thy heart might run wholly upon him As if you have Children because you have servants perhaps do feed them and give them things you perceive that your servants do steal away the hearts of your Children you would hardly be able to bear it you would be ready to turn away such a servant and when the servant is gone the Child is at a great loss it hath not the nurse but the father or mother intends by her putting away that the affections of the Child might run the more strongly towards himself or herself and what losse hath the Child that the affections that ran in a rough channel before towards the servant it runs now towards the mother So those affections that runs towards the creature God would have them run towards himself that so he may be All in All to thee here in this world And a gracious heart can indeed tel how to enjoy God to be All in All to him that is the happiness of Heaven to have God to be All in All. The Saints in Heaven have not houses and lands and money and meat and drink and cloaths you wil say they do not need them why do they not It is because God is All in All to them imediatly now while thou livest in this world thou mayest come to enjoy much of God you may have much of heaven while we live in this life we may come to enjoy much of the very life that there is in Heaven and what is that but the enjoyment of God to be All in All to us There is one text in the Revelations that speaks of the glorious condition of the Church that is like to be even here in this world Revel 21.21 And I saw no Temple therein for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it and the City had no need of the Sun neither of the Moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof They had no need of the Sun or Moon It speaks of such a glorious condition that the Church is like to be in here in this world this doth not speak of Heaven and that appears plainly that this is not spoken of Heaven but of a glorious estate that the Church shall be in here in this world for it follows presently in the 24. and 26. verse And they speaking of the Kings of the earth And the Kings of the Earth do bring their glory and honour unto it Why the Kings of the Earth shall not bring their glory and honour into Heaven but this is such a time when the Kings of the Earth shall bring their glory and honour to the Church And in the 26. vers And they shall bring the glory and honour of the Nations into it therfore it must needs be meant here in this world and not in Heaven Now if there be such a time here in this world that God shall be All in All that in comparison there shall be no such need of creatures as now there is then the Saints shall labour to live as neer that life as possibly they can that is To make up All in God Oh that you would but mind this Mystery that it may be a reality to the hearts of the Saints in such times as these are they would find this priviledge that they get by Grace to be worth thousands of worlds Hence is that of Jacob that I mentioned in another case it is remarkable and comes in fully here in Gen. 33. that notable speech of Jacob when his brother Esau did meet him ye find in one place that Esau he refused Jacobs present in the 8. verse when Jacob gave his present to him he refused it and tould Jacob that he had enough What meanest thou by all this drove which I meet And he said These are to find grace in thy sight And Esau said I have enough Now in the 11. verse there Jacob urges it still and saith Jacob I beseech thee take it for I have enough now in your books it is the same in English I have enough saith Esau and I have enough saith Jacob but in the Hebrew Jacobs word is different from Esau's Jacobs word signifies I have all things and yet Jacob was poorer than Esau Oh this should be a shame to us that an Esau should say I have enough but now a Christian should say I have not only enough but I have all how hath he all because he hath God that is All. And it was an notable speech of one He hath all things that hath him that hath all things Surely thou hast all things because thou hast him for thy portion who hath al things God hath all things in himself and thou hast God to be thine for thy portion and in that thou hast all and this is the Mystery of Contentment It makes up all wants in God this is that that the men of the world have little skill in Now I have divers other things yet to open in the Mystery of Contentment I should shew likewise that a godly man not only makes up all in God but finds enough in himselfe to make up all to make up all in himselfe not from himselfe but in himselfe and that may seem to be stranger than the other to make up all in God is somewhat nay to make up all in himself not from himself but in himself that is a gracious heart hath so much of God within himself that he hath enough there to make up all his wants that are without In Pro. 14.14 A good man shall be satisfied from himself from that that is within himself that is the meaning a gracious man he hath a bird within his own bosom that makes him melody enough though he wants musick The Kingdom of heaven is within you In Luke 17.21 He hath a Kingdom within him and a Kingdom of God you see him spoken ill of abroad he hath a conscience within him that makes up the want of a name and credit that is instead of a thousand witnesses Thirtenth A gracious heart fetches Contentment from the Covenant that God hath made with him Now this is a way of fetching Contentment that the men of the world know not of they can fetch contentment if they have the creature to satisfie them But to fetch contentment from the Covenant of grace that they have little skill in I should here have opened two things First how to fetch Contentment from the Covenant of grace in generall But I shall speak to that in the next Sermon and now only a word to the Second Secondly how he fetches Contentment from the particular branches of the Covenant that is from the particular promises that he hath for the supplying of every particular want there is no condition that a Godly man or woman can be in but there is some promise or other in the Scripture to help him in that condition And that 's the way of his Contentment
apparantly their hearts are not humbled and broken when their spirits after daies of humiliation still should be froward and pettish as before But especially for the generallity of the Kingdom how far are we from being an humbled people we are not yet capable of what mercy God intendeth for us in this regard because we are not humbled Oh the exceding pettishness envie and pride and worse a great deal not only in many people of the Land but even in those that are godly and gracious how are the spirits of men of one brother opposite to another that because there is some difference in judgment in such and such a thing O they could be content many of them to have them rid out of the Land and if God did not prevent whereas the persecution by Bishops is now at an end who knows except God humble their hearts more whether many of Gods dear servants that do but differ in some point of judgement might not meet with a great deale of sufferings even from those that are godly and that is the worst suffering better a thousand times suffer from wicked men it is not so hard to the spirits of godly men to suffer from never so many Bishops and wicked men as to suffer from one godly man Oh! there wants that charity and tenderness of spirit one towards another that should be we are not yet humbled and brought upon our knees and therefore it is just with God to lay us upon our backs a while or that we should even be with our faces upon the ground confounded in our own thoughts before that great Salvation comes that God intendeth for us That 's the first reason 2. Reas God brings to straights because he takes much delight in the Exercise of faith My beloved Faith it is a most glorious grace it is one of the most glorious things that ever God enabled any creature to do and especially now when there is so much guilt upon them it is a more glorious work than Adam perform'd in Innocency For a poor creature to beleeve upon God for his good here and in the midst of all extremities to rely upon him it is a most glorious work and God is exceedingly delighted in it and therfore the Scripture calleth Faith Precious Faith in the beginning of the 2 Epistle of Peter now God loves the acting of precious things God loves to see the actings of all his creatures every creature active in his way but when God hath put such a precious grace as faith into the heart Oh! how God doth delight to see the acting of that precious Faith and therfore it hath been the way of God to go quite crosse after the Lord hath made a promise of mercy and salvation he goes seemingly crosse only to exercise Faith I think I have told you sometimes of that to Abraham that there were but two promises made to him first That the Country that God would give him should flow with milk and honey and secondly His seed should be as the stars of Heaven and mark what way God goes to bring this about assoon as ever he gets into Canaan he was ready to starve there is this the country that flows with milk and honey and then for the other His seed should be as the stars of Heaven he stayed twenty yeers before he had a child Isaac stayed forty yeers before he had a child and yet his seed should be great and Isaac must be killed too and then there was another thing exercised his faith he would give him the Land and yet notwithstanding during his life he must not possesse one foot of the Land but only a burying-place and what was the reason of all this It was to exercise his faith and the promise God makes to his Son Christ I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession yet Christ must not have a hole to hide his head in he hath not so much as the foxes and the birds have to hide his head in Thus the way of God is to seem to go quite contrary that he might draw forth that glorious work of faith he so much delights in and because this is the only time of exercising this precious grace and there shall be no such faith in Heaven exercised as this is and therefore God because he will have as much as may be of the excellency of this faith though he be in a way of salvation he brings his people into straights 3. Reas Because the Lord delights so much in the prayers of his people that he might draw out their prayers Oh! the voice is sweet the voice of prayer it is very melodious in the ears of God It 's true God delights in a praising voice too but here in this world rather in prayer why because God shall have a praising voice to all eternity Gods Saints shall be praising him to all eternity but they shall not be praying to him to all eternity now God delighting so much in the praying voice of his Saints and he knowing he shall have a great deal of praise from his people when they are delivered from great troubles no marvel he doth exercise his people that which pleases God more than Heaven and Earth is the exercise of the faith and the prayers of his people they are the most pleasing things to God in all the world and therefore he brings into straights 4. Reas Because God would discover wicked men Before he brings his great salvation he would discover those that are vile and wicked that they should not partake of that great salvation As in our times we know how God in every straight we have been in hath made some useful discovery to us it hath been a discovering time of many that we have known to be vile and naught that we did not know before Luke 2.35 you know the place A sword shall pierce thorow thy soul why that the thoughts of many may be discovered there shall be great afflictions and troubles and the end I aim at is to discover the thoughts of many How have mens thoughts been discovered by plots when God was bringing his people into Canaan he would not have a rebellious generation come in among them and all the trouble they had in the wildernesse it was by a mixture of a base and vile generation that you have plain in Num. 11. when they were in such a distressed condition and in a murmuring and a vexing way mark the 4. verse The mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting They disturbed all the host of God And certainly if men should not be discovered more than they are if God should come to set up a full reformation amongst us herein England to bring us to that Canaan we desire we should be so troubled with a mixt multitude the mixt multitude would so vex and trouble the Church of God that they should scarce ever have
of affliction God doth give leave to his people to be sensible of what they suffer Christ doth not say Do not count that a crosse which is a crosse but take up your crosse daily As it is in the body natural if the body takes physick and is not able to bear it but presently vomits it up or if it be not at all sensible if it stir not the body either of these waies the physick doth no good but argues the body much distempered and will hardly be cured So it is with the spirits of men under afflictions if either they cannot bear Gods potions but cast them up again or are not sensible of them and their souls are no more stir'd by them than the body is by a draught of smal beer it is a sad symptome that their souls are in a dangerous and almost incurable condition So that this inward quietnesse is not in opposition to the sense of affliction for indeed there were no true Contentment if you were not apprehensive and sensible of your afflictions when God is angry It is not opposed 2 To an orderly making our moan and complaint to God and to our friends Though a Christian ought to be quiet under Gods correcting hand yet he may without any breach of Christian contentment complain to God as one of the Ancients saith though not with a tumultuous clamour and skreeking out in a perplexed passion yet in a quit still submissive way he may unbosom his heart unto God And likewise communicate his sad condition to his gracious friends shewing them how God hath dealt with him and how heavy the affliction is upon him that they may speak a word in due season to his wearied soul It is not opposed 3 To all lawful seeking out for help into another condition or simply endeavouring to be delivered out of the present affliction by the use of lawfull means No I may lay in provision for my deliverance use Gods meanes waiting on him because I know not but that it may be his will to alter my condition and so far as he leads me I may follow his providence it is but my duty God is thus far mercifully indulgent to our weakness and he will not take it ill at our hands if by earnest and importunate prayer we seek unto him for deliverance till we know his good pleasure therein And certainly thus seeking for help with such a submission and holy resignation of spirit to be delivered when God will and as God will and how God will so that our wils are melted into the will of God this is no opposition to the quietness which God requires in a contented spirit Quest But then what is this quietnesse of spirit opposed unto Ans To murmuring and repining at the hand of God as the discontented Israelits often did which if we our selves cannot indure either in our children or servants much lesse can God bear it in us 2 To vexing and fretting which is a degree beyond murmuring It is a speech I remember of an Heathen A wise man may greive under but not be vexed with his afflictions There is a vast difference betwixt a kindly grieving and a distempered vexation 3 To tumultuousness of spirit When the thoughts run distractingly and work in a confused manner so that the affections are like the unruly multitude in the Acts who knew not for what end they were come together The Lord expects that you should be silent under his rod and as he said in Act. 19.36 You ought to be quiet and to do nothing rashly 4 To unsetledness and unfixedness of spirit whereby the heart is taken off from the present duty that God requires in our several relations both towards God our selves and others We should prize duty at a higher rate than to be taken off by every trivial occasion a Christian indeed values every service of God so much that though some may be in the eye of the world and of natural reason a slight empty businesse beggerly rudiments foolishnesse yet seeing God cals for it the authority of the command doth so over awe his heart that he is willing to spend himself and to be spent in the discharge of it It is an expression of Luthers ordinary works that are done in faith and from faith are more precious than heaven and earth And if this be so and a Christian know it it is not a little matter that should divert him but he should answer every avocation and resist every tentation as Nehemiah did chap. 6.3 Sanballat Geshem and Tobiah when they would have hindred the building of the wall with this I am doing a great woâ—k saith he so that I cannot come down why should the work of the Lord cease 5 To distracting heart-eating cares and fears A gracious heart so estimates it's union with Christ and the work that God sets it about as it will not willingly suffer any thing to come in to choak it or dead it A Christian is desirous that the word of God should take such full possession as to divide between soul and spirit but he would not suffer the fear and noise of evil-tidings to take such impression in his soul as to make a division and strugling there like the twins in Rebeckah's womb A great man will permit common people to stand without his doors but he will not let them come in and make a noise in his closet or bed-chamber when he purposely retires himself from all worldly imployments So a well tempered spirit though it may inquire after things abroad without doors in the world and suffer some ordinary cares and fears to break in to the suburbs of the soul so as to have a light touch upon the thoughts Yet it will not upon any terms admit of an intrusion into the privy-chamber which should be wholly reserved for Jesus Christ as his inward Temple 6 To sinking discouragements When things fall not out according to expectation when the tyde of second causes runs so low that we see little left in the outward means to bear up our hopes and hearts That then the heart begins to reason as he in the Kings If the Lord should open the windows of heaven how should this be Never considering that God can open the eyes of the blind with clay and spittle he can work above beyond nay contrary to means he often makes the fairest flowers of mans indeavours to wither and brings improbable things to passe that the glory of interprizes may be given to himself Nay if his people stand in need of miracles to work their deliverance miracles fall as easily out of Gods hands as to give his people daily bread Gods blessing is many times secret upon his servants that they know not which way it comes as 2 Kings 3.17 Ye shall not see wind neither shall you see rain yet the valley shall be filled with water God would have us depend on him though we do not see means how the thing
God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ The peace of God shall keep your hearts Then in vers 9. Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the God of peace shall be with you The peace of God shall keep you and the God of peace shall be with you This is that that I would observe from this Text That the peace of God is not enough to a gracious heart except it may have the God of that peace A carnall heart could be satisfied if he might but have outward peace though it be not the peace of God peace in the State and his trading would satisfie him But mark how a Godly heart goes beyond a Carnal all outward peace is not enough but I must have the peace of God But suppose you have the peace of God Will not that quiet you No I must have the God of peace as the peace of God so the God of peace that is I must injoy that God that gives me the peace I must have the cause as well as the effect I must see from whence my peace comes and injoy the fountain of my peace as well as the stream of my peace and so in other mercies have I health from God I must have the God of my health to be my portion or else I am not satisfied It is not life but the God of my life it is not riches but the God of those riches that I must have the God of my preservation as well as my preservation a gracious heart is not satisfied without this To have the God of the mercy as well as the mercy In Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but Thee and there is none upon the earth that I desire besides thee It is nothing in heaven or earth can satisfie me but thy self if God give thee not only earth but heaven that thou shouldest rule over Sun Moon and stars and have the rule over the highest of the sons of men it would not be enough to satisfie thee except thou hadest God himself There lies the first mystery of Contentment truly a contented man though he be the most contented man in the world yet he is the most unsatisfied man in the world that is Those things that will satisfie the world will not satisfie him Secondly There is this Mystery in Christian Contentation A Christian comes to Contentment not so much by way of addition as by way of Substraction that is his way of Contentment and that is a way that the world hath no skill in I open it thus Not so much by the adding to what he would have or to what he hath not by adding more to his condition but rather by substracting of his desires and so to make his desires and conditon to be even and equal A carnal heart knows no way to be Contented but this I have such and such an estate and if I had this added to it and the other comfort added that now I have not then I should be Contented it may be I have lost my estate if I could have but that given to me so as to make up my losse then I should be a contented man But now Contentmet doth not come in that way it comes not in I say by the adding to what thou wantest but by the substracting of thy desires it is all one to a Christian either that I may get up unto what I would have or get my desires down to what I have either that I may attain to what I do desire or bring down my desires to what I have already attained my estate is the same for it is as sutable to me to bring my desire down to my condition as it is to raise up my condition to my desire Now I say a heart that hath no grace and is not instructed in this Mystery of Contentment knows no way to get Contentment but to have his estate raised up to his desires but the other hath another way to Contentment that is He can bring his desires down to his estate and so he doth attain to his Contentment So the Lord fashions the hearts of the Children of men Now if the heart of a man be fashioned to his condition he may have as much contentment as if his condition be fashioned to his heart some men have a mighty large heart but they have a straight condition and they can never have Contentment when their hearts are big and their condition is little but now though a man cannot bring his condition to be as big as his heart yet if he can bring his heart to be as little as his condition to bring them even from thence is Contentment The world is infinitly deceived in this To think that Contentment lies in having more than they have here lies the bottom and root of all Contentment when there is an evennesse and proportion between our hearts and our conditions and that is the reason that many that are godly men that are in a low condition live more sweet and comfortable lives than those that are richer Contentment is not alwaies cloathed with silk and purple and velvets but Contentment is sometimes in a russet sure in a mean condition as well as in a higher and many men that sometimes have had great estates and God hath brought them into a lower condition they have had more Contentment in that condition than the other Now how can that possible be Thus easily For if you did but understand the root of Contentment it consists in the sutablenesse and proportion of the spirit of a man to his estate and the evenness when one end is not longer and bigger than another the heart is contented there is comfort in that condition now let God give a man never so great riches yet if the Lord gives him up to the pride of his heart he will never be contented But now let God bring any one into a mean condition and then let God but fashion and sute his heart to that condition and he will be content As now in a mans going Suppose a man had a mighty long leg and his other leg were short why though one of his legs be longer than ordinary yet he could not go so well as a man that hath both his legs shorter than he I compare a long leg when one is longer than another to a man that hath a high condition and is very rich and a great man in the world but he hath a great proud heart too and that is longer and larger than his condition now this man cannot but be troubled in his condition Now another man that is in a mean condition his condition is low and his heart is low too so that his heart and his condition is both even together and this man goes on with more ease abundantly than the other doth So that now a gracious heart works after this manner The Lord
not so great as others It 's a speech I remember I have met withall in Latimers Sermons that he was wont to use The half is more than the whole That is when a man is in a mean condition he is but halfe way towards the height of prosperity that others are in yet saith he this is more safe though it be a meaner condition than others Those that are in a high and prosperous condition there is anexed to it the burden of trouble and of danger and of duty and of account And thus you see how Christ traines up his Scholers in his School and though they be weak otherwise yet by his Spirit he gives them wisdom to understand these aright The Eight lesson is this Christ teaches them what a great and dreadful evil it is to be given up to ones hearts desires The understanding this lesson that it is a most dreadful evil one of the most hideous and fearfull evills that can befall any man upon the face of the earth for God to give him up to his hearts desires when the soul understands this once and together with it for it goes along together that spiritual judgments are more fearfull than any outward judgments in the world the understanding of this will teach any one to be content in Gods crossing of them in their desires Thou art crost in thy desires now thou art discontented and vext and fretted at it is that thy only misery that thou art crost in thy desires no no thou art infinitly mistaken the greatest misery of all is for God to give thee up to thy hearts lusts and desires to give thee up to thine own counsells so you have it in Psal 81.11 12. But my people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me what then So I gave them up unto their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels Oh saith Bernard let me not have such a miserie as that is for to give me what I would have to give me my hearts desires it is one of the most hideous judgments in the world for a man to be given up to his hearts desires We have not indeed in Scripture any certain evident sign of a reprobate we cannot say except we knew a man had committed the sin against the Holy Ghost that he is a reprobate for we know not what God may work upon him but the neerest of all and the blackest sign of a reprobate is this for God to give up a man to his hearts desires all the pain of diseases all the calamities that can be thought of in the world are no judgments in comparison of this for a man to be given up to his hearts desires now when the Soul comes to understand this the Soul then cries out why am I so troubled that I have not my desires There is nothing that God conveys his wrath more through than a prosperous estate I remember I have read of a Jewish Tradition that they say of Vzziah when God struck Vzziah with a Leprosie they say that the beams of the Sun was darted upon the fore-head of Vzziah and he was struck with a Leprosie by the darting of the beams of the Sun upon his fore-head the Scripture saith Indeed the Priests looked upon him but they say there was a speciall light and beam of the Sun upon the fore-head that did discover the Leprosie to the Priests and they say it was the way of conveying of it Whether that were true or no I am sure this is true that the strong beams of the Sun of prosperity upon many men makes them to be leprous would any poor man in the countrey have been discontented that he was not in Vzziahs condition he was a great King I but there was the Leprosie in his fore-head the poor man may say though I live meanly in the countrey yet I thank God my body is whole and sound would not any man rather have russet and skins of beasts to cloath him with than to have sattin and velvet that should have the Plague in it The Lord conveys the plague of his curse through prosperity as much as through any thing in the world and therefore the soul coming to understand this this makes it to be quiet and content And then spirituall judgments are the greatest judgments of all the Lord laies such an affliction upon my outward estate but what if he had taken away my life a mans health is a greater mercy than his estate and you that are poor people you should consider of that but is the health of a mans body better than his estate what is the health of a mans soul that 's a great deal better the Lord hath inflicted externall judgements but he hath not inflicted spirituall judgments upon thee he hath not given thee up to hardnesse of heart and taken away the spirit of prayer from thee in thine afflicted estate Oh then be of good comfort though there be outward afflictions upon thee yet thy soul thy more excellent part is not afflicted Now when the soul comes to understand this that here lies the sore wroth of God to be given up to a mans desires and for spiritual judgments to be upon a man this quiets him and contents him though outward afflictions be upon him perhaps one of a mans children hath the fit of an ague or the tooth-ach but perhaps his next neighbour hath the plague or all his Children are dead of the plague now shall he be so discontented because his Children have the tooth-ach when his neighbours Children are dead now think thus Lord thou hast laid an afflicted condition upon me but Lord thou hast not given me the plague of a hard heart Now take these Eight things before mentioned and lay them together and you may well apply that Scripture in the 29. of Isa the last verse saith the text there They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding and they that murmured shall learn doctrine Hath there bin any of you as I fear many may be found that have erred in spirit even in regard of this truth that now we are preaching of and many that have murmured Oh that this day you might come to understand that Christ would bring you into his School and seach you understanding And they that murmured shall learn doctrine what doctrine shall they learn These Eight Doctrines that I have opened to you And if you will but throughly study these lessons that I have set before your eyes It will be a speciall help and means to cure your murmurings against and repinings at the hand of God And so you will come to learn Christian Contentment The Lord teach you thoroughly by his Spirit these lessons of Contentment SERMON VI. PHILIPPIANS 4.11 For I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I Shall only adde one lesson more in the learning of Contentment then I shal come to the Fourth Head The
of the Mast if you will and yet keep it light so the comfort of a Christian when it is enlivened with the grace of Contentment it may be keept light whatever storms or tempests come yet he can keep light in his soul Oh! this helps thy comforts exceeding much Seventhly There is this Excellency in Contentment that it fetches in the comfort of those things we have not really in possession and perhaps many that have not outward things have more comfort than those have that do enjoy them themselves As now a man by distilling herbs though he hath not the herbs themselves yet having the water that is distil'd out of them he may enjoy the benefit of the herbs so though a man hath not the reall possession of such an outward estate an outward comfort yet he by the grace of Contentment may fetch it in to himself By the art of Navigation we can fetch in the riches of the East and West-Indies to our selves so by the art of Contentment we may fetch in the comfort of any condition to our selves that is we may have that comfort by Contentment that we should have if we had the thing it self There is an notable story you have for this in Plutarch in the life of Pyrus one Sineus comes to him and would very fain have had him desist from the wars and not war with the Romans saith he to him May it please your Majestie it is reported that the Romans are very good men of warre and if it please the gods we do over-come them what benefit shall we have of that Victory Pyrhus answered him We shall then straight conquer all the rest of Italy with ease Saith Sineus Indeed it is likely which your Grace speaketh But when we have won Italy will then our wars end If the Gods were pleased said Pyrhus that the victory were achieved the way were then broad open for us to attain great conquests for who would not afterwards go into Africk and so to Carthage But saith Sineus when we have all in our hands what shall we do in the end then Pyrhus laughing told him again we will then be quiet and take our ease and make feasts every day and be as merry one with another as we can possible saith Sineus What letteth us now to be as quiet and merry together fith we enjoy that presently without further travel and trouble which we should go seek for abroad with such shedding of blood and so manifest danger Cannot you sit down and be merry now So a man may think if I had such a thing then I would have another and if I had that then I should have more and what if you had got al your desire then you would be content why you may be content now without them Certainly our Contentment doth not consist in the getting of the thing we desire but in Gods fashioning our spirits to our conditions There 's some men that have not a foot of ground of their own yet will live better than other men that are heirs to a great deal of land I have known it in the country somtimes that a man lives upon his own land and yet lives very poorly but you shall have another man that shall farm his land and yet by his good husbandry and by his care shall live better somtimes than he that hath the land of his own so a man by this art of Contentment may live better without an estate than another man can of an estate Oh! it adds exceeding much to the comfort of a Christian and that I may shew it farther there is more comfort even in grace of Contentment than there is in any possessions whatsoever a man hath more comfort in being content without a thing than he can have in the thing that he in a discontented way doth desire You think if I had such a thing then I should be content I say There is more good in Contentment than there is in the thing that you would fain have to cure your discontent and that I shall open in divers particulars As thus 1. I would fain have such a thing and then I could be content but if I had it then it were but the creature that did help to my Contentment but now it 's the Grace of God in my soul that makes me content and surely it is better to be Content with the Grace of God in my soul than with the enjoying of an outward comfort 2. If I had such a thing indeed my estate might be better but my soul would not be better but by Contentment my soul is better that would not be bettered by an estate or lands or friends but Contentment makes my self to be better and therefore Contentment is a better portion than the thing is that I would fain have to be my portion 3. If I get Content by having my desire satisfied that 's but self-love but when I am Contented with the hand of God and am willing to be at his dispose that comes from my love to God in having my desire satisfied there I am contented through self-love but through the Grace of Contentment I come to be contented out of love to God and is it not beteer to be contented from a principle of love to God than from a principle of self-love 4. If I am contented because I have that that I have a desire to perhaps I am contented in that one particular but that one particular doth not furnish me with Contentment in another thing perhaps I may grow more dainty and nice and froward in other things if you give children what they would have in some things they grow so much the more coy and dainty and discontented if they have not other things that they would have but if I have once overcome my heart and am contented through the grace of God in my heart then this doth not content me only in a particular but in general whatsoever befals me I am discontented and would fain have such a thing and afterwards I have it now doth this prepare me to be contented in other things no but when I have gotten this Grace of Contentment I am prepar'd to be contented in all conditions and thus you see that Contentment doth bring comfort to a mans life fils a mans life full of comfort in this world yea the truth is it is even a Heaven upon Earth why what is Heaven but the rest and quiet of a mans spirit what 's the special thing that is in Heaven but rest and joy that makes the life of Heaven there 's rest and joy and satisfaction in God so it 's here in a contented spirit there 's rest and joy and satisfaction in God In Heaven there 's singing praises to God a contented heart is alwaies praising and blessing God thou hast Heaven while thou art upon earth when thou hast a contented spirit yea in some regards it's better than Heaven How is that you will say there
be no space nor time for murmuring to work upon thy heart that 's the Fourth Particular The Fift thing in the evil of discontentment Murmuring and discontentment is exceedingly below a Christian Oh! it is too mean and base a distemper for a Christian to give place to it Now it 's below a Christian in many respects 1 How below the relation of a Christian The relation in which thou standest With what relation you will say First The relation thou standest in to God Do'st not thou call God thy father and do'st not thou stand in relation to him as a child what thou murmer In 2 Sam. 13.4 it 's a speech of Jonadab to Amnon Why art thou being the Kings Son lean from day to day wilt thou not tell me and so he told him but that was for a wicked cause he perceived that his spirit was troubled for otherwise he was of a fat and plump temper of body but because of trouble of spirit he was even pin'd away why what 's the matter thou that standest in this relation to the King and yet any thing should trouble thy heart that 's his meaning is there any thing that should disquiet thy heart and yet standest in such a relation to the King the King's Son So I may say to a Christian Art thou the King's Son the Son the Daughter of the King of Heaven and yet so disquieted and troubled and vext at every little thing that falls out as if a King's Son should cry out he is undone for losing a bable what an unworthy thing were this So doest thou thou criest out as if thou wert undon and yet a Kings Son thou that standest in such relation to God as unto a father thou doest dishonour thy father in this as if so be either he had not wisdom or not power or not mercy enough to provide for thee 2. The relation that thou standest in to Jesus Christ thou art the spouse of Christ what one married to Jesus Christ yet troubled and discontented hast thou not enough in him doth not Christ say to his spouse as Elkanah said to Hannah 1 Sam. 1.8 Am not I better to thee than ten sons So doth not Christ thy husband say to thee Am not I better to thee than thousands of riches and comforts such comforts as thou murmurest for want of hath not God given thee his Son and will he not with him give thee all things hath the love of God bin to thee to give thee his Son in way of marriage why art thou discontented and murmuring consider thy relation to Jesus Christ as thou art a spouse and married to him his person is thine and so all the riches of Jesus Christ is thine as the riches of a husband are the wives and though there are some husbands so vile as the wives may be forced to sue for maintainance certainly Jesus Christ will never deny maintainance to his spouse it 's a dishonour for a husband to have the wife go whining up-and down what thou art macht with Christ art his spouse and wilt thou murmur now and be discontented in thy spirit You shall observe among those that are newly matched when there is discontent between the wife and the husband their friends will shake their heads and say they do not meet with that that they did expect ye see ever since they were married together how the man looks and the woman looks they are not so chearly as they were wont to be surely say they it is like to prove an ill match But it 's not so here it shall not be so between thee and Christ Oh Jesus Christ doth not love to see his spouse to have a lowring countenance no man loves to see discontentment in the face of his wife surely Christ doth not love to see discontentment in the face of his spouse 3 Thou standest in relation to Christ not only as a spouse but as a member Thou art bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and to have a member of Jesus Christ to be in such a condition it 's exceeding unworthy 4. He is thy Elder brother likewise and so thou art a Co heir with him 5 The relation that thou standest in to the Spirit of God thou art the Temple of the holy Ghost the holy Ghost is thy Comforter it is he that is appointed to convey all comfort from the Father and the Son to the Souls of his people And art thou the Temple of the holy Ghost and doth he dwell in thee and yet for all that thou murmur for every little matter 6 The relation that thou standest in to the Angels thou art made one body with them for so Christ hath joyned principalities and powers with his Church they are Ministring Spirits for good to his people to supply what they need and thou and they are joyned together and Christ is the head of you and Angels 7 The relation that you stand in to the Saints you are of the same body with them they and you make up but one mystical body with Jesus Christ and if they be happy you must needs be happy Oh how beneath a Christian is a murmuring Spirit if he considers his relations in which he stands Secondly A Christian should consider That murmuring and discontentednesse is below the high dignities that God hath put upon him Do but consider the high dignitie that God hath put upon thee the meanest Christian in the world is a lord of heaven and earth he hath made us Kings unto himselfe Kings unto God not Kings unto men to rule over them and yet I say every Christian is lord of heaven and earth yea of life and death That is as Christ he is Lord of all so he hath made those that are his members to be lords of all all are yours saith the Apostle even life and death every thing is yours It 's a very strange expression that death should be theirs death is yours that is you are as it were lords over it you have that that shall make death to be your servant your slave even death it 's self your greatest enemies are turned to be your slaves faith makes a Christian to be as lord over all to be lifted up in excellency above all creatures that ever God made except the Angels yea and in some respect above them I say the poorest Christian that lives is raised to an estate above all the creatures in the world except Angels yea and above them in divers respects too and yet discontented that thou who wert as a firebrand of hell and might have been scorching and yelling and roring there to all eternity yet that God should raise thee to have a higher excellency in thee than there is in all the works of creation that ever he made except Angels and other Christians that are in thy condition yea and thou art neerer the Divine Nature than the Angels because thy nature is joyned in an hypostatical union to
peace among themselves and therefore God in mercy will discover them beforehand before Canaan comes he will discover this mixt multitude 5. Rea. God will bring them into straits because he might give occasion to the Adversary to vent his malice to the utmost and to ripen his sin that it may be ripe to the full before God comes to deliver us that they may be gathered together to be a great sacrifice to the Lord therefore Gods people are brought to such straights that if they will blaspheme they shal blaspheme to the full In our times now the more straights we are brought into the greater are the blasphemies of the wicked and if God should bring us into more straights and give them the better over us I beleeve there will be that horrible blasphemy in England that never was in any place in the world the heavens never did hear nor the earth never did bear such blasphemies and blasphemers as there would be if God should but deliver up his people in any degree to the hands of their enemies we know not but for the ripenning of their sins and that so they may come to be remarkable for Gods vengance on them here in this world God may give them power over his people and bring his people yet into greater straights And then the last reason is 6. Reas Because the work of Jesus Christ will more appear at the last the greater the straight is And therefore in Dan. 9.25 He will build up the City even in troublesome times Every one can build in quiet times but in troubled times Christ will build up the City And he rules in the midst of his enemies Christ loves to rule in the midst of his enemies that so his rule may be the more conspicuous 1. Vse Is it so with us Take heed then that we have not our hearts sinck because of straights Let us not say why is it thus with us If God be in a way of mercy why deals he thus with us and presently be ready to conclude against the waies of God certainly all is gone God is gone surely whatsoever the hopes and confidences of such and such were we see all is undone all their hopes are undone God forbid there should be such an unbeleeving heart in any of you or such murmuring and repining speeches among any of you whatsoever straight you are brought into 2 Doct. In these straights Gods people are mightily troubled It was so here in every straight they repin'd and were in a distraction and especially at this time stand still saith Moses what mean you to do They were all in a confusion and as it was there so it is many times in many of Gods Saints As the blessed man Heman that made that 88. Psalm you shall find in that Psalm he was distracted and yet though Heman was one of the wisest men upon the earth for so you shall find it in the 1. of Kings where the holy Ghost speaks of wise men in 4.31 Solomon did exceed the wisedom of all in Egypt for saith the text he was wiser than all men than Heman and yet Heman was in woful perplexity when he was brought into straights And in the 8. of Isaiah It was the same case there that seems to be ours now Oh there was a Confederacy a Confederacy and many people did joyn together against Gods servants and upon that the text saith in the 11. verse The Lord spake to me with a strong hand and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people saying say ye not A Confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say A Confederacy neither fear ye their fear Mark God was fain to speak to the Prophet with a strong hand that he should not be so troubled as other people were in the time of their fears Yea we shall find that many of Gods Saints that he hath delivered in a most glorious way yet at some other times they have been too secure their hearts have bin all in a confusion and were not able to stand before the difficulties that they met withal And for that you have a famous example 1 Kings 19. of Elijah if you reade the 18. Chap. you may see what a Spirit Elijah had he would appear before Ahab As the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand I will surely shew my self to him to day to Ahab and he did shew himself to Ahab and tels him it was he and his people that troubled Israel when Ahab said to him Art thou he that troubleth Israel No saith he It is thou and thy fathers house that troubleth Israel And then he comes and gets the Priests of Baal together and gets fire from heaven to consume the Sacrifice and destroies all the Priests of Baal and gets rain from heaven to rain upon the earth What an excellent Spirit had Elijah in the 18 Chapter Yet in the 19. Chapter Jezabel did but threaten Elijah and he takes himself to his heels and runs away at the threatning of wicked Jezabel though he had such a brave Spirit in the former Chapter So it is truly with many men at some time their courage makes their adversaries afraid and at other times their cowardice makes their friends ashamed many have been so they have been a terror to their adversaries one day and a shame to their friends another day Reas 1. Because we have much flesh still in the best of us all and we are much led by sence and because we are not throughly skilful in the waies of God because the fear of God is so weak in us therefore it is that the fear of man is so strong and therefore we know so little of Gods secrets the secrets of God are with them that fear him did we fear God more we should know his secret waies and not be so much troubled Reas 2. Because there is a great deal of guilt rests in the best and that will make any one afraid where there is much guiltiness in their hearts it is exceeding troublesome to the soul Reas 3. Because they are too to confident in the flesh they are too to confident in themselves Thence it is that God withdraws himself from them and at what time they are afraid they cannot trust in God as David it is an admirable sweet text professes of himself That at what time he was afraid he would trust in God There is many a man that for the present thinks he can trust in God but he cannot do it at that time when he is afraid Psal 56.3 What time I am afraid I will trust in the Lord. When your passion comes then you make no use of your faith to trust in God As now many a man or woman can be meek quiet till they have a temptation but when your passion is up can you be meek then and rise then and beat it down with the contrary grace So when the passion of your fears and troubles