Chrifts School,to be learned in this Mystery of Contentment: That is the first Jeffon that Chrift teaches any foal: Oh Self-denial, that brings Contentment, that brings down and foftens a mans heart; a thing (you know) that is foft, if you ftrike upon it, it makes no noife, but if you ftrike upon a hard thing,it makes a noife; fo the hearts of men that are full of themselves, and hardened with felf-love, if they have any stroke,they make a noise; but a self-denying Chriftian yields to Gods hand, and makes no noife; as when you ftrike upon a woolfack it makes no noife, because it yields to the stroke; So a felf-denying heart yields to the stroke,and thereby comes to this Contentment. Now in this leffon of Self-denial there are divers things: I will not enter into the Doctrine of Self denial, but onely fhew you how Chrift teaches Self-denial, and how that brings Contentment.

Firft,Such an one learns to know that he is nothing, he comes to this,to be able to fay, Well, I fee I am nothing in my self,now that a man or woman,which indeed knows that he or fhee is nothing, and hath learned it throughly,will be able to bear any thing: The wây to be able to bear any thing, it is to know. our felves to be nothing in our felves. Saith God to us, wilt thou fet thine heart upon that which is nothing? Prov. 23. 5. fpeaking of riches; Why bleffed God doft not thou do fo? thou haft fet thy heart upon us, and yet we are no.hing. God would not have us fet our hearts upon riches because they are nothing, and yet God is pleased to set his heart upon us, and yet we are nothing, that's Gods grace, free grace, and therefore it is no great matter what I fuffer for I am as nothing.

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Secondly, I deferve nothing. I am nothing, and I deferve nothing; fuppofe I have not this and that that others have, I am fure I deferve nothing except it be Hell you will answer any of your fervants fo that is not content, vail what you deserve? or your children, Do you deserve it that you are fo eager upon it? you think to stop their mouths thus fo we may easily flop our own mouths, we deserve nothing, and therefore why should we be impatient if we have not what we defire, if we had deferved any thing, we might have some trouble of spirit, as a man that hath deserved well of the State, or of his friends, and he finds not an answerable incouragement, it troubles him mightily, but if he be confcious to himself that he hath deferved nothing, he is content with a repulse.

Thirdly,I can do nothing. without me you can do nothing, faith Chrift, Feb.15.5. Why fhould I ftand much upon it to be troubled and difcontented if I have not this and that, when the truth is,I can do nothing? If you should come to one that is angry because he hath not fuch diet as he defires, and is difcontented with it, you will answer him, I mervail what you do, what ufe you are of? Shall one that will fit ftill and be of no ufe, yet for all that he muft have all the fupply that poffibly he can defire? Do but confider of what ufe you are in the world; if you confider what little need God hath of you, and what little ufe you are of, you will not be much difcontented: If you have learned this leffon of Self-denial, though God doth cut you fhort of fuch and fuch comforts, yet fince that I do but little, why fhould I have much? This very thought will bring down a mans fpirit as much as any thing.

Fourthly,

Fourthly, so vile I am, that I can receive no good neither of my felf; I am not onely an empty veffel, but a corrupt and unclean veffel that would fpoil any thing that comes into it. So are all our hearts, every one of our hearts is not onely empty of good, but are like a mufty veffel, that if any good liquor be powred into it, it fpoils it.

Fifthly, If God doth cleanse us in fome measure, and doth put into us fome good liquor, fome grace of his Spirit, yet, we can make use of nothing,neither when we have it, if God doth but withdraw himself : If God doth but leave us one moment, after he hath beftowed upon us the greatest gifts, and whatsoever abilities we can defire, if God should fay, I will give you them, now gó and trade now I have given you these and these abilities, we cannot ftir one foot further neither if God doth but leave us. Doth God give us gifts and parts? Then let us fear and tremble left God should leave us to our felves, for then how foully should we abuse those gifts and parts? You think other men and women have Memory, and gifts, and parts, and you would fain have thems But fuppose God should give you these and there leave you, you would utterly spoil them.

Sixtly, we are worse than nothing. For by fin we come to be a great deal worse than nothing; fin makes us more vile than nothing, fin makes us contrarie to all good: now it is a great deal worse to have a contrarie to all that is good, than meerly to have an emptiness of all that is good; we are not empty pitchers in refpect of good, but we are like pitchers fill'd with poifon, and is it much for fuch as we are to be cut short of outward comforts?

In the feventh place, If we perish there will be no lofs of us. If God fhould annihilate me, what lofs would there be of me? God can raise up another in my place, to do him other manner of fervice than I have done. Now put but these feven things together and then hath Chrift taught you Self-denial : I may call these the feveral words in our Leffon of Self-denial; Chrift teaches the foul this, fo that as in the prefence of God,upon a real fight of its felf,it can fay, Lord I am nothing, Lord I deferve nothing, Lord I can do nothing, I can receive nothing, I can make ufe of nothing, I am worse than nothing, and if I come to nothing and perish, there will be no lofs at all of me,and therefore what great matter is it for me to be cut short here? A man that is little in his own eyes,fuch a man or woman will account every affliction to be little, and every mercie to be great: Saul, There was a time (the Scripture faith) that he was little in his own eyes, and then his afflictions were but little to him, when fome would not have had him to be King,but fpake contemptuoufly of him, he held his peace;but when Saul began to be big in his own eyes, then the affliction began to be great upon him. There was never any fuch contented man or woman, as this felf-denying man or woman: There was never any denied himself fo much as Jefus Chrift did, he gave his cheeks to the fmiters, he opened not his mouth, he was as a lamb when he was led to the flaughter, he made no noise in the street, Oh he denied himself above all, and was willing to empty himself; and fo he was the most contented that ever any was in the world, and the nearer we come to learn to deny our felves as Chrift did, the more contented fhall we be, and by knowing much of our own

vileness, we come to learn to juftifie God, whatever the Lord fhall lay upon us, yet, righteous is the Lord, for he hath to deal with a moft wretched creature. A discontented heart he is troubled because he hath no more comfort; but one that is a felf-denying man, he rather wonders that he hath fo much as he hath: Oh faith one, I have but a little; I but faith he that hath learned his Leffon of Self-deniall, I rather wonder that God beftows upon me the liberty of breathing in the air, knowing how vile I am, and knowing how much fin the Lord doth fee in me: And that's the way of Contenment, by learning Self-denial

Eightly, There is a further thing in Self-deniall which brings Contentment, Because thereby the foul comes to rejoyce, and take fatisfaction in all Gods waies, (1 befeech you obferve this) Ifa man be felvifh,and have felf-love prevail in his heart, those things that fuits with his own ends, he will be glad of them, but a godly man that hath denied himself he will fuit with, and be glad of all things that fhall fuit with Gods ends:Saith a gracious heart, Gods Ends are my Ends,and I have denied mine own ends, and fo he comes to find Contentment in all Gods Ends and Waies,and his comforts are multiplied,whereas the comforts of other men are fingle,it's but very rare that Gods waies fhall fuit with a mans particular end, but always Gods ways fuit with his own ends; now if you will onely have Contentment when Gods ways fuits with your own ends, you can have it but now and then, but a felf-denying man denies his own ends,and onely looks at the ends of God,and therein is contented: When a man is felvish,he cannot but have a great deal of trouble and vexation, for if I regard my self, my ends are fo narrow, that I shall have a hundred things will come and juffel me,and I cannot have room in those narrow ends of mine own; as you know in the City what a deal of ftir there is in narrow ftreets, as Thames freet being fo narrow, they juffel,and wrangle,and fight one with another,because the place is fo narrow, but now in the broad ftreets there they can go quietly; fo men that are felvifh they meet & fo juffel one with auother, one man is for self in one thing, and another man is for self in another thing, and fo they make a great deal of ftir, but those whofe hearts are enlarged,and make publick things their ends, and can deny themselves, they can walk at breadth, and never juffel one with another fo as the other do. The Lesson of Self-deniall is the firft Lesson that Jefus Christ doth learn men in the feeking of Contentment.

The fecond Leffon is, The vanity of the Creature. That's the second Leffon in Christs School, that he teaches those that he would make Scholars in this Art:The vanity of the Creature,That whatsoever there is in the creature hath an emptiness in it, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, that's the Leffon that the Wiseman learn'd, that the creature in its felf can do us neither good nor hurt, but it is all but as wind, there is nothing in the Creature that is fuitable to a gracious heart to feed upon for the good and happiness of it:My Brethren,the reason why you have not Contentment in the things of the world,it is not because you have not enough of them,that's not the reafon,but the reason is, Because they are not things proportionable to that immortall foul of yours that is capable of God Himself; many men think when they are troubled and have

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have not Contentment, that it is, because they have but little in the world and if they had more, then they fhould be content: That were juft thus, Suppose a man is an hungrie, and to fatisfie his craving ftomach, he fhould gape and hold open his mouth to take in the wind, and then fhould think the reafon,why he is not fatisfied,is, because he hath not enough of the wind;no,the reafon is, because the thing is not fuitable to a craving ftomach: Truly there is the fame madnefs in the world; the wind that a man takes in by gaping, will as foon fatisfie a craving ftomach,which is readie to famifh, as all the comforts in the world can fatisfie a foul that knows what true happiness means. You would be happie, and you feek after fuch and fuch comforts in the Creature; well, have you got them? do you find your hearts fatisfied as having that happinefs that is fuitable to you? No,no,it is not here, but you think it is,because you want fuch and fuch things: O poor deluded man! It is not because you have not enough of it, but because it is not the thing that is proportionable to that immortal foul that God hath given you. why do you lay out your money for that which is not bread (Ifa. 55.2.) and your labour for that which fatis fieth not? You are mad people, you feek to fatisfie your ftomachs with that that is not bread, you follow the wind, you will never have Contentment, all Creatures in the world fay,Contentment is not in us, Riches faith, Contentment is not in me; Pleasure faith,Contentment is not in me; if you look for Contentment in the Creature you will fail; No,Contentment is higher : When thou comeft into the School of Chrift, Chrift teaches thee, that there is a vanitie in all things in the world, and the foul that by coming into the School of Chrift,by underftanding the glorious Myfteries of the Golpel, comes to see the vanitie of all things in the world, that's the foul that comes to true Contentment. I could tell you of abundance of fentences from Heathens,that shews the vanitie of all things in the world,and yet they did not learn the vanitie of the Creature in the right School. But now when a foul comes into the School of Jefus Chrift, and there comes to see a vanitie in all things in the world, then fuch a foul comes to have Contentment. If you feek Contentment elsewhere, you do like the unclean fpirit, seek for reft but find uone.

A third Leffon that Christ teaches a Chriftian, when he comes into his School, is this, He learns him to understand what that One thing is that is necessarie, which he never came to understand before: you know what he faid to Martha, O Martha, thou cumbereft thy felf about many things, but there is one thing ncceffarie. The foul before fought after this, and the other thing, but now faith the foul, I fee really that it is not neceffarie that I fhould be rich, but it is neceffarie that I fhould make up my peace with God; it is not neceffarie that I fhould live a pleasurable life in this world, but it is abfolutely neceffarie that I fhould have pardon of my fin; it is not neceffarie that I fhould have honour and preferment, but it is neceffarie that I should have God to be my portion, and have my part in Jefus Chrift; it is neceffarie that my foul fhould be faved in the day of Jefus Chrift; the other things are prettie fine things indeed,and I fhould be glad if God would give them me, a fine habitation, and comings in, and clothes, and promotion for my wife and children, these are comfortable things, but thefe are not the neceffarie things, I may have these, and yer pe

rifh for ever, but the other is abfolutely neceffarie; no matter though I be poor,fo be it I may have that that is abfolutely neceffarie; thus Chrift inftructs the foul. There's many of you have had fome thoughts about this that it is indeed neceffarie for you to provide for your fouls, but when you come into Chrifts School, there Chrift caufes the fear of eternitie to fall upon you, and there he caufes fuch a real fight of the great things of eternitie, and the abfolute neceflitie of those things, that poffeffes your hearts with fear, and that takes you off from all other things in the world. Now I fhould have fhewn you how that will bring Contentment to the foul,when it comes to be inftructed in the thing that is abfolutely neceffarie; but thus much for this time.

Sermon V.

PHILIPPIANS 4. II.

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

Mentioned Three Leffons, the last time, that Chrift teaches those Scholars that comes into his School, whereby they might come to get Content

ment.

First, The Lesson of Self-denial.

Secondly, The Leffon of the Vanitie of the Creature.

Thirdly, The right understanding of that One thing that is neceffarie. A little to enlarge this one, and fo to proceed to others.

It is faid of Pompey, that when he was to carrie Corn to Rome in time of Dearth, he was in a great deal of danger by ftorms at Sea; but, faith he, we muft go on,it is neceflary that Rome Thould be relieved,but it is not neceffarie that we fhould live. So it would be, certainly, when the foul is taken up with the things that are of abfolute neceffitie, it will not be much troubled about other things. What are the things that do disquiet us here, but fome by-matters in this world? and it is,because our hearts are not taken up with that One Abfolute Neceffarie thing: Who are the men that are moft discontented? but idle perfons, that have nothing to take up their minds? every little thing disquiets and discontents them: But now a man that hath business of great weight and confequence, if all things goes well with his great bufinefs that is in his head, he is not fenfible of meaner things in the familie; but now a man that lies at home, and hath nothing to do, he finds fault with every thing: E 2

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