Chapter 14: Use 5 — Direction: Rules for Attaining Contentment

Use 5. I proceed now to a use of direction, to show Christians how they may attain to this divine art of contentment. Certainly it is feasible; others of God's saints have reached to it. Saint Paul here had it; and what do we think of those we read of in that little book of martyrs (Hebrews 11), who had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, who wandered about in deserts and caves, yet were contented — so that it is possible to be had. And here I shall lay down some rules for holy contentment.

SECT. 1.

All our disquiets do issue immediately from unbelief. It is this that raises the storm of discontent in the heart. Oh, set faith to work; it is the property of faith to silence our doubts, to scatter our fears, to still the heart when the passions are up. Faith works the heart to a sweet, serene composure; it is not having food and clothing, but having faith which will make us content. Faith chides down passion; when reason begins to sink, let faith swim.

Quest. How does faith work contentment?

Answ. 1. Faith shows the soul that whatever its trials are, yet it is from the hand of a Father; it is indeed a bitter cup, but, shall I not drink the cup which my Father has given me to drink? It is in love to my soul; God corrects with the same love he crowns me. God is now training me up for heaven; he carves me, to make me a polished shaft. These sufferings bring forth patience, humility, even the peaceable fruits of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11). And if God can bring such sweet fruit out of a sour stock, let him graft me where he pleases. Thus faith brings the heart to holy contentment.

2. Faith sucks the honey of contentment out of the hive of the promise. Christ is the vine, the promises are the clusters of grapes that grow upon this vine; and faith presses the sweet wine of contentment out of these spiritual clusters of the promises. I will show you but one cluster: The Lord will give grace and glory — here is enough for faith to live upon. The promise is the flower out of which faith distills the spirits and quintessence of divine contentment. In a word, faith carries up the soul, and makes it aspire after more noble and generous delights than earth affords, and to live in the world above the world. Would you lead contented lives? Live up to the height of your faith.

SECT. 2.

Oh, let us get the interest cleared between God and our own souls. Interest is a word much in use, a pleasing word — interest in great friends, interest-money. Oh, if there be an interest worth looking after, it is an interest between God and the soul; labor to say, My God. To be without money, and without friends, and without God too, is sad; but he whose faith does flourish into assurance, that can say, I know in whom I have believed (as Saint Paul), that man has enough to give his heart contentment. When a man's debts are paid, and he can go abroad without fear of arresting, what contentment is this? Oh, let your title be cleared; if God is ours, whatever we want in the creature is infinitely made up in him. Do I want bread? I have Christ the bread of life. Am I under defilement? His blood is like the trees of the sanctuary, not only for food, but medicine. If anything in the world is worth laboring for, it is to get sound evidences that God is ours. If this is once cleared, what can come amiss? No matter what storms I meet with, so that I know where to put in for harbor. He that has God to be his God is so well contented with his condition that he does not much care whether he has anything else. To rest in a condition where a Christian cannot say God is his God is matter for fear; and if he can say so truly, and yet is not contented, it is matter for shame. David encouraged himself in the Lord his God; it was sad with him — Ziklag burnt, his wives taken captive, he lost all, and was likely to have lost his soldiers' hearts too, for they spoke of stoning him. Yet he had the ground of contentment within him, namely, an interest in God, and this was a pillar of support to his spirit. He that knows God is his, and all that is in God is for his good — if this does not satisfy, nothing will.

SECT. 3.

The humble man is the contented man; if his estate is low, his heart is lower than his estate; therefore he is content. If his esteem in the world is low, he that is little in his own eyes will not be much troubled to be little in the eyes of others. He has a lower opinion of himself than others can have of him. The humble man studies his own unworthiness; he looks upon himself as less than the least of God's mercies, and then a little will content him. He cries out with Paul, that he is the chief of sinners; therefore he does not murmur, but admire. He does not say his comforts are small, but his sins are great. He thinks it a mercy he is out of hell, therefore he is contented. He does not go to carve out a more happy condition for himself; he knows the worst piece God cuts him is better than he deserves. A proud man is never contented; he is one that has a high opinion of himself, therefore under small blessings is disdainful, under small crosses impatient. The humble spirit is the contented spirit; if his cross is light, he reckons it in the inventory of his mercies; if it is heavy, yet he takes it upon his knees, knowing that when his estate is worse, it is to make him better. Where you lay humility for the foundation, contentment will be the superstructure.

SECT. 4.

Contentment is the manna that is laid up in the ark of a good conscience; Oh, take heed of indulging any sin. It is as natural for guilt to breed disquiet, as for putrid matter to breed vermin. Sin lies as Jonah in the ship, it raises a tempest. If dust, or motes be gotten into the eye, they make the eye water, and cause a soreness in it; if the eye be clear, then it is free from that soreness: If sin be gotten into the conscience, which is as the eye of the soul, then grief and disquiet breeds there; but keep the eye of conscience clear, and all is well. What Solomon says of a good stomach, I may say of a good conscience: To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet; so to a good conscience every bitter thing is sweet; it can pick contentment out of the cross. Good conscience turns the waters of Marah into wine. Would you have a quiet heart, get a smiling conscience. I wonder not to hear Paul say, he was in every state content; When he could make that triumph, I have lived in all good conscience to this day. When once a man's reckonings are clear, it must needs let in abundance of contentment into the heart. Good conscience can suck contentment out of the bitterest drug; under slanders, This is our rejoicing, the testimony of our conscience: in case of imprisonment, Paul had his prison-songs, and could play the sweet lesson of contentment when his feet were in the stocks; one calls it bonae conscientiae Paradisus, the Paradise of a good conscience; and if it be so, then in prison we may be in Paradise. When the times are troublesome, good conscience makes a calm; If conscience be clear, what though the days be cloudy? Is it not a contentment to have a friend always by, to speak a good word for us? Such a friend is conscience. Good conscience, as David's harp, drives away the evil spirit of discontent. When thoughts begin to arise, and the heart is disquieted; Conscience says to a man as the King did to Nehemiah, Why is your countenance sad? So says Conscience, haven't you the seed of God in you? Aren't you an heir of the Promise? Haven't you a treasure that you can never be plundered of? Why is your countenance sad? Oh keep conscience clear, and you shall never want contentment. For a man to keep the pipes of his body, the veins and arteries free from colds and obstructions, is the best way to maintain health: So, to keep conscience clear, and to preserve it from the obstructions of guilt, is the best way to maintain contentment. First conscience is pure, and then peaceable.

SECT. 5.

Look well to your affections, bridle them in. Do two things,

- 1. Mortify your desires. - 2. Moderate your delights.

1. Mortify your desires; We must not be of the dragon's temper, who (they say) is so thirsty, that no water will quench his thirst; Mortify therefore your inordinate affection; in the Greek it is [in non-Latin alphabet], your evil affection; to show that our desires when they are inordinate, are evil. Crucify your desires, [in non-Latin alphabet], be as dead men; a dead man has no appetite.

Quest. How should a Christian [reconstructed: mortify] his desires?

Quest. 1. Get a right judgment of the things here below: They are mean beggarly things; Will you set your eyes upon that which is not? The appetite must be guided by reason; the affections are the feet of the soul, therefore they must follow the judgment, not lead it.

2. Often seriously meditate of mortality; Death will soon crop those flowers which we delight in, and pull down the fabric of those bodies which we so garnish and beautify. Think when you are locking up your money in your chest, who shall shortly lock you up in your coffin?

2. Moderate your delights. Set not your hearts too much upon any creature. What we over-love, we shall over-grieve. Rachel set her heart too much upon her children, and when she had lost them, she lost herself too; such a vein of grief was opened as could not be stanched, she refused to be comforted. Here was discontent. When we let any creature lie too near our heart, when God pulls away that comfort, a piece of our heart is rent away with it. Too much fondness ends in peevishness. Those that would be content in the want of mercy, must be moderate in the enjoyment. Jonathan dipped the rod in honey, he did not thrust it in. Let us take heed of engulfing ourselves in pleasure; better have a spare diet, than by having too much to surfeit.

SECT. 6.

Spiritual things satisfy; the more of heaven is in us, the less earth will content. He that has once tasted the love of God, his thirst is much quenched toward sublunary things; the joys of God's Spirit are heart-filling and heart-cheering joys; he that has these, has heaven begun in him (Romans 14:17), and shall we not be content to be in heaven? Oh get a sublime heart, Seek the things that are above; fly aloft in your affections, thirst after the graces and comforts of the Spirit; the eagle that flies above in the air, fears not the stinging of the serpent; the serpent creeps on his belly, and stings only such creatures as go upon the earth. Discontent is a serpent that stings only an earthly heart; a heavenly soul that with the eagle flies aloft, finds abundantly enough in God to give contentment, and is not stung with the cares and disquiets of the world.

SECT. 7.

God does checker his providences, white and black, as the pillar of cloud had its light side and dark; look on the light side of your estate; who looks on the back side of a landscape? Suppose you are cast in a lawsuit, there is the dark side; yet you have some land left, there is the light side. You have sickness in your body, there is the dark side; but grace in your soul, there is the light side. You have a child taken away, there is the dark side; your husband lives, there is the light side. God's providences in this life are various, represented by those speckled horses among the myrtle trees (Zechariah 1:8), which were red and white; mercies and afflictions are interwoven, God does speckle his work. Oh, says one, I want such a comfort: but weigh all your mercies in the balance, and that will make you content. If a man did want a finger, would he be so discontented for the loss of that, as not to be thankful for all the other parts and joints of his body? Look on the light side of your condition, and then all your discontents will easily disband; do not pore upon your loss, but ponder upon your mercies. What? would you have no cross at all? Why should one man think to have all good things, when himself is good in part? Would you have no evil about you, who have so much evil in you? You are not fully sanctified in this life, how then do you think to be fully satisfied? Never look for perfection of contentment till there be perfection of grace.

SECT. 8.

1. We are in a military condition, we are soldiers; now a soldier is content with anything, what though he has not his stately house, his rich furniture, his soft bed, his full table? Yet he does not complain; he can lie in straw as well as down; he minds not his lodging, but his thoughts run upon dividing the spoil, and the garland of honor that shall be set upon his head; and for hope of this, is content to run any hazard, endure any hardship. Were it not absurd to hear him complain that he wants such provision, and is forced to lie out in the fields? A Christian is a military person, he fights the Lord's battles, he is Christ's ensign-bearer (2 Timothy 2:3). Now, what though he endures hard fare, and the bullets fly about, he fights for a crown, and therefore must be content.

2. We are in a peregrine condition; pilgrims and travelers. A man that is in a strange country is contented with any diet or usage, he is glad of anything, though he has not that respect or attendance as he looks for at home; nor is capable of the privileges and immunities of that place, he is content; he knows when he comes into his own country he has lands to inherit, and there he shall have honor and respect. So it is with a child of God, he is in a pilgrim condition, "I am a stranger with you, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were" (Psalm 39:12). Therefore let a Christian be content, he is in the world, but not of the world; he is born of God, and is a citizen of the new Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:10); therefore, though he hunger and thirst, and have no certain dwelling place, yet he must be content (1 Corinthians 4:11), it will be better when he comes into his own country.

3. We are in a mendicant condition; we are beggars, we beg at heaven's gate, "Give us this day our daily bread"; we live upon God's alms, therefore must be content with anything; a beggar must not pick and choose, he is contented with the refuse. Oh, why do you murmur, you who are a beggar, and are fed out of the alms-basket of God's providence?

SECT. 9.

Lean not upon sandy pillars; we often build our comfort upon such a friend or estate, and when that prop is removed, all our joy is gone, and our hearts begin either to fail or fret. A lame man leans on his crutches, and if they break he is undone: let not your contentment go upon crutches, which may soon fail; the ground of contentment must be within yourself. The word [illegible], which is used for contentment, signifies self-sufficiency; a Christian has that from within that is able to support him; that strength of faith and good hope through grace, as bears up his heart in the deficiency of outward comforts. The philosophers of old, when their estates were gone, yet could take contentment in the goods of the mind, their learning and virtue; and shall not a believer much more in the grace of the Spirit, that rich enamel and embroidery of the soul? Say with yourself, If friends leave me, if riches take wings, yet I have that within comforts me, namely, a heavenly treasure, Omnia mea mecum porto; when the blossoms of my estate are blown off, still there is the sap of contentment in the root of my heart, I have still an interest in God, and that interest cannot be broken off. Oh, never place your felicity in these dull and beggarly things here below.

SECT. 10.

Quest. How should I compare?

Answ. Make this fivefold comparison.

1. Let us compare our condition and our desert together; if we have not what we desire, we have more than we deserve. For our mercies, we have deserved less; for our afflictions, we have deserved more.

First, in regard of our mercies, we have deserved less. What can we deserve? Can man be profitable to the Almighty? We live upon free grace. Alexander gave a great gift to one of his subjects; the man being much taken with it, "This," says he, "is more than I am worthy of"; "I do not give you this," says the king, "because you are worthy of it, but I give a gift like Alexander." Whatever we have is not merit, but bounty; the least bit of bread is more than God owes us; we can bring faggots to our own burning, but not one flower to the garland of our salvation; he that has the least mercy, will die in God's debt.

Secondly, in regard of our afflictions we have deserved more. "You have punished us less than our iniquities deserve" (Ezra 9:13). Is our condition sad? We have deserved it should be worse; has God taken away our estate from us? He might have taken away Christ from us: has he thrown us into prison? He might have thrown us into hell; he might as well damn us, as whip us; this should make us contented.

2. Let us compare our conditions with others, and this will make us content; we look at them who are above us, let us look at them who are below us; we see one in his silks, another in his sackcloth; one has the waters of a full cup wrung out to him, another is mingling his drink with tears; how many pale faces do we behold, whom not sickness, but want has brought into a consumption! Think of this and be content. It is worse with them, who perhaps deserve better than we, and are higher in God's favor. Am I in prison? Was not Daniel in a worse place, namely, the lion's den? Do I live in a mean cottage? Look on them who are banished from their houses. We read of the primitive saints, that they wandered up and down in sheepskins and goatskins, of whom the world was not worthy. Do you have a gentle fit of an ague? Look on them who are tormented with the stone and gout, etc. Others of God's children have had greater afflictions, and have borne them better than we. Daniel fed upon pulse and drank water, yet was fairer than they who ate of the king's portion; some Christians who have been in a lower condition, that have fed upon pulse and water have looked better, namely, been more patient and contented than we who enjoy abundance. Do others rejoice in affliction, and do we repine? Can they take up their cross, and walk cheerfully under it, and do we under a lighter cross murmur?

3. Let us compare our condition with Christ's upon earth; what a poor, mean condition was he pleased to be in for us? He was contented with anything. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. He could have brought down a house from heaven with him, or challenged the high places of the earth; but he was contented to be in the wine-press, that we might be in the wine-cellar; and to live poor, that we might die rich; the manger was his cradle, the cobwebs his canopy; he who is now preparing mansions for us in heaven, had none for himself on earth, he had nowhere to lay his head. Christ came in Forma pauperis; who being in the form of God, took upon him the form of a servant. We read not of any sums of money he had; when he wanted money he was forced to work a miracle for it. Jesus Christ was in a low condition, he was never high, but when he was lifted up upon the cross, and that was his humility; he was content to live poor, and die cursed. Oh compare your condition with Christ's.

4. Let us compare our condition with what it was once, and this will make us content.

First, let us compare our spiritual estate with what it was once. What were we when we lay in our blood? We were heirs apparent to hell, having no right to pluck one leaf from the tree of the promise; it was a Christless and hopeless condition (Ephesians 2:12), but now God has cut off the entail of hell and damnation; he has taken you out of the wild olive of nature, and ingrafted you into Christ, making you living branches of that living vine; he has not only caused the light to shine upon you, but into you, and has interested you in all the privileges of sonship; is not here that which may make the soul content?

Secondly, let us compare our temporal estate with what it was once: alas, we had nothing when we stepped out of the womb. For we brought nothing with us into the world; if we have not that which we desire, we have more than we did bring with us. We brought nothing with us (but sin); other creatures bring something with them into the world; the lamb brings wool, the silkworm silk, etc., but we brought nothing with us. What if our condition at present be low? It is better than it was once; therefore having food and clothing, let us be content; whatever we have, God's providence fetched it in to us; and if we lose all, yet we have as much as we brought with us. This was that which made Job content, 'Naked came I out of my mother's womb'; as if he had said, though God has taken away all from me, yet why should I murmur? I am as rich now as I was when I came into the world; I have as much left as I brought with me; naked came I here; therefore blessed be the name of the Lord.

5. Let us compare our condition with what it shall be shortly. There is a time shortly coming, when if we had all the riches of India, they would do us no good; we must die, and can carry nothing with us; so says the apostle, 'It is certain, we can carry nothing out of the world'; therefore it follows, having food and clothing, let us be content, verse 8. Open the rich man's grave, and see what is there; you may find the miser's bones, but not his riches. Were we indeed to live forever here, or could we carry our riches into another world, then indeed we might be discontented when we look upon our empty bags; but it is not so. God may presently seal a warrant for death to apprehend us, and when we die, we cannot carry our estate with us. Honor and riches descend not into the grave, why then are we troubled at our outward condition? Why do we disguise ourselves with discontent? Oh lay up a stock of grace, be rich in faith and good works, these riches will follow us; no other coin but grace will pass current in heaven, silver and gold will not go there; labor to be rich toward God; and as for other things be not solicitous, we shall carry nothing with us.

SECT. 11.

The way for a Christian to be contented, is not by raising his estate higher, but by bringing his spirit lower; not by making his barns wider, but his heart narrower; one man a whole lordship or manor will not content; another is satisfied with a few acres of land; what is the difference? The one studies to satisfy curiosity, the other necessity; the one thinks what he may have, the other what he may spare.

SECT. 12.

It matters not whether we have more or less of these things, they have vanity written upon the frontispiece of them; the world is like a shadow that declineth; it is delightful, but deceitful, it promises more than we find, and it fails us when we have most need of it. All the world rings changes, and is constant only in its disappointments: what then if we have less of that which is at best but voluble and fluid? The world is as full of mutation as motion; and what if God cuts us short in sublunaries? The more a man has to do with the world, the more he has to do with vanity. The world may be compared to ice, which is smooth, but slippery; or to the Egyptian Temples, on the outside very beautiful and sumptuous, but within nothing to be seen but the image of an ape; every creature says concerning satisfaction, It is not in me. The world is not a filling, but a flying comfort. It is like a game at tennis; Providence bandies her golden balls, first to one, then to another. Why are we discontented at the loss of these things, but because we expect that from them which is not, and repose that in them, which ought not? Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd — what a vanity was it? Is it much to see a withering gourd smitten? Or to see the moon dressing itself in a new shape and figure?

SECT. 13.

It is the fancy which raises the price of things above their real worth; what is the reason one tulip is worth five pounds, another perhaps not worth one shilling? Fancy raises the price; the difference is rather imaginary than real: so, why it should be better to have thousands than hundreds, is, because men fancy it so; if we could fancy a lower condition better, as having less care in it, and less account, it would be far more eligible; the water that springs out of the rock drinks as sweet, as if it came out of a golden chalice; things are as we fancy them. Ever since the fall the fancy is distempered; God saw that the imagination of the thoughts of his heart were evil. Fancy looks through wrong spectacles; pray that God will sanctify your fancy; a lower condition would content, if the mind and fancy were set right. Diogenes preferred his cynical life before Alexander's royalty; he fancied his little cloister best. Fabricius, a poor man, yet despised the gold of King Pyrrhus.

—Contentus honesto Fabricius parvo spernebat munera regum: Sudabatque gravi Consul Serranus aratro. Claud. l. 1.

Could we cure a distempered fancy, we might soon conquer a discontented heart.

SECT. 14.

The body is but of small continent, and is easily recruited. Christ has taught us to pray for our daily bread; Parvaseges satis est, nature is content with a little; [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], not to thirst, not to starve is enough, says Gregory Nazianzen, meat and drink is a Christian's riches, says Saint Jerome; and the Apostle says, Having food and raiment, let us be content.

—O prodiga rerum Luxuries, nunquam parvo contenta paratu, Et quaesitorum pelago, terrâque ciborum Ambitiosa Fames, & lautae gloria mensae. Discite quàm parvo liceat producere vitam, Et quantum natura petat.— Lucan. l. 4. Pharsal.

The stomach is sooner filled than the eye; how quickly would a man be content, if he would study rather to satisfy his hunger than his humor?

SECT. 15.

Flesh and blood is not a competent judge. Surfeited stomachs are for banqueting stuff; but a man that regards his health, is rather for solid food. Vain men fancy such a condition best, and would flourish in their bravery; whereas a wise Christian has his will melted into God's will, and thinks it best to be at his finding. God is wise, he knows whether we need food, or medicine; and if we could acquiesce in providence, the quarrel would soon be at an end. O, what a strange creature would man be, if he were what he could wish himself? Be content to be at God's allowance. God knows which is the fittest pasture to put his sheep in; sometimes a more barren ground does well, whereas rank pasture may rot. Do I meet with such a cross? God shows me what the world is; he has no better way to wean me, than by putting me to a step-mother. Does God stint me in my allowance? He is now dieting me. Do I meet with losses? It is that God may keep me from being lost. Every cross wind shall at last blow me to the right port. Did we believe that condition best which God does parcel out to us, we should cheerfully submit, and say: The lines are fallen in pleasant places.

SECT. 16.

We have taken an oath in baptism to forsake the flesh. The flesh is a worse enemy than the devil; it is a bosom traitor: an enemy within is worst. If there were no devil to tempt, the flesh would be another Eve to tempt to the forbidden fruit. Oh take heed of giving way to it; from where is all our discontent, but from the fleshly part? The flesh puts us upon the immoderate pursuit of the world; it consults for ease and plenty; and if it be not satisfied, then discontents begin to arise. Oh, let it not have the reins, martyr the flesh; in spiritual things the flesh is a sluggard, in secular things a horse leech, crying, Give, give. The flesh is an enemy to suffering, it will sooner make a man a courtier than a martyr. Oh keep it under; put its neck under Christ's yoke, stretch and nail it to his cross; never let a Christian look for contentment in his spirit, till there be confinement in his flesh.

SECT. 17.

There are great things laid up in heaven. Though it be sad for the present, yet let us be content in that it will shortly be better, it is but a while, and we shall be with Christ, bathing our souls in the fountain of his love; we shall never complain of wants or injuries any more; our cross may be heavy, but one sight of Christ will make us forget all our former sorrows. There are two things should give contentment.

1. That God will make us able to bear our troubles. God, says Chrysostom, does like a lutenist; who will not let the strings of his lute be too slack, lest it spoil the music; nor will he suffer them to be too hard stretched, or screwed up, lest they break: so does God deal with us, he will not let us have too much prosperity, lest this spoil the music of prayer and repentance; nor yet too much adversity, lest the spirit fail before him, and the souls which he has made.

When we have suffered a while, we shall be perfected in glory; the cross shall be our ladder by which we shall climb up to heaven. Be then content, and the scene will alter. God will before long turn our water into wine; the hope of this is enough to drive away all distempers from the heart. Blessed be God, it will be better: we have no continued city here, therefore our afflictions cannot continue. A wise man looks still to the end: the end of the just man is peace. I think the smoothness of the end should make amends for the ruggedness of the way. Oh eternity, eternity! think often of the Kingdom prepared. David was advanced from the field to the throne. First he held his shepherd's staff, and shortly after the royal scepter. God's people may be put to hard services here; but God has chosen them to be kings, to sit upon the throne with the Lord Jesus. This being weighed in the balance of faith, would be an excellent means to bring the heart to contentment.

SECT. 18.

The last rule for contentment is, be much in prayer. Beg of God that he will work our hearts to this blessed frame; is any man afflicted, let him pray. So, is any man discontented, let him pray. Prayer gives vent. The opening of a vein lets out the bad blood: when the heart is filled with sorrow and disquiet, prayer lets out the bad blood. The key of prayer oiled with tears unlocks the heart of all its discontents. Prayer is a holy spell or charm to drive away trouble; prayer is the unbosoming of the soul, the unloading of all our cares in God's breast, and this ushers in sweet contentment. When there is any burden upon our spirits, by opening our mind to a friend, we find our hearts finely eased and quieted. It is not our strong resolutions, but our strong requests to God which must give the heart ease in trouble; by prayer the strength of Christ is brought into the soul; and where that is, a man is able to go through any condition. Paul could be in every state content; but that you may not think he was to do this of himself, he tells you, that though he could want and abound, and [illegible], do all things; yet it was through Christ strengthening him (Philippians 4:13). It is the child that writes, but it is the scrivener that guides his hand. Saint Paul arrived at the hardest duty in religion, namely contentment; but the Spirit was his pilot, and Christ his strength, and this strength was ushered in by holy prayer. Prayer is a powerful orator. Constantine the Emperor, as he did write Christ's name upon his door, so he did invoke his name in his closet. Prayer is an [reconstructed: exorcist] with God, and an exorcist against sin. The best way is to pray down discontent. What Luther says of concupiscence I may say of discontent; prayer is a sacred leech to suck out the venom and swelling of this passion. Prayer composes the heart, and brings it into tune. Has God deprived you of many comforts? bless God that he left you the spirit of prayer.

Use 6: The last use is of comfort, or an encouraging word to the contented Christian. If there be a heaven upon earth, you have it. O Christian, you may triumph over your troubles, and with the Leviathan laugh at the shaking of a spear (Job 41:29). What shall I say? you are a crown to your profession; you do hold it out to all the world, that there is virtue enough in religion to give the soul contentment. You show height of grace. When grace is crowning, it is not so much for us to be content; but when grace is conflicting, and meets with crosses, temptations, agonies; now to be content, this is a glorious thing indeed.

To a contented Christian, I shall say two things for a farewell.

First, God is exceedingly pleased with such a frame of heart. God says of a contented Christian, as David once said of Goliath's sword, There is none like that, give it me (1 Samuel 21:9). If you would please God, and be men of his heart, be contented. It is said that Rebecca made Isaac savory meat, such as her husband loved; would you give God such a dish as he loves? bring him this of contentment. The musician has many lessons to play, but he has one above all the rest: there are many lessons of holy music that delight God, the lesson of repentance, humility, etc. But this lesson of contentment is the sweetest lesson that a believer can play. God hates a stubborn spirit.

Secondly, the contented Christian shall be no loser. What did Job lose by his patience? God gave him three times as much as he had before. What did Abram lose by his contentment? he was content to leave his country at God's call; the Lord makes a covenant with him, that he would be his God (Genesis 17). He changes his name; no more Abram, but Abraham the Father of many nations. God makes his seed as the stars of heaven; indeed, honors him with this title, the Father of the Faithful. The Lord makes known his secrets to him, "Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I will do?" God settles a rich inheritance upon him, that land which was a type of heaven, and afterwards translated him into the blessed Paradise. God will be sure to reward the contented Christian. As our Savior said in another case to Nathaniel, "Because I said I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? you will see greater things than these" (John 1:50). So, I say, are you contented, O Christian, with a little? you will see greater things than these. God will distill the sweet influences of his love into your soul: he will raise one in the [reconstructed: cruse]; and when that is done, he will crown you with an eternal enjoyment of himself; he will give you heaven, where you will have as much contentment as your soul can possibly thirst after.

FINIS.