Jeremiah Burroughs :: Sermon Two - Philippians 4:11

SERMON II

For I have learned, in whatever state I am, therewith to be content (Philippians 4:11).

Christian Contentment Described — Continued

IV. It Submits to God in Every Condition

We have made entrance, you may remember, into the argument of Christian contentment. And have opened the words, and showed you what this Christian contentment is: that it is, the inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, freely submitting too, and taking delight in God’s authority in every condition. And therein we come to this last thing: In every condition. Now we shall enlarge that, and so proceed:

First, submitting to God in whatever affliction befalls us: for the kind of affliction.

Second, For the time and continuance of the affliction.

Third, for the variety and changes of affliction: Let them be what they will, yet there must be a submitting to God’s authority in every condition.

1. For the kind of affliction. Many men and women will in general say, that they must submit to God in affliction; I suppose now if you should come from one end of this congregation to another, and speak to every soul this way: ‘Would not you submit to God’s disposal, in whatever condition he should dispose of you?’ You would say, ‘God forbid it should be otherwise,’ but we use to say, ‘There is a great deal of deceit in general.’ In general, you would submit to anything; but what if it be in this and that particular, that is most cross to you? Then anything but that. We are usually apt to think that any condition is better than the condition that God does authority us too. Now, here is not contentment; it should not be only to any condition in general, but for the kind of the affliction, if it be that which is most cross to you. God, it may be, strikes you in your child – ‘Oh, if it had been in my possessions’ said one, ‘I should be content.’ Perhaps he strikes you in your match. ‘Oh’ he says, ‘I had rather have been stricken in my health.’ And if he had struck you in your health – ‘Oh, then, if it had been in my trading, I would not have cared.’ But we must not be our own carvers. What particular afflictions God shall dispose us to, there must be contentment in them.

2. There must be a submission to God in every affliction, for the time and continuance of the affliction. It may be said by one, ‘I could submit and be content, but this affliction has been upon me a long time, a quarter of a year, a year, many years, and I know not how to yield and submit to it, my patience is even worn and broke.’ Yea, it may be it is a spiritual affliction – you could submit to God, you say, in any outward affliction, but not in a soul–affliction. Or if it were an affliction upon the soul, trouble upon the heart, if it were the withdrawing of God’s face – ‘Yet if this had been but for a little time I could submit; but seeking of God so long a time and yet God does not appear, Oh how shall I bear this!’ We must not be our own disposers for the time of deliverance no more than the kind and way of deliverance.

I will give you a Scripture or two about this. That we are to submit to God for the time as well as the kind, in the latter end of the first chapter of Ezekiel: ‘When I saw it I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.’ The Prophet was cast down upon his face, but how long must he lie upon his face? ‘And he said to me, Son of man, stand upon your feet and I will speak unto thee. And the Spirit entered into me, when he spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet.’ Ezekiel was cast down upon his face, and there he must lie till God bid him stand up; yea, and not only so, but till God’s Spirit came into him to enable him to stand up. So when God casts us down, we must be content to lie till God bid us stand up, and God’s Spirit enters into us to enable us to stand up. You know Noah he was put into the Ark – certainly he knew there was much affliction in the Ark, having all kind of creatures shut up with him for twelve months together – it was a mighty thing, yet God shutting him up, though the waters were assuaged, Noah was not to come out of the Ark ’till God bid him. So though we be shut 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 does open the door, we should be willing to stay; God has put us in, and God is to bring us out. As we read in the Acts of Paul, when they had shut him in prison and would have sent for him out; ‘No,’ says Paul ‘they shut us in, let them come and fetch us out.’ So in a holy, gracious way should a soul say, ‘Well, this affliction that I am brought into, it is by the hand of God, and I am content to be here till God brings me out himself.’ God does require it at our hands, that we should not be willing to come out till he comes and fetches us out.

In Joshua 4:10, you have a notable history there that may very well serve our purpose: we read of the priests, that the priests bear the Ark and stood in the midst of Jordan; you know when the Children of Israel went into the land of Canaan they went through the river Jordan. Now the going through the river Jordan was a very dangerous thing, only God bad them to go. They might have been afraid that the water might have come in upon them. But mark, it is said, ‘The priest that bear the Ark stood in the midst of Jordan till everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua, and the people hastened and passed over: and it came to pass when all the people were clean passed over, that the Ark of the Lord passed over, and the priests in the presence of the people.’ Now it was God’s disposal that all the people should pass over first, that they should be safe upon the land; but the priests they must stand still till all the people be passed over, and then they must have leave to go. But they must stay till God would have them go, stay in all that danger. For certainly in reason and since there was a great deal of danger in staying: for the text says, the people hastened over, but the priests they must stay till the people be gone, stay ’till God calls them out from that place of danger. And so many times it does prove that God is pleased to dispose of things so that the ministers must stay longer in danger than the people, and magistrates and those in public place, which should make people to be satisfied and contented with a lower condition that God has put them into. Though your condition be low, yet you are not in that danger that those are in that are in a higher condition. God calls them in public place to stand longer in the gap and place of danger than other people, but we must be content to stay even in Jordan till the Lord shall be pleased to call us out.

3. For the variety of our condition. We must be content with the particular affliction, and the time, and all the circumstances about the affliction – for sometimes the circumstances are greater afflictions than the afflictions themselves. And for the variety, if God will exercise us with various afflictions one after another, as that has been very observable even of late, that many have been plundered and come away, afterwards have fallen sick and died; they have fled for their lives and afterwards the plague has come among them; and if not that affliction it may be some other affliction. It is very rare that one affliction comes alone, commonly afflictions are not single things, but they come one upon the neck of another. It may be God strikes one in his possessions, then in his body, then in his name, wife or child or dear friend, and so it comes in a various way it is the way of God ordinarily (you may find it by experience) that seldom one affliction comes alone. Now this is hard when one affliction follows another, when there is a variety of afflictions, when there is a mighty change in a condition, up and down, this way, and that way: there indeed is the trial of a Christian. There must be submission to God’s authority in them. I remember it is said even of Cato, who was a heathen, that no man saw him to be changed, though he lived in a time when the commonwealth was so often changed; yet it is said of him, he was the same still though his condition was changed, and he ran through variety of conditions. Oh that it could be said so of many Christians, that though their conditions be changed yet that nobody could see them changed, they are the same. Look what gracious sweet and holy temper they were in before. That they are in still. Thus we are to submit to the disposal of God in every condition.

Objection: But you will say, this that you speak of is good indeed if we could attain to it, but is it possible for one to attain to this?

Answer: It is if you get skilled in the art of it; you may attain to it, and it will prove to be not such a difficult thing to you either, if you understand but the mystery of it. As there’s many things that men do in their callings, that if a country man comes and sees, he thinks it a mighty hard thing, and that he should never be able to do it. But that’s because he understands not the art of it; there is a turning of the hand so as you may do it with ease. Now that’s the business of this exercise, to open to you the art and mystery of contentment. What way a Christian comes to contentment, there is a great mystery and art in it. By that has been opened to you there will appear some mystery and art, as that a man should be content with his affliction and yet thoroughly sensible of his affliction too, to be thoroughly sensible of an affliction, and to endeavor the removing of it by all lawful means, and yet to be content: there’s a mystery in that. How to join these two together: to be sensible of an affliction as much as that man or woman that is not content; I am sensible of it as fully as they, and I seek ways to be delivered from it as well as they, and yet still my heart abides content–this is, I say, a mystery, that is very hard to be understood by a carnal heart. But grace does teach such a mixture, does teach us how to make a mixture of sorrow and a mixture of joy together; and that makes contentment, the mingling of joy and sorrow, of gracious joy and gracious sorrow together. Grace teaches us how to moderate and to order an affliction so as there shall be a sense of it, and yet for all that contentment under it.

Now in this there has been nine several things opened: First, that contentment is a heart–work within the soul. Secondly, it is the quieting of the heart. Thirdly, it is the frame of the spirit. Fourthly, it is a gracious frame of the spirit. Fifthly, it is the free working of this gracious frame. Sixthly, there is in it a submission to God, sending the soul under God. Seventhly, there is a taking delight in the hand of God. Eighthly, all to God’s authority. Ninthly, in every condition, every condition though never so hard, though continue never so long. Now those of you that have learned to be content, have learned to attain to these several things. The very opening of these things I hope may so far work upon your hearts as. First, that you may lay your hands upon your hearts upon this that has been said, the very telling of you what the lesson is, I say may cause you to lay your hands upon your hearts, and say, ‘Lord, I see there is more in Christian contentment than I thought there was, and I have been far from learning this lesson. I indeed have learned but my ABC’s in this lesson of contentment. I am but in the lower form in Christ’s school if I am in it at all.’ But these we shall speak too more afterward. The particular thing I aimed at in the opening of this point, is to show how great a mystery there is in Christian contentment, and how many several lessons are to be learned. That we may come to attain to this heavenly disposition, that Saint Paul did attain too.

There are different things further for the opening of the mystery of contentment.

The Mystery of Contentment

I. A Christian Is Content, Yet Unsatisfied

The first thing is this, to show that there is a great mystery in it. One that is contented in a Christian way it may be said of him that he is the most contented man in the world, and yet the most unsatisfied man in the world; these two together must needs be mysterious. I say, a contented man, as he is the most contented, so he is the most unsatisfied of any man in the world. You never learned the mystery of contentment except it may be said of you that as you are the most contented man, so you are the most unsatisfied man in the world.

You will say, ‘How is that?’ A man that has learned the art of contentment is the most contented with any low condition that he has in the world, and yet he cannot be satisfied with the enjoyment of all the world. Yet he is contented if he has but a crust, but bread and water, that is if God disposes of him, for the things of the world, to have but bread and water for his present condition, he can be satisfied with God’s disposal in that; yet if God should give to him Kingdoms and Empires, all the world to rule, if he should give it him for his portion he would not be satisfied with that. Here’s the mystery of it: though his heart be so enlarged as the enjoyment of all the world and ten thousand worlds cannot satisfy him for his portion; yet he has a heart quieted under God’s disposal, if he gives him but bread and water. To join these two together, this must be a great art and mystery. Though he be contented with God in a little, yet those things that would content other men will not content him. The men of the world they seek after wealth, and think if they had this much, and this much, they would be content. They aim at no great matters; but if I had, perhaps some man thinks, but two or three hundred a year, then I should be well enough; if I had but a hundred a year, or a thousand a year, says another, then I should be satisfied. But says a gracious heart, if he had ten hundred thousand times so much a year, it would not satisfy him; if he had the quintessence of all the excellences of all the creatures in the world, it could not satisfy him; and yet this man can sing, and be merry and joyful when he has but a crust of bread and a little water in the world. Surely religion is a great mystery, great is the mystery of godliness, not only in the doctrinal part of it, but in the practical part of it also.

Godliness teaches us this mystery, not to be satisfied with all the world for our portion, and yet to be content with the meanest condition in which we are. As Luther, when he had great gifts sent him from Dukes and Princes, he refused it, and says he, ‘I did vehemently protest God should not put me off so; it is not that which will content me.’ A little in the world will content a Christian for his passage. Mark, here lies the mystery of it. A little in the world will content a Christian for his passage, but all the world, and ten thousand times more, will not content a Christian for his portion. Now a carnal heart will be content with these things of the world for his portion; and there is the difference between a carnal heart and a gracious heart. But says a gracious heart, ‘Lord, do with me what you will for my passage through this world; I will be content with that, but I cannot be content with all the world for my portion.’ So there is the mystery of true contentment. A contented man, though he be most contented with the least things in the world, yet he is the most unsatisfied man that lives in the world.

That soul that is capable of God can be filled with nothing else but God; nothing but God can fill a soul that is capable of God. Though a gracious heart knows that it is capable of God, and was made for God, carnal hearts think of no reference to God. But a gracious heart, being enlarged to be capable of God, and enjoying somewhat of him, nothing in the world can fill a gracious heart, it must be only God himself. Therefore you shall observe, that let God give what he will to a gracious heart, a heart that is godly, except he gives himself, it will not do. A godly heart will not only have the mercy, but the God of that mercy as well as itself; and then a little matter is enough in the world, so be it he has the God of that mercy he does enjoy. In Philippians 4:7, 9. I shall need go no further to show a notable Scripture for this, compare verse 7 with verse 9: ‘And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.’ The peace of God shall keep your hearts. Then in verse 9 ‘Those things which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you: the peace of God shall keep you, and the God of peace shall be with you. This is that which I would observe from this text, that the peace of God is not enough to a gracious heart except it may have the God of that peace. A carnal heart could be satisfied if he might but have outward peace, though it be not the peace of God; peace in the state, and his trading, would satisfy him. But mark how a godly heart goes beyond a carnal. All outward peace is not enough; but I must have the peace of God. But suppose you have the peace of God, will not that quiet you? No, I must have the God of peace, as the peace of God so the God of peace. That is, I must enjoy that God who gives me the peace; I must have the cause as well as the effect. I must see from whence my peace comes, and enjoy the fountain of my peace, as well as the stream of my peace. And so in other mercies: have I health from God? I must have the God of my health to be my portion, or else I am not satisfied. It is not life, but the God of my life; it is not riches, but the God of those riches that I must have, the God of my preservation, as well as my preservation.

A gracious heart is not satisfied without this: to have the God of the mercy, as well as the mercy. In Psalm 73:25, ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon the earth that I desire besides thee. There is nothing in heaven or earth can satisfy me, but yourself. If God gives you not only earth but heaven, that you should rule over sun, moon, and stars, and have the rule over the highest of the sons of men, it would not be enough to satisfy you, except you had God himself. There lies the first mystery of contentment. And truly a contented man, though he be the most contented man in the world, yet he is the most unsatisfied man in the world; that is, those things that will satisfy the world, will not satisfy him.

II. A Christian Comes to Contentment by Subtraction

Secondly, there is this mystery in Christian contentment. A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by way of addition, as by way of subtraction. That is his way of contentment, and that is a way that the world has no skill in. I open it: not so much by the adding to what he would have, or to what he has, not by adding more to his condition, but rather by subtracting of his desires, and so to make his desires and condition to be even and equal. A carnal heart knows no way to be contented but this: I have such and such possessions, and if I had this added to it, and the other comfort added that now I have not, then I should be contented. It may be I have lost my possessions, if I could have but that given to me so as to make up my loss, then I should be a contented man. But now contentment does not come in that way, it comes not in I say by the adding to what you want, but by the subtracting of your desires. It is all one to a Christian, either that I may get up to what I would have or get my desires down to what I have, either that I may attain to what I do desire, or bring down my desires to what I have already attained. My wealth is the same, for it is as suitable to me to bring my desire down to my condition, as it is to raise up my condition to my desire.

Now I say a heart that has no grace, and is not instructed in this mystery of contentment, knows no way to get contentment, but to have his possessions raised up to his desires; but the other has another way to contentment, that is, he can bring his desires down to his estate, and so he does attain to his contentment. So, the Lord fashions the hearts of the children of men. Now if the heart of a man be fashioned to his condition, he may have as much contentment as if his condition be fashioned to his heart. Some men have a mighty large heart, but they have a straight condition, and they can never have contentment when their hearts are big and their condition is little. But now though a man cannot bring his condition to be as big as his heart, yet if he can bring his heart to be as little as his condition, to bring them even, from this is the way to contentment. The world is infinitely deceived in this, to think that contentment lies in having more than they have. Here lies the bottom and root of all contentment, when there is an evenness and proportion between our hearts and our conditions. And that is the reason that many that are godly men that are in a low condition live more sweet and comfortable lives than those that are richer. Contentment is not always clothed with silk, and purple, and velvets, but contentment is sometimes in a home–spun suit, in a mean condition as well as in a higher. And many men that sometimes have had great estates, and God has brought them into a lower condition, they have had more contentment in that condition than the other. Now how can that possible be? Quite easily, if you did but understand the root of contentment, it consists in the suitableness and proportion of the spirit of a man to his possessions, and the evenness, when one end is not longer and bigger than another. The heart is contented, there is comfort in that condition. Now let God give a man never so great riches, yet if the Lord gives him up to the pride of his heart, he will never be contented. But now, let God bring anyone into a mean condition, and then let God but fashion and suit his heart to that condition and he will be content.

As man is walking: Suppose a man had a mighty long leg, and his other leg were short– why though one of his legs be longer than usual, yet he could not go so well as a man that has both his legs shorter than he. I compare a long leg, when one is longer than another, to a man that has a high condition and is very rich and a great man in the world, but he has a great proud heart, too, and that is longer and larger than his condition. Now this man cannot but be troubled in his condition. Now another man that is in a mean condition, his condition is low, and his heart is low too, so that his heart and his condition is both even together. This man walks with more ease abundantly than the other does. Now a gracious heart works after this manner: ‘The Lord has been pleased to bring down my condition; now if the Lord bring down my heart and make it even with my condition, then I am well enough.’ And so, when God brings down his condition, he does not so much labor to raise up his condition again as to bring down his heart to his condition. The heathens themselves had a little glimpse of this: they could say that the best riches is the poverty of desires– those are the words of a heathen. That is, if a man or woman have their desires cut short, and have no large desires, that man and woman they are rich, when they can bring their desires to be but low. So this is the art of contentment: not to seek to add to our conditions, but to subtract from our desires. Another has this, ‘The way to be rich’, says he, ‘it is not by increasing of wealth, but by diminishing of our desire.’ Certainly that man or woman is a rich, man or woman that has their desires satisfied. Now a contented man has his desires satisfied, God satisfies his desires, that is, all considered, he is satisfied in his condition for the present to be the best condition. So he comes to this contentment by way of subtraction, and not addition.

III. By Adding Another Burden to That He Has

The third thing in the art of contentment is this, ‘A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by getting off his burden that is upon him, as by the adding another burden to him.’ This is a way that flesh, and blood has little skill in. You will say how is this? In this manner, are you afflicted, and is there a great load and burden upon you by reason of your affliction? You think there is no way in the world to get contentment, but, O that this burden was but off. O it is a heavy load, and few know what a burden I have! What do you think there is no way for the contentment of the spirit but this getting off your burden? O you are deceived. The way of contentment is to add another burden, that is, labor to load and burden your heart with your sin, and the heavier the burden of the sin is to your heart, the lighter will the burden of your affliction be to your soul, and so shall you come to be content. If your burden were lightened, that would content you; you think there is no way to lighten it but to get it off. But you are deceived; for if you can’t get your heart to be more burdened with your sin, you will be less burdened with your afflictions.

You will say, this is a strange way for a man or woman to get ease to their condition, when they are burdened, to lay a greater burden upon them? You think there is no other way when you are afflicted, but to be jolly and merry, and get into company. Oh no, you are deceived, your burden will come again. Alas, this is a poor way to get his spirit quieted; poor man, the burden will be upon him again. If you would have your burden light, if you can’t get alone and examine your heart for your sin, and charge your soul with your sin. If your burden be in your possessions, for the abuse of them, or if it be a burden upon your body, for the abuse of your health and strength, and the abuse of any mercies that now the Lord has taken away from you, yours has not honored God with those mercies that you have had, but you have walked wantonly and carelessly; and so fall a bemoaning your sin before the Lord, and you shall quickly find the burden of your affliction to be lighter than it was before. Do but try this piece of skill and art, to get your souls contented with any low condition that God puts you into.

Many times in a family, when any affliction befalls them, Oh, what a deal of discontentment is there between man and wife. If crossed in their possessions at land, or ill news from sea, or those that they trusted are broke and the like, and perhaps something in the family falls between man and wife, or in reference to the children or servants, and there is nothing but quarreling and discontent among them, now they are many times burdened with their own discontent; and perhaps will say one to another, this life is very uncomfortable for us to live therefore discontented so as we do. But have you ever tried this way, the husband and the wife? Have you ever got alone and said, ‘Come, Oh let us go and humble our souls before God together, let us go into our chamber and humble our souls before God for our sin, whereby we have abused those mercies that God has taken away from us, and we have provoked God against us. Oh, let us charge ourselves with our sin, and be humbled before the Lord together.’ Have you tried such a way as this is? Oh, you would find the cloud would be taken away, and the sun would shine in upon you, and you would have a great deal more contentment than ever, yet you had. If a man’s estate be broken, either by plunderers, or any other way; now how shall this man have contentment? How? By the breaking of his heart. God has broken your estate; Oh seek to him for the breaking of your heart likewise. Indeed, a broken estate, and a whole heart, a hard heart, will not join together; there will be no contentment. But a broken estate and a broken heart, will so suit together, as there will be more contentment than there was before. Add therefore to the breaking of your estate, the breaking of your heart, and that is the way to be contented in a Christian manner, which is the third mystery in Christian contentment.

IV. By Changing the Affliction into Another

It is not so much the removing of the affliction that is upon us as the changing of the affliction, the metamorphosing of the affliction, when it is quite turned and changed into another thing. I mean in regard of the use of it, though for the matter the affliction abides still. The way of contentment to a carnal heart it’s only the removing of the affliction. Oh, that it may be gone. ‘No’ says a gracious heart, ‘God has taught me a way for contentment though the affliction shall continue still for the matter of it.’ There is a virtue of grace to turn this affliction into good; it takes away but only the sting and poison of it. As now, suppose poverty, a man’s estate is lost. Well, is there no way to be contented till your possessions be made up again? Till your poverty be removed? Yes, certainly Christianity would teach contentment, though poverty continues. Yet it will teach you how to turn your poverty to spiritual riches. You shall be poor still for your outward possessions, but this shall be altered; whereas before it was once a natural evil to you, it comes now to be turned into a spiritual benefit to you. And so you come to be content.

It is a saying of Ambrose, ‘Even poverty itself it is riches to holy men: Godly men do make their poverty turn to be riches, they get more riches out of their poverty then ever they get out of their revenues. Out of all their trading in this world they never had such incomes as they have had out of their poverty. This a carnal heart will think strange that a man shall make poverty to be the most gainful trade that ever he had in the world. I am persuaded that many Christians have found it so, that they have got better by their poverty than ever they got by all their riches. You find it in Scripture. Therefore, think not this strange that I am speaking of. You do not find any one godly man that came out of an affliction worse than when he came into it; though for a while he was shaken, yet at last he was better for an affliction. But a great many godly men you find have been worse for their prosperity. Scarce one godly man that you read in Scripture of but was worse for prosperity (except Daniel and Nehemiah, I do not read of any hurt they got by their prosperity that they had); scarcely, I think, is there one example of any godly man. But was rather worse for his prosperity than better. So that you see it’s no such strange thing, neither to one that is gracious that they shall get good by their affliction.

Luther has such an expression in his comment upon the fifth chapter of the Galatians, in the 17th verse [Galatians 5:17] in his comment says, ‘A Christian becomes a mighty worker and a wonderful creator’, that is he says, ‘to create out of heaviness joy, out of terror comfort, out of sin righteousness, out of death life, and brings light out of darkness.’ It was God’s prerogative and great power, his creating power to command the light to shine out of darkness. Now a Christian is partaker of the divine nature, so the Scripture says; grace it is part of the divine nature, and being part of the divine nature it has an impression of God’s omnipotent power, that is, to create light out of darkness, to being good out of evil – now by this way a Christian comes to be content. God has given a Christian such a virtue, as can turn affliction into mercies, can turn darkness into light. If a man had the power that Christ had when the water pots were filled, he could by a word turn the water into wine. If you that have nothing but water to drink, yet if you had a power to turn it into wine then you may be contented; certainly, a Christian has received this power from God, to work miraculously. It is the nature of grace to turn water into wine, that is, to turn the water of your affliction, into the wine of heavenly consolation.

If you understand this in a carnal way, I know it will be ridiculous for a minister to speak therefore before you, and many carnal people are ready to make such expressions as these to be ridiculous, understanding them in a carnal way. Just as Nicodemus in the third of John [John 3:4], ‘What can a man be born when he is old? Can be enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’ So when we speak of grace that it can turn water into wine, and turn poverty into riches, and make poverty a gainful trade, said a carnal heart, ‘Let them have that trade if they will, and let them have water to drink, and see if they can turn it into wine.’ Oh, take heed you speak not in a scornful way of the ways of God; grace has the power to turn afflictions into mercies. Two men shall have one affliction, and to one man it shall be as gall and wormwood, and it shall be wine, and honey, and delightfulness, and joy, and advantage, and riches, to another. This is the mystery of contentment, not so much by removing the evil, as by metamorphosing the evil by changing the evil into good.

V. By Doing the Work of His Condition

A Christian comes to this contentment by making up the wants of his condition, by the performance of the work of his condition. This is the way of contentment. There is such a condition that I am in, many wants: I want this and the other comfort–well, how shall I come to be satisfied and content? A carnal heart thinks this, I must have my wants made up or else it is impossible that I should be content. No, but says a gracious heart, ‘What is the duty of the condition God has put me into? Indeed, my condition is changed, I was not long since in a prosperous condition, but God has changed my condition. The Lord has called me no more Naomi, but Marah. Now what am I to do? What can I think now, are those duties that God requires of me in the condition that he has now put me into? Let me put forth my strength, in the performance of the duties of my present condition. Others spend their thoughts in those things that shall disturb and disquiet them, and so they grow more and more discontented. Yea, but let me spend my thoughts in thinking what my duty is, what is the duty of my present condition which I am in.’ ‘O,’ says a man whose condition is changed, and he has lost his wealth, ‘Had I but my wealth, as I had heretofore, how would I use it to his glory? But God has made me to see that I did not honor him with my possessions as I ought to have done. Oh, had I it again, I would do better than ever I did!’ But this may be but a temptation, therefore you should rather think, ‘What does God require of me in the condition I am now brought into?’ And you should labor to bring your heart to quiet and contentment, by setting your soul on work about the duties of the present condition. And the truth is, I know nothing more available for the quieting of a Christian soul and getting contentment than this, the setting your heart on work about the duties of the very present condition that now you are in and take heed of your thoughts about other conditions as a mere temptation. I cannot compare the folly of men and women that think to get contentment with their musing about other conditions better than to the way of children: perhaps they are gotten upon a hill, and they look a good way off and see another hill, and they think if they were on the top of that, then they were able to touch the clouds with their fingers; but when they are on the top of that hill, alas, then they are as far from the clouds as they were before. So it is with many that think, if they were in such a condition, then I should have contentment; and perhaps they get into that condition, then they are as far from contentment as before. But then they think if they were in another condition, they would be contented, and then when they have got into that condition, they are still as far from contentment as before. No, no, let me consider what is the duty of my present condition, and content my heart with this, and say, ‘Well, though I am in a low condition, yet I am serving the counsels of God in that condition where I am; it is the counsel of God that has brought me into this condition that I am in, and I desire to serve the counsel of God in that condition.’ There is a notable Scripture concerning David, it is said of him, that he served his generation: ‘After David had served his generation according to the will of God, then he slept.’ It is a saying of Paul concerning him, in Acts 13:36. So it is in your Bibles, ‘After he had served his generation according to the will of God,’ but now the word that is translated will, it is the counsel of God, and so it may be translated as well, ‘That after David in his generation had served God’s counsel, then he fell asleep.’ We ordinarily take the words thus, That David served his generation: that is, he did the work of his generation, that is to serve a man’s generation. But it is clear, if you read it, after David in his generation had served the counsel of God, then David fell asleep. O that should be the care of a Christian, to serve out God’s counsels. What is the counsel of God? The condition that I am in, God does put me into it by his own counsel, the counsel of his own will. Now I must serve God’s counsel in my generation, look what is the counsel of God in my condition, I must look to serve that. So I shall have my heart quieted for the present, and shall live and die peaceably, and comfortably, if I be careful to serve God’s counsel.

VI. By Melting His Will into God’s Will

A gracious heart is contented by the melting of his will and desires into God’s will and desires; by this means he gets contentment. This is a mystery to a carnal heart. It is not by having his own desires satisfied as before, but by melting his will and desires into God’s will. So that, he comes to have, in one sense, his desires satisfied though he has not the thing that before he did desire, yet he comes to be satisfied in this, because he makes his will to be all one with God’s will. This is a little higher degree than submitting to the will of God. You all say, you should submit to God’s will, but a Christian has gotten beyond this. That is, he can make God’s will and his to be the same. It is said of believers, that they are joined to the Lord, and are one spirit, that is, look what God’s will is: I do not only see reason to submit to it, but God’s will is my will. When the soul can make over, as it were, it’s will to God, it must needs be contented. Others would gladly get the thing they do desire, but says a gracious heart, ‘O what God would have, I would have too; I will not only yield to it, but I would have it too.’

A gracious heart has learned this art, not only to make the commanding will of God to be it’s own will – that is, what God commands me to do, I will do it– but to make the providential will of God and the operative will of God to be his will too. God commands this thing, which perhaps you that are Christians may have some skill in, but whatever God works you must will, as well as what God commands. You must make God’s providential will and his operative will, as well your will, as God’s will, and so you must come to contentment. Here a Christian makes over his will to God, and in making over his will to God, he has no other will but only God’s. Suppose a man makes over his debt to another man, if that man that I owe the debt to, be satisfied and contented, I am satisfied because I have made it over to him, and I need not be discontented and say, ‘My debt is not paid, and I am not satisfied.’ Yes, you are satisfied, for he that you made over your debt to, he is satisfied. Just, therefore, it is for all the world between God and a Christian: a Christian heart makes over his will to God. Now then if God’s will be satisfied, then I am satisfied, for I have then no will of my own, it is melted into the will of God. For so that is the excellency of grace: grace does not only subject the will to God, but it melts the will into God’s will. So that they are now but one will; what a sweet satisfaction must the soul have then in this condition, when all is made over to God. You will say this is hard? I will express it a little more: A gracious heart must have satisfaction this way, because godliness does teach him this, to see that his good is more in God than in himself. The good of my life, and comforts, and my happiness, and my glory, and my riches is more in God than it is in myself. We perhaps may speak too further, when we come to the lessons that are to be learned. But upon this it is, that a gracious heart has contentment, he does melt his will into God’s, for says he, ‘If God have glory, I have glory, God’s glory is my glory, and therefore God’s will is mine, if God have riches, then I have riches, if God be magnified, then I am magnified, if God be satisfied, then I am satisfied, God’s wisdom and holiness is mine, and therefore his will must need be mine, and my will must need be his.’ Here is the art of a Christian’s contentment, he melts his will into the will of God, and makes over his will to God: ‘Oh Lord thou shalt choose our inheritance for us.’

VII. By Purging Out What Is Within

The mystery consists not so much by bringing anything without, to make my condition more comfortable, as to purge out something that is within. The men of the world now, when they would have contentment, and want anything, oh they must have something from without to content them. But a godly man says, ‘let me get something out that is in already, and then I shall come to contentment.’ Suppose a man has a fever that makes his drink taste bitter, now says he, ‘You must put some sugar into my drink, and his wife puts in some, and yet the drink tastes bitter“”. Why? Because the bitterness comes from a bitter choleric humor within. But let the physician come and give him a bitter potion to purge out the bitterness that is within, and then he can taste his drink well enough. Just as it is with the men of the world: Oh, such a condition is bitter, and if I could have such and such a mercy added, to this mercy, then it would be sweet; now if God should put a spoonful or two of sugar in, it would be bitter still. But the way to contentment is to purge out your lusts and bitter humors. ‘From whence are wars, and strife, are they not from your lusts that are within you?’ (James 4:1). They are not so much from things without, but from within. As sometimes I have said, it is not all the storms that are abroad that can make an earthquake, but the vapors that are within. And so, if those lusts that are within, in your heart, if they were got out, your condition would be a contented condition. These are the mysterious ways of godliness, that the men of the world never think of. When did you ever think of such a way as this is, for to go and purge out the disorders of your heart that are within? Here are seven particulars now named, there were a great many more that I had thought of, and now without the understanding of these things, and the practice of them, you will never come to a true contentment in your way. Oh, you will be bunglers in this trade of Christianity. But the right perceiving of these things, will help you to be instructed in it, as in a mystery.