For the illustration of this doctrine, I shall propound these questions.
Quest. 1. JVIiether a Christian may not besefisible of his condition, and yet be contented ?
Ans. Yes ; for else he is not a saint, but a stoic. Rachel did well to weep for her children, there was nature ; but her fault was, she refused to be comforted, there was discontent. Christ himself was sensible, wlieu he sweat great drops of blood, and said, " Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me," Mat. xxvi 39., yet he was contented, and sweetly submitted his will : " Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." The apostle bids us Immble our- selves " under the mighty hand of God," 1 Pet. v. 6., which we cannot do unless we are sensible of it.
Quest. 2. Whether a Christian may not lay open his grievances to God, and yet be con- tented ?
Ans. Yes ; " Unto thee have I opened my cause," Jer. xx. 12.; and David poured out his complaint before the Lord, Ps. cxlii. 2. We may cry to God, and desire him to wi-ite down all our ijijuries. Shall not the child complain to his father ? When any burden is upon the spirit, prayer gives vent, it eas- eth the heart. Hannah's spirit was bur- dened ; " I am," says she, " a woman of a
sorrowful spirit," 1 Sam. i. 15. Now hav- ing prayed, and wept, slie went away, and was no more sad ; only here is the differ- ence between a holy complaint and a dis- contented complaint ; in the one we com- plain to God, in the other we complain ol God.
Quest. 3. What is it properly that coil' tentment doth exclude ?
Ans. There are thi-ee things which con- tentment doth banish out of its diocese, and which can by no means consist with it.
1. It excludes a vexatious repining: this is properly the daughter of discontent : " I mourn in my complaint," Ps. Iv. 2. He doth not say I murmur in my complaint. Murmuring is no better than mutiny in the heart : it is a rising up against God. ^\lien the sea is rough and unquiet, is casts forth nothing but foam : when the lieart is dis- contented, it casts forth the foam of anger, impatience, and sometimes little better than blasphemy. Murmuring is nothing else but the scum which boils off from a discon- tented heart.
2. It excludes an uneven discomposure : when a man saith, I am in such straits, that I know not how to evolve or get out, I shall be undone, — when his head and heart are so taken up, that he is not fit to pray or meditate, &c. he is not himself; just as when an army is routed, one man runs this way, and another that, — the army is put into disorder, — so a man's thoughts run up and down distracted. Discontent doth dislocate and unjoint the soul, it pulls off the wheels.
3. It excludes a childish despondency ; and this is usually consequent upon the o- ther. A man being in an hurry of mind, not knowing which way to extricate, or wind liimself out of the present trouble, begins succumhere oneri, to faint and sink under it. For care is to the mind as a bur- den to the back, it loads the spirits, and, with overloading, sinks them. A despon- dent spirit is a discontented spirit.
Chap. VI. Shewing the Nature of Contentment.
Having answered these questions, I shall in the next place, come to describe this contentment.
It is a sweet temper of spirit, whcreb/ a
ART OF DIVINE CONTENTMENT.
687
Christian carries liimself in an equal poise in every condition. Tlic nature of this will appear more clear in these three aphorisms.
1. Contentment is a divine thingf,^it be- comes ours, not by acquisition, but infu- sion ; it is a slip taken off from the tree of life, and planted by the Spirit of God in the Koul ; it is a fruit that grows not in the gar- den of philosophy, but is of an heavenly birth ; it is therefore very observable that contentment, is joined with godliness, and goes in equipage, " but godliness with con- tentment is great gain," 1 Tim. vi. 6. Con- tentment being a consequent of godliness, or concomitant, or both, I call it divine, to contradistinguish it to that of contentment, which a moral man may arrive at. Hea- thens have seemed to have this content- ment, but it was only the shadow and pic- tui'e of it, — the beryl, not the true diamond ; theirs was but civil, this is sacred; theirs was only from principles of reason, this of reli- gion; theirs was only lighted at nature's torch, this at the lamp of scripture. Reason may a little teach contentment, as thus: whatever my condition be, this is that I am born to ; and if Fmeet with crosses, it is but catholic misery ; all have their share, why therefore should I be troubled '^ Reason may suggest this ; and indeed, this may be rather constraint; but to live securely and cheerful- ly upon God in the abatement of creature supplies, religion can only bring this into the soul's exchequer.