world and the most delightfull And then doth he want honour he hath his own conscience witnessing for him that is as a thousand witnesses the Scripture saith in the 17. of Luke v. 21. Neither shall they say lo here or lo there for behold the Kingdome of God is within you a Christian then whatsoever he wants he can make it up for he hath a Kingdom in himself the Kingdom of God is within you If one that is a King should meet with a great deal of trouble when he is abroad yet hee Contents himselfe with this I have a Kingdom of mine own now here it 's said the Kingdom of God is within a man truly upon this Scripture of the Kingdom of God being within those that are learned if they would but look into that Coment upon the Gospel that we have of a learned man they shall find a very strange conceit that he hath about this very text he confesses indeed it is unutterable and so indeed it is the Kingdom of God is within you he makes it that there is such a presence of God and Christ within the soul of a man that when the body dies he saith that the soul goes into God and Christ that is within him the souls going into God and Christ and enjoying of that Communion with God and Christ that is within its selfe that 's Heaven to it saith he he confesses he is not able to expresse himselfe nor others cannot understand fully what he intends but certainly for the present before death there 's a Kingdom of God within the soul such a manifestation of God in the soul that is enough to Content the heart of any godly man in the world the Kingdom that he hath now within him he shall not stay till afterwards till he goes to Heaven but certainly there is a Heaven in the Soul of a godly man he hath Heaven already many times when you goe to comfort your friends in their afflictions you will say Heaven will pay for all nay you may certainly find Heaven pays for all already there is a Heaven within the Souls of the Saints that 's a certain truth no soul shall ever come to heaven but that Soul that hath Heaven come to it first When you die you hope you shall goe to Heaven But if you shall goe to Heaven when you die Heaven will come to you before you die Now this is a great Mysterie to have the Kingdom of Heaven in the Soul no man can know this but that Soul that hath it that Heaven which is within the Soul for the present I say it is like the white stone and the new name that none but those that have it can understand it It 's a miserable condition my brethren to depend upon creatures altogether for our Contentment you know that rich men account it a great happinesse if they need not go to buy things by the penny as others do they have all things for pleasure or profit upon their own ground and all their inheritance lyes intire together they have no body comes within them but they have all within themselves there lyes their happinesse Whereas other poorer people are fain to go from one Market to another to provide them necessaries but yet great rich men they have sheep and beeves corn and cloathing and all things else of their own within themselves and herein they place their happinesse But this is the happinesse of a Christian that he hath that within himselfe that may satisfie him more then all these That place that we have in the first of James seems to allude to that condition of men that have all their estates within themselves Iam. 1. 4. But let patience have her perfect work that we may be perfect and entire wanting nothing the word there used signifies to have the whole inheritance to our selves not a broken inheritance but that where all lyes within themselves as a man that hath not a piece of his estate here and a piece there but he hath it all lye together and the heart being patient under afflictions finds it selfe to be in such an estate as this is finds his whole inheritance to be together and all intire within its selfe And now still to shew this by further similitudes it is with him being fild with good things just like as it is with many a man that enjoys abundance of comforts at home at his own house God grants to him a convenient habitation a comfortable yoke fellow and fine walks and gardens and hath all things at home that he could desire now this man cares not much for going abroad other men are fain to go abroad to take the ayr but he hath a sweet ayr at home and they are fain to go abroad to see friends because they have raylings and contendings at home many ill husbands will give this reason if his wife make any moan and complaint of his ill husbandry of their bad husbandry and will make that their excuse to go abroad because they can never be quiet at home Now we account those men most happy that have all at home those that have close houses that are unsavory and smels ill they delight to go into the fresh ayr I but it is not so with many others that have these at home those that have no good chear at home they are fain to go abroad to friends but those that have their Tables furnished they had as live stay at home so a carnall man he hath but little Contentment in his own spirit it 's Austins similitude saith he an ill conscience is like a scoulding wife a man saith he that hath an ill conscience he cares not to look into his own soul but loves to be abroad and look into other things but never looks to himselfe but one that hath a good conscience he delights in looking into his own heart he hath a good conscience within him and so a carnall heart because there 's nothing but filthinesse a filthy stinke in himselfe nothing but vildnesse and basenesse within him upon this it is that he seeks his Contentment else where And as it is with a vessel that 's full of liquor if you strike upon it it will make no great noyse but if it be empty then it makes a great noise so it is with the heart a heart that is full of grace and goodnesse within such a one will bear a great many strokes and never make any noise but an empty heart if that be struck that will make a noise those men and women that are so much complayning and always whyning it is a sign that there 's an emptinesse in their hearts but if their hearts were filled with grace they would not make such an noise as now they do As a man that hath his bones fill'd with marrow and veins fill'd with good blood he complains not of cold as others do so a gracious heart having the spirit of God within him and his
at a point for that Though God doth not make my house to grow I have all my desires Thus you see how a godly heart finds contentment in the Covenant many of you speak of the Covenant of God and of the Covenant of grace but have you found it so effectual to your souls have you suckt this sweetnesse from the Covenant and content to your hearts in your sad conditions It 's a speciall sign of the truth of grace in any soul that when any affliction doth befall him in a kind of natural way he doth presently repair to the Covenant just as a Child as soon as ever is is in danger you shall not need to tell him and say when you are in danger you must go to your father or mother why nature tells him so so it is with a gracious heart as soon as it is in any trouble or affliction there is a new nature that doth cary him to the Covenant presently and there it finds ease and rest and if you find that your hearts do thus work presently to be runing to the Covenant it is an excellent sign of the truth of grace that 's for the general But now for particular promises in the covenant of grace A gracious heart looks upon every promise as coming from the root of the great covenant of grace in Christ Other men look upon some particular promises that God will helpe them in straits and keepe them and the like but they look not upon the conection of such particular promises to the root the Covenant of grace Now Christians doe misse of a great deale of comfort they might have from the particular promises in the gospel if they 'd look upon their conectiō to the root the great Covenant that God hath made with them in Christ Now I remember I spoke a little about that that in outward promises in the times of the law they might rest more upon them then we can in the time of the gospel I gave you the reason why we that live in the times of the gospel canot rest so fully for a litteral performance of outward promises that we meet withall in the old Testament as they might in the time of the law for there was a special covenant that God pleased to call a New Covenant by way of distinction from the other covenant that is made with us in Christ for eternall life and so even the law was given to them in a more peculiar way for an external covenant of outward blessings in the land of Canaan and so God did deale with them in a more external covenant then he doth now with his people Yet godlynesse hath the promise of this life and that which is to come We may make use of the promises for this life but yet not so much to rest upon the litteral performance of them as they might but that God will make them good some way or other in a spiritual way if not in an outward way We must lay no more upon outward promises then this and therefore if we will lay more we make the promise to bear more then it will bear out For to give some instance to beleeve fully and confidently that the Plague shall not come nigh such a house I say it is to lay more upon such a promise then it will bear I opened that promise in Psal 91. now if I had lived in the time of the Law perhaps I might have been somewhat more confident of the litterall performance of the promise then I can now in the time of the gospel the promise now bears no more then this that God hath a special protection over his people and that he will deliver them from the evil of such an affliction and if he doth bring such an affliction it is more then an ordinary providence it is some special providence that God hath in it I had thought to have given you divers promises for the contentment of the heart in the time of affliction Isa 43. 2. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and through the rivers they shall not over-flow thee when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee certainly though this promise was made in the time of the Law yet it will be made good to all the Saints now one way or other either in the letter or some other waies For so we find it plainly that promise that was made to Joshua I will not fail thee nor forsake thee Josh 1. 5. It 's applied to the Christians in the time of the Gospel So that here is the way of faith in bringing Contentment by the promises that all the promises that ever were made to our forefathers from the begining of the world the Saints of God have an intrest in them they are their inheritances and so goes on from one generation to another and by that they come to have Contentment because they do inherit all the promises made in all the book of God So Heb. 13. 5. shews plainly that it is our inheritance and we do not inherit less now then they did in Joshuas time but we inherit more for you shall find in that place of the Hebrewes there is more said then is to Joshua to Joshua God saith He will not leave him nor forsake him now in that place in the Hebrewes in the Greek there 's five negatives I will not not not not not again there is the elegancy of it very much in the Greek I say there is five negatives in that little sentence as if God should say I will not leave you no I will not I will not I will not with such earnestnesse five times together So that we have not only the same promises that they had but we have them more inlarged and more full though still not so much in the litteral sense for that indeed is the least part of the promise In Esa 54. 17. there God made a promise That no weapon formed against his people should prosper and every tongue that shall rise against them in judgement thou shalt condemne and mark what follows This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord this is a good promise for a souldier though still not to lay too much upon the litteral sense True it holds forth thus much that Gods protection is in a speciall maner over souldiers that are godly And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemne and this is against false witnesse too Oh you that your friends never left you any thing you will say my friends dyed and left not me a groat but I thank God God hath provided for me But though thy father or mother dyed and left thee no heritage yet thou hast a heritage in the promise This is their heritage So that there 's no godly man or woman but is a great heir Therefore when thou
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 Soule conveyed to me through the Creature and hereby I am inabled to doe 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 himselfe another way that is will call me to honour him by suffering and if I may doe 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 Ob. But you will say it is true if I could honour God in my low estate as much as in my prosperous estate then it were somewhat but how can that be Answ You must know the speciall honour 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 honour when a man is in a publick place and so he is able to do a great deal of good to countenance Godlinesse and discountenance Sin but the main thing is in our shewing forth the vertues of him that hath called us out of darknesse 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 honouring of God and now God hath blest the want of it to stir up the Graces of his spirit in my soule and this is the worke that now God cals me to and I must account God is most honoured when I doe the worke that he cals me to he set me a worke in my prosperous estate at that time to honour him in that condition and now he sets me a work at this time to honour him in this condition Now God is most honoured when I can turne from one condition to another according as he cals me to it would you account your selves to be honoured by your servants when you set them about a worke 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 doe 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 suffering condition and I will have you honour me in that way now here 's the honouring of God that you can turn this way or that way as God cals 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 honouring of God by it you can be content because you have the same good that you had before and that 's the fift Lesson The sixt Lesson that Christ doth teach the Soul that hee 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 learne to know your own hearts well to be good students of your own hearts you cannot all be Schollers in the arts and sciences in the world but you may all be students in your own hearts you cannot reade in the Booke many of you but God expects that every day you should turn over a leafe in your own hearts you will never come to get any skill in this Mysterie except you study the Book of your own hearts Marriners they have their Books that they study those that will be good Navigators and Schollers they have their Books those that study Logick they have their Books according to that and those that would study Rhetorick 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 helpe you to Contentment these three ways 1 By the studying of thy heart thou wilt come presently to discover wherein thy discontent lyes 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 knowes their own heart they will find out presently where the root of their discontent lyes that it lyes 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 child 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 child 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 Child 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 verst in our own hearts when any thing fals 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 amisse he will presently find out the cause of it but one that hath no skill in a Watch when it goes amisse 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 turnings there and we should labour
of this for a man to be given up to his hearts desires now when the Soul comes to understand this the Soul then cryes out why am I so troubled that I have not my desires There is nothing that God conveys his wrath more through then a prosperous estate I remember I have read of a Jewish Tradition that they say of Vzziah when God struck Vzziah with a Leprosie they say that the beams of the Sun was darted upon the fore-head of Vzziah and he was struck with a Leprosie by the darting of the beams of the Sun upon his fore head the Scripture saith Indeed the Priests looked upon him but they say there was a speciall light and beam of the Sun upon the fore-head that did discover the Leprosie to the Priests and they say it was the way of conveying of it Whether that were true or no I am sure this is true that the strong beams of the Sun of prosperity upon many men makes them to be leprous would any poor man in the countrey have been discontented that he was not in Vzziahs condition he was a great King I but there was the Leprosie in his fore-head the poor man may say though I live meanly in the countrey yet I thank God my body is whole and sound would not any man rather have russet and skins of beasts to cloath him with then to have sattin and velvet that should have the Plague in it The Lord conveys the plague of his curse through prosperity as much as through any thing in the world and therefore the soul coming to understand this this makes it to be quiet and content And then spirituall judgements are the greatest judgements of all the Lord lays such an affliction upon my outward estate but what if he had taken away my life a mans health is a greater mercy then his estate and you that are poor people you should consider of that but is the health of a mans body better then his estate what is the health of a mans soul that 's a great deal better the Lord hath inflicted externall judgements but he hath not inflicted spirituall judgements upon thee he hath not given thee up to hardnesse of heart and taken away the spirit of prayer from thee in thine afflicted estate oh then be of good comfort though there be outward afflictions upon thee yet thy soul thy more excellent part is not afflicted Now when the soul comes to understand this that here lyes the sore wrath of God to be given-up to a mans desires and for spirituall judgements to be upon a man this quiets him and contents him though outward afflictions be upon him perhaps one of a mans children hath the fit of an ague or the tooth ake but perhaps his next neighbour hath the plague or all his Children are dead of the Plague now shall he be so discontented because his Children hath the tooth-ach when his neighbours children are dead now think thus Lord thou hast laid an afflicted conditioÌ„ upon me but Lord thou hast not given me the Plague of a hard heart Now take these eight things before mentioned and lay them together and you may well apply that Scripture in the 29. of Jsay the last verse saith the text there They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding and they that murmured shall learn doctrine Hath there bin any of you as I fear many may be found that have erred in spirit even in regard of this truth that now we are preaching of and many that have murmured Oh that this day you might come to understand that Christ would bring you into his School and teach you understanding And they that murmured shall learn doctrine what doctrine shall they learn These Eight doctrines that I have opened to you And if you will but throughly study these lessons that I have set before your eyes It will be a speciall help and means to cure your murmurings against and repinings at the hand of God And so you will come to learn Christian Contentment The Lord teach you throughly by his Spirit these lessons of Contentment SERMON VI. PHILIPPIANS 4. 11. For I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I Shall only adde one lesson more in the learning of Contentment then I shall come to the Aug. 31. 1645. fourth head The excellency of Contentment The Ninth and last lesson that Christ teaches those that he doth instruct in this Art of Contentment It is the right knowledge of Gods providence and therein are these Four things 1 The universality of providence that the Soul must be throughly instructed in to come to this Art to understand the universality of providence that is how the providence of God goes through the whole world extends it's self to every thing Not only that God by his providence doth rule the world and govern all things in generall but that it reaches to every particular not only to Kingdoms to order the great affairs of Kingdoms but it reaches to every mans family â—â—â—eaches to every person in the family it reaches to every condition yea to every passage to every thing that falls out concerning thee in every particular not one hair falleth from thy head not a Sparrow to the ground without the providence of God There 's nothing befalls thee good or evill but there is a providence of the infinite eternall first Being in that thing and therein indeed is Gods infinitenesse that it reaches to the least things to the least worm that is under thy feet Then much more it reaches unto thee that art a rationall creature the providence of God is more speciall towards rationall creatures then any others The understanding in a spirituall way the universality of providence in every particular passage from morning to night every day that there 's not any thing that doth befall thee but there 's a hand of God in it it is from God it is a mighty furtherance to Contentment Every man will grant the truth of the thing that it is so but as the Apostle saith in Heb. 11. 3. By faith we understand that the worlds were made by faith we understand it why by faith we can understand by reason that no finit thing can be from it selfe And therefore that the world could not be of it's self but we can understand it by faith in another manner then by reason So whatsoever we understand of God in way of providence yet when Christ doth take us into his School wee come to understand it by faith in a better manner then wee doe by reason 2 The efficacie that there is in providence that is that the providence of God goes on in all things with strength and power and it is not to be altered by our power let us be discontented and vext and troubled and fret and rage yet we must not thinke to alter the course of providence by our discontent Some of Jobs friends said to him
men do so wrong you you are rather to turne your hearts to pitty them then to murmur or be discontented For the truth is if you be wronged by other men you have the better of it for it is better to bear wrong then to do wrong a great deal if they wrong you your heart cannot submit you are in a better condition then they because it 's better to bear then do wrong I remember it is said of Socrates that being very patient when wrong was done to him they asked him how he came to be so saith he if I meet with a man in the street that is a diseased man shal I be vexed fretted with him because he is deseased those that wrong mee I look upon them as deseased men and therefore pitty them Thirdly Though you meet with hard dealings from men yet you meet with nothing but kind good and righteous dealings from God when you meet with unrighteous dealings from them set one against the other And that 's for the answer to the fourth Plea A Fifth Plea Oh but that affliction that comes upon me is an affliction that I never lookt for I never thought to have met with such an affliction and that is that I know not how to bear that is that which makes my heart so disquiet because it was altogether unlookt for and unexpected For the answer of this first it is thy weaknesse and folly that thou didest not look for it and expect it In Acts 20. 22 23. see what saint Paul saith concerning himselfe And now behold I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there save that the Holy-Ghost witnesseth in every City saying that bonds and afflictions abide me It 's true saith he I know not the particular affliction that may befall me but this I know that the Spirit of God witnesseth that bonds and afflictions shall abide me every where I look for nothing else but bonds and afflictions wheresoever I go so a Christian should doe he should look for afflictions wheresoever he is in all conditions he should look to meet with afflictions and therefore if any affliction should befall him though indeed he could not for-see the parcicular evill yet he should think this is no more then I lookt for in the generall Therefore no affliction should come unexpectedly to a Christian A second answer I would give is this is it unexpected then the lesse provision thou madest for it before it came the more carefull shouldest thou be to sanctifie Gods name in it now it is come it is in this case of afflictions as in mercies many times mercy comes unexpected And that might be a third answer to you set one against the other I have many mercies that I never lookt for as well as afflictions that I never lookt for why should not one rejoyce me as much as the other disturbs me As it is in mercies when they come unexpected the lesse preparation there was in me for receiving mercy the more need I have to be careful now to give God the glory of the mercy to sanctifie Gods name in the injoyment of the mercy Oh so it should be with us now we have had mercies this summer that we never expected and therefore we were not prepared for them now we should be so much the more carefull to give God the glory of them so when afflictions come that we did not expect then it seems we layde not in for them before hand we had need be the more carefull to sanctifie Gods name in them we should have spent some pains before to prepare for afflictions and we did not then take so much the more pains to sanctifie God in this affliction now and that 's a sift reasoning The Sixth Plea Oh but it is very great mine affliction it is exceeding great saith one and how ever you say we must be be contented it 's true you may say so that feele not such great afflictions but if you felt my affliction that I feele you would think it hard to bear and be content To that I answer let it be as great an affliction as it will it is not so great as thy sin He hath punished thee lesse then thy sins Secondly It might have bin a great deal more thou mightest have been in Hell And it is as I remember Bernards speech saith he It is an easier matter to be opprest then perish Thou might'st have been in Hell and therefore the greatnesse of the thing should not make thee murmur grant it be great Thirdly It may be it 's the greater because thy heart doth so murmur for shackles upon a mans legs if his legs be sore it will pain him the more if the shoulder be sore the burden is the greater it is because thy heart is so unsound that thy affliction is great unto thee And that 's a sixth reasoning A Seventh Plea But howsoever you may lessen my affliction yet I am sure it is far greater then the affliction of others First It may be it is thy discontent that makes it greater when indeed it is not so in it's self Secondly If it were greater then others why is thy eye evill because the eye of God is good Why shouldest thou be discontented the more because God is gracious to others Thirdly Is thy affliction greater then others Then in this thou hast an opportunity to honour God more then others so thou shouldest consider doth God afflict me more then other men God gives me an opportunity in this to honour him in this affliction more then other men To exercise more grace then other men let me labour to do it then Fourthly if all afflictions were layd upon a heap together It is a notable expression of Solon that wise Heathen saith he suppose all the afflictions that are in the world were layd upon a heap and every man should come and take a proportion of those afflictions every one equally there is scarce any man but would rather say let me have the afflictions that I had before or else he were like to come to a greater share a greater affliction if so be he should equally share with all the world Now for you that are poor that are not in extremity of poverty if all the riches in the world were layd together and you should have an equal share you would be poorer but take all afflictions and sorrows whatsoever if all the sorrows in the world were layd together in a heap and you had but an equal share of them your portion would be rather more then it is now for the present And therefore doe not complain that it is more then others so as to murmur because of that An Eighth Plea Another reasoning that mumurring hearts have is this why they think that if the affliction were any other then it is then they would be more contented First You must know that we are not to choose our own rod