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honour_n	bring_v	glory_n	labour_n	1,910	5	10.2506	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77996	The rare jewel of Christian contentment Wherein is shewed; 1. What contentment is. 2. The holy art or mystery of it. 3. Several lessons that Christ teacheth, to work the heart to contentment. 4. The excellencies of it. 5. The evils of murmuring. 6. The aggravations of the sin of murmuring. By Jeremiah Burroughs. The first of the eleven volumes that are published by Thomas Goodwin, William Greenhil, Sydrach Sympson, Philip Nye, William Bridge, John Yates, William Adderly.	Burroughs, Jeremiah, 1599-1646.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Greenhill, William, 1591-1671.; Bridge, William, 1600?-1670.; Nye, Philip, 1596?-1672.; Simpson, Sidrach, 1600?-1655.; Yates, John, d. ca. 1660.; Adderley, William.	1666 (1666)	Wing B6107B; ESTC R201188	189,505	233

of his power in little things and therefore the miracles that God hath wrought have been as much in little things as in great now as God lets out a great deal of his power in working miracles in smaller things so he lets out a great deal of goodness in mercy in comforting and rejoycing the hearts of his people in little things as well as in great there may be as much riches in a pearl as in a great deal of lumber but now this is a distinct thing Further A gracious heart as he lives upon Gods dew in a little that he hath so when that little that he hath shall be taken from him what shall he do then Then you will say if a man have nothing there can be nothing fetcht out of nothing But if the children of God have their little taken from them they can make up all their wants in God himself Such a man is a poor man the plunderers came and took away all that he had what shall he do then when all is gone But when all is gone there is an art and skill that godliness teaches to make up all those losses in God Many men that have their houses burnt go about gathering and so get up by many hands a little but a Godly man knows whither to go to get up all even in God himself so as he shall enjoy the quintessence of the same good and comfort as he had before for a Godly man doth not live so much in himself as he lives in God This is now a mystery to a carnal heart I say a gracious man doth not live so much in himself as he doth in God he lives in God continually if there be any thing cut off from the stream he knows how to go to the Fountain and makes up all there God is All in All while he lives I say it is God that is All in All. Am not I to thee saith Elkanah to Hannah instead of ten children So saith God to a gracious heart Thou wantest this thy Estate is plundered Why Am not I to thee-instead of ten Houses and ten Shops I am to thee in stead of All yet not only instead of All but come to me and thou shalt have All again in me This indeed is an excellent Art to be able to draw from God what it had before in the Creature Christian How didst thou enjoy comfort before Was the Creature any other to thee but a Conduit a Pipe that did convey Gods goodness to thee The Pipe is cut off saith God Come to me to the Fountain and drink immediately though the beams be taken away yet the Sun remains the same in the Firmament as ever it was What is that that satisfies God himself but because he doth enjoy all Fulness in himself so he comes to have satisfaction in himself Now if thou enjoyest God to be thy portion if thy soul can say with the Church in Lament 3.24 The Lord is my portion saith my soul Why shouldest thou not be satisfied and contented as God God is contented he is in eternal Contentment in himself now if thou hadst that God to be thy portion why shouldest not thou be contented with him alone God is contented with himself alone if thou hast him thou mayest be contented with him alone and it may be that is the reason that thy outward comforts are taken from thee that God may be All in All in thee It may be whilst thou hadst these things here they did share with God in thy affections a great part of the stream of thy affection ran that way now God would have the full stream run to him As you know it is with a man that hath water comes to his house and if there be severall Pipes upon which he finds the water comes but scantly into his Wash-house he will rather stop the other Pipes that he may have all the water come in where he would have it So here it may be God had some stream of thy affection that ran to him then when thou didst enjoy these things Yea but a great deal was let out to the Creature a great deal of thy affections did run waste now the Lord would not have the affections of his Children to run waste he doth not care for other mens affections but for thine they are precious and God would not have them to run waste therefore doth he cut off thy other Pipes that thy heart might run wholly upon him As if you have Children because you have servants perhaps do feed them and give them things you perceive that your servants do steal away the Hearts of your Children you would hardly be able to bear it you would be ready to turn away such a servant and when the Servant is gone the Childe is at a great loss it hath not the Nurse but the Father or Mother intends by her putting away that the affections of the Childe might run the more strongly towards himself or her self and what loss hath the Childe that the affections that run in a rough Channel before towards the servant it runs towards the Mother So those affections that run towards the creature God would have them run towards himself that so he may be All in All to thee here in this World And a gracious heart can indeed tell how to enjoy God to be All in All to him that is the happiness of Heaven to have God to be All in All. The Saints in Heaven have not Houses and Lands and Money and Meat and drink and Cloathes You will say they do not need them Why do they not It is because God is All in All to them immediately Now while thou livest in this world thou maiest come to enjoy much of God you may have much of heaven while we live here in this life we maycome to enjoy much of the very life that there is in heaven and what is that but the enjoyment of God to be all in all to us There is one text in the Revelations that speaks of the glorious condition of the Church that is like to be even here in this world Rev. 21.22 And I saw no Temple therein for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it and the City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof They had no need of the Sun or Moon It speaks of such a glorious condition that the Church is like to be in here in this world this doth not speak of Heaven and that appears plainly that this is not spoken of Heaven but of a glorious estate that the Church shall be in here in this world for it follows presently in the 24. and 26. verses And they speaking of the Kings of the earth And the Kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor unto it Why the Kings of the Earth shall not bring their

glory and honor into Heaven but this is such a time when the Kings of the Earth shall bring in their glory and honor to the Church And in the 26. verse And they shall bring the glory and honor of the Nation into it therefore it must needs be meant here in this world and not in Heaven Now if there be such a time here in this world that God shall be All in All that in no comparison there shall be no such need of Creatures as now there is then the Saints should labor to live as neer that life as possibly they can that is to make up all in God Oh that you would but mind this mystery that it may be a reality to the hearts of the Saints in such times as these are they would find this priviledge that they get by Grace to be worth thousands of worlds Hence is that of Jacob that I mentioned in another case it is remarkable and comes in fully here in Gen. 33. that notable speech of Jacob when his brother Esau did meet him ye find in one place that Esau he refused Jacobs present in the 8. verse when Jacob gave his present to him he refused it and told Jacob that he had enough What meanest thou by all this drove which I meet And he said These are to find grace in thy sight And Esau said I have enough Now in the 11 verse there Jacob urges it still and saith Jacob I beseech thee take it for I have enough now in your books it is the same in English I have enough saith Esau and I have enough saith Jacob but in the Hebrew Jacobs word is different from Esau's Jacob's word signifies I have all things and yet Jacob was poorer than Esau Oh this should be a shame to us that an Esau should say I have enough but now a Christian should say I have not onely enough but I have all how hath he all Because he hath God that is All And it was a notable speech of one He hath all things that hath him that hath all things Surely thou hast all things because thou hast him for thy portion who hath all things God hath all things in himself and thou hast God to be thine for thy portion and in that thou hast all and this is the mystery of Contentment It makes up all wants in God this is that that the men of the world have little skill in Now I have divers other things yet to open in the Mystery of Contentment I should shew likewise that a godly man not onely makes up all in God but finds enough in himself to make up all to make up all in himself not from himself but in himself and that may seem to be stranger than the other to make up all in God is somewhat nay to make up all in himself not from himself but in himself that is a gracious heart hath so much of God within himself that he hath enough there to make up all his wants that are without In Prov. 14.14 A good man shall be satisfied from himself from that that is within himself that is the meaning a gracious man he hath a bird within his own bosom that makes him melody enough though he wants musick The Kingdom of heaven is within you In Luk. 17.21 He hath a Kingdom within him and a Kingdom of God you see him spoken ill of abroad he hath a conscience within him that makes up the want of a name and credit that is instead of a thousand witnesses Thirteenth A gracious heart fetches Contentment from the Covenant that God hath made with him Now this is a way of fetching Contentment that the men of the world know not of they can fetch Contentment if they have the creature to satisfie them But to fetch Contentment from the covenant of grace that they have little skill in I should here have opened two things First how to fetch Contentment from the covenant of grace in general But I shall speak to that in the next Sermon and now onely a word to the second Secondly how he fetches contentment from the particular branches of the covenant that is from the particular promises that he hath for the supplying of every particular want there is no condition that a godly man or woman can be in but there is some promise or other in the Scripture to help him in that condition And that is the way of his Contentment to go out to the promises and fetch from the promise that which may supply But this is but a dry businesse to a carnal heart but it is the most real thing in the world to gracious heart When he finds want of Contentment he repairs to the Promise and the Covenant and falls to pleading the Promises that God hath made As I should have shewed several promises that God hath made let the affliction be what it will I will but onely mention one that is the saddest affliction of all in case of the Visitation and the Plague In Psal 91. now those that cannot have their friends come to them by reason of the plague and that cannot have other comforts in other afflictions they might have their friends and other things to comfort them but in that they cannot Psal 91.10 There wall no evil befall thee neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling Then here is a promise for the pestilence in the 5. and 6. verses this is a Scripture to those that are in danger of it You will say this is a promise that the plague shall not come nigh them but mark these two are joyned There shall no evil befall thee neither shall the plague come nigh thee The evil of it shall not come nigh thee Object You will say It doth come to many godly men and how can they make use of this Scripture it is rather a Scripture that may trouble them because here is a promise that it shall not come nigh them and yet it doth come nigh them as well as others Answ First This is the answer I would give The promises of outward deliverances that were made to the people of God in the time of the Law were to be understood then a great deal more literally and fulfilled more literally than in the times of the Gospel God makes it up otherwise with as much mercy though God made a covenant of Grace and eternal life in Christ with them yet I think there was another covenant too that God speaks of as a distinct covenant for outward things to deal with his peopleby according to their waies either in outward prosperity or in outward afflictions more than now in a more punctual set way than in the times of the Gospel and therefore when the Children of Israel did but sin against God they were sure to have publick judgements to come upon them and if they did well always publick mercies the general constant way of God was to deal with the People of the Jews according

THE RARE JEWEL OF CHRISTIAN Contentment Wherein is shewed 1. What CONTENTMENT is 2. The Holy Art or Mystery of it 3. Several Lessons that Christ Teacheth to work the Heart to Contentment The Excellencies of it 5. The Evils of Murmuring 6. The Aggravations of the sin of Murmuring By Jeremiah Burroughs The first of the Eleven Volumes that are Published by Thomas Goodwin William Greenhil Sydrach Sympson Philip Nye William Bridge John Yates William Adderly LONDON Printed for Ben. Billingsley at the Printing-Press in Cornhill over against Popes Head-Alley 1666. To the Reader THis worthy Man especially in his latter times was surrounded through Gods blessing on him with a very great confluence of what might give forth Contentment to a vast Spirit of his Rank and Calling He was enriched with a large measure of Abilities and Opportunities in serving his Lord to glorifie whom and do much good to others is the divine part of a man gracious which he was the highest and most solid Satisfaction and in many respects exceeds what personal Communion with God singlely considered brings in Besides he lived and died in a fulness of honour and esteem with the best of men of Saints Yea the worst of enemies Likewise of Estate and outward Comforts within his Sphaere and Rank all which might and did afford Contentment to what was outward in him In the midst of these his study was to finde out a more sublime way and hidden art of Self-sufficiency than was in the power of all things to contribute or teach Such a skill as did not only poise and compose his spirit in the present injoyment of all but might fortifie and furnish him with provision for the future against the loss of all in times wherein no man knoweth what evil will be in the earth This mark his first Lines shew hee shot at This Art some Philosophers of old pretended themselves Masters of and to instruct others in through the assistance of Natural and Moral Elements elevated to the utmost height their Principles could carry them but in vain Their Chymistry in this kinde being able to produce no more but a sullen obstinacy and obdurateness of minde The Natural Spirit of a Man feeling it self greater than all Creatures gathering up and consolidating it self into it self is able as Solomon saies to sustain its own and all other infirmities But that Autarchy this Author here presents is a Mystery which none of these Princes of the world know or the wisdome of Man teacheth but the Holy Ghost teacheth and which few but those that are perfect do attain Teaching the soul to deny it self into weakness emptiness in and to it self and all things else and thus dissolved to unite its self to Him who only hath blessedness and All-sufficiency with whom associated and made intimate it melts it self into all his Interests making them its own and thereby comes to have all that All-sufficiency of the High God to be its Self-sufficiency And then What state can that Soul bee in wherein it may not bee content seeing it hath God to bee the chiefest comfort in its best times and only comfort in its worst This though it be the inheritance of every Saint in the right and title to it yet the possession and injoyment of it depends upon an improvement of this inheritance and that upon a skill which is to be learned by experience and much exercise as Paul speaks I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be Content This peece of learning this serious spirited Man inured himself into and digging for it as Rubies as Solomons Scholler for Wisdome hath found it and hath hewn forth this JEWEL a Title given neither by Himself nor by Vs the Publishers to the Subject it self yet the Materials themselves deserving it out of the Rock and hath artificially cut it that the innate Rayes of this so glorious a Grace might shine forth to others And here it comes to be presented though set forth as the richest Jewels are often for a while in ruder metals until bargained but then are placed in tablets worthy of them The only seat this is ordained for is the precious Tablets of mens hearts in and from which alone the native lustre of will be made conspicuous Reader buy it set and wear it there and it shall as Solomon speaks Prov. 3.22 c. Be life unto thy soul and grace unto thy neck Thou shalt not be afraid when thou lyest down Yea thy sleep shall bee sweet unto thee for the Lord will be thy confidence Thomas Godwin Sydrach Sympson William Greenhil Philip Nye William Bridge John Yates William Adderly The CONTENTS SERMON I. THe Words opened Page 2 Doctrine To be well skil'd in the Mystery of Christian Contentment is the duty glory and excellency of a Christian Page 3 Christian Contentment described Page 4 1 It is Inward ibid. 2 It is quiet which is not opposed 1 To sense of affliction Page 5 2 To complaint to God or man ibid. 3 To lawful seeking of help Page 6 But it is opposed 1 To Murmuring ibid 2 To fretting and vexing ib. 3 To tumult of spirit ib. 4 To insettledness of spirit Page 7 5 To distracting cares and fears ibid. 6 To sinking discouragement ibid. 7 To sinful shifting Page 8 8 To rising of the Heart against God Page 9 3 It is a frame of spirit 1 It is spred through the whole Soul Page 10 2 It is a frame of soul Page 11 3 It is a habitual frame Page 13 4 It is a gracious frame opposed 1 To natural stilness ib. 2 To sturdy resolutions ib. 3 To strength of natural reason Page 14 5 It is a frame of spirit freely submitting 1 The heart is readily brought over Page 25 2 It is not by constraint Page 16 3 It is not out of stupidity Page 17 6 Freely submitting ib. 7 Taking Complacency in Gods dispose ib. 8 In Gods dispose Page 19 In every condition Page 20 SERMON II. We must submit to God in every affliction 1 For the kinde Page 22 2 For the time Page 23 3 For the variety Page 25 Contentment is a Mystery Page 26 1 A Christian is content yet unsatisfied Page 27 2 A Christian comes to contentment by substraction Page 29 3 By adding another burden to that he hath Page 31 4 By changing the affliction into another Page 33 5 By doing the work of his condition Page 35 6 By melting his will into Gods will Page 37 7 By purging out that that is within Page 39 SERMON III 8 He lives by the dew of Gods blessing Page 40 1 He hath the love of God in that he hath Page 41 2 It is sanctified for his good ib. 3 There is no after-reckoning for it Page 42 4 It is by purchase of Christ ib. 5 It is an earnest of glory hereafter Page 43 9 A Christion sees Gods love in affliction Page 44 10 His afflictions sanctified in Christ Page 45 11 He fetches

not conceive of them because you feel them not Answ Though I cannot know what your afflictions are yet I know what your mercies are and I know they are so great as I am sure there can be no affliction in this world so great as the mercies you have If it were but this mercy That you have this day of grace and salvation continued to you it s a greater mercy than any affliction set any affliction by this mercy and see which would weigh heaviest this is certainly greater than any affliction that you have the day of grace and salvation that you are not now in Hell this is a greater mercy that you have the sound of the Gospel yet in your ears that you have the use of your reason this is a greater mercy than your afflictions that you have the use of your limbs your senses that you have the health of your bodies health of body is a greater mercy than poverty is an affliction there is no man that is rich but if he be wise if he hath a sickly body he would part with all his riches that he might have his health therefore thy mercies are more than thy afflictions We find in Scripture how the holy Ghost doth aggravate the sin of discontent from the consideration of mercies you have a notable Scripture for it in the 16. of Numb 8. verse c. It s a speech of Moses to Korah and his company when they murmured And Moses said unto Korah Hear I pray you ye sons of Levi there 's somewhat that you are sons of Levy Seemeth it but a small thing unto you that the God of Israel hath separated you from the Congregation of Israel to bring you neer to himself to do the service of the Tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the Congregation to minister unto them Korah and his company were murmuring but mark how Moses aggravates this Seemeth it a small thing unto you that the God of Israel hath separated you from the Congregation of Israel to bring you neer to himself to do the service of the Tabernacle of the Lord c. You see 't is a great honor that God puts upon a man a great mercy that he doth bestow upon any man to separate him from others for himself to come neer to him to imploy him in the service of the Tabernacle to minister to the Congregation in holy things this is a great mercy and indeed it 's such a mercy as one would think there should be none that God bestows such a mercy upon that should have a murmuring heart for any affliction It s true many Ministers of God they meet with hard things that might discourage them and trouble and grieve their spirits but now this consideration that God is pleased to imploy them in such a service neer to himself that though they cannot do good to themselves yet they may do good to others this should quiet them And yet in vers 10. And he hath brought thee neer to him and all thy Brethren the sons of Levi with thee and seek ye the Priest hood also Have not you enough already but still you are discontented with what you have and must have more seck ye yet more Seek ye the Priesthood also for which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the Lord And what is Aaron that ye murmur against him What hath God given you such things and yet will you be murmuring because you cannot have more Methinks that this place should keep Ministers from murmuring though they should meet with never such afflictions and crosses and unkind dealings from men yet still they should go on with hearts quieted and comforted in the work that God hath set them about and labour to countervail all their afflictions by being more abundant in the work of the Lord. That is the first text of Scripture that shews how the mercies we enjoy are Aggravations to the sin of murmuring And then a second Scripture is in the 2. of Job vers 10. A speech of Job to his wife what saith Job when his wife would have had him curse God and dye that was a degree beyond murmuring why saith he Thou speakest as one of the foolish women shall we receive good at the hand of God and not evil you see Job did help himself against all murmuring thoughts against the ways of God with this consideration That he had received so much good from the Lord what though we receive evil yet do not we receive good as well as evil let us set one against the other that 's the way we should go In the 17. of Ecclesiastes the 14. verse you have a notable Scripture there whereby you may see what course is to be taken when the heart rises in murmuring In the day of prosperity be joyful but in the day of Adversity consider what should they consider mark what follows God also hath set the one over against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him God also hath set the one over against the other that 's thus When thou art in prosperity then indeed every man can be joyful but what if afflictions befalls him what then then consider Consider what That God hath set one over against the other thou hast a great deal of affliction and thou hast had a great deal of prosperity thou hast many troubles and thou hast had many mercies make one column of mercies and one column of afflictions and write one against the other and see if God hath not fil'd one column as full as the other you look altogether upon your afflictions but look upon your mercies also for instance It may be God hath afflicted you in one childe but he hath been merciful to you in another childe set one against the other God afflicted David in Absalom but he was merciful to David in Solomon and therefore when David cryed our Oh Absalom my Son my Son If David had thought upon Solomon and cryed Oh Solomon my son my son it would have quieted him And it may be God hath been merciful to thee in a Wife or in thy Husband set that against thy affliction it may be God crosses thee in thy Estate but it may be he doth imploy thee in his Service it may be thou art afflicted in some of thy Friends but thou hast other Friends that are great mercies to thee and therefore you should set one against the other and it doth concern you so to do for those mercies will be aggravations of your sins and you had better make Gods mercies a means to lessen your sins than to be the aggravation of your sins If you make not the mercies of God to help you against your murmuring you will make them to be aggravations of the sin of murmuring I beseech you for this take but this one consideration further and if you will but work it upon your hearts I hope you may find a

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 shall I be vexed and fretted with him because he is diseased Those that wrong me I look upon them as diseased men and therefore pity them Thirdly Though you meet with hard dealings from men yet you meet with nothing but kind good and righteous dealing from God When you meet with unrighteous dealings from them set one against another And that 's for the Answer to the Fourth Plea The 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 's that I know not how to bear that 's that which makes my heart so disquiet because was altogether unlookt for and unexpected For Answer to this First It is thy weakness and folly that thou didst not look for it and expect it In Acts 20.22 23. see what Saint Paul saith concerning himself And now behold I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befal 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 befal 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 do 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 fore-see the particular evil yet he should think this is no more than I lookt for in the general Therefore no affliction should come unexpectedly to a Christian A second answer I shall give is this Is it unexpected then the less provision thou madest for it before it came the more careful 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 well as the other disturb me As it is in mercies when they come unexpected the less preparation there was in me for receiving mercy the more need I have to be carefull now to give God the glory of the mercy and to sanctifie Gods Name in the enjoyment 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 careful to give God the glory of them so when afflictions come that we did not expect then it seems we laid not in for them before-hand we had need be the more careful 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 fifth reasoning The Sixth PLEA Oh! but it is very great mine affliction it is exceeding great saith one and however you say we must be contented it 's true you may say so that feel not such great afflictions but if you felt my affliction that I feel 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 less than thy sins Secondly It might have been a great deal more thou mightest have been in Hell And it is as I remember Bernards speech saith he It is an eafier matter to be opprest than perish Thou mightest have been in Hell and therefore the greatness of the thing should not make thee murmure grant it be great Thirdly It may be 't is the greater because thy heart doth so murmure 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 is the sixth Reasoning The seventh PLEA But howsoever you may lessen my affliction yet I am sure it is far greater than the afflictions of others First It may be it is thy discontent that makes it greater when indeed it is not so in its self Secondly If it were greater than others why is thy eye evil 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 than others Then in this thou hast an opportunity to honor God more than others So thou shouldst consider Doth God afflict mee more than other men God gives me an opportunity in this to honor him in this affliction more than other men to exercise more grace than other men let me labour to do it then Fourthly If all afflictions were laid upon a heap together It 's a notable expression of Solon that wise Heathen saith he Suppose all the afflictions that are in the World were laid upon an 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 the whole world Now for you that are poor that are not in extremity of poverty if all the riches in the world were laid 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 laid together in a heap and you had but an equal share of them your portion would be rather more than it is now for the present and therefore do not complain that it is more than others so as to murmure because of that The Eighth PLEA Another Reasoning that murmuring hearts have is this why they think that if the affliction were any other than it is then they would be more contented First You must know that we are not to chuse our own rod that God shall beat us with Secondly It may be if it were any other than it is it were not so fit for thee as this is it may be therefore God chuses it because it is most cross to thee as seeing it most suitable for the purging out of that humour that is in thee If a Patient comes to take Physick and finds himself sick by it shall he say Oh! if it were any other potion I could bear it it may