comfort and serenity of mind enjoy the same 2. Consider that our great comforts 2. Consid That our great comforts joys hopes and treasures consist not in the fruition of outward things joys hopes and treasures are not in the fruition of outward things but our best reversion and our greatest satisfaction is to be had in heaven and in the great things of eternity Why then should we take up our thoughts and immoderately perplex and intangle our spirits with an over-eager solicitude for the things of the present world Upon an exact survey there will be found an impotency and insufficiency in all things under the Sun to quiet and satisfie the immortal soul of man For the heart of man is triangular and the world is circular and it is impossible for a circle to fill a triangle If we look for rest in this present world we look for it where it is not to be had For here is not our rest If we look Micah 2. 10. for an abiding city here we mistake the place It is not to be had in this world onely in the world to come so saith the Apostle For here we have no continuing city but Hebr. 13. 14. we seek one to come If we expect any satisfaction from earthly treasures we shall be disappointed in our expectations for they are all subject to variety of casualties Let us then take counsel from Christ Matth. 6. 19 20. Lay not up for your selves treasures upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where theeves break through and steal But lay up for your selves treasures in heaven where moth nor rust doth corrupt and where theeves do not break through and steal Let us account Christ our chiefest treasure and let us be willing to part with all treasures for Christ Christ is infinitely more valuable then all the treasures in the universe He is the pearl of price We must imitate the wise merchant who when he had Matth. 13. 46. found one pearl of great price he went and sold all that he had and bought it If then we have got possession of Christ we are rich enough In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge The knowledge Col 2. 3. O Thesauris omnibus opulentior notitia Christi◠of Christ is richer then all treasures whatsoever as an ancient Father observes A traveller in his journey meets with variety of hardships and sufferings he meets with many a shower of rain course fare hard lodging and many times falls into vile company from whom he receives affronts and abuses but he in the mean time comforts himself with hopes of better usage at home for home though homely will make amends for all What is this world but an Inn and thorow-fare to eternity Heaven is the home of a true beleever that 's his journeys end and there as Job speaks The wicked cease from troubling and there Job 3. 17. the weary be at rest Would you not think that traveller to be a mad-man when at his Inn where he is to lie but for one night onely he calls for all the pots and pans candlesticks bedsteads and all the lumber of the house to be brought into his chamber just so is he whose continuance is to be very short in the world and but for a moment of time and yet he doth so turmoil encumber and involve himself with so much pelf and luggage of the world and grasps such large handfuls of earthly treasures as if he had no other thoughts but of fixing his station and settling himself here below as if he dream'd of an eternity upon earth But a child of God looks upon himself as a stranger and a pilgrim and he accounts these outward things as transient fading and perishing things He hath his eye fixed on heaven that is his countrey and he can cheerfully bear with hardships in his way whilest he is travelling to his countrey So did those beleevers desire a better countrey that is an heavenly Hebr. 11. 16. So did Moses eye the recompence of the reward The words are emphatical Something A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebr. 11. 26. Moses look'd from he look'd off them as one that altogether forsook them and would have no more to do with them and what were those things you may read Heb. 11. 25. They were the pleasures of sin and Moses made the better choice Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season The Apostle look'd from them and regarded not a whit any sinful pleasures but there is something which abundantly satisfied him that he look'd unto and that is the recompence of the reward The serious contemplation of heaven and the great things of eternity will quiet our spirits and make them be contented with lesser matters here below considering that there is reserved a brave reversion in heaven for us 3. Consider that this mystery of divine 3. Consid That the mystery of divine contentment is an excellent mystery Contentment is an excellent and sublime mystery It is well worth the learning of the profoundest scholar and this art is so excellent and honourable as whosoever he be that learns it gains high honour credit and reputation by it It is no disparagement in the least but a means to obtain high renown and honour even for the most learned Rabbies and men of greatest knowledge to go with St Paul to school to learn this great lesson of divine Contentment This great Doctour of the Gentiles a profound and every way accomplished scholar the chiefest of the Apostles for acquired parts and endowments made it his grand study and business to learn to be contented in every estate and condition Let us go and do likewise and learn of the Apostle that which he first learned of Christ and that is the excellent art of Contentment I have often in this Treatise given to contentment this epithet of excellent and I call it so the rather because it resembles God The word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-sufficient Phil. 4. 11. There it is in the concrete but it is in the abstract 1 Tim. 6. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 self-sufficiency A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contentment or self-sufficiency as the word signifies can be appropriated unto none but God For he onely is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. primarily and absolutely self-sufficient But St Paul and others may be said to be so secondarily and derivatively Whoever he be that desires and endeavours to be thus content and self-sufficient he must beg it of God and whosoever hath obtained this jewel he must ascribe to God the praise and glory of so rich a treasure and precious commodity So then the excellency of Contentment consists in four particulars 1. It resembles God There is a similitude 1 Contentment and self sufficiency resembles God or assimilation unto God so far as the measure of a
with him in baptism wherein you are also risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead That we may not rest as Papists do opere operato the Apostle mentions the Authour and Giver of faith And so likewise the Apostle Cùm Baptismi efficacia salutaris à fide pendeat aquum est ut ipsa fides à solo Deo expectetur nè nobis in nobis detur aliqua ansa gloriandi Dav. in Col. 2. 12. tells us Eph. 2. 8. For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Faith is a necessary companion of contentment they both come from God and where they are they do as the expression is mutuas locare operas they joyn in a mutual serviceableness one to another and as the proverb is Vara vibiam sequitur so faith and contentment joyn together in a mutual assistance and furtherance of each other Thus faith is one companion of contentment 2. A second companion of contentment is 2. Patience is a companion of contentment patience the ready way to learn contentment is to prepossess our selves with patience Who are the discontented persons but such as are impatient fretting and disquieting themselves under their burdens But such as are patient submissive spirited persons have attained unto a good proficiency in this choice art of contentedness This grace of patience is of singular use for thereby we possess our selves and enjoy all that we have quietly and contentedly It is our Saviours command Luke 21. 19. In your patience possess ye your souls And there is an absolute necessity of exercising this grace of patience Hebr. 10. 36. For ye have need of patience that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promise As a souldiers courage is known in a day of battel so is a Christians patience tried in time of affliction Tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope Wherefore Cyprian that eminent Martyr in that excellent book of patience gives this counsel In thy grief bear and in thy humility In dolore sustine in humilitate tua patientiam habe quoniam in igne probatur aurum argentum sic Job examinatus est probatus ad summum fastigium lau â—is patientiae virtute provectus Cypr. lib. de patientia have patience because gold and silver is tried in the fire as Job was tried and approved and by the vertue of patience promoted to the highest top of praise Wherefore then the right remedy is when afflictions many and great are incumbent on us to banish all discontents and murmurings and quietly and patiently to submit to the correcting hand of God Thus patience is another companion of contentment 3. A third companion of 3. Heavenly mindedness is a companion of contentedness contentedness is heavenly mindedness A godly mans conversation or citizenship for so the word imports is in heaven His negotiations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Nos autem ut coelorum cives nos gerimus Beza and merchandizings even all the trade which he drives is for heaven heaven is his countrey that is his Fathers house When Anaxagoras was asked Hast thou any regard of thy countrey Yes saith he and pointed his hand up towards heaven He that accounts heaven his throne and inheritance will look upon earth no better then his footstool He lives above earth whose heart is in heaven Whence then proceeds so many murmuring and querulous speeches How comes it to pass that upon any cross thwarting providence we fret and repine and are so exceedingly perplexed with melancholy and discontent The reason is because we set our hearts too much upon the world and mind earthly things If sin sat heavy as Reverend Mr Dod used to say then the world would sit light but because the world sits heavy sin sits light If our conversation was in heaven and we took a prospect of it in serious contemplations and if we ascended up into the mount with Moses and retired our selves into the fields with Isaac to have more freedom for meditation and did we with Enoch walk with God and with David's blessed man meditate in the Law of God day and night if this was our condition we should take so much delight and satisfaction in heavenly things as we should not vex and torment our selves for the want of worldly things Wherefore then let us with all holy greediness labour after heavenly mindedness and this is an excellent means to learn the lesson of divine Contentment If we account heaven our treasure joy and hope our hearts will be fixed thereon our tongues will be speaking thereof even our whole joy desires and delights will be taken up and employed about the serious thoughts of heavenly things Wherefore though in this present world as it is the lot of travellers in their Inn we may meet with many disappointments and dissatisfactions yet the serious meditations of heaven which is our home will abundantly make amends for all If we should fancy a perpetuity in an Inn and dream of an abiding happiness there we should exceedingly forget our selves We may apply Psal 49. 11 12. Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling places to all generations they call their lands after their own names Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not he is like the beasts that perish We should not look upon our selves as perpetual proprietours and possessours of a fee-simple without any alteration but we should look upon our selves as strangers and pilgrims as the Apostle writes 1 Pet. 2. 11. Dearly beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul Whoever then is willing to learn this grand lesson of Contentment let him make choice of those three choice companions viz. faith patience and heavenly mindedness and questionless through the assisting grace of God he shall arrive unto an high attainment and perfection in this so much to be desired art of divine Contentment CHAP. VII Chap. 7. Containing an use for direction Containing a fourth Use which is for direction wherein five Impediments are to be removed and ten Duties are to be put in practice SECT 1. Removing five grand Impediments of Contentment I Proceed to a fourth Use which is for Vse 4. For direction direction and for the more profitable handling of this Use I shall discover five grand Impediments which as so many stumbling blocks are to be removed out of the way and then I shall prescribe ten choice duties which are to be reduced unto point of practice 1. For the impediments which obstruct and set a bar against contentment I shall amongst a multitude that might be named confine my self unto five onely viz. Unbelief Unthankfulness Immoderate cares of the world Instability of spirit and Voluptuousness These five are as so many remora's and
yet they would live far more contentedly then greater persons who possess many thousand pounds per annum The tenth and last Duty which I shall Duty 10. As one man we should all drive a trade for heaven name is that we should all as one man drive a trade for heaven that so our love joy hope hearts desire and whole man and whole conversation may be there Let us make it our grand business to mind the great things of eternity The Apostle speaks in his own name and in the name of all true beleevers Phil. 3. 20. Our conversation is in heaven And he gives an express command Col. 3. 2. Set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth And it is the command of our Saviour Matth. 6. 33 Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness Wherefore considering that we have an interest in the best inheritance which is the kingdom of heaven why then should we vex and disquiet our selves for the loss of earthly things What matter if we want the shallow waters of a cistern as long as we enjoy waters abundantly flowing from the fountain Christ hath made many promises to his children and every promise is a debt heaven will make performance and give a full discharge of all Christs debts and engagements Heaven will infinitely compensate and satisfie the loss of all earthly things for saith the Apostle I reckon that the sufferings of this present Rom. 8. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat aliquid apud se subductis rationibus quosi collectum firmiter statuere ac proinde non dubiae opinicnis sed firma persuasionis significationem habet Gerrh time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us Upon exact computation the Apostle found it so or as Doctour of the Chair he thus determined the question How then comes it to pass that we fret and murmure by reason of afflictions which are incumbent on us It is because our hearts are not above but below we set too high a price on the dross and dung of the world and value not the chiefest price as we ought to do viz. the riches of Christ Wherefore we must copy out St Paul's lesson and learn it throughly Phil. 3. 8. Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord. When we can thus set a low price on the world we shall learn to set a higher price on Jesus Christ And when our hearts are fixed on heaven where our treasure is we shall look upon all things under the Sun as below our cognizance and too low for our affections Hence then it will abundantly appear that heavenly-mindedness and a holy conversation will in an especial manner produce contentment and settlement in the mind of Christians and although the things of the world run cross to us and all their motions are excentrick yet the riches of Christ and the consideration of the high calling in him the crown of glory and the inheritance immortal and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us will abundantly content comfort and satisfie our spirits And thus if we can put those ten Duties forementioned into practice we shall through Christ that strengthneth us learn the divine art of contentment and understand that excellent mystery which St Paul learned and commended to our imitation CHAP. VIII Containing an use of Consolation SECT 1. Shewing Causes of Contentment from God and from our selves as God gives it to us I Am now to conclude this Treatise with Vse 5. For consolation a fifth and last Use which I shall mention and that is for abundant consolation unto all such who have learned this divine art of Contentment They reap exceeding great comfort from it and are fitted for all services whether they concern corporal or spiritual affairs In all conditions even as well in adversity as in prosperity they who have learn'd contentment know how to order all their affairs with discretion and know how to manage them to the best advantage True beleevers have great cause of contentment from God and from themselves as God bestows it upon them and from the examples of others 1. True beleevers have great cause of Contentment and above all other causes from God supremely and this will appear in these ensuing particulars 1. God is their Father And this name 1. God is our Father sounds the nearest relation More particularly consider 1. He is a merciful tender-hearted compassionate 1. A merciful Father Father and full of bowels Thus his bowels are express'd Isa 16. 11. Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab and mine inward parts for Kirharesh His bowels yearn towards all his children and are rolled together He is the Father of all mercies and the God of all consolations God is compared to a tender-hearted Father Psal 103. 13. Like as a Father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him 2. As God is a merciful Father full of 2. God is a wise Father bowels and tender-hearted so he is a wise Father of infinite wisdom and knowledge The thoughts of our hearts and our secretest intentions are known to God the darkest corners of our hearts are transparent and visible to God what we have most need of and what is most fit for us God knows and he in wisdom provides for us and supplies all our wants in his own time as he seeth best for us If he give not what we would have he gives us what is better for if we had our wills satisfied we should be undone but Gods will is best and must stand Now seeing God knows what is better for us then we know for our selves let us renounce our own wisdom and yeeld ready obedience to the wise disposing will of God 3. God is a Father of infinite ability 3. God is a Father of infinite ability for he is omnipotent to help and succour us he alone is able to extricate us out of all straights and the most pressing exigencies Though our troubles are in our thoughts insuperable yet God can conquer them all and though they are multiplied yet God can deliver us out of them all That God is infinitely able to help us is a strong argument to perswade us to be contented in all conditions Ofttimes God suffers his people to be brought into great exigencies and into such sad perplexing troubles that they know not what to do then even then in that needful time of trouble God appears for their deliverance so that the glory may redound onely to the name of God and his right hand alone may have the preeminence and it may appear to the world that none less then God himself could work out such a great salvation for them When the people of God are reduced unto the greatest dangers and are in their own account most shiftless and helpless then God