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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

if thou couldest see it now if he be pleased to sanctifie thy affliction to break that hard heart of thine and humble that proud spirit of thine it would be the greatest mercy that ever thou hadst in all thy life Now wilt thou yet stand out against God It s even as if thou shouldest say Well the Lord is about to break me and humble me but he shall not this is the language of thy murmuring and thy discontentedness though thou darest not say so but though thou sayest not so in words yet it is certainly the language of the temper of thy spirit Oh! consider what an aggravation this is I am discontented when God is about to work such a work upon me as is exceedingly for my good but yet I stand out against him and resist him That 's the Ninth Aggravation The tenth Aggravation of the sin of murmuring and discontent is this The more palpable and remarkable the hand of God appears to bring about an affliction the greater is the sin of murmuring and discontent under an affliction It 's a great evil at any time to murmure and be discontent but though it be a sin when I see but an ordinary providence working for me not to submit to that but when I see an extraordinary providence working that 's a greater sin that is when I see the Lord in some remarkable way working about such an affliction beyond what any could have thought of shall I resist such a remarkable hand of God shall I stand out against God when I see God express his will in such a remarkable manner that he would have me to be in such a condition Indeed before we see the Will of God apparent we may desire to avoid an affliction and may use means for it but now when we see God expressing his Will from Heaven in a manner beyond ordinary and more remarkable then certainly it is fit for us to fall down and submit to him and not to oppose when God comes with a mighty stream against us it 's our best way to fall down before him and not to resist for as 't is an argument of a mans disobedience when there is not only a Command against a sin but when God reveals his Command in a terrible way the more solemn the Command of God is the greater is the sin in breaking that Command so the more remarkable the hand of God is in bringing an affliction upon us the greater is the sin for us to murmure and be discontented Then God expects that we should fall down when he as it were speaks from Heaven to thee by name and saith Well I will have this spirit of thine down do not you see that my hand is stretched out my eyes are upon you my thoughts are upon you and I must have that proud spirit of thine down Oh then it 's fit for the creature to yield and submit unto him When you speak in an ordinary manner to your servants or Children you expect they should regard what you say but when you make them stand still by you and you speak to them in a more solemn way then if they should disregard what you say you are very impatient So certainly God cannot take it well when ever he doth appear from Heaven in such a remarkable way to bring an affliction if then we do not submit to him The Eleventh Aggravation of the sin of murmuring is this To be discontented though God hath been exercising of us long under afflictions yet still to remain discontented For a man or woman at first when an affliction befals them to have a murmuring heart then it 's an evil but to have a murmuring heart when God hath been a long time exercising them with afflictions it 's more evil Though an Heifer at first when the yoke is put upon him he wriggles up and down and will not be quiet but if after many moneths or years it shall not draw quietly the Husbandman would rather feed and fat and prepare it for the Butcher than be troubled any longer with it So though the Lord was content to pass by that discontented spirit of thine at first yet God having a long time kept the yoke upon thee thou hast been under his afflicting hand it may be divers years and yet thou remain discontent still it were just with God that he should bear thy murmuring no longer and that thy discontent under the affliction should be but a preparation to thy destruction So you see when a man or woman hath been long exercised with afflictions and yet are discontented that 's an aggravation of the sin Mark that text in Heb. 12.11 Now saith the Scripture No chastening for the present is joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby It 's true our afflictions are not joyous but grievous though at first when our affliction comes it is very grievous but yet saith the text afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those that are exercised thereby When thou hast been a long time in the School of afflictions thou art a very Dullard in Christs School if thou hast not learned this Contentment I have learned saith Saint Paul in every state therewith to be content Paul had learned this lesson quickly thou hast been a learning many years perhaps thou mayst say as Heman did That thou art afflicted from thy youth up in 88. Psal Oh it s a very evil thing if being exercised long with afflictions you are not yet contented The eye is as tender a part as any is in a mans body but yet the eye is able to continue in and bear a great deal of cold because it is more used to it so those that are used to afflictions those that God exercises much with afflictions though they have tender spirits otherwise yet they should have learned Contentedness by this time A new Cart may creek and make a noise but after the use of it a while it will not do so So when thou wert first a Christian and newly come into the work of Christ perhaps thou madest a noise and couldst not bear affliction but art thou an old Christian and yet wilt thou be a murmuring Christian Oh that 's a shame for any that are ancient professors that have been a long time in the School of Jesus Christ to have murmuring and discontented spirits And thus you have had Eleven Aggravations of this sin of murmuring and discontentment But now my Brethren because this discontented humour is a very tough humour and it is very hard to work upon there 's none that are discontented but will have something to say for their discontent I shall therefore desire to take away what every discontented heart hath to say for himself The PLEAS of a discontented Heart In the first place Saith one that is discontented It is not discontentment it is the sense of my condition I hope

quieting and comforting the hearts of Gods people under the troubles and changes they meet withall in these heart-shaking times And the Doctrinal conclusion is in brief this Doct. That to be well skil'd in the mystery of Christian Contentment is the Duty Glory and Excellency of a Christian This Evangelical truth is held forth sufficiently in Scripture yet take one or two parallel places more for the confirmation of it 1 Tim. 6.6 and 8. you have both the duty exprest and the glory thereof Having food and raiment saith verse 8. let us therewith be content there is the duty But godliness with Contentment is great gain verse 6. there is the glory and excellency of it as if godliness were not gain except there were Contentment withal The like exhortation you have in Heb. 13.5 Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have I do not find any Apostle or Writer of Scripture treat so much of the spiritual mystery of Contentment as this our Apostle hath done throughout his Epistles For the clear opening and proving of this practical conclusion I shall endeavour to demonstrate these four things First The nature of this Christian Contentment what it is Secondly The Art and Mystery of it Thirdly What those lessons are that must be learn'd to work the heart to contentment Fourthly Wherein the glorious excellencies of this grace doth principally consist Concerning the first take this description Christian Contentment is that sweet inward quiet gracious frame of spirit freely submitting to and taking complacency in Gods wise and fatherly dispose in every condition I shall break open this description for it is a box of precious Oyntment very comfortable and useful for troubled hearts in troubled times and conditions First Contentment I say is a sweet inward heart-thing it is a work of the spirit within doors It is not only a not-seeking help to our selves by outward violence or a forbearance of discontented murmuring expressions in froward words and carriages against God or others but it is the inward submission of the heart Psal 62.1 Truly my soul waiteth upon God and verse 5. My soul wait thou only upon God so it is in your Books but the words may be translated as rightly My soul be thou silent unto God Hold thy peace O my soul Not only the tongue must hold its peace but the soul must bee silent Many may sit down silently forbearing discontented expressions yet are inwardly swollen with discontentment now this manifesteth a perplexed distemper and a great frowardness in their hearts And God notwithstanding their outward silence hears the peevish fretting language of their souls The shooe may be smooth and neat without whilst the flesh is pinched within There may be much calmness and stilness outwardly and yet wonderful confusion bitterness disturbance and vexation within Some are so weak that they are not able to contain the disquietness of their own spirits but in words and behaviour discover what woful perturbations there are within their spirits being like the raging Sea casting forth nothing but mire and dirt being not only troublesome to themselves but to all those they live with Others there are who are able to keep in such distempers of heart as Judas did when hee betrayed Christ with a kiss but still they boyl inwardly and eat like a Canker As David speaks concerning some whose words are smoother than honey and butter and yet have war in their hearts and as hee saith in another place whilst I kept silence my bones waxed old so these whilst there is a serene calm upon their tongues have yet blustring storms in their spirits and whilst they keep silence their hearts are troubled and even worn away with anguish and vexation they have peace and quiet outwardly but war from the unruly and turbulet workings of their hearts that is within If the attainment to true Contentment were as easie as keeping quiet outwardly there need bee no great learning of it it might be had with less skill and strength than an Apostle had yea than an ordinary Christian hath or may have Therefore certainly there is a great deal more in it than can be attained by common gifts and ordinary power of reason which often bridles in nature It is a heart business Secondly It is the quiet of the heart All is sedate and still there and to understand this the better This quiet gracious frame of spirit It is not opposed 1 To a due sense of affliction God doth give leave to his people to be sensible of what they suffer Christ doth not say do not count that a cross which is a cross but take up your cross daily As it is in the body natural if the body takes Physick and is not able to bear it but presently vomits it up or if it be not at all sensible if it stir not the body either of those waies the Physick doth no good but argues the body much distempered and will hardly bee cured So it is with the spirits of men under afflictions if either they cannot bear Gods potions but cast them up again or are not sensible of them and their souls are no more stir'd by them than the body is by a draught of small beer it is a sad symptome that their souls are in a dangerous and almost incurable condition So that this inward quietness is not in opposition to the sense of affliction for indeed there were no true Contentment if you were not apprehensive and sensible of your afflictions when God is angry It is not opposed 2 To an orderly making our moan and complaint to God and to our friends Though a Christian ought to be quiet under Gods correcting hand yet he may without any breach of Christian contentment complain to God as one of the Antients saith though not with a tumultuous clamour and skreeking out in a perplexed passion yet in a quiet still submissive way hee may unbosome his heart unto God And likewise communicate his sad condition to his gracious friends shewing them how God hath dealt with him and how heavy the affliction is upon him that they may speak a word in due season to his wearied soul It is not opposed To all lawful seeking out for help unto another condition or simply endeavouring to be delivered out of the present affliction by the use of lawful means No I may say in provision for my deliverance and use Gods means waiting on him because I know not but that it may be his will to alter my condition and so far as hee leads me I may follow his providence it is but my duty God is thus far mercifully indulgent to our weakness and he will not take it ill at our hands if by earnest and importunate prayer we seek unto him for deliverance till we know his good pleasure therein And certainly thus seeking for help with such a submission and holy resignation of spirit to be delivered when God will

God himself especially such as together with their corruptions have much melancholly and the Devil working both upon the corruptions of their hearts and the melancholly distemper of their bodies though there may lie much grace at the bottom yet there may be some risings against God himself under affliction Now Christian quietness is opposite to all these things that is When afflictions come be it what affliction it will be yet you do not murmur though you be sensible though you make your moan though you desire to be delivered and seek it by all good means yet you do not murmur nor repine you do not fret nor vex there is not that tumultuousness of spirit in you there is not unsetledness in your spirits there are not distracting fears in your hearts no sinking discouragements no base shiftings no risings in rebellion any way against God This is the quietness of Spirit under an affliction and that is the second thing when the soul is so far able to bear an affliction as to keep quiet under it Now the Third thing I would open in the description is this It is an inward quiet gracious frame of Spirit It is a frame of Spirit and then a gracious frame of Spirit Contentment it is a Soul-business First It is inward Secondly quiet Thirdly it is a quiet Frame of Spirit Frame by that I mean these three things There are three things considerable when I say Contentment consists in the quiet frame of the spirit of a man First That it is a grace that spreads it self through the whol soul as thus it is in the Judgment that is the judgment of the soul of a man or woman tends to quiet the heart in my Judgment I am satisfied that is one thing to be satisfied in ones understanding and judgment as thus this is the hand of God and this is that that is sutable to my condition or best for me although I do not see the reason of the thing yet I am satisfied in my judgment about it And then It is in the thoughts of a man or woman As my judgment is satisfied so my thoughts are kept in order And then it comes to the Will My will yeelds and submits to it my affections are all likewise kept in order so that it goes through the whol soul There is in some a partial Contentment and so 't is not the frame of the soul but some part of the soul hath some Contentment as thus many a man may be satisfied in his judgment about a thing and yet for his life cannot rule his affections nor his thoughts cannot rule his thoughts nor his will nor the affections though the judgment be satisfied I make no question but many of you may know this by your own experience if you do but observe the workings of your own hearts Cannot you say when such an affliction befals you I can bless God I am satisfied in my judgment about it I have nothing in the world to say in respect of my judgment against it I see the hand of God and I should be content yea I am satisfied in my judgment that my condition is a good condition in which I am but I cannot for my life rule my thoughts my will and my affections me thinks I feel my heart heavy and sad and troubleed more than it should be and yet my Judgment is satisfied This seem'd to be the case of David Psal 42. Oh my soul why art thou disquieted David as far as his judgment went there was a contentedness that is His judgment was satisfied in the work of God upon him and he was troubled but he knew not wherefore Oh my soul why art thou thus cast down within me That Psalm is a very good Psalm for those that feel a fretting discontented distemper in their hearts at any time for them to be reading or singing he hath it once or twice in that Psalm Why art thou cast down O my soul in vers 5. And why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance David had enough to quiet him and that that he had had prevailed with his judgment but after it had prevailed with his judgment he could not get it further He could not get this grace of Contentment to go through the whol frame of the soul There is a great deal of stir sometimes to get Contentment into their judgments that is to satisfie their judgments about their condition Come to many that the hand of God is upon perhaps in a grievous manner and seek to satisfie them and tel them that there is no such cause to be disquieted O not such cause saith the troubled spirit O then there is no cause that any should be disquieted there was never any such affliction as I have and a hundred things they have to put off what is said to them so as you cannot so much as get into their judgments to satisfie them but there is a great deal of hope of Contentment if once your judgments come to be satisfied that you can sit down and say in your judgments I see cause to be contented but though you have gotten thus far yet you may have much to do with your hearts afterward for there is such unruliness in our thoughts and affections that our judgments are not alwaies able to rule our thoughts and affections and that makes me to say that Contentment is an inward quiet gracious frame of spirit that is the whol soul Judgment Thoughts Will Affections and all are satisfied and quiet I suppose in the very opening this you begin to see it is a lesson that you had need learn and it is not a thing soon got if Contentment be such a thing as this is The second thing is this which is very observable That spiritual Contentment comes from the frame of the Soul A man or woman that is contented in a right way their contentment doth not so much come from outward arguments or any outward thing that helps them to be content as it doth from the disposition of their own hearts It is the disposition of their own hearts that causes this Contentment That brings forth this gracious Contentment rather than any external thing that doth it as thus I would open my self one that is disquieted suppose a childe or man or woman if you come and bring them some great matter to please them that perhaps will quiet them and they will be contented it is the thing you bring them that quiets them but it is not the disposition of their own spirits not from any good temper that there is in their own hearts but from some external thing that is brought them but when a Christian is contented in a right way the quiet doth come more from the inward temper and disposition of their own hearts than from any external arguments or possession of any thing in the world I would yet open

turnings there and we should labour to know our hearts well that when they are out of tune we may know what the matter is 2. This knowledge of our hearts will help us to Contentment because by this We shall come to know what is most sutable to our condition As thus A man that knows not his own heart he thinks not what need he hath of affliction and upon that he is disquieted but that man or woman that hath studied their own hearts when God comes with afflictions upon them they can say I would not for any thing in the world have been without this affliction God hath so suted this affliction to my condition and hath come in such a way that if this affliction had not come I am afraid I should have fallen into sin A poor ignorant man that takes Physick the Physick works and he thinks it will kill him because he knows not the ill humors that are in his body and therefore he understands not how sutable the Physick is to him but a Physician takes a Purge and it makes him extreamly sick saith the Physician I like this the better it doth but work upon the humor that I know is the cause of my disease and upon that such a man that hath knowledge and understanding of his body and the cause of his distemper he is not troubled or disquieted So would we be if we did but know the distempers of our own hearts Carnal men and women they know not their own spirits and therefore they fling and vex upon every affliction that doth befall them they know not what distempers are in their hearts that may be healed by their afflictions if it please God to give them a sanctified use of them 3. By knowing their own hearts they know what they are able to mannage and by this meanes they come to be content the Lord perhaps takes away many comforts from them that they had before or denies them some things that they hoped to have got now they by knowing their hearts know this That they were not able to manage such an estate and they were not able to manage such prosperity God saw it and saith a poor soul I am in some measure convinc'd by looking into mine own heart that I was not able to manage such a condition A man desires greedily to gripe more perhaps than he is able to manage and so undoes himself As Country men do observe that if they do over-stock their Land it will quickly spoyl them and so a wise Husband-man that knows how much his ground will bear he is not troubled that he hath not so much stock as others why because he knows he hath not ground enough for so great a stock and that quiets him So many men and women that know not their own hearts they would fain have a prosperous estate as others have but if they knew their own hearts they would know that they were not able to mannage it If one of your little Children of three or four years old should be crying for the coat of her that is twelve or fourteen years old and say Why may not I have a coat as long as my Sisters If she had it would soon trip up her heels and break her face but when the childe comes to understanding she is not discontented because her coat is not so long as her Sisters but saith my coat is fit for me and therein takes content So if we come to understanding in the School of Christ we will not cry Why have not I such an estate as others have the Lord sees that I am not able to mannage it and I see it my self by the knowing of mine own heart You shall have children if they see but a Knife they will cry for it because they know not their strength and that they are not able to mannage it but you know they are not able to mannage it and therefore you will not give it them and when they come to so much understanding as to know that they are not able to mannage it they will not cry for it so we would not cry for such and such things if we knew that we were not able to manage them when you vex and fret for what you have not I may say to you as Christ saith you know not of what Spirit you are of It was a speech of Oecolampadius to Parillus saith he when they were speaking about his extream poverty Not so poor though I have been very poor yet I would be poorer I could be willing to be poorer than I am for the truth is as if he should say the Lord knew that that was more sutable to me and I knew that my own heart was such that a poor condition was more sutable to me than a rich certainly would we say if we knew our own hearts that such and such a condition is better for me than if it had been otherwise The seventh Lesson Is the burden of a prosperous estate Such a one that comes into Christs School to be instructed in this Art never comes to attain to any great skill in this Art till he comes to understand the burden that is in a prosperous estate Object You will say What burden is there in a prosperous estate Answ Yes certainly a great burden and there needs a great strength to bear it as men had need have strong brains that can bear strong Wine so they had need of strong spirits that are able to bear prosperous conditions and not to do themselves hurt there 's a fourfold burden in a prosperous estate Many men and women look at the shine and glittering of prosperity but they little think of the burden but there 's a fourfold burden 1. There 's Aburden of trouble A Rose hath its prickles and so the Scripture saith That he that will be rich pierceth himself through with many sorrows 1 Tim. 6.10 If a mans heart be set upon it that he must be rich and he will be rich such a man will pierce himself through with many sorrows he looks upon the delight and glory of riches that appears outwardly but he considers not what piercing sorrows he may meet withall in them The consideration of the trouble in a prosperous condition I have divers times thought of and I cannot tell by what similitude to express it better than by travelling in some Champion Country where round about is very fair and sandy ground and you see there a Town a great way off in a bottom and you think O how bravely is that Town seated but when you come and ride into the Town you shall ride through a dirty lane and through acompany of fearful dirty holes and you could not see the dirty lane and holes when you were two or three miles off so sometimes we look upon the prosperity of men and think such a man lives bravely and comfortably but if we did but know what troubles he meets withal in his family in

revealed in his Word and we may there find he hath set it down to be his ordinary way even from the beginning of the world to this day but more especially in the times of the Gospel that his People here should be in an afflicted condition Now men that do not understand this they stand and wonder to hear of the People of God that they are afflicted and the enemies prosper in their way for those that seek God in his way and seek for Reformation for them to be afflicted routed and spoiled and the enemies to prevail they wonder at it But now one that is in the School of Christ he is taught by Jesus Christ that God by his eternal Counsels hath set this to be his course and way to bring up his People in this world in an afflicted condition and therefore saith the Apostle Account it not strange concerning the fiery tryal 1 Pet. 4.12 We are not therefore to be discontented with it seeing God hath set such a course and way and we know such is the will of God that it should be so The second thing that is in Gods way is this Vsually when God intends the greatest mercy to any of his People he doth bring them into the lowest condition God doth seem to go quite cross and work in a contrary way when he intends the greatest mercies to his People he doth first usually bring them into very low conditions if it be a bodily mercy an outward mercy that he intends to bestow he useth to bring them bodily low and outwardly low if it be a mercy in their estates that he intends to bestow he brings them low in that and then raises them and in their names he brings them low there and then raises them and in their spirits God doth ordinarily bring their spirits low and then raises their spirits usually the People of God before the greatest comfort have the greatest afflictions and sorrows now those that understand not Gods ways they think that when God brings his People into sad conditions that God leaves and forsakes them and that God doth intend no great matter of good to them but now a Childe of God that is instructed in this way of God he is not troubled my condition is very low but saith he this is Gods way when he intends the greatest mercy to bring men under the greatest afflictions When he intended to raise Joseph to be the Second in the Kingdom God cast him into a dungeon a little before So when God intended to raise David and set him upon the Throne he made him to be hunted as a Partridge in the mountains 1 Sam. 26.20 God went this way with his Son Christ himself went into Glory by suffering Heb. 2.20 And if God deal so with his own Son much more with his People As a little before break of day you shall observe it is darker than it was any time before so God doth use to make our conditions darker a little before the mercy come When God bestowed the last great mercy at Nazby we were in a very low condition God knew what he had to do before-hand he knew that his time was coming for great mercies it is the way of God to do so Be but instructed aright in this course and tract that God uses to walk in and that will help us to Contentment exceedingly The Third thing that there is in Gods way and course is this It is the way of God to work by contraries to turn the greatest evil into the greatest good To grant great good after great evil is one thing and to turn great evils into the greatest good that 's another and yet that 's Gods way the greatest good that God intends for his People many times he works it out of the greatest evil the greatest light is brought out of the greatest darkness and Luther I remember hath a notable expression for this saith he it is the way of God he doth humble that he might exalt he doth kill that he might make alive he doth confound that he might glorifie this is the way of God saith he but saith he every one doth not understand this this is the Art of Arts and the Science of Sciences the knowledge of knowledges to understand this that God doth use when he will bring life he doth use to bring it out of death he brings joy out of sorrow and he brings prosperity out of adversity yea and many times he brings Grace out of Sin that is makes use of sin to work furtherance of Grace it is the way of God to bring good out of evil not only to overcome the evil but to make the evil to work towards good here 's the way of God now when the soul comes to understand this it will take away our murmuring and bring Contentment into our spirits But I fear there are but few that understand it aright perhaps they read of such things and hear of such things in a Sermon but they are not by Jesus Christ instructed in this that this is the way of God To bring the greatest good out of the greatest evil Thus having dispatcht the Third Head the Lessons that we are to learn we come to the Fourth and that is The excellency of this Grace of Contentment And there is a great deal of excellency in Contentment that 's a kind of Lesson too for us to learn And this Head likewise will be somewhat long Saith the Apostle I have learned As if he should say Blessed be God for this Oh! it is a mercy of God to me that I have learned this Lesson I find so much good in this Contentment that I would not for a world but have it I have learned it saith he Now the very Heathens had a sight of a great Excellency that there is in Contentment I remember I have read of Antisthenes a Philosopher that desired of his Gods speaking after the Heathenish way nothing in this world to make his life happy but CONTENTMENT and if he might have any thing that he would desire to make his life happy he would ask of them That he might have the spirit of Socrates that he might have such a spirit as Socrates had to be able to bear any wrong any injuries that he met withal and to continue in a quiet temper of spirit whatsoever befell him for what was the temper of socrates whatever befell him he continued the same man whatever cross befell him no body could perceive any alteration of his spirit though never so great crosses did befall him This a Heathen did attain to by the strength of Nature and a common work of the spirit Now this Antisthenes saw such an excellency in this spirit As when God said to Solomon What shall I give thee he asked of God wisdom so saith he If the Gods should put it to me to know what I would have I should desire this thing that I might have the spirit of Socrates he

stands still before you and is contented without it and then you will give it him And truly so doth the Lord deal with us for our dealings with him are just as your froward Children are with you as soon as you would have a thing from God if you have it not you are disquieted presently and all in an uproar as it were in your spirits God intends mercy to you but saith God you shall not have it yet I will see you quiet first and then in the quietness of your hearts come to me and see what I will do with you I appeal to you you that are any ways acquainted with the ways of God Have you not found this to be the way of God towards you when you have been troubled for want perhaps of some Spiritual comfort and your hearts were vext at it you get nothing from God all this while but now if you have got your heart into a quiet frame and can say Well it 's fit the Lord should do with us poor Creatures what he will I am under his feet and am resolv'd to do what I can to honor him and let him do with me what he will I will seek him as long as I live I will be content with what God gives and whether he gives or no I will be content yea are you in this frame saith God now you shall have comfort now I will give you the mercy A prisoner must not think to get off his fetters by pulling and tearing he may gall his flesh and rend it to the very bone certainly he will be unfettered never the sooner but if he would have his fetters taken off he must quietly give up himself to some man to take them off If a beggar after he hath knockt once or twice at the door and you come not and thereupon he is vext and troubled and thinks much that you let him stand a little while without any thing you think that this beggar is not fit to receive an alms but if you hear two or three Beggars at your door and if you hear them out at your window say Let us be content to stay perhaps they are busie it is fit that we should stay it 's well if we have any thing at last we deserve nothing at all and therefore we may well wait a while you would then quickly send them an alms So God deals with the heart when it is in a disquiet way then God doth not give but when the heart lies down quietly under Gods hand then is the heart in a fit frame to receive mercy Your strength shall be to sit still saith God you shall not be delivered from Babylon but by your sitting still 2. As fit to receive mercy so fit to do service Oh! the quiet fruits of Righteousness the peaceable fruits of Righteousness they indeed do prosper and multiply most when they come to be peaceable fruits of Righteousness As the Philosophers say of every thing that moves nothing that moves but it moves upon something that is immoveable as a thing that moves upon the earth if the earth were not still it could not move Object The Ships move upon the Sea and that is not still Answ But the Seas they move upon that which is still and immoveable there is nothing moves but it hath something immoveable that doth uphold it the wheels in a Coach they move up and down but the Axle-tree that moves not up and down so it is with the heart of man As they say of the Heaven it moves up and down upon a Pole that is immoveable so it is in the heart of man if he will move to do service to God he must have a steady heart with him that must help him to move in the service of God those that have unsteady disquiet spirits that have no stedfastness at all in them they are not fit to do service for God but such as have stedfastness in their spirits they are men and women fit to do any service and that 's the reason that when the Lord hath any great work for any servants of his to do usually he doth first quiet their spirits he doth bring their spirits into a quiet sweet frame to be contented with any thing and then he sets them about imployment The fifth excellency is this Contentment it doth deliver us from abundance of temptations Oh the temptations that men of discontented spirits are subject to The Devil loves to fish in troubled waters That 's our proverb of men and women their disposition is to fish in troubled waters they say it is good fishing in troubled waters this is the maxim of the Devil he loves to fish in troubled waters where he sees the spirits of men and women troubled and vext there the Devil comes saith he there 's good fishing for me when he sees men and women go discontented up and down and he can get them alone then he comes with his temptations saith he Will you suffer such a thing take such a shifting indirect way do not you see how poor you are others are brave you know not what you shall do against winter to provide fewel and get bread for you and your children and so he tempts them to unlawful courses this is the special distemper that the Devil fastens upon when he brings men and women to give up their souls to him it is upon discontent That the ground of all those that have been witches and so have given up themselves to the Devil the rise of it hath been their discontent and therefore it is observable that those the Devil worketh upon to make them Witches usually they are old and melancholly people and women especially and those that are of the poorer sort that are discontent at home their Neighbours trouble them and vex them and their spirits are weak and they cannot bear it so upon that the Devil fastens his temptations and draws them to any thing if they be poor then he promiseth them money if they have revengeful spirits then he tells them that he will revenge them upon such and such persons now this quiets and contents them Oh! there 's matter of temptation for the Devil where he meets with a discontented spirit As Luther saith of God God doth not dwell in Babylon but in Salem Babylon signifies confusion and Salem signifies peace now God doth not dwell in spirits that are in a confusion but he dwells in peaceable and quiet spirits O if you would free your selves from temptations labour for Contentment It is the peace of God that guards the heart from temptation I remember I have read of one Marius Curio that when he had bribes sent him to tempt him to be unfaithful to his Country he was sitting at home at dinner with a dish of turnips and they came and promised him rewards saith he that man that can be content with this fare that I have will not be tempted with your rewards I thank God

there is in the sin of discontentment The ninth evil of murmuring and discontentment is this There is a mighty deal of danger in the sin of discontentment for it exceedingly provoketh the wrath of God it s a sin that doth much provoke God against his creature we find most sad expressions in Scripture and examples too how God hath been provoked against many for their discontent in Numb 14. you have a notable text and one would think that that were enough for ever to make you fear murmuring in the 26. verse it is said The Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron saying what did he say How long shall I bear with this evil Congregation which murmur against me How long shall I bear with them saith God This evil Congregation Oh that 's an evil Congregation that murmurs against me And how long shall I bear with them they do murmur and they have murmured as those that have murmuring spirits murmuring dispositions they will murmur again and again How long shall I bear with this evil Congregation that murmur against me How justly may God speak of many of you that are this morning before the Lord How long shall I bear with this wicked man or woman that doth murmur against me and hath usually in the course of their lives murmured against me when any thing falls out otherwise than they would have it And mark what follows after I have heard the murmuring of the Children of Israel You murmur it may be others hear you not nay it may be you speak not at all or but half words yet God hears the language of your murmuring hearts and those muttering speeches and those half words that come from you And further observe in this verse how the Lord repeats this sin of murmuring How long shall I bear with this evil Congregation which murmur against me Secondly I have heard their murmuring Thirdly which they murmur against me Murmur Murmur Murmur Three times in one verse he repeats it and this is to shew his indignation against the thing When you express indignation against a thing you will repeat it over again again now the Lord because he would express his indignation against this sin he repeats it over again and again and it follows in ver 28. Say unto them as truely as I live saith the Lord As ye have spoken in mine ears so will I do to you Mark God swears against a murmurer sometimes in your discontent you will be ready to swear it may be do you swear in your discontent So doth God swear against you for your discontent And what was it that God would do unto them ver 29 30. Doubtless your carkasses shall fall in the wilderness and you shall not come into the Land concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein as if God should say if I have any life in me your lives shall go for it as I live it shall cost you your lives A discontented murmuring fit of yours may cost you your lives You see how it provokes God there is more evil in it than you are aware of it may cost you your lives and therefore look to your selves and learn to be humbled at the very beginnings of such distempers in the heart So in Psal 106.24 25. Yea they despised the pleasant Land they believed not his word but murmured in their tents and hearkned not unto the voice of the Lord therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness Here are divers things observable in this Scripture First That which we spoke to before How a murmuring heart doth slight Gods mercies so it is here They despised the pleasant Land and that a murmuring heart is contrary to faith they believed not his word but saith the text they murmred in their tents and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord. Many men and women will hearken to the voice of their own base murmuring hearts that will not hearken to the voice of the Lord if you would hearken to the voice of the Lord there would not be such murmuring as there is but mark what follows upon it you may not think to please your selves in your murmuring discontentedness and think that no evil shall come of it Therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them you that are discontented you lift up your hearts against God and you cause God to lift up his hand against you perhaps God laies his finger upon you softly in some afflictions that are upon you in your families or elsewhere and you cannot bear the hand of God that lies upon you as tenderly as a tender-hearted Nurse that laies her hand upon the childe you cannot bear the tender hand of God that is upon you in a lesser affliction it were just with God to lift up his hand against you in another manner of affliction Oh a murmuring spirit provokes God exceedingly There is another place in 16. of Numb compare the 41. vers and the 46. vers together But on the morrow all the Congregation of the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron saying Ye have killed the people of the Lord And mark in the 46. verse And Moses said unto Aaron Take a Censer and put fire therein from off the Altar and put on incense and go quickly unto the Congregation and make an atonement for them for there is wrath gone out from the Lord the plague is begun mark how Gods wrath is kindled in the 41. verse the Congregation had murmured and they murmured but against Moses and Aaron perhaps you murmur more directly against God and that was against God in murmuring against Gods Ministers it was against God but not so directly but it may be the murmuring of your hearts is more directly against Gods dealings with you if you murmur against those that God makes instruments because you have not every thing that you would have as against the Parliament or such and such that are publike Instruments it s against God it was but against Moses and Aaron that the Israelites murmured and they said that Moses and Aaron had killed the people of the Lord though it was the hand of God that was upon them for their former wickedness in murmuring It is usual for wicked vile hearts to deal thus with God that when Gods hand is a little upon them for to murmur again and again and so to bring upon themselves even infinite kind of evils but now the anger of God was quickly kindled Oh saith Moses Go take the Censer quickly for wrath is gone out from Jehovah the plague is begun so while you are murmuring in your families the wrath of God may quickly go out against you quickly in a morning or evening when you are a murmuring the wrath of God may come quickly out upon your families or persons you are never so prepared for present wrath as when you are in a murmuring discontented fit those that stand by