IV. The nature and properties of it. It is a gift of God, and which none can give but himself, and an excellent one it is, worth praying for and wotta having; Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means, 2 Thess. iii. 16. it is a free gift, unmerited, and springs from grace, aad is whit the world cannot give, John xiv. 27.-2. It is a blessing; the Jews, when they wished happiness to any, it was usually in this form, Peace be to you, that including all prosperity in it; and when the Lord blesses his people it is with peace, Psalm. xxix. 11. 3. This is called gient peace, Psalin cxix. 165. it is great in quality, and sometimes great in quantity, abundance of it, peace like a flowing river. 4. It is said to be perfect, Isai. xxvi 3. though sometimes saints for peace have great bitterness, as Hezekiah had, yet the ground and foundation of their peace is perfect, solid, and substantial; as the love of God, which is unchangeable, the covenant of peace which can never be removed, the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ, which have always the same vir.ue and efficacy. 5. It is a peace which passeth all understanding, Phil. iv. 7. of a natural and unregenerate man, who is a stranger to it, has no experience of it, intermeddles not with it, and can form no judgment about it. — 6. It is what cannot be taken away; When God giveth qinetness, who then can make trouble? Job xxxiv, 29. not at that time at least; and though it may be interrupted, it cannot be destroyed; not by the world's tribulations, nor by Satan's te.nptations. nor by a man's own corruption.

OF CONTENTMENT OF MIND.

CONTENTMENT of Mind naturally follows upon Joy and Peace; where joy abounds, and peace rules in the heart, contentment is; it is no where to be found but in a godly man; in christians of the first rank and class: the heathens talked much of it, but were not found in the practice of it; and, indeed, few men are; it is rara avis in terris; an ungodly man is an utter stranger to it; the ungodly are like a troubled sea, never at rest. Contentment is a branch of true godliness, or rather a super-addition to it; which makes it greatly ornamental and profitable; for godliness, with contentment, is great gain, 1 Tim. vi.6. It will be proper to enquire,

I. What it is; and it is no other than an entire acquiescence of a man's mind in his lot and portion, in his state and condition in the present life, be it what it may, prosperous or adverse.

1. As contraries serve to illustrate each other, this may be known by what is contrary to it, or by what it is contrary unto; as, 1. Contentment and envy are contrary to one another; envying and strife go together, and where there is strife and contention there is no contentment, but confusion and every evil work; a man that envies the superior or equal happiness of another, neither of which he can bear, inwardly pines and frets at it. Envying and ficuting meet

in the same persons, and are equally dehorted from; and are evils to be found in good men, when they observe the prosperity of the wicked, and dwell upon their own afflictions, and are contrary to that charity which envieth not; to rest and acquiesce in the will of God, which becometh saints; and where the sin of envy is predominant, a man can have no true contentment of mind; envy is rottenness of the bones, it gnaws upon a man, torments him, eats out his very vitals; Wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one. 2. Contentinent is opposite to avarice, and avarice to that; and therefore the one must be quitted in order to possess the other. Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have, Heb. xiii. 5. a covetous man cannot be a truly contented man; he cannot be content with what he has, he always wants more. The Greek word for covetousness is λoveia, a having or a desire to have more; not but that there may be a lawful desire of having more in some cases and for some good ends and purposes, and in submission to the will of God; but is an anxious, immoderate, and unbounded desire of more which is criminal; and especially to have it in an unlawful way, and when a person has much already: it is often usual with inen to fix upon the pitch of wealth and riches they are desirous of attaining to, and think if they could attain to that they should be content; now such persons, until they arrive at such a pitch, must be all the while in a state of discontent; and should they. arrive to it they are not sure of content; nay they seldom have it, but then enlarge their desires and extend their limits; in short they never have enough, but are like the horseleech, crying, Give, give, more and more; and in other things persons of this complexion are like that creature, of which naturalists observe it has no passage through, it takes in all it can but lets out nothing; as a covetous man grasps at all he can, but will part with nothing; and like the said creature, which breaks and bursts with its own fulness, - 3. Contentment is opposite to pride and ambition. A proud ambitious man cannot bear that any should be above him, or upon a footing with him; and when he observes this, it gives him uneasiness, and fills him with disquietude and discontent; yea let his pride and ambition be ever so much gratified, he is not content, he stills wants more; for the proud man enlarges his desires as hell, or the grave, and like that cannot be satisfied, which, how full soever, never says It is enough, Prov. xxx. 16. for though the world is set in their hearts, and they have all that is in it, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, they are not content; as it is reported of Alexander, when he had conquered the whole world as he thought, sat down and cried because there was not another world to conquer, so boundless were his pride and ambition, and so little contentment had he in his acquisitions. 4. Anxiety of mind, or a distressing care about worldly things; as about food, drink, and raiment, is contrary to true contentment of mind; and therefore our Lord dissuades from it by a variety of arguments; which may be read in Matt. vi. 25-34. Take no thought for your

d Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 11. c. 34.

life, &c. to do this is to act below the creatures; they might learn better things from them: besides, such anxious care is needless, and of no avail, nothing is to be got by it; God will take care of his people; the grand point is, to seek the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and leave all other things with him; which is the best way to have contentment and happiness. 5. Murmurings and repinings under adverse dispensations of providence, are the reverse of contentment of mind; such as are frequently to be observed in the Israelites in the wildnerness, who were a discontented people, often murmuring against Moses and Aaron, and repining at afflictive providences; and from which christians are dehorted by their example; Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured; and murmurers and complainers are joined together, and both must be reckoned among discontented persons; for which murmurs and complaints there is no reason, not even under afflictive providences: not with the people of God; for their afflictions are fatherly chastizements; nor with wicked men, though they are punishments; for wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? since it is less than he deserves, Lam. iii. 39.

II. What contentment of mind is, may be learned from the several phrases by which it is expressed in scripture. As,

First, By being contented with what a man has; Be content with such things as ye have, Heb. xiii. 5. Tos #apeow, with present things; things future are not the object of contentment; a man is not to look to things to come for it; which he may never have; and if he should have them, cannot promise himself contentment in them, as before observed; but they are present things, things he is now in in possession of, he should be content with. 1. Be they more or less, whether a man has a larger or a lesser share of the things of this world, whether riches or poverty, a man should be content; it was a wise petition of Augur, Give me neither riches nor poverty; feed me with food convenient for me, Prov. xxx. 8. but be it either, a man should be satisfied with what God gives; if God gives him riches, he should be thankful, knowing that these come of God; and if they increase, he should not set his heart upon them, considering they are uncertain things, fleeting ones, make themselves wings and fly away; and there fore should be prepared for the loss of them, and be content when so it is; and the way to be content with what a man has at present, is rather to magnify it in his own mind than to lessen it; and to think, that God has given him all things richly to enjoy; so said the apostle when he had but little, 1 Tim. vi. 17. It may be said, a man may very well be content with present riches; but how can he be content with present poverty? He may; for poverty is no disgrace to a man, when it does not come through negligence and sloth; many a good man and an honourable christian have been poor; God hath chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heits of the kingdom; Lazarus, was once a beggar; and our Lord himself became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. The advice of the apostle James is, Let the brother of low degree rejoice

in that he is exalted; exalted in Christ, and made a partaker of the riches of grace, and has a right to the riches of glory through him. 2. Men should be content, as with present advantages and growing profit, so with present losses, which might have been greater; as Job was with the loss of his substance, his children, and his health, and perhaps all in one day; saying, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord! Jobi. 21. for let the saint lose what he may, he cannot lose his God, his portion, and his all, his Redeemer and Saviour, his better and more enduring substance, his inheritance reserved in the heavens; and therefore takes joyfully the spoiling of his goods, and is content with the loss of earthly things3. With present reproaches, indiguities, and ill usage from men, on account of religion; like Moses, estcem◄ ing reproach for Christ's sake greater riches than all the treasures in Egypt; yea, our Lord pleased not himself, but was content to bear all the reproaches of the people on him; and who for the encouragement of his followers, pronounces them blessed when reviled and reproached. — 4. With present afflictions of whatsoever kind, whether from Ged or men; for in whatsoever way, they rise not out of the dust, nor come by chance; but according to the will and appointment of God; and though not joyous, but grievous, yet sanctified, yield good fruit, and work together for good; and are the means of making men more partakers of divine holiness; and those light present afflictions, which are but for a moment, work a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Particularly, — 5. Having food and raiment; food for the present day, and raiment for present use, unaouara, coverings from the inclemencies of weather, among which houses to dwell in are included; Let us, says the apostle, therewith be content; this was all that Jacob desired to have; and which sometimes good men have been without, and yet contented. But are saints to be content with present grace, present knowledge, present experience? &c. They may desire more grace, an increase of faith, and every other grace, as the apostles did; they may earnestly covet the best gifts, and yet not envy nor repine at the superior gifts and graces of others; they may forget things behind, and press towards those before, and yet be thankful for past experiences, and for present ones; and bless God for the measure of spiritual light and knowledge they have, and yet humbly desire an increase, and make use of proper means for that purpose; though the apostle, in the text 1cferred to, seems to have respect only to temporal things.

Secondly, This contentment of mind is expressed by the apostle from his own experience; I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content, Pail. iv. 11. - 1. The apostle means not his state of unregeneracy; he says not, in whatsoever state I have been; but, in whatsoever state I am; an unregenerate man is content to be in such a state, like Moab of old, at ease from his youth, and settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, but remains quiet and undisturbed; repents not of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? is in no apprehension of any danger, but like a man asleep and

secure in the midst of the sea, and on the top of a mast; and, indeed, it is the business and policy of Satan, the strong man armed, to keep the goods in peace: a state of unregeneracy, is a state of ignorance of God, and of his righteous law, and a state of unbelief, in which state the apostle had been, 1 Tim. i. 13. and while in it, he thought he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Christ; and imagined himself to be in a good state and condition, and alive without the law; it was not only a sinful state; but a state of self-righteousness; when the apostle thought himself, touching the righteousness of the law, blameless, and so safe and secure, and greatly contented with it; but this is not here meant. But, -2. His state after conversion, his spiritual state, it may be; believing his covenant-interest in God; My God shall supply all your need, &c. and being persuaded of his interest in the love of God, and that nothing should separate him from it; knowing Christ in whom he had believed, and being satisfied of his ability and faithfulness to keep what he had committed to him, and of his being found in him, not having on his own righteousness, but his; and in this the apostle was content; yea, with the worst part of his spiritual state, even when in temptation, when buffeted by Satan; since he was assured, that the grace of Christ was sufficient for him; and since Christ is able to succour them that are tempted, and prays for his tempted ones, that their faith fail not; knows how to deliver them that are tempted, and that in the best manner, and in the most seasonable time; therefore they are contented: as they are also even in times of desertion and darkness, when they are directed and encouraged to trust in the Lord, and stay themselves on the mighty God of Jacob, and to wait for him that hides his face from them, as the church was determined to do, Mic. vii. 7-9. and there is great reason for this contentment, faith, and expectation; since light is sown for the righteous, and to the upright it arises in darkness, Psalm xcvii 11. and cxii. 4. But, - 3. The apostle chiefly means his outward state after conversion; with which he was content: and which lay, -In his afflictions, reproaches, and persecutions; these attended him wherever he came, and he expected them, and not only bore them patiently, but endured them with pleasure; I take pleasure, says he, in reproaches, in necessities, &c. yea, he gloried in them, 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10. In his bonds and imprisonment; in such a state he was when he expressed his contentment in whatsoever state he was, and so in that; for he was in bonds, a prisoner at Rome, when he wrote his epistle to the Philippians; and he seems to shew a sort of pride in his title and character as the Lord's prisoner, and a prisoner of Jesus Christ, Eph. iii. s̟ and reckoned himself so happy a man on all other accounts, that he wished king Agrippa, and all in court, were altogether as he was, excepting his bonds; and though he did not wish them to others, he was content with them him. self. The phrase, in whatsoever state, includes both prosperity and adversity; an abundance and a scarcity of the necessaries of life; a fulness, and want of them, as explained in the next verse; the wise man says, Eccles. vii. 14. In the

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