lookest into the book of God and findest any promise there thou mayest make that thine own Just as an heir that rides over divers fields and meadows saith he this meadow is my heritage and this corne field is my heritage and then he sees a fair house and saith he this fair house is my heritage and he looks upon them with another maner of eye then a stranger that shall ride over those fields So a carnall heart reads the promises and reads them but meerly as stories not that they have any great intrest in them But a godly man every time he reads the Scriptures remember this note when you are reading the Scripture and there meeteth with a promise he ought to lay his hand upon it and say this is a part of my heritage it 's mine and I am to live upon it and this will make you to be Contented Here 's a mysterious way of Contentment So in Psal 34. 10. 37. 6. there 's divers other promises that brings Contentment In Isa 58. 10. And thus much for the Mysterie of Contentment by way of the Covenant There is two or three things more that shew how a godly man hath Contentment after another kind of way then any Carnall heart in the world hath it 's a mysterious way as thus He hath Contentment by realizing the glorious things of heaven to him he hath the kingdom of heaven as present and the glory that is to come by faith he makes it as present So the Martirs they had Contentment in their sufferings for said some of them though we have but a hard breakfast yet we shall have a good dinner we shall presently be in heaven do but shut your eyes saith one and you shall be in heaven presently 2 Cor. 4. 16. We faint not saith the Apostle Why Because these light afflictions that are but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory They see heaven before them and that contents them You marriners when you can see the haven before you though you were mightily troubled before you could see any land yet when you come nigh the shore and can see such a land-mark that contents you exceedingly a godly man in the middest of the waves and stormes that he meets withall he can see the glory of heaven before him and so contents himself one drop of the sweetnesse of heaven is enough to take away all the sower and bitter of all the afflictions in the world Indeed here we know that one drop of sower or one drop of gall will make bitter a great deal of honey put a spoonfull of sugar into a cup of gall or wormwood that will not sweeten it but if you put a spoonfull of gall into a cup of sugar it will imbitter that now it 's otherwise in heaven one drop of sweet will sweeten a great deal of sower affliction but a great deal of sower and gall will not imbitter a soul that sees the glory of heaven that is to come now a Carnall heart hath no Contentment but from what he sees before him in this world but a godly heart hath Contentment from that that he sees laid up for him in the highest heavens The last thing that I would name is this A godly man hath Contentment by opening and letting out of his heart to God other men or women they are discontented but how do they help themselves by rayling by ill language such a one crosses them and they have no way to help themselves but by railing and by bitter words and so they ease themselves that way when they are angry but a godly man when he is crost how doth he ease himself he is sensible of his crosse as well as you and he goes to God in prayer and there opens his heart to God and le ts out his sorrows and fears and then can come away with a joyfull countenance now do you find that you can come away from prayer and not look sad As it 's said in 1 Sam. 1. 18 of Hannah that when shee had been at prayer her countenance was no more sad there shee was comforted and this is the right way of Contentment Thus we have done with the Mysterie of Contentment Now if you can but put these things together that we have spoken of you may see fully what an Art Christian Contentment is Paul had need learn it you see Contentment is not such a poor businesse as many make it to say you must be content c. But it is a great Art and Mysterie of godlinesse to be contented in the way of a Christian and it will appear yet further to be a mysterie when we come to the third head and that 's to shew what those lessons are that a gracious heart doth learn when it learns to be Contented I have learned to be Contented Learned what lessons have you learned As now a Scholer that hath great learning and understanding in Arts and Sciences how did he begin it he began as we use to say his A B C and then afterwards he came to his Testament and Bible and Accidence and so to his Gramar and afterwards to his other books so he learn'd one thing after another So a Christian coming to Contentment is as a Scholer in Christs School and there are divers lessons to teach the Soul to bring it to this learning every godly man or woman is a scholer it cannot be said of any Christian that he is illiterate but he is litterate a learned man a learned woman now the lessons that Christ teaches to bring us to Contentment are these The First great lesson is The lesson of self-deniall and though it be a great lesson and hard as you know a Child at first cries it's hard It 's that that I remember Bradford the Martyr saith Whosoever hath not learned the lesson of the crosse hath not learned his A B C in Christianity here Christ begins with his scholers yea those in the lowest forme must begin with this if you mean to be Christians at all you must buckle to this or you can never be Christians There is none can be a Scholer except he doth learn his A B C so thou must learn the lesson of self-deniall or thou canst never come to be a Scholer in Christs School to be learned in this mystery of Contentment That 's the first lesson that Christ teaches any soul Oh self-deniall that brings Contentment that brings down and softens a mans heart a thing you know that 's soft if you strike upon it it makes no noise but if you strike upon a hard thing it makes a noise so the hearts of men that are full of themselves and hardened with self-love if they have any stroak they make a noise but a self-denying Christian yeilds to Gods hand and makes no noise as when you strike upon a woolsack it makes no noise because it yealds to the stroke So a self-denying
distempered but he continues in the free exercise of the use of his reason and understanding every one may understand that this man hath a very strong braine that such things shall not distemper him whereas other people that have a weak braine if they do not disgest but one meals meat the fumes that do arise from their stomaks doth distemper their brain makes them unfit for every thing whereas you shall have others that have strong heads and strong brains though their stomacks be ill that they do not disgest meat yet still they have the free use of their brain this argues strength So it is in a mans spirit you shall have many that have weak spirits and if they have any ill fumes if accidents do befall them you shall presently have them out of temper but you shall have other men that though things do fume up yet still they keep in a steady way and have the use of reason and of their graces and possess their Souls with patience As I remember it 's reported of the Eagle it 's not like other fouls other fouls when they are hungrie make an noise but the Eagle is never heard to make an noise though it wants food and it is from the magnitude of his spirit that it will not make such complaints as other fowls will do when they want food it is because it is above hunger and above thirst So it is an argument of a gracious magnitude of spirit that whatsoever befals it yet it is not allwaies whining and complaining so as others are but goes on still in it's way and course and blesses God and keeps in a constant tenour whatsoever thing befals it such things as causes others to be dejected and fretted and vexed and takes away all the comfort of their lives it makes no alteration at all in the spirits of these men and women I say this is a sign of a great deal of strength of Grace 3. It 's also an argument of a great deale of beauty of Grace It 's a speech that Seneca a Heathen once had saith hee when you go abroad into groves and woods and there you see the talnesse of the trees and their shadows it strikes a kind of awful fear of a deitie in you and when you see the vast rivers and fountains and deep waters that strikes a kind of fear of a God in you but saith hee do you see a man that is quiet in tempests and that lives happily in the midest of adversities why do not you worship that man the doth thinke him a man even to be so honoured that shal be quiet live a happy life though in the middest of adversities The glory of God appears here more then in any of his works there is no works that God hath made the Sun moon and starrs all the world wherin so much of the glory of God doth appear as in a man that lives quietly in the middest of adversity That was that that convinc'd the King when he saw the three Children could walk in the midest of the firey furnace not be toucht the King was mightily convinc'd by this that surely their God was the great God indeed that they were highly beloved of their God that could walk in the mid'st of the furnace not be toucht whereas the others that came but to the mouth of the furnace were devoured so when a Christian can walk in the mid'st of firey trials and not his garments findged but have comfort and joy in the midist of al as Paul in the stocks can sing that wrought upon the jaylour so it will convince men when they see the power of grace in the middest of afflictions such afflictions as would make others to rore under them yet they can behave themselves in a gracious and holy manner Oh it 's the glory of a Christian It is that that is said to be the glory of Christ for so by Interpreters it is thought to be meant of Christ In Micah 5 5. And this man the text faith shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land and when he shall tread in our pallaces This man shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land for one to be in peace when there is no enemies it 's no great matter but saith the text when the Assyrian shal come into our land then this man shall be the peace that is when all shal be in an hubbub and uprore yet then this man shal be peace That 's the tryall of grace when you find Jesus Christ in your hearts to be peace when the Assyrian shall come into the land You may think you find peace in Christ when you have no outward troubles but is Christ your peace when the Assyrian comes into the land when the enemy comes Suppose you should hear the enemy come marching to the City â—â— had taken the workes and were plundering what would be your peace Jesus Christ would be peace to the soul when the enemie come into the City and into your houses If there be any of you that hath bin where the enemie hath come what hath bin the peace of your soules That that 's said of Christ may be applyed to this grace of Contentment when the Assyrian the plunderers the enemies when any affliction trouble distresse doth befall such a heart then this grace of Contentment brings peace to the soul at that time brings peace to the soul when the Assyrian comes into the land The grace of Contentment it 's an excellent grace there 's much beautie much strength in it there is a great deal of worth in this grace and therefore be in love with it The Third thing in the excellency of Contentment is this By Contentment the soul is fitted to receive mercy and to do service I le put those two together Contentment makes the â—oul fit to receive mercy and to do service no man or woman in the world is so fit for to receive the Grace of God and to do the work of God as those that have contented spirits 1 Thâ—se are fitted to receive mercy from the Lord that are contented As now if you would have aâ— vessell to take in any liquor you must hold the vessel stil if the vessel stir and shake up and down you cannot powre in any thing but you will bid hold still that you may powre it in and not loose any so if we would be the vessels to receive Gods mercy and would have the Lord powre in his mercy to us we must have quiet still hearts we must not have hearts hurrying up and down in trouble discontent and vexing but we must have still and quiet hearts if we would receive mercy from the Lord If a child throws and flings up and down for a thing you will not give in him then when he cries so but first you will have the child quiet though perhaps you do intend the child shall
such a thing then I would have another and if I had that then I should have more and what if you had got all you desire then you would be content why you may be content how without them Certainly our contentment doth not consist in the getting of the thing we desire but in Gods fashioning our spirits to our conditions there 's some men that have not a foot of ground of their own yet will live better then other men that are heirs to a great deal of Land I have known it in the countrey sometimes that a man lives upon his own land and yet lives very poorly but you shall have another man that shall farm his Land and yet by his good husbandry and by his care shall live better sometimes then he that hath the Land of his own so a man by this art of Contentment may live better without an estate then another man can live of an estate oh it ads exceeding much to the comfort of a Christian and that I may shew it farther there is more comfort even in the Grace of Contentment then there is in any possessions whatsoever a man hath more comfort in being content without a thing then he can have in the thing that he in a discontened way doth desire You think if I had such a thing then I should be content I say there is more good in Contentment then there is in the thing that you would faln have to cure your discontent and that I shall open in divers particulars as thus 1 I would fain have such a thing and then I could be content but if I had it then it were but the Creature that did help to my Contentment but now it 's the Grace of God in my soul that makes me content and surely it is better to be Content with the Grace of God in my soul then with the enjoying of an outward comfort 2. If I had such a thing indeed my estate might be better but my soul would not be better but by Contentment my soul is better that would not be bettered by an estate or lands or friends but Contentment makes my selfe to be better and therefore Contentment is a better portion then the thing is that I would fain have to be my portion 3. If I get Content by having my desire satisfied that 's but selfe-love but when I am Contented with the hand of God and am willing to be at his dispose that comes from my love to God in having my desire satisfied there I am contented through selfe love but through the Grace of Contentment I come to be contented out of love to God and is it not better to be contented from a principle of love to God then from a principle of selfe-love 4. If I am contented because I have that that I have a desire to perhaps I am contented in that one particular but that one particular doth not furnish me with Contentment in another thing perhaps I may grow more dainty and nice and froward in other things if you give children what they would have in some things they grow so much the more coy and dainty and discontented if they have not other things that they would have but if I have once over-come my heart and am contented through the Grace of God in my heart then this doth not content me only in a particular but in generall whatsoever befals me I am discontented and would fain have such a thing and afterward I have it now doth this prepare me to be contented in other things no but when I have gotten this Grace of Contentment I am prepared to be contented in all conditions and thus you see that Contentment doth bring comfort to a mans life fils a mans life full of comfort in this world yea the truth is it is even a Heaven upon earth why what is Heaven but the rest and quiet of a mans spirit what 's the speciall thing that is in Heaven but rest and joy that makes the life of Heaven there 's rest and â—oy and satisfaction in God so it s here in a contented spirit there 's rest and joy and satisfaction in God In Heaven there 's singing prayses to God a contented heart is alwayes praysing and blessing God thou hast Heaven while thou art upon earth when thou hast a contented spirit yea in some regards it's better then Heaven How is that you will say there is some kind of honour that God hath in it and some excellency that he hath not in Heaven and that 's this In heaven there is no overcoming of temptations they are not put to any tryals by afflictions there in heaven they have exercise of grace but they have nothing but incouragement to it inded those that are there their grace is perfect and in that they doe excel us but there is nothing to crosse their grace they have no tryals at all to tempt them to doe contrary but now for a man or woman to be in the midst of afflictions temptations and troubles and yet to have grace exercised and yet to be satisfied in God and Christ and in the word and promises in the midest of all they suffer this may seeme to be an honour that God hath from us that he hath not from the Angels and Saints in Heaven Is it so much for one that is in heaven that hath nothing else but good from God hath nothing to try them no temptations is that so much for them to be praysing and blessing God as for the poore soule that is in the midest of tryals and temtations and afflictions and troubles For this soule to go on praysing and blessing and serving God I say it is an excellency that thou shall not have in heaven and God shal not have this kind of glory from thee in heaven and therefore be contented and prise this Contentment and be willing to live in this world as long as God shall please and doe not think Oh that I were delivered from all these afflictions and troubles here in this world if thou were then thou shouldest have more ease to thy selfe but here 's a way of honouring God and manifesting the excellency of Grace here when thou art in this conflict of temptation that God shall not have from thee in Heaven and therefore be satisfied and quiet be contented with thy Contentment I want such and such things that others have but blessed be God I have a contented heart that others have not then I say be content with thy Contentment for that 's a rich portion that the Lord hath granted unto them if the Lord should give unto thee thousands here in this world it would not be such a rich portion as this that he hath given thee a contented sqirit oh goe away and prayse the name of God and say why Lord it 's true these and these comforts that others have I should be glad if I had them but thou hast cut me short but though
may be ungodly in murmuring it 's true there is no sin but som seedes and remayners of it are in those that are godly but when they are under the power of this sin of murmuring it doth convince them to be ungodly as well as if they were under the power of drunkennesse or whordome or any other sin God will look upon you as ungodly for this sin as well as for any sin whatsoever This one Scripture should make the heart shake at the thought of the sin of murmuring Thirdly as it 's made a brand of ungodly men so you shal find in Scripture that God accounts it rebellion that is contrary to the worship that there was in contentednesse that 's worshiping of God crowching to God and falling down before him even as a dog that would crowch when you hould a staffe over him but a murmuring heart it 's a rebellious heart and that you shall find if you compare two Scriptures together they are both in the book of Numb 16. 41. But on the morrow saith the text all the congregation of the Children of Israell murmured against Moses and against Aaron saying ye have killed the people of the Lord. They all murmured now compare this with the Chap. 17. vers 10. And the Lord said unto Moses bring Aarons rod again before the testimony to be kept for a token against the Rebels in the 16. Chap. they murmured against Moses and Aaron and in the 17. Chap. bring the rod of Aaron again before the testimony for a token against the Rebels So that to be a murmurer and to be a rebel you see in Scripture phrase is all one It is a rebellion against God as it is the begining of rebellion and sedition in a kingdom when the people are discontent and when discontentment comes it grows to murmuring and you can go into no house almost but there is murmuring when men are discontent so that within a little while it breaks forth into sedition or rebellion Murmuring it's but as the smoke of the fire there is first a smoke and smother before the flame breaks forth and so before open rebellion in a kingdom there is first a smook of murmuring and then it breaks forth into open rebellion but because it hath rebellion in the seeds of it therefore it is accounted before the Lord to be rebellion Wilt thou be a Rebel against God When thou feelest thy heart discontented and murmuring aginst the dispensations of â—od towards thee thou shouldest check thy heart thus Oh thou wretched heart what wilt thou be a Rebell against God wilt thou rise in a way of Rebellion against the infinite God yet thus thou hast done charge thy heart with this sin of rebellion you that are guiltie of this sin of murmuring you are this day by the Lord charged as being guilty of rebellion against him and God expects that when you go home you should humble your souls before him for this sin that you should charge your souls for being guilty of rebellion against God many of you may say I never thought that I had bin a rebel against God before I thought that I had many infirmityes but now I see the Scripture speaks of sin in another manner then men doe the Scripture makes men though but murmurers to be Rebels against God Oh this rebellious heart that I have against the Lord that hath manifested it's selfe in this way of murmuring against the Lord That 's a third particular in the evill of discontentment A fourth particular in the evill of Discontentment it is a wickednesse that is exceeding contrary to Grace and especially contrary to the worke of God in bringing of the soul home to himselfe I know no distemper more opposite and contrary to the work of God in conversion of a sinner then this is Quest What 's the work of God when he brings a sinner home to himselfe Answ The usuall way is for God to make the â—oul to â—ee and be sensible of the dreadfull evill that there is in sin and the great breath that sin hath made between God and it for certainly Jesus Christ can never be known in his beauty and excellency till the soul know that I doe not speak what secret work of the Holy Ghost there may be in the Soul but before the Soul can actually apply Jesus Christ to its selfe it is impossible but it must come to know the evill of sinne and the excellency of Jesus Christ there may be a seed of faith put into the Soul but the Soul must first know Christ and know sin and be made sensible of it Now how contrary is this sin of murmuring to any such work of God hath God made me see the dreadfull evill of sin and made my soul to be sensible of the evill of sin as the greatest burden how can I be then so much troubled for every little affliction certainly iâ— I saw what the evill of sinne were that sight would swallow up all other evils and if I were burdened with the evill of sinne it would swallow up all other burdens what am I now murmuring against Gods hand saith such a Soul when as a while agoe the Lord made me see my selfe â—o be a damned wretch and apprehend it as a wonder that I was not in Hell 2. Yea it 's mighty contrary to the sight of the infinit excellency and glory of Jesus Christ and of the things of the Gospel What am I that soul that the Lord hath discovered such infinit excellency of Jesus Christ to and yet shall I thinke such a little affliction to be so grievous to me when I have had the sight of such glory in Christ that is more worth then ten thousand worlds for so will a true convert say oh the Lord at such a time hath given me that sight of Christ that I would not be without for ten thousand thousand worlds but hath God given thee that and wilt thou be discontent for a trifâ—e in comparison to that 3. A third work when God brings the Soul home to himself it is by the taking the heart off from the Creature the disingaging the heart from all creature comforts that 's the third work ordinarily that the Soul may perceive of its selfe It 's true Gods work may be altogether in the seeds in him but in the severall actings of the Soul in turning to God it may perceive these things in it the disingagement of the heatt from the Creature that 's the calling of the Soul from the world whom the Lord hath called he hath justified what 's the calling of the Soul but this the Soul that before was seeking for Contentment in the world and cleaving to the Creature now the Lord cals the Soul out of the world and saith oh Soul thy happinesse is not here thy rest is not here thy happinesse is else where and thy heart must be loosned from all these things that are here below in the world
men do so wrong you you are rather to turne your hearts to pitty them then to murmur or be discontented For the truth is if you be wronged by other men you have the better of it for it is better to bear wrong then to do wrong a great deal if they wrong you your heart cannot submit you are in a better condition then they because it 's better to bear then do wrong I remember it is said of Socrates that being very patient when wrong was done to him they asked him how he came to be so saith he if I meet with a man in the street that is a diseased man shal I be vexed fretted with him because he is deseased those that wrong mee I look upon them as deseased men and therefore pitty them Thirdly Though you meet with hard dealings from men yet you meet with nothing but kind good and righteous dealings from God when you meet with unrighteous dealings from them set one against the other And that 's for the answer to the fourth Plea A Fifth Plea Oh but that affliction that comes upon me is an affliction that I never lookt for I never thought to have met with such an affliction and that is that I know not how to bear that is that which makes my heart so disquiet because it was altogether unlookt for and unexpected For the answer of this first it is thy weaknesse and folly that thou didest not look for it and expect it In Acts 20. 22 23. see what saint Paul saith concerning himselfe And now behold I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there save that the Holy-Ghost witnesseth in every City saying that bonds and afflictions abide me It 's true saith he I know not the particular affliction that may befall me but this I know that the Spirit of God witnesseth that bonds and afflictions shall abide me every where I look for nothing else but bonds and afflictions wheresoever I go so a Christian should doe he should look for afflictions wheresoever he is in all conditions he should look to meet with afflictions and therefore if any affliction should befall him though indeed he could not for-see the parcicular evill yet he should think this is no more then I lookt for in the generall Therefore no affliction should come unexpectedly to a Christian A second answer I would give is this is it unexpected then the lesse provision thou madest for it before it came the more carefull shouldest thou be to sanctifie Gods name in it now it is come it is in this case of afflictions as in mercies many times mercy comes unexpected And that might be a third answer to you set one against the other I have many mercies that I never lookt for as well as afflictions that I never lookt for why should not one rejoyce me as much as the other disturbs me As it is in mercies when they come unexpected the lesse preparation there was in me for receiving mercy the more need I have to be careful now to give God the glory of the mercy to sanctifie Gods name in the injoyment of the mercy Oh so it should be with us now we have had mercies this summer that we never expected and therefore we were not prepared for them now we should be so much the more carefull to give God the glory of them so when afflictions come that we did not expect then it seems we layde not in for them before hand we had need be the more carefull to sanctifie Gods name in them we should have spent some pains before to prepare for afflictions and we did not then take so much the more pains to sanctifie God in this affliction now and that 's a sift reasoning The Sixth Plea Oh but it is very great mine affliction it is exceeding great saith one and how ever you say we must be be contented it 's true you may say so that feele not such great afflictions but if you felt my affliction that I feele you would think it hard to bear and be content To that I answer let it be as great an affliction as it will it is not so great as thy sin He hath punished thee lesse then thy sins Secondly It might have bin a great deal more thou mightest have been in Hell And it is as I remember Bernards speech saith he It is an easier matter to be opprest then perish Thou might'st have been in Hell and therefore the greatnesse of the thing should not make thee murmur grant it be great Thirdly It may be it 's the greater because thy heart doth so murmur for shackles upon a mans legs if his legs be sore it will pain him the more if the shoulder be sore the burden is the greater it is because thy heart is so unsound that thy affliction is great unto thee And that 's a sixth reasoning A Seventh Plea But howsoever you may lessen my affliction yet I am sure it is far greater then the affliction of others First It may be it is thy discontent that makes it greater when indeed it is not so in it's self Secondly If it were greater then others why is thy eye evill because the eye of God is good Why shouldest thou be discontented the more because God is gracious to others Thirdly Is thy affliction greater then others Then in this thou hast an opportunity to honour God more then others so thou shouldest consider doth God afflict me more then other men God gives me an opportunity in this to honour him in this affliction more then other men To exercise more grace then other men let me labour to do it then Fourthly if all afflictions were layd upon a heap together It is a notable expression of Solon that wise Heathen saith he suppose all the afflictions that are in the world were layd upon a heap and every man should come and take a proportion of those afflictions every one equally there is scarce any man but would rather say let me have the afflictions that I had before or else he were like to come to a greater share a greater affliction if so be he should equally share with all the world Now for you that are poor that are not in extremity of poverty if all the riches in the world were layd together and you should have an equal share you would be poorer but take all afflictions and sorrows whatsoever if all the sorrows in the world were layd together in a heap and you had but an equal share of them your portion would be rather more then it is now for the present And therefore doe not complain that it is more then others so as to murmur because of that An Eighth Plea Another reasoning that mumurring hearts have is this why they think that if the affliction were any other then it is then they would be more contented First You must know that we are not to choose our own rod