Secondly, Let us come to the causes of it, and they are two — dis- trust of God's providence, and discontent with God's allowance. You have both in one place : Heb. xiii. 5, ' Let your conversation be with- out covetousness, and be content with such things as you have.' These two, distrust and discontent, have a mutual influence upon one another. Distrust breeds discontent Avith our present portion, and discontent breeds ravenous desires, and ravenous desires breed dis- trust ; for when we set God a task to provide for our lusts, certainly he will never do it. I say, we can never depend upon him that he should provide for our lusts.
1. For the first of these, that is, distrust, or a fear of want, together with a low esteem of God's providence, which maketh us so unreason- ably solicitous about outward provisions ; therefore when Christ would cure our covetousness he seeks to cure our distrust : Luke xii. 29, ' And seek ye not what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.' Do not hover like meteors in the air, antedating your cares, making yourselves more miserable by your own suspicions, and your own fears what shall become of you and yours. So Mat. vi. 34, ' Take no thought for to-morrow ; sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.' I say, this carking about future things makes us so impatient and earnest after present satisfaction. God trained up his people to a waiting upon his providence. Manna fell from heaven every day, so * sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.' Every day we need look no further : ' Give us this day our daily bread.' But men fear future need and poverty, and so would help themselves by their own carking. So then diffidence of God's promises is the latent evil which lodgeth in the heart. Sordid sparing and greedy getting, that is on the top ; but that which lies near the heart is distrust. We incline to sensible things, and cannot tell how to be well without them, and so resolve to shift for ourselves.
2. Discontent. Men have not so much as their rapacious desires crave, though they are allowed moderate supplies to keep them till they go to heaven ; and therefore everything that they get serves but as a bait to draw them on further, so they are always 'joining house to house, and laying field to field,' Isa. v. 8. When once men trans-
VeR. 36.] SERMONS UPON PSALJI CXIX. 381
gress the bounds of contentment prescribed by God, there is no stop or stay. Look, as the channel wears wider and deeper the more water falls into it, the water frets more and more ; so the more outward things increase upon us, the more are our desires increased upon us. No man hath vast and unlimited thoughts at first. Men would be a little higher in the w^orld, and a little better accommodated, and when they have that they must have a little more, then a little more ; so they seize upon all things within their grasp and reach. Whereas if we had been content with our estate at first, we might have saved many a troublesome care, many a sin, many needless desires, and many a foolish and hurtful lust that proves our bane and torment. Be content with such things as you have now, or you will not be content hereafter ; the lust will increase with the possession. As in some diseases of the stomach, purging doth better than repletion, not to feed the humour but to purge away the dis- temper ; so here, it is not more that will satisfy us, but our lusts must be abated ; if we were better satisfied with God's fair allow- ance we might be happy men much sooner than ever we shall be by great wealth.
Thirdly, For the discoveries of this sin. Aristotle, as it is a moral vice, placeth it in two things — in a defect in giving, and an excess in taking. "SVe may better express both in scripture phrase, by greedy getting, and unmeet withholding.
1. Greedy getting, manifested either —
[1.] By sinful means of acquisition ; as lying, cozening, oppression, profaning the Lord's day, grinding the faces of the poor, carnal com- pliances, or any other such unjust or evil arts of gain. Men stick not at the means when their desires are so strongly carried out after the end : Pro v. xxviii. 20, ' He that maketh haste to be rich cannot be innocent/ They leap over hedge and ditch, and all restraints of honesty and conscience, to compass their ends, all their endeavours are suited to their profit, and therefore consult not with conscience but with interest ; and so prove treacherous to God, unthankful to parents, disobedient to magistrates, unfaithful to equals, unmerciful to in- feriors, and care not whom they wrong, so they may thrive in the world.
[2.] Though it go not so high as injustice, yet it appeareth by ex- cessive labours, when endeavours are unreasonably multiplied, to the wrong both of the body and the soul. To the wrong of the body ; see how they are described in scripture : Ps. cxxvii. 2, ' They rise early, they sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows ; ' and Ps. xxxix. 6, ' He disquieteth himself in vain.' By biting cares : Eccles. ii. 23, ' All his day.s are sorrows, and his travail grief ; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night ;' Eccles. iv. 8, ' There is no end of his labours, neither is his eye satisfied with riches.' Men are full of biting cares, cruciating unquiet thoughts, and so ' pierce themselves through with many sorrows,' 1 Tim. vi. 10. Kiches are compared to thorns, not only for choking the good seed, but as piercing us through with many sorrows, as they prove troublesome comforts to a covetous man. And they wrong the soul when the heart is dead and oj^pressed by them : Luke xxi. 34, ' Take heed lest your hearts be overcharged with sm'feiting and