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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A77996	The rare jewel of Christian contentment Wherein is shewed; 1. What contentment is. 2. The holy art or mystery of it. 3. Several lessons that Christ teacheth, to work the heart to contentment. 4. The excellencies of it. 5. The evils of murmuring. 6. The aggravations of the sin of murmuring. By Jeremiah Burroughs. The first of the eleven volumes that are published by Thomas Goodwin, William Greenhil, Sydrach Sympson, Philip Nye, William Bridge, John Yates, William Adderly.	Burroughs, Jeremiah, 1599-1646.; Goodwin, Thomas, 1600-1680.; Greenhill, William, 1591-1671.; Bridge, William, 1600?-1670.; Nye, Philip, 1596?-1672.; Simpson, Sidrach, 1600?-1655.; Yates, John, d. ca. 1660.; Adderley, William.	1666 (1666)	Wing B6107B; ESTC R201188	189,505	233

with such delight and accommodations more than they can in other Countries and through Gods mercy we have as great accommodation in our travelling to Heaven in England as any place under Heaven hath but yet though we do meet with travellers fare somtimes yet it should not be grievous to us The Scripture tells us plainly that we must behave our selves here but as pilgrims and strangers In 1 Pet. 2.11 Dearly beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul Consider what your condition is you are pilgrims and strangers do not think to satisfie your selves here A man when he comes into an Inn If there be a fair cupbord of plate he is not troubled that it is not his own Why Because he is going away so let us not be troubled when we see other men have great estates but we have not Why we are going away into another Country you are lodging here but as it were for a night if you should live an hundred years in comparison of eternity it is not so much as a night it is but as you were travelling and were come into an Inn And were not this a madness for a man to be discontent because he hath not what he sees there seeing it may be he is to go away again within half a quarter of an hour So you find it in David this was the argument that brought off Davids heart from the things of this world and set him upon other manner of things Psal 119.19 I am a stranger in the earth hide not thy Commandements from me I am a stranger in the earth what then then Lord let me have the knowledge of thy Commandements and it's sufficient as for the things of the earth I stand not upon them whether I have much or little but hide not thy Commandements from me Lord let me know the rule that I should guide my life by Again We are not only Travellers but Souldiers this is the condition of the life in which we are here in this world and therefore we are to behave our selves accordingly So the Apostle makes use of this argument in writing unto Timothy 2 Tim. 2.3 Thou therefore endure hardness as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ The very thought of the condition of a man that is a Souldier doth still his disquiet of heart when he is abroad he hath not that accommodations in his quarters as he hath in his own family perhaps a man that had his bed warm and curtains drawn about him and all accommodations in his chamber now perhaps somtimes he must be put to lie upon straw and he thinketh with himself I am a Souldier and it is sutable to my condition he must have his bed warm'd at home but he must lie abroad in the fields when he is a Souldier and the very thought of this condition in which he stands quiets him in all things yea and he goes rejoycing to think this is but sutable to my condition in which God hath put me so it should be with us in respect of this world Now would it not be an unseemly thing to see a Soldier go whining up down with the finger in the eye and complaining that he hath not hot meat every meal and his bed warm'd as he had at home Now Christians they know that they are in their warfare they are here in this world fighting and combating with the enemies of their souls and eternal condition and they must be willing to endure hardness here The right understanding of this that God hath put them into such a condition it is that that will content them especially when they consider that they are certain of the victory and that ere long they shall triumph with Jesus Christ and then all their sorrows shall be done away their tears wiped from their eys A Souldier is content to endure hardness though he knows not that he shall have the victory but a Christian knows himself to be a Souldier and knows that he shall conquer and triumph with Jesus Christ to all eternity And that 's the fourth Lesson that Christ doth teach the soul when he brings it into his School to learn the Art of Contentment he makes him understand throughly the relation in which he hath placed him in in this world The Fifth Lesson that Christ teaches it is this He teacheth us wherein consists any good that is to be enjoyed in any creature in the world It 's true before it hath been taught that there is a vanity in the Creature that is take the Creature considered in it's self but yet though there be a vanity in the Creature in it's self in respect of satisfying the soul for its portion yet there is some goodness in the Creature though there be a vanity there is some desirableness But wherein doth that consist It consists not in the nature of the Creature it self for that is nothing but vanity but it consists in the reference it hath to the first being of all things This is a Lesson that Christ teaches If there be any good in an estate or in any comforts in this world it is not so much that it pleases my sense that it is sutable to my body but the reference it hath to God the First being that by these creatures there should be somwhat of Gods Goodness conveyed to me and I may have a sanctified use of the creature to draw me neerer to God and that I enjoy more of God and be made more serviceable for the Glory of God in the place where God hath set me here 's the good of the Creature Oh were we but instructed in this Lesson did we but understand and throughly believe this to be a truth that there is no creature in all the world hath any goodness in it any further than it hath reference to the first infinite Supream Good of all that so far as I can enjoy God in it so far it is good to me and so far as I do not enjoy God in it so far there is no goodness in any thing that I have in the creature how easie were it then for one to be contented As thus Suppose a man had a great estate but a few years ago and now it is all gone I would but appeal to this man When you had your estate wherein did you account the good of that estate to consist a carnal heart would say any body might know that that it brought me inso much a year and that I could fare of the best and be a man of repute in the place where I live and men would regard what I said I might be cloathed as I would and lay up portions for my children in this consisted the good of my estate this man now never came into the School of Christ to know wherein the good of an estate did consist no marvail if he be disquieted when he hath lost his estate But now a Christian

willing to be at thy dispose SERMON VII at Stepney Sept. 7. 1645. PHIL. 4.11 For I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content WE proceed now There are some two or three things more of the excellency of Contentment and then we are to proceed to Application of the Point The eight Excellency is Contentment is a great blessing of God upon the soul There is Gods blessing upon those that are content the blessing of God is upon them and their estates and upon all that they have We read in Deut. of the blessing of Judah the principle Tribe this is the blessing of Judah And he said hear Lord the voice of Judah and bring him unto his people let his hands be sufficient for him and be thou an help to him from his enemies Let his hand be sufficient for him that is bring in a sufficiency of all the good unto him that he may have of his own that 's the blessing of Judah So when God gives thee a sufficiency of thine own as every contented man hath there is the blessing of God upon thee the blessing of the principal Tribe of Judah is upon thee It is the Lord that gives us all things to enjoy we may have the thing and yet not enjoy it except God come in with his blessing now whatsoever thou hast thou dost enjoy it Many men have estates and do not enjoy them it 's the blessing of God that gives us all things to enjoy it is God that through his blessing hath fashioned thy heart and made it suitable to thy condition The ninth Excellency Those that are content they may expect reward from God that God shall give unto them the good of all those things that they are contented to be without and this brings in abundance of good to a contented spirit There is such and such a mercy that thou thinkest would be very comfortable unto thee if thou hadst it but canst thou bring thy heart to submit to God in it thou shalt have the blessing of the mercy one way or other if thou hast not the thing it self in re thou shalt have it made up one way or other thou shalt have a Bill of exchange to receive somewhat in lieu of it there is no comfort that any soul is content to be without but the Lord will give either the comfort or somewhat in stead of it Thou shalt have a reward to thy soul for what ever good thing thou art content to be without You know what the Scripture saith of active obedience and the Lord doth accept of his servants their will for the deed though we do not do a good thing yet if our hearts be upright to will to do it we shall have the blessing though we do not do the thing You that complain of weakness you cannot do as others do you cannot do as much service as others do if your hearts be upright with God and would fain do the same service that you see others do you would account it a great blessing of God upon you the greatest blessing in the world if you were able to do as others do now you may comfort your selves with this having to deal with God in the way of the Covenant of Grace you shall have from God the reward of all you would do as a wicked man shall have punishment for all the sin he would commit so thou shalt have the reward for all the good thou wouldst do Now may we not draw an argument from active obedience to passive There is as good reason why thou shouldst expect that God will reward thee for all thou art willing to suffer as well as for all that thou art willing to do now if thou beest willing to be without such a comfort and mercy when God sees it fit thou shalt be no looser Certainly God will reward thee either with the comfort or with that that shall be as good to thee as the comfort therefore consider how many things have I that others want and can I bring my heart into a quiet contented frame to want what others have I have the Blessing of all that they have and I shall either possess such things as others have or else God will make it up one way or other either here or hereafter in eternity to me Oh! what riches are here with Contentment thou hast all kind of riches Tenthly and lastly By Contentment the soul comes to an Excellency neer unto God himself yea the neerest that may be for this word that is Translated Content is a word that signifies a Self-sufficiency as I told you in the opening of the words A contented man is a self-sufficient man What is the great glory of God but to be happy and self-sufficient of himself Indeed he is said to be Al-sufficient but that 's but a further addition of the word All rather than of any matter for to be sufficient is All-sufficient Now is this the Glory of God to be Sufficient to have Sufficiency in Himself El-shaddai to be God having Sufficiency in himself Now thou comest neer to this thou partakest of the Divine Nature as by Grace in general so in a more peculiar manner by this Grace of Christian Contentment what 's the Excellency and Glory of God but this Suppose there were no creatures in the world and that all the creatures in the world were annihilated God would remain the same blessed God that he is now he would not be in a worse condition if all Creatures were gone neither would a contented heart if God should take away all creatures from him a contented heart hath enough in the want of all creatures and would not be more miserable than now he is Suppose that God should continue thee here and all creatures that are here in this world were taken away yet thou still having God to be thy portion wouldest be as happy as now thou art and therefore Contentation hath a great deal of Excellency in it Thus we have shewed in many particulars the Excellency of this Grace laboring to present the beauty of it before your souls that you may be in love with it Now my brethren what remains but the practice of this for this Art of Contentment it 's not a speculative thing onely for contemplation but it is an art of Divinity and therefore practical ye are now to labor to work upon your hearts that there may be this Grace in you that you may honor God and honor your profession with this Grace of Contentment for there is none doth more honor God and honor their profession than those that have this Grace of Contentment Now that we may fall upon the practice there is required First That we should be humbled in our hearts for the want of this that we have had so little of this Grace in us For there is no way to set upon any duty with profit till the heart be humbled for the want of the performance

is to bring us out As we read in the Acts of Paul when they had shut him in Prison and would have sent him out Nay saith Paul they shut us in let them come and fetch us out So in a holy gracious way should a soul say Well this affliction that I am brought into it is by the hand of God and I am content to be here till God brings me out himself God doth require at our hands that we should not be willing to come out till he coms and fetches us out In Josh 4.10 you have a notable history there that may very well serve our purpose we read of the Priests that the Priests bare the Ark and stood in the midst of Jordan you know when the children of Israel went into the Land of Canaan they went through the River of Jordan Now the going through the river Jordan was a very dangerous thing only God bad them to go they might have been afraid that the water might have come in upon them but mark it is said The Priests that bare the Ark stood in the midst of Jordan till every thing was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the People according to all that Moses commanded Joshua and the People hasted and passed over And it came to passe when all the people were clean passed over that the Ark of the Lord passed over and the Priests in the presence of the people Now it was Gods dispose that all the people should pass over first that they should be safe upon the land but the Priests they must stand still till all the people be passed over then they must have leave to go but they must stay till God would have them go stay in all that danger for certainly in reason and sense there was a great deal of danger in staying for the Text saith the people hasted over but the Priests they must stay till the people be gone stay till God calls them out from that place of danger and so many times it doth prove that God is pleased to dispose of things so that the Ministers must stay longer in danger than the people and Magistrates and those in publick place which should make people to be satisfied and contented with a lower condition that God hath put them into Though your condition be low yet you are not in that danger that those in that are in a higher condition God calls them in publick place to stand longer in the gap and place of danger than other people but we must be content to stay even in Jordan till the Lord shall be pleased to call us out And then for the variety of our condition we must be content with the particular affliction and the times and all the circumstances about the affliction for somtimes the circumstances are greater afflictions than the afflictions themselves And for the variety if God will exercise us with various afflictions one after another As that hath been very observable even of late that many that have been plundered and come away afterwards have fallen sick and died They have fled for their lives and afterwards the plague hath come among them and if not that affliction it may be some other affliction It is very rare that one affliction comes alone commonly afflictions are not single things but they come one upon the neck of another It may be God strikes one in his estate then in his body then in his name wife or childe or dear friend and so it comes in a various way it is the way of God ordinarily you may find it by experience that seldom one affliction comes alone now this is hard when one affliction follows after another when there is a variety of afflictions when there is a mighty change in a condition up and down this way and that way there indeed is the trial of a Christian there must be submission to Gods dispose in them I remember it is said even of Cato that was a Heathen that no man saw him to be changed though he lived in a time when the Commonwealth was so often changed yet it is said of him he was the same though his condition was changed and he ran through variety of conditions Oh that it could be said so of many Christians that though their conditions be changed yet that no body could see them changed they are the same Look what gracious sweet and holy temper they were in before that they are still Thus we are to submit to the dispose of God in every condition Obj. But you will say This that you speak of is good indeed it we could attain to it but is it possible for one to attain to this Answer It is if you get skill in the Art of it you may attain to it and it will prove to be no such difficult thing to you neither if you understand but the mystery of it as there 's many things that men do in their callings that if a countrey man comes and sees he thinks it is a mighty hard thing and that he should never be able to do it but that 's because he understands not the art of it there is a turning of the hand so as you may do it with ease Now that 's the business of this exercise to open unto you the art and mystery of Contentment What way a Christian comes to Contentment there is a great Mystery and art in it by that that hath been opened to you there will appear some mystery and art as that a man should be content with his affliction and yet throughly sensible of his affliction too to be throughly sensible of an affliction and to endeavour the removing of it by all lawful means and yet to be content there 's a mystery in that how to Joyn these two together to be sensible of an affliction as much as that man or woman that is not content I am sensible of it as fully as they and I seek wayes to be delivered from it as well as they and yet still my heart abides content this is I say a mystery that is very hard to be understood by a carnal heart but grace doth teach such a mixture doth teach us how to make a mixture of sorrow and a mixture of joy together and that makes Contentment the mingling of joy and sorrow of gracious joy and gracious sorrow together grace teaches us how to moderate and to order an affliction so as there shall be a sense of it and yet for all that Contentment under it There are divers things further for the opening of the Mystery of Contentment The First Thing therefore is this To shew that there is a great mystery in it One that is contented in a Christian way it may be said of him that he is the most contented man in the world and yet the most unsatisfyed man in the world these two together must needs be mysterious I say a contented man as he is the most contented so

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 Uzziah when God struck Vzziah with a Leprosie they say that the beams of the Sun was darted upon the forehead of Vzziah and he was struck with a Leprosie with the darting of the beams of the Sun upon his forehead the Scripture saith Indeed the Priests looked upon him but they say there was a special light and beam of the Sun upon the forehead 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 Country 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 Country 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 conveyes 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 Spiritual Judgements are the greatest Judgements of all the Lord says 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 external judgements but he hath not inflicted spiritual Judgements upon thee he hath not given thee up to hardness 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 wrath of God to be given up to a mans desires and for Spiritual Judgements to be upon a man this quiets him and contents him though outward afflictions be upon him perhaps one of a mans children hath the fit of an ague or the tooth-ach but perhaps his next neighbor 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 neighbors 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 Isa 29. 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 been any of you as I fear many may be found that have erred in spirit even in regard of this truth that now we are preaching of and many that have murmured Oh that this day you might come to understand that Christ would bring you into his School and teach you understanding And they that murmured shall learn Doctrine what Doctrine shall they learn These eight Doctrines that I have opened to you And if you will but throughly study these lessons that I have set before your eyes It will be a special help and means to cure your murmuring against and repinings at the hand of God And so you will come to learn Christian Contentment The Lord teach you throughly by his Spirit these Lessons of Contentment SERMON VI. at Stepney Aug. 31. 1645. PHIL. 4.11 For I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I Shall only adde one Lesson more in learning of Contentment and then I shall come to the Fourth Head The Excellency of Contentment The Ninth and last Lesson that Christ teaches those that he doth instruct in this Art of Contentment It is the right knowledge of Gods Providence and therein are these four things 1. The Universality of Providence that the soul must be throughly instructed in to come to this Art to understand the Universality of Providence that is how the Providence of God goes through the whole world extends it self to every thing Not onely that God by his providence doth rule the world and govern all things in general but that it reaches to every particular not onely to Kingdoms to order the great affairs of Kingdoms but it reaches to every mans Family it reaches to every person in the Family it reaches to every condition yea to every passage to every thing that falls out concerning thee in every particular not one hair falls from thy head not a Sparrow to the ground without the providence of God There 's nothing befalls thee good or evil but there is a providence of the Infinite Eternal First-being in that thing and therein indeed is Gods Infiniteness that it reaches to the least things to the least worm that is under thy feet Then much more it reaches unto thee that art a rational Creature the Providence of God is more special towards rational Creatures than any others The understanding in a spiritual way the universality of providence in every particular passage from morning to night every day that there 's not any thing that doth befall thee but there 's a hand of God in it it is from God it is a mighty furtherance to Contentment Every man will grant the truth of the thing that it is so but as the Apostle saith in Heb. 11.3 By faith we understand that the worlds were made by faith we understand it why by faith we can understand by reason that no finite thing can be from it self And therefore that the world could not be of it self but we can understand it by saith in another manner than by reason So whatsoever we understand of God in way of providence yet when Christ doth take us into his School we come to understand it by faith in a better manner than we do by reason 2. The efficacy that there is in providence that is That the providence of God goes on in all things with strength and power and it is not to be altered by our power let us be discontented and vext and troubled and fret and rage yet we must not think to alter the course of providence by our discontent Some of Jobs friends said to him Shall the earth be forsaken for thee and shall the rock be removed out of his place Job

a husband are the wives and though there are some husbands so vile as the wives may be forced to sue for maintenance certainly Jesus Christ will never deny maintenance to his Spouse it 's a dishonor for a Husband to have his Wife go whining up and down what thou art match'd with Christ and 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 cheerily 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 sace 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 onely 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 murmurest 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 On 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 discontentedness is below the high dignities that God hath put upon him Do but consider the high diguity 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 himself Kings unto God not Kings unto men to rule over them and yet I say every Christian is a Lord of Heaven and Earth yea of life and death That is As Christ he is a 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 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 respect too and yet discontented that thou who wert as a firebrand of Hell and might have been scorching and velling and roaring 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 the Divine Nature and in that respect thy nature is more honored than the nature of the Angels And the death of Christ is thine he died for thee and not for the Angels and therefore thou art like to be raised above the Angels in divers respects yea thou art in such an estate as this is thou that art set apart to the end that God might man fest to all eternity what the infinite power of a Deity is able to raise a creature to for that 's the condition of a Saint a Believer his condition is such as he is set apart to the end that God might manifest to all eternity what his infinite power is able to do to make the creature happy art thou in such a condition Oh! how low and beneath this condition is a murmuring and discontented heart for want of some outward comforts here in this world How unseemly is it that thou shouldest be a slave to every cross that every affliction shall be able to say to thy soul Bow down to us We accounted that a great slavery when men would say to our souls Bow down As the cruel Prelates were wont to do in imposing things upon mens consciences they did in effect say Let your consciences your souls bow down to us that we may tread upon them that is the greatest slavery in the world that one man should say to another let your consciences your souls bow down that we may tread upon them but wilt thou suffer every affliction to say bow down that we may tread upon thee Truly it s so when thy heart is overcome with murmuring and discontent Know that those afflictions which have caused thee to murmur have said to thee Bow down that we may tread upon thee nay not afflictions but the very Devil doth prevail against you in this Oh! how beneath is this to the happy estate that God hath raised a Christian unto What! the son of a King shall he have every base fellow to come and bid him bow down that he may tread upon his neck thus doest thou in every affliction the affliction the cross and trouble that doth befall thee saith Bow down that we may come and tread upon thee Thirdly Murmuring its below the spirit of a Christian Below his Spirit the spirit of every Christian should be like the spirit of his father every father loves to see his spirit in his childe loves to see his Image not his Image of his body onely to say here 's a childe for all the world like the father but he hath the spirit of his father too a father that is a man of spirit Loves to see his spirit in his childe rather than the feature of his Body Oh the Lord that is

of his spirit have I upon me that can find no rest at all Twelfthly Murmuring and discontent hath this evil in it There is an absolute necessity that thou shouldst have disquiet all the days of thy life As if a man that is in a great croud should complain that other folks touch him While we are in this world God hath so ordered things that afflictions must befal us and if we will complain and be discontented upon every cross and affliction we must complain and be discontent all the days of our lives Yea God in just judgement will let things fall out on purpose to vex those that have vexing spirits and discontented hearts and therefore there is a necessity that they should live disquiet all their days and men will not much care to disquiet those that are continually murmuring Oh they will have disquiet all their days Lastly There 's this dreadful evil in discontent and murmuring God may justly with draw his care of you and his protection over you seeing God cannot please you in his administrations We use to say so to discontented servants Nay if you be not pleased mend your selves when you will If you have a servant not content with his diet and wages and work you say Mend your selves So may God justly say to us we that profess our selves servants to him to be in his work and yet are discontented with this thing or that in Gods family God might justly say Mend your selves What if God should say to any of you If my care over you do not please you then take care of your selves if my protection over you will not please you then protect your selves Now all things that do befall you befall you through a providence of God and if you be those that belong to God there is a protection of God over you and a care of God Now if God should say Well you shall not have the benefit of my protection any longer and I will take no further care of you would not this be a most dreadful judgement of God from Heaven upon you Take heed what you do then in being discontent with Gods will towards you and indeed upon discontent this may befall you And this is the reason why many people though Gods protection hath bin very gracious over them for a time and they have thriven abundantly yet afterwards almost all that behold them may say that they live as if God had cast off his care over them and as if God did not care what befall them Now then my brethren put all these together all that we were speaking of the last day and these particulars that have been added now this morning for the setting out of a Murmuring and Discontented spirit Oh what an ugly face hath this sin of murmuring and discontentedness Oh what cause is there that we should lay our hands upon our hearts and go away and be humbled before the Lord because of this Whereas your thoughts were wont to be exercised about providing for your selves and getting more comforts to your selves let the stream of your thoughts now be turned to humble your selves for your discontentedness Oh that you may have your hearts break before God for otherwise you shall fall to it again Oh the wretchedness of mans heart You will find in Scripture concerning the people of Israel how strangely they fell to their murmuring again and again do but observe three texts of Scripture for that the first in the 15. of Exod. at the beginning there you shall have Moses and the Congregation singing to God and blessing God for his mercy Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel this song unto the Lord and spake saying I will sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the Sea And then The Lord is my strength and song and he is become my Salvation he is my God and I will prepare him an habitation my Fathers God and I will exalt him and so he goes on And who is like unto thee O Lord amongst the Gods Who is like thee glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders Thus their hearts triumphed in God but mark before the Chapter is ended in the 23. verse When they come to Marah in the same Chapter they could not drink of the waters of Marah for they were bitter therefore the name of it was called Marah and the people murmured against Moses After so great a mercy as this was what unthankfulness was there here in their murmuring Then God gave them water but in the very next Chapter they fell to their murmuring you read not that they were humbled for their former murmuring and therefore they murmur again Exod. 16.1 c. all the congregation of the Children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin c. And the whole Congregation in the second verse of the Children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness and the Children of Israel said unto them would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the Land of Egypt when we sat by the flesh-pots and when we did eat bread to the full Now they want flesh they wanted water before but now they want meat they fell to murmuring again they were not humbled for this murmuring against God neither when God gave them flesh according to their defires but they fell to murmuring again they wanted somewhat else In the very next Chapter they went not far in the 17. of Exod. beginning And all the Congregation of the Children of Israel journyed from the wilderness of Sin and pitched in Rephadim and there was no water for the people to drink Then in the second verse Wherefore the people did chide with Moses and said Give us water that we may drink and Moses said unto them Why chide you with me wherefore do you tempt the Lord And in the third verse And the people thirsted there for water and the people murmured against Moses and said wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our Children and our Cattel with thirst So one time after another still as soon as ever they had received the mercy then they were a little quieted but they were not humbled I bring these Scriptures for this to shew That if we have not been humbled for murmuring the next cross that we meet withal we will fall to murmuring again There are divers Aggravations of this sin of Murmuring I 'le mention but one now and I shall but begin that The first Aggravation is this To murmur when we enjoy abundance of mercy the greater and the more abundant the mercy is that we enjoy the greater and the viler is the sin of murmuring As here now when God had newly delivered them out of the house of bondage for them now to murmur because they want some few particulars that they desire Oh to sin against God after a

Heaven but Egypt had a constant way of watring the Country that did not so much depend upon Heaven for water but upon the River Nylus which did at some certain time overflow the Country and they knowing that the watering of their Country did depend upon that river and not upon Heaven they grew more proud and therefore the Scripture to express Pharoahs pride brings him in saying The river is mine he could order the River as he pleased for it was his Canaan which was a Country which was to depend upon God though they had rain at one time yet they knew not whether they should have it at another time and liv'd always in a dependance upon God not knowing what should become of them Now God thought this to be a better Land for his people than Egypt and this is given as one reason among others for it because the Lord lookt upon this as more suitable to the state of his people that were to live by faith to be continually depending upon Heaven upon Himself and not to have a constant setled way in the creature for their outward dependance And we find it by experience that when those that are godly live in the greatest dependance upon God and have no setled comings in from the creature they do exercise Faith more and are in a better condition for their souls than before Oh! many times it falls out that the worse thy outward estate is the better thy soul is and the better thy outward estate is the worse thy soul is We read in Ezra 4.13 the objection that the enemies had against the people of Israels building of the wall of the City their writing to Artaxerxes against them saith Be it known unto the King that if the City be builded and the walls set up again then they will not pay toll tribute and custome and so thou shalt endamage the revenue of the Kings If the wall be built say they then they will refuse to pay toll tribute and custome to the King that is thus so long as they live in such a condition where they have dependance wholly upon the King and lie at the Kings mercy that is they are in no City that hath walls built but the King may come upon them when he will so long they will pay custome to the King but if once they come to build a wall and can defend themselves and have not their dependance upon the King as before then they will deny paying toll tribute and custome So it is thus for all the world between God and mens souls when a soul lives in a way of meer dependance upon God that sensibly he sees God hath him at advantage every moment Oh then such a soul will pay toll and custome that soul exercises faith and begs every day his daily bread but if God hedges that man about with an estate with prosperity perhaps he hath an inheritance befaln him perhaps he hath a constant Office that brings in so much yearly to him duly paid this man is not so sensible now of his dependance upon God he begins now to pay less toll and custome to God than before God hath less service from this man now than before God sees it better for his people to live in a depending condition we are very loth in respect of God to be dependant we would be all Independants this way we would be of our selves and have no dependance upon the Lord but God sees it better for us to live in a depending condition Further This may be thy comfort though for outward things thou art mightily unsetled yet for the great things of thy soul and eternal estate there thou art setled there thou hast a setled way a constant way of fetching supply Of his fulness we receive grace for grace thou hast there abundance of treasure to go to and setch all that thou standest in need of and observe it that now thy condition is more setled in the Covenant of grace than it was in the Covenant of works in the Covenant of works there God gave man a stock to trade with but he put it in his own hand so that he might trade and get or lose but now in the Covenant of Grace God makes sure the stock is kept in the hand of Christ and we must go to him for supply continually for Christ keeps the stock perhaps we may trifle away somewhat in our trading but God takes that care still we should never spend the stock As a man when his son breaks having squandred away his stock that he gave him before afterwards he puts his stock into a friends hand and saith he you shall keep this stock and it shall not be at his dispose so we are in a more setled condition in respect of our eternal estate than Adam was in Innocency therefore let that comfort us in all our unsetled conditions in the matters of the world The Eleventh PLEA But yet there 's another reasoning that many murmuring hearts think to seed their humour withall say they If I never had been in a better condition then I could bear this affliction if God had always kept me in so low a condition I could be content Oh 〈◊〉 there was a time that I prospered more and I had things at a more full hand and therefore now it is harder to me to be brought low as in these times perhaps a man that had five or six hundred a year but now hath had nothing for a great while if that man had not been born to so much or never had prospered in any higher degree than now he is in this affliction had been less perhaps he hath some money and friends to live upon but if he had never been in a higher condition he would not have accounted it so great a matter to have been without it now This many times is our greatest wound that once we were in a better condition and this is the most unreasonable thing for us to murmure upon this ground of any For first Is thy eye evil because God hath been good to thee heretofore It 's an ill thing for us to have our eye evil because God is good to others but to look upon our condition with an evil eye now because God was once good to us hath God done thee any wrong because he was formerly more good to thee than he was to others Secondly Thou didst heretofore more prosper Did God heretofore give thee more prosperity it was to prepare thee for afflictions we should look at all our outward prosperity as a preparation to afflictions if thou hadst done so then it would not have been so difficult for thee to have endured affliction now when thou hadst a great estate yet if thou hadst made use of this mercy of God to prepare thee for thy afflicted estate then the change of thy estate would not be so grievous That every Christian should do have I an estate now I should prepare