You heed of being the caufe of any grief to your brethren, think not that becaufe God hath been gracious unto you, that therefore he hath given you liberty for to bring them into bondage: Oh! let not there be fuch an ill effe& of Gods mercie to you, as for you to exclude by petitioning, or any other way, your brethren that the Lord hath been pleased to make Inftruments of your peace, let not that be the fruit of it, nor to defire any thing that your felves do not yet understand. God is very jealous of the glory of his mercy, and if there fhould be an ill use made of the mercie of God after we enjoy it, Oh' it would go to the heart of God, nothing is more grievous to the heart of God than the abuse of mercy: As now, if any way that is hard and rigid fhould be taken towards our brethren, and those especially that God hath made fuch speciall inftruments of good to us, that have been fo willing to venture their lives, and all for us; now when we have our turns served, let God and his People, and Servants that have been a means to fave us, fhift for themselves as well as they can: Oh! this is a great aggravation of your fin, to fin against the mercies of God, But for this Aggravation, and especially in this particular, we shall speak to (God willing) the next day.

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Sermon IX.

PHILIPPIANS 4. II.,

For I have learned in whatsoever ftate I am, therewith to be content.

TOW because it is very hard to work upon a murmuring fpirit, there are divers Aggravations (I told you we are to confider of for the further fering out of the greatness of this fin; I mentioned but onely one the last day) now we fhall proceed in that.

The firft Aggravation of the fin of discontent and murmuring is this, For men and women to be discontent in the mid'ft of mercies, in enjoyment of abundance of mercies. To be discontent in any afflicted condition, is finfull and evil, but to be discontent when we are in the mid'ft of mercies, when we are not able to count the mercies of God, yet after to be discontent because we have not all we would have, this is a greater evil. I onely mentioned this the last day, that I might fhew to you what a great fin it is at fuch a time as this. The Lord this Summer hath multiplied mercies one upon another, the Lord hath made this Summer to be a continued miracle of mercie, never

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did a Kingdom enjoy (in fo little space of time) fuch mercies one upon another: Now the publick mercies of God fhould quiet our hearts,and keep us from difcontent; and the fin of difcontent for private afflictions is exceedingly aggravated by the confideration of publick mercies to the Land; When the Lord hath been fo mercifull to the Land,wilt thou be fretting and murmuring, because thou haft not in thy family all the comforts that thou would'st have? As it is a great aggravation of a mans evil for him to rejoyce immoderately in his own private comforts when the Church is in affliction, when the publick fuffers grievous and hard troubles, if any man fhall then rejoyce and give liberty to himself, at that time to fatisfie his flesh to the uttermoft in all outward comforts, this is a great aggravation of his fin: So on the contrarie for any man to be in moderately troubled for any private afflictions when it goes well with the publick, with the Churches, this is a great aggravation of his fin: It may be when the Church of God was loweft, and it went worst in other parts, yet thou didst abate nothing of the comfort of thy flesh, but gaveft full liberty to fatisfie thy flesh as formerly, know this was thy great fin: fo on the other fide,when we have received fuch mercies in publick, we fhould have all our private afflictions swallowed up in the publick mercies and we should think with our felves, though we be afflicted for our particular, yet (bleffed be God) it goes well with the Church, and with the publick; the confideration of that fhould mightily quiet our hearts in all our private difcontents, and if it doth not fo, know that our fin is much encreased by the mercies of God that are abroad. Now fhall Gods mercies aggravate our fins? This is a fad thing, this is to turn the mercies of God to be our miferie. Didft not thou pray to God for thefe mercies that God hath fent of late to the publick, thefe great victories that God hath given, didft not thou pray for them? now thou haft them,is not there enough in them to quiet thy heart for fome pri vate trouble thou meetest withall in thy family? Is not there goodness enough there to cure thy discontentment? Certainly they were not fuch mercies worthy to be prayed for, except they have fo much excellencie in them as to countervail fome private afflictions. Publick mercies are the aggravations of private difcontent, as fo of publick difcontent too; if we receive fo many purblick mercies, yet if every thing goes not in the publick according as we defire, if we be discontent at that, it will exceedingly aggravate our fin:God may fay, What, fhall I bestow fuch mercies upon a people, and yet if they have not every thing they would have they will be discontent? Oh! it is exceeding evil. So in particular, the mercies that concerns thy felf, thy family, if thou wouldft confider thou haft a great many more mercies than thou hadft afflitions, I dare boldly aver it concerning any one in this Congregation, (fuppofe thy afflictions be what they will) there is never a one of you but that have more mercies than afflictions.

Object. You will fay, I, but you do not know what our afflictions are, our af fictions are fo as you do not conceive of them, becaufe you feel them not?!

Anfo. Though I cannot know what your afflictions are, yet I know whatyour mercies are, and I know they are so great, as I am fure there can be no afflictions in this World fo great, as the mercies you have: If it were but this

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mercie,

mercie, That you have this day of grace and falvation continued to you, it is
a greater mercie than any affliction, fet any affliction by this mercie,and fee
which would weigh heavieft, this is certainly greater than any affliction; that
you have the day of grace and falvation, that you are not now in Hell, this is a
greater mercie, that you have the found of the Gospel yet in your ears, that
you have the use of your reason, this is a greater mercie than your afflictions;
that you have the use of your limbs, your fences, that you have the health of
your bodies, health of body is a greater mercie than poverty is an affliction,
there is no man that is rich, but if he be wife, if he hath a fickly body, he
would part with all his riches that he might have his health; therefore thy
mercies are more than thy afflictions. We find in Scripture how the holy Ghost
doth aggravate the fin of difcontent from the confideration of mercies, you
have a notable Scripture for it in the 16. of Numb. 8. verfe &c. It is a fpeech
of Mofes to Korah and his company when they murmured, And Moles faid un-
to Korah, Hear I pray you,ye fons of Levi, (there is fomewhat that you are fons of
Levi,) Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Ifrael bath feparated
you from the Congregation of Ifrael, to bring you near to himself, to do the fervice of
the Tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the Congregation to minifter unto
them? Korah and his company were murmuring, but mark how Mofes aggra-
vates this; Seemeth it a small thing unto you that the God of Ifrael bath fepa-
rated you from the Congregation of Ifrael,to bring you near to himself to do
the fervice of the Tabernacle of the Lord? c. You fee it is a great honour
that God puts upon a man, a great mercie that he doth bestow upon any man,
to feparate him from others for himself, to come near to him,to imploy him in
the fervice of the Tabernacle, to minister to the Congregation in holy things,
this is a great mercie,and indeed it is fuch a mercie as one would think there
fhould be none,that God bestows fuch a inercie upon,that should have a mur-
muring heart for any affliction; It is true, many Minifters of God they meer
with hard things that might difcourage them, and trouble and grieve their spi-
rits, but now this confideration that God is pleased to imploy them in such a
fervice near to himself, that though they cannot do good to themselves, yer
they may do good to others, this fhould quiet them. And yet in the 10. verf.
And he bath brought thee near to him, and all thy Brethren, the Sons of Levi with
thee; and feek ye the Priesthood alfo ? have not you enough already? but ftill you
are discontented with what you have and must have more, feek ye yet more?
Seek ye the Priesthood alfo ? for which cause both thou and all thy company are ga-
thered together against the Lord: And what is Aaron that ye murmur against him?
what, hath God given you fuch things, & yet will you be murmuring, because
you cannot have more? Me thinks that this place fhould keep Minifters from
murmuring, though they should meet with never fuch afflictions and croffes,
and unkind dealings from men, yet ftill they should go on with hearts quieted
and comforted in the work that God hath fet them about, and labour to
countervail all their afflictions by being more abundant in the work of the
Lord. That is the firft Text of Scripture that fhews how the mercies we en-
joy are aggravations to the fin of murmuring.

And then a fecond Scripture is in the 2. of Job, 10. verf. A fpeech of Job

to

to his wife, What, faith Fob when his wife would have had him curfe God and die; (that was a degree beyond murmuring) faith he, Thou speakeft as one of the foolish women, shall we receive good at the hand of God, and not evil? you fee Job did help himself against all murmuring thoughts against the waies of God with this confideration, That he had received fo much good from the Lord; what though we receive evil, yet do not we receive good as well as evil? let us fet one against the other, that's the way we fhould go. In the 17 of Ecclefiaftes the 14 verfe, you have a notable Scripture there, whereby you may fee what courfe is to be taken when the heart rifes in murmuring, In the day of Profperity be joyfull,but in the day of adverfity confider; what should they confider? mark what follows) God alfo bath fet the one over against the other,to the end that man should find nothing after him.God also hath fet the one Over against the other, that's thus, When thou art in profperity, then indeed every man can be joyfull; but what if afflictions befalls him, what then? then confider: Confider what? That God hath fet one over against the other, thou haft a great deal of affliction, and thou haft had a great deal of profperity, thou haft many troubles, and thou haft had many mercies, make one columa of mercies, and one column of afflictions, and write one against the other, and fee if God hath fill'd one column as full as the other; you look altogether upon your afflictions, but look upon your mercies alfo for inftance, It may be God hath afflicted you in one child, but he hath been mercifull to you in another child, fet one against the other, God afflicted David in abfolem, but he was mercifull to David in Solomon, and therefore when David cryed out, Oh Abfolom my fon my fon! if David had thought upon Solomon, and cried, Oh Solomon my fon my fon, it would have quieted him. And it may be God hath been mercifull to thee in a wife, or in thy Husband, fet that against thy affliction: it may be God croffes thee in thy Eftate, but it may be he doth imploy thee in his Service, it may be thou art afflicted in fome of thy Friends, but thou haft other Friends that are great mercies to thee, and therefore you should fet one against the other, and it doth concern you fo to do, for those mercies will be agravations of your fins, and you had better make Gods mercies a means to leffen your fins,than to be the aggravation of your fins: if you make not the mercies of God to help you against your murmuring, you will make them to be agravations of the fin of murmuring. I beseech you, for this, take but this one confideration further, and if you will but work it upon your hearts I hope you may find a great deal of power in it. You find afflictions, and your hearts are troubled and murmur, confider how Gods mercies doth aggravate this fin, thus: in the midst of our fins we do make account God fhould accept of our fervices; do but confider thus, If in the midft of our many fins we hope that God will accept of our poor fervices, why then should not we in the midst of our afflictions bless God for his many mercies? Shall God be thus gracious to us that notwithstanding our many fins, yet he will not caft away our poor duties and fervices that we perform, then why fhould not we in the midft of our fufferings accept of what mercies we have, and not flight them and disregard them? If thou in the midft of Gods mercies, fhalt not be willing to bear afflictions that God laies upon

thee,

thee, then it were juft with God, that in the midft of thy fins he should not regard any of thy duties; now is there not as much power in thy manifold fins to caule God to reject thy duties and fervices, as there is power in affliЯtions (in the midst of many mercies) to take off thy heart from being affeЯted with Gods mercies? And that's the first aggravation of the fin of murmuring, to murmur in the midft of mercies.

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A fecond Aggravation of the fin of murmuring is, when ne murmur for Small things. Saith Naamans fervant to him, Father (for fo he called him) if the Prophet had required you to do fome great thing, would nor you have done it? how much more this little thing. So I fay, if the Lord had required you to fuffer fome great matter, would not you have been willing to fuffer? How much more this little thing. I remember I have read in Seneca a Heathen, he hath this fimilitude which is a very fine one to fet out the great evil of murmuring upon fmaller afflictions, (faith he) Suppofe a man hath a very fair houfe to dwell in, and he hath fair Orchyards and Gardens, and set about with brave tall Trees for ornament, if this man now fhould murmur because the wind blows off a few leaves of his Trees, what a moft unreasonable thing were it for him to be weeping and wringing his hands, because he lofes a few leaves off his Trees, when he hath abundance of all kind of fruit? Thus it is with many (faith he) though they have a great many comforts about them fome little matter, the blowing off of a few leaves from them is enough to difquiet them. It was a great evil when Abab having a Kingdom,yet the want of his neighbours Vineyard had fuch power to difquiet him: So for us to murmur, not because we have not fuch a thing as we have need of, but because we have not what poffibly we might have, this is a verie great fin. Suppofe God gives a child that hath all the limbs and parts compleat,a child that is verie comely, and hath excellent parts, wit, and memorie, but it may be there is a wart that grows upon the finger of the child, and the murmurs at it, and Oh, what an affliction is this to her! fhe is fo taken up with that, as fhe forgets to give any thanks to God for her child,and all the goodness of God to her in the child is swallowed up in that; would not you fay, this were a folly and a very great evil in a woman fo to do? Truly our afflictions if we weighed them aright, they are but fuch kind of things in comparison of our mercies. Rebeckah The had a mighty defire to have children, but because she found fome trouble in her body when she was with child, faith fhe, why am I thus? As if fhe fhould fay, I had as good have none,onely because the found a little pain and trouble in her body. To be difcontent when the affliction is small and little, that encreases verie much the fin of murmuring, it is too much for any one to murmur upon the heaviest cross that can befal one in this world, but upon fome fmall things to be difcontent and murmur, that's worse. I have read of one, that when he lay upon a heap of Damask Rofes, he complained, there was one of the Rofe leaves lay double under him: So we are ready thus for very small things to to make complaints and be discontented with our condition. And that's the Second Aggravation.

A Third Aggravation is this, For men that are of parts and abilities, to

whom