10. We must be contented with a competency, but yet we ought to be fitted and prepared for eternity. If God please to give us con- veniency, it is his great mercy ; but our resolutions must be to be contented with any condition God will put us into : we except not life itself out of our resignation. The people of God are wont to suppose not only some necessity but an extremity : Hab. iii. 18, ' Yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.' He saith not, If I have only food, and raiment, and hard fare, it shall suffice me. No ; but ' If the labour of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat, and the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.' In many cases poverty may come upon us like an armed man, and spoil us of all : but when we seem to be
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starved in tlie creature, yet then we may feast in Go<l. God's children do not capitidate with hitn how much they will suffer and no more, but resolve to bear the heaviest burden, to submit to the sharpest affliction. So again, Ps. xliv. 19, 20, ' Though thou hast sore broken us in the ph\ce of dragons, and covered us with the sliadow of death, yet we liave not forgotten the name of our God, or proved unfaitliful to him.' III. The reasons why it is a high point of Christianity to get con- tentation with any estate God shall put us into are :—
1. In the general, it is a mystery only learned in Christ's school : Phil. iv. 11-13, 'I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, to be therewith content ; and I know how to be abased and to abound : I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need; I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.' This art is not soon learned. What is there in Christianity above other disciplines to teach us this contentation? The doctrine of God's particular providence, fatherly care, and eternal life, — these, seconded by the sanctifying operation of the Holy Ghost, cause this resolu- tion in us, to encounter all the difficulties of this present life in a humble and quiet mind.
2. More ])articularly, let us consider — (1.) What is necessary to this contentment ; ("2.) What effect it produces.
[1.] What is necessary to this contentment.
(1.) Faith, or a sound belief of God's being and gracious promi.ses and eternal recompenses ; that there is a God, that he hath a particu- lar care of human alliiirs, and that he will not leave his people to unsupportable difficulties, but will guide them to eternal life. It is in vain to press people to contentedness till they be thus persuaded. For the finst truth, that there is a God: 'He that cometh to God must believe that God is.' For the second truth, that he hath a par- ticular care of human affairs : 1 Peter v. 7, ' Cast all your care upon the Lord, for he careth for you.' The third truth, that he will not leave his people to unsupportable difficulties: Heb. xiii. 5, 6, ' Let your conversation be without covetousncss, and be content with such things as you have ; for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee ; so that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do unto me.' For the fourth truth, a prospect of eternal life : Luke xii. 32, ' Fear not, little flock ; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.' No^y if God be, and be thus engaged to his people, why should we be discontented if he takes his own methods to bring us to everlasting glory ? We cannot suffer anything that God is not aware of ; every dram of our affliction is weighed out to us by that all-wise, all-merciful Providence ; and there is nothing which we suffer that he knoweth not how to turn to our good, looking for nothing from us but our trust and thankfulness.
(2.) It comes from humility, when we are content to be at God's finding, knowing that we have deserved nothing from him : Gen. xxxii. 10, ' I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies, and of all thy truth which thou h;ist showed unto thy servant; for with my stafit passed I over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands.' The humble man is content to be dealt with as the Lord pleases. Pre-
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scribing to God always comes from ascribing to ourselves. We think we have deserved more than he gives us. We, that are worthy of the heaviest judgment, surely should be thankful for the smallest mercy : Eccles. vii. 8, ' The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.' Patience is rooted in humility, but discontent in pride.
(3.) It comes from weanedtiess from the world. They tliat do not seek great things for themselves will stand to God's allowance. It may be God may bestow great things upon them, as he did upon Abraham and David, but they do not seek them, especially in times when it is a mercy they have life and liberty. That is forbidden, Jer. xliv. 5. In short, grace doth all, both as to poverty and riches, and makes rich and poor stand on the same level. Now this is a high point in religion, to grow dead to the world, to behave ourselves in a manner as unconcerned in poverty or riches ; for the world is the great impediment to the heavenly life, as being the bait of the flesh, the snare of Satan, by which he detaineth souls from God. If once we grow indifferent to these things, we would not feel any great power in temptations to pleasure, wealth, and honour, and would soon be thorough Christians ; the spiritual life would be more easy and even. Easy, for where men seek no great things for themselves in the world, and a little matter contenteth their desires, and checketh their niur- murings, the resistance of the carnal nature to the empire of grace is without much difficulty overcome ; they can enjoy plenty or want, re- nounce their aspiring thoughts, meddle sparingly with fleshly delights, they are seeking a better estate. More evenly ; there is no notable blemish on them who are crucified to the world ; they do not stain their profession, wound their consciences. Their choices are governed by religion, not by carnal interest ; they are kept ' unspotted from the world,' James i. 27.