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
and as God will and how God will so that our wills are melted into the will of God this is no opposition to the quietness which God requires in a contented spirit Quest But then what is this quietness of spirit opposed unto Answ To murmuring and repining at the hand of God as the discontented Israelites often did which if we our selves cannot endure either in our children or Servants much less can God bear it in us 2 To vexing and fretting which is a degree beyond murmuring It is a speech I remember of a Heathen A wise man may grieve under but not bee vexed with his afflictions There is a vast difference betwixt a kindely grieving and a distempered vexation 3 To tumultuousness of spirit When the thoughts run distractingly and work in a confused manner so that the affections are like the unruly multitude in the Acts who knew not for what end they were come together The Lord expects that you should be silent under his rod and as hee said in Acts 19.36 You ought to bee quiet and to do nothing rashly 4 To unsetledness and un fixedness of spirit whereby the heart is taken off from the present duty that God requires in our several relations both towards God our selves and others We should prize duty at a higher rate than to be taken off by every trivial occasion a Christian indeed values every service of God so much that though some may bee in the eye of the world and of natural reason a slight empty business beggarly rudiments foolishness yet seeing God calls for it the authority of the command doth so over-awe his heart that he is willing to spend himself and to be spent in the discharge of it It is an expression of Luthers ordinary works that are done in faith and from faith are more precious than Heaven and Earth And if this bee so and a Christian know it it is not a little matter that should divert him but hee should answer every avocation and resist every temptation Nehemiah did chap. 6.3 Sanballat Greshem and Tobiah when they would have hindered the building of the wall with this I am doing a great work saith he so that I cannot come down why should the work of the Lord cease 5 To distracting heart-eating cares and fears A gracious heart so estimates its union with Christ and the work that God sets it about as it will not willingly suffer any thing to come in to choak it or dead it A Christian is desirous that the Word of God should take such full possession as to divide between soul and spirit but hee would not suffer the fear and noise of evil tidings to take such impressions in his soul as to make a division and strugling there like the twins in Rebeckahs womb A great man will permit common people to stand without his doors but he will not let them come in and make a noise in his closet or bed-chamber when hee purposely retires himself from all worldly imployments So a well-tempered spirit though it may inquire after things abroad without doors in the world and suffer some ordinary cares and fears to break into the suburbs of the soul so as to have a light touch upon the thoughts Yet it will not upon any terms admit of an intrusion into the privy chamber which should bee wholly reserved for Jesus Christ as his inward Temple 6 To sinking discouragements When things fall not out according to expectation when the tyde of second causes runs so low that we see little left in the outward means to bear up our hopes and hearts That then the heart begins to reason as he in the Kings If the Lord should open the Window of Heaven how should this be Never considering that God can open the eyes of the Blinde with clay and spittle he can work above beyond nay contrary to means hee often makes the fairest flowers of mans endeavors to wither and brings improbable things to pass that the glory of enterprizes may be given to himself Nay if his people stand in need of miracles to work their deliverance miracles fall as easily out of Gods hands as to give his people daily bread Gods blessing is many times secret upon his servants that they know not which way it comes as 2 Kings 3.17 Ye shall not see wind neither shall ye see rain yet the valley shal be filled with water God would have us depend on him though we do not see means how the thing should be brought to pass else we do not shew a quiet spirit though an affliction bee upon thee let not thy heart sink under it So far as thy heart sinks and thou art discouraged under thy affliction so much thou wantest of this lesson of Contentment 7 To sinful shiftings and shirkings out for ease and help As wee see in Saul turning to the witch of Endor and his offering sacrifice before Samuel came Nay the good King Jehoshaphat joyns himself with Ahaziah 2 Chron. 20. ult And Asa goes to Benhadad King of Assyria for help not relying upon the Lord a Chron. 16.7 8 Though the Lord had delivered the Ethiopian Army into his hands consisting of a thousand thousand a Chron. 14 11. And good Jacob joyned in a lye with his mother to Isaac he was not content to stay Gods time and use Gods means but made too great haste and stept out of his way to procure the blessing which God intended for him as many do through the corruption of their hearts and weakness of their faith because they are not able to trust God and follow him fully in all things alwaies and for this cause the Lord often follows the Saints with many sore temporal crosses as wee see in Jacob though they obtain the mercy It may bee thy wretched carnal heart thinks I care not how I bee delivered so I may but get free from it Is it not so many times in some of your hearts when any cross or affliction befalls you Have you not such kinde of workings of spirit as this Oh that I could but be delivered out of this affliction any way I would not care your hearts are far from being quiet And this sinfull shifting is the next thing in opposition to this quietnesse which God requires in a contented spirit The Eighth and last thing that this quietness of spirit is opposite to is desperate risings of heart against God in a way of rebellion That is most abominable I hope many of you have learned so far to be content as to keep down your hearts from such distempers and yet the truth is not only wicked men but sometimes the very Saints of God find the beginnings of this when an affliction lies long and is very sore and heavy upon them indeed and strikes them as it were in the master vein they find somewhat of this in their hearts arising against God their thoughts begin to bubble and their affections begin to stir in rising against
that thy soul hath to sanctify Gods Name in an affliction it is that that quiets the soul which doth not in the other Neither when it is meerly from reason As Socrates it is said of him though he were but an Heathen that whatever befel him he would never so much as change his countenance and he got this power over his spirit meerly by strength of reason and morality but now this gracious Contentment comes from principles beyond the strength of reason I cannot open that from whence it comes til we come to open the mystery of spiritual Contentment I will only give you this one note of difference between a man and a woman that is contented in a natural way and another that is contented in a spiritual way Those that are contented in a natural way they overcome themselves when outward afflictions do befal them they are contented yea and they are contented as well when they commit sin against God either when they have outward crosses or when God is dishonoured it is all one either when themselves are crost or when God is crost but now a gracious heart that is contented with its own affliction yet mightily rises when God is dishonoured The fift is Freely freely submitting to and taking complacency in Gods dispose it is a free work of the spirit now there are four things to be opened in this freedom of spirit First That the heart is readily brought over that which one doth freely there is no great stir to bring them to it there are many men and women when their afflictions are grievous upon them with much ado they are brought to be contented a great deal of stir there is to quiet their hearts when they are under affliction yet at last perhaps they are brought to it I but now this doth not come off freely if I desire a thing of another and I get it perhaps with much ado and a great deal of stir there is but here 's no freedom of spirit but when a man is free in a thing do but mention it and presently he comes off to it So if you have learned this art of Contentment you will not only be contented after a great deal of do to quiet your hearts but readily as soon as ever you do come to think that it is the hand of God your heart presently closeth Secondly freely That is not by constraint not patience by force as we use to say As many will say that you must be coment this is the hand of God and there is no help for it O! this is too low an expression for Christians yet when Christians come to visit one another they say Friend or Neighbor you must be content this is too low an expression for a Christian Must be content No readily and freely I will be content It is sutable to my heart to yeild to God and to be content I find it is a thing that comes off of it self that my soul will be content Oh you should answer your friends so that come and tell you you must be content nay I am willing to yeild to God and I am freely content that 's the Second And then a free act it comes after a rational way that 's freedom that is it doth not come through ignorance because I know no better condition or that I know not what my affliction is but it comes through a sanctified judgment for that is the reason that no Creature can do an act of freedom but the rational creature the liberty of action is only in rational creatures and it comes from hence for that 's only freedom and out of liberty that 's wrought in a rational way as a natural freedom is when I by my judgment see what is to be done understand the thing and then there is a closing with what I do understand in my judgement that is freely done but now if a man doth a thing and understands not what he doth he cannot be said to do it freely So if men are contented but it is because they understand not what their affliction is or because they understand no better this is not freely as for instance Suppose a Childe born in a Prison and never in all his life went out the Childe is contented Why Because he never knew better but this is no free act of Contentation But now for men and women that do know better that know that the condition in which they are in it is an afflicted condition and a sad condition and yet they can bring their hearts to a Contentation out of a sanctified judgment this is freedom Thirdly This freedom it is in opposition to stupidness for a man or woman may be contented meerly out of want of sense this is not free as a man in a dead palsie that doth not feel you nip his flesh he is not freely patient but if one should have his flesh nipt and feel it and yet for all that can be able to bridle himself and do it freely that is another matter So it is here many are contented meerly out of stupidness they have a dead palsie upon them but now a gracious heart hath sense enough and yet is contented and therefore is free Sixthly Freely submitting to and taking complacency in Gods dispose Submitting to Gods dispose What is that The word Submit it signifies nothing else but to send under as thus One that is discontented the heart will be unruly and would even get above God so far as discontentment prevailes but now Comes the grace of Contentment and sends it under to submit it is to send under a thing now when the soul comes to see the unruliness that there is in it here 's the hand of God that brings an affliction and my heart is troubled and discontented what saith the Soul Wilt thou be above God Is it not Gods hand and must thy will be regarded more than Gods O under under O thou soul get under keep under keep low keep under Gods feet thou art under Gods feet and keep under his feet keep under the Authority of God the Majestie of God the Soveraignty of God the Power that God hath over thee Keep under that is to submit then the Soul can submit to God when it can send it self under the Power and Authority and Soveraignty and Dominion that God hath over it that is the Sixth Particular Yea but that is not enough yet you have not got to this grace of Contentment except in the next place you take Seventhly Taking a complacency in Gods dispose That is thus I am well pleased in what God doth so far as I can see God in it though as I said I may be sensible of the affliction and may desire that God in his due time would take it off and use means to take it off yet I may be well pleased so farr as Gods hand is in it To be well pleased with Gods hand that is a higher degree than the other
that hath been in the School of Christ and hath been instructed in the Art of contentment when such a one hath an estate he thinks in that I have an estate above my brethren in this consists the good of it to me in that I have an opportunity to serve God the better and I enjoy a great deal of Gods mercy to my Soul conveyed to me through the creature and hereby I am enabled to do a great deal of good and therein I account the good of my estate Now God hath taken this away from me now if God will be pleased to make up the enjoyment of himself another way that is will call me to honor him by suffering and if I may do God as much Service now in my way of suffering that is to shew forth the Grace of his Spirit in the way of my suffering as I did in the way of prosperity I have as much of God as I had before if I may be led to God in my low condition as much as I was in my prosperous condition I have as much Comfort and Contentment as I had before Object But you will say It s true If I could honor God in my low estate as much as in my prosperous estate then it were somwhat but how can that be Answ You must know the special honor that God hath from his Creatures in this world it is The manifestation of the Graces of his Spirit It 's true God hath a great deal of honor when a man is in a publike place and so he is able to do a great deal of good To countenance Godliness and discountenance Sin but the main thing is In our shewing forth the vertues of him that hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light Now if I can say That through Gods mercy in my affliction I find the Graces of Gods Spirit working as strongly in me as ever they did when I had my estate I am where I was yea I am fully in as good a condition for I have that good now that I had in my prosperous estate for I accounted the good of it but in my enjoyment of God and honoring of God and now God hath blest the want of it to stir up the Graces of his Spirit in my Soul and this is the work that now God calls me to and I must account God is most honored when I do the work that he calls me to He sets me a work in my prosperous estate at that time to honor him in this condition and now he sets me awork at this time to honor him in this condition Now God is most honored when I can turn from one condition to another according as he calls me to it Would you account your selves to be honored by your servants when you set them about a work that hath some excellency and they will go on and on and you cannot get them off from it Now let the work be never so good yet if you will call them off to another work you do expect that they should manifest so much respect to you as to be content to come off from that though they be set about a meaner work if it be more sutable to your ends So you were in a prosperous estate and there God called you to some service that you took some pleasure in but suppose God saith I will use you in a suffering condition and I will have you honor me in that way now here 's the honoring of God that you can turn this way or that way as God calls you to it thus now you having learned this That the good of the Creature consists in the enjoyment of God in it and the honoring of God by it you can be content because you have the same good that you had before And that 's the Fifth Lesson The Sixth Lesson that Christ doth teach the soul that he brings into this School is this He doth instruct such a man or woman in the knowledge of their own hearts you must learn this or you will never learn Contentment you must learn to know your own hearts well to be good Students of your own hearts you cannot all be Scholars in the Arts and Sciences in the world but you may all be Students in your own hearts you cannot read in the book many of you but God expects that every day you should turn over a leaf in your own hearts you will never come to get any skill in this Mystery except you study the book of your own hearts Marriners they have their books that they study those that will be good Navigators and Scholars they have their books those that study Logick they have their books according to that and those that would study Rethorick and Philosophy have their books according to that and those that study Divinity they have their books whereby they come to be helped in the Study of Divinity but a Christian next to the Book of God is to look into the book of his own heart and to read over that and this will help you to Contentment these three ways 1. By the studying of thy heart thou wilt come presently to discover wherein thy discontent lies when thou art discontented thou wilt find out the root of any discontentment if thou doest study thy heart well many men and women they are discontented and the truth is they know not wherefore they think this and the other thing is the cause but a man or woman that knows their own heart they will find out presently where the root of their discontent lies that it lies in such a corruption and distemper of my heart that now through Gods mercy I have found out It is in this case as it is with a little childe that is very froward in the house if a stranger comes in he doth not know what the matter is perhaps the stranger will give the Childe a Rattle or a Nut or such a thing to quiet it but when the Nurse comes she knows the temper and disposition of the Childe and therefore knows best how to quiet it So it is here just thus for all the world when we are strangers with our own hearts we are mightily discontented and know not how to quiet our selves because we know not wherein the disquiet lieth And indeed when we are strangers to our own hearts we cannot tell how to quiet our selves but if we be very well versed in our own hearts when any thing falls out so as to disquiet us we find out the cause of it presently and so quickly come to be quiet So a man that hath a Watch and he understands the use of every wheel and pin if it goes amiss he will presently find out the cause of it but one that hath no skill in a Watch when it goes amiss he knows not what the matter is and therefore cannot mend it So indeed our hearts are as a Watch and there are many wheels and windings and
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
saw a great excellency that there was in this And certainly a Christian may see abundance of excellency in it I shall labor to set it out to you in this Sermon that you may be in love with this Grace of Contentment In the first place By Contentment we come to give God that Worship that is due to him See this opened at large in Gospel-Worship on Levit. 10.3 It is a special part of Divine Worship that we owe to God If we be content in a Christian way according as hath been opened to you I say it is a special part of the Divine Worship that the Creature ows to the infinite Creator in that I do render that respect that is due from me to the Creator The words that the Greeks have that signifies to Worship it is as much as to come and crouch before another as a Dog should come crouching unto you and be willing to lie down at your feet so the Creature in the apprehension of its own baseness and the infinite Excellency that there is in God above it when it comes to worship God it comes and crouches to this God and it lies down at the feet of God then doth the Creature worship God When you see a dog come crouching to you and you can make him with holding your hand over him to lie down at your feet then consider thus should you do before the Lord you should come crouching to him and lie down at his feet even upon your backs or bellies to lie down in the dust before him so as to be willing that he should do with you what he will as sometimes you may turn a dog this way and that way up and down with the hand and there he lies before you according to your shewing him with your hand So when the Creature shall come and lie down thus before the Lord then a Creature worships God doth render up that worship that is due to God Now in what disposition of heart do we thus crouch to God more then when we have this Contentation in all conditions that God disposeth us unto This is a crouching unto Gods dispose to be like the poor woman of Canaan when Christ said it is not fit to give Childrens meat to dogs but saith she the dogs have crums I am a dog I confess I but let me have but a crum And so when the soul shall be in such a disposition as to lie down and say Lord I am but as a dog yet let me have a crum then doth it highly honor God It may be some of you have not your table spread as others have but God gives you crums now saith the poor woman dogs have crums and when you can find your hearts thus subjecting unto God to be but as a dog and can be contented and bless God for any crum I say this is a great worship of God you worship God by this more than when you come to hear a Sermon or spend half an hour or an hour in prayer or when you come to receive a Sacrament These are the Acts of Gods Worship I but these are but external Acts of Worship to Hear and Pray and receive Sacraments But now this is the Soul-worship to subject it self thus to God You that often will worship God by Hearing and Praying and receiving Sacraments and yet afterwards will be froward and discontented know that God regards not that worship he will have the Soul-worship in this subjecting of the soul to God Observe it I beseech you in active Obedience there we worship God by doing that that pleases God but by passive Obedience we do as well worship God by being pleased with that which God doth Now when I perform a duty I worship God I do what pleases God why should I not as well worship God when I am pleased with what God doth As it was said of Christs obedience Christ was active in his passive Obedience and passive in his active obedience So the Saints they are passive in their active obedience they are first passive in their reception of Grace and then active And when they come to passive obedience they are active they put forth Grace in active obedience when they perform actions to God then saith the Soul Oh! that I could do that that pleases God when they come to suffer any cross On that what God doth might please me I labour to do what pleases God and I labour that what God doth shall please me here 's a Christian indeed that shall endeavor both these now this is but one side of a Christian to endeavor to do what pleases God but you must as well endeavor to be pleased with what God doth and so you shall come to be a compleat Christian when you can do both And that 's the first thing in the excellency of this Grace of Contentment The second thing in opening of this Excellency of Contentment is That in Contentment there is much exercise of Grace There is much strength of Grace yea there is much beauty of Grace in Contentment there is much exercise of Grace strength of Grace and beauty of Grace I put all these together 1. Much exercise of Grace There is a composition of Grace in Contentment there is faith and there is humility and love and there is patience and there is wisdom and there is hope all Graces almost are compounded it 's an oyl that hath the ingredients of all kind of graces and therefore though you cannot see the particular Grace yet in this oyl you have it all God sees the Graces of his Spirit exercised in a special manner and this pleases God at the heart to see the Graces of his Spirit exercised In some one action that you do you may exercise some one grace especially but now in Contentment you exercise a great many Graces at once 2. There is a great deal of strength of Grace in Contentment It argues a great deal of strength in the body the body to be able to endure hard weather and whatsoever falls out and yet not to be much altered by it so it argues strength of Grace to be content You that complain of weakness of memory and weakness of parts you cannot do what others do in other things but have you this gracious Heart-contentment that hath been opened to you I know that you have attained to strength of Grace in this when it is so spiritual as hath been opened to you in the explication of this point As it is with a mans brain if a man be distempered in his body and hath many obstructions in his body hath an ill stomach and his spleen and liver obstructed and yet for all this his brain is not distempered it is an argument of a great strength of brain and though there be many ill fumes that rise from his corrupt stomach yet still his brain is not distempered but he continues in the free exercise of the use of his reason and
understanding every one may understand that this man hath a very strong brain that such things shall not distemper him whereas other people that have a weak brain if they do not digest but one meals meat the sumes that do arise from their stomachs do distemper their brain and make them unfit for every thing whereas you shall have others that have strong heads and strong brains though their stomachs be ill that they do not digest meat yet still they have the free use of their brain this argues strength So it is in a mans spirit you shall have many that have weak spirits and if they have any ill fumes if accidents befall them you shall presently have them out of temper but you shall have other men that though things do fume up yet still they keep in a steady way and have the use of reason and of other graces and possess their souls with patience As I remember it 's reported of the Eagle it 's not like other Fowls other Fowls when they are hungry make a noise but the Eagle is never heard to make a noise though it wants food and it 's from the magnitude of his spirit that will not make such complaints as other Fowls will do when they want food it is because it is above hunger and above thirst So it is an argument of a gracious magnitude of spirit that whatsoever befalls it yet it is not always whining and complaining so as others are but goes on still in its way and course and blesses God and keeps in a constant tenour whatsoever thing befalls it such things as causes others to be dejected and fretted and vexed and takes away all the comfort of their lives it makes no alteration at all in the spirits of these men and women I say this is a sign of a great deal of strength of Grace 3. It 's also an argument of a great deal of beauty of Grace It 's a speech that Seneca a Heathen once had saith he When you go abroad into groves and woods and there you see the tallness of the trees and their shadows it strikes a kind of awful fear of a Deity in you and when you see the vast rivers and fountains and deep waters that strikes a kind of fear of a God in you but saith he do you see a man that is quiet in tempests and that lives happily in the midst of adversities why do not you Worship that man He doth think him a man even to be honored that shall be quiet and live a happy life though in the middest of adversities The Glory of God appears here more than in any of his Works there is no Works that God hath made the Sun Moon and Stars and all the World wherein so much of the Glory of God doth appear as in a man that lives quietly in the midst of adversity That was that that convinced the King when he saw the three children could walk in the midst of the fiery furnace not to be touched the King was mightily convinced by this that surely their God was a great God indeed and that they were highly beloved of their God that could walk in the midst of the furnace and not be touch't whereas the others that came but to the mouth of the furnace were devoured so when a Christian can walk in the midst of fiery trials and not his garments singed but have comfort and joy in the midst of all as Paul in the stocks can sing that wrought upon the Jaylor so it will convince men when they see the power of Grace in the middest of afflictions such afflictions as would make others to roar under them yet they can behave themselves in a gracious and holy manner Oh! it 's the glory of a Christian It is that that is said to be the glory of Christ for so by Interpreters it is thought to be meant of Christ In Micah 5.5 And this man the text saith shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into our Land and when he shall tread in our Pallaces This man shall be the peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land for one to be in peace when there is no Enemies it 's no great matter but saith the text when the Assyrian shall come into our Land then this man shall be the peace that is when all shall be in an hubbub uproar yet then this man shall be peace That 's the tryal of Grace when you find Jesus Christ in your hearts to be peace when the Assyrian shall come into the Land You may think you find peace in Christ when you have no outward troubles but is Christ your peace when the Assyrian comes into the Land when the Enemy comes Suppose you should hear the enemy come marching to the City had taken the Works and were plundering what would be your peace Jesus Christ would be peace to the soul when the enemy comes into the City and into your houses If there be any of you that have been where the enemy hath come What hath been the peace of your souls That which is said of Christ may be applied to this grace of Contentment when the Assyrian the Plunderers the Enemies when any affliction trouble distress doth befall such a heart then this Grace of Contentment brings peace to the soul at that time brings peace to the soul when the Assyrian comes into the Land The Grace of Contentment it 's an excellent Grace there 's much beauty much strength in it there is a great deal of worth in this Grace and therefore be in love with it The third thing in the Excellency of Contentment is this By Contentment the soul is fitted to receive mercy and to do service I 'le put these two together Contentment makes the soul fit to receive mercy and to do service no man or woman in the world is so fit for to receive the Grace of God and to do the Work of God as those that have contented spirits 1. Those are fitted to receive mercy from the Lord that are contented as now If you would have a vessel to take in any liquor you must hold the vessel still if the vessel stir and shake up and down you cannot powre in any thing but you will bid hold still that you may powre it in and not lose any So if we would be the vessels to receive Gods mercy and would have the Lord powre in his mercy to us we must have quiet stil hearts we must not have hearts hurrying up down in trouble discontent and vexing but we must have still and quiet hearts if we would receive mercy from the Lord If a Childe flings and throws up and down for a thing you will not give it him then when he cries so but first you will have the Childe quiet though perhaps you do intend the Childe shall have the thing he cries for but you will not give it him till he is quiet and comes and
you got all you desire then you would be content why you may be content now without them Certainly our Contentment doth not consist in the getting of the thing we desire but in Gods fashioning our spirits to our conditions there 's some men that have not a foot of ground of their own yet will live better than other men that are heirs to a great deal of land I have known it in the Country sometimes that a man lives upon his own land and yet lives very poorly but you shall have another man that shall farm his land and yet by his good husbandry and by his care shall live better sometimes than he that hath the land of his own So a man by this Art of Contentment may live better without an estate than another man can of an estate Oh! it adds exceeding much to the comfort of a Christian and that I may shew it further there is more comfort in the Grace of contentment than there is in any possessions whatsoever a man hath more comfort in being content without a thing than he can have in the thing that he in a discontented way doth desire You think if I had such a thing then I should be content I say there is more good in Contentment than there is in the thing that you would fain have to cure your discontent and that I shall open in divers particulars As thus 1. I would fain have such a thing and then I could be content but if I had it then it were but the creature that did help to my Contentment but now it 's the Grace of God in my soul that makes me content and surely it is better to be content with the Grace of God in my soul than with the enjoying of an outward comfort 2. If I had such a thing indeed my estate might be better but my soul would not be better but by Contentment my soul is better that would not be bettered by an estate or lands or friends but Contentment makes my self to be better and therefore Contentment is a better portion than the thing is that I would fain have to be my portion 3. If I get Content by having my desire satisfied that 's but self-love but when I am Contented with the hand of God and am willing to be at his dispose that comes from my love to God in having my desire satisfied there I am contented through self-love but through the Grace of Contentment I come to be contented out of love to God and is it not better to be contented from a principle of love to God than from a principle of self-love 4. If I am contented because I have that that I have a desire to perhaps I am contented in that one particular but that one particular doth not furnish me with Contentment in another thing perhaps I may grow more dainty and nice and froward in other things if you give children what they would have in some things they grow so much the more coy and dainty and discontented if they have not other things that they would have but if I have once overcome my heart and am contentted through the Grace of God in my heart then this doth not content me onely in particular but in general whatsoever befalls me I am discontented and would fain have such a thing and afterwards I have it now doth this prepare me to be contented in other things No but when I have gotten this Grace of Contentment I am prepar'd to be contented in all conditions and thus you see that Contentment doth bring comfort to a mans life fills a mans life full of comfort in this world yea the truth is it is even Heaven upon Earth why what is Heaven but the rest and quiet of a mans spirit what 's the special thing that is in Heaven but rest and joy that makes the life of Heaven there 's rest and joy and satisfaction in God so it 's here in a contented spirit there 's rest and joy and satisfaction in God In Heaven there 's singing praises to God a contented heart is always praising and blessing God thou hast Heaven while thou art upon Earth when thou hast a contented spirit yea in some regards it's better than Heaven How is that you will say there 's some kind of honor that God hath in it and some excellency that he hath not in Heaven and that 's this In Heaven there is no overcoming of temptations they are not put to any trials by afflictions there in Heaven they have exercise of Grace but they have nothing but encouragement to it and indeed those that are there their grace is perfect and in that they do excel us but there is nothing to cross their grace they have no tryals at all to tempt them to do contrary but now for a man or woman to be in the midst of afflictions temptations and troubles and yet to have grace exercised and yet to be satisfied in God and Christ and in the Word and Promises in the mid'st of all they suffer this may seem to be an honor that God hath from us that he hath not from the Angels and Saints in Heaven Is it so much for one that is in Heaven that hath nothing else but good from God hath nothing to try them no temptations is that so much for them to be praising and blessing God as for the poor soul that is in the midst of tryals and temptations and afflictions and troubles for this soul to go on praising and blessing and serving God I say it is an excellency that thou shalt not have in Heaven and God shall not have this kind of glory from thee in Heaven and therefore be contented and prize this Contentment and be willing to live in this world as long as God shall please and do not think Oh that I were delivered from all these afflictions and troubles here in this world if thou wert then thou shouldest have more ease to thy self but here 's a way of honoring God and manifesting the excellency of Grace here when thou art in this conflict of temptation that God shall not have from thee in Heaven and therefore be satisfied and quiet be contented with thy Contentment I want such and such things that others have but blessed be God I have a contented heart that others have not then I say be content with thy Contentment for that 's a rich portion that the Lord hath granted unto them if the Lord should give unto thee thousands here in this world it would not be such a rich portion as this that he hath given thee a contented spirit Oh go away and praise the name of God and say Lord it 's true these and these comforts that others have I should be glad if I had them but thou hast cut me short but though I want these yet thou hast given me that that is as good and better thou hast given me a quiet contented heart to be
God hath had from his people and therefore not to be content with smaller crosses this must needs be a great evil The Sixth evil that there is in a murmuring spirit is this By murmuring you undo your prayers for it is exceeding contrary to the prayers you make unto God When you come to prayer to God you acknowledge his Soveraignty over you you come there to profess your selves to be at Gods dispose what do you pray for except you acknowledg that you are at his dispose except you will stand as it were at his dispose never come to petition to him if you will come to petition to him and yet will be your own carver you go cross to your prayers to come as if you would beg your bread at your Fathers gates every day and yet you must do what you list this is the undoing of the prayers of a Christian I remember I have read of Latimer that speaking concerning Peter that he denied his Master saith he Peter forgot his pater-noster for that was Hallowed be thy Name and thy Kingdom come So we may say when you have murmuring and discontented hearts you forget your prayers you forget what you have prayed for for you must make the Lords Prayer to be as a pattern for your Prayers though you say not alwayes the same words what do you pray but give us this day our daily bread for that 's Christs intention that we should have that as a pattern and is a directory as it were how to make your prayers now God doth not teach any of you to pray Lord give us so much a yeer or let me have such kind of cloth and so many dishes at my table Christ doth not teach you to pray so but he teaches us to pray Lord give us our bread shewing that you should be content with a little What have you not bread to eat I hope there 's none of you here but have that Obj. But I do not know if I should die what should become of my Children Or if I have bread now I know not where I shall have it the next week or where I shall have provision for the Winter Answ Where did Christ teach us to pray Lord give us provision for so long a time no but if we have bread for this day Christ would have us content Therefore when we murmur because we have not so much variety as others have we do as it were forget out Pater-noster It s against our prayers we do not in our lives hold forth the acknowledgement of the Soveraignty of God over us as we seem to acknowledge in our prayers therefore when at any time you find your hearts murmuring then do but reflect upon your selves and think thus Is this according to my prayers wherein I held forth the Soveraign Power and Authority that God hath over me The seventh thing that I adde for the evil of discontentment is The woful effects that comes to a discontented heart from murmuring I 'le name you five There are five evil effects that comes from a murmuring spirit 1. By murmuring and discontent in your hearts you come to lose a great deal of time How many times do men and women when they are discontented let their thoughts run and are musing and contriving through their present discontentedness then let their discontented thoughts be working in them for some hours together and they spend their time in vain When you are alone you should spend your time in holy meditation but you are spending your time in discontented thoughts you who complain that you cannot meditate you cannot think on good things but if you begin to think of them a little presently your thoughts are off from them but if you be discontented with any thing then you can go alone and muse and roll things up and down in your thoughts to feed a discontented humor Oh labor to see this evil effect of murmuring the losing of your time 2. It doth unfit a man for duty A man or woman that is in a contented frame you may turn such a one to any thing at any time he is fit for to go to God at any time but when one is in a discontented condition then a man or woman is exceeding unfit for the service of God And it causes many distractions in duty it unfits for duty and when you come to perform duties Oh the distractions that are in your duties when your spirits are discontented when you hear of any ill news from Sea and cannot bear it or of any ill from a friend or any loss or cross Oh what distractions do they cause in the performance of holy duties When you should be enjoying communion with God you are distracted in your thoughts about the cross that hath befallen you whereas had you but a quiet spirit though there should great crosses befall you yet they would never hinder you in the performance of any duty 3. Consider what wicked risings of heart and resolutions of spirit there are many times in a discontented fit In some discontented fits the heart rises against God and against others and sometimes hath even desperate resolutions what to do to help themselves If the Lord should have suffered you to have done sometimes in a discontented fit what you had thought to do what wonderful misery had you brought upon your selves Oh it was a mercy of God that did stop you had not God stopt you but let you go on when you thought to help your selves this way and the other way Oh it had been ill with you do you but remember those risings of heart and wicked resolutions that somtimes you have had in a discontented mood and learn to be humbled upon that 4. Vnthankfulness that 's an evil and a wicked effect that comes from discontent Unthankfulness the Scripture doth rank among very great sins For men and women that are discontent though they injoy many mercies from God yet they are thankful for none of them for this is the vile nature of discontentment to lessen every mercy of God to make those mercies they have from God to be as nothing to them because they have not what they would have Sometimes it s so even in spiritual things if they have not all they would have the comforts that they would have then what they have is nothing to them do you think that God will take this well If you should give a friend a kinsman a purse of money to go and trade withall and he should come and say What do you give me they are but a few counters they will do me no good you cannot bear this at his hand if he should do so because he hath not so much money as he would So for you to be ready to say All that God hath given me is nothing worth will do me no good they are but counters though they are precious Graces of Gods spirit that are more worth than thousands of worlds yet for
you to say they are nothing they are but common gifts and all is but in hypocrisie all counterfeit Oh! what an unthankful thing is this the Graces of Gods Spirit are nothing to a discontented heart that hath not all that it would have and so for outward blessings though God hath given you health of Body and strength and bath given you some competency for your family some way of lively-hood yet because you are disappointed in somewhat that you would have therefore all is nothing unto you Oh! what unthankfulness is here God expects that every day you should spend some time in blessing his Name for what mercy he hath granted unto you there 's not any one of you who are in the lowest condition but you have abundance of mercies to bless God for but discontentedness makes them nothing It s an excellent speech that I remember Luther hath saith he This is the Rhetorick of the Spirit of God its a very fine speech of his to extenuate evil things and to amplifie good things if there falls out a cross to make the cross to be but little but if there be a mercy to make the mercy to be great as thus If there be a cross if the Spirit of God prevails in the heart such a man or woman will wonder that it is no greater and will bless God that though there be such a cross yet that it is no more that 's the work of the Spirit of God and if there be a mercy wonders at Gods goodness that God granted so great a mercy The Spirit of God extenuates evils and crosses and doth magnifie and amplifie all mercies and makes all mercies seem to be great and all afflictions seem to be little But saith he the Devil goes quite contrary the Rhetorick of the Devil is quite otherwise he doth lessen Gods mercies and amplifie evil things as thus A godly man wonders at his cross that it is no more a wicked man wonders his cross is so much Oh saith he none was ever so afflicted as I am If there be a cross the Devil puts the soul upon musing on it and making it greater than it is and so it brings discontent And then on the other side if there be a mercy then its the Rhetorick of the Devil to lessen the mercy Indeed saith he the thing is a good thing but what is it It is no great matter and for all this I may be miserable Thus the Rhetorick of Satan doth lessen Gods mercies and doth encrease afflictions And for this I 'le give you a notable example that we have in Scripture it is the example of Korah Dathan and Abiram In Numb 16.12 13. And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eltab which said We will not come up Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a Land that floweth with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness except thou make thy self altogether a Prince over us Mark they slighted the Land that they were going into the Land of Canaan that was the Land that God promised them that should flow with milk and hony But mark here their discontentedness because they met with some troubles in the wilderness Oh it was to slay them they made their affliction in the wilderness to be greater than it was Oh it was to kill them though it were indeed to carry them to the Land of Canaan But now their deliverance from Egypt though it was a great mercy they made that mercy to be nothing for say they You have brought us out of a Land that floweth with milk and honey what land was that It was the land of Egypt the Land of their bondage but they call it a Land that flowed with milk and honey though it were the Land of their most cruel and unsupportable bondage whereas they should have blessed God as long as they had liv'd for Gods delivering them out of the Land of Egypt yet meeting with some cross they make their deliverance from Egypt no mercy no it was rather a misery to them Oh say they Egypt was a Land that flowed with milk and honey Oh what baseness is there in a discontented spirit a discontented spirit out of envy to Gods Grace will make mercies that are great to be little yea to be none at all Would one ever have thought that such a word should have come from the mouth of an Israelite that had been under bondage and cried under it and yet when they meet with a little cross in their way to say you have brought us out of the Land that floweth with milk and honey to say they were better before than now and yet before they could not be contented neither this is the usual unthankful expression of a discontented heart And it is so with us now when we meet with any cross in our estates and taxations and troubles especially if any among you have been where the enemy hath prevailed you are ready to say We had plenty before and we are now brought to a condition of hardship we were better before when we had the Prelates and others to domineer and so we indanger our selves to be brought into that bondage again Oh let us take heed of this of a discontented heart there is this woful cursed fruit of discontent to make men and women unthankful for all the mercies God hath granted to them and this is a sore and grievous evil And lastly There 's this evil effect in murmuring It causes shiftings of spirit they that murmur and are discontent are liable to temptations to shift for themselves in sinful and ungodly ways discontent is the ground of shitting courses and unlawful ways How many of you may have your consciences condemn you of this that you in the time of your afflictions have sought to shift for your selves by wayes that have been sinful against God and your discontent was the bottom and ground of it If you would avoid shiftings for your selves by wicked ways labor to mortifie this sin of discontent to mortifie it at the root The Eight evil that there is in murmuring and discontent is this There is a great deal of folly extream folly in a discontented heart it s a foolish sin I shall open the folly of it in many particulars 1. It takes away the present comfort of what you have because you have not somwhat that you would have What a foolish thing is this that because I have not what I would have I will not enjoy the comfort of what I have Do not you account this folly in your children you give them some victuals and they are not contented perhaps they say it s not enough they cry for more and if you do not presently give them more they will throw away that they have and though you account that folly in your Children yet you deal thus with God God gives you many mercies but you see others have more mercies than you
and therefore you cry for more I but God gives you not what you would have and upon that you throw away what you have Is not this folly in your hearts It is unthankfulness 2. There 's a great deal of folly in discontentment for by all your discontent you cannot help your selves you cannot get any thing by it Who can by taking any carking care add one cubit to his stature or make one hair that is white to be black You may vex and trouble your selves but you can get nothing by it Do you think that the Lord will come in a way of mercy ever a whit the sooner because of the murmuring of your spirits Oh no but mercy will be rather deferred the longer for it though the Lord were before in a way of mercy yet this distemper of your hearts were enough to put him out of his course of mercy and though he had thoughts that you should have the thing before yet now you shall not have it If you had a mind to give such a thing to your child yet if you see him in a discontented fretting way you will not give it him and this is the very reason why there are so many mercies denied to you because of your discontentment you are discontented for want of them and therefore you have them not you do deprive your selves of the enjoyment of your own desires because of the discontent of your hearts because you have not your desires And is not this a foolish thing 3. There 's a great deal of folly in this There are many foolish carriages commonly that a discontented hear is guilty of They carry themselves foolishly towards God and towards men there are such expressions and such kind of behavior comes from them as makes their friends to be ashamed of them many times their carriages are so unseemly they are a shame to themselves and their friends 4. There is a great deal of folly in discontent and murmuring for it doth eat out the good and sweetness of a mercy before it comes If God should give a mercy that we are discontented for the want of yet the blessing of the mercy is as it were eaten out before we come to have it Discontent is like a worm that eats the meat out of the Nut and when the meat is eaten out of it then you shall have the shell If a childe should cry for a Nut that hath the meat eaten out or all worm-eaten what good would the child have by having the Nut so such an outward comfort you would fain have you are troubled for the want of it but the very trouble of your spirit is the worm that eats out the blessing of the mercy and then perhaps God gives it you but gives it you with a curse mixed with it that you were better not have it than have it That man or woman that is discontented for want of some good thing if God doth give that good thing to them before they be humbled for their discontent that did proceed from them such a man or woman can have no comfort of the mercy but it will be rather an evil than a good to them And therefore for my part if I should have a friend or brother or one that were as dear to me as my own soul that I should see discontented for the want of such a comfort I should rather pray Lord keep this thing from them till thou wilt be pleased to humble their hearts for their discontent let not them have the mercy till they come to be humbled for their discontent for the want of it for if they have it before that time they will have it without any blessing And therefore it should be your care when you finde your hearts discontented for want of anything to be humbled for it thinking thus with your selves Lord if that that I do so immoderately desire should come to me before I be humbled for my discontent for want of it I am certain I can have no comfort of it but I shall rather have it as an affliction to me Many things which you desire as your lives and think that you should be happy if you had them yet when they do come you find not such happiness in them but they prove to be the greatest crosses and afflictions to you that ever you had and upon this ground because your hearts were immoderately set upon them before you had them As it was with Rachel she must have children or else she died well saith God seeing you must you shall have them but though she had a childe she died according to what she said Give me children or else I die So in regard of any other outward comforts people may have the thing but often-times they have it so as it proves the heaviest cross to them that ever they had in all their lives such a childe as you were discontent for the want of it it may be it was sick and your hearts were out of temper for fear that you should lose it and God restores it but he restores it so as he makes it a cross to your hearts all the days of your lives One observes concerning Manna when the people were contented with their allowance that God allowed them then it was very good but when they would not be content with Gods allowance but would gather more then God would have them then saith the text there was worms in it So when we are content with our conditions and that which God disposes of us to be in there 's a blessing in it then its sweet to us but if we must needs have more and keep it longer than God would have us to have it then there will be worms in it and no good at all 5 There 's a great deal of folly in discontentedness for it makes our affliction a great deal worse than otherwise it would be it no way removes our affliction nay while they do continue they are a great deal the worse and heavier for a discontented heart is a proud heart and a proud heart will not pull down his sails when there comes a tempest and storm If a Martinet when a tempest and storm comes should be froward and would not pull down his sails but is discontented with the storm Is his condition the better because he is discontented and will not pull down his sails Will this help him Just so it is for all the world with a discontented heart a discontented heart is a proud heart and he out of his pride is troubled with his affliction and is not contented with Gods dispose and so he will not pull down his spirit at all and make it bow to God in this condition in which God hath brought him now is his condition the better because he will not pull down his spirit No certainly abundantly worse a thousand to one but the tempest and storm overwhelms his soul And thus you see what a great deal of folly
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
strength from Christ Page 47 12 He makes up his wants in God Page 49 13 He fetches Contentment from the Covenant Page 53 Objection concerning the Plague Answered Page 54 SERMON IV. He supplieth wants by what he findes in himself Page 57 He fetches supply from the Covenant Page 61 1 In General ib. 2 From Particular promises Page 64 14 He reallizeth the things of Heaven Page 67 15 He letteth his heart out to God ibid. Lessons whereby Christ teacheth Contentment 1 Self denial Page 68 Whereby a Christian knows 1 That he is nothing Page 69 2 That he deserves nothing ib. 3 That he can do nothing Page 70 4 That he can receive no good of himself ib. 5 If God withdraw himself he can make use of nothing ib. 6 That he is worse than nothing Page 71 7 That there is no loss of him if he perish ib. 8 That he comes to rejoyce in Gods waies Page 72 2 Lesson To know the vanity of Creatures Page 73 3 Lesson To know that one thing necessary Page 74 SERMON V. 4 Lesson To know his relation in this world Page 76 5 Lesson Wherein the good of the Creature is Page 79 6 Lesson The knowledge of his own Heart Page 82 Which helps to Contentment 1 By discovering where discontent lies ib. 2 By knowing what is suitable to our condition Page 83 3 By this wee may know what wee are able to mannage Page 84 7 Lesson To know the burden of a prosperous estate Page 85 Which is fourfold 1 The burden of trouble ib. 2 The burden of danger Page 86 3 The burden of Duty Page 89 4 The burden of account ib. 8 Lesson A great evil to be given up to our own hearts desire Page 91 SERMON VI 9 Lesson The right knowledge of Gods providence Page 94 Wherein four things 1 The Universality of it ib. 2 The Efficacy of it Page 95 3 The Variety of it ib. 4 Gods particular dealing with his people Page 97 In three things 1 They are ordinarily in affliction Page 98 2 When he intends them greatest mercies hee brings them lowest ib. 3 How he works by contraries Page 99 The Excellency of Contentment 1 Excellency By it we give God his due worship Page 101 2 Excellency In it there is much exercise of grace Page 103 1 There is much strength of grace ib. 2 There is much beauty of grace Page 104 3 Excel The soul is fitted to receive mercy Page 106 4 Excel It is fitted to do service Page 107 5 Excel Contentment delivers from temptation Page 108 6 Excel It brings abundance of comfort Page 110 7 Excel It fetcheth in that which we possess not Page 111 In four Particulars SERMON VII 8 Excel Contentment a great blessing of God upon the soul Page 115 9 Excel A contented man may expect a reward Page 116 10 Excel By contentment the soul comes nearest the excellency of God himself Page 117 Use 1 To be humbled for want of Contentment Page 118 The Evils in a murmuring spirit 1 It is an argument of much Corruption in the soul Page 119 2 It is a note of a wicked man Page 120 3 Murmuring is accounted rebellion Page 121 4 It is exceeding contrary to grace in conversion Page 122 The works of God in Conversion 1 To make us sensible of the evil in sin Page 123 2 A sight of the Excellency of Christ ib. 3 Taking the heart from the Creature ib. 4 Casting the soul on Christ for all good Page 124 5 Subduing the soul to Christ as King ib. 6 Giving up the soul to God in Covenant Page 125 5 Evil Murmuring below a Christian Page 126 1 Below his Relation 1 To God as a Father ib. 2 To Christ as a Spouse ib. 3 To Christ as a Member Page 127 4 To Christ as a Co-heir ib. 5 To Gods Spirit as a Temple ib. 6 To Angels as one with them ib. 7 To Saints as of the same body ib. 2 Below his dignity Every Christian a King Page 128 3 It is below the Spirit of a Christian Page 129 4 Below the profession of a Christian Page 131 5 Below the grace of Faith ib. SERMON VIII 6 Below the helps of a Christian Page 132 7 Below the expectation of a Christian ib. 8 Below what other Christians have done Page 133 6 Evil By murmuring we undo our prayers ib. 7 Evil The effects of a murmuring heart 1 Loss of much time Page 134 2 Unfitness for Duty ib. 3 Wicked risings of heart Page 135 4 Unthankfulness ib. 5 Shifting Page 138 8 Evil Discontent a foolish sin ib. 1 It takes away the comfort of what we have ib 2 We cannot help our selves by it Page 139 3 It causeth foolish carriage to God man ib 4 It takes out the sweetness of mercies before they come ib. 5 It makes affliction worse Page 141 9 Evil It provokes the wrath of God ib. 10 Evil There is a curse upon it Page 146 11 Evil There is much of the Spirit of Satan in it Page 147 12 Evil It brings an absolute necessity of disquiet ib. 13 Evil God may justly withdraw his protection from such ib. Aggravations of the sin of Murmuring 1 Aggravation The greater the mercies the greater the sin of murmuring Page 150 SERMON IX 2 Aggrav When we murmur for small things Page 157 3 Aggrav When men of parts and abilities murmur Page 158 4 Aggrav The freeness of Gods mercy ib. 5 Aggrav Discontent for what we have Page 159 6 Aggrav When men are raised from a low condition ib. 7 Aggrav When men have been great sinners Page 160 8 Aggrav When those murmur that are but of little use in the world Page 161 9 Aggrav To murmur when God is about to humble us ib. 10 Aggrav When Gods hand is apparent in affliction Page 162 11 Aggrav To murmur under long affliction Page 163 Pleas of a discontented heart 1 Plea I am not sensible of my afflictions 1 Sense of affliction takes not away sense of mercies Page 165 2 It hinders not Duty ib 3 It will make us bless God for the mercies of others ib. 2 Plea My trouble is for my sins 1 It is not if you were not troubled for sin before Page 166 2 What the greatest care is to remove affliction ib. 3 If after affliction is removed sin trouble us ib. 4 If there be not care to avoid sin after Page 167 5 There is the more cause to accept of the punishment ib. 3 Plea God withdraws himself 1 We think God is departed when he doth but afflict Page 168 2 Disquiet is a sign and cause of Gods departure ib. 3 If God depart from us we should not from him Page 169 4 Plea I am troubled for mens ill dealing 1 Men are Gods Instruments Page 170 2 We should rather pitty them than murmur Page 171 3 We have righteous dealing with God ib. SERMON X. 5 Plea It is an affliction I looked not for 1 It
is folly not to look for afflictions ib. 2 We should be more careful in our carriage in it Page 172 6 Plea The affliction is exceeding great 1 It is not so great as thy sins ib. 2 It might have been greater Page 173 3 It is greater for thy murmuring ib. 7 Plea It is greater than others afflictions Answered in four things Page 173 8 Plea If any other affliction they could be content Answered in four things Page 174 9 Plea My afflictions make me unserviceable to God 1 Though thou art mean thou art a member of the Body Page 176 2 Thy general calling is high Page 177 3 Thou art equal with Angels ib. 4 God highly esteems the actions of mean Christians Page 178 5 Faithfulness in a mean calling shall bee rewarded ib. 10 Plea My condition is unsettled 1 Every man in his setled state is vanity Page 179 2 God will have us live in dependance ib. 3 Thy spiritual condition may be settled Page 181 11 Plea I have been in a better condition 1 Thy eye should not be evil because the Eye of God hath been good Page 182 2 Prosperity was to prepare thee for affliction ib. 12 Plea I am crost after much pains 1 The greater the Cross the more the obedience Page 184 2 Thy pains should he with submission to God Page 185 3 Contentment in such a condition is a testimony of more love to God ib. 13 Plea Distempers of heart accounted as words before God ib. SERMON XI Considerations to work the heart to contentment 1 Con The greatness of the mercies we have Page 187 2 God is before-hand with us with mercies Page 188 3 The abundance of mercies we enjoy Page 189 4 All creatures in a vicissitude ib. 5 The creatures suffer for us ib. 6 We have little time in the world Page 190 7 It hath been the condition of our betters Page 191 8 We were once content with the world without grace and should now with grace without the world Page 193 9 When we had Contentment we gave not God the glory ib. 10 Experience of Gods doing us good in afflictions ib. Directions to Contentment 1 There must be grace to make the soul steady Page 195 2 Not to gripe too much of the world ib. 3 Have a call in every business Page 196 4 Walk by rule ib. 5 Exercise much Faith Page 197 6 Labour to be spiritually minded Page 198 7 Promise not your selves great things Page 200 8 Get mortified hearts to the world ib. 9 Pore not too much on afflictions Page 201 10 Make a good construction of Gods waies towards us Page 202 11 Regard not others fancies but what wee feel Page 205 12 Be not inordinately taken with the comforts of the world Page 206 FINIS THE RARE JEWEL OF CHRISTIAN CONTENTMENT SERMON I. at Stepney July 27. 1645. PHIL. 4.11 For I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content HERE is a very seasonable Cordial to revive the drooping spirits of the Saints in these sad and sinking times For the hour of temptation is already come upon all the world to try the Inhabitants of the earth and in special this is the day of Jacobs troubles in our own bowels Our great Apostle experimentally holds forth in this Gospel-Text the very life and soul of all practical Divinity wherein wee may plainly read his own proficiency in Christs School and what lesson every Christian that would evidence the power and growth of Godliness in his own soul must necessarily learn from him These words are brought in by Paul as a plain argument to perswade the Philippians that he did not seek after great things in the world and that he sought not theirs but them He did not pass for a great estate hee had better things to take up his heart withal I do not speak saith hee in respect of want For whether I have or have not my heart is fully satisfied I have enough I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I have learned Contentment in every condition is a great Art a special Mystery It is to be learned and so to be learned as a Mystery And therefore verse 12. he affirms I know how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word which is translated Instructed is derived from that word which signifies Mystery and it is as much as if he had said I have learned the mystery of this business Contentment is to bee learned as a great mystery and those that are throughly trained up in that art have learned a deep Mystery The which is as Sampsons riddle to a natural man I have leâ—ued it It is not now to learn neither had I it at first I have attained it though with much ado and now by the grace of God I am become Master of this Art In whatsoever State I am The word State is not in the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but In what I am that is in whatsoever concerns or befals me whether I have little or nothing at all Therewith to be content The word which we render Content here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath in the Original much elegancy and fulness of signification in it In strictness of phrase it is only attributed unto God who hath stiled himself God Alsufficient as resting wholly satisfied in and with himself alone but hee is pleased freely to communicate of his fulness to the creature so that from God in Christ the Saints receive grace for grace Joh. 1.16 In so much that there is in them an answerableness of the same grace in their proportion that is in Christ And in this sense Paul saith I have a Self-sufficiency as the word notes But hath Paul a self-sufficiency you will say How are wee sufficient of our selves Our Apostle affirms in another case That wee are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3.5 His meaning therefore must be I find a sufficiency of satisfaction in my own heart through the Grace of Christ that is in me though I have not outward comforts and worldly accommodations to supply my necessities yet I enjoy portion enough betwixt Christ and my own soul abundantly to satisfie me in every condition And this interpretation is suitable to that place Pro. 14.14 A good man is satisfied from himself and ageeable to what he verifies of himself in another place that though he had nothing yet he possessed all things because hee had right to the covenant and promise which virtually contains all and an interest in Christ the fountain and good of all and having that no marvel he saith that in whatsoever state he was in he was content Thus you have the genuine interpretation of the Text. I shall not make any division of the words because I take them only to prosecute that one duty most necessary viz. The
way of Contentment and that is a way that the world hath no skill in I open it thus Not so much by the adding to what he would have or to what he hath not by adding more to his condition but rather by substracting of his desires and so to make his desires and condition to be even and equal A carnal heart knows no way to be Contented but this I have such and such an estate and if I had this added to it and the other comfort added that now I have not then I should be contented it may be I have lost my Estate if I could have but that given to me so as to make up my loss then I should be a contented man But now Contentment doth not come in that way it comes not in I say by the adding to what thou wantest but by the substracting of thy desires it is all one to a Christian either that I may get up unto what I would have or get my desires down to what I have either that I may attain to what I do desire or bring down my desires to what I have already attained my estate is the same for it is as sutable to me to bring my desire down to my condition as it is to raise up my condition to my desire Now I say a heart that hath no grace and is not instructed in this Mystery of Contentment knows no way to get contentment but to have his estate raised up to his desires but the other hath another way to Contentment that is he can bring his desires down to his estate and so he doth attain to his Contentment So the Lord fashions the hearts of the children of men Now if the heart of a man be fashioned to his condition he may have as much contentment as if his condition be fashioned to his heart some men have a mighty large heart but they have a straight condition and they can never have Contentment when their hearts are big and their condition is little but now though a man cannot bring his condition to be as big as his heart yet if he can bring his heart to be as little as his condition to bring them even from thence is Contentment The world is infinitely deceived in this To think that Contentment lies in having more than they have here lies the bottom and root of all Contentment when there is an evenness and proportion between our hearts and our condition and that is the reason that many that are godly men that are in a low condition live more sweet and comfortable lives than those that are richer Contentment is not alwayes cloathed with silk and purple and velvets but Contentment is sometimes in a russet suit in a mean condition as well as in a higher and many men that sometimes have had great estates and God hath brought them into a lower condition they have had more Contentment in that condition than the other Now how can that possible be Thus easily For if you did but understand the root of Contentment it consists in the sutableness and proportion of the spirit of a man to his estate and the evenness when one end is not longer and bigger than another the heart is contented there is comfort in that condition now let God give a man never so great riches yet if the Lord gives him up to the pride of his heart he will never be contented But now let God bring any one into a mean condition and then let God but fashion and sute his heart to that condition and he will be content As now in a mans going Suppose a man had a mighty long Leg and his other Leg were short why though one of his Legs be longer than ordinary yet he could not go so well as a man that hath both his Legs shorter than he I compare a long Leg when one is longer than another to a man that hath a high condition and is very rich and a great man in the world but he hath a great proud heart too that is longer and larger than his condition now this man cannot but be troubled in his condition Now another man that is in a mean condition his condition is low and his heart is low too so that his heart and his condition is both even together and this man goes on with more ease abundantly than the other doth So that now a gracious heart works after this manner The Lord hath been pleased to bring down my condition now if the Lord bring down my heart and make it even with my condition then I am well enough And so when God brings down his condition he doth not so much labor to raise up his condition again as to bring down his heart to his condition The Heathens themselves they had a little glimpse of this they could say That the best riches that is it is the poverty of desires that is a speech of a Heathen that is If a man or woman have their desires cut short and have no large desites that man and woman they are rich when they can bring their desires to be but low So this is the Art of Contentment Not to seek to add to our conditions but to substract from our desires Another hath this The way to be rich saith he it is not by encreasing of wealth but by diminishing of our desires for certainly that man or woman is a rich man or woman that hath their desires satisfied now a contented man hath his desires satisfied God satisfies his desires that is all considered he is satisfied in his condition for the present to be the best condition and so he comes to this Contentment by way of Substraction and not Addition The Third thing in the Art of Contentment is this A Christian comes to Contentment not so much by getting off his burden that is upon him as by the adding another burden to him this is a way that flesh and blood hath little skill in You will say how is this In this manner art thou afflicted and is there a great load and burden upon thee by reason of thy affliction thou thinkest there is no way in the world to get Contentment but O that this burden were but off O it is a heavy load and few know what a burden I have What doest thou think there is no way for the Contentment of thy spirit but this getting off thy burden O thou art deceived the way of Contentment is to add another burden that is labour to load and burden thy heart with thy sin and the heavyer the burden of thy sin is to thy heart the lighter will the burden of thy affliction be to thy soul and so shalt thou come to be content If thy burden were lightened that would content thee thou thinkest there is no way to lighten it but to get it off but thou art deceived for if thou canst get thy heart to be more burdened with thy sin thou wilt be less burdened
Contentment in the midst of our pains one lies vexing and fretting and cannot bear his pain art thou a Christian hast thou ever tried this way of getting contentment to act thy faith upon all the pains and sufferings that Jesus Christ did suffer this would be the way of contentment and a Christian gets contentment under pains after this manner sometimes one that is very godly and gracious you shall have him lie under grievous pains and extremities very cheerfully and you wonder at it this is the way that he gets it he gets it by acting his faith upon what pains Jesus Christ did suffer Thou art afraid of death the way to get Contentment it is by exercising thy faith upon the death of Jesus Christ yea it may be thou hast inward troubles in thy soul and God withdrawes himself from thee but still thy faith is to be exercised upon the sufferings that Jesus Christ endured in his Soul he powred forth his Soul before God then when he sweat drops of water and blood he was in an Agony in his very Spirit and he found even God himself in a way to forsake him now the acting thy Faith upon Jesus Christ thus brings Contentment And is not this a mystery to carnal hearts A gracious heart finds Contentment in a way of mystery no marvel though Saint Paul saith I am instructed in a Mystery to be contented in whatsoever condition I am in In the Eleventh place There is yet a further mystery for this I hope you will find a very useful point unto you and you will see what a plain way there is before we have done for one that is skill'd in Religion to get Contentment though it 's hard for one that is carnal I say the eleventh Mystery in Contentment is this A gracious heart hath Contentment by fetching strength from Jesus Christ he is able to hear his burden by fetehing strength from another Now this is a riddle indeed and it would be a ridiculous thing to be spoken of in the Schools of Philosophers to say If there be a burden upon you you must fetch strength from another indeed to have another to come and stand under the burden that way they would know but that you shall be strengthened by another's strength that is not neer you to your outward view that they would think ridiculous but now a Christian finds satisfaction in every condition by getting strength from another by going out of it self to Jesus Christ and by Faith acting upon Christ and bringing the strength of Jesus Christ into its own soul and thereby is enabled to bear whatsoever God layes upon him by the strength that he finds from Jesus Christ Of his fullness do we receive grace for grace there is strength in Jesus Christ not only to sanctifie and save us but strength to support us under all our burdens and afflictions and Christ expects that when we are under any burden that we would act our Faith upon him to draw vertue and strength from him the acting of Faith that 's the great Grace that is to be acted under afflictions its true other graces should be acted but the grace of Faith it draws strength from Christ in looking upon him that hath the fulness of all strength to be conveyed into the hearts of all Beleevers Now if a man hath a burden upon him yet he can have strength added to him if the burden be doubled yet if he can have his strength to be trebled the burden will not be heavier but lighter than it was before to our natural strength Indeed our afflictions may be heavy and we cry out O we cannot bear them we cannot bear such an affliction Though thou canst not tell how to bear it with thine own strength yet what canst thou tell what thou shalt do with the strength of Jesus Christ Thou saiest thou canst not bear it why dost thou think that Christ could not bear it if Christ could bear it why mayest not thou come to bear it You will say can I have the strength of Christ Yea that is made over to thee by faith so the Scripture saith That the Lord is our strength God himself is our strength and Christ is our strength divers Scriptures we have that way that Christs strength is thine made over to thee that so thou mayest be able to bear whatsoever lies upon thee and therefore we find such a strange kind of expression in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Collossians praying for the Saints That they might be strengthened with all might according unto his glorious power unto what Vnto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness Strengthened with all might according to the Power of God the glorious Power of God unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness You may not therefore be content with a little strength so that you are able to bear what a man might bear by the strength of reason and nature but to be strengthened with all might according to the glorious Power of God unto all patience and to all long-suffering Oh you that are now under very heavy and sad afflictions more than ordinary look upon this Scripture and consider how this Scripture is made good in you why may you not have this Scripture made good in you if you be Godly You should not be quiet in your own spirits except that you in some measure do get this Scripture to be made good in you so that-you may with some comfort say through Gods mercy I find that strength coming into me that is here spoken of in this Scripture You shall labour when you are under any great affliction you that are Godly to walk so that others may see such a Scripture made good in you here is the glorious Power of God that doth strengthen his servants to all ong-suffering and that with joyfulness Alas it may be you do not exercise so much patience as a wise man or a wise woman that hath but natural reason But where is the power of God the glorious power of God where is the strengthening with all might unto all long-suffering and patience and that with joyfulness It is true the spirit of a man may be able to sustain his infirmities may be able to sustain and keep up his spirits the natural spirit of a man but much more then when this spirit is acted with grace and holiness and when it is filled with the strength of Jesus Christ this is the way of a godly mans getting contentment the Mystery of it it is by fetching in strength from Jesus Christ Twelfthly Another Mystery that there is in it it is That a Godly heart enjoyes much of God in every thing that it hath and doth know how to make up all wants in God himself that is another Mystery he hath God in what he hath that I spoke to somwhat before in shewing the dew of Gods blessing in what he hath for God is able to let out a great deal
filled with Grace they would not make such a noise as now they do As a man that hath his bones filled with Marrow and veins filled with good blood he complains not of cold as others do so a gracious heart having the Spirit of God within him and his heart filled with grace he hath that within him that makes him find Contentment It is a speech of Seneca Indeed those things that I suffer will be incredibly heavy when I cannot bear my self but now if I be no burden to my self if I have all quiet within mine own heart then I can bear any thing many men through their wickedness they have burdens without but the greatest burden is the wickedness of their own hearts they are not burdened with their sins in a godly way that would case their burden but they have still their wickedness in the power of it and so they are burdens to themselves The distempers of mens hearts are mighty burdens to them many times a godly man hath enough within to content him Vertue it is content with its self for to live well It is a speech of Cicero and it is in one of his Paradoxes It finds enough within its own sphere for the living happily but how few are acquainted with this Mystery Many think Oh if I had that that another man hath how happily and comfortably should I live Oh but if thou beest a Christian whatsoever thy condition be yet thou hast enough within thy self You will say such and such men that have all things they need not be beholding to any body you shall have many that will labor and take pains when they are young that they might not be beholding to others I love to live of my self now a Christian may do so not that he doth not live upon God I mean not so but upon that which he hath of God within himself that he can live upon although he doth not enjoy the comforts that are without himself that is it which I mean and those that are godly and keep close to God in their communion with him they understand what I mean by this that a Christian hath supply of all his wants within himself and here you may see that the spirit of a Christian is a precious spirit a godly spirit is precious why because it hath enough to make him happy within himself The next thing that the Mystery of Contentment consists in is this That a gracious heart fetches supply of all from the Covenant and so comes to have Contentment which is a dry thing to a carnal spirit Now there are two things here First he fetches Contentment from the covenant in general that is from the great covenant that God hath made with him in Christ Secondly From the particular promises that God hath made with him in the Covenant First From the Covenant in general I 'le give you one Scripture for that it is very remarkable in the 2 of Sam. 23. vers 5. Although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my Salvation and all my desire although he make it not to grow It is a most admirable Scripture of David that yet had not the Covenant of Grace opened so fully as we have But yet mark what David saith Although I find not my house so that is so comfortably every way as I would although it be not so what hath he to content his spirit saith he He hath made with me an everlasting Covenant this is that that helps all I am not may some men say thus and thus with God I do not find God come in so fully or it is not with my house and family as I hoped it might be perhaps there is this or that affliction upon my house suppose you should have the Plague come into your house and your house is not safe and you have not that outward comfort in your house as formerly you had but can you read this Scripture and say Although my house be not so blest with health as other mens houses are although my house be not so yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant I am one yet in Covenant with God the Lord hath made with me an everlasting Covenant as for these things in this world I see they are but momentary they are not everlasting I see in a family when all was well but a week ago now all is down and the Plague hath swept away a great many of them and the rest are left in sadness and mourning we see there is no trusting in the things of this world yet the Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things I find disorder in my heart in my family but the everlasting Covenant that is ordered in all things yea and that is sure Alack there is no sureness here in these things I can be sure of nothing here especially in these times we know that a man can be sure of little that he hath who can be sure of his estate perhaps some of you here that have lived well and comfortably before and all was well about you and you thought your mountain was strong but you see within a day or two all taken away from you so that there is no sureness in the things of this world But saith he the Covenant is sure what I venture to the Sea that is not sure but here is an Assurance Office indeed here is a great Assurance Office for the Saints and they are not at charge but only the exercising of Grace for they may go to this Assurance Office to assure everything that they venture either to have the thing it self or be paid for it In an assurance Office you cannot be assured to have the very goods come in that you insured but if they be lost the Insurers do engage themselves to make it good to you And this Covenant of grace that God hath made with his people it is Gods Assurance Office and the Saints in all their fears may and ought to go to the Covenant to assure all things to them to assure their estates and assure their lives You will say How are they sure their lives and estates go as well as others But God engages himself to make up all And then mark what follows This is all my salvation Why David wilt thou not have salvation from thine Enemies and outward dangers from pestilence and plague The frame of his spirit is quieted as if he should say If that salvation comes well and good I shall praise God for it but that that I have in the Covenant that is my salvation I look upon that as enough Yea and then further This is all my salvation and all my desire VVhy David is there not somthing else that thou wouldst have besides this Covenant No saith he It is all involved in this Now surely those men or women must needs live
Christian yeilds to Gods hand and makes no noise as when you strike upon a Wool-sack it makes no noise because it yeilds to the stroke so a self-denying heart yeilds to the stroke and thereby comes to this contentment Now in this lesson of self-denial there are divers things I will not enter into the doctrine of self-denial but only shew you how Christ teaches self-denial and how that brings Contentment First Such a one learns to know that he is nothing he comes to this to be able to say Well I see I am nothing in my self now that man or woman which indeed knows that he or she is nothing and hath learned it throughly will be able to bear any thing The way to be able to bear any thing is to know our selves to be nothing in our selves Saith God to us Wilt thou set thine heart upon that which is nothing Prov. 23.5 speaking of riches why blessed God dost not thou do so thou hast set thy heart upon us and yet we are nothing God would not have us set our hearts upon riches because they are nothing and yet God is pleased to set his heart upon us and yet we are nothing that is Gods Grace free grace and therefore it is no great matter what I suffer for I am as nothing Secondly I deserve nothing I am nothing and I deserve nothing suppose I have not this and that that others have I am sure I deserve nothing except it be Hell you will answer any of your servants so that is not content I marvel what you deserve or your children Do you deserve it that you are so eager upon it you think to stop their mouths thus so we may easily stop our own mouths we deserve nothing and therefore why should we be impatient if we have not what we desire if we had deserved any thing we might have some trouble of spirit as a man that hath deserved well of the State or of his friends and he finds not answerable encouragement it troubles him mightily but if he be conscious to himself that he hath deserved nothing he is content with a repulse Thirdly I can do nothing Without me you can do nothing saith Christ Joh. 15.5 Why should I stand much upon it to be troubled and be discontented if I have not this or that when the truth is I can do nothing If you should come to one that is angry because he hath not such diet as he desires and is discontented with it you will answer him I marvel what you do what use are you of Shall one that will sit still and be of no use yet for all that he must have all his supply that possible he can desire Do but consider of what use you are in the world if you consider what little need God hath of you and what little use you are of you will not be much discontented If you have learned this lesson of self-denial though God doth cut me short of such and such comforts yet since that I do but little why should I have much This very thought will bring down a mans spirit as much as any thing Fourthly So vile I am that I can receive no good neither of my self I am not only an empty vessel but a corrupt and unclean vessel that would spoil any thing that comes into it So are all our hearts every one of our hearts is not onely empty of good but are like a musty vessel that if any good liquor be poured into it it spoils it Fifthly If God doth cleanse us in some measure and doth put into us some good liquor some Grace of his spirit yet We can make use of nothing neither can we have it if God doth but withdraw himself If God doth but leave us one moment after he hath bestowed upon us the greatest gifts and whatsoever abilities we can desire If God should say I will give you them now go and trade now I have given you these and these abilities we cannot stir one foot further neither if God doth but leave us Doth God give us gifts and parts Then let us fear and tremble lest God should leave us to our selves for then how foully should we abuse those gifts and parts You think other men and women have memory and gifts and parts and you would fain have them But suppose God should give you these and there leave you you would utterly spoil them Sixthly We are worse than nothing For by sin we come to be a great deal worse than nothing sin makes us more vile than nothing sin makes us contrary to all good now it is a great deal worse to have a contrariety to all that is good than meerly to have an emptiness of all that is good we are not empty pitchers in respect of good but we are like pitchers filled with poyson and is it much for such as we are to be cut short of outward comforts In the seventh place If we perish there will be no loss of us If God should annihilate me what loss would there be of me God can raise up another in my place to do him other manner of service than I have done Now put but these seven thing together and then hath Christ taught you self-denial I may call these the several words in our lesson of self-denial Christ reaches the soul this so that as in the presence of God upon a real sight of it self it can say Lord I am nothing Lord I deserve nothing Lord I can do nothing I can receive nothing I can make use of nothing I am worse than nothing and if I come to nothing and perish there will be no loss at all of me and therefore what great matter is it for me to be cut short here A man that is little in his own eyes such a man or woman will account every affliction to be little and every mercy to be great Saul There was a time the Scripture saith that he was little in his own eyes and then his afflictions were but little to him when some would not have had him to be King but spake contemptuously of him he held his peace but when Saul began to be big in his own eyes then the affliction began to be great upon him There was never any such contented man or woman as this self-denying man or woman There was never any denied himself so much as Jesus Christ did he gave his cheeks to the smiters he opened not his mouth he was as a lamb when he was led to the slaughter he made no noise in the street Oh he denyed himself above all and was willing to empty himself and so he was the most contented that ever any was in the world and the neerer we come to learn to deny our selves as Christ did the more contented shall we be and by knowing much of our own vileness we come to learn to justifie God whatever the Lord shall lay upon us yet righteous is the Lord for he
that bear the sway and are imployed in publike service and they carry all before them but you consider not their danger And so the Ministers they stand in the fore-front of all the spight and malice of ungodly men indeed God imploys them in honorable service and that service that the Angels would take delight in but though the service be honorable above the imployment of other works yet the burden of danger that likewise is greater than the danger of men that are in an inferior condition Now when the Soul comes to get wisdom from Christ to think of the danger that it is in then it will be content in that low estate in which it is A poor man that is in a low condition thinks I am low and others are raised but I know not what their burden is and so if he be rightly instructed in the School of Christ he comes to be contented 3. In a prosperous estate there is the burden of Duty You look onely at the sweet and comfort that they have and the honor and respect that they have that are in a prosperous condition but you must consider of the duty that they owe to God God requires more duty at their hands than at yours you are ready to be discontented that you have not such parts and abilities as such have but God requires more duty of them that have more parts God requires more duty of them that have greater estates than of you that have not such estates Oh! you would fain have the honour but can you carry the burden of the Duty 4. The last is The burden of Account in a prosperous Estate There is a great account that they are to give to God that enjoy great estates and a prosperous condition Now we are all Stewards and one is a Steward to a meaner man perhaps an ordinary Knight another is a Steward to a Nobleman an Earl now the Steward of the meaner man he hath not so much as the other hath under his hand now shall he be discontented because there comes not so much under his hand as under the others No thinks he I have less and I am to give the less account So your account in comparison of the Ministers and Magistrates will be nothing you are to give an account of your own Souls and so are they but you are to give an account for your own family and so are they but you are not to give account for Congregations and for Towns and Cities and Countries You think of Princes and Kings Oh! what a glorious condition they are in But what do you think of a King to give account for all the disorder and wickedness in a Kingdom that he possibly might have prevented What abundance of Glory might a Prince bring to God if so be that he bent his soul and all his thoughts to lift up the Name of God in a Kingdom now what God looses for want of this that King Prince or Governor he must give an account for It 's a speech of Chrysostome in that place of the Hebrews where it 's said that men must give an account for their Souls he wonders that any men in publike place can be saved because their account is so great that they are to give And I remember I have read a speech of Philip that was King of Spain though the story saith of him that he had such a Natural conscience that he profest he would not do any thing against his conscience no not in secret for the gaining of a world yet when this man was to die Oh saith he that I had never been a King Oh that I had liv'd a solitary and private life all my daies then should I have died a great deal more securely I should with more confidence have gone before the Throne of God to give my account but here 's the fruit of my Kingdom that I had all the glory of it it hath made my account to be harder to give to God and thus he cries out when he was to die And therefore you that live in private conditions remember this If you come into Christ's School and be taught this Lesson you will be quiet in your afflictions or private estate in regard your account is not so great as others It s a speech I remember I have met withal in Latimers Sermons that he was wont to use That the half is more than the whole That is when a man is in a mean condition he is but half way towards the height of prosperity that others are in yet saith he this is more safe though it be a meaner condition than others Those that are in a high and prosperous condition there is annexed to it the burden of trouble and of danger and of duty and of account And thus you see how Christ trains up his Scholars in his School and though they be weak otherwise yet by his Spirit he gives them wisdom to understand these things a right The eight lesson is this Christ teaches them what a great and dreadful evil it is to be given up to ones hearts desires The understanding this Lesson that it is a most dreadful evil one of the most hideous and fearful evils that can befall any man upon the face of the Earth for God to give him up to his hearts desires when the Soul understands this once and together with it for it goes along together that spiritual Judgements are more fearful than any outward judgements in the world the understanding of this will teach any one to be content in Gods crossing of them in their desires Thou art crost in thy desires now thou art discontented and vext and fretted at it Is that thy onely Misery that thou art crost in thy desires No no thou art infinitely mistaken the greatest misery of all is for God to give thee up to thy hearts lusts and desires to give thee up to thine own counsels so you have it in Psal 81.11 12. But my people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me what then So I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels Oh saith Bernard Let me not have such a misery as that is for to give me what I would have to give me my hearts desires it is one of the most hideous judgments in the world for a man to be given up to his hearts desires We have not indeed in Scripture any certain evident sign of a Reprobate we cannot say except we knew a man had committed the sin against the Holy Ghost that he is a Reprobate for we know not what God may work upon him but the neerest of all the blackest sign of a Reprobate is this for God to give up a man to his hearts desires all the pain of Diseases all the calamities that can be thought of in the world are no judgements in comparison of this for a man to be given up to his hearts desires
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
of the duty before many men when they hear of a duty they should perform they will labor to perform it but first you must be humbled for the want of it therefore that 's the thing that I shall endeavor in the Application to get your hearts to be humbled for the want of this Grace Oh had I had this Grace of Contentment what a happy life I might have lived what abundance of honor I might have brought to the Name of God and how might I have honored my profession and what a deal of comfort might I have enjoyed but the Lord knows it hath been far otherwise Oh how far have I been from this grace of Contentment that hath been opened to me I have had a murmuring a vexing and fretting heart within me every little cross hath put me out of temper and out of frame Oh the boisterousness of my spirit what a deal of evil doth God see in my heart in the vexing and fretting of my heart and murmuring and repining of my spirit Oh that God would make you to see it Now to the end that you might be humbled for the want of this I shall endeavor in these particulars to speak unto it First I shall set before you The evil of a murmuring spirit there is more evil then you are aware of In the second place I will shew you some aggravations of this evil It 's evil in all but in some more than in others Thirdly I shall labor to take away the Pleas that any murmuring discontented heart hath for this distemper of his There 's these Three things in this Use of humiliation of the soul for the want of this Grace of Contentment For the first now at this time The great evil that there is in a murmuring discontented heart In the first place This thy murmuring and discontentedness it argues much corruption that is in the soul as Contentment argues much Grace and strong Grace and beautiful Grace so this argues much Corruption and strong Corruption and very vile Corruption in thy heart As it is in a mans body If a mans body be of that temper that every scratch of a pin makes his flesh to rankle and to be a sore you will say surely this mans body is very corrupt his blood and flesh is corrupt that every scratch of a pin shall make it ranckle so it is in thy spirit if every little trouble and affliction shall make thee discontented and make thee murmur and even cause thy spirit within thee to ranckle or as it is in a wound of a mans body the evil of a wound it is not so much in the largness of the wound and in the abundance of blood that comes out of the wound but in the inflammation that there is in it or in a fretting and corroding humor that is in the wound an unskilful man when he comes and sees a large wound in the flesh looks upon it as a dangerous wound And when he sees a great deal of blood gush out he thinks these are the evils of it but when a Chyrurgion comes and sees a great gash saith he this will be healed within a few days but there 's a less wound and there 's an inflammation or a fretting humor that is in it and this will cost time saith he to cure so that he doth not lay Balsom and healing Salves upon it but his great care is to get out the fretting humor or inflammation so that the thing that must heal this wound it is some drink to purge But saith the patient what good will this do to my wound You give me somewhat to drink and my wound is in my arm or in my leg what good will this do that I put in my stomach Yes it purges out the fretting humor or takes away the inflammation and till that be taken away the salves can do no good So it is just for all the world in the souls of men it may be there is some affliction upon them that I compare to the wound now they think that the greatness of the affliction is that which makes their condition most miserable Oh no there is a fretting humor an inflamation in the heart a murmuring spirit that is within thee and that is the misery of thy condition and that must be purged out of thee before thou canst be healed and let God do with thee what he will till he purges out that fretting humor thy wound will not be healed a murmuring heart is a very sinful heart so that when thou art troubled for such an affliction thou hadst need turn thy thoughts rather to be troubled for the murmuring of thy heart for that 's the greatest trouble there is an affliction upon thee and that is grievous but there is a murmuring heart within that 's more grievous Oh that we could but convince men and women that a murmuring spirit is a greater evil than any affliction let the affliction be what it will be We shall shew more afterward that a murmuring spirit is the evil of the evil and the misery of the misery Secondly The evil of murmuring is such that God when he would speak of wicked men and describe them and shew the brand of a wicked ungodly man or woman he instances in this sin in a more special manner I might name many Scriptures but that Scripture in Jude is a most remarkable one in the 14. verse and so forward there it is said That the Lord comes with ten thousands of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly finners have spoken against him Mark here in this 15. verse there is four times mentioned ungodly ones All that are ungodly among them all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him This is in the general But now he comes in the particular to shew who these are these are saith he Murmurers that 's the very first Would you know who are ungodly men that God when he comes with ten thousand of Angels shall come to punish for all their ungodly deeds that they do and those that speak ungodly things against them These ungodly ones are Murmurers Murmurers in the Scripture are put in the fore front of ungodly ones it s a most dreadful Scripture that the Lord when he speaks of ungodly ones puts Murmurers in the very fore front of all you had need look to your spirits you may see that this Murmuring which is the vice contrary to this Contentment is not so small a matter as you think you think you are not so ungodly as others because you do not swear and drink as others do but you may be ungodly in Murmuring its true there is no sin but some seeds and remainers of it are in those that are godly but
our Father loves to see his spirit in us Great men love to see great spirits in their children and the great God loves to see a great spirit in his Children we are one Spirit with God and with Christ and one Spirit with the holy Ghost therefore we should have a spirit that might manifest the Glory of the Father Son and holy Ghost in our spirits that 's the spirit of a Christian indeed The spirit of a Christian should be a Lyon-like spirit as Jesus Christ is the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah so he is called so we should manifest somewhat of the Lyon-like Spirit of Jesus Christ he manifested his Lyon-like Spirit in passing through all afflictions and troubles whatsoever without any murmuring against God When he came to drink that bitter cup and even the dregs of it he prayed to God indeed that if it were possible it might pass from him but presently Not my will but thy will be done As soon as ever he did mention the passing of the cup from him though it were the most dreadful cup that ever was drunk since the world began yet at the mentioning of it not my will but thy will be done here Christ shewed a Lyon-like Spirit in going through all kind of afflictions whatsoever without any murmuring against God in them Now a murmuring spirit is a base dejected spirit cross and contrary to the Spirit of a Christian and it s very base I remember that the Heathens account it very base Plutarch doth report of a certain people that did use to manifest their disdain to men that were over-much dejected by any affliction they did condemn them to this punishment To wear womans cloathes all their dayes or such a space of time at least they should go in womens cloaths in token of shame and disgrace to them because they had such effeminate spirits they thought it against a manlike spirit and therefore seeing they did un-man themselves they should go as women Now shall they account it an unman-like spirit to be over-much dejected in affliction and shall not a Christian account it an unchristian-like spirit to be over-much dejected by any affliction whatsoever I remember another compares murmuring spirits to children when they are weaning What a deal of stir have you with your children when you wean them how froward and vexing are they So when God would wean thee from some outward comforts in this world Oh how fretting and discontented art thou Children will not sleep themselves not let their mothers sleep when they are weaning and so when God would wean us from the world and we fret vex and murmur this is a childish spirit Fourthly It s below the profession of a Christian The profession of a Christian what 's that A Christians profession is To be dead to the world and to be alive to God that 's his profession to have his life to be hid with Christ in God to satisfie himself in God What is this thy profession and yet if thou hast not every thing that thou wouldest have to murmur and be discontent thou dost in that even deny thy profession Fifthly It is below that special Grace of Faith Faith is that that doth overcome the world it is that that makes all the Promises of God to be ours Now when thou tookest upon thee the profession of Religion Did God ever promise thee that thou shouldest live at ease and quiet and have no trouble I remember Austin hath such an expression What is this my faith what did I ever promise thee saith he that thou shouldest ever flourish in the world art thou a Christian to that end and is this thy faith I never made any such promise to thee when thou tookest upon thee to be a Christian Oh its mighty contrary to thy profession thou hast never a promise for this that thou shouldest not have such an affliction upon thee And a Christian should live by his faith it is said that the just doth live by faith now thou shouldest not look after any other life but the life that thou hast by faith now thou hast no ground for thy faith to believe that thou shouldst be delivered out of such an affliction and then why shouldest thou account it such a great evil to be under such an affliction Certainly that good that we have in the ground for our faith it is enough to content our hearts here and to all eternity A Christian should be satisfied with that that God hath made to be the object of his faith the object of his faith is high enough to satisfie his soul were it capable of a thousand times more than it is Now if thou mayest have the object of thy faith full thou hast enough to content thy soul and know that when thou art discontented for want of such and such comforts if thou wouldest but think thus God did never promise me that I should have these comforts and at this time and in such a way as I would have but I am discontented because I have not these which God did never yet promise me and therefore I sin much against the Gospel and against the Grace of Faith There is yet another thing It s below the hopes of Christians Oh! the most glorious things that the Saints hope for And against the helps that Christians have Christians have great helps that may help them against murmuring And it is against that which God expects from Christians God expects other manner of things from them than this Yea and it is below that that God hath from other Christians These things I shall open at another time SERMON VIII at Stepney Sept. 21. 1645. PHIL. 4.11 For I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I Mentioned divers things the last day to set out the evil of discontent I shall name Two or Three more Sixthly It is below a Christian in this Because it s below those helps that a Christian hath more than others have they have the Promises to help them that others have not it s not so much to have a Nabal have his heart sink because he hath nothing but the Creature to uphold him but it s much for a Christian that hath Promises and Ordinances to uphold his spirit which others have not Seventhly It s below the expectation that God hath of Christians for God expects not onely that they should be patient in afflictions but that they should rejoyce and triumph in them now Christians when God expects this from you for you not so much as to have attained to contentedness under afflictions Oh this is beneathe the expectation of God from you Eighthly It is below that that God hath had from other Christians Others have not onely been contented with little crosses but they have triumphed under great afflictions they have suffered the spoiling of their goods with joy read but the latter part of the 11. of the Hebrews and you shall find what great things
of his spirit have I upon me that can find no rest at all Twelfthly Murmuring and discontent hath this evil in it There is an absolute necessity that thou shouldst have disquiet all the days of thy life As if a man that is in a great croud should complain that other folks touch him While we are in this world God hath so ordered things that afflictions must befal us and if we will complain and be discontented upon every cross and affliction we must complain and be discontent all the days of our lives Yea God in just judgement will let things fall out on purpose to vex those that have vexing spirits and discontented hearts and therefore there is a necessity that they should live disquiet all their days and men will not much care to disquiet those that are continually murmuring Oh they will have disquiet all their days Lastly There 's this dreadful evil in discontent and murmuring God may justly with draw his care of you and his protection over you seeing God cannot please you in his administrations We use to say so to discontented servants Nay if you be not pleased mend your selves when you will If you have a servant not content with his diet and wages and work you say Mend your selves So may God justly say to us we that profess our selves servants to him to be in his work and yet are discontented with this thing or that in Gods family God might justly say Mend your selves What if God should say to any of you If my care over you do not please you then take care of your selves if my protection over you will not please you then protect your selves Now all things that do befall you befall you through a providence of God and if you be those that belong to God there is a protection of God over you and a care of God Now if God should say Well you shall not have the benefit of my protection any longer and I will take no further care of you would not this be a most dreadful judgement of God from Heaven upon you Take heed what you do then in being discontent with Gods will towards you and indeed upon discontent this may befall you And this is the reason why many people though Gods protection hath bin very gracious over them for a time and they have thriven abundantly yet afterwards almost all that behold them may say that they live as if God had cast off his care over them and as if God did not care what befall them Now then my brethren put all these together all that we were speaking of the last day and these particulars that have been added now this morning for the setting out of a Murmuring and Discontented spirit Oh what an ugly face hath this sin of murmuring and discontentedness Oh what cause is there that we should lay our hands upon our hearts and go away and be humbled before the Lord because of this Whereas your thoughts were wont to be exercised about providing for your selves and getting more comforts to your selves let the stream of your thoughts now be turned to humble your selves for your discontentedness Oh that you may have your hearts break before God for otherwise you shall fall to it again Oh the wretchedness of mans heart You will find in Scripture concerning the people of Israel how strangely they fell to their murmuring again and again do but observe three texts of Scripture for that the first in the 15. of Exod. at the beginning there you shall have Moses and the Congregation singing to God and blessing God for his mercy Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel this song unto the Lord and spake saying I will sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the Sea And then The Lord is my strength and song and he is become my Salvation he is my God and I will prepare him an habitation my Fathers God and I will exalt him and so he goes on And who is like unto thee O Lord amongst the Gods Who is like thee glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders Thus their hearts triumphed in God but mark before the Chapter is ended in the 23. verse When they come to Marah in the same Chapter they could not drink of the waters of Marah for they were bitter therefore the name of it was called Marah and the people murmured against Moses After so great a mercy as this was what unthankfulness was there here in their murmuring Then God gave them water but in the very next Chapter they fell to their murmuring you read not that they were humbled for their former murmuring and therefore they murmur again Exod. 16.1 c. all the congregation of the Children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin c. And the whole Congregation in the second verse of the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness and the Children of Israel said unto them would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the Land of Egypt when we sat by the flesh-pots and when we did eat bread to the full Now they want flesh they wanted water before but now they want meat they fell to murmuring again they were not humbled for this murmuring against God neither when God gave them flesh according to their defires but they fell to murmuring again they wanted somewhat else In the very next Chapter they went not far in the 17. of Exod. beginning And all the Congregation of the Children of Israel journyed from the wilderness of Sin and pitched in Rephadim and there was no water for the people to drink Then in the second verse Wherefore the people did chide with Moses and said Give us water that we may drink and Moses said unto them Why chide you with me wherefore do you tempt the Lord And in the third verse And the people thirsted there for water and the people murmured against Moses and said wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our Children and our Cattel with thirst So one time after another still as soon as ever they had received the mercy then they were a little quieted but they were not humbled I bring these Scriptures for this to shew That if we have not been humbled for murmuring the next cross that we meet withal we will fall to murmuring again There are divers Aggravations of this sin of Murmuring I 'le mention but one now and I shall but begin that The first Aggravation is this To murmur when we enjoy abundance of mercy the greater and the more abundant the mercy is that we enjoy the greater and the viler is the sin of murmuring As here now when God had newly delivered them out of the house of bondage for them now to murmur because they want some few particulars that they desire Oh to sin against God after a
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
a husband are the wives and though there are some husbands so vile as the wives may be forced to sue for maintenance certainly Jesus Christ will never deny maintenance to his Spouse it 's a dishonor for a Husband to have his Wife go whining up and down what thou art match'd with Christ and art his Spouse and wilt thou murmur now and be discontented in thy spirit You shall observe among those that are newly matched when there is discontent between the wife and the husband their friends will shake their heads and say they do not meet with that that they did expect ye see ever since they were married together how the man looks and the woman looks they are not so cheerily as they were wont to be surely say they it is like to prove an ill match But it s not so here it shall not be so between thee and Christ Oh Jesus Christ doth not love to see his Spouse to have a lowring countenance no man loves to see discontentment in the sace of his Wife surely Christ doth not love to see discontentment in the face of his Spouse 3. Thou standest in relation to Christ not onely as a Spouse but as a Member Thou art bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and to have a Member of Jesus Christ to be in such a condition it s exceeding unworthy 4. He is thy Elder brother likewise and so thou art a Co-heir with him 5. The relation that thou standest in to the Spirit of God thou art the Temple of the holy Ghost the holy Ghost is thy Comforter it is he that is appointed to convey all comfort from the Father and the Son to the souls of his people And art thou the Temple of the holy Ghost and doth he dwell in thee and yet for all that thou murmurest for every little matter 6. The relation that thou standest in to the Angels thou art made one body with them for so Christ hath joyned principalities and powers with his Church they are Ministring Spirits for good to his people to supply what they need and thou and they are joyned together and Christ is the head of you and Angels 7. The relation that you stand in to the Saints you are of the same body with them they and you make up but one mystical body with Jesus Christ and if they be happy you must needs be happy On how beneath a Christian is a Murmuring spirit if he considers his relations in which he stands Secondly A Christian should consider That murmuring and discontentedness is below the high dignities that God hath put upon him Do but consider the high diguity that God hath put upon thee the meanest Christian in the world is a Lord of Heaven and Earth he hath made us Kings unto himself Kings unto God not Kings unto men to rule over them and yet I say every Christian is a Lord of Heaven and Earth yea of life and death That is As Christ he is a Lord of all so he hath made those that are his Members to be Lords of all All are yours saith the Apostle even life and death every thing is yours It s a very strange expression that death should be theirs Death is yours that is you are as it were Lords over it you have that that shall make death to be your servant your slave even death it self your greatest enemies are turned to be your slaves Faith makes a Christian to be as Lord over all to be lifted up in excellency above all creatures that ever God made except the Angels yea and in some respect above them I say the poorest Christian that lives is raised to an estate above all the Creatures in the world except Angels yea and above them in divers respect too and yet discontented that thou who wert as a firebrand of Hell and might have been scorching and velling and roaring there to all eternity yet that God should raise thee to have a higher excellency in thee than there is in all the works of Creation that ever he made except Angels and other Christians that are in thy condition yea and thou art neerer the Divine Nature than the Angels because thy nature is joyned in an hypostatical union to the Divine Nature and in that respect thy nature is more honored than the nature of the Angels And the death of Christ is thine he died for thee and not for the Angels and therefore thou art like to be raised above the Angels in divers respects yea thou art in such an estate as this is thou that art set apart to the end that God might man fest to all eternity what the infinite power of a Deity is able to raise a creature to for that 's the condition of a Saint a Believer his condition is such as he is set apart to the end that God might manifest to all eternity what his infinite power is able to do to make the creature happy art thou in such a condition Oh! how low and beneath this condition is a murmuring and discontented heart for want of some outward comforts here in this world How unseemly is it that thou shouldest be a slave to every cross that every affliction shall be able to say to thy soul Bow down to us We accounted that a great slavery when men would say to our souls Bow down As the cruel Prelates were wont to do in imposing things upon mens consciences they did in effect say Let your consciences your souls bow down to us that we may tread upon them that is the greatest slavery in the world that one man should say to another let your consciences your souls bow down that we may tread upon them but wilt thou suffer every affliction to say bow down that we may tread upon thee Truly it s so when thy heart is overcome with murmuring and discontent Know that those afflictions which have caused thee to murmur have said to thee Bow down that we may tread upon thee nay not afflictions but the very Devil doth prevail against you in this Oh! how beneath is this to the happy estate that God hath raised a Christian unto What! the son of a King shall he have every base fellow to come and bid him bow down that he may tread upon his neck thus doest thou in every affliction the affliction the cross and trouble that doth befall thee saith Bow down that we may come and tread upon thee Thirdly Murmuring its below the spirit of a Christian Below his Spirit the spirit of every Christian should be like the spirit of his father every father loves to see his spirit in his childe loves to see his Image not his Image of his body onely to say here 's a childe for all the world like the father but he hath the spirit of his father too a father that is a man of spirit Loves to see his spirit in his childe rather than the feature of his Body Oh the Lord that is