24. He takes up his contentment in God's appointment
The sun-beams of justice will soon melt such weak and waxen wings.
He that has no better righteousness than what is of his own providing, shall meet with no higher happiness than what is of his own deserving. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. If such people rest not from duty, then they rest in duty. They are determined to sail in their own bottom, though they sink in the ocean. I would that all such did but know, that though good works are not destroyed by Christ, yet they must be denied for Christ.
When a glass reflects the brightness of the sun, there is but an acknowledgement of what was, not an addition of what was not. A curious picture praises a beautiful face; not by communicating what it wants, but by presenting what it enjoys. As God has none the less, for the mercy he gives, so he has none the more, for the duty he receives. Man is such a debtor to God, that he can never pay his due to God; yea, the more we pay him, the more we owe him for our payments.
It is Christ only, who is the righteousness of God to man, and man to God. We are so far from paying the utmost farthing, that at the utmost we have not a farthing to pay. That man will be a miserable spectacle of vanity, who stands upon the lame feet of his own ability.
15. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is, To take up his atonement in God's appointment.
As many do the things which God dislikes, so they dislike the things which God does. If the children of Israel obtain no meat for their lusts, then they are weary of their lives. They are delighted with their burning corruptions, but are enraged with their trying conditions; which is nothing less than to be in love with their malady, and out of love with their remedy. They studied more how to gratify their humour, than to satisfy their hunger. They complained of the shoe, but the disease lay in the foot.
Those who think too highly of their own deserts, will think too meanly of their estates. It is even the task of God, to satisfy the desires of men. He can do every thing, but they are not pleased with any thing.
There is no man but what has received more good than he has deserved, and done more evil than has been inflicted: he should therefore be contented, though he see but little good; and not discontented, though he suffer much evil. Let your conversation be without covetousness; for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Where the seal of faith hath been set to the bond of truth, he who hath said it will maintain thee in the want of maintenance.
When a wicked man's purse grows light, his heart grows heavy. When he has something without to afflict him, he has nothing within to support him. That well-known scripture is unknown to him: I know how to be abased, and how to abound; every where and in all things I am instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and suffer need. It is hard to carry a full cup without shedding; or to stand under a heavy load without bowing. It is difficult to walk in the clear day of prosperity, without wandering; or in the dark night of adversity, without stumbling: but from whatever point the wind blows, the skilful mariner knows how to meet it with his sails.
Repenting is the act of Christian men, but repining is the act of carnal men. Though their estates be like a fruitful paradise, yet their hearts are like a barren wilderness. Such people are like spiders, which suck poison out of the sweetest flowers, and by an infernal chemistry extract dross from the purest gold.
Outward prosperity cannot create inward tranquillity. Heart's-ease is a flower that never grew in the world's garden. The ground of a wicked man's trouble is not because he has not enough of the creature, but because he cannot find enough in the creature. His possession is great enough, but his disposition is not good enough. Some are satisfied under the hand of God, because they are not sensible of the hand of God. They never fret, because they never feel.
We are not to be troubled that we have no more from God, but we are to be troubled that we do no more for God. Christians, if the Lord be well pleased with your persons, should not you be well pleased with your conditions? There is more reason that you should be pleased with them, than that he should be pleased with you. Believers should be like sheep, which change their pastures at the will of the shepherd; or like vessels in a house, which stand to be filled or emptied at the pleasure of their owner. He that sails upon the sea of this world in his own bottom, will sink at last into a bottomless ocean. Never were any their own carvers, but they were sure to cut their own fingers.
A covetous man is fretful, because he has not so much as he desires; but a gracious man is thankful, because he has more than he deserves. It is true, I have not the sauce; but then I merit not the meat. I have not the lace; but then I deserve not the coat. I want that which may support my dignity; but I have that which supplies my necessity. Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content.—Here is the flesh of the creature to fill us, and the fleece of the creature to cover us.
It is reported of a woman who, being sick, was asked whether she was willing to live or die; she answered, 'Which God pleases.' But, said one, if God should refer it to you, which would you choose? 'Truly,' replied she, 'I would refer it to him again.' Thus, that man obtains his will of God, whose will is subjected to God.
A contented heart is an even sea in the midst of all storms. It is like a tree in autumn, which secures its life, when it has lost its leaves. When worthy Mr. Hern lay upon his death-bed, his wife, with great concern, asked him what was to become of her and her large family? he answered, 'Peace, sweet heart; that God who feeds the ravens, will not starve the Herns.' If the child be jealous of
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his father's affection, he will soon be dubious of his father's provision.
Our most golden conditions in this life are set in brazen frames. There is no gathering a rose without a thorn, till we come to Immanuel's land. If there were nothing but showers, we should conclude the world would be drowned; if nothing but sunshine, we should fear the earth would be burned. Our worldly comforts would be a sea to drown us, if our crosses were not a plank to save us. By the fairest gales, a sinner may sail to destruction; and by the fiercest winds, a saint may sail to glory. When our circumstances become necessitous, our corruptions become impetuous; they rage the more, because stopped by the dam of poverty. If God withhold the hand of providence, we employ the tongue of insolence. We too frequently bite at the stone, till we break our teeth. We murmur because we are in want, and therefore want because we murmur.
A skilful pilot knows what winds tend to blow us into our harbour. An unquiet mind makes but a slow recovery. Contentment is the best food to preserve a sound man, and the best medicine to restore a sick man. It resembles the gilt on nauseous pills, which makes a man take them without tasting their bitterness. Contentment will make a cottage look as fair as a palace. He is not a poor man that hath but little, but he is a poor man that wants much. In this sense, the poorest are often the richest, and the richest the poorest.
Godliness with contentment is great gain. This is too precious a seed to grow in every soil. Though every godly man may not always be contented, yet every truly contented man is godly. The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Such a scripture will bring us plenty in scarcity—fulness out of emptiness. The water in a cloud soon ceases, but the water of a fountain continues.
As Seneca said to Polybius, 'Never complain of thy hard fortune so long as Cæsar is thy friend;' so say I to thee, never complain of thy hard fortune, Christian, so long as Jesus is thy friend.
Let your condition be never so flourishing, it is a hell without him; let it be never so fluctuating, it is a heaven with him. Can that man want any thing who enjoys Christ? or can he be said to enjoy any thing who is without Christ? Why should Hagar lament the loss of the water in her bottle, while there is a well so near?
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