The Tenth Consideration

Yea lastly, consider all the experience that you have had of God's doing good unto you in the want of many comforts. When God crosses you, have you never had experience of abundance of good in afflictions? It is true, when a minister only tells men that God will work good out of their afflictions, they hear them speak, and think they speak like good men, but they feel little or no good, they feel nothing but pain. But when we cannot only say to you that God has said He will work good out of your afflictions, but we can say to you, that you yourselves have found it so by experience, that God has made former afflictions to be great benefits to you, and that you would not have been without them, or without the good that came by them for a world; such experiences will exceedingly quiet the heart and work it to contentment. Therefore think thus with yourself: Lord, why may not this affliction work as great a good upon me as afflictions have done heretofore? Perhaps you may find many other considerations besides in your own meditations; these are the principal ones that I have thought upon. I'll only add one word more to this, of one that once was a great merchant and tradesman, and it happened on a time that he suffered shipwreck. And said he: I never made a better voyage and sailed better than at that time that I suffered shipwreck. This was a strange speech (his name was Zeno) that he should never make a better voyage. It would be a strange paradox to you that are mariners, to say, that that's a good voyage when you suffer shipwreck. But he meant because he got so much good by it, God was pleased to bless it so far to him that he gained so much unto his soul by it, so much soul-riches that he made account it was the best voyage that ever he had. And truly, sometimes it is so; yea, to you that are godly I make no question but you find it so, that your worst voyages have proved your best. When you have met with the greatest crosses in a voyage, God has been pleased to turn them to a greater good to you in some other way. It is true, we may not desire crosses that they may be turned to other advantages; but when God in His providence does so order things, that you meet with ill voyages, you may expect that God will turn them to a greater good. And those that have been exercised in the ways of godliness any long time, I make no question but they have abundance of experiences that they have gained by them. You know sometimes it is better to be in a little ship, for they have advantage of greater ones in storms many times. In a storm a little ship can thrust into a shallow place and so be safe, but your great ships cannot; they must be abroad and tossed up and down in the storm and tempest, and so many times split against the rocks. And so it may be God sees there is a storm coming, and if you are in your great ship you may be split upon rocks and sands; God therefore does put you into a lesser vessel that you may be more safe. We will lay aside the speaking of those considerations now, but I would not have you lay them aside and put them out of your thoughts, but labor (those especially that most concern you) to make use of them in the needful time, when you find any discontentedness of spirit to arise in you.

But the main thing that I intended for this exercise, it is propounding directions what to do for the helping of our hearts to contentment. For as for any further considerations we have prevented the speaking largely of them, because we have opened the most things in showing what the lessons are that Christ teaches men, when He brings them into His school, to teach them this art. I say there we have spoken of the special things that are most considerable for the helping of us to this grace of contentment. Therefore now all that I shall further do about this point, shall be the giving of some directions what course to take that we may come to attain this grace of contentment.

Finally, consider all the experience you have already had of God doing you good in times of want. When God has crossed you, have you never experienced real good coming through those afflictions? It is true that when a minister simply tells people God will bring good out of their afflictions, they hear it as something a godly man would say — but they feel little or no good in the moment, only pain. But when we can say not only that God has promised to bring good from afflictions, but that you yourself have experienced it — that former afflictions have proven great blessings, and that you would not have missed them or the good they produced for anything — such experience powerfully quiets the heart and works it toward contentment. So reason with yourself: Lord, why could this affliction not work as great a good in me as past afflictions have? You may find many other helpful considerations in your own meditation — these are the main ones I have thought of. I will add just one more, about a man who was once a great merchant and tradesman. On one occasion he suffered shipwreck — and he said afterward: I never made a better voyage than the one in which I was shipwrecked. That was a striking thing to say — his name was Zeno — that a shipwreck was his best voyage. To a sailor that would seem like a paradox: a good voyage in which you were shipwrecked? But he meant that God was so pleased to bless the experience to his soul that he gained such riches of soul from it that he counted it the best voyage he had ever made. And truly, sometimes it is like that. For those of you who are godly, I have no doubt you have found it: your worst voyages have turned out to be your best. When you have met the greatest crosses in a journey, God has turned them to greater good in some other way. We should not seek out crosses hoping they will be turned to advantage — but when God in His providence allows hard voyages, you may expect Him to bring greater good from them. Those who have walked in godliness for a long time will, I am sure, have an abundance of such experiences to draw on. You also know that sometimes a smaller ship has advantages over a larger one in a storm: a small ship can slip into shallow waters and be safe, while great ships must remain in open water, tossed by the storm, and many times they are broken on the rocks. So it may be that God sees a storm coming, and if you were in your great ship you might be wrecked on the rocks. So He places you in a smaller vessel where you will be safer. I am now setting aside these considerations — but do not set them aside in your heart. Work to apply those that most concern you at the right moment — when you feel any stirring of discontent rising within you.

The main thing I intend for this next section is to set out practical directions for helping our hearts toward contentment. We have already covered much ground in the earlier lessons — showing what Christ teaches those in His school and what is most helpful for attaining contentment. What remains is simply to give some directions for the course we should take to actually attain this grace.