Chapter 11: Motives and Means of Contentment

SECT. 1.

1. Consider the excellency of it. Contentment is a flower that does not grow in every garden; it teaches a man how in the midst of want to abound. You would think it were excellent, if I could prescribe a remedy, or antidote against poverty; but behold, here is that which is more excellent; for a man to want, and yet have enough, this alone contentment of spirit brings. Contentatio is [illegible], a remedy against all our troubles, a levamen to all our burdens, it is the cure of care. Contentment, though it be not properly a grace, it is rather a disposition of mind; yet in it there is optimum temperamentum, a happy temperature and mixture of all the graces: It is a most precious compound which is made up of faith, patience, meekness, etc. which are the ingredients put into it. Now there are in specie these seven rare excellencies in Contentment.

1. A contented Christian carries heaven about him; For what is heaven but that sweet repose and full contentment that the soul shall have in God? In Contentment there is the first fruits of heaven.

There are two things in a contented spirit which makes it like heaven.

1. God is there; Something of God is to be seen in that heart. A discontented Christian is like a rough tempestuous sea; when the water is rough, you can see nothing there; but when it is smooth and serene, then you may behold your face in the water. When the heart rages through discontent, it is like a rough sea; you can see nothing there, unless passion and murmuring; there is nothing of God, nothing of heaven in that heart; but by virtue of Contentment, it is like the sea when it is smooth and calm, there is a face shining there; you may see something of Christ in that heart, a representation of all the graces.

2. Rest is there. O what a Sabbath is kept in a contented heart! What a heaven! A contented Christian is like Noah in the Ark; though the Ark were tossed with waves, Noah could sit and sing in the Ark. The soul that is gotten into the Ark of Contentment, sits quiet, and sails above all the waves of trouble; he can sing in this spiritual Ark. The wheels of the chariot move, but the axle-tree stirs not; the circumference of the heavens is carried about the Earth, but the Earth moves not out of its centre. When we meet with motion and change in the creatures round about us, a contented spirit is not stirred or moved out of its centre. The sails of a mill move with the wind, but the mill itself stands still; an emblem of Contentment: When our outward estate moves with the wind of providence, yet the heart is settled through holy Contentment; and when others are like quicksilver shaking and trembling through disquiet, the contented spirit can say as David, O God, my heart is fixed, my heart is fixed; what is this but a piece of heaven?

2. Whatever is defective in the creature, is made up in Contentment. A Christian may want the comforts that others have, the land, and possessions; but God has distilled into his heart that Contentment which is far better; In this sense that is true of our Saviour, He shall have in this life a hundredfold. Perhaps he that ventured all for Christ, never has his house or land again; I, but God gives him a contented spirit; and this breeds such joy in the soul, as is infinitely sweeter than all his houses and lands which he left for Christ. It was sad with David in regard of his outward comforts; he being driven (as some think) from his Kingdom, yet in regard of that sweet contentment he found in God, he had more comfort than men use to have in time of harvest and vintage. One man has house and lands to live upon, another has nothing, only a small trade; yet even that brings in a livelihood. A Christian may have little in the world, but he drives the trade of contentment; and so he knows as well how to want, as to abound. O the rare art, or rather miracle of contentment! Wicked men are often disquieted in the enjoyment of all things; the contented Christian is well in the want of all things.

Quest. But how comes a Christian to be contented in the deficiency of outward comforts?

Answ. A Christian finds contentment distilled out of the breasts of the promises. He is poor in purse, but rich in promise. There is one promise brings much sweet contentment into the soul; They that seek the Lord, shall not want any good thing. If the thing we desire be good for us, we shall have it; if it be not good, then the not having it is good for us. The resting satisfied with this promise, gives contentment.

3. Contentment makes a man in tune to serve God; it oils the wheels of the soul, and makes it more agile and nimble; it composes the heart, and now is fit for prayer, meditation, etc. How can he that is in a passion of grief, or discontent, serve God without distraction? Contentment does prepare and tune the heart. First you prepare the viol, and wind up the strings, before you play a fit of music. When a Christian's heart is wound up to this heavenly frame of Contentment, then it is fit for duty. A discontented Christian is like Saul when the evil spirit came upon him. O what jarrings and discords does he make in prayer! When an army is put into a disorder, now it is not fit for battle: When the thoughts are scattered and distracted about the cares of this life, a man is not fit for devotion. Discontent takes the heart wholly off from God, and fixes it upon the present trouble, so that a man's mind is not upon his prayer, but upon his [reconstructed: cross].

Discontent does disjoint the soul, and it is impossible now that a Christian should go so steadily, and cheerfully in God's service. O how lame is his devotion! The discontented person gives God but half a duty, his religion is nothing but bodily exercise, it wants a soul to animate it. David would not offer that to God which cost him nothing; where there is too much worldly care, there is too little spiritual cost in a duty. The discontented person does his duties by halves; he is just like Ephraim, a cake not turned; he is a cake baked on one side; he gives God the outside, but not the spiritual part, his heart is not in duty; he is baked on one side, but the other side dough; and what profit is there of such raw, indigested services? He that gives God only the skin of worship, what can he expect more than the shell of comfort? Contentment brings the heart into frame; and then only do we give God the flower and spirits of a duty; when the soul is composed; now a Christian does [reconstructed: rem agere], his heart is intense and serious. There are some duties which we cannot perform as we ought without contentment; as,

1. To rejoice in God. How can he rejoice that is discontented? He is fitter for repining than rejoicing.

2. To be thankful for mercy. Can a discontented person be thankful? He can be fretful, not thankful.

3. To justify God in his proceedings. How can he do this who is discontented with his condition? He will sooner censure God's wisdom, than clear his justice. Oh then how excellent is contentment which does prepare, and as it were string the heart for duty? Indeed contentment does not only make our duties lively and agile, but acceptable. 'Tis this that puts beauty and worth into them; for contentment settles the soul. Now as it is with milk, when it is always stirring, you can make nothing of it, but let it settle a while and then it turns to cream: when the heart is overmuch stirred with disquiet and discontent, you can make nothing of those duties; how thin, how flattened, and jejune are they? But when the heart is once settled by holy contentment, now there is some worth in our duties, now they turn to cream.

4. Contentment is the spiritual arch, or pillar of the soul; it fits a man to bear burdens; he whose heart is ready to sink under the least sin, by virtue of this has a spirit invincible under sufferings. A contented Christian is like the camomile, the more it is trodden upon, the more it grows; as medicine works diseases out of the body, so does contentment work trouble out of the heart. Thus it argues; If I am under reproach, God can vindicate me; if I am in want, God can relieve me. You shall not see wind, nor rain; yet the valley shall be filled with water (2 Kings 3:17). Thus holy contentment keeps the heart from fainting; in the autumn when the fruit and leaves are blown off, still there is sap in the root: when there is an autumn upon our external felicity, the leaves of our estate drop off, still there is the sap of contentment in the heart; and a Christian has life inwardly, when his outward comforts do not blossom. The contented heart is never out of heart. Contentment is a golden shield, that does beat back discouragement. Humility is like the lead to the net, which keeps the soul down when it is rising through passion; and contentment is like the cork which keeps the heart up when it is sinking through discouragement. Contentment is the great underpropper; it is like the beam which bears whatever weight is laid upon it; nay, it is like a rock that breaks the waves.

'Tis strange to observe the same affliction lying upon two men, how differently they carry themselves under it. The contented Christian is like Samson, that carried away the gates of the city upon his back; he can go away with his cross cheerfully, and makes nothing of it; the other is like Issachar couching down under his burden: the reason is, the one is content, and that breeds courage; the other discontented, and that breeds fainting. Discontent swells the grief, and grief breaks the heart. When this sacred sinew of contentment begins to shrink, we go limping under our afflictions. We know not what burdens God may exercise us with, let us therefore preserve contentment; as is our contentment, such will be our courage. David with his five stones and his sling, defied Goliath, and overcame him. Get but contentment into the sling of your heart, and with this sacred stone you may both defy the world and conquer it; you may break those afflictions which else will break you.

5. A fifth excellence is, contentment prevents many sins and temptations.

1. It prevents many sins. Where there wants contentment, there wants no sin; discontentedness with our condition, is a sin that does not go alone, but is like the first link of the chain, which draws all the other links along with it. In particular, there are two sins which contentment prevents.

1. Impatience. Discontent and impatience are two twins; this evil is of the Lord, why should I wait any longer? As if God were so tied that he must give us the mercy just when we desire. Impatience is no small sin, as will appear, if you consider from where it arises; as,

1. It is for want of faith. Faith gives a right notion of God; it is an intelligent grace; it believes that God's wisdom tempers, and his love sweetens all ingredients; this works patience; shall I not drink the cup which my Father has given me? Impatience is the daughter of unbelief. If a patient has an ill opinion of the physician, and supposes that he comes to poison him, he will take none of his prescriptions. When we have a prejudice against God, and suppose that he comes to kill us, and undo us, then we storm, and cry out through impatience. We are like a foolish man ('tis Chrysostom's simile) that cries out, Away with the plaster, though it be in order to a cure; is it not better that the plaster smart a little, than the wound fester and rankle?

2. Impatience is for want of love to God. We will bear his reproofs whom we love, not only patiently, but thankfully. Love thinks no evil. It puts the fairest and most candid gloss upon the actions of a friend; love covers evil. If it were possible for God in the least manner to err, (which were blasphemy to think) love would cover that error; love takes every thing in the best sense; it makes us bear any stroke, it endures all things; had we love to God, we should have patience.

3. Impatience is for want of humility. The impatient man was never humbled under the burden of sin; he that studies his sins, the numberless number of them, how they are twisted together, and sadly accented, is patient, and says, I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him (Micah 7:9). The greater noise drowns the lesser; when the sea roars the rivers are still, he that lets his thoughts expatiate about sin, is both silent and amazed, he wonders it is no worse with him. How great then is this sin of impatience? And how excellent is contentment which is a Supersedeas or counterpoison against this sin. The contented Christian, believing that God does all in love, is patient, and has not one word to say, unless to justify God (Psalm 51:4). That is the first sin which contentment prevents.

2. It prevents murmuring, a sin which is a degree higher than the other; murmuring is a quarreling with God, and inveighing against him. They spoke against God (Numbers 21:5); the murmurer says interpretatively, that God has not dealt well with him, and he has deserved better from him. The murmurer charges God with folly; this is the language, or rather blasphemy of a murmuring spirit: God might have been a wiser and a better God. The murmurer is a mutineer. The Israelites are called in the same text murmurers and rebels; and is not rebellion as the sin of witchcraft? You that are a murmurer, are in the account of God as a witch, a sorcerer, as one that deals with the Devil. This is a sin of the first magnitude; murmuring often ends in cursing: Micah's mother fell to cursing when the talents of silver were taken away (Judges 17:2). So does the murmurer when a part of his estate is taken away; our murmuring is the Devil's music; this is that sin which God cannot bear. How long shall I bear with this people that murmur against me (Numbers 14:7)? It is a sin which whets the sword against a people, it is a land-destroying sin; Murmur you not as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer (1 Corinthians 10:10). It is a ripening sin; this, without God's mercy, will hasten England's funerals. O then how excellent is contentment which prevents this sin? To be contented and yet murmur, is a solecism; a contented Christian does acquiesce in his present condition, and does not murmur, but admire. Herein appears the excellency of contentment, it is a spiritual antidote against sin.

2. Contentment prevents many temptations; discontent is a devil that is always tempting. 1. It puts a man upon indirect means: he that is poor and discontented, will attempt anything; he will go to the devil for riches; he that is proud and discontented will hang himself, as Achitophel did when his counsel was rejected. Satan takes great advantage of our discontent; he loves to fish in these troubled waters. Discontent does both eclipse reason and weaken faith; and it is Satan's policy, he does usually break over the hedge where it is weakest. Discontent makes a breach in the soul, and usually at this breach the devil enters by a temptation, and storms the soul. How easily can the devil by his logic dispute a discontented Christian into sin? He forms such a syllogism as this: he that is in want must study self-preservation; but you are now in want, therefore you ought to study self-preservation. Hereupon to make good his conclusion, he tempts to the forbidden fruit, not distinguishing between what is needful and what is lawful. What? says he, do you want a livelihood? Never be such a fool as to starve; take the rising side at a venture, be it good or bad, eat the bread of deceit, drink the wine of violence. Thus you see how the discontented man is a prey to that sad temptation, to steal, and take God's name in vain (Proverbs 30:9). Contentment is a shield against temptation; for he that is contented, knows as well how to want, as to abound.

He will not sin to get a living; though the bill of fare grows short, he is content. He lives as the birds of the air upon God's Providence, and doubts not but he shall have enough to pay for his passage to heaven.

2. Discontent tempts a man to atheism and apostasy; sure there is no God to take care of things here below; would he suffer them to be in want who have walked mournfully before him? Says discontent: throw off Christ's livery, desist from your religion. Thus Job's wife, being discontented with her condition, says to her husband, Do you still retain your integrity (Job 2:9)? As if she had said, Do you not see, Job, what is become of all your religion? You fear God and avoid evil, and what are you the better? See how God turns his hand against you; he has smitten you in your body, estate, relations, and do you still retain your integrity? What? still devour? still weep and pray before him? You fool, cast off religion, turn atheist. Here was a grievous temptation that the Devil did hand over to Job, by his discontented wife; only his grace as a golden shield did ward off the blow from his heart: you speak as one of the foolish women. What profit is it, says the discontented person, to serve the Almighty (Malachi 3:14)? Those that never trouble themselves about religion, are the prosperous men, and I in the mean while suffer want: as good give over driving the trade of religion, if this be all my reward. This is a grievous temptation, and often it prevails; atheism is the fruit that grows out of the blossom of discontent.

Oh then behold the excellency of contentment, it does repel this temptation. If God be mine, says the contented spirit, it is enough, though I have no lands or tenements, his smile makes heaven; his loves are better than wine; better is the gleanings of Ephraim than the vintage of Abiezer (Judges 8:2). I have little in hand, but much in hope; my livelihood is short, but this is his promise, even eternal life (1 John 2:25). I am pursued by malice, but better is persecuted godliness than prosperous wickedness. Thus divine contentment is a spiritual antidote both against sin and temptation.

6. Contentment sweetens every condition. Christ turned the water into wine, so contentment turns the water of Marah into spiritual wine. Have I but little? yet it is more than I can deserve or challenge. This modicum is in mercy; it is the fruit of Christ's blood; it is the legacy of free grace: a small present sent from a King is highly valued; this little I have is with a good conscience. It is not stolen water; guilt has not muddied or poisoned it; it runs pure. This little is a pledge of more; this bit of bread, is an earnest of that bread which I shall eat in the Kingdom of God. This little water in the cruse, is an earnest of that heavenly nectar which shall be distilled from the true Vine. Do I meet with some crosses? my comfort is, if they be heavy, I have not far to go; I shall but carry my cross to Golgotha, and there I shall leave it; my cross is light in regard of the weight of glory. Has God taken away my comforts from me? it is well, the Comforter still abides. Thus contentment as a honeycomb drops sweetness into every condition. Discontent is a leaven that sours every comfort, it puts aloes and wormwood upon the breast of the creature, it lessens every mercy, it trebles every cross; but the contented spirit sucks sweetness from every flower of providence, it can make a treacle of poison. Contentedness is full of consolation.

7. Contentment has this excellency, it is the best commentator upon Providence; it makes a fair interpretation of all God's dealings. Let the providences of God be never so dark or bloody, contentment does construe them ever in the best sense. I may say of it as the Apostle of charity (1 Corinthians 13), it thinks no evil. Sickness (says contentment) is God's furnace, to refine his gold and make it sparkle the more; the prison is an oratory, or house of prayer. What if God melts away the creature from me? he saw perhaps my heart grew too much in love with it; had I been long in that fat pasture, I should have surfeited; and the better my estate had been, the worse my soul would have been. God is wise, he has done this, either to prevent some sin, or to exercise some grace. What a blessed frame of heart is this? A contented Christian is an advocate for God against unbelief and impatience; whereas discontent takes every thing from God in the worst sense; it does implead and censure God: this evil I feel is but a symptom of greater evil: God is about to undo me; the Lord has brought us here into the wilderness to slay us (Numbers 20:4). The contented soul takes all well; and when his condition is never so bad, he can say, Yet God is good (Psalm 73:1).

SECT. 2.

The second argument or motive to contentment is, a Christian has that which may make him content.

1. Has not God given you Christ? in him there are unsearchable riches; he is such a golden mine of wisdom and grace, that all the Saints and Angels can never dig to the bottom (Ephesians 3:1); he is an enriching pearl, a sparkling diamond, the infinite luster of his merits makes us shine in God's eyes (Ephesians 1:7); in him there is both fullness and sweetness; he is ineffabile bonum. Screw up your thoughts to the highest [illegible] and pinnacle, stretch them to the utmost period, let them expatiate to their full latitude and extent; yet they fall infinitely short of those ineffable and inexhaustible treasures which are locked up in Jesus Christ: and is not here enough to give the soul content? A Christian that wants necessaries, yet having Christ, he has the one thing needful.

2. Your soul is exercised and enameled with the graces of the Spirit, and is not here enough to give contentment? Grace is of a divine birth; it is the new plantation; it is the flower of the heavenly Paradise; it is the embroidery of the Spirit; it is the seed of God (1 John 3:9); it is the sacred unction (1 John 2:27); it is Christ's portraiture in the soul; it is the very foundation on which the superstructure of glory is laid. O, of what infinite value is grace! What a jewel is faith! well may it be called precious faith (2 Peter 1:1). What is love, but a divine sparkle in the soul? A soul beautified with grace, is like a room richly hung with tapestry, or the firmament bespangled with glittering stars. These are the true riches, which cannot stand with reprobation; and is not here enough to give the soul contentment? What are all other things but like the wings of a butterfly, curiously painted? but they defile our fingers. Earthly riches, says Augustine, are full of poverty; so indeed they are. For, first, they cannot enrich the soul; often times under silken apparel, there is a threadbare soul. Second, these are corruptible. Riches are not for ever, as the wise man says (Proverbs 27:24). Heaven is a place where gold and silver will not go; a believer is rich towards God (Luke 12:21), why then are you discontented? Has not God given you that which is better than the world? What if he does not give you the box, if he gives you the jewel? What if he denies you farthings, if he pays you in a better coin? he gives you gold, namely, spiritual mercies. Should not Joseph's brethren have been content that their sacks were filled with corn, though there had not been money in the mouth of their sacks? What if the water in the bottle be spent? you have enough in the fountain; what need he complain of the world's emptiness that has God's fullness? The Lord is my portion, says David, then let the lines fall where they will, in a sick-bed, or prison; I will say, The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a goodly heritage (Psalm 16:5).

SECT. 3.

The third argument is, be content, for else we confute our own prayers; we pray, Your will be done; it is the will of God that we should be in such a condition; he has decreed it, and he sees it best for us: why then do we murmur, and are discontented at that which we pray for? Either we are not in good earnest in our prayer, which argues hypocrisy, or else we contradict ourselves, which argues folly.

SECT. 4.

The fourth argument to contentment is, because now God has his end, and Satan misses his end.

1. God has his end. God's end in all his cross providences, is to bring the heart to submit and be content; and indeed this pleases God much, he loves to see his children satisfied with that portion he does carve, and allot them. It contents him to see us contented; therefore let us acquiesce in God's Providence; now God has his end.

2. Satan misses his end. The end why the Devil (though by God's permission) did smite Job, in his body and estate, was to perplex his mind; he did vex his body on purpose that he might disquiet his spirit. He hoped to bring Job into a fit of discontent; and then, that he would in a passion break forth against God; but Job being so well contented with his condition, as that he falls to blessing of God, he did now disappoint Satan of his hope. The Devil shall cast some of you into prison. Why does the Devil throw us into prison? It is not so much the hurting our body, as the molesting our mind that he aims at; he would imprison our contentment, and disturb the regular motion of our souls; this is his design: it is not so much the putting us into prison, as the putting us into a passion, that he attempts; but by holy contentment, Satan loses his prey, he misses his end. The Devil has often deceived us; the best way to deceive him, is by contentment in the midst of temptation; our contentment will discontent Satan. Oh, let us not gratify our enemy. Discontent is the Devil's delight; now it is as he would have it, he loves to warm himself at the fire of our passions. Repentance is the joy of the Angels, and discontent is the joy of the Devils: As the Devil dances at discord, so he sings at discontent. The fire of our passions makes the Devil a bonfire; it is a kind of heaven to him to see us torturing ourselves with our own troubles; but by holy contentment we frustrate him of his purpose, and do it as it were, put him out of countenance.

SECT. 5.

The next argument is, by contentment a Christian gets a victory over himself: For a man to be able to rule his own spirit, this of all others the most noble conquest. Passion denotes weakness; to be discontented, is suitable to flesh and blood; but to be in every state content; reproached, yet content; imprisoned, yet content; this is above nature; this is some of that holy valor and chivalry, which only a divine spirit is able to infuse. In the midst of the affronts of the world to be patient, and the changes of the world to have the spirit calmed; this argues ⟨ in non-Latin alphabet ⟩, as Homer speaks; this a conquest worthy indeed of the garland of honor. Holy Job divested and turned out of all, leaving his scarlet, and embracing the dunghill, (a sad catastrophe,) yet he had learned contentment. It is said, He fell upon the ground and worshiped. One would have thought he should have fallen upon the ground and blasphemed; no, he fell and worshiped. He adored God's justice and holiness; behold, the strength of grace; here was an humble submission, yet a noble conquest; he got the victory over himself. It is no great matter for a man to yield to his own passions, this is facile and feminine; but to content himself in denying of himself, this is sacred.

SECT. 6.

The sixth great argument to work the heart to contentment, is the consideration that all God's providences, how cross or bloody soever, shall do a believer good; And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God (Romans 8:28). Not only all good things, but all evil things work for good, and shall we be discontented at that which works for our good? Suppose our troubles are twisted together, and sadly accented, as the poet describes it.

Litora quot conchas, quot amoena Rosaria flores,

Quotve soporiferum grana papaver habet,

Sylva feras quot alit, quot piscibus unda natatur,

Et Tenerum pennis, aëra pulsat avis,

Tot premor adversis, &c. Ovid.

What if sickness, poverty, reproach, lawsuits, etc. do unite, and muster their forces against us? All shall work ⟨ in non-Latin alphabet ⟩, for good; our maladies shall be our medicines: and shall we repine at that which shall undoubtedly do us good? To the upright there arises light in darkness (Psalm 112:4). Affliction may be baptized Marah; it is bitter, but medicinal. Because this is so full of comfort, and may be a most excellent remedy against discontent; I shall a little expatiate.

Quest. It will be inquired how the evils of affliction work for good?

R. Several ways.

1. They are disciplinary; they teach us. The Psalmist having very elegantly described the church's trouble, Psalm 74, prefixes this title to the Psalm, ⟨ in non-Latin alphabet ⟩, which signifies a Psalm giving instruction; that which seals up instruction, works for good. God puts us sometimes under the black rod; but it is virga disciplinaris, a rod of discipline; Hear you the rod, and who has appointed it. God makes our adversity, our university: Affliction is a preacher; Blow the trumpet in Tekoah (Jeremiah 6:1). The trumpet was to preach to the people, as appears, verse 6, Be instructed, O Jerusalem. Sometimes God speaks to the minister to lift up his voice like a trumpet; and here he speaks to the trumpet, to lift up its voice like a minister. Afflictions teach us.

1. Humility, commonly prosperous and proud; corrections are God's corrosives to eat out the proud flesh. Jesus Christ is a Lily of the valleys, he dwells in an humble heart; God brings us into the valley of tears, that he may bring us into the valley of humility; Remembering my affliction, the wormwood and the gall, my soul has them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me (Lamentations 3:19-20). When men are grown high, God has no better way with them, than to brew them a cup of wormwood. Afflictions are compared to thorns; God's thorns are to prick the bladder of pride: suppose a man run at another with a sword to kill him, accidentally, it only lets out his abscess, this does him good. God's sword is to let out the abscess of pride, and shall that which makes us humble, make us discontented?

2. Afflictions teach us repentance, You have chastised me, and I was chastised. I repented, and after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh, etc. (Jeremiah 31:18-19). Repentance is the precious fruit that grows upon the cross. When the fire is put under the still, the water drops from the roses: fiery afflictions make the waters of repentance drop and distill from the eyes, and is here any cause of discontent?

3. Afflictions teach us to pray better: they poured out a prayer when your chastening was upon them. Before they would say a prayer, now they poured out a prayer. [reconstructed: He who snored in the ship was awake and praying in the whale's belly] — Jonah was asleep in the ship, but awake and at prayer in the whale's belly. When God puts under the firebrands of affliction, now our hearts boil over the more. God loves to have his children possessed with a spirit of prayer. Never did David the sweet singer of Israel tune his harp more melodiously; never did he pray better than when he was upon the waters. Thus afflictions do in discipline, and shall we be discontented at that which is for our good?

2. Afflictions are probatory. Gold is not the worse for being tried, or corn for being fanned. Affliction is the touchstone of sincerity; it tries what metal we are made of. Affliction is God's fan, and his sieve. It is good that men be known; some serve God for a livery — they are like the fisherman that makes use of his net, only to catch the fish. So they go fishing, with the net of religion, only to catch preferment. Affliction discovers these. The Donatists went to the Goths, when the Arians prevailed. Hypocrites will not fail in a storm; true grace holds out in the winter season. That is a precious faith, which like the star shines brightest in the darkest night. It is good that our graces should be brought to a trial; thus we have the comfort, and the gospel the honor — and why then be discontented?

3. Afflictions are expurgatory; these evils work for good, because they work out sin — and shall I be discontented at this? What if I have more trouble, if I have less sin? The brightest day has its clouds, the purest gold its dross, the most refined soul has some lees of corruption. The saints lose nothing in the furnace, but what they can well spare — their dross. Is not this for our good? Why then should we murmur? "I am come to send fire on the earth" (Luke 12:49). Tertullian understands it of the fire of affliction. God makes this like the fire of the three children, which burned only their bonds, and set them at liberty in the furnace. So the fire of affliction serves to burn the bonds of iniquity. "By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit, to take away his sin" (Isaiah 27:9). When affliction or death comes to a wicked man, it takes away his soul; when it comes to a godly man, it only takes away his sin. Is there then any cause why we should be discontented? God steeps us in the briny waters of affliction, that he may take out our spots. God's people are his husbandry; the plowing of the ground kills the weeds, and the harrowing of the earth breaks the hard clods. God's plowing of us by affliction is to kill the weeds of sin; his harrowing of us is to break the hard clods of impenitency, that the heart may be the fitter to receive the seeds of grace. And if this be all, why should we be discontented?

4. Afflictions do both exercise and increase grace.

First, they exercise grace: affliction does breathe our graces. Everything is most in its excellency when it is most in its exercise. Our grace, though it cannot be dead, yet it may be asleep, and has need of awakening. What a dull thing is the fire when it is hid in the embers, or the sun when it is masked with a cloud. A sick man is living, but not lively. Afflictions quicken and excite grace. God does not love to see grace in the eclipse. Now faith puts forth its purest and most noble acts in times of affliction: God makes the fall of the leaf the spring of our graces. What if we are more passive, if grace be more active?

2. Afflictions do increase grace: as the wind serves to increase and blow up the flame, so do the windy blasts of affliction augment and blow up our graces. Grace is spent in the furnace, but it is like the widow's oil in the cruse, which did increase by pouring out. The torch when it is beaten burns brightest, so does grace when it is exercised by sufferings. Sharp frosts nourish the good corn, so do sharp afflictions nourish grace. Some plants grow better in the shade than in the sun, as the bay and the cypress. The shade of adversity is better for some than the sunshine of prosperity. Naturalists observe that the colewort thrives better when it is watered with salt water than with fresh. So do some thrive better in the salt water of affliction — and shall we be discontented at that which makes us grow and fructify more?

5. These afflictions do bring more of God's immediate presence into the soul. When we are most assaulted, we shall be most assisted: "I will be with him in trouble" (Psalm 91:15). It cannot be ill with that man with whom God is by his powerful presence in supporting, and his gracious presence in sweetening the present trial. God will be with us in trouble, not only to behold us, but to uphold us — as he was with Daniel in the lion's den, and the three children in the furnace. What if we have more trouble than others, if we have more of God with us than others have? We never have sweeter smiles from God's face than when the world begins to look strange. "Your statutes have been my songs" — where? Not when I was upon the throne, but in the house of my pilgrimage (Psalm 119:54). We read, "The Lord was not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire" (1 Kings 19:11). But in a metaphorical and spiritual sense, when the wind of affliction blows upon a believer, God is in the wind; when the fire of affliction kindles upon him, God is in the fire — namely, to sanctify, to support, to sweeten. If God be with us, the furnace shall be turned into a festival, the prison into a paradise, the earthquake into a joyful dance. Oh, why should I be discontented when I have more of God's company?

6. These evils of affliction are for good, as they bring with them certificates of God's love, and are evidences of his special favor. Affliction is the saints' livery — it is a badge and cognizance of honor. That the God of glory should look upon a worm, and take so much notice of him, as to afflict him rather than lose him, is a high act of favor. God's rod is Sceptrum Regale, a scepter of dignity. Job calls God's afflicting of us his magnifying of us (Job 7:17). Some men's prosperity has been their shame, when others' affliction has been their crown.

7. These afflictions work for our good, because they work for us a far more exceeding weight of glory. That which works for my glory in heaven, works for my good; we do not read in Scripture that any man's honor and riches do work for him a weight of glory, but afflictions do; and shall a man be discontented at that which works for his glory? The heavier the weight of affliction, the heavier the weight of glory; not that our sufferings do merit glory, (as the Papists do wickedly gloss;) but though they are not causa, they are via; they are not the cause of our crown, yet they are the way to it, and God makes us as he did our captain perfect through sufferings; and shall not all this make us contented with our condition? Oh I beseech you, look not upon the evil of affliction, but the good. Afflictions in Scripture are called visitations, the word in the Hebrew [illegible], to visit, is taken in good sense as well as a bad. God's afflictions are but friendly visits; behold here God's rod like Aaron's rod blossoming, and Jonathan's rod, it has honey at the end of it. Poverty shall starve our sins; the sickness of the body shall cure a sin-sick soul: Oh then instead of murmuring and being discontented, bless the Lord; had you not met with such a rub in the way, you might have gone to hell and never stopped.

SECT. 7.

The next argument to contentment is, consider the evil of discontent. Discontent has a mixture of grief and anger in it, and both these must needs raise a storm in the soul. Have you not seen the posture of a sick man? Sometimes he will sit upon his bed, by and by he will lie down, and when he is down, he is not quiet; first he turns on one side, and then on the other, he is restless: this is just the emblem of a discontented spirit, the man is not sick, yet he is never well, sometimes he likes such a condition of life, and when he has it, yet he is not pleased, he is soon weary; and then another condition of life, this is an evil under the sun.

Now the evil of discontent appears in three things.

1. The sordidness of it, it is unworthy of a Christian.

First, it is unworthy of his profession. It was the saying of a heathen, Bear your condition quietly, nosce te esse hominem, know you are a man. So I say, Bear your condition contentedly, nosce te esse Christianum, know you are a Christian. You profess to live by faith, what, and not content? Faith is a grace that does substantiate things not seen, faith looks beyond the creature, it feeds upon promises, faith lives not by bread alone. When the water is spent in the bottle, faith knows where to have recourse; now, to see a Christian dejected in the want of visible supplies, and recruits, where is faith? Oh, says one, my estate in the world is down. Yes, and which is worse, your faith is down. Will you not be contented, unless God let down the vessel to you as he did to Peter, wherein were all manner of beasts of the earth, and fowls of the air, must you have first and second course? This is like Thomas, Unless I put my finger into the print of the nails, I will not believe. So, unless you have a sensible feeling of outward comforts, you will not be content. True faith will trust God where it cannot trace him, and will venture upon God's bond though it has nothing in view. You who are discontented because you have not all you would, let me tell you either your faith is a non-entity, or at best but an embryo; it's a weak faith that must have stilts and crutches to support it. Indeed, discontent is not only below faith, but below reason; why are you discontented? Is it because you are dispossessed of such comforts? Well, and have you not reason to guide you? Does not reason tell you that you are but tenants at will? And may not God turn you out when he pleases? You hold not your estate jure, but gratis, not by a juridical right, but upon favor and courtesy.

2. It is unworthy of the relation we stand in to God; a Christian is invested with the title and privilege of sonship; he is an heir of the promise: Oh consider the lot of free grace is fallen upon you, you are nearly allied to Christ, and of the blood royal; you are advanced, in some sense, above the angels; why then are you, being the king's son, lean from day to day (2 Samuel 13:4)? Why are you discontented? Oh how unworthy is this? As if the heir to some great monarch should go pining up and down because he may not pick such a flower.

2. Consider the sinfulness of it; which appears in three things.

of it. - The causes - The concomitants - The consequences

1. It is sinful in the causes; which are these.

1. Pride. He that thinks highly of his deserts, usually esteems meanly of his condition; a discontented man is a proud man, he thinks himself better than others, therefore finds fault with the wisdom of God that he is not above others. Thus the thing formed says to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus? Why am I not higher? Discontents are nothing else but the surgings and boilings over of pride.

2. The second cause of discontent is envy, which Augustine calls vitium diabolicum, the sin of the Devil; Satan envied Adam the glory of Paradise, and the robe of innocence: he that envies what his neighbor has, is never contented with that portion which God's providence does parcel out to him; as envy stirs up strife, (this made the Plebeian faction so strong among the Romans) so it creates discontent; the envious man looks so much upon the blessings which another enjoys, that he cannot see his own mercies, and so does continually vex and torture himself. Cain envied that his brother's sacrifice was accepted, and his rejected, at this he was discontented, and presently murderous thoughts began to arise in his heart.

3. The third cause is covetousness. This is a radical sin. From where are vexing lawsuits, but from discontent? And from where is discontent, but from covetousness? Covetousness and contentedness cannot dwell in the same heart. Avarice is a glutton, that is never satisfied. The covetous man is like Behemoth, behold, he drinks up a river, he trusts that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. There are four things (says Solomon) that say, It is not enough. I may add a fifth, The heart of a covetous man, he is still craving. Covetousness is like a wolf in the breast, which is ever feeding; and because a man is not satisfied, he is never content.

4. The fourth cause of discontent is jealousy, which is sometimes occasioned through melancholy, and sometimes misapprehension. The spirit of jealousy causes this evil spirit. Jealousy is the rage of a man: and often, this is nothing but suspicion and fancy; yet such as creates real discontent.

5. The fifth cause of discontent is distrust, which is a great degree of atheism. The discontented person is ever distrustful. The bill of provision grows low; I am in these straits and exigencies, can God help me? Can he prepare a table in the wilderness? Sure he cannot. My estate is exhausted, can God recruit me? My friends are gone, can God raise me up more? Sure the arm of his power is shrunk. I am like the dry fleece, can any water come upon this fleece? If the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? Thus the anchor of hope, and the shield of faith being cast away, the soul goes pining up and down.

Discontent is nothing else but the echo of unbelief: and remember distrust is worse than distress.

2. Discontent is evil in the concomitants of it, which are two.

1. Discontent is joined with a sullen melancholy; a Christian of a right temper should be ever cheerful in God; Serve the Lord with gladness (Psalm 100:2). A sign the oil of grace has been poured into the heart, when the oil of gladness shines in the countenance. Cheerfulness credits religion; how can the discontented person be cheerful? Discontent is a dogged, sullen humor; because we have not what we desire, God shall not have a good word or look from us; as the bird in the cage, because she is pent up, and cannot fly in the open air, therefore beats herself against the cage, and is ready to kill herself. Thus that peevish prophet; I do well to be angry to the death (Jonah 4).

2. Discontent is accompanied with unthankfulness; because we have not all we desire, we never mind the mercies which we have: we deal with God as the widow of Zarephath did with the prophet; the prophet Elijah had been a means to keep her alive in the famine; for it was for his sake that her meal in the barrel, and her oil in the cruse failed not; but as soon as ever her son dies, she falls into a passion, and begins to quarrel with the prophet; What have I to do with you, O you man of God (1 Kings 17:18)? Are you come to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? So ungratefully do we deal with God; we can be content to receive mercies from God; but if he does cross us in the least thing, then through discontent, we grow touchy and impatient, and are ready to fly upon God; thus God loses all his mercies. We read in Scripture of the thank-offering. The discontented person cuts God short of this; the Lord loses his thank-offering. A discontented Christian repines in the midst of mercies, as Adam, who sinned in the midst of Paradise. Discontent is a spider that sucks the poison of unthankfulness out of the sweetest flower of God's blessings; and by a devilish chemistry extracts dross out of the most refined gold. The discontented person thinks every thing he does for God too much, and every thing God does for him too little. O what a sin is unthankfulness! It is an accumulative sin. What Cicero says of parricide, I may say of ingratitude: there are many sins bound up in this one sin, it is a voluminous wickedness; and how full of this sin is discontent? A discontented Christian, because he has not all he would, therefore dishonors God with the mercies which he has. God made Eve out of Adam's rib, to be a helper (as the father speaks;) but the Devil made an arrow of this rib, and shot Adam to the heart: so does discontent take the rib of God's mercy and ungratefully shoot at him; estate, liberty shall be employed against God. Thus it is often-times; behold then how discontent and ingratitude are interwoven and twisted one within another, thus discontent is sinful in its concomitants (2 Chronicles 29:31).

3. It is sinful in its consequences, which are these:

1. It makes a man very unlike the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is a meek Spirit. The Holy Ghost descended in the likeness of a Dove (Matthew 3:16). A dove is the emblem of meekness; a discontented spirit is not a meek spirit.

2. It makes a man like the Devil. The Devil, being swelled with the poison of envy and malice, is never content: just so is the malcontent. The Devil is an unquiet spirit, he is still walking about; it is his rest to be walking (1 Peter 5:8). And herein is the discontented person like him; for he goes up and down vexing himself, seeking rest and finding none; he is the Devil's picture.

3. Discontent disjoints the soul, it untunes the heart for duty; Is any man afflicted, let him pray (James 5:13). But, is any man discontented, how shall he pray? Lift up pure hands without wrath (1 Timothy 5:8). Discontent is full of wrath and passion; the malcontent cannot lift up pure hands; he lifts up leprous hands, he poisons his prayers; will God accept of a poisoned sacrifice? Chrysostom compares prayer to a fine garland; those, says he, that make a garland, their hands need to be clean: prayer is a precious garland, the heart that makes it needs to be clean. Discontent throws poison into the spring, (which was death among the Romans;) discontent puts the heart into a disorder and mutiny, and such a one cannot serve the Lord without distraction.

4. Discontent sometimes unfits for the very use of reason; Jonah in a passion of discontent, spoke no better than blasphemy, and nonsense; I do well, says he, to be angry to the death (Jonah 4:8). What? To be angry with God? And to die for anger? Sure he did not know well what he said. When discontent transports, then like Moses, we speak unadvisedly with our lips. This humor does even suspend the very acts of reason.

5. Discontent does not only disquiet a man's self, but those who are near him. This evil spirit troubles families, parishes, etc. If there be but one string out of tune, it spoils all the music. One discontented spirit makes jarring and discords among others. It is this ill humor that breeds quarrels, and lawsuits. From where is all our contention, but for want of contentment? From where come wars and fightings among you, come they not hence, even of your lusts (James 4:1)? In particular from this lust of discontent? Why did Absalom raise a war against his father, and would have taken off not only his crown, but his head? Was it not his discontent? Absalom would be king. Why did Ahab stone Naboth? Was it not discontent about the vineyard? Oh this devil of discontent! Thus you have seen the sinfulness of it.

3. Consider the simplicity of it. I may say as the Psalmist, "Surely they are disquieted in vain" (Psalm 39:6), which appears thus.

Is it not a vain simple thing to be troubled at the loss of that which is in its own nature perishing and changeable? God has put a vicissitude into the creature; all the world rings changes, and for me to meet with inconstancy here, to lose a friend, estate, to be in a constant fluctuation, is no more than to see a flower wither, or a leaf drop off in autumn. There is an autumn upon every comfort, a fall of the leaf; now it is extreme folly to be discontented at the loss of those things which are in their own nature loseable. What Solomon says of riches, is true of all things under the sun, they take wings. Noah's Dove brought an Olive-branch in its mouth, but presently flew out of the Ark, and never returned more: such a comfort brings to us honey in its mouth, but it has wings; and to what purpose should we be troubled, unless we had wings to fly after and overtake it?

Discontent is a heart-breaking; by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken, it takes away the comfort of life. There is none of us but have many mercies if we can see them; now, because we have not all we desire, therefore we will lose the comfort of that which we have already. Jonah having his Gourd smitten (a withering vanity,) was so discontented, that he never thought of his miraculous deliverance out of the Whale's belly; he takes no comfort of his life, but wishes that he might die. What folly is this? We must have all or none; herein we are like children, that throw away the piece which is cut them, because they may have no bigger. Discontent eats out the comfort of life. Besides, it were well if it were seriously weighed how prejudicial this is, even to our health: for discontent, as it does torment the mind, so it does pine the body; it frets as a moth, and by wasting the spirits, weakens the vitals; the pleurisy of discontent brings the body into a consumption; and is not this folly?

Discontent does not ease us of our burden, but makes the cross heavier. A contented spirit goes cheerfully under its affliction. Discontent makes our grief as unsupportable, as it is unreasonable. If the leg be well, it can endure a fetter, and not complain; but if the leg be [reconstructed: sore] before, then the fetter troubles. Discontent of mind is the sore that makes the fetters of affliction more grievous. Discontent troubles us more than the trouble itself, it steeps the affliction in wormwood. When Christ was upon the Cross, the Jews brought him gall and vinegar to drink, that it might add to his sorrow. Discontent brings to a man in affliction gall and vinegar to drink; this is worse than the affliction itself. Is it not folly for a man to embitter his own cross?

Discontent spins out our troubles the longer. A Christian is discontented, because he is in want; and therefore he is in want, because he is discontented; he murmurs, because he is afflicted; and therefore he is afflicted, because he murmurs. Discontent does delay and adjourn our mercies. God deals herein with us as we use to do with our children; when they are quiet and cheerful, they shall have anything; but if we see them cry and fret, then we withhold from them: we get nothing from God by our discontent, but blows. The more the child struggles, the more it is beaten: when we struggle with God by our sinful passions, he doubles and trebles his strokes; God will tame our cursed hearts. What got Israel by their peevishness? They were within an 11 days' journey of Canaan, and now they were discontented, and began to murmur; God leads them a march of forty years long in the wilderness. Is it not folly for us to adjourn our own mercies? Thus you have seen the evil of discontent. I have been long upon this argument; but nunquam nimis dicitur quod nunquam satis dicitur.

Section 8.

The next argument or motive to contentment is this; why is not a man content with the competency which he has? Perhaps if he had more, he would be less content. The world is such, that the more we have, the more we crave; it cannot fill the heart of man. When the fire burns, how do you quench it? Not by pouring oil on the flame, or laying on more wood, but by withdrawing the fuel. When the appetite is inflamed after riches, how may a man be satisfied? Not by having just what he desires, but by withdrawing the fuel, namely, moderating and lessening his desires. He that is contented has enough. A man in a fever or dropsy, thirsts; how do you satisfy him? Not by giving him liquid things which will inflame his thirst the more, but by removing the cause, and so curing his distemper. The way for a man to be contented, is not by raising his estate higher, but by bringing his heart lower.

Section 9.

The next argument to contentment is the shortness of life. It is but a vapor, says James [illegible], life is a wheel ever running. The poets painted time with wings, to show the speed and swiftness of it. Job compares it to a swift post (our life rides post) and to a day, not a year. It is indeed like a day. Infancy is as it were the daybreak, youth is the sunrise, full growth is the sun at the meridian, old age is sunset. Sickness is the evening, then comes the night of death. How quickly is this day of life spent? Often times this sun goes down at noonday; life ends before the evening of old age comes; in fact, sometimes the sun of life sets presently after sunrise. Quickly after the dawning of infancy, the night of death approaches; in fact, sometimes the life is eclipsed before the dawning of infancy, when the mother's womb becomes the tomb. Oh, how short is the life of man! The consideration of the brevity of life may work the heart to contentment. Remember you are to be here but a day; pàrùm viae, quid multùm viatici? You have but a short way to go, and what needs a long provision for a short way? If a traveler has but enough to bring him to his journey's end, he desires no more. We have but a day to live, and perhaps we may be in the twelfth hour of the day; why, if God give us but enough to bear our charges till night, it is sufficient. Let us be content. If a man had the lease of a house or farm, but for two or three days, and he should fall a building and planting, would he not be judged very indiscreet? So when we have but a short time here, and death calls us presently off the stage, to thirst immoderately after the world, and pull down our souls to build up an estate, is it not extreme folly? Therefore as Esau said once in a profane sense concerning his birthright: Lo, I am at the point to die, and what profit shall this birthright do to me? So let a Christian say in a religious sense: Lo, I am even at the point of death, my grave is going to be made, and what good will the world do me? If I have but enough till sunset, I am content.

SECT. 10.

The tenth argument or motive to contentment is: consider seriously the nature of a prosperous condition. There are in a prosperous estate three things.

1. Plus molestiae, more trouble. Many who have abundance of all things to enjoy, yet have not so much content and sweetness in their lives, as some that go to their hard labor. Sad, solicitous thoughts do often attend a prosperous condition. Care is the malus genius, or evil spirit which haunts the rich man, and will not suffer him to be quiet. When his chest is full of gold, his heart is full of care, either how to manage, or how to increase, or how to secure what he has gotten. Oh the troubles and perplexities that do wait upon prosperity! The world's high seats are very uneasy; sunshine is pleasant, but sometimes it scorches with its heat; the bee gives honey, but sometimes it stings: prosperity has its sweetness, and also its sting. Competency with contentment is far more eligible. Never did Jacob sleep better than when he had the heavens for his canopy, and a hard stone for his pillow. A large voluminous estate is but like a long trailing garment, which is more troublesome than useful.

2. In a prosperous condition there is plus periculi, more danger, and that two ways.

First, Ex parte ipsius, in respect of a man's self. The rich man's table is often his snare; he is ready to engulf himself too deep in these sweet waters. In this sense it is hard to know how to abound. It must be a strong brain that bears heady wine; he had need have much wisdom and grace that knows how to bear a high condition; either he is ready to kill himself with care, or surfeit himself upon luscious delights. Oh the hazard of honor, the damage of dignity! Pride, security, rebellion, are the three worms that breed of plenty. The pastures of prosperity are rank and surfeiting. How soon are we broken upon the soft pillow of ease? Prosperity is often a trumpet that sounds a retreat, it calls men off from the pursuit of religion. The sun of prosperity often dulls, and puts out the fire of zeal. How many souls has the pleurisy of abundance killed? They that will be rich, fall into snares. The world is birdlime at our feet, it is full of golden sands, but they are quicksands. Prosperity, like smooth Jacob, will supplant and betray; a great estate without much vigilance will be a thief to rob us of heaven; such as are upon the pinnacle of honor, are in most danger of falling.

Saepius ventis agitatur ingens Pinus, & celsae graviore casu Decidunt turres, feriuntque summos Fulmina montes, &c. Hor. carm. l. 2. ode. 10.

A lower estate is less hazardous. The little pinnace rides safe by the shore, when the gallant ship advancing with its mast and topsail, is cast away. Homo victus in Paradiso, victor in stercore. Adam in Paradise was overcome, when Job on the dung-hill was a conqueror. Samson fell asleep on Delilah's lap: some have fallen so fast asleep on the lap of ease and plenty, that they have never awaked till they have been in hell. The world's fawning is worse than its frowning; and it is more to be feared when it smiles, than when it thunders. Prosperity in Scripture is compared to a candle (Job 29:3): When his candle shined upon my head. How many have burnt their wings about this candle; [reconstructed: Segetem ubertas nimiae sternit, rami onere franguntur, ad maturitatem non pervenit nimia foecunditas]: The corn being over-ripe sheds, and fruit when it mellows, begins to rot; when men do mellow with the sun of prosperity, commonly their souls begin to rot in sin. How hard is it for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven? His golden weights keep him from ascending up the hill of God; and shall we not be content, though we are placed in a lower orb? What if we are not in so much bravery, and gallantry as others? We are not in so much danger; as we want the honor of the world, so the temptations. Oh the abundance of danger that is in abundance! We see by common experience, that lunatics, when the Moon is declining and in the wane, are sober enough; but when it is in the full, they are more wild and exorbitant: when men's estates are in the wane, they are more serious about their souls, more humble; but when it is the full of the Moon, and they have abundance, then their hearts begin to swell with their estates, and are scarce themselves. Those that write concerning the several climates; observe, that such as live in the northern parts of the world, if you bring them into the south part, they lose their stomachs, and die quickly; but those that live in the more southern hot climates, bring them into the north, and their stomachs mend, and they are long-lived: Give me leave to apply it; bring a man from the cold starving climate of poverty, into the hot southern climate of prosperity, and he begins to lose his appetite to good things, he grows weak, and a thousand to one if all his religion does not die; but bring a Christian from the south to the north, from a rich flourishing estate into a jejune low condition, let him come into a more cold and hungry air, and then his stomach mends, he has better appetite after heavenly things, he hungers more after Christ, he thirsts more for grace, he eats more at one meal of the bread of life than at six before; this man is now like to live and hold out in his religion; be content then with a modicum, if you have but enough to pay for your passage to heaven, it suffices.

A prosperous condition is dangerous ex parte vicini, in regard of others; a great estate for the most part draws envy to it. Whereas in parvis quies. David a shepherd was quiet, but David a courtier, was pursued by his enemies: envy cannot endure a superior; an envious man knows not how to live but upon the ruins of his neighbor; he raises himself higher by bringing others lower. Prosperity is an eye-sore to many. Such sheep as have most wool are soonest fleeced. The barren tree grows peaceably, no man meddles with the ash or willow, but the apple tree and the damson shall have many rude suitors. Oh then be content to carry a lesser sail; he that has less revenues has less envy; such as bear the fairest frontispiece, and make the greatest show in the world, are the target for envy and malice to shoot at.

A prosperous condition has in it plus recensionis, a greater reckoning; every man must be responsible for his talents. You who have great possessions in the world, do you trade your estate for God's glory? Are you rich in good works? Are you a [non-Latin text]? Grace makes a private person a common good. Do you disburse your money for public uses? It is lawful (in this sense) to put out our money to use. Oh let us all remember an estate is a depositum, we are but stewards, and our Lord and Master will before long say, Give an account of your stewardship; the greater our estate, the greater our charge; the more our revenues, the more our reckonings. You that have a lesser mill going in the world, be content, God will expect less from you, where he has sown more sparingly.

Section 11.

The eleventh argument is the example of those who have been eminent for contentment. Examples are usually more forcible than precepts. Abraham being called out to hard service, and such as was against flesh and blood, was content. God bids him offer up his son Isaac; this was a great work: Isaac was filius senectutis, the son of his old age; filius dilectionis, the son of his love; [reconstructed: filius promissionis], the son of the promise. Christ the Messiah was to come of his line — in Isaac shall your seed be blessed — so that to offer up Isaac seemed not only to oppose Abraham's reason, but his faith too; for if Isaac die, the world for aught he knew must be without a Mediator. Besides, if Isaac be sacrificed, was there no other hand to do it but Abraham's? Must the father needs be the executioner? Must he that was the instrument of giving Isaac his being, be the instrument of taking it away? Yet Abraham does not dispute or hesitate, but believes against hope, and is content with God's prescription. So, when God called him to leave his country, he was content. Some would have argued thus: what? leave all my friends, my native soil, my brave situation, and go turn pilgrim? Abraham is content; besides, Abraham went blindfolded, he knew not where he went. God held him in suspense — he must go wander he knows not where; and when he does come to the place God had laid out for him, he knows not what oppositions he shall meet with there; the world does seldom cast a favorable aspect upon strangers, yet he is content, and obeys. He sojourned in the land of promise; behold a little his pilgrimage. First, he goes to Charron, a city in Mesopotamia; when he had sojourned there a while, his father dies; then he removes to Sichem, then to Bethlem in Canaan; there a famine arises, then he went down to Egypt, after that he returns into Canaan. When he came there (it is true, he had a promise) but he found nothing to answer expectation; he had not there one foot of land, but was an exile. In this time of his sojourning he buried his wife; and as for his dwelling, he had no sumptuous buildings, but led his life in poor cottages. All this was enough to have broken any man's heart; Abraham might think thus with himself: is this the land I must possess? Here is no probability of any good; all things are against me. Well, is he discontented? No — God says to him, Abraham, go leave your country, and this word was enough to lead him all the world over; he is immediately upon his march: here was a man who had learned to be content. But let us descend a little lower, to heathens. Zeno (of whom Seneca speaks) who had once been very rich, hearing of a shipwreck, and that all his goods were drowned at sea, said: Fortune has dealt well with me, and would have me now to study philosophy (he spoke in a heathen dialect); he was content to change his course of life, to leave off being a merchant, and turn philosopher. And if a heathen said thus, shall not a Christian much more say when the world is drained from him: Iubet Deus mundum derelinquere & Christum expeditius sequi — God would have me leave off following the world, and study Christ more, and how to get to heaven? Do I see a heathen contented, and a Christian disquieted? How did heathens vilify those things which Christians magnify? Though they knew not God, or what true happiness meant, yet would speak very sublimely of a numen or deity, and of the life to come, as Aristotle and Plato; and for those Elysian delights which they did but fancy, they undervalued and despised the things here below. It was the doctrine they taught their scholars, and which some of them practiced, that men should strive to be contented with a little; they were willing to make an exchange, to have less gold, and more learning. And shall not we be content then to have less of the world, so we may have more of Christ? May not Christians blush to see heathens content with a viaticum, so much as would recruit nature, and to see themselves so transported with the love of earthly things; that if they begin a little to abate, and the bill of provision grows short, they murmur, and are like Micah: have you taken away my gods, and do you ask me what I ail? Have heathens gone so far in contentment, and is it not sad for us to come short of them that came short of heaven? These heroes of their time, how did they embrace death itself? Socrates died in prison, Hercules was burned alive, Cato (whom Seneca calls virtutum viva imago, the lively image and portraiture of virtue) thrust through with a sword — but how bravely, and with what contentment of spirit did they die? Shall I, says Seneca, weep for Cato, or Regulus, or the rest of those worthies that died with so much valor and patience? Did not cross providences make them to alter their countenance? And do I see a Christian appalled and amazed? Did not death affright them, and does it distract us? Did the springhead of nature rise so high, and shall not grace, like the waters of the Sanctuary, rise higher? We that pretend to live by faith, may we not go to school to them who had no other pilot but reason to guide them? In fact, let me come a step lower, to creatures void of reason; we see every creature is contented with its allowance, the beasts with their provender, the birds with their nests — they live only upon providence; and shall we make ourselves below them? Let a Christian go to school to the ox and the ass, to learn contentedness. We think we never have enough, and are still laying up; the fowls of the air do not lay up, they reap not, nor gather into barns — it is an argument which Christ brings to make Christians contented with their condition. The birds do not lay up, yet they are provided for, and are contented. Are you not (says Christ) much better than they? But if you are discontented, are you not much worse than they? Let these examples quicken us.

SECT. 12.

The twelfth argument to contentment is, whatever change or trouble a child of God meets with, it is all the hell he shall have. Whatever eclipse may be upon his name, or estate; I may say of it as Athanasius of his banishment, it is [reconstructed: nubecula] citò transitura, a little cloud which will soon be blown over; and then his gulf is shot, his hell is past. Albus ut obscuro detergit nubila coelo Saepè notus, neque parturit imbres Perpetuos, sic tu Sapiens finire memento Tristitiam. Horace, Ode 7, Book 1

Death begins a wicked man's hell, but it puts an end to a godly man's hell. Think with yourself, what if I endure this, it is but a temporary hell; indeed, if all our hell be here, it is but an easy hell. What is the cup of affliction to the cup of damnation? Lazarus could not get a crumb; he was so diseased, that the dogs took pity on him, and (as if they had been his physicians) licked his sores; but this was an easy hell, the angels quickly fetched him out of it. If all our hell be in this life, in the midst of this hell we may have the love of God, and then it is no more hell, but Paradise. If our hell be here, we may see to the bottom of it; it is but skin-deep, it cannot touch the soul, and we may see to the end of it; it is a hell that is short-lived: After a wet night of affliction comes a bright morning of the Resurrection; if our lives are short, our trials cannot be long. As our riches take wings and fly, so do our sufferings; then let us be contented.

Section 13.

The last argument to contentment is this: To have a competency and to want contentment is a great judgment. For a man to have a huge stomach, that whatever meat you give him, he is still craving, and never satisfied; you use to say, this is a great judgment upon the man: You who are heluo pecuniae, a devourer of money, and yet never have enough, but still cry, Give, give, this is a sad judgment; They shall eat, and not have enough. The throat of a malicious man is an open sepulcher, so is the heart of a covetous man. Covetousness is not only malum culpae, but malum poenae; it is not only a sin, but the punishment of a sin. It is a secret curse upon a covetous person, he shall thirst, and thirst, and never be satisfied; He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, and is not this a curse? What was it but a severe judgment upon the people of Judah? You eat, but you have not enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink. Oh let us take heed of this plague; Did Esau say to his brother, I have abundance, my brother, or as we translate it, I have enough? And shall not a Christian say so much more? It is sad that our hearts should be as a stone to heavenly influences, and as a sponge to earthly vapors. Let all that has been said work our minds to holy contentment.