the very mention of such a fact that at two several times he would not so much as take the advise into the least deliberation but rejected it with an Absit too Shall I lay these hands upon the Lords anointed God forbid No saith he I will not do it for a kingdom Such wicked facts I leave for wicked men to act God can and will I know in his due time make good his own promise without my sin I shall be content to wait his leisure and to remain in the sad condition I now am in till it shall please him to bring me out of it rather then clog my conscience with the guilt of such a horrid crime 31. But if my desire shall prompt to that resolution so common in the world rem si possis rectè si non quocunque modo rem I would rather have it fairely if it might be but if it will not come so yet would I have it howsoever my desire becometh an unjust and inordinate desire Such was Ahabs still his example you see furnisheth us at every turne He must have the Vineyard ey that he must Cujus si dominus pretio non vincitur ullo c If money will fetch it Naboth shall have his own asking But if that will not do the deed something else must Letters shall be written Witnesses suborned Iudges awed justice perverted and an innocent person if the situation of his vineyard had not made him guilty in a goodly formall pageant of a legal proceeding with much base hypocrisie and in a most undue unworthy manner accused condemned executed Quid non mortalia pectora cogis Stand amased and consider what a mass of sin and mischief the least indulgence to a vicious inordinate desire may lead you to at the last more then perhaps you could at the first suspect your self capable to fall into 32. What should I say then Brethren Even what our Lord hath said before me Take heed and beware of Covetousness Look upon all the frauds that are practised every where among the sons of men take a survey of all the oppressions the greater and lesser oppressions that are done under the sun you shall finde the most of them to owe both their first birth and after-growth to this cursed root of Covetousness Extortion Bribery Flattery Calumny Perjury Simony Sacriledge Unjust Wars and Suits do they not all come from hence False Weights and measures in the markets false lights and wares in the shops false pleas and oaths in the Courts enhaunsing of fees trucking for expedition racking of rents cracking of banckrupts depopulating of townes projecting of Monopolies and God knoweth how many more my breath would faile me and the time but to name them are they not all from hence And doth not the rifenes of them abroad in the world unanswerably convince the men of this generation of much injustice and uncharitableness in coveting other mens goods and not being content with their own 33. Upon this first point I have stood the longer being the principal of the three and the foundation of the other two That now setled we shall be like to come off with quicker dispatch in the rest The Object of contentment as it is limited in respect of the Person It must be a mans own estate of which hitherto so is it limited in respect of the Time It must be a mans present Estate of which next The Text hath not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the preter In what state I have been nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the future In what state I shall be but in the present 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In whatsoever state I am Look what God who is Lord of all and dispenseth to every man severally as he will disposeth upon him for the persent although perhaps far short of what he may have had in some times heretofore or of what he may probably have in possibilities and reversions hereafter he that hath a contented mind doth not afflict himself either with pensive thoughts at the remembrance of what he hath been or with suspenceful thoughts in forecasting both his hopes and fears what he may be But he giveth himself up to the Lords present disposal and resteth satisfied with the portion that is before him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle expresly Heb. 13. being content with the present things and elsewhere Having food and rayment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the present tense stil let us be therewith content 34. Grant but the former part already made good That we are to be content with our own and this will follow of it self That we are to be content with the present because nothing can be truly said to be our own but the present What is past and gone perhaps it was ours but we cannot say It is ours now and what is future and to come perhaps it may be ours and perhaps it may not too but we cannot say It is ours yet Panem nostrum quotidianum our daily bread or as some translate it hodiernum our this days bread so we are taught to stile it when we beg it Nostrum and Hodiernum may be well put together for it is only this days bread that is our bread Anothers dayes bread may be another mans bread for ought we know Nam propriae telluris herum natura nec illum Nec me nec quenquam fecit All these things pass to and fro in the world from one hand to another and so to another and another ever and anon upon some casualty or other many times in a moment shifting MASTERS and seldome stay long in a place When one would thinke we had them fast either they take them wings and flie away and leave us behinde or our thred is cut and we drop away and leave them behind And how sodainly this may be done who knoweth Perhaps before to morrow sâ—ulte hac nocte and then what was ours goeth another way who knoweth whither Perhaps to a mâ—re stronger cujus erunt Thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee then whose shall these things be thou now callest thine Nothing is certainly ours but the present and of that we have no farther certainty then the present So that unless we can frame our minds to be content with the present we shall never be able to find any certainty whereon to rest 35. Add hereunto secondly that all sollicitous looking forward and beyond the present doth ipso facto and of it self take off so much from our content It raiseth up many foggie mists of hopes and fears and other perturbations that disquiet the mind wonderfully and torture it with suspencefulness and anxiety Spemque metumque inter dubij Whilest men through the desire of having hang in suspense betwixt the hope of getting and the fear of missing they cannot chuse but pierce themselves through with many sorrows and create themselves much unrest
but commodata When God lent us the use of them he had no meaning to forgoe the property too and therefore they are his goods still and he may require them at our hands or take them from us when he will and dispose of them as he pleaseth I will return and take away my corn and my wine in the season thereof and will recover my wooll and my flax Osee 2. What we have we hold of him as our creditor and when he committed these things to our trust they were not made over to us by covenant for any fixed term Whensoever therefore he shall think good to call in his debts it is our part to return them with patience shall I say ey and with thankfulness too that he hath suffered us to enjoy them so long but without the least grudging or repining as too often we do that we may not hold them longer Non contristor quòd recepisti ago gratias quòd dedisti Thus did Iob when all was taken from him he blessed the name of the Lord still and to his wife tempting him to impatience gave a sharp but withall a most reasonable and religious answer Thou speakest like a foolish woman Shall we receive good things at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil also As who say shall we make earnest suite to him when we would borrow and be offended with him when we are called on to pay again We account him and so he is an ill and unthankful debter from whom the lender cannot ask his own but he shall be like to lose a friend by it Add yet how impatiently oftentimes do we take it at our Lords hand when he requireth from us but some small part of that which he hath so freely and so long lent us 21. Try thy self then Brother by these and the like signes and accordingly judge what progress thou hast made in this so high and useful a part of Christian learning 1. If thou scornest to gain by any unlawfull or unworthy means 2. If thy desires and cares for the things of this life be regular and moderate 3. If thou canst finde in thy heart to take thy portion and to bestow thereof for thine own comfort 4. And to dispense though but the superfluities for the charitable relief of thy poor neighbours 5. If thou canst want what thou desirest without murmuring and lose what thou possessest without impatience then mayest thou with some confidence say with our Apostle in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content But if any one of these particular signes be wholy wanting in thee thou art then but a truant in this learning and it will concern thee to set so much the harder to it and to apply thy self more seriously and diligently to this study hereafter then hitherto thou hast done 22. Wherein for the better guiding of those that are desirous of this learning either to make entrance thereinto if they be yet altogether to learn which may be the case of some of us or to proceed farther therein if they be already entred as the best-skilled of us all had need to do for so long as we are in the flesh and live in the world the lusts both of flesh and world will mingle with our best graces and hinder them from growing to a fulness of perfection I shall crave leave towards the close of this discourse to commend to the consideration and practise of all whether novices or proficients in this Art of Contentation some usefull Rules that may serve as so many helps for their better attaining to some reasonable abilities therein The general means for the obtaining of this as of every other particular grace we all know are fervent Prayer and the sincere love of God and goodness Which because they are general we will not now particularly insist upon it shall suffice without farther opening barely to have mentioned them 23. But for the more special means the first thing to be done is to labour for a true and lively Faith For Faith is the very basis the foundation whereupon our hearts and all our hearts-content must rest the whole frame of our contentment rising higher or lower weaker or stronger in proportion to that foundation And this Faith as to our present purpose hath a double Object as before was touched to wit the Goodness of God and the Truth of God His Goodness in the dispensation of his special providence for the present and his Truth in the performance of his temporal promises for the future First then labour to have thy heart throughly perswaded of the goodness of God towards thee That he is thy Father and that whether he frown upon thee or correct thee or howsoever otherwise he seem to deal with thee he still beareth a Fatherly affection towards thee That what he giveth thee he giveth in love because he seeth it best for thee to have it and what he denieth thee he denieth in love because he seeth it best for thee to want it A sick man in the extremity of his distemper desireth some of those that are about him and sit at his bed-side as they love him to give him a draught of cold water to allay his thirst but cannot obtain it from his dearest wife that lieth in his bosome nor from his nearest friend that loveth him as his own soul. They consider that if they should satisfie his desire they should destroy his life they will therefore rather urge him and even compel him to take what the Doctor hath prescribed how unpleasant and distastful soever it may seem unto him And then if pain and the impotency of his desire will but permit him the use of his reason he yieldeth to their perswasions for then he considereth that all this is done out of their love to him and for his good both when he is denied what he most desireth and when he is pressed to take what he vehemently abhorreth Perswade thy self in like sort of all the Lords dealings with thee If at any time he do not answer thee in the desire of thy heart conclude there is either some unworthiness in thy person or some inordinacy in thy desire or some unfitness or unseasonableness in the thing desired something or other not right on thy part but be sure not to impute it to any defect of love in him 24. And as thou art stedfastly to beliéve his goodness and love in ordering all things in such sort as he doth for the present so oughtest thou with like stedfastness to rest upon his truth and faithfulness for the making good of all those gracious promises that he hath made in his word concerning thy temporal provision and preservation for the future Only understand those promises rightly with their due conditions and limitations and in that sense wherein he intended them when he made them and then never doubt the performance
his choisest blessings upon those men that think them not well worthy their best both Prayers and Pains He alone can frame mens hearts to unity and peace but we are vain and unreasonable if we expect he should do it for our sakes so long as we continue either silent without seeking to him for it by our Prayers or sluggish without employing our best endeavours about it to our powers 10. But why is this God to whom we are thus to make our addresses that he would be pleased to grant us this like-mindedness and to give unto us and to all his people the blessing of peace here stiled the God of Patience and Consolation The enquiries are many Why first the God of Patience And secondly why the God of Consolation taking the two Attributes apart either by it self Then taking them both together First for the choice why these two rather then any other Secondly for the conjunction why these two together Thirdly for the order why Patience first and before Consolation Five in all somewhat of each 11. The former Title is The God of Patience Which may be understood either Formaliter or Causaliter either subjectively or effectively as they use to distinguish Or if these School-termes be too obscure then in plain termes thus either of Gods patience or Ours That is to say either of that patience which God useth toward us or of that patience which God by his grace and holy Spirit worketh in us Of Gods patience and long-suffering to us-ward besides pregnant testimony of Scripture we have daily and plentiful experience How slowly he proceedeth to vengeance being so unworthily provoked how he beareth with our infirmities Infirmities ey and Negligences too yea and yet higher our very Presumptions and Rebellions how he spreadeth out his hand all the day long waiting day after day year after year for our conversion and amendment that he may have mercy upon us And even thus understood Subjectivè the Text would bear a fair construction as not altogether impertinent to the Apostles scope It might at least intimate to us this that finding so much patience from him it would well become us also to shew some patience to our brethren But yet I conceive it more proper here to understand it effectivè of that Patience which is indeed from God as the Cause but yet in us as the subject Even as a little after verse 13. he is called the God of Hope because it is he that maketh us to abound in hope as the reason is there expressed And as here in the Text he is stiled the God of consolation for no other reason but that it is he that putteth comfort and chearfulness into our hearts 12. It giveth us clearly to see what we are of our selves and without God nothing but heat and impatience ready to vex our selves and to fly in the faces of our brethren for every trifle You have need of patience saith the Apostle Heb. 10. We have indeed God help us 1. We live here in a vale of misery where we meet with a thousand petty crosses and vexations quotidianarum molestiarum minutiae in the common road of our lives poor things in themselves and if rationally considered very trifles and vanity yet able to bring vexation upon our impatient spirits we had need of patience to digest them 2. We are beset surrounded with a world of temptations assaulting us within and without and on every side and at every turne we had need of Patience to withstand them 3. We are exposed to manifold injuries obloquies and sufferings many times without cause it may be sometimes for a good cause we had need of patience to bear them 4. We have many rich and precious promises made us in the word of grace of glory of outward things of some of which we finde as yet but slender performance and of other some but that we are sure the anchor of our hope is so well fixt that it cannot faile no visible probability of their future performance we had need of patience to expect them 5. We have many good duties required to be done of us in our Christian callings and in our particular vocations for the honour of God and the service of our brethren we had need of patience to go through with them 6. We have to converse with men of different spirits and tempers some hott fiery and furious others flat sullen and sluggish some unruly some ignorant some proud and scornful some peevish and obstinate some toyish fickle and humorous all subject to passions and infirmities in one kinde or other we had need of patience to frame our conversations to the weaknesses of our brethren and to tolerate what we cannot remedy that by helping to bear each others burdens we may so fulfil the Law of Christ. 13. Great need we have of Patience you see and my Text letteth us see where we have to serve our need God is the God of patience in him and from him it is to be had but not elsewhere When ever then we finde our selves ready to fret at any cross occurrent to venge every injury to rage at every light provocation to droope at the delay of any promise to slugge in our own performances to skew at the infirmities of others take we notice first of the impatience of our own spirits and condemn it then hie we to the fountain of grace there beg for patience and meekness and he that is the God of patience will not deny it us That is the former Title The God of Patience 14. The other is The God of Consolation And the reason is for this can be understood no otherwise then effective because sound comfort is from God alone I even I am he that comforteth you saith he himself Esay 51. Thy rod and thy staffe they comfort me saith David Psal. 23. And the Prophets often The Lord shall comfort Sion The Holy Ghost is therefore called as by his proper name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Comforter Ey perhaps as one among many others or allowing the Greek article his Emphasis as the chiefest of all the rest which hindereth not but there may be other Comforters besides though haply of less excellency If there were no more in it but so and the whole allegation should be granted it should be enough in wisdome to make us overlook all them that we might partake of his comforts as the best But in truth the Scriptures so speak of God not as the chiefest but as the only Comforter admitting no partnership in this prerogative Blessed be God c. The Father of mercies and the God of all Consolation 15. May we not then seek for comfort may some say nay do we not sometimes finde comfort in friends riches reputation and such other regular pleasures and delights as the creatures afford Verily under God we may alwayes and do sometimes reap comfort from the creatures But those comforts issue still
that so we may be able to judge rightly concerning own desires at all times whether they be such as are allowed and may consist with contentment or such as are forbidden and cannot consist therewith Which is to be done by duly considering of those three especial Qualifications which are all requisite the concurrence I mean of the whole three to the making up of an orderly desire in any of which if there be a failer the desire becometh inordinate and sinful These three are in respect First of the Object Secondly of the Act Thirdly of the Effect of the desire 25. For the Object first If I desire but that from my neighbour say it be his house land beast or other commodity which I find him willing or may reasonably presume he will not be unwilling for that I see no cause why he should be so to part withall especially if the having thereof be visibly so much greater advantage or convenience to me then the parting therewith could be loss or inconvenience to him that I should be as ready to pleasure him with mine were my case his as I am now desirous he should pleasure me with his If all this be done and meant by me bonâ fide and that I am willing withal to make him a valuable compensation to the full for whatsoever loss or inconvenience he shall sustain thereby and according to the worth of the thing my desire is thus far regular In this manner Abraham desired of Ephron the Hittite a spare portion in one end of his field for a burying-place for Sarah when as being a stranger he had no possession among them wherein to bury his dead Gen. 23. 26. But if I shall desire to have that from him which probably is as useful and expedient for him as it can be for me or which he taketh some pleasure or content in or is very unwilling howsoever though for no great reason perhaps but for his minds sake only to part withall or which if it were mine own case I should be loth to forgo to another that should in the like kind desire it from me If yet when all this appeareth to me I persist in my former desire notwithstanding and thirst after it still this is an uncharitable and so an inordinate desire in me Ahabs desire was such After he saw Naboths heart so set upon his ancient inheritance that he would not part with it upon any termes For he had given him a flat denial and rejected all motions for an alienation with an Absit the Lord forbid it me that I should part with the inheritance of my Ancestors yet he must have it tho nothing will content him without it That for the Object 27. Secondly for the Act or more immediate effect of the Desire If I desire any thing that is my neighbours with a moderate and sober desire so as I can set my heart at rest fall out as it will and compose my affections to an indifferent temper whether I obtain my desire or no If I may have it well and good if not no great harm done I am but where I was my desire is also thus far regular and hindereth not but that I may be well enough content notwithstanding 28. But if my desire raise mudde and perturbations in me and breed troubled confused thoughts so as to disquiet me in my sleep distract me in my devotions disturb me that I cannot walk in the wayes of my calling or perform the common offices of life with any cheerfulness or any other way distemper the calm tranquillity of my mind and soul then is my desire so far forth an inordinate and covetous desire and inconsistent with true Contentation And such again was Ahabs When he could not have his longing Nec manus nec pes He could neither eat nor drink nor sleep nor enjoy any thing he had nor do any thing he should for thinking of it nothing but lowre and â—umble and fret for grief and despight have it he must or he should never be well 29. There are thousands that would loth be reputed Covetous yet have a grudging of his disease and it is an evil disease For tell me to close a little with thee thou that scornest the name of Covetous whence is it that thou either pinest away with envie at the greatness of thy neighbours or repinest with murmuring at the scantness of thy own portion these are parlous symptomes VVhy art thou ever and anon maundering that his farm is better then thine his meddows greener then thine his corne ranker then thine his cattel fatter then thine his ware-house fuller then thine his office gainfuller then thine his service better rewarded then thine thine his trading quicker then thine and I know not how many things more Quodque capella aliena gerat distentius uber Tabescas Must thine eye needs be evil towards imbecause the hand of God hath been good to him Tolle quod tuum vade Take that is thine and go thy way and rest quiet with it Be thankfull to him that gave it it was more I ween then he owed thee and in Gods name make thy best of it Spartam quam nactus es hanc orna But do not desire that inordinately which thou canst not compass honestly and which if dishonestly gotten thou shouldest have little joy of when thou hadst it Say thy lot be not all out as thou couldest wish indeed what mans almost is so yet take comfort in it onward till better come Better may come when God seeth thee fit for better but fit thou art not so long as thou art not contented with what thou hast 30. Lastly for the Consequents or remoter effects of the Desire Desire looketh ever at the end carrying the minde and thoughts thither with some eagerness and therefore stirreth endeavour in the use of such means as are likely to bring men to the desired end the soonest and so putteth them upon action Whence commonly such as the desire is such is the endeavour also and that both for Quantity and Quality According to the strength of the Desire is the bent also of the endeavour and according as the Desire is qualified Morally qualified I mean that is either good or bad the endeavour also is conditioned much what like it If then I can so bound my desire of something which another hath as to resolve and hold not at any hand to attempt the obtaining thereof by any other then by fair and warrantable and conscionable means my desirâ— is also thus far a regular and lawful desire So David though he could not but desire the accomplishment of Gods gracious promise of advancing him to the Kingdom which was not his yet otherwise then in Gods designation but anothers yet when he was urged by his followers to lay hold of a faire opportunity which as they thought God had put into his hand for the effecting thereof his soule did so much abhor