but now comes the grace of Contentment and fends it under; to fubmit, it is to fend under a thing; now when the foul comes to fee the unruliness that there is in it; here's the hand of God that brings an affliction, and my heart is troubled and difcontented; what faith the foul? Wilt thou be above God? Is it not Gods hand, and mnft thy will be regarded more than Gods? Ounder, under, O thou foul get under, keep under, keep low, keep under Gods feets thou art under Gods feet, and keep under his feet, keep under the Authority of God, the Majefty of God, the Sovereignity of God, the Power that God hath over thee: Keep under,that is to fubmit then the foul can fubmit to God when it can fend its felf under the Power and Authority, and Sovereignity, and Dominion that God hath over it, that is the fixth particular: Yea, but that is not enough, yet you have not got to this Grace of Contentment, except in the next place you take.

Seventhly, Taking a complacency] in Gods difpofe. That is thus, I am well pleafed in what God doth,fo far as I can fee God in it, though as Ifaid, I may be fenfible of the affliction, and may defire that God in his due time.would take it off, and ufe means to take it off, yet! may be well pleafed fo far as Gods hand is in it. To be well pleafed with Gods hand, that is a higher degree than the other: and this comes from hence, not onely because I see that I fhould be content in this affliction, but because I fee that there is good in this affliction. I find there is honey in this rock, and fo I do not onely fay I muft, or I will fubmit to Gods hand: no, but the hand of God is good; it is good that I am afflicted. That it is juft that I am afflicted, that may be in one that is not truly contented; I may be convinced that God deals juftly in this, God is righteous and juft, and 'cis fit I fhould fubmit to what he hath done, Othe Lord hath done righteoufly in all his waies: but that is not enough, but thou muft fay, Good is the Hand of the Lord, the expreffion of old Eli, Good is the word of the Lord, when it was a fore and hard word, that word that did threaten very grievous things to Eli and his houfe, and yet, Good is the Word of the Lord, faith Eli. Perhaps fome of you may fay as David, It is good that I was affi &ed;nay, you must come to fay thus it is good that I am afflicted. Not good when you fee the good fruit that it hath wrought, but when you are afflicted to fay, It is good that I am afflicted. Whatever the affliction be, yet through the mercy of God my condition is a good condition; it is the top in. deed, and the height of this art of Contentment to come to this pitch, to be able to fay, Well, my condition and afflictions are thus and thus, and is very grievous and fore, yer I am through Gods mercy in a good condition, and the hand of God is good upon me notwithstanding. Now I should have given you: divers Scriptures about this, I fhall but give you one or two that are very re markable; you will think this is a hard leflon to come thus far, not onely to be quiet, but to have complacency in affliction. Prov. 16. 6. In the house. of the righteous is much treafure, but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble. Here's a Scripture now that will fhew, that a gracious heart hath caufe to fay, it is in a good condition what ever it be. In the house of the Righteous is much Treafure, his houfe, what houfe? it may be a poor Cottage, perhaps he hath fcarce a ftool to fit on perhaps he is fain to fit upon a

ftump

ftump of wood,a piece of a block,instead of a stool; or perhaps he hath fcarce a bed to lie upon, or a dish to eat in; yet faith the holy Ghoft, In the house of the righteous is much treafure: Let the righteous man be the pooreft man in the world: It may be there are some that have come and taken all the goods out of his houfe for debt; perhaps his house is plundered, and all is gone, yet ftill, in the boufe of the righteous is much treasure, the righteous man can ne ver be brought to be fo poor, to have his house rifled and spoiled, but there will remain much treasure within, if he hath but a difhor a spoon, or any thing in the world in his house, there will be much treasure; fo long as he is there, there is the presence of God upon, and the blefling of God upon him, and therein is much treasure; but in the revenues of the wicked there is trouble: There is more treature in the poorest bodies house, if he be godly,than in the house of the greatest man in the World, that hath his brave hangings, and brave wrought beds, and chairs, and couches, and cup-boards of plate, and the like; what ever he hath, he hath not so much treasure in it, as in the house of the pooreft righteous foul; therefore in a verse or two after my Text, no marvel though Paul faith he was content, you shall see in Phil. 4. 18. But I have all, and abound, I am full. I have all: Alas poor man, what had Paul that could make him say he had all? where was there ever man more afflicted than Paul was? many times he had not tatters to hang about his bodie, to cover his nakedness, he had not bread to eat, he was often in nakedness, and put in the ftocks, and whipt, and cruelly used, yet I have all(faith Paul)for all that. Yea you shall have it in 2. Cor.6.10. he profeffes there,That he did poffefs all things, as forrowfull, yet always rejoycing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet poffeffing all things: but mark what he faith, it is, As having nothing, but it is, Poffeffing all things. He doth not fay, as poffeffing all things, but poffeffing all things; it is very little I have in the world, but yet poffeffing all things: So that you fee, a Christian hath cause to take complacencie in Gods hand, whatsoever his hand be.

The eighth thing in Contentment it is in Gods difpofe] Submitting to, and taking complacencie in Gods difpofe. That is, the foul that hath learned this Jeffon of Contentment, looks up to God in all things; looks not down to the inftruments or the means, as fuch a man did it, and it was unreasonableness of fuch and fuch inftruments, and the like barbarous ufage of fuch and fuch; but looks up to God; a contented heart looks to Gods difpofe, and submits to Gods difpofe, that is, fees the wifdom of God in all, in his fubmiffion fees his fovereigntie, but that that makes him take complacencie, it is Gods wifdom, the Lord knows how to order things better than I,the Lord fees further than I do,I fee things but at prefent,but the Lord fees a great while hence, and how do I know, but had it not been for this affliction,I had been undone? I know that the love of God may as well stand with an afflicted eftate,as with a profperous eftate, and fuch kind of reasonings there are in a contented fpirit, fubmiting unto the difpofe of God.

The last thing is, This is in every condition.] It may be in fome things you could be content: you fhall have many will fay, If my affliction were but as the affliction of fuch an one, I could be content; yea but it must be in the

present

prefent affliction that is upon you. We use to say, There is a great deal of deceit in Univerfals; in the general, come to any man or woman, and fay, Will not you be content with Gods difpofe? Yes, fay they, God forbid but we fhould fubmit to Gods hand what ever it be; you fay thus in the general, it is an eafie matter to learn this leffon, but when it comes to the particular, when the cross comes fore indeed, when it strikes you in the heaviest cross that you think could befall you,what faith your heart now? Can you in every condition be content,not onely for the matter, but for the time, that is, to be in such a condition fo long as God would have you,to be content to be at Gods time in that condition,to have such an affliction so long asGod would have the afflictio abide upon you,to be willing to stay,& not to come out of the afflictio no fooner,than the Lord would have you come out of it? you are not content in your condition elfe;to be content meerly that I have fuch a hand of God upon me, and not to stay under the hand of God, that is,not to be content under every condition, but when I can find my heart fubmitting to Gods dfipofe in fuch particular afflictions that are very hard, and very grievous, and yet my heart is quiet, here is one that hath learned the leffon of Contentment: Contentment, it is the inward, quiet, gracious frame of fpirit, freely fubmitting to, and taking complacencie in Gods difpofe in every condition: That is defcription. Now in this, there hath been Nine feveral things opened.

1. That Contentment is A heart-work within the foul. 2. It is, The quieting of the heart. 3. It is, The frame of the fpirit. 4. It is, A gracious frame. 5. It is the free working of this gracious frame. 6. There is in it, A fubmiflion to God, fending the foul under God. 7. There is, A taking complacencie in the hand of God. 8. All to Gods difpofe. 9. In every condition, every condition though never fo hard, though continue never fo long. Now thofe of you that have learned to be content, have learned to attain unto these severall things; the very opening of these things, I hope may fo far work upon your hearts, as, Firft, That you may lay your hands upon your hearts upon this that hath been faid, the very telling of you what the Leffon is, (I fay) may cause you to lay your hands upon your hearts, and fay, Lord, I fee there is more in Chriftian Contentation than I thought there was, and I have been far from learning this Leffon, I indeed have learned but my A B C in this Leffon of Contentment, I am but in the lower Form inChrifts School if I am in it at all; but thefe we fhall fpeak to more afterward. But the fpecial thing I aimed at in the opening of this point, is, To fhew how great a Myfterie there is in Chriftian Contentment; and how many feveral Leffons are to be learned, that we may come to attain to this Heavenly difpofition that Saint Paul did attain to.

Sermon

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Sermon I I.

PHILIPPIANS 4. II..

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

you

E have made enterance (you may remember) into the Argument of Chriftian Contentment. And have opened the words, and thewed what this Chriftian Contentation is; that it is, The inward, quiet, gracious frame of the Spirit, freely fubmitting to, and taking complacencie in Gods difpofe in every condition. And therein came to this last thing, [ In every. condition] Now we shall a little enlarge that, and so proceed:

1. Firft fubmitting to God in what ever Affliction befalls us, for the kind. 2. For the time and continuance of the Affliction.

3. For the varietie and changes of Affliction: Let them be what they will, yet there must be a fubmitting to Gods difpofe in every condition.

Fift for the kind, Many nien and women will in the general fay, that they muft fubmit to God in affliction; I suppose now, if you should come from one end of this Congregation to another, and speak to every foul thus, Would not you fubmit to Gods difpofe, in what ever condition he should difpofe of you to? you would fay, God forbid it should be otherwife, but we ufe to fay, There is a great deal of deceit in generals. In general you would fubmit to any thing but what if it be in this and that particular, that is most cross to you? Then any thing but that: we are ufually apt to think that any condition is better than the condition that God doth dispose us to, now here is not Gontentment; it fhould not be onely to any condition in general, but for the kind of the affliction, if it be that which is moft Cross to you. God (it may be) ftrikes you in your Child, Oh! if it had been in my Eftate, faith one, I fhould be content; perhaps he ftrikes you in your Match, Oh faith he, I had rather have been ftrucken in my health; and if he had ftruck you in your health, Oh then if it had been in my trading I would not have cared; but we muft not be our own carvers, what particular afflictions God fhall difpofe us to, there must be Contentment in them.

Secondly, There must be a fubmiffion to God in every affliction, for the time and continuance of the affliction. It may be,faith one,I could fubmit and be content; but this affliction hath been upon me a long time, a quarter of a year, a year, divers years, and I know not how to yield and fubmit to it, my patience is even worn and broke; yea, it may be it is a spiritual affliction; you could fub

Stepney Aug. 3. 1645.

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mit to God,you fay,in any outward affliction, but not in a foul-affliction, or if it were an affliction upon the foul, trouble upon the heart, if it were the with-drawing of Gods face, yet if this had been but for a little time, I could fubmits but fecking of God fo long a time, and yet God doth not appear, Oh how fhall I bear this! we muft not be our own difpofers for the time of deliverance, no more than the kind and way of deliverance; and I will give you a Scripture or two about this; That we are to fubmit unto God for the time, as well as the kind, in the latter end of the 1. Chap. of Ezek. when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake, (the Prophet was caft down upon his face, but how long muft he lie upon his face?) And be faid unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet,and 1 will (peak unto thee, and the Spirit entered into me, when he spake unto me, and fet me upon my feet. Ezekiel was caft down upon his face, and there he muft lie til God bid him ftand up, yea, and not onely fo, but till Gods Spirit came into him to enable him to ftand up: So when God cafts us down, we must be content to lie till God bid us ftand up, and Gods Spirit enter into us to enable us to stand up. So you know Noah, he was put into the Ark, certainly he knew there was much affliction in the Ark, having all kind of creatures fhut up with him for twelve moneths together, it was a mightie thing, yet God fhutting him up (though the waters were affwaged) Noah was not to come out of the Ark till God bade him. So though we be fhut up in great afflictions, and we may think there may be this and that, and the other means to come out of that affliction, yet till God doth open the door,we should be willing to ftay; God hath put us in, and God is to bring us out: As we read in the Acts, of Paul, when they had fhut him in prifon, and would have sent for him out; Nay, faith Paul, they fhut us in, let them come and fetch us out. So in a holy gracious way fhould a foul fay, Well, this affliction that I am brought into, it is by the hand of God, and ĺ am content to be here till God brings me out himself. God doth require at our hands,that we should not be willing to come out till he comes and fetches us out. In Josh. 4. 10. you have a notable hiftorie there that may very well ferve our purpose, we read of the Priests, that the Priefts bare the Ark, and ftood in the midft of Fordan; you know when the children of Ifrael went into the Land of Canaan, they went through the River of Jordan: Now the going through the River Fordan was a very dangerous thing, onely God bade them to go, they might have been afraid that the water might have come in upon them: but mark, it is faid, The Priests that bare the Ark, ftood in the midft of Jordan, till every thing was finished that the Lord commanded Jofhua to fpeak unto the people, according to all that Mofes commanded Joshua,and the people hafted and passed over: And it came to pass when all the people were clean paffed over, that the Ark of the Lord passed over, and the Priests in the prefence of the people. Now it was Gods difpofe,that all the people fhould pass over first, that they should be safe upon the Land; but the Priefts, they must ftand ftill till all the people be paffed over, and then they must have leave to go, but they must stay till God would have them go, ftay in all that danger; for certainly, in reason and fence, there was a great deal of danger in staying: for the Text faith, the people hafted over, but the Priefts, they maft ftay till the

people