The Art of Divine Contentment, Chapter 9
CHAP. IX.
Use II.
A check to the discontented Christian.
Use. II. HEre is a just Reproof to such as are discontented with their condition.Use II. Reproof.
This disease is almost Epidemical.*Quis est tom compositae foelicitatis, ut non …qua ex parte cum sta… sui qualitate rix…tur? Boëtius de Consol. Philos. lib. 2. Some are not content with their callings which God hath set them in; they must be a step higher, from the Shop to the Pulpit *Num. 12. 2.; they would be in the Temple of Honour, before they are in the Temple of Vertue; who step into Moses chaire, without Aaron's Bells and Pomegranates; like Apes, which do most shew their deformitie when they are climbing. Is it not enough that God hath bestowed gifts upon men, in private to edifie, that he hath enriched them with many mercies; but, seek they the Priest-hood also *Numb. 16. 9.? What is this but discontent arising from high-flown pride? These do secretly taxe the Wisdome of God, that hee hath not screwed them up in their condition a peg higher. Tentat Superbia, Aug.ut frangat. Every man is complaining that his estate is no better, though hee seldome complains that his heart is no better. Suae quemque conditionis poenitet: one man commends this kind of life, another commends that*Hic utraque circumflum vitam coelibem deflet, ille nup…iis foelix, orbus liberis alieno censum nutrit haeredi, alius prolc laetatus, filii delictis moestus illachrymat. Boëtius.; one man thinks a Country-life best, another a City-life, as the Poet elegantly expresseth it.
O fortun ati mercatores, gravis annis
Miles ait, multo jam fractus membra labore;
Contrà Mercator navim jactantibus austris,
Militia est potior, quid enim concurritur horae
Momento? cita mors venit, aut victoria laeta. Horat.
The …ldier thinks it best to be a Merchant, and the Merchant to be a Souldier. Men can be content to be any thing but what God will have them. Wee may cry out with the same Poet,
Qui fit, Maecenas, ut nemo quam sibi sortem
Seu ratio dederit, seu fors objecerit, illâ
Contentus vivat? laudet diversa sequentes? Hor. 1. Satyr.
How is it that no man is contented? Very few Christians have learned Saint Paul's lesson; neither poor nor rich know how to be content, they can learn any thing but this.
1. If men are poor, they learne to be, 1. Envious: they maligne those that are above them. Anothers Prosperity is an ey-sore; when Gods candle shines upon their neighbours Tabernacle, this light offends them. In the midst of … men can (in this sense) abound▪ viz. in envie and malice: An envious eye is an evill eye. 2. They learn to be querulous, still complaining, as if God had dealt hardly with them; they are ever telling of their wants, they want this and that comfort; whereas their greatest want is a contented spirit. Those that are well enough content with their sinnes, yet are not content with their condition.
2. If men are rich, they learn to be covetous; thirsting insatiably after the world, and by any unjust means scraping it together; their right hand is full of bribes, as the Psalmist expresseth it*Ps. 26. 10. Put a good cause in one scale, and a piece of Gold in the other, and the Gold weighs heaviest. There are (saith Solomon) four things that say, It is not enough *Pro. 30. 15.. I may add a fifth, viz. the heart of a covetous man. So that neither poor nor rich know how to be content.
Never certainly since the Creation did this sinne of discontent reign, or rather rage, more then in our times; never was God more dishonored; you can hardly speak with any, but the passion of his tongue betrays the discontent of his heart: every one lisps out his trouble, and here even the stammering tongue speaks too freely and fluently.
If wee have not what wee desire, God shall not have a good look from us, but presently are sick of discontent, and ready to die out of an humour. If God will not give the people of Israel for their lusts, they bid him take their lives; they must have Quailes to their Manna. Ahab though a King, and one would think his Crown-lands had been sufficient for him, yet, is sullen, and discontented for want of Naboths Vineyard. Ionah though a good man and a Prophet, yet ready to die in a pet *Jonah 4. 8., and because God kill'd his Goard, Kill me too, saith he. Rachel, Give me children, or I die; she had many blessings, if she could have seene them, but wanted this of contentation. God will supply our wants, but must he satis…ie our lusts too? many are discontented for a very trifle; another hath a better dresse, a richer jewell, a newer fashion. Nero not content with his Empire, was troubled that the Musicians had more skill in playing then he: how phantastick are some, that pine away in discontent for the want of those things, which if they had, would but render them more ridiculous.