Observations Natural and Moral, Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. Of Contentment.
Phil. 4.12. I know both how to abound, and how to ſuffer need.
THere is no condition or eſtate of man that can keepe a mediocritie. A hard thing to keepe a mediocritie.If wee be full then we waxe wanton, and if we be hungry then we grudge; Agur knowing how dangerous both theſe eſtates were, prayeth the Lord to give him neither poverty nor riches, but to feede him with foode convenient, Riches more dangerous than poverty.Pro. 30.8. not to give him poverty, leſt he ſteale and take the name of God in vaine; and not to give him riches, leſt he deny him, and ſay, Who is the Lord.
The Iſraelites when they wanted fleſh they murmured, and when they had quailes in aboundance they ſurfetted; but Paul can be content in any of the conditions alike. For a man firſt to be rich, and then to bee poore, and then to be rich againe, he may the better learne to be content in any of the eſtates, Iob his contentment in his three eſt…s.as Iob who ſaw three changes, firſt he was rich, then he was poore, then hee was rich againe: So if a man hath beene firſt poore, then rich, then poore againe, he will be more content in any eſtate. Zeno the Philoſopher when hee had left a ſhip loaded with goods, and nothing being left to him, ſaid, bene ſanè agis o fortuna, quod ad pallium illud obſoletum me revocas, & ad ſtoam me redegisti, that is, that thou haſt brought me backe againe to a poore eſtate, and made me to profeſſe philoſophy. But for a man that hath beene onelyonly rich to fall to poverty, is a very hard caſe for it is to bee deprived of the comfortable meanes whereupon he ſhould live, Riches are a mans civill life.which in the Scriptures are called a mans life: and ſhe ſpent all her living upon the Phyſitian, Luk. 8.43. in the Greeke it is, foreign her whole life, becauſe riches are the meanes to entertaine a comfortable life. It is as hard a thing for a poore man to loſe his little ſtocke, as for the rich man to loſe his great wealth, & Seneca ſaid, Non minus moleſt…um eſt celvo quam comatis evellere pilos, et aque pauperi as divi… tormentum; but it is a harder caſe when a man becommeth rich that hath beene very poore, how to carry himſelfe well.
Abundance bringeth forth more dangerous …ruits than want doth, Abundance more dangerous than want.for abundance maketh a man to deny God, and povertie but maketh him to ſteale. Salomon for all his wiſedome in his aboundance forgot himſelfe. In our naturall eſtate and complexion of body, Simile. wee ſee that men die ſooner through aboundance of blood than through ſcarcitie of blood; and experience teacheth us, that Lunaticks in the want of the moone are ſober enough, and are themſelves, but when the moone is at the full their braines begin to ſwell up; ſo men in povertie are ſober, but in abundance doe forget themſelves.
When the Divell tempted our Saviour Chriſt, The order of the divels tentations.Mat. 4. his firſt temptation was but the hungry temptation, to turne ſtones into bread; but his laſt temptation was the full temptation, he would give him all the world if he would fall downe and worſhip him. By the order of the Divels temptations we may know which is the greateſt temptation, for the Divell keepeth his greateſt temptations laſt. It is obſerved that theſe who live in the north parts of the world if they goe towards the ſouth under the hot climate, Simile. then their ſtomacks begin to faile them and they die ſoone; but theſe againe who dwell in the ſouth climate, bring them towards the north, and then their ſtomacks begin to mend; ſo bring a man from poverty to riches, that is, as it were from the north to the ſouth, then he dieth: but bring him from riches to poverty, from proſperity to adverſitie, that is, from the ſourth to the north, Paul could be content in any eſtate.then he may live; but let Paul have abundance or ſcarcity he can uſe both: hee ſaith of himſelfe, a Cor. 6.10. as having nothing, and yet poſſeſsing all things, that is, he was as well contented in poore eſtate, as in his great plenty and riches; ſo if hee had had abundance, he could have uſed it ſo moderatly as if he had had nothing.
How could Paul know this, Queſt. that he could abound as well as want, ſeeing he had never proofe of abundance?
There is a threefold knowledge of a thing, Cognitio foreign foreign foreignthe firſt foreign experimentall, the ſecond is, foreign gotten by diſcourſe, and the third is foreign gotten by revelation. Paul had gotten this not by diſcourſe or by revelation, but by experience of poverty and want, for hee learned in his poverty how he ſhould uſe abundance.
To abound here is not meant of exceſſe, What is meant by abundance here.but hee ſpeaketh here after the manner of the Hebrewes who take to be filled and to be drunke, for that which ſuffiſeth without exceſſe, So Gen. 43. and Phil. 2.10. and the Hebrewes obſerve that this word [Sacar] is one of theſe words quae vergunt in extren…um, that is, foreign inebriari: non ſemperin vitio ponitur ut Gen. 9.21. ſed interdum declarat liberalem vmi uſum qui modum non excedit.this moderate drinking is ſet downe under the name of drunkenneſſe, and if men take not heede to themſelves in this liberall uſe of drinking, they may bee ſoone overtaken and become drunke; but Paul by the grace of God would have kept himſelfe within the liſts if he had beene in this eſtate to have abundance.To be content in any eſtate is a loſſen hard to be learned.
He ſaith I have learned, Phil. 4.12. in the Greeke it is foreign ſacris initiatus ſum, and he that was initiate this wayes to the Lord, was called foreign initiatus. we muſt be long time trained up and ſeparated to Gods ſervice, if we would learne this leſſon, and he was a perfect man that could live patiently, in afflictions, in neceſſities, in diſtreſſe, in stripes, in tumults, in labours, in watchings and faſtings, 2 Cor. 6.4. but it was more that he could uſe abundance well. Benjamin was called ittar jad, becauſe he could uſe both hands, and they were a notable tribe; but this is a greater skill, to uſe poverty well at the left hand, and riches at the right hand.
The heathen ſaid, infoelicitatis genus eſſe, fuiſſe a liquando falicem & tunc miſerum, that it was a kind of unhappines to have beene happy, and then to become miſerable: but Iob ſayd, the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken, and he ſinned not with his mouth, Iob 1 and 2.
Secondly, the heathen ſayd, Lati…res videbis quos nunquam aſpexit fortuna, quam quos deferuit, that is, They looke more cheerefully whom fortune hath never favoured, than thoſe whom fortune hath left, but Paul is as glad in his poverty as in abundance.
Salomon ſaith that the proſperity of fooles ſhall deſtroy them, Prov. 1.32. But proſperity would never kill the wiſe Chriſtian Paul.