tentment doth exclude ?
Answ. There are three things which con-
tentment doth banish out of its diocese, and
can by no means agree w^ith them.
1. It excludes a vexatious repining. This
is properly the daughter of Discontent — I mourn
in my complaint, Psal. Iv. 2. He doth not say,
" I murmur in my complaint." Murmuring is
no better than mutiny in the heart; it is a
rising up against God. When the sea is rough
and unquiet, it casts forth nothing but foam :
when the heart is discontented, it casts forth
4
44 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
the foam of anger, impatience, and sometimes
little better than blasphemy. Murmuring is
nothing else but the scum which boils off from
a discontented heart.
2. It excludes an uneven discomposure.
When a man saith — " I am in such straits,
that I know not how to revolve or get out : I
shall be undone !" Head and heart are so ta-
ken up, that a man is not fit to pray, or medi-
tate, &c., he is not himself. Just as when an
army is routed, one man runs this way, and
another that, the army is put into disorder : so
a man's thoughts run up and down distracted.
Discontent doth dislocate and unjoint the soul ;
it pulls off the w^heels of devotion.
3. It excludes a childish despondency ; and
this is usually consequent upon the other. A
man being in a hurry of mind, not knowing
which way to extricate or wind himself out of
the present trouble, begins to faint and sink
under it. For care is to the mind as a burden
to the back, it loads the spirits, and with over-
loading sinks them. A despondent spirit is a
discontented spirit.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 45
CHAPTER VI.
Showing the Nature of Contentment.
Having answered these questions, I shall,
in the next place, come to describe contentment.
It is a sweet temper of spirit, whereby a
Christian carries himself in an equal poise in
every condition. The nature of this will ap-
pear more clear in these three general rules.
1. Contentment is a divine thing. It be-
comes ours, not by acquisition, but infusion.
It is a slip taken off from the Tree of Life, and
planted by the Spirit of God in the soul ; it is
a fruit, that grows not in the garden of phi-
losophy, but is of a heavenly birth : it is, there-
fore, very observable, that Contentment is
joined with Godhness, and goes in equipage —
"But godliness, with contentment, is great
gain," 1 Tim. vi. 6. Contentment being a
consequent of godliness, or a companion to it,
I call it divine, to contradistinguish it from that
contentment which .a moral man may arrive at.
Heathens have seemed to have this content-
ment ; but it was only the shadow and picture
46 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
of it ; the heryl, not the true diamond. Theirs
was but civil, this is sacred ; theirs was only
from principles of reason, this of religion ;
theirs was only Jighted at Nature's torch, this
at the Lamp of Scripture. Reason may a lit-
tle teach contentment : as thus — " Whatever
my condition be, this is that I am born to ; and,
if I meet with crosses, it is but a catholic
misery— all have their share : why, therefore,
should I be troubled ?" Reason may suggest
this ; and, indeed, this may be rather constraint
than content : but, to live securely and cheer-
fully upon God, in the abatement of creature
supplies, religion can only bring this into the
soul's exchequer.
2. Contentment is an intrinsical thing.
It lies within a man ; not in the bark, but the
root. Contentment hath both its fountain and
stream in the soul. The beam hath not its
light from the air. The beams of comfort,
which a contented man hath, do not arise from
foreign comforts, but from within. As sorrow
is seated in the spirit, the heart knows its oion
grief, Prov. xiv. 10 ; so contentment lies with-
in the soul, and doth not depend upon exter-
nals. Hence I gather, that outward troubles
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 47
cannot hinder this blessed contentment. It is
a spiritual thing, and ariseth from spiritual
grounds, viz. The apprehension of God's love.
When there is a tempest without, there may-
be music within. A bee may sting through
the skin, but it cannot sting to the heart. Out-
ward afflictions cannot sting to a Christian's
heart, where contentment lies. Thieves may
plunder us of our money and plate, but not of
this pearl of contentment, unless we are wil-
ling to part with it ; for it is locked up in the
cabinet of the heart. The soul which is pos-
sessed of this rich treasure of contentment, is
like Noah in the ark, that can sing in the midst
of a deluge, or as Paul and Silas in the prison.
3. Contentment is an habitual thing. It
shines, with a fixed light, in the firmament of
the soul. Contentment doth not appear only
now and then, as some stars which are seen
but seldom, it is a settled temper of the heart :
one action doth not denominate it. He is not
said to be a liberal man, that gives alms once
in his life ; a covetous man may do so : but he
is said to be liberal, that is given to liberality,
Rom. xii. 13 ; that is, who, upon all occasions,
is wiUing to indulge the necessities of the poor
4*
48 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
— SO he is said to be a contented man, that is
given to contentment. It is not casual, but
constant. Aristotle, in his rhetoric, distin-
guisheth between colours in the face that arise
from 'passion, and those which arise from com-
plexion. The pale face may look red w^hen it
blusheth ; but this is only a passion : he is said
properly to be ruddy and sanguine, who is con-
stantly so ; it is his complexion. He is not a
contented man, who is so upon an occasion,
and perhaps when he is pleased, but who is so
constantly ; it is the habit and complexion of
his soul.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 49
CHAPTER Vn.
Reasons pressing to Holy Contentment.
Having opened the nature of contentment,
I come next to lay down some reasons or argu-
ments to contentment, which may preponderate
with us.
The first is, God''s precept. It is charged
upon as a duty. Be content with such things
as you have, Heb. xiii. 5. The same God who
hath bid us beheve, hath bid us be content ; if
we obey not, we run ourselves into a state of
discontent. God's word is a sufficient war-
rant ; it hath authority in it, and must be a sa-
cred spell to discontent. Be it so, w^as enough
among Pythagoras' scholars — Be it enacted, is
the royal stjde. God's words must be the star
that guides, and his will the weight that moves
our obedience. His word is a law, and hath
majesty enough in it to captivate us into obe-
dience : our hearts must not be more unquiet
than the raging sea, which at his word is stilled,
Matt. viii. 26.
2. The second reason enforcing content-
50 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
ment is, God^s promise ; for he hath said, I
will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, Heb.
xviii. 5, where God hath engaged himself un-
der hand and seal for our necessary provisions.
If a king should say to one of his subjects, I
will take care for thee ; as long as I have any
crown revenues thou shalt be provided for ; if
thou art in danger I will secure thee ; if in
w^ant I will supply thee ; w^ould not that sub-
ject be content ? Behold, God hath here made
a promise to the believer, and, as it were, en-
tered into bond for his security. I will never
leave thee. Shall not this charm the devil of
discont( n'; ? Leave thy fatherless children
with me, I will preserve them alive, Jerem.
xlix. 11. Methinks I see the godly man on
his death-bed much discontented, and hear him
complaining, what w^ill become of my wife and
children when I am dead and gone. They
may come to poverty. God hath made a
promise to us that he will not leave us, and
hath entailed the promise upon our wife and
children ; and w^ill not this satisfy ? True
faith will take God's single bond without call-
ing for witnesses.
3. Be content: because our condition in
DIVINE CONTENTMEi\T. 51
life is according to the will of God, and he sits
at the helm of all his providences, to make them
subservient to his own glory and the good of
mankind.
Let a Christian often think with himself,
who hath placed me here, w-hether I am in a
higher state or lower ; not chance or fortune,
as the poor blind heathens imagined. No : it
is the all-wise God, that hath, by his providence,
fixed me in this orb ; and we ought to be con-
tent in that situation, w^here he has placed us.
Say not such a one hath occasioned this to me.
Look not too much at the under wheel. We
read in Ezekiel, i. 16, of a wheel within a
wheel. God's providence is the cause of the
turning of the wheels, and his divine influence
is the inner wheel that moves all the rest.
God has a design in all his providences, to
make all things w^ork together for good to them
that love him. Say then, with David, I w^as
silent because thou Lord didst it, Psalm xxxix. 9.
God hath set us in our station, and he hath done
it in wisdom, and this should be a counterpoise
against our discontent. We fancy such a con-
dition in life good for us ; whereas, if we were
our own carvers, we should often cut the worst
52 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
piece. Lot being put to his choice, did choose
Sodom, Gen. xiii. 10, 11, which soon after was
burnt with fire. Rachel was very desirous of
children. Give me children, said she, or else I
die, Gen. xxx. 1, and it cost her her life in
brino^ino- forth a child. Abraham was earnest
for Ishmael. that Ishmael may live before
thee, Gen. xvii. 18.
But he had little comfort, either of him or
his seed : he was born a son of strife ; his hand
was against every man, and every man's hand
against him. The disciples wept for Christ's
leaving the world ; they chose his corporeal pre-
sence : whereas it was best for them that
Christ should be gone, or else the Comforter
would not come, John xvi. 7. David desired
the life of his child, and he wept and fasted for
it; but when he saw it was the will of God to
take it, he cries out in the language of holy
submission, I shall go to him, but he shall not
return to me, 2 Sam. xii. 23. We often stand
in our own light ; if we should sort or parcel
out our own comforts, we should hit upon the
wrong. Is it not well for the child, that the
parent should choose for it 1 Were it left to
itself, it would, perhaps, choose a knife to cut
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 53
its own fingers. A man in a fit calls for wine,
w^hich, if he had it, were little better than poi-
son. It is well for the patient that he is at ihe
physician's appointment. The consideration of
God's overruling providence, in all our con-
cerns in life, should work our hearts to holy con-
tentment. The wise God hath ordered our condi-
tion. If he sees it better for us to abound, we shall
abound ; if he sees it better for us to want, we
shall want. Be content to be at God's disposal.
God sees, in his infinite wisdom, the same con-
dition is not convenient for all. That which is
good for one may be bad for another. One sea-
son of weather will not serve ail men's occa-
sions. One needs sunshine, another rain. One
condition of life will not fit every man, no more
than one suit of apparel will fit every body.
Prosperity is not fit for all, nor yet adversity.
If one man be brought low, perhaps he can
bear it better. He hath a greater portion of
grace, more faith and patience, he can gather
grapes of thorns, and pick some comforts out of
the cross. Every one cannot do this. Another
man is seated in an eminent place of dignity.
He is fitter for it. Perhaps it is a place requi-
ring more parts and judgment, which every one
54 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
is not capable of. Perhaps he can use his estate
better ; he hath a pubhc heart as well as a pub-
lic place. The all- wise God sees that condition
to be bad for one which is good for another.
Hence it is, he placeth men in different orbs
and spheres, some higher, some lower. One
man desires health. God sees sickness better
for him. God will work health out of sickness,
by bringing the body of sin into a consumption.
Another man desires liberty. God sees restraint
better ; for he will work his hberty by restraint.
When his feet are bound his heart shall be most
enlarged. Did we believe this, it would give
check to the sinful disputes and cavils of our
hearts. Shall I be discontented and murmur at
the wise dispensations of God's providence 1 Is
this to be a child or a rebel ?
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 55
CHAPTER VIII.
USE
Showing how a Christian may make his Life com-
foi table.
It shows how a Christian may corae to lead
a comfortable life, even a heaven upon earth,
be the times what they, w^ill ; viz. by Christian
contentment, Prov. xv. 13. The comforts of
life doth not stand in having much ; it is Christ's
maxim — Man^s life consisteth not in the abun-
dance of things which he doth possess, Luke xii.
15, but it is in being contented. Is not the bee
as well contented with the feeding on the dew,
or sucking from a flower, as the ox that grazeth
on the mountains? Contentment lies within
a man, in the heart ; and the way to be com-
fortable is, not by having our barns filled, but
our minds quiet. '' The contented man," saith
Seneca, *' is the happy man." Discontent is
a fretting humour, which dries the brains,
wastes the spirits, corrodes and eats out the
comfort of life. — Discontent makes a man that
5
56 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
he doth not enjoy what he doth possess. A
drop or two of vinegar will sour a whole glass
of wine. Let a man have the affluence and
confluence of worldly comforts, a drop or two
of discontent will embitter and poison all.
Comfort depends upon Contentment. Jacob
went halting, when the sinew upon the hollow
of his thigh shrank ; so when the sinew of con-
tentment begins to shrink, we go halting in our
comforts. Contentment is as necessary to keep
the life comfortable, as oil is necessary to keep
the lamp burning : the clouds of discontent do
often drop the show^ers of tears. Would w^e
have comfort in our lives, be content. Why
dost thou complain of thy troubles ? It is not
trouble that troubles, but discontent ; it is not
the water without the ship, but the water that
gets within the leak, w^hich drowns it. It is not
outward affliction that can make the life of a
Christian sad ; a contented mind would sail
above these waters: but, when there's a leak
of discontent open, and trouble gets into the
heart, then it is disquieted, and sinks.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 57
CHAPTER DC.
USE II.
A Check to the discontented Christian.
Here is a just reproof to such as are discon-
tented with their condition. This disease is al-
most epidemical. Some, not content with their
calHngs which God hath set them in, must be
a step higher, from the plough to the throne ;
wlo, hke the spider in the Proverbs, will take
hold yyith their hands, and he in king^s palaces,
Prov. XXX. 28. Others exalt themselves to the
ministry without thinking on the importance of
the work or duly considering the necessity of
divine influence, and by thus manifesting the
pride of the human heart they take to them-
selves that honour which belongs to God only ;
and some there be, who, without regard to fu-
ture consequences, waste their time and ruin
their souls by seeking that honour which comes
from man. These do secretly tax the wisdom
of God, that he hath not screwed them up in
their condition a peg higher. Every man is
58 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
complaining that his estate is no better, though
he seldom complains that his heart is no better.
One man commends this kind of hfe, another
commends that ; one man thinks a country-life
best, another a city -life. The soldier thinks it
best to be a merchant, and the merchant to be
a soldier. Men can be content to be any thing
but what God will have them. How is it that
no man is contented ? Very few Christians
have learned St. Paul's Icvsson : neither poor
nor rich know how to be content ; they cau
learn any thing but this.
1. If men are poor, they learn to be, 1.
Envious. They malign those that are above
them ; another's prosperity is an eye-sore.
When God's candle shines upon their neigh-
bour's tabernacle, this light offends them : in
the midst of wants, men can in this sense
abound ; viz. in envi/ and malice. An envious
eye is an evil eye. 2. They learn to be queru-
lous, still complaining, as if God had dealt
hardly with them : they are ever telling of
their wants ; they want this or that comfort ;
whereas, their greatest want is a contented
spirit. Those that are well enough content
with their sins, yet are not content with their
condition.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 59
2. If men are rich, they learn to be covet-
ous, thirsting insatiably after the world ; and,
by an unjust means, scraping it together. Their
right-hand is full of bribes, as the Psalmist ex-
presseth it, Psal. xxvi. 10. Put a good cause
in one scale, and a piece of gold in the other,
and the gold weighs heaviest. " There are,"
saith Solomon, " four things that say, it is not
enough,'^ Prov. xxx. 15. I may add a fifth,
viz. the heart of a covetous man : so that neither
poor nor rich know how to be content.
Never, certainly, since the creation, did this
sin of discontent reign, or rather rage, more
than in our times ; never was God more dis-
honoured. You can hardly speak with any,
but the passion of his tongue betrays the dis-
content of his heart ; every one lisps out his
trouble, and here even the stammering tongue
speaks too free and fluently. If we have not
what we desire, God shall not have a good
look from us ; but presently w^e are sick of
discontent, and ready to die out of humour. K
God will not give the people of Israel for their
lusts, they bid him take their lives ; they must
have quails to their manna. Ahab, though a
king — and one would think his crown lands
5*
60 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
had been sufficient for him — yet is sullen and
discontented for want of Naboth's vineyard.
Jonah, though a good man and a prophet, yet
ready to die in a pet, Jonah iv. 8 ; and because
God killed his gourd — Kill me too, said he.
Pvachel said, Give me children, or I die ; she
had many blessings, if she could have seen
them, but wanted this blessing of contentment.
God will supply our wants, but must he satisfy
our lusts too ? Many are discontented for a
very trifle ; another hath a better dress, a richer
jewel, a newer fashion. Nero, not content
with his empire, w^as troubled that the musi-
cians had more skill in playing than he. How
fantastic are some, that pine away in discon-
tent for the want of those things which, if they
had, would but render them more ridiculous !
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 61
CHAPTER X.
USE III.
A persuasive to Contentment,
It exhorts us to labour for contentment :
this is that which doth beautify and bespangle
a Christian ; and, as a spiritual embroidery,
doth set him off in the eyes of the world.
Object. But methinks I hear some bitterly
complaining, and saying to me — " Alas ! how is
it possible to be contented ! the Lord haih
made my chain heavy, ^^ Lam. iii. 7, " he hath
cast me into a very sad condition."
Answ. There is no sin but labours either to
hide itself under some mask ; or, if it cannot be
concealed, then to vindicate itself by some
apology. This sin of discontent 1 find very
witty in its apologies ; which 1 shall first dis-
cover, and then make a reply. We must lay
it down for a rule, that Discontent is a sin —
so that all the pretences and apologies where-
w^ith it labours to justify itself, are but the pro-
duction of Satan's temptations.
62 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
SECTION I.
The first Apology that Discontent makes — answered.
The first apology which Discontent makes
is this — " I have lost a child." Paulina, upon
the loss of her children, was so possessed with
a spirit of sadness, that she had like to haye
entombed herself in her own discontent. Our
love to relations is oftentimes more than our
love to religion.
Answ. 1. We must be content, not only
when God gives mercies, but when he taketh
them away. If we must in every thing give
thanks, 1 Thes. v. 18, then in nothing be dis-
contented.
2. Perhaps God has taken away the cis-
tern, that he may give you the more of the
spring ; he hath darkened the star-light, that
you may have more sun-light. God intends
you shall have more of himself ; and is not he
better than ten sons ? Look not so much upon
a temporal loss, as a spiritual gain : the com-
forts of the world run dregs ; but those which
come out of the granary of the Promise are
purer and sweeter.
3. Your child was not given, but lent. I
DIVTNE CONTENTMENT. 63
have, saith Hannah, lent my son to the Lord,
1 Sam. i. 2S. She lent him ! The Lord hath
but lent him to her. Mercies are not entailed
upon us, but lent : what a man lends, he may
call for again when he pleases. God hath put
out a child to thee awhile to nurse ; w^ilt thou
be displeased if he takes his child home again ?
be not discontented that a mercy is taken
aw^ay from you, but rather be thankful that it
was lent you so long.
4. Suppose your child was taken from you,
either he was good or bad. If he was reh l-
lious, you have not so much parted with a
child as a buiden ; you grieve for that which
might have been a greater grief to you. If he
w^as religious, then remember, he is iSikenfioni
the evil to come, Isaiah Ivii. 1, and placed in
his centre of felicity. This lower region being
full of gross and hurtful vapours, how happy
are those w^ho are mounted into the celestial
orbs ! The righteous is taken away — in the
original it is, he is gathered ; a wicked child
dying is cut off", but the pious child is gathered.
Even as w^e see men gather flowers, and candy
them, and preserve them by them ; so hath
God gathered thy child as a sweet flower,
64 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
that he may candy it with glory, and preserve
it by him for ever. Why then should a Chris-
tian be discontented ? Why should he weep
excessively ? Dcmghters of Jerusalem, weep
not for me ; but weep for yourselves, Luke
xxiii. 28. If we could but hear our children
speaking to us out of heaven, they would say —
*' Weep not for us who are happy ; we lie
upon a soft pillow, even in the bosom of Christ :
the Prince of Peace is embracing us, and kiss-
ing us with the kisses of his lips. Be not
troubled at our preferment : weep not for us,
but weep for yourselves, who are in a sinful,
sorrowful world. You are in the valley of
tears, but we are on the mountains of spices :
we are gotten to our harbour, but you are still
tossing upon the waves of inconstancy." O
Christian ! Be not discontented that thou hast
parted with such a child, but rather rejoice that
thou hadst such a child to part with ; break
forth into thankfulness. What an honour is it
to a parent to beget such a child, that while he
lives, increaseth the joy of the glorified angels :
and, when he dies, increaseth the number of
the glorified saints ! Luke xv. 10.
5. If God hath taken away one of your
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 65
children, he hath left you more ; he might have
stripped you of all. He took away all Job's
comforts, his estate, his children: and, indeed,
his wife was left but as a cross. Satan made
a bow of this rib, as Chrysostom speaks, and
shot a temptation by her at Job, thinking to
have shot him to the heart — Curse God, and
die, saith she. Job ii. 9. But Job had upon him
the breastplate of integrity ; and, though his
children were taken aw^ay, yet not his graces ;
still he is content, still he blessed God.
think how many mercies you still enjoy ! Yet
our base hearts are more discontented at one
loss, than thankful for a hundred mercies.
God hath plucked one bunch of grapes from
you ; but how many precious clusters are left
behind ?
Object. *' But it was my only child, the
staff of my age, the seed of my comfort, and the
only blossom out of which the honour of an
ancient family did grow."
Answ. 1. God hath promised you — if you
belong to him — a name better than of sons and
daughters, Isaiah Ivi. 6. Is he dead that should
have been the monmnent to have kept up the
name of a family ? God hath given you a new
66 DB'INE CONTENTMENT.
name ; he hath written your name in the book
of hfe. Behold your spiritual heraldry ', here
is a name that cannot be cut off.
2. Hath God taken away thy onli/ child ?
He hath given thee his only Son : this is a
happy exchange. What needs he complain of
losses, that hath Christ ? He is the Father's
brightness, Heb. i. 3, his riches, Col. ii. 9, his
delight, Psalm xlii. 1. Is there enough in
Christ to dehght the heart of God ? and is
there not enough in him to ravish us with holy
delight ? He is wisdom to teach us, righteous-
ness to acquit us, sanctijication to adorn us; he
is that royal and princely gift ; he is the bread
of angels, Psal. Ixxviii. 25, the joy and triumph
of saints ; he is all in all. Why, then, art thou
discontented ? Though thy child be lost, yet
thou hast him for whom all things are loss.
3. And, lastly, let us blush to think that
Nature should seem to outstrip Grace. Pul-
villus, a Heathen, when he was about to con-
secrate a temple to Jupiter, and news was
brought to him of the death of his son, would
not desist from his enterprise ; but, with much
composuie of mind, gave order for decent burial.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 67
SECTION II.
The second Apology answered.
The second apology that Discontent makes,
is — " I have a great part of my estate melted
away, and trading begins to fail."
God is pleased sometimes to bring his chil-
dren very low, and cut them short in their es-
tate : it fares with them as with that widow
who had nothing in her house save a pot of oil,
2 Kings iv. 2. But be content.
1. God hath taken away your estate, but
not your portion. This is a sacred paradox.
Honour and estate are not part of a Christian's
jointure ; they are rather accessories, than essen-
tials, and are extrinsical and foreign ; therefore
the loss of these cannot denominate a man mis-
erable: still the portion remains — The Lord is
my portion, saith my soul, Lam. iii. 24. Sup-
pose one were worth a million of money, and he
should chance to lose a pin off his sleeve ; this
is no part of his estate, nor can we say he is
undone : the loss of sublunary comforts is not
so much to a Christian's portion as the loss of
a pin is to a million. These things shall he
added to you, Matt. vi. 33, they shall be cast in
6
68 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
as overplus. When a man buys a piece of
cloth, he hath an inch or two given into the
measure. Now, though he lose his inch of
cloth, yet he is not undone ; for still the whole
piece remains. Our outward estate is not so
much in regard of the portion, as an inch of
cloth is to the whole piece ; why then should a
Christian be discontented, when the title to his
spiritual treasure remains ? A thief may take
away all my money that I have about me, but
not my land ; still a Christian hath a title to the
land of promise. Mary hath chosen the better
part, ivhich shall not he taken from her, Luke
X. 42.
2. Perhaps, if thy estate had not been lost,
thy soul might have been lost : outward com-
forts do often quench inward heat. God can-
not bestow a jewel upon us, but we fall so in
love with it, that we forget him that gave it.
What a pity is it that we should commit idola-
try with the creature ! God is forced some-
times to drain away an estate : the plate and
jewels are often cast overboard to save the pas-
senger. Many a man may curse the time that
ever he had such an estate ; it hath been an
enchantment to draw away his heart from God.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 69
Some there are that will he rich, and they fall
into a snare, 1 Tim. vi. 9. Art thou troubled
that God hath prevented a snare 1 Riches are
thorns, Matt. xiii. 7. Art thou angry that God
hath pulled away a thorn from thee ? Riches
are compared to thick clay, Hab. ii. 6. Perhaps
thy affections, which are the feet of the soul,
might have stuck so fast in this golden clay,
that they could not have ascended up to heaven.
Be content. If God stop our outward comforts,
it is that the stream of our love may run faster
another w^ay.
3. If your estate be small, yet God can
bless a little. It is not how much money we
have, but how^ much blessing. He that often
curseth the bags of gold, can bless the meal in
the barrel, and the oil in the cruse. What if
thou hast not the full fleshpots ? Yet thou hast
a promise — / will bless her 'provision, Psal.
cxxxi. 75, and then a little goes a great way.
Be content, thou hast the dew of a blessing dis-
tilled. A dinner of green herbs, where love is,
is sweet — I may add, w^here the love of God is.
Another may have more estate than you, but
more care ; more riches, less rest ; more reve-
nues, but withal more occasions of expense.
70 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
He hath a greater inheritance, yet perhaps God
doth not give him 'power to eat thereof, Eccles.
vi. 2, he hath the dominion of his estate, not
the use, he holds more, but enjoys less : in a
word, thou hast less gold than he, perhaps less
guilt.
4. You did never so thrive in your spiritual
trade ; your heart was never so low^, as since
your condition was so low ; you were never so
poor in Spirit, never so rich in Faith. You
did never run the ways of God's commandments
so fast as since some of your golden weights
were taken off. You never had such trading
for heaven in all your life. You did never make
such adventures upon the promises as since you
left off your sea adventures. This is the best
kind of merchandise. 0, Christian, thou never
hadst such incomes of the Spirit, such spring-
tides of joy : and what, though weak in estate,
if strong in assurance, be content. "What you
have lost one way, you have gained another.
5. Be your losses what they vrill in this
kind — remember, in every loss there is only a
suffeiing : but in every discontent there is a
sin ; and one sin is worse than a thousand suf-
ferings. What ! because some of inv revenues
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 71
are gone, shall I part with some oi my righteous-
ness? Shall my faith and patience go too?
Because I do not possess an estate, shall I not
therefore possess my own spirit ? learn to
be content !
SECTION III.
The third Apology answered.
The third apology is, — " It is sad with me
in my relations ; where I should find most com-
fort, there I have most grief." This apology
or objection brancheth itself into two particu-
lars ; whereto I shall give a distinct reply.
1. My children are rebellious. I fear they
are running in haste the broad road to destruc-
tion. It is sad, indeed, to see a child grow har-
dened in sin and rebellion ; and certainly the
pangs of grief which parents feel under such
heart-rending trouble, must bow the spirit down.
But be content. For consider —
1. You may pick something out of your
child's undutifulness : the child's sin is some-
times the parent's sermon. The undutifulness
of children to us may be a memento, to put us
6*
72 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
in mind of our undutifulness once to God. Time
was when we were rebellious children. How
long did our hearts stand out as garrisons against
God ! How long did he parley with us, and
beseech us, ere we would yield ! He walked
in the tenderness of his heart towards us, but
we walked in the forwardness of our hearts
toward him ; and, since grace hath been planted
in our souls, how much the wild olive is still in
us ! How many motions of the Spirit do we
daily resist ! how many unkindnesses and af-
fronts have we put upon Christ ! Let this open
a spring of repentance. Look upon your child's
rebellion, and mourn for your own rebellion.
2. Though to see him undutiful is your
grief, yet not always your sin. Hath a parent
given the child, not only the milk of the breast,
but the sincere milk of the Word? 1 Pet. ii. 2.
Hast thou seasoned his tender years with reli-
gious education ? Thou canst do no more.
Parents can only work knowledge ; God must
work grace : they can only lay the wood to-
gether, it is God must make it burn. A parent
can only be a guide to show his child the way
to heaven ; the Spirit of God must be a load-
stone to draw his heart into that way. Am I
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 73
in God's stead, saith Jacob to Rachel, who hath
withheld the fruit of the womb ? Gen. xxx. 2.
Can I give children ? So, is a parent, in God's
stead, to give grace 1 Who can help it, if a
child, having the light of conscience. Scripture
and education, these three torches in his hand,
yet runs wilfully into the deep ponds of sin ?
Weep for thy child, pray for him ; but do not
sin for him, hy discontent.
3. Remember grace can change the heart.
God can reduce him. He hath promised to
turn the heart of the children to their parents,
Mai. iv. 6, and to open springs of grace in the
desert, Isa. xxxv. 6. When any child is going
full-sail to the devil, God can blow with a con-
trary wind of his Spirit, and alter his course.
When Paul was breathing out persecution
against the Saints, and was sailing hellward,
God turns him another way. Before, he was
going to Damascus ; God sends him to Ana-
nias : before a persecutor, now a preacher.
Though our children are for the present fallen
into the deviVs 'pound, God can turn them from
the power of Satan, Acts xxvi. 18, and bring
them in at the twelfth hour. Monica was
weeping for her son Augustine ; at last God
74 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
gave him in, upon prayer ; and he became a
famous instrument in the church of God.
2. The second branch of the objection is —
" But my husband takes ill courses. Where I
looked for honey, behold a sting !"
Answ. It is sad to have the living and the
dead tied together ; yet, let not your heart fret
with discontent : mourn for his sin, but do not
murmur. For —
1. God hath placed you in your relation ;
and you cannot be discontented, but you quar-
rel with God. What, for every cross that be-
falls us, shall we call the infinite wisdom of
God in question ? the murmuring of our
hearts !
The more ungodly your husband, or your
relations are, the more holy do you strive to
be ; and if they curse and revile you, do you
bless and pray for them, Matt, v., and think it
not strange concerning those fiery trials which
are to try you ; for God, by a divine power,
often sustains and preserves his saints, through
the hottest fires of persecution ; the devil and
wicked men can raise against them, and we
should earnestly pray, that the sins of our rela-
tions, may be as a spur to our graces, and their
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 75
turbulent tempers, be as bellows, to blow up
the flame of zeal and devotion in us the more,
and let the husband's unkindness be the means
of sending the wife more frequent to the throne
of p;race, and the perverseness of the wife be
the means of sending the husband oftener into
his closet.
SECTION IV.
The fourth Apology answered.
The next apology that Discontent makes
is — " But my friends have dealt very unkindly
with me, and proved false."
Answ. It is sad, when a friend proves like
a hrook in summer, Job. vi. 15. The traveller,
being parched with heat, comes to the brook,
hoping to refresh himself; but the brook is dried
up : yet be content.
1. You are not alone : others of the saints
have been betrayed by friends ; and, when they
have leaned upon them, they have been as a
foot out of joint. This was true in the type of
David, Psal. Iv. 12, 13. " It was not an ene-
my reproached me ; but it was thou, a man,
76 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
my equal, my guide, and my acquaintance :
we took sweet counsel together." And, in the
antitype Christ, he was betrayed by a friend ;
and why should we think it strange to have
the same measure dealt unto us as Jesus Christ
had ? The servaid is not above his master
John xiii. 16.
2. A Christian may often read his sin in
his punishment. Hath not he dealt treacher-
ously with God ? How oft hath he grieved
the Comforter, broken his vows ; and, through
unbelief, sided with Satan against God ! How
oft hath he abused love ; taking the jewels of
God's mercies, and making a golden calf of
them, serving his own lusts! How oft hath
he made the free grace of God, which should
have been a bolt to keep out sin, rather a key
to open the door to it ! These wounds hath
the Lord received in the house of his friends,
Zach. xiii. 6. Look upon the unkindness of
thy friend, and mourn for thy own unkindness
against God. Shall a Christian condemn that
in another, which he hath been too often guilty
of himself?
3. Hath thy friend proved treacherous?
Perhaps you did repose too much confidence in
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 77
him. If you lay more weight upon a house
than the pillars will bear, it must needs break.
God saith — Trust ye not in a friend, Micah
vii. 5. Perhaps you did put more trust in him,
than you did dare to put in God. Friends are
as Venice-glasses : we may \\se them ; but, if
we lean too hard upon them, they will break.
Behold matter of humility, but not of sullenness
and discontent.
4. You have a Friend in heaven who will
never fail you. There is a Friend, saith Solo-
mon, that sticketh closer than a brother, Prov.
xviii. 24. Such a friend is God. He is very
studious and inquisitive in our behalf; he halh
a debating with himself, a consulting and pro-
jecting how he may do us good. He is the
hest friend, which may give contentment in
the midst of all the disrespect of friends.
Consider, 1. He is a loving Friend. God
is love, 1 John iv. 16. He is said sometimes
to engrave us on the palms of his hands, Isa.
xlix. 16, that we may be never out of his
eye; and to carry us in his bosom, Isa.
xl. 11, near to his heart. There is no stop or
stint in his love ; but, as the river Nile, it over-
flows all the banks : his love is far beyond our
78 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
thoughts, as it is above our deserts. the in-
finite love of God, in giving the Son of his love
to be made flesh, which was more than if all
the angels had been made worms ! God, in
giving Christ to us, gave his very heart to us.
Here is love penciled out in all its glory, and
engraven as with the 'point of a diamond ! All
other love is hatred, in comparison to the love
of our Friend.
2. He is a careful Friend — He careth for
you, 1 Peter v. 7.
1. He minds and transacts our business as
his own ; he accounts his people's interests
and concernments as his interest.
2. He provides for us grace, to enrich us ;
and glory, to ennoble us. It was David's com-
plaint — JVb man careth for my soul, Psal. clxii.
4. A Christian hath a Friend that cares for
him.
3. He is a prudent Friend, Dan. ii. 20. A
friend may sometimes err through ignorance or
mistake, and give his friend poison instead of
sugar ; but God is wise in heart, Job ix. 4. He
is skilful as well as faithful ; he knows what
our disease is, and what physic is most proper
to apply ; he knows what will do us good,
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 79
and what wind will be best to carry us to
heaven.
4. He is d. faithful Friend, Deut. vii. 9, 10.
And he is faithful, 1, in his promises — In hope
of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, hath
promised. Tit. i. 2, Isai. Ixiii. 8. God's people
are children that will not lie ; but God is a
God that cannot lie. He will not deceive the
faith of his people ; nay, he cannot. He is
called the Truth ; he can as well cease to be
God as cease to be true. The Lord may some-
times change his promise — as when he converts
a temporal promise into a spiritual — but he
can never hreak his promise.
5. He is a compassionate Friend. Hence,
in Scripture, we read of the yearnings of his
bowels, Jer. xxxi. 20. God's friendship is no-
thing else but compassion ; for there is natu-
rally no affection in us to desire his friendship,
nor any goodness in us to deserve it : the load-
stone is in himself. When we were full of 5m
he w^as full of mercy ; when we were enemies,
he sent an embassage of peace: when our
hearts were turned back from God, his heart
was turned toward us. the tenderness and
sympathy of our Friend in heaven ! We our-
7
80 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
selves have some relentlngs of heart to those
-who are in misery ; but it is God who begets all
the bowels of mercies that are in us ; therefore
he is called the Father of mercies, 2 Cor. i. 3.
6. He is a constant Friend. His compos-
sionsfail not, Lam. iii. 22. Friends do often,
in adversity, drop off as leaves in autumn.
These are rather flatterers than friends. Joab
was, for a time, faithful to king David's house :
he went not after Absalom's treason ; but,
within a while, proved false to the crown, and
went after the treason of Adonijah, 1 Kings
i. 7. God is a friend for ever — Having loved
his own, he loved them to the end, John xiii. 1.
"What, though I am despised, yet God loves
me : what, though my friends cast me off, yet
God loves me. He loves to the end ; and
there is no end of that love.
This, methinks, in case of our disquietude
and unkindnesses, is enough to charm down
our discontent.
SECTION V.
The fifth Apology answered.
The next apology is — " I am under great
DIVINE CONTEXTMcTN'T. 81
reproaches. Let not this discontent you.
For —
1. It is a sign there is some good in thee.
What e^-il have I done that this bad man com-
mends me ? The applause of the wicked
usually denotes some evil, and their censure
imports some good, Psal. xvi. 20. David wept
and fasted, and that was turned to his reproach,
Psal. Ixix. 10. As we must pass to heaven
through the pikes of suffering, so likewise
through the clouds of reproach.
2. If your reproach be for God, as David's
was — For thy sake I have hyrne reproach,
Psal. Ixix. 7, then it is rather matter of tri-
umph than dejection. Christ doth not say
when you are reproached, he discontented, but
rejoice, Matt. v. 12. Wear your reproach as
a diadem of honour ; for now a Spirit of Glory
rests upon you, 1 Pet. iv. 14. Put your re-
proaches into the inventor}' of your riches : so
did Moses, Heb. xi. 26. It should be a Chris-
tian's ambition to wear his Saviour's livery,
though it be sprinkled with blood, and sullied
with disgrace.
3. God will do us good by reproach, as
David said of Shimei's cursing — " It may be,
82 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
the Lord will requite good for his cursing this
day," 2 Sam. xvi. 12. This puts us upon
searching out sin. A child of God labours to
read his sin in every stone of reproach that is
cast at him ; besides, now we have an oppor-
tunity to exercise patience and humility.
4. Jesus Christ was content to be reproach-
ed for us — He despised the shame of the cross,
Heb. xii. 2. It may amaze us to think, that
he who was God could endure to be spit upon,
to be crowned with thorns in a kind, of jeer ;
and, when he w^as ready to bow his head upon
the cross, to have the Jews, in scorn, wag their
heads and say — He saved others, himself he
cannot save : the shame of the cross was as
much as the blood of the cross ; his name was
crucified before his body. The sharp arrows of
reproach, that the world did shoot at Christ,
w^ent deeper into his heart than the spear.
His suffering was so ignominious, that, as if the
sun did blush to behold it, it withdrew its
bright beams, and masked itself with a cloud :
and well it might, w-hen the Sun of righteous-
ness was in an eclipse ! All this contumely
and reproach did the God of glory endure, or
rather despise, for us. Oh then ! let us be con-
DIYTNE CONTEx\TMENT. 83
tf nt to have our names eclipsed for Christ ; let
not reproach lie at our heart, but let us bind it
as a crown about our head. Alas ! what is re-
proach ? This is but s^mall shot ; how will
men stand in the moulh of the cannon ? Those
who are discontented at a reproach, will be of-
fended at a fagot.
5. Is not many a man contented to suffer re-
proach for maintaining his lust ? and shall not we
for maintaining the truth ? Some glory in that
which is their shame, Phil. iii. 19, and shall we
be ashamed of that which is our glory ? Be
not troubled at these petty things : he, whose
heart is once divinely touched with the load-
stone of God's Spirit, doth account it his honour
to be dishonoured for Christ, Acts xv. 4, and
doth as much despise the world's censure, as he
doth their praise.
6. We live in an age wherein men dare re-
proach God himself. The divinity of the Son
of God is blasphemously reproached by the So-
cinian ; the blessed Bible is reproached by the
anti-Scripturist, as if it were but a legend of lies,
and every man's faith a fable ; the Justice of
God is called to the bar of Reason by too many ;
the Wisdom of God, in his providential actings,
84 DIVINE COxNTENTMENT.
is taxed by the Atheist ; the Ordinances of God
are decried by the Formahst, as being too heavy
a burden for a free-born conscience, and too
low and carnal for a subhme seraphic Spirit ;
the Ways of God, which have the majesty of
holiness shining in them, are calumniated by
the Profane; the mouths of men are open
against God, as if he were a hard Master, and
the path of Religion too strict and severe. If
men cannot give God a good word, shall we be
discontented or troubled that they speak hardly
of us ? Such as labour to bury the glory of re-
ligion, shall we wonder that their throats are
open sepulchres, Rom. iii. 13, to bury our good
name 1 Oh ! let us be contented, w^hile we are
in God's scouring-house, to have our names sul-
lied a little : the blacker we seem to be here,
the brighter shall we shine when God hath set
us upon the celestial shelf.
SECTION VI.
The sixth Apology answered.
The sixth apology that Discontent makes,
is disrespect in the world — " I have not that
DIVINE CONTENTMEXT. 85
esteem from men, as is suitable to my quality
and graces." And doth this trouble theel
Consider —
1. The world is an unequal judge ; as it is
full of change, so of 'partiality. The world
gives her respects, as she doth her places of
preferment, more by favour, often, than desert.
Hast thou the ground of real worth in thee 1
That is best worth that is in him that hath it ;
honour is in him that gives it. Better deserve
respect, and not have it, than have it, and not
deserve it.
2. Hast thou grace 1 God respects thee,
and his judgment is best worth prizing. A be-
liever is a person of honour, being hoiii of God.
Since thou wast precious in mine eyes, thou
hast been honourable and I have loved thee, Isai.
xliii. 4. Let the world think what they will
of you 'j perhaps, in their eyes, you are a cast-
away : in God's eyes, a dove. Can. ii. 14, a
spouse, Can. v. 1, a jewel, Mai. iii. 17 ; others
account you the dregs and oif-scouring of the
world, 1 Cor. iv. 13, but God will give whole
kingdoms for your ransom, Isai. xliii. 4. Let
this content — " No matter with what oblique
eyes I am looked upon in the world : if I am
86 DIVINE CONTExNTMENT.
in Christ, God thinks well of me. It is better
that God approve, than man applaud. What
is a man the better, that his fellow-prisoners
commend him, if his Judge comdemn him ? Oh !
labour to keep in with God : prize his love.
Let my fellow-subjects frowm, I am contented,
being a favourite of the King of heaven."
3. If we are the children of God, we must
look for disrespect. A behever is in the
world, but not of the w^drld : w^e are here in a
pilgrim condition, out of our own country;
therefore must not look for the respects and
acclamations of the world ; it is sufficient that
we shall have honour in our own country, Heb.
xiii. 14. It is dangerous to be the world's fa-
vourite.
4. Discontent, arising from disrespect, sa-
vours too much of pride ; an humble Christian
hath a lower opinion of himself than others can
have of him. He that is taken up about the
thoughts of his sins, and how he hath provoked
God, he cries out as Agur — / a7n more brutish
than any man, Prov. xxx. 2, and therefore is
contented, though he be set among the dogs of
the flock, Job xxx. 1. Though he be low in
the thoughts of others, yet he is thankful, that
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 87
he is not laid in the lowest hell, Psal. Ixxxvi. 13.
A proud man sets a high value upon himself ;
and is angry with others, because they will not
come up to his price. Take heed of pride. Oh !
had others a window to look into thy breast, as
Crates once expressed it, or did thy heart stand
where thy face doth, thou wouldst wonder to
have so much respect.
SECTION VII.
The sevenih Apology answered.
The next Apology is — " I meet with very
great sufferings for the truth." Consider —
1. Your sufferings are not so great as your
sins. Put these two in the balance, and see
which weighs heaviest : where sin lies heavy,
sufferings lie light. A carnal spirit makes
more of his sufferings, and less of his sins ; he
looks upon one at the great end of the perspec-
tive ; but, upon the other, at the little end of
the perspective. The carnal heart cries out —
" Take away the yroo-^ ;" but a gracious heart
cries — " Take away the iniquity, '' 2 Sam.
xxiv. 10. The one saith — '' Never any one
OO DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
suffered as I have done :" but the other saith —
" Never any one sinned as I have done," Micah
vii. 9.
2. Art thou under sufferings ? Thou hast
an opportunity to show the valour and con-
stancy of thy mind ; some of God's saints would
have accounted it a great favour to have been
honoured with martyrdom. One said — " I am
in prison, still I am in prison." Thou countest
that a trouble, which others would have worn
as an ensign of their glory.
3. Even those who have gone only upon
moral principles, have shown much constancy
and contentment in their sufferings. Curtius,
being bravely mounted, and in armour, threw
himself into a great gulf, that the city of
Rome might, according to the oracle, be deli-
veied from the pestilence; and we, having a
divine oracle, That they icho kill the body, can-
not hurt the soul, shall we not, with much con-
stancy and patience, devote ourselves to injuries
for religion, and rather suffer for the truth, than
the truth suffer for us 1 The Decii, among the
Romans, vowed themselves to death, that their
legions and soldiers might be crowned with the
honour of the victory. ! what should we be
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 89
content to suffer, to make the truth victorious !
Regulus, having sworn that he would return to
Carthage, though he knew there was a furnace
heating for him there, yet, not daring to infringe
his oath, he did adventure to go : we then, who
are Christians, having hke one of old performed
to the Lord, and cannot go back, should rather
choose to suffer, than violate our sacred oath.
Thus the blessed martyrs, with what courage
and cheerfulness did they yield up their souls to
God ! and when the fire was set to their bo-
dies, yet their spirits were not at all fired with
passion or discontent. Though others hurt the
body, let them not the mind, through discon-
tent. Show, by your heroic courage, that you
are above those troubles which you cannot be
without.
SECTION VIII.
The eighth Apology answered.
The next Apology is — The prosperity of
the wicked.
Answ. I confess it is often so, that evil men
have the good things, and good men have the
90 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
evil things. David, though a good man, stum-
bled at this, and had like to have fallen, Psal.
Ixxiii. 2. Well, be contented ; for remember —
1. These are not the only things, nor the
best things ; they are mercies without the pale ;
these are but acorns, with which God feeds the
swine : you, who are believers, have more
choice fruit, the olive, the pomegranate, the
fruit which grows on the true vine, Jesus Christ ;
others have the fat of the earth, you have the
dew of heaven 5 they have a south land, you
have those springs of living water which are
clarified with Christ's blood, and sweetened with
his love.
2. To see the wicked flourish, is matter
rather of pity than envy ; it is all the heaven
they will have. Wo to you rich men, for ye have
received your consolations, Luke xi. 24. Hence
it was, that David made it his solemn prayer —
Deliver me from the wicked, from men of the
world, which have their portion in this life, and
whose helly thou fittest with thy hid treasure,
Psal. xvii. 14. The words, methinks, are Da-
vid's litany : from men of the world, which
have their portion in this life, good Lord, deli-
ver me. When the wicked have eaten of their
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 91
dainty dishes, there comes in a sad reckoning,
which will spoil all. The world is first musi-
cal, and then tragical : it is sad to reflect there
are many who live on the fat of the earth in
this life, that will be denied a drop of water to
cool their parched tongues, in the world to
come. remember ! for every sand of mercy
that runs out to the wicked, God puts a drop of
w^-ath into his vial : therefore, as that soldier
said to his fellow — " Do you envy me my
grapes ? They cost me dear ; I must die for
them." So I say — " Do you envy the wicked ?"
Alas! their prosperity is like Haman's banquet
before his execution. If a man was to be
hanged, would one envy to see him walk to the
gallows through pleasant fields, and fine gal-
leries, or to see him go up the ladder in cloth
of gold ? The wicked may flourish in their
bravery awhile : but, when they flourish as the
grass, it is that they shall be destroyed for ever,
Psal. xcii. 7. This proud grass shall be mown
down. Whatever a sinner enjoys, he hath a
curse with it, Mai. ii. 2. And shall we envy ?
What if poisoned bread be given to dogs ! The
long furrows in the backs of the godly have a seed
of blessing in them, when the table of the
8
92 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
wicked becomes a snare, and their honour their
ruin.
SECTION IX.
The ninth Apology answered.
11. The next Apology that Discontent makes
for itself, is— The evils of the times. "The
times are full of heresy and impiety, and this is
that which troubles me." This apology con-
sists of two branches, to which I shall answer
after its kind ; and —
1. The tim.es are full of heresy. This is
indeed sad ! when the devil cannot by violence
destroy the Church, he endeavours to poison it ;
when he cannot^ with Samson's fox-tails, set
the corn on fire, then he sows tares ; as he la-
bours to destroy the peace of the Church, by
division, so the truth of it by error. We may
cry out with Seneca — " We live in times
wherein there is a sluice open to all novel
opinions, and every man's opinion is his Bible.
Well this may make us mourn ; but let us not
murmur through discontent." Consider —
1. Error makes a discovery of men.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 93
1. Bad men. Error discovers such as are
tainted and corrupt. When the leprosy brake
forth in the forehead, then was the leper discov-
ered. Error is a spiritual bastard : the Devil is the
father, and Pride the mother. You never knew
an erroneous man, but he was a proud man.
Now it is good that such men should be laid
open ; to the intent, first, that God's righteous
judgments upon them may be adored, 2 Thes.
ii. 12 ; secondly, that others, who are free, be
not infected. If a man have the plague, it is
well it breaks forth. For my part, I would
avoid a heretic as I would avoid the Devil, for
he is sent on his errand. I appeal to you, if
there were a tavern in this city, where, under a
pretence of selling wine, many hogsheads of
poison were to be sold, were it not well that
others should know it, that they might not buy ?
It is good that those who have poisoned opinions
should be known, that the people of God may
come not near either the scent or taste of that
poison.
2. Error is a touch-stone, to discover good
men ; it tries the gold : There must he heresies,
that they which are approved may he made mmii-
fest, 1 Cor. xi. 19. Thus our love to Christ,
94 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
and zeal for truth, doth appear. God shows
who are the living fish, viz. such as swim against
the stream ; who are the sound sheep, viz. such
as feed in the green pastures of the ordinances ;
who are the doves, viz. such as live in the best
air, where the Spirit breathes. God sets a gar-
land of honour upon these — These are they
which came out of great tribulation, Rev. vii. 14.
So these are they that have opposed the errors
of the times ; these are they that have pre-
served the virginity of their conscience, who
have kept their judgment sound, and their
heart soft. God will have a trophy of honour
set upon some of the saints ; they shall be re-
nowned for their sincerity, being like the cy-
press, which keeps its greenness and freshness
in the winter season.
2. Be not sinfully discontented; for God can
make the errors of the Church advantageous to
truth. Thus the truths of God have come to be
more beaten out and confirmed : as it is in law,
one man laying a false title to a piece of land,
the true title hath, by this means, been the more
searched into, and ratified. Some had never
so studied to defend the truth by Scripture, if
others had not endeavoured to overthrow it by
DIVINE CONTENT.MENT. 95
sophistry : all the mists and fogs of error that
have risen out of the bottomless pit, have made
the glorious Sun of Truth to shine so much the
brighter. Had not Arius and Sabellius broached
those damnable errors, the truth of those ques-
tions about the blessed Trinity had never been
so discussed and defended by Athanasius, Augus-
tine, and others ; had not the Devil brought in
so much of his princely darkness, the champions
for truth had never run so fast to Scripture to
light their lamps. So that God, who hath a
wheel within a wheel, overrules these things
wisely, and turns them to the best. Truth is
a heavenly plant, that settles by shaking.
3. God raiseth the price of his truth the
more ; the very shreds and filings of truth are
venerable. When there is much counterfeit
metal abroad, we prize the true gold the more :
the pure wine of truth is never more precious,
than when unsound doctrines are broached and
vented.
Error makes us more thankful to God for
the jewel of truth. When we see another in-
fected with the plague, how thankful are you
that God hath freed you from the infection.
W^hen you see others have the leprosy in the
8*
96 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
head, how thankful are we to God that he hath
not given us over to believe a lie, and so be
damned! It is a good use that may be made
even of the errors of the times, when it makes
us more humble and thankful, adoring the free
grace of God, who hath kept us from drinking
of that deadly poison.
2. The second branch of the apology that
Discontent makes, is the impiety of the times,
" I live and converse among the profane. O
that I had wings like a dove, that I might fly
away and he at rest,^^ Psal. Iv. 6.
Answ. It is indeed sad to be mixed with
the wicked. David beheld the transgressors,
and was grieved, Psal. cxix. 119, 158, and Lot,
who was a bright star in a dark night, was
vexed ; or, as the word in the original may
bear, wearied out with the unclean conversation
of the wicked, 2 Pet. ii. 7. The sins of Sodom
became as spears to pierce his soul. We ought,
if there be any spark of divine love in us, to be
very sensible of the sins of others, and to have
our hearts bleed for them ; yet, let us not break
forth in murmuring or discontent, knowing that
God, in his providence, hath permitted it ; and,
surely, not without some reasons. For —
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 97
1. The Lord makes the wicked a hedge to
defend the godly ; the wise God often makes
those who are wicked and 'peaceable, a means
to safeguard his people from those who are
yyicked and cruel. The king of Babylon kept
Jeremiah, and gave special order for his look-
ing to, that he did want nothing, Jer. xxxix.
11, 12. God sometimes makes brazen sinners
to be brazen walls to defend his people.
2. God doth interline and mingle the wick-
ed with the godly, that the godly may be a
means to save the wicked. Such is the beauty
of holiness, that it hath a magnetical force in
it, to allure and draw even the wicked. Some-
times God makes a beheving husband a means
to convert an unbelieving wife ; and, on the
other hand — What knowest thou, wife,
whether thou shall save thy husband? Or
knowest thou, man, whether thou shall save
thy wife 1 1 Cor. vii. 16. The godly, living
among the wdcked, by their prudent advice
and pious example, have won them to the em-
bracing of religion. If there were not some
godly among the wicked, how in a probable
way, without a miracle, can we imagine that
the wicked should be converted ? Those who
98 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
are now shining saints in heaven, sometimes
served divers lusts, Tit. iii. 3. Paul, once a
persecutor ; Augustme, once a manichee ;
Luther, once a monk ; but, by the severe and
holy carriage of the godly, were converted to
the faith.
SECTION X.
The tenth Apology answered.
The next apology that discontent makes is
— Lowness of parts and gifts.
. " T cannot," saith the Christian, " discourse
with that fluency, nor pray with that elegancy,
as others."
Answ. 1. Grace is beyond gifts. Thou
comparest thy grace with another's gifts —
there is a vast difference. Grace, without gifts,
is infinitely better than gifts without grace. In
religion the vitals are best ; gifts are extrinsi-
cal, and wicked men are sometimes under the
common influence of the Spirit ; but grace is a
more distinguishing work, and is a jewel hung
only upon the righteous. Hast thou the seed
of God, the holy anointing ? Be content.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 99
1. Thou sayest thou canst not discourse
Avith that fluency as others.
Answ. Experiments in rehgion are above
notions, and impressions beyond expressions.
Judas, no doubt, could make a learned dis-
course of Christ ; but well fared the woman in
the Gospel, that felt virtue coming out of him,
Luke viii. 47. A sanctified heart is better than
a silver tongue. There is as much difference
between gifts and grace, as between a tulip
painted on the wall and one growing in the
garden.
2. Thou sayest, thou canst not pray with
that elegancy as others.
Answ. Prayer is a matter more of the
heart than the head. In prayer, it is not so
much fluency prevails ds fervency, Jam. v. 16,
nor is God so much taken w^ith elegancy of
speech, as the efficacy of the Spirit. Humility
is better than arrogance : here the mourner is
the orator ; sighs and groans are the best
rhetoric.
2. Be not discontented; for God doth
usually proportion a man's parts to the place
where he calls him ; some are set in a higher
sphere, and their situation requires more parts
100 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
and abilities ; but the most inferior member is
useful in its place, and shall have a power
delegated for the discharge of its peculiar
office.
SECTION XI.
The eleventh Apology answered.
The next apology is — The troubles of the
Church. " Alas ! my disquiet and discontent
is not so much for myself, as the public. The
Church of God suffers."
Answ. I confess it is sad, and we ought for
this to hang our harp upon the willows, PsaL
cxxxvii. He is a wooden leg in Christ's body,
that is not sensible of the state of the body.
As a Christian must not be proud flesh, so
neither dead flesh. When the Church of God
suffers, he must sympathize : Jeremiah wept for
the virgin daughter of Sion, Jer. ix. 1. We
must feel our brethren's hard cords through
our soft beds : in music, if one string be touch-
ed, all the rest sound. When God strikes upon
our brethren, our bowels must sound as a harp,
Isa. xvi. 11 ; be sensible, but do not give way
to discontent. For consider —
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 101
1. God sits at the stern of his Church, Psal.
xlvi. 5. Sometimes it is as a ship tossed upon
the waves — thou afflicted and tossed ! Isa.
liv. 11. But cannot God bring this ship to
heaven, though it meet with a storm upon the
sea 1 The ship in the Gospel was tossed, be-
cause sin was in it ; but it was not overwhehn-
ed, because Christ was in it. Christ is in the
ship of his Church, fear not sinking : the
Church's anchor is cast in heaven. Do not
we think God loves his Church, and takes as
much care of it as we can ? The names of
the Twelve Tribes were on Aaron's breast;
signifying how near to God's heart his people
are. They are his -portion, Deut. xxxii. 9, and
shall that be lost ? His glory, Isa. xlvi. 13,
and shall that be finally eclipsed ? No, cer-
tainly. God can deliver his Church not only
from, but hy, opposition. The Church's pangs
shall help forward her deliverance.
2. God hath always propagated religion by
sufferings. The foundation of the Church hath
been laid in blood ; and these sanguine show-
ers have ever made it more fruitful. Cain put
the knife to Abel's throat, and ever since the
Church's veins have bled ; but she is like the
102 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
Vine, which hy bleeding grows ; and Hke the
pahn-tree which may have this motto — per-
cussa resurgit — the more weight is laid upon
it, the higher it riseth. The holiness and pa-
tience of the saints under their persecutions,
hath much added both to the growth and purity
of religion. Basil and Tertullian observe of
the primitive martyrs, that divers of the hea-
thens, seeing their zeal and constancy, turned
Christians. Religion is that phcenix which
hath always revived and flourished in the ashes
of holy men. Isaiah was sawn asunder ; Peter
crucified at Jerusalem with his head down-
wards; Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, and
Polycarp of Smyrna, were both martyred for
religion : yet evermore the truth hath been
sealed by blood, and gloriously dispersed ;
whereupon Julian did forbear to persecute, not
out of piety, but envy; because the Church
grew so fast and multiphed, as Nazianzen
well observes.
SECTION XII.
The twelfth Apology answered.
The twelfth Apology that Discontent makes.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 103
for itself, is this — " It is not my trouble that
troubles me, but it is my sins that do disquiet
and discontent me."
Answ. Be sure it be so ; do not prevari-
cate with God and thy own soul. In true
mourning for sin, when the present suffering
is removed, yet the sorrow is not removed ;
but suppose the apology be real, and sin is the
ground of your discontent, yet I answer, a man's
disquiet about sin may be beyond its bounds in
these three cases : —
1. When it is disheartening ; that is, when
it sets up sin above mercy. If Israel had only
pored upon their sting, and, not looked up to
the Brazen Serpent, they had never been heal-
ed. That sorrow for sin, which drives us away
from God, is not without sin ; for there is more
despair in it than remorse : the soul hath so
many tears in its eyes, that it cannot see
Christ. Sorrow, as sorrow, doth not save —
that were to make a Christ of our tears, but is
useful as it is preparatory in the soul — making
sin vile, and Christ precious. Oh ! look up to
the Brazen Serpent, the Lord Jesus : a sight of
his blood will revive ; the medicine of bis me-
rits is broader than our sore.
9
104 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
It is Satan's policy, either to keep us from
seeing our sins ; or, if we will needs see them,
that we may be swallowed up of sorrow, 2 Cor.
7, 10. Either he would stupify us, or affright
us; either keep the glass of the Law from our
eyes, or else pencil out our sins in such crimson
colours, that we may sink in the quicksands of
despair.
2. When sorrow is indisposing, it untunes
the heart for prayer, meditation, and holy con-
ference ; it cloisters up the soul. This is not
sorrow, but rather sullenness, and doth render
a man not so much penitential as sinful.
3. When it is out of season, God bids us
rejoice, and we hang our harps upon the wil-
lows ; he bids us trust, and we cast ourselves
down, and are brought even to the margin of
despair. If Satan cannot keep us from mourn-
ing, he will be sure to put us upon it when it is
least in season.
When God calls us, in a special manner,
to be thankful for mercy, and put on our
white robes, then Satan will be putting us into
mourning ; and, instead of a garment of praise,
clothe us with a spirit of heaviness, Isa. Ixi. 3,
so God loseth the acknowledgment of a mercy,
and we the comfort.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 105
If thy sorrow hath tuned and fitted thee for
Christ, if it hath raised in thee high prizings
of him, strong hungerings after him, sweet de-
light in him ; this is as much as God requires,
and a Christian doth but sin to vex and torture
himself further upon the wreck of his own dis-
content.
And thus, I hope, I have answered the most
material objections and apologies which this
sin of Discontent doth make for itself. I see
no reason why a Christian should be discon-
tented, unless for his discontent. Let me, in
the next place, propound something which may
be both as a loadstone and a whetstone to Con-
tentment
106 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
CHAPTER XL
Divine Motives to Contentment.
And so I proceed to the arguments or mo-
tives that may quicken to contentment.
SECTION I.
The first argyment to Contentment.
1. CoNsmER the excellency of it. Content-
ment is a flower that doth not grow in every
garden ; it teacheth a man how, in the midst
of want, to abound. You would think it were
excellent if I could prescribe a receipt or anti-
dote against poverty : but, behold, here is that
which is more excellent, for a man to want,
and yet have enough : this, alone, contentment
of spirit brings. Contentment is a remedy
against all our troubles, a relief for all our bur-
dens, and a cure for all our cares.
Contentment, though it be not properly a
grace — it is rather a disposition of mind — yet
in it there is a happy temperature and mixture
of all the graces. It is a most precious com-
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 107
pound, which is made up oi faith, 'patience,
meekness, humility and love, which are the in-
gredients put into it Now there are seven
rare excellencies in contentment : —
1. A contented Christian carries heaven
about him ; for what is heaven but that sweet
repose and full contentment that the soul shall
have in God ? In contentment there is the first
fruits of heaven.
There are two things in a contented spirit
which make it like heaven.
1. God is there. Something of God is to
be seen in that heart. A discontented Christian
is like a rough, tempestuous sea ; when the wa-
ter is rough, you can see nothing there; but,
when it it smooth and serene, then you may
behold your face in the water, Prov. xxvii. 19.
When the heart rageth through discontent, it is
like a rough sea : you can see nothing there
unless passion and murmuring ; there is nothing
of God, nothing of heaven, in that heart : but,
by virtue of contentment, it is like the sea when
it is smooth and calm ; there is a face shining
there ; you may see something of Christ in that
heart, a representation of all the graces.
2. Rest is there. what a Sabbath is
9*
108 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
kept in a contented heart ! What a heaven !
A contented Christian is like Noah in the ark ;
though the ark was tossed with waves, Noah
coukl sit and sing in the ark. The soul, that
is gotten into the ark of contentment^ sits quiet
and sails above all the waves of trouble ; he
can sing in this spiritual ark. The wheels of
the chariot move, but the axle-tree stirs not ;
the circumference of the heavens is carried
about the earth, but the earth moves not out of
his centre. When w^e meet with motion and
change in the creatures round about us, a con-
tented spirit is not stirred or moved out of its
centre. The sail of a mill moves with the wind,
but the mill itself stands still ; an emblem of
contentment. When our outward estate moves
with the wind of providence, yet the heart is
settled through holy contentment ; and when
others are, like quicksilver, shaking and trem-
bling through disquietude, the contented spirit
can say as David — God, my heart is fixed !
my heart is fixed ! Psal. Ivii. 7. What is this
but a part of heaven ?
2. W^hatever is defective in the creature, is
made up in contentment. A Christian may
want the comforts that others have, the land
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 109
and possessions ; but God hath distilled into his
heart that contentment which is far better. In
this sense that is true of our Saviour — He shall
have in this life, a hundredfold, Matt. xix. 29.
Perhaps he that ventured all for Christ, never
hath his house or land again ; but God gives
him a contented spirit; and this breeds such
joy in the soul, as is infinitely sweeter than all
his houses and lands, which he left for Christ.
It was sad with David, in regard of his outward
comforts, he being driven, as some think, from
his kingdom ; yet in regard of that sweet con-
tentment which he found in God, he had more
comfort than men used to have in time of har-
vest and vintage, Psal. iv. 7. One man hath
house and lands to live upon ; another hath no-
thing, only a small trade, yet even that brings
in a livelihood. A Christian may have little in
the world ; but he drives the trade of content-
ment, and so he knows as well how to w^ant as
to abound. the rare art, or rather miracle of
contentment ! Wicked men are often disquieted
in the enjoyment of all things ; but the con-
tented Christian is well in the w^ant of all things.
Quest. But how comes a Christian to be
contented in the deficiency of outward comforts'?
no DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
Answ. a Christian finds contentment dis-
tilled out of the breasts of the promises. He
is poor in purse, but rich in promise. There is
one promise brings much sweet contentment
into the soul ; They that seek the Lord^ shall
not want any thing, Psal. xxxiv. 10. If the
thing we desire be good for us, we shall have
it ; if it be not good, then the not having it is
good for us. The resting satisfied with this
promise gives contentment.
3. Contentment makes a man in tune to
serve God ; it oils the wheels of the soul and
makes it more soft and nimble; it composeth
the heart, and makes it fit for prayer, medita-
tion and praise. How can he, that is in a
passion of grief and discontent, seo^ve God with-
out distraction? 1 Cor. vii. 35. Contentment
doth prepare and tune the heart. First you
prepare the violin, and wind up the strings, ere
you play a tune. So, when a Christian's heart
is wound up to this heavenly frame of content-
ment, then it is fit for duty. A discontented
Christian is like Saul, when the evil spirit came
upon him. what jarrings and discords doth
he make in prayer ! When an army is put into
disorder, it is not fit for battle: when the
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. Ill
thoughts are scattered and distracted about the
cares of this life, a man is not fit for devotion.
Discontent takes the heart wholly off from God
and fixeth it upon the present trouble ; so that a
m an's mind is not upon prayer, but upon his cross.
Discontent doth disjoint the soul ; and it is
impossible now that a Christian should go so
steadily and cheerfully in God's service. how
lame is his devotion ! The discontented person
gives God but half a duty ; his religion is no-
thing but bodily exercise^ it wants a soul to
animate it. David would not offer that to God
which cost him nothing, 2 Sam. xxiv. 24 ; where
there is too much worldly care, there is too little
spiritual C05^, in a duty. The discontented per-
son doth his duties by halves ; he is just like
Ephraim, a cake not turned, Hosea vii. 8, he is
a cake baked on one side ; he gives God the
outside, but not the spiritual part : his heart is
not in duty ; he is baked on one side, but the
other side is dough ; and what profit is there of
such raw undigested services 1 He that gives
God only the skin of worship, what can he ex-
pect more than the shell of comfort? Con-
tentment brings the heart into frame : and then
only do we give God the flower and spirit of a
112 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
duty, when the soul is composed ; now a Chris-
tian hath his heart intent and serious. There
are some duties which we cannot perform as
we ought without contentment : as —
1. To rejoice in God. How can he rejoice
that is discontented ? He is fitter for repining
than rejoicing.
2. To be thankful for mercy. Can a dis-
contented person be thankful ? He can be
fretful, but not thankful.
3. To justify God in his proceedings, Ezra
ix. 13. How can he do this who is discon-
tented with his condition ? He will sooner
censure God's w^isdom than clear his justice.
O then how excellent is contentment, which
doth prepare, and, as it were, string the heart
for duty ! Indeed, contentment doth not only
make our duties lively and sweet, but accept-
able. It is this that puts beauty and w^orth
into them, for contentment settles the soul.
Now% as it is wdth milk, w^hen it is always
stirring you can make nothing of it ; but let
it settle awhile, and then it turns to cream :
when the heart is over-much stirred wdth dis-
quiet and discontent, you can make nothing
of these duties ; how thin, how^ fleeting, and
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 113
poor are they ! But, when the heart is once
settled by holy contentment, then there is some
worth in our duties, then they turn to cream.
4. Contentment is the spiritual arch or
pillar of the soul ; it fits a man to hear burdens :
he, whose heart is ready to sink under the least
sin, by virtue of this, hath a spirit invincible
under sufferings. A contented Christian is
like the camomile, the more it is trodden upon,
the more it grows ; as physic works diseases
out of the body, so doth contentment w^ork
trouble out of the heart. Thus it argues — " If
I am under reproach, God can vindicate me ',
if I am in w^ant, God can relieve me. Ye shall
not see wind or rain, yet the valley shallhe filed
with water, ^^ 2 Kings iii. 17. Thus holy con-
tentment keeps the heart from fainting. In the
autumn, when the fruit and leaves are blown
off, still there is sap in the root ; when there
is an autumn upon our external felicity, and the
leaves of our estate drop off, still there is the
sap of contentment in the heart ; and a Chris-
tian hath life inwardly, when his outward com-
forts do not blossom. The contented heart is
never out of heart. Contentment is a golden
shield, that doth beat back discouragements.
114 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
Humility is like to the net, which keeps the
soul down, when it is rising through passion ;
and contentment is the cork w^hich keeps the
heart up when it is sinking through discourage-
ment. Contentment is the great under-prop ;
it is like the beam which bears whatever weight
is laid upon it ; nay, it is like a rock that
breaks the waves.
It is strange to observe the same affliction
lying upon two men, how differently they carry
themselves under it. The contented Christian
is like Samson, that carried away the gates of
the city upon his back. Judges xvi. 3 ; he can
go away with his cross cheerfully, and make
nothing of it ; the other is like Issachar, couch-
ing down under his burden. Gen. xlix. 14.
The reason is, the one is content, and that
breeds courage ; the other discontent, and that
breeds fainting. Discontent swells the grief,
and grief breaks the heart. When this sacred
sinew of contentment begins to shrink, we go
limping under our afflictions. We know not
what burdens God may exercise us with ; let
us, therefore, preserve contentment : as our
contentment, such will be our courage. David,
with his five stones and his sling, defied Goliath,
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 115
and overcame him. Get but contentment into
the shng of your heart, and with his sacred
stone you may both defy the world, and conquer
it ; you may break those afflictions wliich else
will break you.
5. A fifth excellency is — Contentment pre-
vents many 5m."? and temptations.
1. It prevents many sins. Where there
wants contentment, there wants no sin ; dis-
contentedness with our condition is a sin that
doth not go alone, but is like the first link of
a chain, which draws all the other links along
with it. In particular, there are two things
which contentment prevents: —
1. Impatience. Discontent and Impatience
are two twins ; This evil is of the Lord, why
should I wait ajiy longer ? 2 Kings vi. 33 ; as
if God was so tied, that he must give us the
mercy just w^hen we desire it. Impatience is
no small sin, as will appear if you consider
whence it ariseth ; as —
1. It is for want of faith. Faith gives a
right notion of God ; it is an intelKgent grace ;
it believes that God's wisdom tempers, and his
10
116 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
love sweetens, all ingredients ; this works pa-
tience — Shall I not drink the cup which my
Father hath given mel Matt. xxvi. 39. Im-
patience is the daughter of Infidelity. If a
patient hath an ill opinion of the physician,
and conceits that he comes to poison him, he
will take none of his receipts. When we have
a prejudice against God, and conceit that he
comes to kill us, and undo us, then we storm,
and cry out through impatience. We are like
a foohsh man, (it is Chrysostom's simile) that
cries out — " Away with the plaster !" though
it be in order to a cure. Is it not better that
the plaster make us smart a little, than the
wound fester and rankle ?
2. Impatience is for want of love to God.
W^e will bear his reproofs whom we love, not
only patiently, but thankfully. Love thinks no
evil, 1 Cor. xiii. 5. It puts the fairest and
most candid gloss upon the actions of a friend
— Love covers evil. If it were possible for
God in the least manner to err, which were
blasphemy to think, love would cover that
error. Love takes every thing in the best
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 117
sense ; it makes us bear any stroke — It endu-
reth all things, 1 Cor. xiii. 7 ; had we love to
God, we should have patience.
3. hnpatience is for want of humility. The
impatient man was never humbled under the
burden of sin: he that studies his sins, the
numberless number of them, how they are
twisted together, and sadly cemented, is patient,
and saith — / will bear the indignation of the
Lordf because I have sinned against him, Mi-
cah vii. 9. The greater noise drowns the
lesser : when the sea roars, the rivers are stilL
He that lets his thoughts expatiate about sin
is both silent and amazed ; he wonders it is no
worse with him. How great, then, is this sin
of impatience ! and how excellent is Content-
ment, which is a counterpoise against this sin !
The contented Christian, believing that God
doth all in love, is patient, and hath not one
word to say, unless to justify God, Psal. li. 4.
That is the first sin which contentment pre-
vents.
2. It prevents murmuring, a sin which is
a degree higher than the other. Murmuring
is a quarrelhng with God, and inveighing
118 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
against him — They speak against God, Numb,
xxi. 5. The murmiirer saith, interpretatively,
that God hath not dealt well with him, and he
hath deserved better from him. The murmur-
er chargeth God ivith folly. This is the lan-
guage, or rather blasphemy, of a murmuring
spirit — God might have been a wiser and a
better God ! The muimurer is a mutineer.
The Israelites are called, in the same text,
murmurers and rebels, Numb. xvii. 10 ; and is
not rebellion as the sin of witchcraft ? 1 Sam.
XV. 23. Thou that art a murmurer, art in the
account of God as a witch, a sorcerer, as one that
deals with the devil. This is a sin of the first
magnitude; murmuring often ends in cursing.
Micha's mother fell to cursing when the talents
of silver were taken away, Judg. xvii. 2. So
doth the murmurer, when a part of his estate
is taken away. Our murmuring is the devil's
music ; this is that sin which God cannot bear
— Hoio long shall I bear with this people that
murmur against me ? Numb. xiv. 1 1. It is
a sin which whets the sword against a people ;
it is a land-destroying sin — Murmur ye not, as
some of them also murmured, and were destroy-
DIXISE CONTENTMEx\T. 119
ed of the destroyer, 1 Cor. x. 10. It is a ripen-
ing sin : this, without God's mercy, will hasten
destruction. then, how excellent is content-
ment, which prevents this sin ! To be con-
tented, and yet murmur, is a solecism. A con-
tented Christian doth acquiesce in his present
condition, and doth not murmur, but admire.
Herein appears the excellency of contentment ;
it is a spiritual antidote against sin.
2. Contentment prevents many tempta-
tions. Discontent is a devil that is always
tempting. 1. It puts a man upon indirect
means. He that is poor and discontented will
attempt any thing ; he will go to the devil for
riches : he that is proud and discontented, will
hang himself, as Achitophel did when his
council was rejected. Satan takes great ad-
vantage of our discontent ; he loves to fish in
these troubled waters. Discontent doth both
eclipse reason, and weaken faith ; and it is Sa-
tan's policy ; he doth usually break over the
hedge where it is weakest. Discontent makes
a breach in the soul"; and usually at this breach
the devil enters by temptation, and storms the
soul. How easily can the devil, by his logic,
10*
120 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
dispute a discontented Christian into sin ? He
forms such a syllogism as this, " He that is in
want, must study self-preservation. But you
are now in want, therefore you ought to study
self-preservation." Hereupon, to make good
his conclusion, he tempts to the forbidden fruit,
not distinguishing between what is needful and
what is lawful. "What," saith he, "dost
thou want a livehhood? Never be such a fool
as to starve. Take the rising side at a ven-
ture, be it good or bad ; eat the bread of deceit,
drink the wine of violence" Thus you see
how the discontented man is a prey to that sad
temptation, to steal and take God's name in
vain, Prov. xxx. 9. Contentment is a shield
against temptation; for he that is contented
knows as well how to want as to abound.
He will not sin to get a living : though the
bill of fare grows short, he is content. He
lives, as the birds of the air, upon God's pro-
vidence: and doubts not but he shall have
enough to supply him on his passage to
heaven.
4. Discontent tempts a man to atheism and
apostacy. " Sure," saith Discontent, " there is
EIVINE CONTENTMENT. 121
no God to take care of things here below !
Would he suffer them to be in want, who have
walked mounifully before him ?" Mai. iii. 14.
" Throw off Christ's livery ; desist from any re-
ligion." Thus Job's wife, being discontented
with her condition, saith to her husband — Bost
thou still retain thy integrity 1 Job ii. 9. As if
she had said — " Dost thou not see, Job, what
is become of all thy religion ? Thou fearest
God, and eschewest evil : and what art thou
the better 1 See how God turns his hand
against thee ; he hath smitten thee in thy body,
estate, relations, and dost thou still retain thy
integrity ? What, still devout ! Still weep
and pray before him ! Thou fool ! cast off re-
ligion and turn atheist!" Here was a sore
temptation that the devil did hand over to Job
by his discontented wife ; only his grace, as a
golden shield, did ward off the blow from his
heart — Thou speakest as one of the foolish wo-
men. " What profit is it," saith the discon-
tented person, " to serve the Almighty ? Those
that never trouble themselves about religion, are
the most prosperous ; and I, in the meanwhile,
suffer want. I might as well give over driving
122 DIVINE CONTENTMENT^
the trade of religion, if this be all my reward."
This is a sore temptation, and oft it prevails.
Atheism is the fruit that grows out of the blos-
som of discontent.
Oh, then, behold the excellency of content-
ment ! It doth repel this temptation. " If God
be mine," saith the contented spirit, " it is
enough ; though I have no lands or tenements,
his smile makes heaven. His loves are better
than wine. Better is the gleanings ofEfhraim,
than the vintage of Ahiezer, Judg. viii. 2. I
have little in hand, but much in hope ; my live-
lihood is short, but this is his promise, even eter-
nal life, 1 John ii. 25. I am pursued by
malice ; but better is persecuted godliness than
prosperous wickedness." Thus divine content-
ment is a spiritual antidote both against sin and
temptation.
6. Contentment sweetens every condition.
Christ turned the w^ater into wine ; so content-
ment turns the water of Marah into spiritual
wine. " Have I but little ? Yet it is more
than I can deserve or challenge. This little I
have is in mercy ; it is the fruit of Christ's
blood ; it is the legacy of free grace. A small
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 123
present, sent from a King, is highly valued.
This little I have, is with a good conscience ; it
is not stolen water ; guilt hath not muddied or
poisoned it ; it runs pure. This little is a pledge
of more ; this bit of bread is an earnest of that
bread which I shall eat in the Kingdom of God.
This little w^ater in the cruse, is an earnest of
that heavenly nectar which shall be distilled
from the true Vine. Do 1 meet with some
crosses ? My comfort is, if they be heavy, I
have not far to go ; I shall but carry my cross
to Golgotha, and there I shall leave it ; my
cross is light in regard of the weight of glory.
Hath God taken away my comforts from me ?
It is well the Comforter still abides." Thus
contentment, as a honey-comb, drops sweetness
into every condition. Discontent is a leaven
that sours every comfort ; it puts aloes and
wormwood upon the breast of the creature, it
lessens every mercy, it trebles every cross ; but
the contented spirit sucks sweetness from every
flower of Providence j it can make a treacle of
poison. Contentment is full of consolation.
7. Contentment hath this excellency — It is
the best commentator upon Providence : it
124 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
makes a fair interpretation of all God's deal-
ings. Let the providences of God be ever so
dark or mysterious, contentment doth ever con-
strue them in the best sense. I may say of it
as the Apostle of charity — It thinks no evil,
1 Cor. xiii. 5. " Sickness," saith Contentment,
" is God's furnace to refine his gold, and make
it sparkle the more ; the prison is an oratory,
or house of prayer. What if God melts away
the creature from me ? He saw, perhaps, my
heart grew too much in love with it. Had I
been long in that fat pasture, 1 should have
surfeited ; and the better my estate had been,
the worse my soul would have been. God is
wise ; he hath done this either to prevent some
sin, or to exercise some grace." What a
blessed frame of heart is this ! A contented
Christian is an advocate for God against unbe-
lief and impatience : whereas Discontent takes
every thing from God in the worse sense ; it
doth impeach and censure God. " This evil I
feel is but a symptom of greater evils : God is
about to undo me. The Lord hath brought us
hither into the vnlderness to slay us,'^ Numb. xx.
4. The contented soul takes all well; and,
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 125
when his condition is ever so bad, he can say —
Yet God is goody Psal. Ixxiii. 1.
SECTION II.
The second Argument to Contentment.
The second argument or motive to content-
ment, is — A Christian hath that which may
make him content.
1. Hath not God given thee Christ? In
him there are unsearchable riches, Eph. iii. 8.
He is such a golden Mine of wisdom and grace,
that all the saints and angels can never dig to
the bottom. As Seneca said to his friend Poly-
bius — JYever complain of thy hard fortune as
long as CcBsar is thy friend. So I say to a be-
hever, Never complain as long as Christ is your
friend. He is an enriching pearl, a sparkling
diamond : the infinite lustre of his merits makes
us shine in God's eyes, Eph. i. 7 ; in him there
is both fulness and sweetness ; he is goodness
inexpressible. Screw up your thoughts to the
highest, stretch them to the utmost period, let
126 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
them expatiate to their full latitude and extent ;
yet they fall infinitely short of those ineffable
and inexhaustible treasures which are locked
up in Jesus Christ. And is not here enough to
give the soul content ? A Christian that wants
necessaries, yet, having Christ, he hath the one
thing needful.
2. The soul is exercised and enamelled with
the graces of the Spirit ; and is not here enough
to give contentment? Grace is of a divine
birth ; it is the new plantation ; it is the flower
of the heavenly paradise ; it is the embroidery
of the Spirit ; it is the seed of God, 1 John iii. 9 ;
it is the sacred unction, 1 John ii. 27; it is
Christ's portraiture in the soul ; it is the very
foundation on which the superstruction of glory
is laid. ! of what infinite value is Grace !
what a jewel is Faith ! Well may it be called
precious Faith ! 2 Pet. i. 1. What is love, but
a divine spark in the soul ? A soul, beautified
with grace, is like a room richly hung with arras
or tapestry, or the firmament bespangled with
glittering stars. These are the true riches,
Luke xvi. 11, which cannot stand w4th the
dross of this world. — And is not here enough to
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 1 127
give the soul contentment? What are all
other things but like the vnngs of a butterfly,
curiously painted ? But they defile our fingers.
" Earthly riches," saith Augustine, " are full of
poverty." So indeed they are. For, 1. They
cannot enrich the soul : oftentimes, under silken
apparel, there is a threadbare soul. 2. These
are corruptible : rich^ are not f (re ever, Pro v.
xxvii. 24 : as the wise man saith, Heaven is a
place where gold and silver will not go. A
believer is rich towards God, Luke xii. 21.
Why, then, art thou discontented ? Hath not
God given thee that which is better than the
world 1 What if he doth not give thee the
box, if he gives thee the jewel ? What if he
denies thee farthings, if he pays thee in a better
coin ? He gives thee gold, viz. spiritual mer-
cies. What if the water in the bottle be spent ?
Thou hast enough in the fountain. What needs
he complain of the world's emptiness, that hath
God's fulness? "The Lord is my portion,^'
Psal. xvi. 5, saith David, '' then let the lines
fall where they will, on a sick-bed, or prison, I
will say, The lines are fallen unto me in plea-
sant places ; yea, I have a goodly heritage.''^
11
128 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
3. Art thou not heir to all the promises ? Hast
thou not a reversion in heaven 1 When thou
lettest go thy hold of natural life, art thou not
sure of eternal life ? Hath not God given thee
the Earnest and First-fruits of glory 7 Is not
here enough to work the heart to contentment 1
What, though some have ^ fraught
Of cloves, and nuimegs, and in cinnamon sail 1
If thou hast wherewithal to spice a draught,
When grief prevails;
And, for the luture time, art heir
To the Isle of Spices. Is it not fair 1
Hekbert's Poems.-
SECTlON III.
The third Argument to Contentment.
The third argument is — " Be content ;" for
else we confute our own prayers. We pray,-
Thy will he done. It is the will of God that we
should be in such a condition ; he hath ordered
it, and he sees it best for us : why, then, do we
murmur, and are discontented at that which we
pray for 1 Either we are not in good earnest
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 129
in our prayer, which argues hypocrisy ; or else
•we contradict ourselves, which argues /b%.
SECTION IV.
The fourth Argument to Contentment.
The fourth argument to contentment is —
•*' Because now God hath his end, and Satan
misseth of his end."
1. God hath his end. God's end, in all his
cross providences, is to bring the heart to sub-
mit and be content ; and, indeed, this pleaseth
God much : he loves to see his children satisfied
with what portion he doth carve and allot
them. It contents him to see us contented;
therefore, let us acquiesce in God's providence:
now God hath his end.
2. Satanmissethofhis end. The end why
the Devil (though by God's permission) did
smite Job, in his body and estate, was to per-
plex his mind ; he did vex his body, on purpose
that he might disquiet his spirit. He hoped to
brings Job into a fit of discontent : and then.
130 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
that he would, in a passion, break forth against
God ; but Job, being so well contented with
his condition, breaks out in humble submission
to the will of God, and said, The Lord gave
and the Lord hath taken away, and blessed be
the name of the Lord, and thus Satan was dis-
appointed of his hope, Job i. 2L The Devil
shall cast some of you into 'prison, Rev. ii. 10.
Why doth the Devil throw us into prison ? It
is not so much the hurting our body, as the mo-
lesting our mind, that he aims at ; he would
imprison our contentment, and disturb the regu-
lar motion of our souls. This is his design ; it
is not so much the putting us into a 'prison, as
the putting us into a passion, that he attempts ;
but, by holy contentment, Satan loseth his prey,
he misseth of his end. The Devil hath oft de-
ceived us ; the best way to deceive him is, by
being content in the midst of tnhulation, our
contentment will discontent Satan. Oh ! let us
not gratify our enemy! Discontent is the
Devil's delioht : now it is as he would have it :
he loves to warm himself at the fire of our pas-
sions. Repentance is the joy of the angels, and
discontent is the joy of the devils. As the Devil
DrVIXE CONTENTMENT. 131
danceth at discord, so he sings at discontent.
The fire of our passions makes the Devil a bon-
fire; it is a kind of heaven to see us torturing
ourselves with our own troubles ; but, by holy
contentment, we frustrate him of his purpose,
and do, as it were, put him out of countenance.
SECTION V,
The fifih Argument to Contentment.
The next argument is—" By contentment
a Christian gets a victory over himself. For
a man to be able to rule his own spirit, this, of
all others, is the most noble conquest, Prov. xvi.
32. Passion denotes weakness : to be discon-
tented, is suitable io flesh and hlood. But to be
in every state content ; reproached, yet content,
imprisoned, yet content : this is above nature ;
this is some of that holy valour and chivalry
which only a divine spirit is able to infuse. In
the midst of the affronts of the world, to be pa-
tient ; and, in the changes of the world, to have
the spirit calmed ; this is a conquest worthy in-
11*
132 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
deed of the garland, of honour. Holy Job, di-
vested and turned out of all, leaving his scarlet,
and embracing the dunghill — a sad catastrophe
— yet he had learned contentment. It is said,
He fell upon the ground, and worshipped, Job
i. 20. But the discontented man falls to mur-
muring, and from murmuring to rebellion. But
Job fell down and worshipped. He adored
God's justice and hohness — behold the strength
of grace ! Here was a humble submission, yet
a noble conquest ; he got the victory over him-
self. It is no great matter for a man to yield
to his own passions ; this is easy and natural ;
but to content himself in denying of himself,
this is sacred and divine.
SECTION VI.
The sixth Argument to Contentment.
The sixth great argument to work the heart
to contentment, is the consideration that all
God's providences, how cross or trying soever,
shall do a believer good : And we know that
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 133
all things work together for good to them that
love God, Rom. viii. 28. Not only all good
things, but all evil things, work for good ; and
shall we be discontented at that which works
for our good ?
What if sickness, poverty, reproach, losses
and crosses, do unite and muster their force
against us. All shall work for good ; our mala-
dies shall be our medicines ; and shall we repine
at that which shall undoubtedly do us good ?
Unto the upright there ariseth light in darkness,
Psal. cxii. 4. Affliction may be baptized, Ma-
rah ; it is bitter, but physical. Because this is
so full of comfort, and may be a most excellent
remedy against discontent, I shall a httle expa-
tiate.
Quest. It will be inquired how the evils of
affliction work for good ?
Answ. Several ways.
1. They are disciplinary : they teach us.
The Psalmist, having very elegantly described
the Church's trouble, Psal. Ixxiv., prefixed this
title to the Psalm — " Maschil," which signifies
a Psalm giving instruction ; that which seals
up instruction, works for good. God puts us
134 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
sometimes under the Llack rod, but it is a rod of
discipline — Hear ye the rod, and who hath ap-
pointed it, Micah ix. 9. God makes our adver-
sity our university : affliction is a preacher —
Bloiv the trumpet in Tekoah, Jer. vi. 1. The
trumpet was to preach to the people, as appears,
verse 5. Be thou instructed, Jerusalem!
Sometimes God speaks to the minister, to lift
up his voice like a trumpet, Isa. Iviii. 1 ; and
here he speaks to the trumpet to lift up its voice
like a minister. Afflictions teach us —
1. Humility. When we become prosper-
ous and proud — corrections are God's corrosives
or powerful medicines, to eat out the proud flesh.
Jesus Christ is a lily of the vallies. Cant. ii. 1 ;
he dwells in a humble heart. God brings us
into the valley of tears that he may bring us
into the valley of humility — Remembering my
affliction, the wormwood and the gall ; my soul
hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled
in me. Lam. iii. 19, 20. When men are grown
high, God hath no better way with them than
to brew them a cup of wormwood. Afflictions
are compared to thorns, Hos. ii. 8. God's
thorns are to prick the bladder of pride. Sup-
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 135
pose a man runs at another with a sword to
kill him, and accidentally strikes on a festering
sore, this may do him good, by discharging
that which causes pain, and thus God's correc-
tions tend to work out the pride of the heart,
and make us humble and contented.
2. Afflictions teach us repentance — Thou
hast chastised me, and I was chastised : I re-
pented ; and, after I was instructed, I smote up-
on my thigh, SfX. Jer. xxxi. 18, 19. Repent-
ance is the precious fruit that grows upon the
Cross. When the fire is put under the still, the
w^ater drops from the roses. Fiery afflictions
make the waters of repentance drop and distil
from the eyes ; and is here any cause of dis-
content ?
3. Afflictions teach us to pray better — They
poured out a prayer when thy chastening was
upon them, Isa. xxvi. 16. Before, they would
say a prayer ; now, they poured out a prayer.
Jonah was asleep in the ship, but awake and
at prayer in the whale's belly. When God
puts under the firebrands of affliction, our hearts
then boil over the more. God loves to have
his children possessed with a spint of prayer.
136 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
Never did David, the sweet singer of Israel,
tune his harp more melodiously ; never did he
pray better, than when he was wprni the waters.
Thus afflictions make us patient ; and shall we
be discontented at that w^hich is for our o:ood 1
2. Afflictions are to try us,Psal. Ixvi. 10, 11.
Gold is not the worse for being tried, or corn
for being fanned. Affliction is the touchstone
of sincerity ; it tries what metal w^e are made
of Afflictions are God's fan and his sieve.
It is good that men be known. Some serve
God for a livery : they are like the fisherman,
that makes use of the net only to catch the fish :
so they go a fishing with the net of religion
only to catch preferment. Affliction discovers
these. The Donatists went to the Goths, w^hen
the Arians prevailed. Hypocrites will not sail
in a storm : true grace holds out in the winter-
season. That is a precious faith, which, like
the star, shines brightest in the darkest night.
It is good that our graces should be brought to
a trial : thus we have the comfort, and the Gos-
pel the honour ; and why then discontented ?
3. Afflictions, when sanctified, prove bless-
ings in disguise. And then they work for
DIVDIE CONTENTMENT. 137
good, because they work out sin ; and shall I
be discontented at this ? What if I have more
trouble^ if I have less sin ? The brightest day
hath its clouds, the purest gold its dross, and
the most refined soul hath some lees of corrup-
tion. The saints lose nothing in the furnace
but what they can well spare, viz. their dross :
is not this for our good ? Why, then, should
we murmur ? / am corae to send fire on the
earthy Luke xii. 49. Tertullian understands it
of the fire of affliction. God makes this like
the fire of the three children, which burned
only their bonds, and set them at liberty in the
furnace : so the fire of affliction serves to burn
the bonds of iniquit}' — By this, therefore, shall
the iniquity of Jacob he purged ; and this is all
the fruit, to take away his sin, Isa. xxvii. 9.
W^hen affliction, or death, comes to a wicked
man, it takes away his soul ; when it comes to a
godly man, it only takes away his sin : is there
then any cause why we should be discontented 7
God steeps us in the brinish water of affliction,
that he may take out our spots. God's people
are his husbandry, 1 Cor. iii. 6. The plough-
ing of the ground kills the weeds, and the bar-
138 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
rowing of the earth breaks the hard clods :
God's ploughing of us by affliction, is to kill
the weeds of sin; his harrowing of us is to
break the hard clods of impenitency, that the
heart may be the fitter to receive the seed of
grace. And if this be all, why should we be
discontented 1
4. Afflictions do both exercise and increase
grace.
First, They exercise grace. Affliction doth
breathe our graces : every thing is most in its
excellency, when it is most in its exercise. Our
grace, though it cannot be dead, yet it may be
asleep, and hath need of awakening. What a
dull thing is the fire, when it is hid in the em-
bers ; or the sun, when it is masked with a
cloud 1 A sick man is living, but not lively.
Afflictions quicken and excite grace. God doth
not love to see grace in the eclipse. Now
faith puts forth its purest and most noble acts
in times of affliction. God makes the foil of
the leaf the spring of our graces. What if
we are more passive, if grace be more active ?
2. Afflictions do increase grace. As the
wind serves to increase and blow up the flame,
DIVINE CONTENTiVIENT. 139
SO do the windy blasts of affliction augment
and blow up our graces. Grace spends in the
furnace ; but it is like the vndow^s oil in the
cruse, which did increase by pouring out.
The torch, when it is beaten, burns brightest ;
so doth grace, when it is exercised by suffer-
ings. Sharp frosts nourish the good corn, so
do sharp afflictions grace : some plants grow
better in the shade than in the sun, as the hay
and the cypress. The shade of adversity is
better for sjme than the sunshine of prosperity.
Naturalists observe, that the colewort thrives
better when it is watered with salt-water than
with fresh ; so do some thrive better in the salt
water of affliction. And shall we be discon-
tented at that which makes us grow and fruc-
tify more.
5. These afflictions do bring more of God's
immediate presence into the soul. When we
are most assaulted, we shall be most assisted
— / will he with him in trouble, Psal. 15. It
cannot be ill with that man, w^ith whom God
is, by his powerful presence, supporting, and
by his gracious presence, sweetening, the pre-
sent trial. God will be with us in trouble, not
12
140 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
only to behold us, but to uphold us ; as he was
with Daniel in the lion''s den, and the three
children in the furnace. What if we have
more trouble than others, if we have more of
God with us than others have ? We never
have sweeter smiles from God's face than when
the world begins to look strange — Thy statutes
have been my songs ; Where ? Not when I
was upon the throne, but in the house of my
pilgrimage, Psal. cxix. 54. We read, The Lord
was not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor
in the fire ; but in the small still voice, 1 Kings
xii. 11. But, in a metaphorical and spiritual
sense, when the wind of affliction blows upon a
believer, God is in the wind ; when the fire of
affliction kindles upon him, God is in the fire,
viz. to sanctify, to support, to sweeten. If God
be with us, the furnace shall be turned into a
festival, the prison into a paradise, the earth-
quake into a joyful dance. Oh ! why should I
be discontented, when I have more of God's
company ?
6. These evils of affliction are for good, as
they bring with them certificates of God's love,
and are evidences of his special favour. Afflic-
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 141
tion is the saint's livery ; it is a badge and
cognizance of honour. That the God of glory
should look upon a worm, and take so much
notice of him as to afflict him rather than lose
him, is a high act of favour. God's rod is a
sceptre of dignity. Job calls God's afflicting
of us, his magnifying of us. Job vii. 17. Some
men's prosperity hath been their shame, when
other's affliction hath been their crown.
7. These afflictions work for our good, be-
cause they work for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory, 2 Cor. iv. 16.
That which works for my glory in heaven,
works for my good. We do not read in Scrip-
ture that any man's honour and riches do work
for him a weight of glory, but afflictions do,
and shall a man be discontented at that which
works for his glory ? The heavier the weight
of affliction, the heavier the weight of glory ;
not that our sufferings do merit glory-^as some
erroneously think — but though they are not the
cause of our crown, yet they are the way to it ;
and God makes us, as he did our Captain, per-
fect through sufferings, Heb. ii. 10. And shall
not all this make us contented with our condi-
142 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
tion ? Oh ! I beseech you, look not upon the
evil of affliction, but the good. Afflictions, in
Scripture, are called visitations, Job vii. 18.
This word, which in the Hebrew implies to
vis't, is taken in a good sense as well as a had.
God's afflictions are but friendly visits. Be-
hold here, God's rod is like Aaron's rod, blos-
soming, and Jonathan's rod ; it hath honey at
the end of it. Poverty shall starve our sins :
the sickness of the body shall cure a sin-sick
soul. then ! instead of murmuring, and be-
ing discontented, bless the Lord. Hadst thou
not met with such a rub in the way, thou
mightest have gone to hell, and never stopped.
SECTION VII.
The seventh Argument to Contentment.
The next argument to contentment is —
" Consider the evil of discontent." Malcon-
tent hath a mixture of grief and anger in it,
and both these must needs raise a storm in the
soul. Have you not seen the posture of a sick
DIVINE CONTENTJIENT. 143
man ? Sometimes he will sit upon his bed, by
and by he will lie down ; and, when he is
down, he is not quiet : first, he turns to one
side, and then to the other ; he is still restless.
This is just the emblem of a discontented spirit :
the man is not sick, yet he is never w^ell ;
sometimes he likes such a condition of life;
and when he hath it, yet he is not pleased, he
is soon weary ; and then another condition of
life. This is an evil under the sun.
Now^ the evil of Discontent appears in three
things —
1. The sordidness of it ; it is unw^orthy of
a Clii^istian.
First, It is unworthy of his profession. It
w^as the saying of an Heathen — " Bear thy
condition quietly; know^, thou art a man,''
So I say — " Bear thy condition contentedly ;
know, thou art a Christian." Thou professest
to hve by faith : what, and not content ? Faith
is a grace that doth substantiate things not
seen, Heb. xi. 1. Faith looks beyond the
creature ; it feeds upon promises : Faith lives
not by bread alone. When the water is spent
in the bottle, Faith knows whither to have re-
12*
144 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
course. Now, to see a Christian dejected in
the want of visible supplies and recruits, where
is Faith ? " Oh !" saith one, " my estate in
the world is down." Ah ! and what is worse,
thy faith is down. Wilt thou not be content-
ed, unless God let down the vessel to thee as
he did to Peter, wherein were all manner of
beasts of the earth and fowls of the air 1 Acts
X. 12. Must you have first and second course'?
This is like Thomas — Unless I put my finger
into the print of the nails, I will not believe,
John XX. 25 ; so, unless thou hast a sensible
feeling of outward comforts, thou wilt not be
content. True faith will trust God where it
cannot trace him, and will adventure upon
God's bond, though it hath nothing in view.
You, who are discontented because you have
not all you would, let me tell you, either your
faith is at a low ebb, or at best but an embryo ;
it is a weak faith that must have stilts and
crutches to support it; nay, discontent is not
only below faith, but below reason. Why are
you discontented ? Is it because you are dis-
possessed of such comforts ? Well, and have
you not reason to guide you ? Doth not Rea-
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 145
son tell you, that you are but tenants at will 1
And may not God turn you out when he
pleases? You hold not your estate jwr^, but
gratis ; not by a juridical right, but upon fa-
vour and courtesy.
2. It is unworthy of the relation we stand
in to God. A Christian is invested with the
title and privilege of Sonship, Eph. i. 5 ; he is
an heir of the Promise. Oh ! consider the lot of
free-grace is fallen upon thee ; thou art nearly
allied to Christ, and of the blood royal ; thou
art advanced, in some sense, above the angels.
Why then art thou, being the King's son, lean
from day to day ? 2 Sam. xiii. 4. Why art
thou discontented ? how unworthy is this !
as if the heir to some great monarch should go
pining up and down, because he may not pick
such a flower.
2. Consider the sinfvlness of it, which ap-
pears in three things —
The causes ^
The actings > of it.
The consequences )
1. It is sinful in the causes, which are
these —
146 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
1. Pride. He that thinks highly of his de-
sert, usually esteems meanly of his condition.
A discontented man is a proud man ; he thinks
himself better than others ; therefore finds fault
with the wisdom of God that he is not above
others. Thus the thing formed saith to him
ih.3.t formed it— ^Why hast thou made me thus ?
Rom. ix. 20. Why am I not higher ? Dis-
contents are nothing else but the fermenting
and boilings over of pride.
2. The second cause of discontent is Envy,
which Augustine calls the Sin of the Devil.
Satan envied Adam the glory of Paradise, and
the robe of innocency : he that envies what his
neighbour hath, is never contented with that
portion which God's providence doth parcel out
to him : thus envy stirs up strife — this made the
Plebeian faction so strong among the Romans
— so it creates discontent. The envious man
looks so much upon the blessings which ano-
ther enjoys, that he cannot see his own mercies,
and so doth continually vex and torture himself.
Cain envied that his brother's sacrifice was ac-
cepted, and his rejected ; hereupon he was dis-
contented, and presently murderous thoughts
beg^an to arise in his heart.
DIVINE CONTENTVIEiNT. 147
3. The third cause is Covetoiisness. This
is a radical sin. Whence are vexing law-
suits, but from discontent? And whence is
discontent, but from covetousness 1 Covetous-
ness and contentedness cannot dwell in the
same heart. Avarice is an heluo, that is never
satisfied. The covetous man is like Be-
hemoth — Behold, he drinketh up a river: he
trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his
mouth, Job xl. 23. There are four things
(saith Solomon) say — It is not enough. I
may add a fifth — The heart of a covetous man
— he is still craving. Covetousness is like a
Avolf in the breast, which is ever feeding ;
and, because a man is not satisfied, he is never
content.
4. The fourth cause of discontent is Jea-
lousy ; which is sometimes occasioned through
melancholy, and sometimes misapprehension.
The spirit of jealousy causeth this evil spirit.
Jealousy is the rage of a man, Prov. vi. 34 ;
and oft, this is nothing but suspicion and fancy,
yet such as creates real discontent.
5. The fifth cause of discontent is Distrust,
which is a great degree of Atheism. The dis-
148 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
contented person is ever distrustful. " The
store of p7vmsion grows low : I am in these
straits and exigencies — can God help me?
Can he prepare a table in the wilderness 7 Sure
he cannot. My estate is exhausted, can God
recruit me ? My friends are gone, can God
raise me up more ? Sure the arm of his power
is shrunk. I am like the dry fleece — can any
water come upon this fleece ? If the Lord
would make windows in heaven^ might this thing
5e?" 2 Kings vii. 2. Thus the anchor of hope
and the shield of faith being cast away, the soul
goes pining up and down.
Discontent is nothing else but the echo of
unbehef ; and remember, distrust is worse than
distress.
2. Discontent is evil in the actings of it ;
which are two —
1. Discontent is joined with a sullen me-
lancholy. A Christian, of a right temper,
should be ever cheerful in God — serve the
Lord with gladness, Psal. c. 5. A sign the oil
of grace hath been poured into the heart,
when the oil of gladness shines in the coun-
tenance. Cheerfulness credits religion: how
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 149
can the discontented person be cheerful 1
Discontent is a dogged sullen humour; be-
(fause we have not what we desire, God shall
not have a good word or look from us. As
the bird in the cage, because she is pent up,
and cannot fly in the open air, therefore beats
herself against the cage, and is ready to kill
herself. Thus that peevish prophet said, / do
well to be angry to the death, Jonah iv. 5.
2. Discontent is accompanied with Un-
thankfulness. Because we have not all we
desire, we never mind the mercies which we
have: we deal with God as the woman of
Sarepta did with the prophet. The prophet
Elijah had been a means to keep her alive in
the famine : for it was for his sake that her
meal in the barrel, and her oil in the cruse,
failed not ; but as soon as ever her son dies,
she falls into a passion, and begins to quarrel
with the Prophet— l^/ia^ have I to do with thee,
thou man of God ? Art thou come to call
my sin to remherance, and to slay my son ?
1 Kings xvii. 18. So ungratefully we deal
vnth God : we can be content to receive mer-
cies from God ; but, if he doth cross us in the
150 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
least thing, then through discontent we grow
touchy and impatient, and are ready to fly upon
God. Thus God loseth all his mercies. We
read in Scripture of the thank-offering,
2 Chron. xx. 27. The discontented person
cuts God short of this; the Lord loseth his
thank-offering. A discontented Christian
repines in the midst of mercies, as Adam, who
sinned in the midst of Paradise. Discontent is
a spider that sucks the poison of unthankful-
ness out of the sweetest flower of God's bless-
ings; and, by a devilish chemistry, extracts
dross out of the most refined gold. The dis-
contented person thinks every thing he doth
for God too much, and every thing God doth
for him too little. Oh, what a sin is unthank-
fulness ! It is an accumulative sin. There
are many sins bound up in this one sin : it is a
voluminous wickedness ; and how full of this
sin is discontent! A discontented Christian,
because he hath not all the world, therefore
dishonours God with the mercies which he
hath. God made Eve out of Adam's rib, to
be a helper, as the Father speaks ; but the
Devil made an arrow, erf this rib, and shot
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 151
Adam to the heart : so doth discontent take
the rod of God's mercy, and ungratefully shoot
at him : estate and liberty shall be employed
against God. Thus it is oftentimes. Behold,
then, how Discontent and Ingratitude are in-
terwoven and twisted one within another.
Thus discontent is sinful in its actings.
3. It is sinful in its consequences; which
are these —
1. It makes a man very unlike the Spirit
of God. The Spirit of God is a meek spirit.
The Holy Ghost descended in the likeness of a
dove, Matt. iii. 16. A dove is the emblem of
meekness. A discontented spirit is not a meek
spirit.
2. It makes a man like the Devil. The
Devil, being swelled with the poison of envy
and malice, is never content ; just so is the
malcontent. The Devil is an unquiet spirit,
he is still walking about, 1 Pet v. 8 ; it is his
rest to be walking ; and herein is the discon-
tented person like him ; for he goes up and
down vexing himself. Seeking rest, and find-
ing none, he is the Devil's picture.
13
152 DIVINE CONTENTMENT^
3. Discontent disjoints the soul, it untunes
the heart for duty — Is avy man afflicted, let him
pray. Jam. v. 13. But is any man discontented ;
how shall he pray ? Discontent is full of
wrath and passion : the malcontent cannot
lift up pure hands ; he lifts up lejjrous hands ;
he poisons his prayers. Will God accept of
a poisoned sacrifice ? Chrysostom compares
prayers to a fine garland. " Those," saith he,
" that make a garland, their hands had need
be clean." Prayer is a precious garland, the
heart that makes it had need be clean. Dis-
content throws poison in the spring, which
was death among the Romans. Discontent
puts the heart into a disorder and mutiny, and
such a one cannot serve the Lord without dis-
traction.
4. Discontent sometimes unfits for the very
use of reason. Jonah, in a passion of discon-
tent, spake no better than blasphemy and non-
sense—" I do well,'^ said he, " to be angry to
the death," Jonah iv. 9. What, to be angry
with God, and to die for anger ? Sure, he did
not know well what he said. When discon-
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 153
tent transports, then, like Moses, we speak un-
advisedly with our lips. This humour doth
even suspend the very acts of reason.
5. Discontent doth not only disquiet a
man's self, but those who are near him. This
evil spirit troubles families , parishes and king-
doms. If there be but one string out of tune,
it spoils all the music. One discontented spirit
makes jarrings and discords among others : it
is this ill humour that breeds quarrels and law-
suits. Whence is all our contention, but
for want of contentment? From whence
come wars and fghting am.ong you ? Come
they not hencp., even of your lusts? James
iv. 1, in particular, from this lust of discon-
tent ? Why did Absalom raise a war against
his father, and would have taken off, not only
his crown but his head ? W^as it not his discon-
tent 1 Absalom would be king. Why did
Ahab stone Naboth ? Was it not discontent
about the vineyard ? O this devil of discontent !
Thus you have seen the sinfulness of it.
3. Consider the simplicity of it. I may say
as the Psalmist — Surely they are disquieted in
vain, Psal. ix. 6 ; which appears thus —
154 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
1. Is it not a vain simple thing to be troubled
at the loss of that which is in its own nature
perishing and changeable? God hath put a
vicissitude into the creature; all the world
rings changes ; and for me to meet with incon-
stancy here, to lose my friends or my property,
to be in a constant fluctuation, is no more than to
see a flower wither, or a leaf drop ofl" in autumn.
There is an autumn upon every comfort, a fall
of the leaf Now it is extreme folly to be dis-
contented at the loss of those things which are
so, in their owm nature, loseable. What Solo-
mon saith of riches, is true of all things under
the sun — " They take wings.'' Noah's dove
brought an olive-branch in its mouth ; but pres-
ently flew out of the ark, and never returned
more. Such a comfort brings us honey in its
mouth ; but it hath wings : and to what pur-
pose should we be troubled, unless w^e had
wings to fly after and overtake it ?
2. Discontent is a heart-breaking. By
sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken, Prov,
XV. 13; it takes away the comfort of life.
There is none of us but may have mercies if
we can see them. Now, because we have not
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 155
all we desire, therefore we will lose the com-
fort of that which we have already. Jonah
having his gourd smitten — a withering vanity
— was so discontented, that he never thought
of his miraculous deliverance out of the whale's
belly ; he takes no comfort of his life, but
wisheth that he might die. What folly is this ?
We must have all or none ; herein we are like
children, that throw away the piece which is
cut them, because they may have no bigger.
Discontent eats out the comforts of life. Be-
sides, it were well if it were seriously weighed
how prejudicial this is even to our health ; for
discontent, as it doth torture the mind, so it doth
pine the body ; it frets as a moth, and, by
wasting the spirits, weakens the vitals. The
pleurisy of discontent brings the body into a
consumption ; and is this not folly ?
3. Discontent does not ease us of our bur-
den, but makes the cross heavier. A contented
spirit goes cheerfully under its affliction. Dis-
content makes our grief as insupportable as it is
unreasonable. If the leg be well, it can en-
dure a fetter, and not complain ; but if the leg
be sore, then the fetter troubles. Discontent
13*
156 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
of mind is the sore that makes the fetters of
affliction more grievous. Discontent troubles
us more than the trouble itself; it steeps the
affliction in wormwood. When Christ was
upon the cross the Jews brought him gall and
vinegar to drink, that it might add to his sor-
row. Discontent brings to a man in affliction
gall and vinegar to drink : this is worse than
the affliction itself. Is it not folly for a man
to embitter his own cross ?
4. Discontent spins out our troubles the
longer. A Christian is discontented because
he is in want ; and therefore he is in w^ant,
because he is discontented ; he murmurs be-
cause he is afflicted, and therefore he is afflicted
because he murmurs. Discontent doth delay
and adjourn our mercies. God deals herein
with us as we use to do with our children ;
when they are quiet and cheerful they shall
have any thing ; but if we see them cry and fret
then we withhold them. We get nothing
from God by our discontent, but we add to our
sorrow. The more the child struggles, the
more it grieves ; and when we struggle with
God by our sinful passions, he doubles and
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 157
trebles our griefs : God will tame our stubborn
hearts. What gut Israel by their peevishness ?
They were within eleven days journey of
Canaan, and now they were discontented,
and began to murmur; God leads them a
march of forty years long in the wilderness.
Is it not folly for us to adjourn our own mer-
cies ? Thus you have seen the evil of discon-
tent. I have been long upon this argument ;
but to proceed : —
SECTION VIII.
The eighth Argument to Contentment.
The next argument or motive to Content-
ment is this — "Why is not a man content with
the competency which he hath 1 Perhaps, if
he had more, he would be less content ; covet-
ousness is a dry drunkenness. The world is
such, that the more we have the more w^e crave ;
it cannot fill the heart of man. When the fire
burns, how do you quench it ? Not by putting
oil to the flame, or laying on more wood, but
158 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
by withdrawing the fuel. When the appetite
is inflamed after riches, how may a man be
satisfied ? Not by having just what he desires,
but by withdrawing the fuel, ^c, moderating
and lessening his desires. He that is contented
hath enough. A man, in a fever or dropsy,
thirsts; how do you satisfy him? Not by
giving him liquid things which will inflame
his thirst the more ; but by removing the cause,
and so curing his distemper. The way for a
man to be contented is not by raising his estate
higher, but by bringing his heart lower.
SECTION IX.
The ninth Argument to Contentment.
The next argument to contentment is — The
shortness of lifi. " It is but a vapour, ^^ saith
James, Jam. iv. 14 ; life is a wheel ever running.
The poets painted Time with wings, to show
the volubility and swiftness of it. Job com-
pares it to a swift post, Job ix. 25 — our life
rides post — 'tis but a day, not a year. It is
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 159
indeed like a day : infancy is, as it were, the
day-break ; youth is the sun-rising ; full growth
is the sun in the meridian ; okl age is the sun-
setting. Sickness is the evening, then comes
the night of death. How quick is the day of
life spent ! Oftentimes this sun goes down at
noon-day : life ends before the evening of old-
age comes ; nay, sometimes the sun of life sets
presently after sun-rising. Quickly after the
dawning of infancy, the night of death ap-
proaches. Oh, how short is the life of man !
The consideration of the brevity of life may
work the heart to contentment. Remember
thou art to be here but a day ; thou hast but a
short way to go, and what needs a long pro-
vision for a short journey ? If a traveller have
but enough to bring him to his journey's end,
he desires no more. We have but a day to
live, and perhaps we may be in the twelfth
hour of the day ; why, if God gives us but
enough to bear our charges till night, it is suf-
ficient. Let us be content. If a man take a
lease of a house or farm but for two or three
days, and he should fall a building and plant-
ing, would he not be judged very indiscreet ?
160 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
So when we have but a short time here, and
death calls us presently off the vStage, to thirst
immoderately after the world, and pull down
our souls to build up an estate, is it not extreme
folly ? Therefore, as Esau said once, in a pro-
June sense, concerning his birthright — " Lo !
1 am at the point to die, and what projit shall
this birthright do to me?'' So let a Christian
say, in a religious sense — " Lo ! I am even at
the point of death ; my grave is going to be
made, and what good will the world do me ?
If I have but enough till sun-setting, I am con-
tent."
SECTION X.
The tenth Argument to Contentment.
The tenth argument or motive to Content-
ment, is — " Consider seriously the nature of a
prosperous condition." There are, in a pros-
perous estate, three things —
1. Mo i- trouble. Many who have abun-
dance of all things to enjoy, yet have not so
much content and sweetness in their lives, as
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 161
some that go to their hard labour. Sad,
solicitous thoughts, do often attend a pros-
perous condition : care is as an evil spirit
which haunts a rich man, and will not suffer
him to be quiet. When his chest is full of
gold, his heart is full of care, either how to
manage, or how to increase, or how to secure,
what he hath gotten. Oh, the troubles and
perplexities that do wait upon prosperity !
The world's high-seats are very uneasy ; sun-
shine is pleasant, but sometimes it scorcheth
with its heat ; the bee gives honey, but some-
times it stings : prosperity hath its sweetness,
and also its sting. Competency, with Content-
ment, is far more eligible. Never did Jacob
sleep better than when he had the heavens for
his canopy, and a hard stone for his pillow.
A large voluminous estate is but like a long
trailing garment, which is more troublesome
than useful.
2. In a prosperous condition there is more
danger ; and that two ways —
First, In respect of a man's self. The
rich man's table is oft his snare ; he is ready
to ingulf himself too deep in these sweet
162 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
waters. In this sense it is hard to know how
to abound. It must be a strong brain that
bears heady wine ; he had need have much
wisdom and grace that knows how to bear
a high condition : either he is ready to kill
himself with care, or surfeit himself with
luscious delights. Oh, the hazard of honour,
the danger of dignity ! Pride, Security and
Rebellion, are the three worms of plenty,
Deut. xxxii. 15. The pastures of prosperity
are rank and surfeiting. How soon are we
broken upon the soft pillow of ease ! Pros-
perity is often a truinpet that sounds a retreat ;
it calls men off from the pursuit of religion.
The sun of prosperity oft dulls, and puts out
the fire of zeal. How many souls hath the
pleurisy of abundance killed ? They that will
be rich fall into snares, 1 Tim. vi. 10. The
world is bird-lime to our feet ; it is full of
golden sands, but they are quicksands. Pros-
perity, like smooth Jacob, will supplant and
betray ; a great estate, without much vigil an-
cy, will be a thief to rob us of heaven ; such
as are upon the pinnacle of honour, are in
most danger of falling.
DIVINE CONTENTiMENT. 163
A lower estate is less hazardous. The little
pinnace rides safe by the shore ; when the gal-
lant ship, advancing with its mast and top-sail,
is cast away. Adam, in Paradise, was over-
come, when Job on the dunghill was a con-
queror. Samson fell asleep on Delilah's lap ;
some have fallen so fast asleep on the lap of
ease and plenty, that they have never waked
till they have been in hell. The world'syai6'?i-
ing is worse than its frowning; and it is more
to be feared when it smiles, than when it thun-
ders. Prosperity, in Scripture, is compared to
a candle — When his candleshined upon my head,
Job xxix. 3. How many have burnt their
wings about this candle ! The corn, being
over-ripe, shakes ; and fruit, when it mellows,
begins to rot: when men do mellow with the
sun of prosperity, commonly their souls begin to
rot in sin. How hard is it for a rich man to en-
ter into the kingdom of Heaven ! Luke xviii.
24. His golden weights keep him from ascend-
ing up the hill of God ; and shall we not be
content, though we are placed in a lower orb ?
What if we are not in so much bravery and
gallantry as others 1 We are not so much in
14
164 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
danger : if we want the honour of the world,
the temptations will follow. Oh, the abundance
of danger that is in abundance ! We see, by-
common experience, that lunatics, when the
moon is declining, and in the wane, are sober
enough ; but, when it is in the full, they are
more wild and exorbitant. When men's estates
are in the wane, they are more serious about
their souls, more humble ; but when it is the
full of the moon, and they have abundance,
then their hearts begin to sWell with pride and
covetousness, and are scarcely sensible of their
danger. Those that write concerning the seve-
ral climates, observe, that such as live in the
northern parts of the world, if you bring them
into the south part, they lose their appetites and
die quickly ; but those that live in the more
southern hot climates, bring them into the
north, and their appetites mend, and they are
long lived. Give me leave to apply it : bring
a man from the cold starving climate of poverty,
into the hot southern climate of prosperity, and
he begins to lose his appetite for good things,
he grows weak, and a thousand to one if all
his religion doth not die ; but bring a Christian
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 165
from the south to the north, from a rich flourish-
ing estate into a declining low condition, let
him come into a more cold and hungry air, and
then his stomach mends, he hath better appe-
tite after heavenly things, he hungers more
after Christ, he thirsts more for grace, he eats
more at one meal of the Bread of Life than at
six before. This man is now like to live and
hold out in his rehgion. Be content then with
a morsel ; if you have but enough to serve you
on your road to heaven, it sufficeth.
2. A prosperous condition is dangerous in
regard of others ; a great estate for the most
part draws envy to it, Gen. xxvi. 12, 13, 14.
When David was a Shepherd he w^as quiet, but
when he was advanced to a courtier he was
pursued by his enemies. Envy cannot endure
a superior. An envious man knows not how
to live, but upon the ruins of his neighbour ; he
raiseth himself higher by bringing others lower.
Prosperity is an eyesore to many. Such sheep
as have most wool are soonest fleeced. The
barren tree grows peaceably ; no man meddles
with the ash or willow ; but the apple-tree
and the damson shall have many rude suitors.
166 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
Oh, then, be content to carry a lesser sail ! He
that hath less revenues, hath less envy ; such as.
bear the fairest frontispiece, and make the
greatest show in the world, are the fittest for
envy and malice to shoot at.
3. A prosperous condition hath in it a
greater reckoning : every man must be respon-
sible for his talents. Thou that hast great pos-
sessions in the world, dost thou trade thy estate
for God's glory ? Art thou rich in good works 1
Grace makes a 'private person a common good.
Dost thou disburse thy money for public uses ?
It is lawful — in this sense — to put out our mo-
ney to use. Oh, let us all remember, an estate
is a depositum ! We are but stewards, and our
Lord and Master will ere long say — Give an
account of your stewardship. The greater our
estate, the greater our charge ; the more our
revenues, the more our reckonings. You that
have a lesser mjll going in the world, be con-
tent ; God will expect less from you, where he
hath sowed more sparingly.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 167
SECTION XI.
The eleventh Argument to Contentment.
The eleventh argument is the example of
those who have been eminent for contentment.
Examples are usually more forcible than pre-
cepts. Abraham being called out to hot ser-
vice, and such as was against flesh and blood,
was content. God bids him offer up his son
Isaac, Gen. xxii. 2. This was a great work.
Isaac was the son of his old age, the son of his
love, and the son of the promise : Christ, the
Messiah, was to come of his line — Bi Isaac
shall thy seed be blessed ; so that, to offer up
Isaac, seemed not only to oppose Abraham's
reason, but his faith too ; for if Isaac die, the
world, for aught he knew, must be without
a Mediator. Besides, if Isaac be sacrificed,
was there no other hand to do it but Abra-
ham's ? Must the father needs be the execu-
tioner ? Must he that was the instrument of
giving Isaac his being, be the instrument of
taking it away ? Yet Abraham doth not dis-
pute or hesitate, but beUeves against hope, and
14*
168 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
is content with God's prescription. So when
God called him to leave his country, Heb. xi. 1,
he was content. Some would have argued
thus — " What, leave all my friends, my native
soil, my brave situation, and go turn pilgrim 1
Abraham is content : besides Abraham went
blindfold — He knew not whither he went, yerse
8. God held him in suspense: he must go
wander, he knows not where ; and when he
doth come to the place God had laid out for
him, he knows not what oppositions he shall
meet with there— the world doth seldom cast
a favourable aspect upon strangers. Gen. xxxii.
16 — yet he is content, and obeys. He so-
journed in the Land of Promise, Heb. xi. 9.
Behold a little his pilgrimage. First, he goes
to Charan, a city in Mesopotamia ; when he
had sojourned there awhile, his father dies ;
then he removes to Sichem, then to Bethlehem,
in Canaan ; there a famine ariseth ; then he
went down to Egypt ; after that he returned
into Canaan ; when he came there — it is true
he had a promise, but he found nothing to
answer his expectation — he had not there one
foot of land, but was an exile. In this time
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 169
of his sojourning, he buried his wife ; and, as
for his dwellings, he had no sumptuous build-
ings, but led his life in poor cottages. All this
was enough to have broken any man's heart.
Abraham might think thus with himself — " Is
this the land I must possess ? Here is no
probability of any good : all these things are
against ??ie." Well, is he discontented ? No.
God saith to him — " Abraham, go, leave thy
country." And this word was enough to lead
him all the world over : he is presently upon
his march. Here was a man that had learned
to be content. But let us descend a little
lower to heathen Zeno — of whom Seneca
speaks — who had once been very rich ; hear-
ing of a shipwreck, and that all his goods were
drowned at sea — " Fortune," saith he — he
spake in a heathen dialect — " has dealt well
with me, and would have me now to study
philosophy." He was content to change his
course of life, to leave off being a merchant,
and turn philosopher. And if a heathen said
thus, shall not a Christian much more say,
when the world is drained from him — " God
would have me leave off following the world.
170 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
and study Christ more, and how to get to hea-
ven." Do I see a heathen contented, and a
Christian disquieted ? How did Heathens vil-
ify those things which Christians magnify ?
Though they knew not God, or what true hap-
piness meant, yet would speak very sublimely
of a JVumen or Deity, and of the life to come,,
as Aristotle and Plato ; and for those Elysian'
delights which they did but fancy, they under-
valued and contemned the things here below.
It was the doctrine they taught their scholars^
and which some of them practised, that men
should strive to be contented with a little ; they
were willing to make an exchange ; to have
less good, and more learning ; and shall not
we be content then to have less of the world,
so we may have more of Christ ? May not
Christians blush to see Heathens content with
a little, so much as would recruit nature,, and
to see themselves so transported with the love
of earthly things ; that if they begin a little to
abate, and the stock of 'provisions grows short,
they murmur, and are like Micah-^iJai^e ye
taken away my gods, and do ye ask me what I
ail ? Judges xviii. 24. Have heathens gone
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 171
SO far in contentment ? And is it not sad for
us to come short of them that came short of
heaven ? These heroes of their time, how did
they embrace death itself! Socrates died in
prison ; Hercules was burnt alive ; Cato —
whom Seneca calls the lively image and portrait-
ure of virtue — thrust through with a sword ;
but how bravely, and with what contentment
of spirit, did they die ! " Shall I," said Se-
neca, " weep for Cato, or Regulus, or the rest
of those worthies that died with so much valour
and patience ?" Cross providences did not
make them to alter their countenances, and do
I see a Christian appalled and amazed ? Death
did not affright them ; and doth it distract us ?
Did the spring-head of Nature rise so high ?
and shall not grace, like the waters of the sane-
tuary, rise higher ? We that pretend to live
by faith, may we not go to school to them who
had no other pilot but reason to guide them ?
Nay, let me come a step lower, to creatures
void of reason : we see every creature is con-
tented with its allowance; the beasts with
their provender, the birds with their nests, they
live only upon providence ; and shall we make
172 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
ourselves below them ? Let a Christian go to
school to the ox and the ass to learn content-
ment; we think we never have enough, and
are still laying up : the fowls of the air do not
lay up, they reap not, nor gather into hams.
Matt. vi. 2Q ; it is an argument which Christ
brings, to make Christians contented with their
condition. The birds do not lay up, yet they
are provided for and are contented. " Are ye
not,^^ saith Christ, ^' much better than they V*
But if you are discontented, are ye not much
worse than they ? Let these examples quicken
and encourage us to be content.
SECTION XII.
The twelfih argumenl to Contentment.
The twelfth argument to contentment is —
" Whatever change or trouble a child of God
meets with, it is all the hell he shall have."
Whatever eclipse may be upon his name, or
es ate I n ay say of it as Athanasius of his
banishment, it is a little cloud which will sooa
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 173
be blown over ; and when the storm is past
our troubles end.
Death begins a wicked man's hell, but it
puts an end to a godly man's pain. Think
with thyself — " "What if I endure those fiery
trials now, they are only intended to take away
my dross." Indeed, if all our sufferings end in
death, we may rejoice in the midst of them as
the apostle did. What is the cup of affliction
to the cup of salvation ? Lazarus could not
get a crum ; he was so diseased, that the dogs
took pity on him, and — as if they had been his
physicians — licked his sores. This was but a
short affliction ; the angels quickly fetched him
out of it. If all our sorrows be in this life, and
in the midst of them we may have the love of
God; then it is no more pain but paradise.
Deep as the pit of sorrow may appear to us
now, we shall soon see the bottom of it ; it is
but skin deep, it cannot touch the soul, and
we may see to the end of it : it is of a short
duration. After a wet night of affliction
comes a bright morning of the resurrection ;
if our lives be short, our trials cannot be long.
As our riches take wings and fly, so do our
suflferings; then let us be contented.
174 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
SECTION XIII.
The thirteenth Argument to Contentment,
The last argument to Contentment in this
— " To have a competency, and to want con-
tentment, proves the want of grace." For a
man to have such a craving appetite, that the
more he eats, the more he craves, you will say
is a sad calamity. But what shall we say of
the man whose craving thirst for money can
never be quenched, and whose hungerings after
riches cannot be satisfied ? The apostle tells us
plainly that such a one is an idolater, and
the cry of such is like the horse leech, —
Give, Give. But God saith they shall eat and
never have enough. Hosea iv. 1. The
throat of a malicious man is an open sepulchre,
Rom. iii. 13 ; so is the heart of a covetous man.
Covetousness is not only a sin, but the punish-
ment of a sin. There is a secret curse upon a
covetous person ; he shall thirst and thirst, and
never be satisfied — He that loveth silver, shall
not be satisfied with silver, Eccl. v. 10 ; and
is not this a curse 1 What was it but a severe
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 175
judgment upon the people of Judah ? Ye eat.
but ye have not enough ; ye drink, but ye are
not filled with drink, Hag. i. 6. Oh ! let us
take heed of this plague. Did Esau say to his
brother, " Ihave abundance, my brother," Gen.
xxxiii. 9 ; or, as we translate it, /Aare enough ?
and shall not a Christian say so ranch more?
It is sad that our heart should be so dead to
heavenly things, and as a sponge to suck in
earthly. Let all that hath been said work our
minds to holy contentment.
CHAPTER Xn.
Three things inserted by way of Caution.
In the next place, I come to lay down some
necessary cautions. Though, I say, a man
should be contented in every estate, yet there
are three estates in which he must not be con-
tented —
15
176 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
1. He must not be contented in a natural
estate; here he must learn not to be content.
A sinner, in his natural state, is under the wrath
of God, John, iii. 36 ; and shall he be content,
when that dreadful vial is going to be poured
out ? Is it nothing to be under the scorchings
of Divine fury ? — Who can dwell with ever-
lasting burnings ? A sinner, as a sinner, is
under the power of Satan, Acts xxvi. 18, and
shall he in this estate be contented? Who
would be contented to stay in the enemy's
quarters ? While we sleep in the lap of sin,
the Devil doth to us as the Phihstines did to
Samson, cut the lock of our strength, and put
out our eyes, 2 Cor. iv. 4. Be not content, O
sinner ! in this estate. For a man to be in debt
body and soul, and in fear every hour to be ar-
rested and carried prisoner to hell, shall he now
be content 1 No. Here I preach against con-
tentment. May you be enabled to seek deliv-
erance from such a condition ! I would hasten
you out of it as the angels hastened Lot out of
Sodom, Gen. xix. 15. There is a smell of the
fire and brimstone upon you. The longer a
man stays in his sins the more sin doth
DIVINE CX)NTENTMENT. 177
strengthen, Heb. iii. 13. It is hard to get out
of sin when the heart, as a garrison, is victual-
led and fortified. A young plant is easily re-
moved ; but, when the tree is once rooted,
there is no stirring it. Thou, who art rooted
in thy pride, unbelief, and impenitency, it will
cost thee many a sad pull ere thou art plucked
out of thy natural estate, Jer. vi. 16. It is a
hard thing to have a brazen face and a broken
heart. He travaileth with iniquity, Psal. vii. 14.
Be assured, the longer you travail with your
sins, the more and the sharper pangs you must
expect in the new-hirth. Oh, be not contented
with your natural estate ! David saith — Why
art thou disquieted, my soul ? Psal. xliii. 5.
But a sinner should say to himself- — " Why
art thou not disquieted, my soul ? Why is it
that thou layest afflictions so to heart, and canst
not lay thy sins to heart ?" It is a mercy when
we are disquieted about sin. A man had better
be at the trouble of setting a bone, than to be
lame and in pain all his hfe. Blessed is that
trouble a i ngs the soul to Christ. It is one
of the worst sights in the world to see a bad
conscience quiet ; of the two, better is a fever
178 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
than a lethargy. I wonder to see a man in
his natural estate content ! What, contented to
go to hell !
2. Though, in regard of externals, a man
should be in every state content, yet he must
not be content in such a condition wherein
God is apparently dishonoured. If a man's
trade be such that he can hardly use it but he
must trespass upon God's commands — and
so makes a trade of sin — he must not con-
tent himself in such a condition. God never
called any man to such a calling as is sinful :
a man in this case had better knock off and
desist ; better lose some of his gain, that he
may lessen some of his guilt. So for servants
that live in di prof ane family — the very suburbs
of hell — where the name of God is not called
upon, unless when it is taken in vain ; they are
not to content themselves in such a place, they
are to come out of the tents of these sinners ;
there is a double danger in living among the
profane —
1. Lest we come to be infected with the
poison of their ill example. Joseph, living in
Pharaoh's court, had learned to swear by the life
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 179
of Pharaoh, Gen. xlii. 15. We are prone to
such an example : men take in deeper impres-
sions by the eye, than by the ear. Dives was
a bad pattern ; and he had many brethren, who
seeing him sin, trod just in his steps — " There-
fore," saith he, " I pray thee, send him to my
faiher's house ; for I have five brethren, that he
may testify to them, that they come not into this
place of torment," Luke xvi. 27, 28. Dives
knew which way they went ; it is easy to catch
a disease from another, but not to catch health.
The bad will sooner corrupt the good, than the
good will convert the bad. Take an equal
quantity and proportion, so much sweet wine,
with so much sour vineo^ar : the vinegar will
sooner sour the wine, than the wine will sweeten
the vinegar. Sin is compared to the plague,
1 Kings viii. 37, and to leaven, 1 Cor. v. 7, to
show of what a spreading nature it is. A bad
master makes a bad servant. Jacob's cattle,
by looking on the rods which were speckled
and ring-straked, conceived like the rods : we
do as we see others before us, especially above us.
If the head be sick, the other parts of the body
are distempered. If the sun shine not upon the
15*
180 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
mountains, it must needs set in the valleys.
We pray — Lead us not into temptation; and do
we lead ourselves into temptation ? Lot was
the world's miracle, who kept himself fresh in
Sodom's salt water.
2. By living in an evil family, we are liable
to incur their punishment — Pour out thy wrath
vpon the families that call not upon thy name,
Jer. xiii. 25. For want of pouring out prayer,
the wrath of God was ready to be poured out.
It is dangerous living in the tents of Kedar.
When God sends his flying roll, written within
and without with curses, it enters into the house
of the thief and perjurer, and it consumes the
timber and the stones thereof Zach. v. 4. Is it
not of sad consequence to live in a profane per-
jured family, when the sin of the governor pulls
his house about his ears? If the stone and
timber be destroyed, how shall the servant es-
cape ? And suppose God send not a temporal
roll of curses in the family, there is a spiritual
roll, and that is worse, Prov. iii. 33. Be not
content to live where religion dies. Salute the
brethren, and JVymphas, and the church which
is in his house. Col. iv. 15. The house of the
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 181
godly is a little church ; the house of the wick-
ed a little hell, Prov. vii. 27. Oh, incorporate
yourselves into a religious family : the house of
a good man is perfumed with a blessing, Prov.
iii. 33. When the holy oil of grace is poured
on the head, the savour of this ointment sweetly
difFuseth itself, and the virtue of it runs down
upon the skirts of the family. Pious examples
are very magnetical and forcible. Seneca said
to his sister — " Though I leave you not wealth,
yet I will leave you a good example.'' Let us
ingraft ourselves among the saints : by being
often among the spices, we come to smell of
them.
3. The third caution- is — Though in every
condition we must be content, yet we are not
to content ourselves with a little grace. Grace
is the best blessing. Though we should be
contented with a competency of estate, yet not
with a small portion of grace. It was the end
of Christ's ascension to heaven, to give gifts :
and the end of those gifts, that we may grow
up into him who is the head, Christ, Eph. iv.
15. Where the apostle distinguisheth between
our being in Christ, and our growing in him,
182 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
our ingrafting and our flourishing. Be not
content with a morsel of religion.
It is not enough that there be life, but there
must h^ fruit. Barrenness in the Law was
accounted a curse. The further we are from
fruit, the nearer we are to cursing, Heb. vi. 8.
It is a sad thing when men are fruitful only in
the UTifruitful works of darkness. Be not con-
tent with a drachm or two of grace ! Oh, covet
more grace! never think thou hast enough.
We are bid covet the best things, 1 Cor. xii. 31.
It is a heavenly ambition when we desire to
be high in God's favour ; a blessed contention,
when all the strife is, who shall be the most
holy. St. Paul, though he was content with a
little of the world, yet not with a little grace ; he
reached forward and 'pressed towards the mark
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,
Phil. iii. 14. A true Christian is a wonder ;
he is the most contented, and yet the least sat-
isfied : he is contented with a morsel of bread,
and a little water in the cruse, yet never sat-
isfied with a little grace ; he doth pant and
breathe after more. This is his prayer —
" Lord, more conformity to Christ, more cjm-
DR^INE CONTENTMENT. 183
munion with Christ." He would fain have
Christ's image more hvely pictured upon his
soul. True grace is always progressive : as the
saints are called lam^ps and stars in regard of
their light, so trees of righteousness, Isai. Ixi. 3,
for their growth ; they are indeed like the trees
of life, brincrino^ forth several sorts of fruit.
A true Christian grows, 1, in beauty. —
Grace is the best complexion of the soul ; it is
at the first plantation like Rachel, fair to look
upon ; but still, the more it lives, the more
it sends forth its rays of beauty. Abra-
ham's faith was at first beautiful ; but at
last it did shine in its orient colours, and grew
so illustrious, that God himself was in love
with it, and makes his faith a pattern to all
believers.
2. A true Christian grows in sweetness.
A poisonous weed may grow as much as the
hysop, or rosemary; the poppy in the field as
the corn ; the crab, as the pearmain : but the
one hath a harsh, sour taste ; the other mellows
as it grows. So a hypocrite may grow in out-
ward dimensions as much as a child of God ;
he may pray as much, profess as much ; but he
184 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
grows only in magnitude, he brings forth sour
grapes, his duties are leavened with pride ; the
other ripens as he grows; he grows in love,
humility, faith, which do mellow and sweeten
his duties, and make them come off with a
better relish. The believer grows as a flower :
he casts a fragrancy and perfume.
3. A true Christian grows in strength;
he grows still more rooted and settled. The
more the tree grows, the more it spreads its
root in the earth. Col ii. 7. A Christian,
who is a plant of the heavenly Jerusalem, the
longer he grows, the more he incorporates
into Christ, and sucks spiritual juice and sap
from him ; he is a dwarf in regard of humili-
ty, but a giant in regard of strength. He is
strong to do duties, to bear burdens and to re-
sist temptations,
4. He grows vigorous in the exercise of
his grace; he hath not only oil in ^his lamp,
but his lamp burning and shining. Grace
is active and dexterous. Christ's vines co
flourish, Cant vi. 11; hence we read of a
lively hope, 1 Pet i. 3, and a fervent love,
1 Pet i 22 ; here is the activity of grace. In-
DrV'INE CONTENTMENT, 185
deed, sometimes grace is as a sleepy habit in the
soul, like sap in the vine, not exerting its vig-
our ; which may be occasioned through spirit-
ual sloth, or by reason of falling into some
sin ; but this is only for a while : the spring of
grace will come, the flowers vMl appear, and
the fig tree put forth her green figs. The
fresh gales of the Spirit do sweetly revive and
refocillate grace. The Church of Christ, whose
heart was a garden, and her graces as precious
spices, prays for the heavenly breathings of the
Spirit, that her sacred spices might flow out,
Cant iv. 16.
5. A true Christian grows both in the
kind and in the degree of grace. To his
spiritual living he gets an augmentation ; he
adds to faith, virtue ; to virtue, knowledge ; to
knowledge, temperance, &c. 2 Pet i. 5, 6. Here
is grace growing in the kind ; and he goes
on from faith to faith, Rom i. 17 -, there
is grace growing in the degree. We
are hound to give thanks to God for you,
brethren, because your faith groweth exceed-
ingly, 2 Thess. i. 3, it increaseth over and
above. And the apostle speaks of those spirit-
186 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
ual plants which were laden with Gospel fruit,
Phil. i. 11. A Christian is compared to the
vine — an emblem of fruitfulness — he must bear
full clusters : we are bid to perfect that which
is lacking in our faith, 1 Thess. iii. 10. A
Christian must never be so old as to be past
bearing ; he brings forth fruit in his old age,
Psal. xcii. 14. A heaven-born plant is ever
growing : he never thinks he grows enough ;
he is not content unless he adds every day one
cubit to his spiritual stature. We must not be
content just with so much grace as will keep
life and soul together ; a drachm or two must
not suffice, but we must be still increasing with
the increase of God, Col. ii. 19. We had need
renew our strength as the eagle, Isa. xl. 31.
Our sins are renewed, our wants are renewed,
our temptations are renewed, and shall not our
strength be renewed 1 Oh, be not content
Avith the first appearance of grace ! grace in
its infancy and minority. You look for de-
grees of glory, be you Christians of Degrees.
Though a believer should be contented with a
morsel in his estate, yet not with a morsel in
religion. A Christian of the right breed la-
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 187
bours still to excel himself, and come near unto
that holiness in God, who is the original, the
pattern, and antitype of all holiness.
16
188 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
CHAPTER Xin.
USE rv.
Showing how a Christian may know whether he hath
learned this divine lesson of Art.
Thus having laid down these three Cau-
tions, I proceed in the next place to a Use of
Trial. 4. How may a Christian know that he
hath learned this lesson of contentment? I
shall lay down some characters by which you
shall know it —
1. A contented spirit is a silent spirit. He
hath not one word to say against God. I was
dumb, or silent, because thov, Lord, didst it,
Psal. xxxix. 2. Contentment silenceth all dis-
pute — He sitteth alone, and keepeth silence,
Lam. iii. 28. There is a sinful silence, when
God is dishonoured, his truth wounded, and
men hold their peace : this silence is a loud
sin; and there is a holy silence, when the
soul sits down quiet and content with its con-
dition. When Samuel tells Eli that heavy
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 189
message from God, that he would judge his
house, and that the iniquity of his family should
not be purged away with sacrifice for ever,
1 Sam. iii. 13, doth Eli murmur or dispute ?
No ; he hath not one word to say against God
— It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth
him good, verse 18. A discontented spirit
saith, as Pharaoh — '* Who is the Lord ?" Why-
should I suffer all this ? Why should I be
brought into this low condition? Who is
the Lord ? But a gracious heart saith as Eli
— " It is the Lord ; let him do what he will
with me." When Nadab and Abihu, the sons
of Aaron, had offered up strange fire, and fire
went from the Lord and devoured them. Lev.
X. 1 ; is Aaron now in a passion of discontent ?
No ; Aaron held his peace, verse 3. A con-
tented spirit is never angry, unless with him-
self, for having hard thoughts of God. When
Jonah said, / do well to he angry : this was not
a contented spirit, it did not become a prophet.
2. A contented spirit is a cheerful spirit.
Contentment is something more than patience ;
for patience denotes only submission, content-
ment denotes cheerfulness. A contented Chris-
190 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
tian is more than passive ; he doth not only
bear the cross, but take up the cross, Matt. xvi.
24. He looks upon God as a wise God ; and,
whatever he doth, it is in order to a cure;
hence the contented Christian is cheerful ; and,
with the apostle, takes pleasure in infirmities,
distresses, SjX. 2 Cor. xii. 10. He doth not only
submit to God's dealings, but rejoice in them ;
he doth not only say — " Just is the Lord in all
that is befallen me ;" but " Good is the Lord."
This is to be contented. A sullen melancholy
is hateful. It is said, God loves a cheerful
giver, 2 Cor. ix. 7, and God loves a cheerful
liver. We are bid, in Scripture, not to be care-
ful ; but we are nowhere bid not to be cheer-
ful. He that is contented with his condition,
doth not abate of his spiritual joy ; and, indeed,
he hath that within him which is the ground of
cheerfulness ; he carries a pardon sealed in his
heart. Matt. ix. 2.
3. A contented spirit is a thankful spirit.
Job i. 21. This is a degree above the other
— In every thing giving thanks, 1 Thes. ii. 5.
A gracious heart spies mercy in every condi-
tion, therefore hath his heart screwed up to
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 191
thankfulness : others will bless God for pros-
perity, he blesseth him for affliction. Thus he
reasons with himself — " Am I in want ? God
sees it better for me to want, than to abound.
God is now dieting of me, he sees it better for
my spiritual health sometimes to be kept fast-
ing :" therefore he doth not only submit, but is
thankful. Discontent is ever complaining of
his condition ; the contented spirit is ever gi™g
thanks. Oh, what height of grace is this ! A
contented heart is a temple, where the praises
of God are sung forth ; not a sepulchre, wherein
they are buried. A contented Christian, in the
greatest straits, hath his heart enlarged, and di-
lated in thankfulness. He oft contemplates
God's love in the dispensations of his provi-
dence, and in the displays of his grace towards
him ; he sees that he is a monument of mercy,
therefore desires to be a pattern of praise.
There is always gratulatory music in a content-
ed soul : the Spirit of grace works in the heart
like new wine; which, under the heaviest
pressures of sorrow, will have a vent open for
thankfulness. This is to be content.
4. He that is content, no condition comes
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192 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
amiss to him ; so it is in the text — in whatsoever
state I anij ^c. A contented Christian can
turn himself to any thing, either want, or
abound. The people of Israel knew neither
how to abound, nor yet how to want ; when
they were in want, they murmurecV— Ca?i God
])repare a table in the wilderness ? Psal. Ixxviii,
19. And when they eat and were filled, then
they lifted up the heel. Paul knew how to
manage every condition : he could be either a
note higher, or lower ; and in this sense, he
could be any thing or he could be nothing ; he
could do any thing that God would have him.
If he were in prosperity, he knew how to be
thankful ; if in adversity, he knew how to be
patient ; he was neither lifted up with the one,
nor cast down with the other. He could carry
a greater sail or lesser : thus a contented Chris-
tian knows how to turn himself to any condi-
tion. We have those who can be contented in
some conditions, but not in every condition :
they can be content in a wealthy estate, when
they have the streams of milk and honey;
while God's candle shines upon their head, now
they are content ; but if the wind turn, and be
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 193
against them, then they are discontented.
While they have a silver crutch to lean upon,
they are contented; but if God breaks this
crutch, then they are discontented : but Paul
had learned, in every state, to carry himself
with equanimity of mind. Others could be
content with their affliction, so God would give
them leave to pick and choose. They could
be content to bear such a cross ; they could
better endure sickness than poverty ; or bear
loss of estate, than loss of children : if they
might have such a man's cross, they could be
content ; any condition but the present. This
is not to be content. A contented Christian
does not go to choose his cross, but leaves God
to choose for him ; he is content, both for the
kind and for the duration. A contented spirit
saith — " Let God apply what medicine he
pleaseth, and let it lie on as long as it will ; I
know, when it hath done its cure, and eaten the
venom of sin out of my heart, God will take it
off again." In a word, a contented Christian,
being sweetly captivated under the authority
of God's word, desires to be wholly at God's
disposal, and is \villing to live in that sphere
194 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
and climate where God has set him ; and, if at
any time he hath been an instrument of doing
noble and brave service to the public, he knows
he is but a rational tool, a servant to authority,
and is content to return to his former private
condition of life. Cincinnatus, after he had
done worthily, and purchased to himself great
fame in his dictatorship, did, notwithstanding,
afterwards voluntarily return to till and manure
his four acres of ground. Thus should it
be with Christians, professing godliness with
contentment. Having served Mars, not da-
ring to offend Jupiter; lest otherwise they
discover only to the world a brutish valour ;
being so untamed and headstrong, that when
they have conquered others, yet they are not
able to rule their own spirits.
5. He that is contented with his condition,
to rid himself out of trouble, will not run him-
self into sin. I deny not but a Christian may
lawfully seek to change his condition : so far
as God's providence doth go before, he may
follow ; but when men will not follow provi-
dence, but run before it, as he said — This evil
is of the Lord, why should I wait any longer ?
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 195
2 Kings vi. 33. If God doth not open the door
by his providence, they will break it open, and
wind themselves out of affliction by sin, bringing
their souls into trouble by bringing their estates
out of trouble : this is far from holy content-
ment ; this is unbelief broken out into rebellion.
A contented Christian is walling to wait God's
leisure, and will not stir till God opens a door.
As Paul said in another case — They have beaten
us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and
have cast us into prison; and now do they
thrust us out privily? J\^ay, verily, but let
them come themselves, and fetch us out, Acts
xvi. 37. So, with reverence, saith the con-
tented Christian — " God hath cast me into this
condition ; and, though it be sad and trouble-
some, yet I will not stir till God, by a clear
providence, fetch me out." Thus those brave-
spirited Christians, Heb. xi. 35, accepted not
deliverance ; that is, upon base, dishonourable
terms. They would rather stay in prison, than
purchase their liberty by carnal compliance. Es-
tins observes concerning them. They might not
only have had their enlargement, but been raised
to honour, and put into offices of trust ; yet the
196 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
honour of religion was dearer to them than
either liberty or honour. A contented Chris-
tian will not remove, till, as the Israelites, he
see a 'pillar of cloud and fire going before him
— It is good that a man should both hope, and
quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord, Lam.
iii. 2Q. It is good to stay God's leisure ; and
not to extricate ourselves out of trouble, till we
see the Star of God's providence pointing out a
way to us.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 197
CHAPTER XIV.
USE V.
Containing a Christiaa Directory, or Rules about
Contentment.
I PROCEED now to a Use of Direction, to show
Christians how they may attain to this Divine
Art of Contentment. Certainly it is feasible,
others of God's saints have reached to it. St.
Paul here had it ; and what do we think of
those we read of in the httle book of martyrs,
Heb xi.jwho had trials of cruel mockings and
scourgings, they wandered about in deserts and
caves, clothed with sheep-skins and with goat-
skins, being destitute, afflicted and tormented,
yet they were contented ! So that it is possi-
ble for us to possess it ! And here I shall
lay down some Rules for Holy Content-
ment.
198 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
SECTION I.
Advancement of Faith is necessary.
All our disquietnesses do issue immediately
from unbelief. It is this that raiseth the
storm of discontent in the heart. Oh, set
faith at work ! It is the property of faith to
silence our doubtings, to scatter our fears, to
still the heart when the passions are up. Faith
works the heart to a sweet serene composure ;
it is not having food and raiment, but having
faith, which will make us content. Faith chides
down passion ; w^hen Reason begins to swim,
let Faith sw^im.
Quest. How doth faith work content-
ment?
Answ. 1. Faith shows the soul, that what-
ever its trials are, yet it is from the hand of a
kind Father: it is indeed a bitter cup; but
shall I not drink the cup which my Father hath
given me to dnnk 1 John xviii. 11. It is love
to my soul ; God corrects with the same love
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 199
that he crowns me. God is now training me
up for heaven ; he carves me, to make me a
poKshed pillar fit to stand in the heavenly man-
sion. These sufferings bring forth patience,
humility, even the peaceable fruits of right-
eousness, Heb xii. 11. And if God can bring
such sweet fruit out of a sour stock, let Him
graft me where he please. Thus faith brings
the heart to holy contentment.
2. Faith sucks the honey of contentment
out of the hive of the Promise. Christ is the
Vine, the promises are the clusters of grapes
that grow upon this Vine ; and Faith presseth
the sweet vine of contentment out of these
spiritual clusters of the promises. I will show
you but one cluster — The Lord will give grace
and glory, and no good thing will he withhold
fiom them that walk uprightly, Psal. Ixxxiv.
11 ; here is enough for faith to live upon. The
Promise is the flower out of which Faith distils
the spirits and quintessence of divine content-
ment. In a word. Faith carries up the soul,
and makes it aspire after more noble and gen-
erous delights than earth affords, and to live in
the world above the world. Would you
17
200 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
lead contented lives, live up to the height of
your faith.
SECTION II.
Breathe after Assurance.
Oh, let us get the interest cleared between
God and our own souls ! Interest is a word
much in use ; a pleasing word : interest in
great friends, interest-money. Oh, if there be
an interest worth looking after, it is an interest
between God and the soul. Labour to say
with Thomas, my Lord mid my God. To be
without money and without friends, and with-
out God too, Eph. ii. 12, is sad; but he
whose faith doth flourish into assurance, that
can say, with St. Paul, / know in whom I
have believed J 2 Tim. i. 12; — be assured that
man hath enough to give his heart content-
ment. When a man's debts are paid, and he
can go abroad without fear of arresting, what
contentment is this ! Oh, let your title be
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 201
cleared ! if God be ours, whatever we want in
the creature is infinitely made up in him. Do
I want bread ? I have Christ, the Bread of
Life. Am I under defilement ? His blood is
like the trees of the sanctuary ; not only for
meat, but medicine, Ezek. xlvii. 12. If any
thing in the world is worth labouring for, it is
to get sound evidences that God is ours. If
this be once cleared, what can come amiss ?
No matter what storms I meet with, so that I
know where to put in for harbour. He that
hath God to be his God, is so well contented
with his condition, that he doth not much
care whether he hath any thing else. To rest
in a condition where a Christian cannot say
God is his God, is a matter oifear : and if he
can say so truly, and yet is not contented, is
matter of shame. David encouraged himself in
the Lord his God, although it was sad with
him, 1 Sam. xxx. 62. Ziklag was burnt, his
wives taken captive, he lost all, and had like
to have lost his soldiers' hearts too — for they
spake of stoning him — yet he had the ground
of contentment within him, viz. an interest in
God ; and this was a pillar of supportment to
202 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
his spirit. He that knows God is his, and all
that is in God is for his good ; if this doth not
satisfy, I know nothing w^ill.
SECTION ni.
RULE III.
Pray for a humble Spirit.
The humble man is the contented man : if
his estate be low, his heart is lower than his
estate ; therefore he is contented. If his es-
teem is the world below, he that is little in his
own eyes will not be much troubled to be little
in the eyes of others. He hath a meaner opin-
ion of himself, than others can have of him.
The humble man studies his own un worthiness ;
he looks upon himself as less than the least of
God's mercies, Gen. xxxii. 10, and then a little
will content him. He cries out with Paul,
that he is the chief of sinners, 1 Tim. i. 15,
therefore doth not murmur, but admire: he
doth not say his comforts are small, but his
sins are great. He thinks it a mercy he is out
DIVIXE CONTENTMENT. 203
of hell ; therefore is contented. He doth not
go to carve out a more happy condition to
himself ; he knows the worst piece God cuts
him is better than he deserves. A proud man
is never contented ; he is one that hath a high
opinion of himself; therefore, imder small
blessings is disdainful, under small crosses im-
patient. The humble spirit is the contented
spirit ; if his cross be hght, he reckons it in the
inventory of his mercies ; if it be hea-vy, yet
takes it upon his knees, knowing that when
his estate is bad, it is to make him the better.
Where you lay humility for the foundation,
contentment will be the superstructure, and
Christ the topstone.
SECTION IV.
RULE IV.
Keep a clear Conscience. 1 Tim. iii. 9.
Contentment is the manna that is laid up
in the ark of a good conscience. Oh, take
heed of indulging in any sin ! It is as natural
' 17*
204 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
for guilt to "breed disquietude, as for the earth
to breed worms. Sin lies like Jonah in the
ship, it raises a tempest. If dust or motes
be gotten into the eye, they make the eye
water, and cause a soreness in it ; if the eye
be clear, then it is free from that soreness. If
sin be gotten into the conscience, which is as
the eye of the soul, then grief and disquiet breed
there : but keep the eye of conscience clear,
and all is well. What Solomon saith of a
good stomach, I may say of a good conscience ;
Prov. xxvii. 7 : To the hungry soul every hit-
ter thing is sweet ; so to a good conscience
every bitter thing is sweet ; it can j)ick con-
tentment out of the Cross. A good conscience
turns the waters of Marah into wine. Would
you have a quiet heart 1 Get a smiling con-
science. I wonder not to hear Paul say, he
was in every state content ; when he could
make that triumph — / have lived in all good
conscience unto this day, Acts xxiii. 1. When
once a man's reckonings are clear, it must
needs let in abundance of contentment into the
heart. A good conscience can suck content-
ment out of the bitterest drug : under slanders
DIVINE CONTENTHIENT. 205
—This is our rejoicing, the testimony of our
conscience, 2 Cor. i. 12. In case of imprison-
ment, Paul had his prison-songs, and could play
the sweet lesson of contentment when his feet
■were in the stocks, Acts, xvi. 24. Augustine
calls it the paradise of a good conscience ; and,
if it be so, then in prison we may be in para-
dise. When the times are troublesome, a good
conscience makes a calm : if conscience be
clear, what though the days be cloudy 1 Is it
not a contentment to have a friend always at
hand to speak a good w^ord for us ? Such a
friend is a clear conscience. A good con-
science, is like David's harp, it drives away
the evil spirit of discontent. When thoughts
begin to arise, and the heart is disquieted, con-
science saith to a man, as the king did to Ne-
hemiah : Why is thy countenance sad? Neh.
ii. 2. So saith conscience, " Hast not thou the
seed of God in thee ? Art thou not an heir of
the Promise ? Hast not thou a treasure that
thou canst never be plundered of? Why is
thy countenance sad ?" Oh, keep conscience
clear, and you shall never want contentment !
For a man to keep the pipes of his body, the
206 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
veins and arteries, free from colds and obstruc-
tions, is the best way to maintain health ; so
to keep conscience clear, and to preserve it
from the obstructions of guilt, is the best way to
maintain contentment. First, conscience is
pure, and then peaceable, gentle and easy to
be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits,
without partiality and without hypocrisy. James
iii. 7.
SECTION V.
RULE v.
Learn to deny yourselves.
Look well to your affections, bridle them
in. Do two things —
!1. Mortify your desires.
2. Moderate your delights.
1. Mortify your desires. We must not be
of the Dragon's temper, who, they say, is so
thirsty, that no water will quench his thirst —
Mortify^ therefore, your inordinate affection,
Col. iii. 5. In the Greek, it is, your evil affec-
rrVINE CONTENTMENT. 207
Hon ; to show that our desires, when they are
inordinate, are evil. Crucify your desires, be
as dead men : a dead man hath no appetite.
Quest. How should a Christian martyr
his desires ?
Answ. 1. Get a right judgment of the
things here below ; they are mean, beggarly
things — Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which
is not, for riches make themselves wings and fly
away ? Prov. xxiii. 5. Thy appetite must be
guided by reason ; the affections are the feet of
the soul : therefore they must follow the judg-
ment, not lead it.
2. Often seriously meditate of mortality.
Death will soon crop those flowers which we
delight in, and pull down the fabric of those
bodies which we so much delight to garnish
and beautify. Think, when you are locking
up your money in your chest, you shall shortly
be screwed up in your coflan.
Moderate your delights. Set not your hearts
too much upon any creature, Psal. Ixix. 20.
What we over-love, we shall over-grieve.
Rachel set her heart too much upon her chil-
dren ; and, when she had lost them, she lost
208 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
herself too : such a vein of grief was opened
as could not be stanched — She refused to he
comforted. Here was discontent. When we
let any creature lie too near our heart, when
God pulls away that comfort, a piece of our
heart is rent away with it. Too much fondness
ends in frowardness. Those that would be
content in the want of mercy, must be moderate
in their enjoyment. Jonathan dipped the rod
in honey, he did not trust in it. Let us take
heed of ingulfing ourselves in pleasure : bet-
ter have a spare diet, than, by having too much
to be surfeited.
SECTION VI.
Pray for a Foretaste of Heaven in your Heart.
Spiritual things satisfy : the more of hea-
ven is in us, the less earth will content. He
that hath once tasted the love of God, his thirst
is much quenched towards sublunary things,
the joys of God's Spirit are heart-filling and
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 209
heart-cheering joys ; he that hath these, hath
heaven begun in him, Rom. xiv. 17 ; and shall
we not be content to be in heaven ? — Seek the
things that are above, Col. iii. 1 ; fly aloft in
your affections, thirst after the graces and com-
forts of the Spirit. The eagle, that flies above
in the air, fears not the stinging of the serpent ;
the serpent creeps on his belly, and stings only
such creatures as go upon the earth.
Discontent is a serpent that stings only an
earthly heart. A heavenly soul, that with the
eagle flies aloft, finds abundantly enough in
God to give contentment, and is not stung with
the cares and disquiets of the world.
SECTION VII.
Look not so much on the dark side of your Condition
as on the light.
God doth chequer his providences, white
and black, as the pillar of cloud had its light
side and dark. Look on the light side of thy
210 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
estate : who looks on the back side of a land-
scape ? Suppose thou art cast in a law-suit,
there is the dark side ; yet thou hast some land
left, there is the light side. Thou hast sickness
in thy body, there is the dark side ; but grace
in thy soul, there is the hght side. Thou hast
a child taken away, there is the dark side ; thy
husband lives, there is the light side. God's
providences in this life are various, represented
by those speckled horses among the myrtle-
trees, which were the red and white, Zach.
i. 8. Mercies and afflictions are interwoven :
God doth speckle his work. " Oh !" saith one,
"I want such a comfort;" but weigh all thy
mercies in the balance, and that will make thee
content. If a man did w^ant a finger, would he
be so discontented for the loss of that, as not to
be thankful for all the other parts and joints of
the body ? Look on the light side of your con-
dition, and then all your discontents will easily
disband : do not pore upon your losses, but
ponder upon your mercies. What ! w^ouldst
thou have no cross at all ? Why should one
man think to have all good things, when him-
self is good but in part ? Canst thou expect
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 211
to have no evil about thee while thou hast so
much evil in thee ? If thou art not fully sanc-
tified in this life ; thou wilt not be fully satis-
fied ? Never look for perfection of contentment
till there be perfection of grace.
SECTION VIII.
Consider in what a posture we stand here in the World.
1. We are in a military condition, we are
soldiers, 2 Tim. ii. 3 ; now a soldier endures
hardships. What, though he hath not his
stately house, his rich furniture, his soft bed,
his full table, yet he must not complain ; he
can lie on straw as well as on down ; he minds
not his lodging : but his thoughts run upon
dividing the spoil, and the garland of honour
that shall be set upon his head ; and, for the
hope of this, is content to run any hazard, en-
dure any hardship. Were it not absurd to hear
him complain that he wants such provision,
and is fain to lie out in the fields ? A Chris-
18
212 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
tian is a military person ; he fights the Lord's
battles, he is Christ's ensign-bearer. Now,
what though he endures hard fare, and the
bullets fly about ? He fights for an incorrupt-
ible crown, and therefore should be content.
2. We are pilgrims and travellers. A man
that is in a strange country is contented with
any diet or usage ; he is glad of any thing ;
though he hath not that respect or attendance
that he looks for at home, nor is capable of the
privileges and immunities of that place, he is
content ; he knows, when he comes into his
own country, he hath lands to inherit, and
there he shall have honour and respect. So it
is with a child of God ; he is in a pilgrim con-
dition — " I am a stranger with thee, and a so-
journer, as all my fathers were," Psal. xxxix.
12. Therefore, let a Christian be content : he
is in the world, but not of the world ; he is
born of God, and is a citizen of the new Jeru-
salem, Heb. xii. 10 ; therefore, though " he
hunger and thirst, and have no certain dwell-
ing place," 1 Cor. iv. 11, yet he must be con-
tent ; it will be better when he comes into his
own country.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 213
3. We are beggars ; we beg at heaven's
gate — Give us this day our daily hread. We
live upon God's alms ; therefore must be con-
tent with any thing. A beggar must not pick
and choose, he is contented w^ith the refuse.
Oh ! why dost thou murmur that art a beggar,
and art fed out of the alms-basket of God's
providence 7
SECTION IX.
Let not your Hopes depend upon outward Things.
Lean not upon sandy pillars. We oft
build our comforts upon such a friend or estate,
and when that prop is removed, all our joy is
gone, and our hearts begin either to fail or
fret. A lame man leans on his crutches ; and,
if they break, he is undone. Let not thy con-
tentment go upon crutches, which may soon
fail ; the ground of contentment must be with-
in thyself. The word, in the Greek, which is
used for contentment, signifies self-sufficiency.
214 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
A Christian hath that from within that is able
to support him, such strength of faith and good
hope through grace, as bears up his heart in the
deficiency of all outward comforts. The phi-
losophers of old, when their estates were gone,
yet could take contentment in the goods of the
mind, their learning and virtue ; and shall not
a believer much more in the grace of the
Spirit, that rich enamel and embroidery of the
soul ? Say, with thyself — " If friends leave
me, if riches take wings, yet I have that within
which comforts me, viz. a heavenly treasure ;
when the blossoms of my estate are blown off,
still there is the sap of contentment in the root
of my heart ; I have still an interest in God,
and that interest cannot be broken off." Oh !
never place your felicity in these dull and beg-
garly things here below.
SECTION X.
RULE X.
Let us often compare our Condition.
Quest. How shall I compare myself ?
Ans. Make this five-fold comparison.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 215
1. Let US compare our condition and our
desert too^ether ; if we have not what we de-
sire, we have more than we deserve. For our
mercies, we have deserved less ; for our afflic-
tions, we have deserved more.
First, In regard to our mercies, we have
deserved less. What can we deserve ? — Can
man he profitable to the Almighty ? We live
upon free grace. Alexander gave a great gift
to one of his subjects. The man, being much
taken with it — " This," saith he, " is more than
I am worthy of !" — " I do not give thee this,"
saith the king, " because thou art worthy of it,
but I give a gift like Alexander." Whatever
we have is not merit, but bounty ; the least
bit of bread is more than God owes us ; we
can bring fagots to our own burning, but not
one flower to the garland of our salvation : he
that hath the least mercy will die in God's debt.
Secondly, In regard of our afflictions, we
have deserved more. Thou hast punished us
less than our iniquities deserve, Ezra ix. 13. Is
our condition sad ? We have deserved it
should it be worse. Hath God taken away our
estate from us ? He might have taken away
18*
216 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
Christ from us. Hath he thrown us into pri-
son ? He might have thrown us into hell.
He can destroy us as easy as to save us. This
should make us contented.
2. Let us compare our condition with
others, and this will make us content. We
look at them who are above us ; let us look at
them who are below us. We see one in his
silks, another in his sackcloth ; one hath the
waters of a full cup wrung out to him, another
is mingling his drink with tears. How many
pale faces do we behold, whom not sickness,
but want, hath brought into a consumption !
Think of this, and be content. It is worse
with them, who perhaps deserve better than
we, and are higher in God's favour. Am I in
prison ? Was not Daniel in a worse place,
viz. the lion's den ? Do I live in a mean cot-
tage ? Look on them who are banished from
their houses. We read of the primitive saints,
that they wandered up and doimi in sheepskins
and goat-skins, of whom the ivorld was not
ivorthy, Heb. xi. 37. Hast thou a gentle fit of
an ague ? Look on them who are tormented
with the stone and gout, &c. Others of God's
DIVINE CONTExNTMENT, 217
children have had greater afflictions, and have
borne them better than we. Daniel fed upon
pulse, and drank water, yet was fairer than
they who ate of the king's portion, Dan. i. 15.
Some Christians, who have been in a lower
condition, that have fed upon pulse and water,
have looked better, viz. been more patient
and contented, than we who enjoy abundance
Do others rejoice in affliction, and do we re-
pine ? Can they take up their cross, and walk
cheerfully under it ? And do we, under a hght-
er cross, murmur ?
3. Let us compare our condition with
Christ's upon earth. What a poor, mean con-
dition, w^as he pleased to be in for us ? He
was contented with any thing. For ye know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though
he was rich, yet, for your sakes, he became poor,
2 Cor. viii. 9. He could have brought down
a house from heaven with him, or challenged
the high places of the earth : but he was con-
tented to be in the wine-press, that we might
not lay under the weight of Almighty wrath ;
and to Hve poor, that we might die rich. The
manger was his cradle, the cobwebs his canopy ;
218 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
he, who is now preparing mansions for us in
heaven, had none for himself on earth, he had
nowhere to lay his head. Christ came in the
form of a beggar ; who, heing in the form of
God, took upon him the form of a servant, Phil,
ii. 7. We read not of any sums of money he
had ; when he wanted money, he was fain to
work a miracle for it, Matt. xvii. 27. Jesus
Christ was in a low condition ; he was never
high, but when he was lifted up upon the cross,
and that was his humility ; he was content to
live poor, and die despised. Oh, compare your
condition with Christ's !
4. Let us compare our condition with what
it w^as once, and this will make us content.
First, Let us compare our spiritual estate
with what it was once. What were we when
we lay in our blood ? We were heirs appar-
ent to hell, having no right to pluck one leaf
from the Tree of the Promises ; it was a Christ-
less and hopeless condition, Eph. ii. 12. But
now hath God delivered us from the curse and
condemnation of his righteous Law : he hath
taken you out of the wild olive of nature, and
engrafted you into Christ, making you living
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 219
branches of that living Vine ; he hath not only-
caused the light to shine upon you, but into
you, 2 Cor. iv. 6, and hath interested you in
all the privileges of sonship. Is not this
enough to make the soul content ?
Secondly, Let us compare our temporal es-
tate with what it was once. Alas ! we had
nothing when we stepped out of the womb —
For we brought nothing with v^ into the world,
1 Tim. vi. 7. If we have not that whicli we
desire, we have more than we did bring with
us; we brought nothing with us hut sin.
Other creatures bring something with them
into the world ; the lamb brings wool, the silk-
worm silk, &c., but we brought nothing with us.
What if our condition at present be low ? It is
better than it was once ; therefore, having food
and raiment, let us be content. Whatever we
have, God in his providence hath provided it
for us ; and, if we lose all, yet we have as much
as we brought with us. This was that which
made Job content — JYaked came I out of my
mother'' s womb, Job i. 21 ; as if he had said —
" Though God hath taken away all from me,
yet why should I murmur 1 I am as rich now
220 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
as I was when I came into the world ; I have
as much left as I brought with me : naked came
I hither and naked shall I return ; therefore,
blessed be the name of the Lord."
6. Let us compare our condition with what
it shall be shortly. There is a time shortly-
coming, when, if we had all the riches of India,
they would do us no good : we must die, and
can c^arry nothing with us. So saith the apos-
tle — " It is certain we can carry nothing out of
the world,^^ 1 Tim. vi. 7 ; therefore it follows —
" Having food and raiment, let us he thereidth
content,^^ verse 8. Open the rich man's grave,
and see what is there ; you may find the miser's
bones, but not his riches : were we to live for
ever here, or could we carry our riches into
another world, then indeed we might be discon-
tented, when we look upon our empty bags.
But it is not so : God may presently seal a war-
rant for death to apprehend us ; and, when we
die, we cannot carry our estate with us. Hon-
our and riches descend not into the grave, why
then are we troubled at our outward condition ?
"Why do we disguise ourselves with discontent ?
Oh ! lay up a stock of grace, be rich in faith
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 221
and good works, then riches will follow us,
Rev. xiv. 13. No other coin but grace will
pass current in heaven ; silver and gold will
not go there. Labour to be rich towards God ;
and, as for other things, be not solicitous — We
shall carry nothing with us, Luke xii. 21.
SECTION XI.
Do not brin^ )''our condition to your mind, but bring
your mind to your condition.
The way for a Christian to be contented is,
not by raising his estate higher, but by bringing
his spirit lower ; not by making his barns wi-
der, but his heart narrower. One man, a whole
lordship or manor will not content him ; ano-
ther is satisfied with a few acres of land. What
is the difference ? The one studies to satisfy
curiosity, the other necessity ; the one thinks
what he may have, the other thinks what he
may spare.
222 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
SECTION XII.
RULE XII.
Study the Vanity of the Creature.
It matters not whether we have more or
less of these things ; they have vanity written
upon the frontispiece of them all. The world
is like a shadow that declineth : it is delightful,
but deceitful ; it promiseth us more than it
fulfils:
Pleasure while we pursue it flies,
And fancied bliss deludes our eyes.
And it fails us when we have most need of it.
All the world rings changes, and is constant
only in its disappointments : what then, if we
have less of that which is at best but voluble
and fluid ? The world is as full of mutation
as motion ; and, what if God cuts us short in
sublunaries ? The more a man hath to do with
the world, the more he hath to do with vanity.
The world may be compared to ice, which is
smooth, but slippery ; or to the Egyptian tem-
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 223
pies, without very beautiful and sumptuous ;
but within, nothing to be seen but the image of
an ape. Every creature saith, concerning satis-
faction, it is not in me. The world is not a fill-
ing, but a flying comfort. It is like a game at
tennis : Providence bandies her golden balls,
first to one and then to another. Why are we
discontented at the loss of these things, but be-
cause we expect that from them which is not,
and refuse that in them which we ought not 1
Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd, Jon.
iv. 6. What a vanity was it ? Is it much to
see a withered gourd smitten 1 or, to see the
moon dressing itself in a new shape and
figure 1
SECTION XIII.
RULE XIII.
Get Fancy regulated.
It is the fancy which raiseth the price of
things above their real worth. What is the
reason one tulip is worth five pounds, another
19
224 DHINE CONTENTMENT.
perhaps, not worth one shilling 1 Fancy rais-
eth the price ; the difference is rather imaginary
tban real : so, why it should be better to have
thousands than hundreds is because men fancy
it so. If we could fancy a lower condition bet-
ter, as having less care in it, and less account,
it would be far more elicrible. The water that
springs out of the rock, drinks as sweet as if it
came out of a golden chalice ; things are as
we fancy them. Ever since the Fall, the fancy
is distempered — God saw that the imagination
of the thwght.^ of the heart v:ere ei.'il, Gen. vi. 5.
Fancy looks through wrong spectacles ; pray
that God will sanctify your fancy ; a lower
condition would content, if the mind and fancy
were set right. Diogenes preferred his cynical
life before Alexander's royalty ; he fancied his
little cloister best Fabricius, a poor man, yet
despised the gold of King Pyrrhus.
Could we cure a distempered fancy, we
might soon conquer a discontented heart.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 225
SECTION XIV.
KULE XIV.
Consider how little will suffice Nature.
The body is but a small continent, and is
easily recruited. Christ hath taught us to pray
for our daily bread. Nature is content with a
little. " Not to thirst, nor to starve, is enough,"
saith Gregory Nazianzen. — " Meat and drink
are a Christian's riches," saith St. Hierom.
And the Apostle saith — " Having food and
raiment, let us be content.^'
The stomach is sooner filled than the eye.
How quickly would a man be content, if he
would study rather to satisfy his hunger than
his humour.
SECTION XV.
Consider that the present condition is best for us,
because it is the appointment of God.
Flesh and blood is not a competent judge.
Surfeited stomachs are for banqueting stuff j
226 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
but a man, that regards his health, is rather for
sohd food. Vain men fancy such a condition
best, and would flourish in their bravery ;
whereas a wise Christian hath his will melted
into God's will, and thinks it best to be at his
disposal. God is wise : he knows whether we
need food or physic ; and, if we could acquiesce
in Providence, the quarrel would soon be at an
end. Oh, what a strange creature would man
be, if he were what he could wish himself!
Be content to be at God's allowance. God
knows which is the fittest pasture to put his
sheep in : sometimes a more barren ground
doth well ; whereas rank pasture may rot. Do
I meet with such a cross? God shows me
what the world is : he hath no better way to
wean me, than by putting me to a step-mother.
Doth God stint me in my allowance ? He is
now dieting me. Do I meet with losses ? It
is that God may keep me from being lost.
Every cross wind shall, at last, blow me to the
right port. Did we believe that condition best
which God doth parcel out to us, we should
cheerfully submit, and say — The lines are fallen
in pleasant places.
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 227
SECTION XVI.
[ Do not too much indulge the Flesh.
We are commanded to make no pro\ision
for the flesh to fulfil the lust thereof The
Flesh is a worse enemy than the Devil ; it is a
bosom traitor : an enemy within is worse. If
there were no Devil to tempt, the flesh would
be another Eve to tempt to the forbidden fruit.
Oh, take heed of giving way to it ! Whence
is all our discontent, but from the fleshly part ?
The flesh puts us upon the immoderate pursuit
of the world ; it consults for ease and plenty ;
and, if it be not satisfied, then discontents be-
gin to arise. Oh, let it not have the reins !
Martyr the flesh. In spiritual things, the flesh
is a sluggard; in secular thinpjs, an horseleech,
crying — ** Give, give." The flesh is an enemy
to sufl^ering ; it will sooner make a man a
courtier than a martyr. Oh, keep it under!
Put its neck under Christ's yoke : stretch and
nail it to his cross : never let a Christian look
for contentment in his spirit, till he hath morti-
fied the flesh.
19*
228 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
SECTION XVII.
RULE XVII.
Meditate much on the Glory which shall be Revealed.
There are great things laid up in heaven.
Though it be sad for the present, yet let us be
contented, for it will shortly be better ; it is but
a little while, and we shall be with Christ,
bathing our souls in the fountain of his love :
we shall never complain of want or injuries
any more ; our cross may be heavy, but one
sight of Christ will make us forget all our for-
mer sorrows. There are two things which
should give contentment —
1. That God will make us able to bear our
troubles ; 1 Cor. x. 13. " God," saith Chrysos-
tom, " seemeth with us like a lutanist, who will
not let the strings of his lute be too slack, lest
it spoil the music ; nor will he suffer them to
be too hard stretched or screwed up, lest they
break." So doth God deal with us, he will
not let us have too much prosperity, lest this
spoil the music of prayer and repentance ; nor
yet too much adversity, lest the si^mt fail be-
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 229
fore him, and the souls which he hath made,
Isai. Ivii. 16.
2. When we have suffered a while, 1 Pet.
V. 1. we shall be perfected in glory ; the cross
^hall be our ladder, by which we shall climb
up to heaven. Be then content, and the scene
will alter. God will ere long turn our water
into wine : the hope of this is enough to drive
away all distempers from the heart. Blessed
be God, it will be better — We have no continu-
ing city here, Heb. xiii. and xiv. ; therefore our
afflictions cannot continue. A wise man looks
still to the end — The end of the just man is
peace, Psal. xxxvii. 37. Methinks the smooth-
ness of the end should make amends for the
ruggedness of the way. eternity ! eternity !
think often of the kingdom prepared. David
w^as advanced from the sheep-fold to the throne.
First, he held his shepherd's staff, and shortly
after, the royal sceptre. God's people may be
put to hard services here ; but God hath chosen
them to be kings, to sit upon the throne with
the Lord Jesus. This, beino; weighed in the
balance of Faith, would be an excellent means
to bring the heart to contentment.
230 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
SECTION XVIII.
RULE XVIII.
Be much in Prayer.
The last rule for contentment is — Be much
in Prayer. Beg of God, that he will work
our hearts to this blessed frame. Is any m,an
afflicted ? let him fray, Jam. v. 13. So, is
any man discontented ? let him pray. Prayer
gives vent. The opening of a vein lets out
the bad blood : when the heart is filled with
sorrow and disquiet, prayer gives ease to the
mind. The key of prayer, oiled with tears,
unlocks the heart of all its discontents. Prayer
is an holy spell or charm, to drive away trouble ;
prayer is the unbosoming of the soul, the un-
loading of all our cares on God's breast; and
this ushers in sweet contentment. When there
is any burden upon our spirits, by opening our
mind to a friend, we find our heart greatly
eased and quieted. It is not our strong resolu-
tions, but our strong requests, to God, which
must give the heart ease in trouble. By prayer
the strength of Christ is brought into the soul ;
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 231
and where that is, a man is able to go through
any condition. Paul could be in every state
content : but, that you may not think he was able
to do this of himself, he tells you, that though he
could want and abound, and do all things, yet it
was through Christ strengthening him., Phil. iv.
13. It is the child that writes, but it is the scrive-
ner guides his hand. St. Paul arrived at the hard-
est duty in religion, viz. contentment ; but the
Spirit was his 'pilot, and Christ his strength ;
and this strength was ushered in by holy prayer.
Prayer is a powerful orator. Prayer is an
orator with God, and a preventative against
sin. The best way is to pray down discontent.
What Luther saith of concupiscence, I may say
oi discontent ; prayer is a sacred leech, to suck
the venom and swelhng of this passion. Prayer
composeth the heart, and brings it into tune.
Hath God deprived you of many comforts ?
Bless God that he left you the spirit of prayer.
232 DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
SECTION XIX.
CSE VI,
Comfort to the contented Christian.
The last use is of comfort, or an encou-
raging word to the contented Christian. If
there be an heaven upon earth, thou hast it.
O Christian ! thou may est insult over thy
troubles ; and, with the Leviathan, laugh at
the shaking of the spear, Job, xli. 29. What
shall I say ? Thou art a crown to thy profes-
sion ; thou dost hold it out to all the world,
that there is virtue enough in religion to give
the soul contentment. Thou showest height
of grace. When grace is crowning, it is not
so much for us to be content ; but when grace
is conflicting, and meets with crosses and losses,
temptations and pains, now to be content — this
is a glorious thing indeed !
To a contented Christian I shall say two
things for a farewell —
First, God is exceedingly taken with such
a frame of heart. God saith of a contented
Christian, as David once said of Goliah's sword
DIVINE CONTENTMENT. 233
— There is none like that ; give it me, 1 Sam.
xxi. 9. If you would please God, and be men
of his heart, be contented. It is said that Re-
becca made Isaac savoury meat, such as her
husband loved ; would you give to God that
which he loves, bring him that of contentment.
The musician hath many lessons to play, but
he hath one above all the rest ; there are
many lessons of holy music that delight God ;
the lessons of repentance, humility and pa-
tience. But this lesson of contentment is the
sweetest lesson that a believer can play. But
God hates a froward spirit.
Secondly, the contented Christian shall be
no loser. What lost Job by his patience ?
God gave him three times as much as he had
before. What lost Abraham by his content-
ment ? He was content to leave his country
at God's call ; the Lord makes a covenant
with him, that he would be his God for ever,
Gen. xvii. He changeth his name ; thou shalt
no more be called Abram, but Abraham, the
Father of many nations. God makes his seed
as the stars of heaven ; nay, honours him with
this title — The Father of the Faithful, Gen.
234
DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
xviii. 17. The Lord makes known his secrets
to him — Shall I hide from Ahraham the thing
that I will do 1 God settles a rich inheritance
upon him ; that land which was a type of
heaven, and afterwards translated him into the
blessed Paradise. God will be sure to reward
the contented Christian. As our Saviour said
in another case to Nathaniel — Because I said I
saw thee under the jig-tree, believest thou 7
Thou shall see greater things than these, John,
i. 50. So I say — Art thou contented, O Chris-
tian ! with a little ? Thou shalt see greater
things than these ; God will distill the sweet
influences of his love into thy soul ; he will
raise thee up friends : he will bless the oil in
thy cruise ; and, when that is done, he will
crown thee with an eternal enjoyment of him-
self; he will give thee heaven, where thou
shalt have as much contentment as thy soul can
possibly thirst after.
Lastly, For the comfort and encouragement
of all true Christians, I would recommend the
following useful and important instructions, on
the great blessings and advantages derived from
Christian communion and church fellowship.
SOCIAL RELIGION.
The highest and sweetest of all human fel-
lowship, out of heaven, is the fellowship of a
gospel church formed after the model of the
Holy Scriptures : the ordinances of God's
house, and the means of grace in general, are
calculated to draw the hearts of a multitude to
one centre ; where, being all attracted by one
object, and all attentive to one subject, all in-
formed from one fountain of light, all supplied
from one fountain of mercy and grace, and all
filled with delight from one fountain of ever-
lasting and infinite love, their hearts and sen-
timents coalesce at once, and they become,
though many, as it were but one. On this ac-
count, a name and a place in God's house is
said to be better than the dearest and most
honourable fruits of mere natural life, ' sons
and daughters ;' because the enjoyments and
true honours arising from fellowship with
the people of God are superior to those which
spring from any other branch of social life on
earth.
If this be true, how highly unlovely is it
20
236 SOCIAL RELIGION.
for any Christian, who deserves that honour-
able name, to make hght of that divinely con-
stituted relation! The Scripture speaks of
believers being added to the church daily, and
explains this in another place, by the following
unequivocal and expressive sentence : ' They
first gave themselves to the Lord, and unto us
by the will of God.' Their uniting with the
church of Christ was not an act of their ow^n
free choice, which they might perform if they
pleased, or omit without any just blame ; but
it is expressly declared to be by the will of God
that they so gave themselves up to one another,
having first, by Divine Grace, been enabled to
give themselves up to the Lord. — Some be-
lievers say, when asked why they live without
the enjoyment of church fellowship, seeing
they have a right thereto ; ' We belong to the
church of Christ at large already, inasmuch as
we are members of his body mystical, and are
by Divine Grace vitally united to our Head.'
So did those believers above mentioned ; for
they could not have given themselves to the
Lord, had they not received divine life from
him- with whom is the fountain of life. Indeed,
SOCIAL RELIGION. 237
those who are not vitally united to Christ by a
living and fruitful faith (which is the gift of
God) have no right either to the honours or
benefits of church fellowship. We have an
awful proof of this truth in the case of Simon
Magus, and in the divine and sudden vengeance
w^hich overtook Ananias and Sapphira, in the
very covert of their own hypocrisy. But, to
answer the above objection, when a real be-
liever makes use of it to excuse his neglect of
church fellowship ; give me leave, my dear
fellow Christian, whoever you are, to say, your
reasoning on this point is just as good as if a
nobleman's son, in disguise and from home,
should say, ' I know I am a son and heir of
such a noble family ; and therefore I neither
wish to be so esteemed by others, nor to enjoy
the honours and privileges of my father's house.'
Wise men of every description praise consist-
ency of character and conduct ; but where is
the consistency of loving Christ and Christians,
and yet not openly and fully professing to love
either ?
' Is it not consistent,' some may ask, ^ to
continue under that profession in which we
were brought up by our parents, or other
238 SOCIAL RELIGION.
friends, without inquiring very nicely into the
merits of it ; especially seeing many good and
worthy Christians in our day do the same, and
are w^ell accounted of?'
It may be consistent with the state of wilful
darkness (which all men who hear and obey
not the gospel are declared by the word of God
to be in) to suspend inquiry into that true
source of divine intelligence, the Sacred Scrip-
tures, for fear of discovering unwelcome truth
there ; but how it can be consistent with * old
things being passed away, and all becoming
new,' to look to old things for a light to walk
in the Lord's new way by, it would require a
considerable degree of invention to explain.
My advice to inquiring Christians on this sub-
ject, is, whether in the parlour, from the pulpit,
or from the press ; ' Examine the new Testa-
ment closely for yourselves : take your Lord's
advice in this, as well as in all other things,
relative to religion : call no man father ; for
one is your Father, which is in heaven.'
Error needs a great deal of defending, to
keep it from sinking into oblivion ; a great deal
of equivocation, to hide its certain and natural
consequences from being detected by honest
SOCIAL RELIGION. 239
inquiry ; and a great deal of learning and
rhetoric to plead its cause : — but, in order to
embrace truth, we need only light to see it by,
and an heart to love it.
Has not he who is the Truth itself said,
' By this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples, if ye have love one to another ? And
how can Christians better express their love to
each other, or better manifest it to the sur-
rounding world, than by living in a constant
attention to all the endearing ties of church
fellowship ; to renounce the world, and put on
Christ ; to unite ourselves openly to them,
whom we have good reason to esteem obedient
followers of the Lamb of God ; to sit with them
at the same table, and commemorate the dying
love of Jesus as the one fountain of our spirit-
ual life ; yea, to feed all at once by faith on
his broken body, and view his precious blood
as the rich wine that animates our immortal
spirits ; to consider ourselves as redeemed by
the same Almighty Friend, and to walk to-
gether in communion of heart on our way to
the same everlasting home, are surely uniting
and endearing ordinances. As those who be-
20*
240 SOCIAL RELIGION.
long to the same family can with propriety be
more free one with another than such as are
only on a visit ; so Christians united in church
fellowship can, by virtue of their professional
relation to each other, with far greater pro-
priety exhort, rebuke, admonish, and even, by
their animating mutual example, provoke one
another to love and good works ; than they can
obey those relative precepts, who, though they
are brethren, have made no mutual profession
oi their divine kindred to each other. *The
righteous,' says the Psalmist, ' shall flourish
like the palm-trees 5' and they are said to grow
best when planted thick together. Heaven
is all society, and all union ; and why should
not the church on earth be as much like heaven
as possible ? Yea, it is even said of the primi-
tive church on earth, that * the whole multi-
tude of the disciples were of one heart and of
one soul.'
As trees often transplanted, even if they
live, grow little, and bear little fruit ; so, for
the most part, rambling Christians, although
really the children of God, are far from being
equally useful or happy with those that belong
SOCIAL RELIGION. 241
to lively and well-ordered churches ; for they
neither abide long enough under one ministry
to imbibe the spirit of it, and form clear and
connected ideas of doctrine : nor perceive the
beauty of its influence on the practice and so-
cial conduct of those who are instructed by it.
And, even supposing such to have talents for
usefulness to others, before those talents are
ripened into just esteem among one people,
the subject of them is transplanted into a distant
and different soil, where he roust strike root
into new connexions before be can either know
or be known to any good purpose.
Besides, a well ordered church affords a
Christian such near views of the best examples
for imitation, as casual society can seldom
boast of: should -it be objected here, ' that
there are instances of the nearest, most inti-
mate, and frequent fellowship amongst some
who belong not to any particular church ;' it
could be easily proved, that church fellowship
can be no bar to such intimacy, but is rather
the nursery where such social plants thrive
best ; and, being of course more looked after,
bear the richest fruit. The force of example
242 SOCIAL RELIGION.
is far from being small even in spiritual things^
Imitation is an essential quality of human na-
ture, whether considered in its depraved or
renewed state. The apostle speaks of 'pro-
voking one another to love and to good works ;'
and again, it is said of Christ himself, that he
has left us ' an example that we should follow
his steps.'
' Look and be like ;' might perhaps serve
as a proverb to all ranks and descriptions of
mankind. We sometimes even insensibly imi-
tate that in others, by being much with them,
which on reflection we disapprove. Hence,
how striking the propriety, beauty and utility
of that exhortation with promise, * Come out
from among them, and be ye separate, saith
the Lord ; touch not the unclean thing, and I
will receive you, and I will be your father,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith
the Lord Almighty.' This last mentioned
scripture naturally suggests the idea of another
beautiful feature in a church of Christ ^ namely,
that it is to a Christian as his home. He visits
elsewhere, but he dwells in the church. Yea,
our Covenant God and Father calls Zion his
SOCIAL RELIGION. 243
dwelling place ; and where should sons and
daughters dwell but in their Father's house.
As the pious Watts sings,
Here would I find a settled rest,
While others go and come :
No more a stranger or a guest,
But like a child at home.
The necessary blessings which support and
render life comfortable, as food, rest and so-
ciety, are all sweetened to us by being enjoyed
at home. The writer of this can witness, for
one, that a spiritual home is a Home indeed ;
having enjoyed, for many years, that great
blessing in one of the liveliest and largest of
our gospel churches ; which, may the great
Head of the Church continue to bless and suc-
ceed for many years to come ! To this, I know,
I shall have many readers that will say, Amen.
Come then, dear fellow Christians, or go,
whichever suits you best, and, obeying his com-
mands who is King in Zion, unite with some
church on earth in that holy and intimate fel-
lowship which needs only to be interrupted by
the Messenger, the welcome Messenger, who
brings our dismission to the church triumphant.
I speak from happy experience, as well as with
244 SOCIAL RELIGION.
the word of God quite on my side, in highly
and warmly recommending social religion ; and
therefore, cannot but hope, in dependence on
the Lord, that I shall meet with some success.
Social religion is the nurse of all the graces
of the Holy Spirit in the souls of believers ; and
those who have been most under her care can
witness, with me, that she is not a dry nurse.
Is it not a pity that, in this one po nt, the fel-
lowship of saints on earth one with another
does not more resemble that of the church tri-
umphant 1 We have infallible testimony, that
the saints in heaven are members of Christ's
mystical body, and as such we love them ; but
we cannot convey our ideas of divine things to.
them, nor receive from them any account of
the felicity, or manner of their blissful state,,
that is reserved for us, till we are as they. So
W'e have credible testimony that the members,
of the several churches to which we belong are
Christians, and, as far as we believe it, we re-
joice with them i i the common salvation ; but
we have few means among us, as churches,,
whereby we can convey our ideas of divine
things freely to each other, so as to enjoy literal
fellowship. Yet, as there can be no wound ia
SOCIAL RELIGION. 245
Zion, but there is balm in Gilead suited to heal
it ; let those who are convinced of the truth of
these observations, apply to the great Physician
of souls, requesting him, who alone has suffi-
cient skill and power, to send health and cure
to all his churches.
The instruction and establishment of the
members of Christ's mystical body in the
knowledge and experience of all that pertains
to his spiritual kingdom, especially in the
knowledo-e of Christ himself, his near and vital
relation to them, and all the benefits and bless-
ings which flow to them throuo^h the channel
of his mediation — the oneness of their interests,
as different members of one head — their unity of
heart, frequent fellowship one with another as
the means of keeping alive and increasing that
unity — their observance of the Redeemer's po-
sitive institutions, and obedience to all the moral
precepts in his word ; I conceive to be the
great ends which should be constantly kept in
view, in the use of all the means of grace.
Frequent heart-fellowship, and much delight in
each other, are the beauties of church order.
* By this,' saith our Lord, ' shall all men know
246 SOCIAL RELIGION.
that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to
another.'
The fellowship of the church, as recorded
in the Acts of the Apostles, appears to have
been maintained by the love of Christ shed
abroad in their hearts ; and made known, by
much delight in each other's company, and free
communication both of things temporal and
spiritual one with another. Paul, in all his
Epistles to the churches, keeps these things in
view in a way of positive precept.
It has been, and will perhaps still be, ob-
jected by rnany, when such doctrine as this is
advanced, " That the Lord's people in general
have not time or opportunity for frequent social
interviews; and that such things are apt to
break in upon the order of families!" But
these objections, if closely examined, will be
found to be excuses, rather than reasons. What
calling is there which ought to take the lead
of our heavenly calling ? What is the advan-
tage of laying up earthly treasures, compared
with that of increasing in the wisdom which
Cometh from above ? And what the order of
private families to the order of the great family
SOCIAL RELIGION. 247
of heaven, the church of Christ. " The Lord
loveth the gates of Zion more than all the
dwellings of Jacob."
I take the liberty of stating here a few rea-
sons for frequent and intimate social worship.
1st. Christians were all involved in one sad
state of depravity and condemnation ; and they
are all called by divine grace to look to one
object for life and eternal salvation. That one
object of their hope, being so highly exalted,
every one may look to him by faith, at once,
without the least occasion of jealousy or inter-
ruption from each other ; any more than there
is for an individual to conclude, that the light
of the sun is not his, because every one is at
liberty to enjoy the same blessing. 2d. The
Redeemer paid one price for the ransom of all
his people. The same Almighty Spirit makes
Jesus, as a complete Saviour, manifest to them
all ; and, as they are all saved and sanctified in
one way, so they are all going to one everlast-
ing home.
3d. Jesus loved his church, even to death ;
and has left it this commandment, " Love one
another, as I have loved you. He that hath
21
248 SOCIAL RELIGION. ,
my commandments and keepeth them, he it is
that loveth me ; and he that loveth me shall be
loved of my Father ; and I will love him, and
will manifest myself to him. As the Father
hath loved me, so have I loved you ; continue
ye in my love, John xiv. 9." And again,
" This is my commandment, that ye love one
another, as I have loved you. Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay dow^n
his life for his friends." It appears that, from
this word the apostle drew his reason for say-
ing, " We ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren." The apostle says, " Love is the
fulfilling of the law." From these and many
other scriptures, it is plain that love is the sub-
stance of all practical and experimental rehgion :
and from the nature of divine love in the heart
of a Christian, it is evident, that Social Religion
is its heaven upon earth. Men are made for
society ; and without the presence and mutual
enjoyment of each other, would be compara-
tively miserable. But the delight which springs
from Christian fellowship is peculiarly exquisite,
as well as peculiarly lasting. Its foundation,
its author, its nature, its motive, and its end, all
SOCIAL RELIGION. 249
conspire to render it incomparable and inex-
pressible. If these things are true, why have
not the members of churches, in the present
day, more knowledge of, and fellowship with
one another ? Oh that such a query were
started by the Holy Spirit himself in the heart
of every individual of that description ; Suppose
such a plain and honest inquiry were even to
become universal among Christians, w^ould not
the answer be something like this ? Tradition
has set his foot on the heel of revealed truth ;
and has, by this means, so trodden off the shoes
of the preparation of the gospel of peace, from
the feet of the saints, that they cannot walk in
the paths of social love so w^ell as they were
wont to do. If any one ask, why w^e worship
in public, during such and such hours on the
Lord's day '? It is enough that we can answer.
Custom and our own convenience have inclined
us to the observance of those hours. But
should any one seriously inquire of us why we
have few, if any, means of intimate and actual
fellowship one with another, as children of the
same family ? what a pity is it that we are
equally obliged to answer in this case as in that^
Custom, and ourow^n convenience, have inclined
250 SOCIAL RELIGION.
US to the neglect of these. Was this the man-
ner of the primitive Christians ? No. " They
continued daily from house to house in fellow-
ship, and breaking of bread, and in prayer,
Acts ii. 26." Religion was their one concern ;
and, in attending to that one concern, though
in number they were so many thousands, they
were but one.
As for the usefulness of those meetings of
the Lord's people, commonly called experience
and conference meetings ; I believe it is known,
wherever they are judiciously and zealously at-
tended to ; and this is perhaps as much as can
be said of any other means. In the former of
these meetings, the Lord's people are found
saying to their brethren, as David did; * Come,
all ye that fear God, and I will declare what
he hath done for my soul.' Many are the ad-
vantages attending this lovely conduct ; the
various devices of Satan to entangle and per-
plex the minds of believers are exposed ; the
influence of earthly things on the mind is con-
fessed, and mutually lamented before the Lord ;
the frequent deliverances the saints experience
in times of trouble are recorded, to the manifest
honour of their great Deliverer ; the faithful-
SOCIAL RELIGION. 251
n€ss of a covenant God in answering prayer,
and honouring them that honour him, is abund-
antly testified ; the power of the cross of Christ
to crucify sin in the heart is declared ; the use-
fulness and suitableness of the preached word
is acknowledged ; love is increased ; faith is
strengthened; hope is enlarged; and a fore-
taste of Heaven itself is often experienced
on earth Even when the people come toge-
ther with their hearts comparatively cold, re-
ciprocal and free communication is often like
the striking together of a cold flint and cold
steel, and there comes out fire ; as, saith the
wise man, 'Iron sharpeneth iron; so doth
the countenance of a man his friend.' Prov.
xxvii. 17.
In the latter of these, called conference
meetings, the light which the Lord is pleased
to cast on his own word, while his people are
reading it from day to day, is set forth for mu-
tual edification with much advantage ; while
he that exhorteth, according to the apostle's
advice, waits on exhortation.
The holy scriptures are a mine of spiritual
truth ; and as the Divine Spirit is the only in-
21*
252 SOCIAL RELIGION.
fallible expositor of them, and opens them to
whom he will, the utter neglect of conference
meetings seems to have in it the nature of
quenching the Spirit in the hearts of the saints.
On this subject I beg leave to recommend to
the serious consideration of those who have in
any measure the conducting of church affairs
in their hands, Rom. xii. 3 — 8. 1 Cor. xii. and
Eph. iv. I humbly conceive that no impartial
Christian, whom God has favoured with the
gift of discerning truth for the benefit of others,
can deliberately examine those, and many other
portions of God's word, and yet beheve the
neglect of conference meetings, especially in
large churches where there are gifted members,
to be an innocent thing.
So great is the loss which the churches
sustain by the neglect of these things, and so
great would naturally be the mutual advantage
of reviving their use ; that whoever may be the
honoured instrument of so good a work, may
be justly called, in the language of prophecy,
' The repairer of the breach ; the restorer of
paths to dwell in.' Isa. Iviii. 12.
INDEX.
Page.
Epistle to the Reader, .... 7
To the Christian Reader, . . , 11
Chap. I. Introduction to the Text, . , 17
Chap. II. Containing the first Proposition, . 20
Chap. III. Containing the second Proposition, . 27
Chap. IV. Containing the third grand Proposition,
viz. a gracious Spirit is a contented Spirit, 33
The lesson of Contentment is hard to be learned, 34
It is of universal extent, . . 34
{ Rich men, ... 35
It concerns {
^ Poor men, . . 37
Chap. V. Whether a Christian may not resent
his condition with some sadness, and yet be
content? . . ... 42
Whether a Christian may not lay open his griev-
ances to God, and yet be content ? . 42
What it is properly that Contentment doth ex-
clude out of the Diocese, . . .43
Chap. VI. Showing the nature of Contentment, 45
C A divine thing, . . 45
contentment is < An intrinsical thing, . 46
' An habitual thing, . 47
Chap. VII. Containing the reasons which press
to holy Contentment, . . .49
1. God's precept, .... 49
2. God's promise, . . . .49
3. God's will, .... 50
Chap. VIII. The first Use — showing how a
Christian may live comfortably in the midst
of troubles, . . . . .55
254 INDEX.
Chap. IX. Use 2. A check to the discontented
Christian, ..... 57
Chap. X. Use 3. A persuasive to Contentment, 61
Several apologies that discontent makes for itself
answered, . . . . . 61
The first apology answered, . . .62
The second apology answered, . . 67
The third apology answered, , . .71
The fourth apology answered, ... 75
The fifth apology answered, . . .80
The sixth apology answered, ... 84
The seventh apology answered, . . .87
The eighth apology answered, . . 89
The ninth apology answered, , . .92
The tenth apology answered, ... 98
The eleventh apology answered, . . . 100
The twelfth apology answered, . , 102
Chap. XI. Divine motives to Contentm nt, . 106
The first argument — the excellency of Content-
ment, ..... 106
The second argument — a Christian hath that
which may make him content, . . 125
The third argument — else we confute our own
prayers, ..... 128
The fourth argument — by Contentment God
comes to have his end, and Satan misseth
of his end, ..... 129
The fifth argument — thus a Christian gets a vic-
tory over himself, . . . .131
The sixth argument — all cross providences work
for our good, ..... 132
INDEX. 255
The seventh argument— the evil of discontent, 142
__ . . ( The sordidness, . . 143
Which appears in > _, . _ , ^ . _.
^^ < The sinfulness, . . 145
three things, i ^, .^^
° ' ( The consequences, . lol
The eighth argument — the more a man hath, the
less he is satisfied, .... 157
The ninth argument — the brevity of life, . 158
The tenth argument — the evils that do attend a
prosperous condition, . . . 160
The eleventh argument — the examples of those
•who have been eminent for Contentment, 167
The twelfth argument — the present misery and
indigence of the Godly, is all the hell he
shall have, ..... 172
The thirteenth argument — not to have a con-
tented mind, proves the want of grace, 174
Chap. XII. Three things inserted by way of
caution, ..... 175
Though a Christian should be in every state con-
tent, yet he must not be content —
1. In his natural estate, . . . 176
2. Where God is dishonored, . . .178
3. With a little grace, . . .181
Chap. XIII. The fourth Use — showing the char-
acter of a contented spirit, . , , 188
1. A contented spirit is a silent spirit, . 188
2. A contented spirit is a cheerful spirit, . 189
3. A contented spirit is a thankful spirit, . 190
4. To a contented spirit nothing comes amiss, . 191
5. A contented spirit will not rid himself out of
trouble, by running himself into sin, . 194
256 INDEX,
Chap. XIV. Use 5. Directions propounding
several rules for holy contentment, . 197
Rule 1. Advancement of faith is necessary, . 198
Rule 2. Breathe after assurance, . . . 200
Rule 3. Pray for an humble spirit, , . 202
Rule 4. Keep a clear conscience, . , . 203
Rule 5. Learn to deny yourselves, . . 206
Rule 6. Pray for a foretaste of heaven in your
heart, 208
Rule 7, Look not so much on the dark side of
your condition, as on the light side, . 209
Rule 8. Consider in what a posture you stand
here in the world, .... 211
Rule 9. Let not your hopes depend upon outward
things, 213
Rule 10. Often compare your condition, . . 214
Rule 11. Go not to bring your condition to your
mind, but bring your mind to your condition, 221
Rule 12, Study the vanity of the creature, . 222
Rule 13. Get fancy regulated, '. , . 223
Rule 14. Consider how little will suffice nature, 225
Rule 15. Consider that the present condition
is best for us, because it is the appointment
of God, 225
Rule 16. Do not much indulge the flesh, . . 227
Rule 17. Meditate much on the glory to be revealed 228
Rule 18. Be much in prayer, . . . 230
Chap. XV. Use 6, Comfort to the contented
Christian, , . . . . 232
social Religion, ..... 235
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