Peace with our Brethren and the Joy which springs from concord are the things will bring us to Heaven and he that subverts this Peace and Joy doth his Brother a greater injury than if he had robb'd him of his Money for it is a thing far more precious than Gold and Silver being one of the Fruits of the Spirit next to love Gal. V. 22. from whence it springs as from its source For if we love our Brethren we shall be loth to grieve them and shall study to please them which is such an excellent disposition of Mind that Plato himself reports this as an ancient Saying that he should be reputed the wisest Man and the most Victorious whose business it is to make ◠2. De Legibus others rejoice and be merry Now murmuring is so opposite to this that it damps all the Joy we should otherwise take in God and in his Love and puts us into such a sullen humour that it spoils also Christian Society and that sweet fellowship we ought to have by giving such Counsel and Comfort one to another as may make us rejoice always whatsoever happens and never repine at any thing though never so cross to our expectations Which we should the rather study because Joy makes us more serviceable to the World than otherwise we shall be both by putting us forward to do good and by commending Piety and Goodness unto others Whence it is that we read Act. IX 31. The churches were multiplyed when they walked in the fear of God and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost Let us take heed then how we any way particularly by Murmuring and Complaints banish this Heavenly Guest from our selves or others which is the Page as St. Basil calls it or whosoever was the Author 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Monastical Constitutions that waits upon Goodness and Vertue especially now when there is such cause for it by God's wonderful Goodness to us in this Kingdom let us not upon any account refuse to take our share in it but to speak in the Psalmist's Phrase Psal CVI. 5. let us rejoice in the gladness of our nation 2. For if we do not but give way to a murmuring humour it will spoil all the good we do and make it unacceptable to God our Saviour Which is a reason more especially why we should not murmur at any part of our Christian Duty no not at taking up the Cross nor any thing else which may seem a hard saying which is the worst sort of murmuring that we can be guilty of For it is the quality of base dis-ingenuous and stupid slaves as St. Chrysostom observes upon Phil. II. 14. and therefore ought not to be found in a Child Who is about his Fathers business and labours for himself Consider says his Father that what thou dost for me thou dost for thy self thou wilt have the benefit of it wherefore then dost thou grumble It is for them to murmur who labour and toil when others reap the advantage but he that labours for himself what cause hath he to murmur He had better not work at all than not without murmuring He loses his labour he spoils that which he hath done though it be well done Do you not see how in our own Family we are wont to say continually I had rather you would let it alone than do it with Murmuring Nay we oft-times chuse rather to want ones service than bear with his murmuring humour For it is a grievous thing very grievous to murmur It is nigh unto blasphemy which is the reason God punished it so severely in the Israelites for it was a peice of ingratitude He that murmurs is unthankful to God and he that is unthankful is a Blasphemer Thus he And indeed it is directly contrary to that Love and Charity which is the Note of the Children of God and believes all things hopes all things takes all in good part and makes the best construction of them As on the contrary where self-love Pride and such like Vices reign there is nothing but impatience suspicious sinister interpretations murmurings and complaints whereby even things good in themselves are corrupted and defiled This we learn from that famous instance of Christian Charity viz. entertaining Strangers in which it was not so much considered whom they entertained as with what Mind If they did it with an ill will and repiningly it was so far from being look'd upon as a benefit that it was taken for a reproach Whence that admonition of St. Peter 1 Ep. IV. 9. Vse hospitality one to another without grudging or murmuring for it is the same Word which we so translate in other places They were not to think much at it as we speak much less to grumble at the trouble or the charge their Brethren brought upon them but receive them as cheerfully as Men now welcome their Guests to the publick Inns where they pay for what they have And thus as St. Paul instructs us in the place before named we ought to perform our whole Christian duty do all things without murmuring and likewise entertain in the same manner whatsoever falls out in the World by the direction or permission of God's Wise Providence for he is not pleased to see us follow him or do as he bids us with a heavy Heart and a discontented complaining Spirit And so I come to the Third and last Reason why we should obey the Apostolical admonition in my Text and work out this part of our Salvation even with fear and trembling Which is this 3. That murmuring is the cause of such Sins as are the punishment of those who are guilty of it Their own tongue as the Psalmist speaks falls upon themselves they uttering in their anger such discontented speeches that God takes them at their Word as we speak and brings upon them the Evils they unadvisedly wished For anger you may observe is the ordinary Companion of discontented murmuring which reflects so highly upon God that it moves his just displeasure We may say in this Case as Solomon doth Prov. XIX 3. The foolishness of man perverteth his way and his heart fretteth or as the Chaldee hath it murmureth against the Lord. Men run inconsiderately into many Sins and then lay the blame upon their natural weakness and want of power to avoid them which is in effect to lay the fault upon God And in the same manner they draw many inconveniencies upon themselves and fall into great straits whereupon they fret and fume though not directly yet by consequence against God For when they say Things might have been better ordered what necessity was there for this They forget that nothing comes to pass without God's Providence no not those things which are ill done towards which we ought to behave our selves with a becoming reverence and take heed least we speak unadvisedly with our lips The danger of which is so apparent in the example of the murmuring Israelites of whom
D R. PATRICK'S Two Sermons AGAINST MURMURING and CENSURING IMPRIMATUR April 23. 1689. Z. ISHAM R. P. D. HENRICO Episc Lond. à Sacri◠TWO SERMONS One against MURMURING The other against CENSURING Preached at St. Paul's Covent-Garden BY S. PATRICK D. D. Rector there LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard M DC LXXXIX A SERMON AGAINST MURMURING PREACHED At St. Paul's Covent-Garden on the Fifth SUNDAY in LENT March 17. 1688 / 9. By S. Patrick D. D. LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell M DC LXXXIX 1 Cor. X. 10. Neither murmur ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer AMong the many Demonstrations we have of the infinite Goodness to us this is the greatest That he hath been pleased out of the excess of his kindness to leave no way untried to omit no means that hath any force in it to reduce us unto the Obedience we owe His Majesty and thereby bring us to everlasting Happiness For this end he sent his own dear Son among us who dying for us and rising again sent the Holy Ghost by whom the Apostles were instructed and impowred to call us back to God both by Injunctions and Exhortations and Beseechings by promises of Eternal Life if we hearken to them and threatning of Eternal Death if we refuse to obey them And because some Minds are so dull at least at certain seasons that they are little moved with the Hope and Fear of Rewards and Punishments so far off as the other World therefore together with those future things they represent the present advantages or mischiefs which attend upon our good or bad behaviour towards God in this World who invites us to obedience by the memorable Examples of those who were faithful to him and followed him fully whom he therefore extraordinarily blessed and multiplied his Mercies on them as Persons highly in his favour And on the other side deterrs us from rebellious Works by the fearful Examples of those who being an untoward faithless and stubborn Generation were therefore as remarkably punished with one severe Judgment after another till they were utterly consumed Of this last sort the old Israelites were the most famous Instance who having received singular Favours from God by whom they were brought out of Egypt carried through the Red Sea under the protection of a glorious Cloud baptized there into Moses did all eat the same spiritual Meat and drank the same spiritual Drink yet proved the most ungrateful of all Men living and not only forgat his Benefits but turned them into wantonness and rebellion against him For which cause he was not well pleased with many of them for they were overthrown in the wilderness into which he had brought them by a mighty Hand and out-stretched Arm in order to their settlement in the Land of Canaan All this you read in the five first Verses of this Chapter from whence the Apostle proceeds to warn all Christians by their disastrous fall to take good heed to themselves and not to fansie the case was now altered under the Discipline of Christ No such matter These things saith he v. 6. were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted neither be idolaters as were some of them v. 7. nor commit fornication v. 8. nor tempt Christ v. 9. neither murmur as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer For all these things happened unto them for ensamples or Types of what shall befal us and are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall v. 11 12. As much as to say If ye do as they did expect to suffer as they did Do not presume upon the Grace and Favour of Christ nor imagine you are so setled in it that do what you can you shall not fall from it for he will not bear you out in evil courses but proceed against you according to these former Precedents of the Divine Vengeance upon an ungrateful People Now the Ingratitude of the Old Israelites appeared in nothing more than in their Murmuring which the Apostle here mentions in the last place as the very upshot of all their Provocations And I have chose to treat of it at this time because this sin which in it self is most unworthy and in its effects very dangerous is I fear too common and yet very slightly passed over without a particular Repentance for it in this Age wherein we live In handling of which I shall first shew what it is to murmur secondly whence it proceeds thirdly what reason we have to obey this holy Precept and not give way to a murmuring humour First For the first of these every body I believe by murmuring understands that dissatisfaction of Mind which makes us repine at and find fault with our present Condition But if we search into the propriety of the Greek word we shall find that it signifies something more than meerly an inward repining and dissatisfaction of the Mind denoting withal the outward Expressions of that discontented Humour in undutiful words That 's the import of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in our Language we may translate to grumble and mutter by speaking against such things or persons as we dislike without a just Reason for it or upon slight causes especially when we ought rather to be very thankful And here in my Text it hath a peculiar signification for speaking disrespectfully of their Governours and Guides out of a dislike of their Conduct which in the issue burst out into reproachful Language against them For this was the Sin here taxed by the Apostle in the old Israelites who murmur'd against Moses and Aaron because they fansied they had brought them out of Egypt to perish in the Wilderness This they began to do so early after their deliverance that they were no sooner come out of the Red Sea and had sung their Song of Praise to God for it but immediately as you read in the very same Chapter Exod. XV. 25. when they had travelled but three days The people murmured against Moses saying What shall we drink And again Chap. XVI 2 3. The whole congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron and said Would to God we had died by the hand of God in Egypt when we sat by the flesh-pots and did eat bread to the full For ye have brought us into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger With these two first Murmurings the patient Goodness of God was pleased to bear expecting they would be cured of this distemper by the care he took to provide both Drink and Meat for them in the Wilderness But when his Gentleness would do no good upon them and they were so far from laying to heart his tender Mercies and remembring what he had done for them that they fell into new and more desperate fits of
had taken less pains in his business which they thought to be unequal 2. Others we find murmuring because they seemed to be neglected while great care was taken of their Neighbours So we read in Act. VI. 1. That there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their Widows were neglected in the daily ministration 3. Others murmured at such Doctrines as they did not relish finding fault with them as the manner is before they understood them Joh. VI. 60 61. Many of his disciples when they heard that said This is an hard saying who can hear it And when Jesus knew that they murmured at it he said Doth this offend you that is Turn you away from me As much as to say there is no cause for it the fault is in your selves and not in me or my Doctrine 4. Another sort murmur because all do not consent to their little Opinions and comply with their Customs As the Pharisees did at the Disciples of Christ because they transgressed the tradition of the Elders and did not wash their hands before they sat down to eat Mat. XXV 2. And because they pluck'd the Ears of Corn and rubb'd them in their hands on the Sabbath-day Luke VI. 1. All which I pass over with the bare mention of them because that 's sufficient for my purpose Which is to shew that any thing we dislike because it is not according to our Fancy Opinion Humour Inclination or Interest may be the matter of murmuring and complaint Whereby we reflect very reproachfully upon God and his Providence and sometimes upon those who are God's Ministers or upon our innocent Brethren who may have good warrant for that which we condemn And now from what hath been said it will be easie to show from whence this murmuring humour proceeds which is the second thing I propounded and may soon be dispatch'd Secondly 1. For it is evident it proceeds from false Opinions and wrong Notions of things which must be examined and corrected or else there will be no cure for it Hence it was that the Scribes and Pharisees murmured because our Saviour and his Disciples did freely eat with publicans and sinners Luke V. 30. not considering that the whole needed not a physician but the sick And that he came not to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance The other Jews had done the same upon other occasions before-mentioned but very unreasonably and unjustly as they might have understood if instead of murmuring they would have pondered his Instructions They murmured at him saith St. John VI. 41. because he said I am the bread which came down from heaven But why did they not rather complain as Musculus glosses upon those words that they could not understand things of such weight and necessity Why did they not pray to be enlightned from above and desire him to instruct them more clearly in these matters This had become Men of sense But in this we see the Genius not only of Judaical but of all carnal Minds who sooner murmur against the Truth they do not understand than accuse the grossness of their own Hearts and pray to God for the Gift of right Understanding and of Faith. If they had understood in what sense he said he came down from Heaven they would not have murmured and therefore they ought to have desired to be instructed in the sense of his words and not have murmured at that which they did not understand But thus it fares as I said with the Doctrine of Christ that it sooner finds those that dislike it and condemn it before they know it than hearts that desire rightly to understand it and to embrace it when it is understood Thus he 2. It arises also from impatience of any Troubles or Inconveniences which commonly attend our Condition here in this World or which arise from our present Circumstances as we see in the History of the Hebrew Nation before-mentioned whose case this was upon several occasions 3. From Pride and Ambition Envy and Malignity of Spirit as in the case of Corah Dathan and Abiram who imagined themselves to be altogether as deserving as Moses and Aaron and to have as much right as they to that Authority which they pretended those great Ministers of God had usurped over the People 4. Sometimes from Luxury and Wantonness as when the Israelites murmured because they had not such dainty Food as they looked for though they were otherwise plentifully and miraculously fed with Manna from Heaven which they were cloyed withal and loathed Numb XI 5. Sometimes or rather always from unthankfulness for the great Mercies we enjoy which are in all Conditions so many that they might well silence all unmannerly Complaints did we but take the pains to lay those Blessings to heart Especially if we compared them with the bad Condition wherein we have sometimes been or deserve to be if we be not more grateful than to complain in a better This was also the case of the whole Hebrew Nation in the Wilderness who forgat the Works of God and remembred not the Wonders he had done for them nor the Evils from which he had delivered them and so fell into fits of discontent upon every occasion And it is the case of all other Men who are guilty of this sin at this day For as Oecumenius notes upon those words of the Apostle Do all things without murmurings and disputing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. II. 14. He that murmurs is unthankful unto God and he that is unthankful speaks hardly of him 6. Sometimes from vile Covetousness though covered under specious pretences as when Judas the Traitor murmured at the waste of the precious Ointment poured on our Saviour which he would have had sold that the Money might have come into his pocket Lastly From want of a lively faith in God and in his good Providence which was the sin of the old Israelites also who murmured saying Can God furnish a table in the wilderness Behold he clave the rock that the waters gushed out Can he give bread also Can he provide flesh for his people Psal LXXVIII 19 20. The former instances of his Power did not breed such a Confidence in him as they should have wrought in their Hearts but they still distrusted him whom they could not but acknowledge had done things as wonderful for them as those which they further desired And thus Origen observes upon Exod. XVI it is common among Men to murmur if the Weather be not seasonable if the Years be not so fruitful as they were wont to be nay if every thing do not fall out according to their Wishes and Expectations That is we would have no trials of our Faith and Patience and submission to God but a constant stream of prosperous successes just according to our own Contrivances or Hearts Desires Which is a very dangerous distemper of Mind which must be cured by removing these Causes from whence it proceeds There is
not the like danger it must be acknowledged in every one of them but none of them are safe and therefore we ought to seek after a speedy remedy It makes a considerable difference in this case who it is that murmurs against whom and for what cause If he be a Subject who hath received great Benefits if it be against him to whom he owes much and therefore ought to love and praise if it be for a trifling or a tolerable cause much more if Thanks ought rather to be rendred than Complaints made it is a most detestable sort of murmuring as the good Man before-named Musculus hath observed It is also much to be considered from whence this Vice arises whether from meer impatience of some Loss or Inconvenience or from Pride Contempt Indignation and Envy For though it be vicious in it self to murmur against a Superiour yet it is a less fault if it arise from some damage a Man hath received of which he is impatient than it would be if it proceed from Pride Contempt and a Spirit of Envy such as was in Corah Dathan and Abiram against Moses and Aaron and in the false Apostles and their Sectaries among the Corinthians who murmured and spake against St. Paul. The first Christians had some among them as you have heard who murmured because their Widows were neglected in the Provision which was daily made for the Poor but it was neither out of Pride nor Contempt nor Envy but from meer Impatience of the grievance it was to them to see those for whom they had a special concern not so much minded as others who had no more need than they that were neglected Every Eye can discern the difference between these murmurings which are not all of equal guilt yet none of them free from blame nor without danger if we do not apply our selves with all diligence to the proper means of curing our Minds of this distemper Unto which that I may awaken you I shall now proceed to consider the reason we have to obey this Apostolical Precept and no longer give way to a discontented humour which is the third thing I undertook in the beginning and may help to remove the Causes of this Disease if we well weigh the Mischiefs it doth Thirdly 1. And here let it be considered that this is a most uncomfortable condition and puts the Soul into such disorders that if it did no other hurt it ought on this account to be avoided For who is there that allows himself in this humour of discontented murmuring either at the publick state of things or his own private condition that truly enjoys any part of those Blessings which are fallen to his share in this World His Spirit is so fowred by it that he can relish nothing though in it self never so pleasant he is poor and miserable in the midst of abundance wanting not only that which he hath not but even that which he hath He takes no satisfaction in any thing though God's bounty hath bestowed perhaps variety of Blessings upon him for this humour will let him take no notice of them but only of that which is grievous to him By this means he possesses nothing no not himself his Soul being carried away in a hurry by things without him he knows not whither He is seldom at home and when he is he finds nothing there but disorders tumults and disquiets of Mind such a confusion of Thoughts as hurries him away again from himself and that many times into dangerous adventures Who would indulge then such a temper of Mind as spoils all our Comforts even that Satisfaction which we should find in our own serious thoughts 2. But it is not meerly an uncomfortable condition it is also very sinful For it proceeds as you have heard from several other sins and it is the cause also of many more both of sins of omission and sins of commission as we commonly distinguish them 1. First of innumerable sins of Omission in not recounting the multitude of God's Mercies bestowed upon us in not pondering the greatness of them and our own unworthiness to enjoy them in not giving perpetual thanks for them neither calling to Mind all the Evils from which we have been preserved or delivered nor so much as taking notice of all the Blessings we daily receive which call for our most grateful acknowledgments For they who are given to murmuring seldom reflect as we find by the Israelites upon the Obligations they have to God though never so great never so wonderful they forget how he hath saved them from the dreadful dangers which they feared or delivered them from the heavy burdens which oppressed them and mind only what they at present desire or dislike Which wrought the Israelites into such a very bad temper of Mind that they were never pleased No better pleased out of Egypt than when they were in it for they murmured as much or more after their Deliverance as they did before and I do not find they were better satisfied in Canaan than they had been either in Egypt or in the Wilderness for they carried their ungrateful Mind along with them thither And Men can be pleased no where in no condition unless they have a due Sense of God and of his Goodness and be truly affected with his benefits 2. As for the Sins of Commission they are no less numerous such as envious distractions evil surmisings rash censurings lying defamations and sometimes Injustice Oppression Extortion if not downright Robberies which are the common Effects of Mens discontented repining at their own private condition And when they are discontented with the publick State of Affairs thence proceed evil speakings clamor revilings variance strife contention quarreling and many times higher degrees of all these Sins such as speaking evil of dignities c. For by discontent Men exasperate their own Spirits and by Complaints and Murmurings they exasperate Others unto unruly Passions which increase into undutiful Practices which break out at last into publick Disturbances And how many mischiefs Men are wont to draw upon themselves by that means I shall not now say because my present business is to shew only the sinfulness of a Murmuring Spirit But the next particular will make you sensible of that also when I have added to this these two Considerations 1. First That a murmuring humour puts us into a temper of Mind directly contrary to the Christian Spirit which consists in such an happy frame of Mind as makes us rejoice in God always and administer all the Joy and Comfort we are able one to another For the kingdom of God saith St. Paul is Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost Rom. XIV 17. Where by Joy is not meant only the joy we feel in our own Hearts from a sence of God's love to us but that which we give to one another by our friendly agreement So St. Chrysostom and from him Oecumenius interprets the Words A Vertuous Life