his hand. Care, when it is eccentric, either distrustful or distracting, is very dishon- ourable to God; it takes away his provi- dence, as if he sat in heaven and minded not what became of things here below ; like a man that makes a clock, and then leaves it to go of itself. Immoderate care takes the heart off from better things ; and usually while we are thinking how we shall do to live, we forget how to die. Care is a spi- ritual canker that doth waste and dispirit ; we may sooner by our care add a furlong to our grief than a cubit to our comfort. God doth threaten it as a curse, " They shall eat their bread with carefulness," Ezek. xii 19, Better fast than eat of that bread. " Be careful for nothing."
Now, lest any one should say, yea, Paul thou ])rcachest that to us which thou hast scarce learned thyself, — hast thou learned not to be careful ? the apostle seems tacitly to answer that, in the words of the text " I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content :" A speech worthy to be engraven upon our hearts, and to be written in letters of gold upon the crowns and diadems of princes.
The text doth branch itself into these two general parts.
ART OF DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
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I. Tlic sclioljir, Paul ; " I have learned."
II. The lesson; "in every state to be content."
Chap. II. The First Branch of the Text, the Scholar, with the First Proposition.
I begin with the first : The scholar, and his proficiervcy, — " I have learned." Out of which I shall by the bye, observe two things by way of paraphrase. 1. The a- postle doth not say, I have heard, that in every estate I should be content : but, I Itave learned. Whence our first doctrine, tliat it is not enough for Christians to hear their duty, but they must learn their duty. It is one thing to hear, and another thing to learn ; as it is one thing to eat, and ano- ther thing to concoct. St. Paul was a prac- titioner. Christians hear much, but it is to be feared, learn little. There were four sorts of ground in the parable, Luke viii. 5. ; and but one good ground : an emblem of this truth, many hearers, but few lear- ners. There are two things which keep us from learning.
1. Slighting what we hoar. Christ is the pearl of price ; when we disesteem this pearl, we shall never learn either its value, or its virtue. The gospel is a rare myste- ry ; in one place, Acts xx. 24., it is called * the gospel of grace;' in another, 1 Cor. iv. 4-., ' the gospel of glory ;' because in it, as in a transparent glass, the glory of God is resplendent. But he that hath learned to contemn this mystery, will hardly ever learn to obey it ; he that looks upon the things of heaven as things by the bye, and perhaps the driving of a trade, or carrying on some politic design to be of greater im- portance, this man is in the high road to damnation, and will hardiv ever learn the things of his peace. Who will learn that which he thinks is scarce worth learning ?
2. Forgetting what we hear. If a sclio- lar have his rules laid before him, and he forgets them as fast as he reads them, he v\'ill never learn, James i. 25. Aristotle calls the memory the scribe of the soul ; and Bernaid calls it the stomach of the soul, because it hath a retentive faculty, and turns heavenly food into blood and spirits ; we have great memories in other
things, we remember that wliich is vain. Cyrus could remember the name of ever> soldier in his huge army. We remembe". injuries: this is to fill a precious cabinet with dung; but, quoin facilis oblivio honi? as llierom saith, how soon do we forget the sacred truths of God ? We are apt to forget three things: our faults, — our friends, — our instructions. Many Christians are like sieves ; put a sieve into the water, and it is full ; but take it forth of the water, and all runs out: so, while they arc hearing of a sermon, they remember something; but like the sieve out of the water, as soon as they are gone out of the church, all is for- gotten. " Let these sayings, (saith Christ) sink down into your ears," Luke ix. 44. In the original it is, ' put these sayings into your ears,' as a man that would hide a jewel from being stolen, locks it up safe in his chest. Let them sink: the word must not fall only as dew that wets the leaf, but as rain which soaks to the root of the tree, and makes it fructify. O how often doth Satan, that fowl of the air, pick up the good seed that is sown !
Use. Let me put you upon a serious trial. Some of you have heard much, — you have lived forty, fifty, sixty years under the bles- sed trumpet of the gospel, — what have you learned ? You may have heard a thousand sermons, and vet not learned one. Search your consciences.