(3.) Quarrelsomeness and unsubmissivc- ness to God's will is sinful in the concomi- tants of it. 1st. It is joined with sinful ris- ings of the heart. (1.) Evil thoughts arise ; we think hardly of God, as if he had done us wrong, or, as if we had deserved better at his hands. (2.) Passions begin to arise ; the heart secretly frets against God. Jonah was crossed in his will, and passion began to boil in him, Jonah iv. 1., " He was very angry." Jonah's spirit, as well as the sea, wrought, and was tempestuous. 2d. Un- submissiveness of will is joined with un- thankfulness, because in some one thing we are afflicted, we forget all the mercies we liave ; we deal with God, just as the widow of Sarepta did with the prophet, the prophet Elijah had been a means to keep her alive in the famine, but as soon as her child dies, she quarrels with the prophet, 1 Kings xvii. 18., " O thou man of God, art thou come to slay my son ?" So do we deal with God ; we can be content to receive blessings at his hand, but as soon as he doth, in the least thing, cross us in our will, we grow touchy, and are ready in a passion to fly out against him : thus God loseth all his mercies, and is not this high ingratitude?
(4.) Frowardness and unsubmissiveness to God's will, is evil in the effects, l.st. It unfits for duty : it is bad sailing in a storm, and it is ill praying when the heart is stormy
and unquiet ; it is well if such prayers do not suffer shipwreck. 2d. Unsubmissive- ness of spirit, sometimes unfits for the use of reason. Jonah was discontented, because he had not his will ; God withered the gourd, and his heart fretted against God ; and in the midst of his passion, he spake no better than nonsense and blasphemy, Jonah iv. 9., " I do well to be angry, even unto death." Sure he did not know well what he said. What ! to be angry with God, and die for anger ? He speaks as if he had lost the use of his reason. Thus unsubmissive- ness of will is sinful in its nature, causes, concomitants, effects ; may not this martyr our wills, and bring our wills to God in every thing, making us say, " thy will be done."
15th. Consideration, unsubmissiveness to God's will is very imprudent, we get no- thing by it, it doth not ease us of our bur- den, but rather makes it heavier. The more the child struggles v.ith llie parent; the more it is beaten ; when we struggle with God, and will not siibuiit to his will, we get nothing but m;;re blows. Instead of having the cords of ailiictlon loosened, we make God tie them the ^trailer. Let us then submit, and say, " Loid, thy will be done." Wliy should I spin out my own trouble by impatience and make my cross heavier ? What got Israel by their froward- ness,— they were within eleven days jour- ney of Canaan, they fell a murmuring, and God leads them a march of forty years lonoer in the wilderness.
16t/i. Consideration, the mischief of being unsubmissive to God's will in affliction, it lays a man open to many tem]>tations. When the heart frets against God by dis- content, here's good fibliiug lor Satan in these troubled waters. lie usually puts discontented persons upon indirect means Job's wife fretted — so iar was she from holy submission — and she ]irescntly puts her husband u])on cursing of (iod, Job. ii. 9., " Curse God and die." What is the reason why some have turned witches, and given themselves to the devil, but out of envy and discontent, because they have not liad their will. Others being under a temp- tation of poverty, and not having their wills in living at such an high rate as othei'S, have laid violent hands upon themselves.
OF THE THIRD PETITION IN THE LORD'S PRAYER.
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O tlie temptations that men of discontented spirits are exposed to ! Here (saith Satan) is good fishing for me.
I7th. Consideration, how far unsixbmis- siveness of spirit is from that temper of soul wliich God requires in affliction. God would have us in patience possess our souls, Lukexxi. 19. The Greek word for /?o^/e??C6", signifies to bear up under a burden without fainting or fretting; but to be froward in affliction, and quarrel with God's will, where is this Christian patience ? God would have us rejoice in affliction, James i. 2., " Count it all joy when ye fall into divers tempta- tions," that is, afflictions ; count it joy, be as birds that sing in winter, 1 Thess. i. 6., '* Ye received the word in much affliction with joy." Paul could leap in his fetters, and sing in the stocks. Acts xvi. 25. How far is a discontented soul from this frame ? He is far from rejoicing in affliction that hath not learned to submit.