True Contentment in the Gain of Godliness

TRVE CONTENTMENT.

THE FORMER PART. The Gaine of Godliness.

T He Stoic Philosophy, which Luke the Evangelist maketh mention of, was famous for Paradoxes, strange Opinions, improbable, and besides common conceit, admired much for them by some, controlled and taxed for them by others. Howbeit not Stoicism only, but every art and profession, every course of life and learning hath some Paradoxes or other; the world not a few, and▪ Christianity many more, as strange, yea stranger, than any that the Stoics ever held, and yet no less true than strange.

A worldly Paradox the Apostle had mentioned in the verse next before going, to wit, that some men should hold Gaine to be Godliness: unto which he opposeth a contrary Christian Paradox in the words of my Text, to wit, that Godliness is the only true Gaine.

For the former: It is a very absurd conceit indeed, and though too too rife in the world, yet such as few or none will be acknowne of, and either openly father, or seem outwardly to favor. But as God at the last day, when the wicked shall go about to excuse and defend themselves, he will not only take hold of their words, By thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou thriftles servant; and advantage of their actions, I was naked and ye clad me not, hungry and ye fed me not, &c. and theresore had neither Faith nor Love; but he will convince them by their own Consciences too, Their secret thoughts shall either excuse or accuse them in that day: In like manner must we deal with those that will seem to abhor and detest this Opinion, and yet do those things that maintain and uphold it.

• he • oole saith i • 〈◊〉 heart, There is no God; and that is sufficient to prove him an Athe •• though he never openly maintain any Position of Atheism. And there be some that profess they know God, but deny him in their deeds: and that is enough to prove them irreligious, though they never utter that their impiety in speech. So in this case, the Covetous man's heart saith it, and his practice proclaimeth it, that his Gold is his God, and that his Gaine is his Godliness; and that is sufficient to prove him an Idolater, though he never outwardly bow his knee to an Idol. In regard whereof, the Apostle expressly pronounceth Covetousness to be Idolatry, and the Covetous man an Idolater.

To reason then in this point, as our Savior himself doth: Where a man's Treasure is, their is his Heart; and where a man's heart is, there is his happiness; and where his happiness is, that is his God. Since the covetous man therefore setteth his heart on his riches; putteth his trust in his treasure: and whereas the faithful make the name of God their strong tower, whereunto they resort in time of trouble for safety, the worldly rich man maketh his wealth his bulwark & fence, whereupon he reposeth himself and wholly relieth: It must of necessity follow hereupon, that as the Apostle saith of the fleshly-minded man, that his belly is his God; so of the worldly-minded man, that his money, or his penny is his God: And if his Money be his God; his Gaine must needs be his Godliness.

But the Apostle here telleth us a quite contrary tale, and learneth us here a flat opposite lesson; that, howsoever worldly men may think that Gaine is Godliness; yet in deed and truth it is not so; but Godliness rather is Gaine, and great Gaine.

So that the Apostle doth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , propositionem invertere; he turneth the proposition clean backward, and bringeth it about, as it were. Gaine is Godliness, saith the worldly man. Nay, Godliness is Gaine, and great Gaine, saith the Apostle, and the Spirit of God by him.

But this peradventure will seem a Paradox as strange as the former. As very few that will outwardly avow the former; so as few are there that are inwardly persuaded of the latter. It seemeth a Paradox with the most.

For, Godliness great Gaine? may some man say. The contrary rather seemeth undoubted and undeniable, to wit, that Godliness is a great enemy to Gaine. Balaam lost great wealth and honor, because he would not disobey the word of God: I had thought, saith Balak, to have advanced thee, and made thee a great man; but thy God hath kept thee from honor. Michah might have been a great man in Ahab's books, and very richly and royally reward • d by him, if he would have spoken but two words only, as some other did; if he would but have said, Go up in peace. But his Godliness hindered his Gaine; and not so only, but was a mean to bring him into much trouble. So that it may seem, that Godliness is altogether gainelesse, and Vngodlinesse the more gainful of the two.

For the Merchants of Tyre and Zidon for lucre and gain strain courtesy with God's commandment, to utter their fish and wares on the Sabbath. And no doubt of it, God's children, if they would not be so strict and strait laced; if they would not stand upon nice points and terms; if they would not stick to lie and dissemble with Ananias and Sapphira; to bely and beguile, as Ziba, Mephibosheth’s man did his Master; to swear and forswear, with profane Antiochus; to steal and purloine with young Micah of Mount Ephraim; to oppress and murder, when they have ius in manibus, the law in their own hands, with wicked Ahab, and cursed Jezebel; they might as well come to wealth, as many worldly men do, that scrape and gather much goods together by these means. But they may well say, as the Psalmist saith, For thy sake, O Lord, are we counted fools; because we stand so much upon matter of conscience.

Holy Paul saith he might have done this and that, but he would not, because he would not make the Gospel evil spoken of. And the keeping of a man's word turneth ofttimes to his loss. The godly man sweareth and faileth not, though it be to to his own hindrance: that which a worldly man will not willingly do. So that it may seem then that Godliness is rather a great enemy to Gaine, and Vngodlinesse a great deal the more gainful.

But those that define Loss and Gaine on this wise, do not try them by the right touch-stone, do not weigh them out in the Ballance of the Sanctuary, at the Beam of God's word: and therefore no marvel, if they take the false Riches for the true Treasure.

For man indeed had authority given him to name the Creatures, and he hath named worldly Wealth, Gaine: But God that is above man, and that gave man this authority, he hath named Godliness, Gaine, and not Wealth. As the Apostle therefore saith, God is not slack, as men count slackness: so Godliness is not Gaine as men count Gaine, but as God counteth Gaine. For man seeth not as God seeth; nor thinketh as God thinketh. But as those things that are precious in man's eyes, are abominable in God's sight: so those things that are contemptible in the eyes of man, are of high account many times in the sight of God. And everything is, not as man valueth it, but as God esteemeth it; not as man reckoneth it, who is vanity it self, and therefore may easily be deceived, yea ofttimes deceiveth himself; but as God rateth it, who neither doth deceive any, nor can by any be deceived, being Veritie and truth it self.

Either then we must say as God saith, or we must say as the World saith. Either we must say, that Godliness is no Gaine, or else we must say, that Gaine is no Gaine, when Godliness and Gaine shall stand forth together, either in way of comparison the one with the other, or in way of opposition the one unto the other.

Now, when Godliness and Gaine shall in this manner contend, that Godliness ought to have the day of it, will evidently appear, if it may be shown unto us:

First, that Godlines is Gaine rather than Gaine: and

Secondly, wherein this Gaine of Godliness doth consist.

For the former, to wit, that Godliness is rather to be accounted Gaine, than Gaine, may be proved to us by these three Arguments.

First, Godliness may do a man good without gain, but worldly gain can do a man no good without godliness. As the Heathen Orator saith of bodily might, that strength of body joined with discretion and wisdom, may do a man much good; but without it, it is but as a sword in a child, or in a mad man's hand, rather a means to mischief a man's self than otherwise: as we see an example in Milo Crotoniates, the strongest man of his time, who unwarily assaying, on trust of his strength, to riue a piece of timber with his hands, which some others with wedge and beetle could not cleave, was caught fast by the fists, and so devoured by Wolves. So Riches joined with godliness and good Conscience, are the good blessings of God, a means of good to our selves, and of doing good unto others: but being severed from godliness and the true fear of God, are rather occasion of evil than otherwise, rather an instrument of vice, than any furtherance to virtue, a mean to make as our sins the greater here, so our condemnation accordingly the more grievous hereafter.

So that as the Heathen man saith, that Gaine gotten by loss or hazard of a man's good name, is no gain but loss; because a man looseth therein more then all his gettings can countervail: since that A good name is (as Solomon saith) above riches and treasure; of greater worth than any wealth. So Gaine gotten with the breach or hazard of a good Conscience, when it is mammona iniquitatis, the Mammon of iniquity, or merces iniquitatis, the wages of wickedness, it is no Gaine, but loss indeed: It is, as the Greeks say of a Bow, Life in name, but Death indeed; so Gaine in name, but Loss in deed: ( Heathen themselves so esteemed it; not Christian men only:) Since that a man doth in these cases but, as that Roman Emperor had wont to say, fish with a golden hook, and that for a googeon: he hazardeth more than his whole prey, though he catch it, and he may miss of his purpose therein too, can make amends for it, if it miscarry, be that he get and gain never so much. And for a man to get and gain never so much one way, if by the compassing of it he loose far more another way, it is in truth no Gaine at all.

For this cause as the Apostle asketh the Question; Quid profuit? What profit had ye then of those things, whereof you are now ashamed? nay, for which now you should be damned, if you had your desert; for the end of such things is death: And the damned Spirits demand of themselves; Quid prodest? What profit have we now of all our profits and pleasures, that we enjoyed in the world, when we are hurled headlong into hell? So our Savior himself asketh, Quid proderit? What will it profit a man to win the whole world, and destroy himself, or loose his own soul? to get all the world beside himself; but by gaining it to loose himself: for every man's soul is every man's self: to do as Jonah, that suffered himself to be cast ouerbord into the sea, that the ship with her lading, when he is lost, may come safe to the shore.

On the other side, as another saith, For a man handsomely to refuse money, and forgo gain, it is no small gain sometime. So for a man in some case to forgo his gain, to refuse gold, to neglect his own good, though so to do may seem • olly, when Game and Godliness will not agree together, when lucrum in arca facit damnum in conscientia, and lucrum pecuniae dispendium • it animae; when profit in a man's purse would procure a broach in his Conscience, and the gain of gold prove the break-neck of his soul; such refusal of gain is the greatest Gaine that can be. For saith an ancient Father well, To let go, though never so great a matter, for the compassing of a greater, is no loosing bargain, but a gainful negotiation. To which purpose the Apostle Paul having related, what a great man he might have been among his own People, had he held on in Judaism as he began; he concludeth at length, that he deemed all that, and all else, but as loss, and as dross and donge; as some Grammarians expound the word there used, as Dogs-meat, or as others rather, as Dogs-donge, in regard of the assurance of God's savor toward him in Christ, the hold he had of him, his conformity with him, and his interest in him.

Secondly, Worldly 〈◊〉 may be a • occasion of evil to us from others; God •• esse •••• r but of good. Riches, I say, prove o • t their owners own bane, his utter 〈…〉 and o ••••• row. I have seen riches, saith Solomon, reserved to the hurt of him that hath them. They make their owners life oft-time to be laid for. It was the Heathen man's observation, that Tyrannies deal with their subjects and servants, as men are wont to do with bottles, which they let stand under the tap till they be filled, and hang them up so soon as they be full: or as with Spunges, which they suffer to lie soaking, till they have sucked in some good store of water, and then squize them out again. Naboth might well have lived longer, had it not been for his vineyard: but that was it that shortened his days, and brought him to an untimely death. And This, saith Solomon, is the course of everyone that is greedy of gain, to come by it, he would take the life away of those that are possessed of it. It is not empty barks, or poor fisher-boats, but ships returning with treasure, that Pirates seek to surprise. It is the fat Grasier, or the rich Clothier, not the poor peddler, or the bare passenger, that is in danger of loosing lim and life in his own defense against thieves.

But Godliness is never an occasion of any evil, but of all good to him that hath it. It is the surest fort and fence, it is the firmest armor of proof against all evils that may be. For, Who will harm you, saith the Apostle, if you follow that that is good? Who will harm you? Nay, Who can harm you? For some would it may be, if they could; so peruersely and maliciously-minded, that they hate the godly, even for this cause because they be godly, and because they follow that that is good. But if God be with them, who can be against them? who can hurt them? who can harm them? Men may attempt to wrong them, and wrong themselves while they think to wrong them; but them they cannot wrong. Though others may seem to wrong them, yet are they not wronged, no not when they are murthred, because they are nouer a whit the worse for their wrongs. No hurt therefore, not an hairs harm can be fall a man for being good, or by being godly; no evil can accrue unto any by it.

No evil can; but much good may; yea all good shall. For All things work together, and conspire in one, for the good of the godly, of these that love God, and whom he loveth. Omnia? What? all things? saith an ancient Father, as if he could hardly believe it, or made some doubt of it: Etiam mala • what? even evils and afflictions too? Mala 〈◊〉 . Yea (saith he) even evils and afflictions; ⁵ bonis bona, malis mala: though evil to the wicked, yet good they are, yea exceeding good to the godly. For, Audi Apostolum, audi vas electionis; Hear what the Apostle saith, hear what the elect vessel of God saith: This light and momentary affliction, that is but for an instant; procureth unto us, an exceeding excessive eternal weight of glory. He moveth the question the second time, as not fully resolved: Omnia? what? all things? etiam peccatum? even spiritual evils? even sin it self too? And he maketh answer again: Etiam peccatum ipsum, tametsi non bonū, tamen in bonum. Yea, even sin it self, though it be not of it self good, yet it tendeth to their good, to the good of all God's elect. For hear what the Apostle saith of himself: There was a splint left in my flesh to humble me, that I might not be puffed up with pride. His infirmities were a mean to make him the more humble; and as the more lowly in his own eyes, so the more gracious with God. He asketh yet a third question, as the upshot of all: Omnia? etiam mors ipsa? What? all things? even death it self, the utmost enemy of all? And he answereth himself as before, or rather further than before; Etiam mors vel maxim: Yea, death as much as anything, nay most of all. For so saith the same Apostle again; Christus mihi vita, & mors lucrum; as he readeth the words; Christ is my life, and Death is my gain. That which is the greatest loss that can be to the worldly man; is the greatest matter of gain that can be to the godly.

Thirdly, Wordly wealth abideth with us but for a short time: whereas Godliness and the Gaine of it will stick by us, & stay with us forever. This worlds wealth, I say, can last but a while with us, & must needs therefore leave us after a while. Either it will leave us, • r we must leave it: either it will have an end of us, • r we an end of it. Riches are uncertain: there is no hold of them: they are slippry ware; the faster we gripe them, the sooner they slip oft out of our hands; they are fugitive servants, ready to run away from their master, whom they leave many times, by their means, deprived, not of living only, but of life too: they take them wings, saith Solomon, like an Eagle that flieth up into the air, & get them a way from us far out of our reach, and beyond all hope o • re • oueri.

But though they have all as aquilinas, great Eagles wings to fly from us withal while we are here; yet have they ne passerin as quidem, not so much as little s •• r • wes wings to fly after us, and follow 〈◊〉 when we go hence. As when we came into the world▪ we brought them not with us; so when we go out of the world again, we cannot bear them away, but must leave them behind us. Admire not the man that is risen sodninely to great riches and honor, saith the Psalmist. No? why, who would not admire one that liveth in such state and pomp as such are usually wont to do? Yea but, when he dieth, he shall carry none of that his wealth away with him; nor shall his pomp and state descend with his corps. As he came naked, so shall he go naked again, and leave all that by his care and indusirie he had raked together and heaped up, behind him; and in all respects go even as he came.

It is with us in this world, as it was in the Jewish fields and vineyards; pluck and eat they might what they would, while they were there, but they might not pocket or put up ought to carry away with them: Or as with boys, that having gotten by stealth into an Orchard, stuff their sleeves and their pockets full with apples and peares, well hoping to get out with them, but when they come to the door, they find one there that searcheth them, and taketh all their fruit away from them, and so sendeth them away with no more than they brought in: Or as poor men, that invited to a rich man's bord, have the use of his plate to drink • in, and silver spoones to eat with while they are there; but if any of them presume to put up a piece of plate or a spoon, there is search made by the Porter, ere they are let out, for what is miss • ng among them, and so are they turned out again as they came in: In like manner is it with us in regard of these temporal blessings; we have free liberty to use them as we will while we are here; but when we are to go hence, there is one waiting on us, that will be sure to strip us, and suffer nothing to pass with us, unless it be some sory sheet, or a sear rag to rot with us, that which yet we shall have no sense of, nor be any whit at all the better for, than if we were wholly without it.

But Godliness, and the gain of it, will abide by us forever. It is a grace that we cannot loose or fall from; a benefit that we cannot be abridged or bereaved of by any. As God will never forsake thee; so Godliness will never leave thee, if thou beest once soundly and sincerely religious. It will go up with thee to the wheel, it will go down with thee to the rack: it will keep with thee while thou livest; it will away with thee when thou diest. For when the worldly man dieth, his hope dieth with him; but the godly hath hope even in death. And the Fear of God, that is Godliness, and the righteousness of it, in the reward of it, that is the gain that cometh by it, endureth forever, and extendeth it self to all eternity, lasting not only past this lives end, but past the whole worlds end, with which all worldly wealth and gain; must needs have an end.

This world is compared to a Fishing; the end of it, to the drawing up of the nets: while the nets are down, there is nothing said to be caught; for the nets may break, and the Fish escape. But at the end of the world, when the nets are drawn up, it will then evidently appear what each man hath caught. And then those that have fished here for riches and gain, may say with Peter, Domine, tota hac nocte laboravimus, & nihil cepimus: Lord, all this night have we labored, and caught nothing at all. For the worldly rich, when they awake out of their present sleep, wherein they dream of gold and gain, shall find nothing in their hands. But those that have here fished for Godliness, may say, as he might afterward have said; Domine, in verbo tuo retia demisim{us}, & cepimus: Lord, at thy word, have we let down our nets, and have caught, yea we have caught abundantly: we have fished for Godliness, and have gotten Life eternal. For Unto those that by patience and perseverance in well doing have sought for glory and honor and immortality, will the Lord give eternal life in that day.

But let us sift out, and see somewhat more particularly, wherein this spiritual Gaine consisteth.

First then, the special Wealth in this World, is that which cometh by Inheritance. Riches and possessions, land and living, saith Solomon, come from a man's ancestors. And among those things that may make a man happy, the Heathen man putteth this in the first place, as the chief, Wealth and goods, not earned with ones hands, but left a man by his friends.

But as Virtue, so Piety is not haereditarie. The one cometh not by kind; neither is the other left by will: It is a greater legacy, than the mightiest Monarch that is, can bequeath to his heir. For God himself is the inheritance of those that have it.

God (saith the Psalmist) hath given a portion to them that fear him. If a Rich man give one a Childes part, it is like to be a matter of some worth: Much more then if God give a man a Childes part. But more then that, he himself is the portion that he giveth unto his. Portio mea ipse es, Domine; saith David; O Lord, thou art my portion. And, He that bestowed myself upon me, hath bestowed himself also upon me, saith Bernard. And if the Levites need have no inheritance among their brethren, because God is their portion; (it is sufficient, they have him, that is, El shaddai, God all sufficient; ) and yet that was but in a temporal manner: Much more then is the godly man wealthy enough, though he have nothing in the world, though he have no part among worldly men; seeing God is his portion in a spiritual manner, in a much better sort. He whose portion God is, cannot be poor.

We use to say, that, He cannot lightly want money, that is Master of the Mint: and he can never be poor, that hath a well-spring of wealth. Much less then can that man want ought that is good, who is possessed of God himself, the fountain of all good. In regard whereof, David having prayed for many temporal blessings in the behalf of his people, that their Sons might be • all and hardie like goodly young Cedars; and their Daughters fair and comely, like the curious caruings about the Temple; their Oxen strong to labor, and their sheep fertile and fruitful; that there might 〈…〉 nor foreign invasion: at length he windeth up all indeed with this Epiphonema or Conclusion, Blessed be the people that are in such a case: but on the neck of it he cometh as with an Epanorthoma, or a Correction of his former speech, Yea rather blessed are the people that have Jehovah for their God; that have the Lord for their portion: This one blessing alone is better worth than all those. So that as when the woman in the Gospel cried out to Christ, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps that gave thee suck: Our Savior, as correcting her speech, (and yet true also that was) saith, Blessed are those rather that hear God's word and keep it. So the Psalmist haning pronounced them blessed that be in such a case, as eating in and revoking his words again, as if he had spoken otherwise than well, Yea blessed (saith he) are they rather whose God is the Lord: As if he had said, That is indeed an happiness in some kind, in some case: but yet that happiness is nothing to this blessedness: for that is but external, this is internal; that is but temporal, this is eternal.

Secondly, the greatest wealth in this world is of a Kingdom: and therefore said he sometime in the profane Tragedie, that If a man might break his word for ought, it should be to achieve a Crown, to compass a Kingdom. Yea not to be a King only, but to belong to a King in some place near about him, is esteemed a matter of great worth and dignity, and such as may prove a mean of much wealth and commodity to one that can wisely make use of it. They were held happy men that could get into Solomon's service. And it is the greatest matter that S • l • mon could promise the man that is diligent and industrious in the managing of his affairs, that he shall stand before, that is, attend upon Princes, and not serve or wait upon any mean man.

If it be held such a matter then to retain and belong to someone of the Princes of this world: What is it to appertain and belong to GOD, the King of Kings, and the Prince of Princes, the highest Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth; that deposeth Kings and disposeth of their Kingdoms at his pleasure; that assign • th every earthly King the lists and limits both of his regiment and of his reign? That which the Apostle Paul therefore prefixeth as no small credit before sundry of his Epistles; and King David as a great grace before some of his Psalms: Paul a servant of Jesus Christ: and, A Psalm of David the servant of God: as if it were a greater dignity to him, that he was God's servant, then that he was ruler and governor of God's people.

But because the Servant is ofttimes turned out at doors, whereas the Son abideth in the house forever: And therefore the Father telleth his Son in the Gospel; Son, thou art ever with me: and all that I have is reserved for thee. The godly man is not only Servant to a King, but he is Son to such a King, and borne, or rather new-borne, to a Kingdom.

And whereas earthly Kings, if they have many Sons, can leave the Crown but to one. Jehoshaphat (faith the Holy History) gave great gifts to his other Sons, but the Kingdom gave he to • oram; because he was the eldest God 〈◊〉 all his Sons Kings and Heirs alike. For if we be Sons, saith the Apostle, we are Heirs too; even coheirs with Christ, who is Heir of all.

But how can the Godly be so rich may some say, when he hath, as it may fall out, not a penny in his purse?

Thirdly therefore: A man may truly be said to be Rich in writing; the monied man, though he have never a penny in the house, but all ou • at interest; and the landed-man, though he hold not his lands in his own hands, but have all let out and in the occupation of others, so long as he hath good security for the one, and good evidence, if need be, to show, for the other. And as in Writing, so in Reuersion. Great sums of money do many give for the reversions of offices, of lands and leases; and as much may they make them again away for, if they will.

And in like manner may the Godly man be said to be rich both in Writing, and in Reuersion: yea in either kind he is the richest man in the world. For he hath all in the world, yea all this world, and the next world confirmed and assured unto him by the word and promise of God, yea by his deed and bond under his own hand and seal, who cannot go from his word, or disclaim his hand to lie, or to deny himself; though it be much of it in other men's hands yet for a while. For Piety or Godliness hath the promises both of this life, and of the life to come, saith our Apostle. And again; Be it Paul or Apollos, or things present, or future, or this world; all is yours, and you Christ's, and Christ God's. All the wealth both of this world, and of the world to come is theirs, (as having nothing, saith the Apostle, and yet possessing all things) though it be for their good also, withheld from them for a while.

The wicked in right have just nothing, having made forfeiture of all, though it please God not to take ever the advantage of it instantly, & where he doth not, man may not. They are but intruders upon and usurpers of God's goods, and shall one day answer for their usurpation and abuse of them: or entercommoners by sufferance with God's children and servants, whom he principally intendeth them unto: or Stewards and Treasurers, as ofttimes, for the good of the Godly.

And for Reversion; to omit what he hath in present possession, besides spiritual riches, of worldly wealth, as much as he hath need of, & as much as it is good for him to have: Every Godly man, as he is Rich in faith, so he is far richer by Faith. For by it he holdeth and hath right to the reversion of such an everlasting inheritance, reserved for him in the Heavens, as cannot be purchased with all the wealth of this world; and as goeth in worth farther beyond all the wealth of this world, than the purest gold doth the drossiest dirt.

And thus have we seen, both that Godliness is gainful; and wherein the Gaine thereof doth consistst.

Now the Use hereof is twofold, for Exhortation, for Examination.

For Exhortation first; to stir up all men to labor and take pains to get Godliness. All men gape after Gaine. It is almost every ones song, that the Psalmist hath; Quis ostendet nobis boni aliquid? Who will tell us of any matter of gain and commodity? Hearken, saith one well, ye sons of Adam, a covetous race, an ambitious brood: Here is Honor, and true Honor; here is Gaine, and true Gaine: such as the world cannot show the like; Gaine without any loss to, or hindrance of any: here is good Gaine, and great Gaine; here is infinite gettings. Labor for Godliness; labor to get and keep a good Conscience: It is the gainful'st Trade in the world. Who so followeth this Trade, shall not venture upon uncertainties, he shall be sure to thrive, and to get infinite Gaine. For, He that followeth after righteousness, as a man followeth a trade, shall find Honor, and Life, true Honor, and eternal Life.

And here come there two sorts of men to be admonished.

First, the Rich, that they content not themselves with their worldly wealth, but that they seek withal to get the true spiritual Riches, that themselves may be rich, and not their purse or their chest only; that they may not be rich to the world only, but rich also to God. Else their earthly Gaine will prove their loss; their worldly wealth will be but a means to hinder their happiness by keeping them out of Heaven, where alone is true and entire happiness to be had. It is that which our Savior himself saith of the worldly. Rich man, that hath nothing to trust unto but his riches: (for so to his Apostles he expoundeth it himself:) that It is easier for ^e a Camel; or, as some read the word, a cable rope, to pass through the eye of a Needle, than for such a rich man to enter into the kingdom of Heaven. As if our Savior should have said; It is as easy a matter, nay an easier, to thread a small Spanish Needle with a thick Cable, or a great Cart-rope, then to get such a Rich man in at heaven gate: That great bunched beast, a Camel, may as soon, yea sooner be driven through an needles narrow eye, than such a rich man be drawn unto God, and be brought into the state of Grace. For so the most and the best read it; and it is an ordinary by word both with Syrians & Greeks, when they speak of a thing that they think altogether impossible, to say, An Elephant, or a Camel may as soon creep through an Needles eye, as this or that come to pass. But not so soon, saith our Savior, but sooner may that be done, which with man is altogether impossible, than such worldly rich men attain to true happiness. Christ (saith the Apostle) became poor, to make us Rich. How became he poor? saith one of the Ancients: •• how maketh he us rich? The same Apostle (saith 〈◊〉 showeth us, and expoundeth himself, where he saith; He that knew no sin, for our sake became sin, by taking upon him the guilt of our sin, that we might become the Righteousness of God in him. And indeed, to speak properly and precisely, as the truth is, not as the world, but as God reckoneth, the only poverty is Sinfulness, and Righteousness the right Riches. And the rich man therefore that hath not a religious heart, is but like proud Laodicea, a poor beggarly wretch in God's sight, and in the sight of those that see so as he seeth, howsoever he may seem rich and glorious in worldly men's eyes.

Yea to him that hath it too, that is both rich and religious, may we well say, as our Savior did to his Disciples, when they vaunted at their return from preaching the Gospel, that even the Devils were subdued unto them; Rejoice ye not herein, that the Devils are subdued under you: so were they under Judas too; but herein rejoice, that you have your names entered in heaven. So rejoice not herein that thou art rich to the world, or that thou art great in the world, and hast others under thee, and at thy command; that thou art clad gorgeously, and farest deliciously; (for so did that reprobate Rich man in the Gospel:) but herein rejoice that thou art rich unto God, and in his sight, that thou fearest and seruest God, and laborest to keep a good conscience, that thou art a careful dispenser and faithful disposer of that treasure that God hath entrusted thee withal. Then thou art truly Rich, when thou art sincerely religious, when thou art truly righteous.

Secondly, the poor, they are likewise to be admonished, to labor for Godliness: that though they be not rich to the world, they may be rich yet to God; and their worldly poverty shall be no hindrance to their spiritual preferment. For God (saith the Apostle) hath chosen the poor of this world to be rich in grace, and heirs of his kingdom.

And here is great comfort for the poor man, that liveth a godly life, and maketh Conscience of his courses, hath a care to please God and to do his will in all things, and to approve himself and his ways to him, walking faithfully and painfully in the works of his calling, be it never so mean; that though he be never so poor and bare, though he live but from hand to mouth, as we say; yea though he have not one good rag to hang on his back, or one good morsel of meat in a twelve-month to put in his mouth, though he have not the least patch of land in the world to sustain him, or the least hole that may be to hide his head in; yet is he a rich man for all that, richer than Crassus or Croesus, or the wealthiest worldly man again in the world. For they have but the false Riches, he the true treasure; they have but the counterfeit glassie pearl; he hath that precious orient pearl, which the wise Merchant, when he hath found, is content to sell all that ever he hath to purchase it, to forgo all that ever he is worth for the compassing of it; and yet is he no looser by the bargain neither. For as he is a Merchant, so is he also a wise Merchant; and therefore knoweth well what he doth in so doing: he knoweth that in buying it, he buyeth himself and his own safety, his own eternal salvation, together with it.

Again, this serveth to overthrow the opinion of such persons as think that there is little or no Gaine to be gotten under God, little or no good at all to be gathered in God's service. So the worldly men in Job's day; Who is the All-sufficient, say they, that we should serve him? or what profit should we have by praying unto him? And the wicked in Malachies time; It is but in vain to serve God: there is nothing to be gotten by keeping his commandments, and walking humbly before him.

Yea but, may some say, sure there be none such now a-days, especially among us that make profession of Christianity; and therefore this use of the point might well be spared.

If it be so with us, let our Actions answer for us; let our practice prove it: And so we will turn the Use from Reprehension to Examination, from Confutation to Conviction.

Let everyone by these Notes then examine himself, whither he be of this Opinion or no.

First, did men deem Godliness to be a matter of Gaine, they would never think they had enough of it. For Riches are stintless; there is no end of them. We never think that we have wealth enough; we are still laboring for more. Many men have too much, and yet no man enough. There is no stint of wealth; but as some write, though fabulously, of the Crocodile, that he groweth so long as ever he liveth: so it is too too true of this mystical Crocodile, the desire of gain and wealth, and of advancing or enlarging men's worldly estates, hath no acme, nō pitch, but groweth still more and more with men as long as they live, rifer oft with them then ever, when they are even going out of the world, and have one foot, as we use to say, already in the grave.

But with Godliness men are soon satisfied; they have soon enough of it. If they have attained to but a little superficial sprinkling of common Grace, or civil honesty, that cometh as far short of sound sanctification and sincerity, as the shadow doth of the substance; they begin presently to suppose, with self-conceited Laodicea, that they are rich enough and need nothing; that they have no need to labor for any further matter, they are even as well as well may be, as need be, at least.

No man is afraid of being too wealthy: but many are afraid of being too godly, Ne sis nimium iustus; Be not too just, sticketh shrewdly on many a man's stomach: though spoken not of true Godliness or Righteousness indeed; but of nourishing in us an over-weaning conceit of our selves; or of being over-rigorous in censuring of others; like the Pharisee in the Gospel, who, saith an ancient Writer very pithily and wittily, exulting arrogantly in himself insulteth insolently over others, and deceiveth himself alone, whom alone he excepteth, while he contemneth and condemneth all besides himself.

Secondly, Men would strive one to go beyond another in Godliness, if they counted Godliness a matter of Gaine. For as the Heathen Writer well observeth, there is a kind of emulation commonly among worldly neighbors, whereby they emulate such as go beyond them in wealth: one neighbor striveth to out-build another, one to get and purchase more than another. The covetous man casteth his eye on his rich neighbors, as a man in a race doth on those that have won ground of him, he striveth to get even with this man, whom he is yet behind, to out-strip that man, whom he hath got even withal. And the envious man (as those two vices are seldom asunder) looking through the spectacles of envy on his neighbors goods, thinketh everything that his neighbor hath better than his own and it may be better than indeed it is, his grounds fertiler, his beasts fairer, his revenues larger, his gains greater &c. and is ready enough oft to say with himself, Why should not my beasts look a • •• ire a • hi • ? why should not my grounds yield as much as hi • ? why should not I thrine as well as he, having as good •• dnes to thrine by a • he hath

And even so woe •••• be with us, held we Godliness to be gainful. We would have a kind of godly emulation and ambition among us, as the Apostle speaketh, in matter of Godliness; we would even emulate, and ambitiously, as it were, strive and contend to out-go one another in goodness and grace. And this were a good and godly emulation, a goodly and a commendable strife and contention indeed. We would be eying of those that are got beyond us in grace, and endeavor to get even with them, yea, if it be possible, to out-strip them, and to cast them behind us, not by hindering their progress, but by mending our own pace, and by straining our selves to run the faster, the later it was ere we entered into this race. We would be as ready as they are to say to our selves; And why should not I be as forward in the fear of God, as Zealous, as religious, as I see such and such are, since I have as good means of being godly as they have, as many inducements as either they or any other can have?

But so stand the most affected, that they will not by their good will suffer any man to out-go them in wealth, in the way of the world: but they will let any man willingly out-go them in grace, and in the good ways of God: there only we strain courtesy, and give everyone the way of us. And as our Savior telleth the Scribes and Pharisees, that the very Publicans and Harlots might go into the kingdom of Heaven before them: So not a few among us will suffer the very Pagans, and Papists, little better than Pagans, if not worse many of them than they, the very Heathen and Heretics to go into heaven before them, ere they will strive to out-go them in goodness and godliness.

Thirdly, men would be more affected with it, if they supposed any matter of Gaine to be in it. The covetous miser, saith the Heathen man, while the people either curse or hi •• e at him abroad, yet he pleaseth and cheereth himself the whilst with the sight or the consideration of his substance at home. It doth a man good at the very heart, even to think upon his riches, and but to look upon his treasure. It will make our hearts to spring and leap within us for joy, to have sudden news brought us of some rich legacy, or large patrimony by some means befallen us.

But of this spiritual wealth and gain most men are merely stupide and senseless: No more moved commonly or affected, when either, (if any time at least they so do,) they think on it, or when they hear it spoken of in the Pulpit; then (as a Philosopher said sometime of an ignorant Dol • • itting in the Theater, where the seats were of marble, that One stone sat upon another: ) then, I say, either the benches that they sit upon, or the pillars that they lean against: Not once stirred at all to hear of the heavenly inheritance, or of holiness, the means that must bring them to heaven, yea that worketh in men's hearts a kind of heaven upon earth, and giveth Christian men seizin of heaven even while they live here. An evident argument that either they believe not the Gaine of it, or they believe not themselves to have any share in it.

Fourthly, men would be oft taking account of their Gaines in this kind, of their thriving in Godliness, if they held Godliness to be so gainful. Worldly men are very frequent and diligent herein, very careful to keep their books of receipt and expense, pouring ever and anon on them, running oft over their reckonings, and casting up their accounts, to see how they thrive or pare in the world, how they go forward or backward in wealth.

But where we shall find a man that hath the like care of keeping & casting up his spiritual accounts, of examining himself for his spiritual estate, how he thriueth or pareth with the graces of God's Spirit, how he goeth forward or backward in goodness or Godliness? And yet would our care be alike for either, did we equally apprehend the gain of either. But let us look unto it. For whither we call our selves to account here or no, God will questionless one day call us to an account. And then not only the prodigal Son, and the unfaithful Steward, that hath the one vnthriftily lauished out his patrimony, and the other riotously wasted his masters wealth; but the idle and unprofitable Servant to • , that hath not gained with his Talent, that hath not thriuen with the Grace of God bestowed on him, shall be bound hand and foot, and cast out into utter darkness, where shall be weeping and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

Fifthly, men would make more account of Godliness, if they counted it as Gaine. Did they indeed account Godliness more gainful than Gaine, they would not put Godliness away for Gaine, they would not prefer Gaine before Godliness. Yea did they deem Godliness the gainfullest thing in the world, they would not forgo Godliness for a world of wealth, or for ought else that were in the world.

But it is with it, as it is with Time. It is a common saying in every man's mouth, that There is nothing in the world more precious than Time, and yet there is nothing generally more trifled away than it. So of Godliness the most will (in word at least) acknowledge, that there is nothing in the world more gainful than it, and yet the most of them that so say, stick not to make it away for mere trifles. Godly they are content to be for advantage, so long as Godlines bringeth in any worldly Gaine with it, or so long as there is no hope of any the like Gaine by ungodliness. But let Godliness cease to bring in such Gaine, they grow soon weary of it: or let but the least hope of such Gaine by ungodliness show itself, & they are ready presently to exchange Godliness for it.

What should it avail a man, saith our Savior, to win the whole world, and loose his own soul? It were no Gaine for a man to get the whole world by ungodliness; since he must withal loose himself, his life, his soul for his labor. But we are ready and willing, the most of us, to part with Godliness, and forgo good Conscience, for far less matters then that cometh to, for a penny or an half-penny toy now and then; to exchange it for some small piece or patch of the world, for some sory snip or stired of the pelf of it, or for ought else that we have some fond fancy unto, the covetous worldling for a little temporary treasure, and the lascivious wanton for a little transitory pleasure: like profane Es •• , that sold his birth-right for a mess of broth, and Solomon's unjust judge, that would d • 〈…〉 〈◊〉 a 〈…〉 se •• of bread, and the false Prophets in Eechiels time, that would pollute God's name for an handful of barley.

That which evidently showeth at how low a rate most men value Godliness. For as a scoffing companion sometime told the Bishop that would give him his blessing when he would not give him an half-penny, that If his blessing had been worth an half-penny, he should not have had it. So if worldly men thought Godliness, and the Fear and Favor of God worth but an half-penny, they would not venture to put either away for an half-penny matter: they would not so readily exchange either for trifles, did they not make but a trifling matter of either.

Neither may the greater sort of such men avoid this imputation, and wash their hands with Pilate from the soil of this sin, because they are wont to make Godliness away for greater matters. To omit that even the greatest of them will bear no weight at all, if they be laid in the balance against Godliness, when the whole world it self is too light to weigh against it. Thou thyself, whoever thou art, wilt cry out shame on some poor silly wretch, that shall forswear himself, and so damn his soul, as thou thyself sayest, for a penny, when thou dost thyself, it may be, in effect as much for somewhat more. But do thou consider, as Aristippus sometime told Plato, that a penny may be as much to him as a pound is to thee, and a pound no more with thee than a penny with him: and therefore doest thou value Godliness at as low a rate in stretching and straining of thy Conscience for the one, as he in tentering it for the other.

Lastly, men would be content to take more pains for the compassing and increasing of it in themselves, if they held Godliness to be gainful. Men can well endure to sit telling and taking money, and it were all day long, from morning to dark night: But to hear the word, but an hour, whereby the spiritual Gaine is gotten, the most can hardly endure: they sit all that while on thorns, and think every minute an hour, and are never well till all be done. They say, or think at least with themselves, as the profane Jews sometimes said, What a toil, or a tediousness is here? what needeth so much preaching? what needeth so long praying? they think they might be as well, if not much better, without either: Yea many cannot endure so long as till the hour be at an end. To whom God may well say, as our Savior to his drowsy Disciples, What, could ye not watch an hour with me? So, Can ye not endure to wait an hour on me, that watch so many over you? On worldly Mammon they could be well content to wait all day long, with forbearance not of disport only, but of ordinary diet too, that would think much but half an hour in the day to wait upon him.

Again, for worldly wealth men can toile and moile all the week long; and yet are they not weary; they think not the whole week long enough neither: But for the heavenly Gaine, for the spiritual thrift, we have but one day of seven, and we think that too much too: we think the day all too long, the labor all lost, and the whole time cast away, that we employ and spend to this purpose. We say as the same Jews at another time said; When will the New Moon be past; and the Sabbath once over? that we may return again unto our worldly affairs. Yea many among us have not the patience to tarry so long, but spend a great part of the Sabbath, that is God's Market or Mart-day, for the getting of this spiritual Gaine, either about their worldly affairs. or their bodily delights.

The Sabbath day, I say, is God's Market-day. And those that seek to take away the Sabbaths, attempt to put down God's Markets, and so do the Devil good service, whatsoever their intent be. As frequenting of Markets maketh a Rich man; so keeping of Sabbaths maketh a rich Christian. And as we count him a bad Husband, that followeth Game on the Market-day: so may we as well count him a spiritual unthrift, that spendeth the Sabbath in that sort.

But may some say, when we have been at Church, and heard the Sermon and Service, is not God's Market-day then done?

I answer: If the Sabbath be a day, then is it not so soon done. God's Market lasteth all day long.

Yea, grant the principal, because the public, of it be past: yet as Market-folks returning from Market will be talking of their Markets, as they go by the way, and be casting up of their penny-worths, when they come home, reckon what they have taken, and what they have laid out, and how much they have gotten: So should we, after we have heard the word publicly, confer privately of it with others; at least meditate on it by our selves, and be sure to take an account of our selves, how we have profited that day by the word that hath been spoken unto us, and by other religious exercises that have been used of us. And as the Marketman counteth that but an evil market-day, that he hath not gained somewhat on more or less: So may we well account it an evil Sabbath to us, whereon we have not profited somewhat, whereon we have not either increased our knowledge, or been bettred in affection; whereon we have not been further either informed in judgment, or reformed in practice, whereon we have added no whit at all to our Talent.

To wind up all in a word. If we hold Godliness to be, as the Apostle here saith it is, a matter of Gaine, and of great Gaine, that which maketh Gaine to be Gaine, and without which Gaine it self is no Gaine indeed; that it bringeth all good with it to him that hath it; and that it never leaveth him, but abideth with him, and sticketh by him forever: Oh let us labor then to get of it, and to grow more and more in it; let us endeavor to out-go one another in Godliness; let us call our selves to a reckoning how we thrive or pare in it; let us not put it away for such trifles and toys as the world or the Devil shall tender unto us to bereave us of so precious a pearl; Especially let us have a care of frequenting God's markets, of observing God's Sabbaths, the principal means of increasing this spiritual wealth in us. So shall it come to pass that we shall have God to be our portion; we shall be heirs of his Kingdom, and coheirs with his Christ; we shall have all the good things both of this life and the next assured unto us here, and the full fruition of them forever hereafter.

THE SECOND PART. The Sufficiencie of it in it Self.

H Itherto of the main Point, to wit, that Godliness is great Gaine. Now because this Proposition will not either easily enter into men's minds, or sink suddenly into their hearts: The Holy Ghost by the Apostle is content to bring a double proof of it.

The one drawn from the time present; because it is able alone to give a man Contentment here, that which all the world else is not able to do, expressed in this verse:

The other taken from the time to come; because it will continue with and abide by a man forever hereafter, that which no worldly wealth, or ought else in the world can do, implied in the next verse.

Godliness with Contentment, or, with Self-sufficiency: For so it is word for word in the Original; and the word so properly importeth. As if he had said: Godliness and Contentment are two inseparable Companions, that continually harbor and keep house together, that go ever hand in hand the one with other: so that a man cannot have the one without the other, he cannot want the one if he have the other. There is no true Godliness, where there is not Contentment of Mind; no true Contentment of Mind, where Godliness is not.

So that the Apostle seemeth to reason on this wise.

That which of it self is sufficient to content the mind of Man, that is true Gaine, and great Gaine indeed: For it is no small matter that will suffice to stay and settle Mans mind.

But Godliness is of it self sufficient to content the Mind of Man, and doth ever bring true Contentment with it to him that hath it.

Godliness therefore is true Gaine and great Gaine indeed.

Hence then may we deduce these three Conclusions to be considered of in order:

1. That Contentment of Mind is a most precious Treasure.

2. That Godliness alone can produce and procure this Contentment.

3. That true Contentment is an undoubted Argument of Godliness.

For the first: Contentment of Mind is an invaluable, an inestimable Treasure. For it is that indeed that maketh Riches to be Riches. Who is rich, saith one well, but he that liveth content with his estate? who is poor, but he that never hath enough. That is true wealth indeed, that freeth a man from want. But what w ••• th call we that, when a man is always in want? Or how is not that man always in want, that is not content with what he hath?

And on the other side, how is he poor, that suffereth no want? Or what wanteth he, that resteth content with what he hath? Many things may he be without, and yet wanteth he nothing; no more than the blessed Spirits and Angels in Heaven want food or such fare as we can in no wise live without here upon earth. He is no more poor or unhappy, because he hath them not, than God is, or the Angels are, because they have not heaps of gold and silver, and other such earthly trash horded up by them in Heaven.

Again, Riches, as the Heathen man truly observeth, consist not so much in the possession of tem, as in the fruition of them. But it is Contentment a lone that giveth a man a comfortable use and fruition of what he hath, that procureth him profit and pleasure of what he possesseth. For where a man resteth not content with what he hath, there is the mind so carried after that he further desireth and hath not, that he no more regardeth or joyeth in what he hath, than if it were not at all. And where a man is discontent with his present estate, there is all that he hath, be it never so much, rather a burden than any way a benefit unto him; like meat that a, greeing not with the stomach, lieth in it undigested, and not only proveth unpleasant and unprofitable, affording neither good relish nor sound nourishment, but noisome also and burdensome to the whole body. So that where Contentment is not, a man regardeth nothing: and where Discontent is, it infecteth and tainteth all things, and so maketh them, as if some malignant blast had blown on them, unsavory and distasteful to him that so hath them, rather sick of them, than endowed with them. And certainly as a man diseased in body can have little joy of his wealth, be it never so much; since as the Heathen man saith, A golden Crown cannot cure the Head-ach, nor a velvet slipper give ease of the Gow • , nor a Purple robe fray away a burning Fever. And, A sick man is alike sick, wheresoever ye lay him, on a bed of gold, or on a pad of straw, with a silken quilt or with a sory rug on him. So no more can riches, gold and silver, land or living, had a man much more than ever any man had, minister unto him much joy, yea or any true and sound joy at all, where the mind is distract and discontent: without Contentment there is no joy of ought; there is no profit, there is no pleasure in ought. All without it is but vanity and vexation of Spirit.

Will we see this by an Example or two further confirmed to us? Haman, was he not a most happy man, as the world accounteth happiness, if he could have thought so himself? the next man in the Kingdom to the King himself, the greatest one of them that then was; he took place by the Kings appointment of all the Princes his Peers, and all the Kings Court, by the Kings express command, bowed and did obeisance to him: he vaunteth himself of his glory, the multitude of his children, the abundance of his treasure, his especial favor and inwardnes both with the King and the Queen: enough a man would think to content any man that had not an immeasurable mind. And yet, saith he, that is the conclusion of his discourse, all this doth me no good: It was all as good as nothing to him; he was never the better for all this, so long as he wanted a cap and a courtesy of Mordecai; because Mordecai bowed not the knee unto him, nor adored him, as other the Kings Courtiers did. It was with him, as with little children, (saith an Heathen man well of such) playing in the streets, who, if some man as he passeth by take one of their toys from them, are ready to cast all the rest away from them, though they have many more left, and sit crying and whining for that one that is gone.

Passe we from a Kings favorite to a King himself. King Ahab had land and living enough and enough, (much more than his Father Omri was ever borne to,) had he not wanted this Contentment of mind. But the little Vineyard of his poor Neighbor was such an eye-sore to his greedy affection, that the discontent that he conceived, because he could not presently compass it, made him poorer than poor Naboth, that desired nothing that he had; and deprived him of his whole Kingdom that he had no profit of it, took no pleasure in it; but, like a man that were in extreme want and necessity, he getteth him home to his house, & shutteth himself up in his Chamber, like one that durst not be seen abroad for fear of arrests; he casteth himself on the bed and refuseth his meat, like a man that took thought for the payment of his debts: He fareth, in a word, as the former Author saith of such, like a sullen Hen, that having store of barley lieng by her, getteth her aside into some corner, and forsaking her meat, scrapeth alone by her self, there to find somewhat that she may be picking up out of the dunghill.

Yea come we to them that were indeed Lord's of the whole world, not in title only, but in truth, having and enjoying that by God's free gift, that none since them were euerable to come anything near, much less to attain unto. Adam and Eve our first Parents, albeit they were in the garden of Eden, (a place abounding, as the word importeth, with matter of pleasure and delight) amids all earthly happiness; and had the whole world in their hands, and all the Creatures at command: yet no sooner had the Devil sown this unhappy seed of Discontent (the very first sin of theirs, as I take it with some other Reverend) in their hearts, but they began presently to deem themselves poor & in want, because they had not what they would; they account themselves as deprived and debarred of all things, if they may not have the fruit of that one tree that was only denied them, and of which God had foretold them, that whensoever they touched it or tasted of it, it would be their bane. As if some great rich man, or mighty Monark, having wealth in abundance, and the world at will, even whatsoever heart could wish, yet should think himself straitened and cut short, but a miserable creature, or not so happy as he might be, because he cannot, with Alexander, get green Iuie to grow in his Gardens at Babylon; or because he may not, with Pope Julius, feed upon Swines flesh, or some other dish by his Physicians forbidden him in regard of some disease hanging upon him, likely to be his bane if he do; and so lie languishing and longing after his own evil, when he hath good enough at hand, as if it were misery for a man to want that, though he have no need of it, that would but hurt him if he had it. Ye see, that a man may be in Paradise, (I might well say, in heaven too, as the Devil once was,) and yet not be happy, if he have not a contented mind.

As on the other side, where this Contentment of Mind is, there is wealth even in want, much more cheerfulness in wealth: There is, as a stay of the desire, so a resting and a rejoicing in that a man enjoyeth: and therefore a comfortable usage of it, be it more or less, because content in it. It is that alone that seasoneth all: it is that alone that sweeteneth all: It is that that is able, not only to season those things that are sweet and pleasant in their own nature, but even to sweeten also those things unto a man, that are harsh and unpleasant in themselves.

It is Contentment therefore only that maketh a man truly wealthy, because it freeth him from want, and giveth him comfort of that he hath. And as a piece of dry bread is more savory to a man when he is in health, than all the dainties in the world are when he is heart-sick: So a little, saith Sal • man, even a morsel of dry bread is better and more with quiet and content, than a whole house full of fat beasts with an unquiet heart, than a whole world of wealth with a discontented mind.

Now two ways may this point be useful unto us.

First, to inform us, what cause they have to be thankful unto God, be they rich or poor, whom he hath vouchsafed this grace unto, whom he hath taught, in whatsoever estate they are, therewith to be content. For even the poorest man that liveth content with his present estate, is richer than the richest man in the world that hath not a contented mind: he is happier than Adam and Eve were sometime in Paradise, when they longed to eat of the fruit forbidden them: he is a greater man than great Alexander himself, and in far better plight than he, even for the present. For he, sor want hereof, when he had won the whole world, yet as if he had been pinched and straitened for room, or penned up in a corner or in a prison, as if the whole world were not able to hold him, (whereas he could not take up so much as ten foot of ground, as his Father Philip saw, when he fell in the wrestling place, and viewed the print and proportion of his body there in the dust) he sa • weeping and wailing, like a forlorn person, that he could not find out a new world to be winning. Whereas, by benefit hereof many a poor Child of God, that hath not half that that he had, yea that hath not a patch of land in the world, but liveth from hand to mouth by his daily labor, yet passeth his time as merrily, (as that Cynic sometime told his host at Athens) as if every day were Holyday, or a Festival day with him: According to that also which Solomon saith, that

A merry heart, or a contented mind, (for it is not spoken directly of a good Conscience, as it is commonly taken; (though it be true also of that, and that be a mean to procure this;) as may appear both by the opposition of the other member, and by the sequel of the context) is a perpetual banquet, a continual feast.

The poor man then hath as great cause to be thankful to God for his Contentment of mind, as the Rich man for his riches. Conceive it by this Comparison. Suppose two men lie sick of the same disease, a burning Fever, or some such like hot disease, as causeth drought and desireth drink, and call both instantly for cold water to quench their thirst with. The Physician coming to them, biddeth give the one that is more impatient, a good quantity of cold drink, and yet he crieth and calleth still for more. To the other he ministereth himself a little cons • rue on the point of a knife, that slaketh his thirst and asswageth his drought. Whether of the twain in this case is more beholden unto him? So here; everyone almost crieth to God for wealth: few pray with wise Agur for a competent estate. Now to one that thus prayeth, God giveth abundance of wealth, as a deal of cold water to quench his thirst, and yet he h • th gaping still for more, as ins • ti • ble, saith Solomon, as the grave, or the barren womb, or the dry land, or the f • re that never have enough. To another he giveth a Competencie, some small pitance, but Contentment withal, as a little Physical Confection, that stinteth and stayeth his desire. Whether of the twain, think we, have more cause to be thankful unto him, and to acknowledge his goodness towards them? The latter doubtless, as he enjoyeth the greater benefit, so he hath greater cause of thankfulness to him from whom he hath it.

Again this may serve to incite us to labor earnestly for this Contentment, and to pray instantly unto God for it.

And it is hard here to say, whether a man had more need to persuade the poor man to be content with his poverty, or the rich man with his riches. For as the Star that went before the Wisemen, went when they went, and stayed where they stayed: So riches fly the faster from a man, the more eagerly he followeth them, but then stay, when a man's mind is stayed. Till that be, all is put (as the Prophet speaketh in another case) into a broken bag, that will hold nothing, or into a bottomless barrel, as the proverb is, that is never a whit the fuller for all that is put in: And we are but like those that have a flux, that take in much, but retain nothing, and so thrive not with their meat, are nothing fuller or fatter for it, till this spiritual looseness of ours be by Contentment stayed with us.

As the Children of Israel therefore passing along the wilderness, marched forward on their way when the Cloud went that conducted them, but there stood still where it stayed. So may our affections walk on, while God's hand goeth before them: but look where God stayeth his hand and ceaseth to give, there should our heart stay likewise, and we cease to desire.

To persuade our hearts the rather hereunto, use we a double consideration, concerning others, and concerning our selves.

Concerning others, either those that go beyond us in riches, or those that come short of us in wealth.

For the former; he that hath more then thou hast, can but live and eat and drink as thou doest. And therefore if thou hast, as the Apostle speaketh, but food and apparel; (he saith not cates or delicates, but food, that that may feed: he saith not ornaments or abillements, but coverings or garments, so much as may cover thee and keep thee from cold) thou hast as much as the mightiest Monarke, as the wealthiest man in the world can have.

As the children of Israel gathered Manna, some more, some less, but every man of them, he that gathered most, had no more then his Homer. So here, though men gather wealth some more, some less, yet hath every man but his de • ea • e,

heap he never so much up, he can for himself, for his own person have no more then one man's ordinary allowance: Though he thresh a thousand quarters of corn, though he have thousands of fat oxen and fed beasts in his stalls and pastures, and ten thousands of sheep in his folds and his fields, yet can his belly hold no more then another man's may: the rest of it goeth to others, and is nothing to him.

Where there is much meat, there are many mouths; there are many eaters: saith Solomon; and where there is much wealth, there are there many Partakers: And what good hath the Owner by it, but the name and the sight of it? Yea to speak as the truth is, the rich man is but a Steward to provide and take care for those that appertain to him and have dependence upon him: as a beast or a Slaue that beareth provender and food for himself and his fellows, having but a single share of it only himself.

If he have more then thee and use it moderately, he hath no more himself then thou hast, unless it be that he taketh more care then thou takest. If he use it immoderately, with the rich Glutton in the Gospel, faring every day deliciously, (to omit that he findeth the less delight in it,) he doth himself the more harm, and it were better for him that he had less: For that is verified of him that Solomon saith, The poor laboring man's sleep is sweet unto him, whether he eat more or less; but the rich man's saturity will not suffer him to rest: it breaketh him of his sleep, it bereaveth him of his rest, it impaireth his health, it is a means not to lengthen, but to shorten his life.

Again consider with thyself, how many an one wanteth that that thou hast, and yet deserveth as well at God's hands as thou dost. Thou lookest on thy rich neighbors to mislike thine own estate, and to murmur for that thou wantest: Look rather on thy poor brethren, the far greater number, and compare thine estate with a many of theirs, to be thankful for what thou hast.

Yea I may well say; Look sometime even on thy rich neighbor, that lieth grieved with the goute, not able to stand on his legs, or to stir him without much pain on his pallet; thou hast health and he hath wealth; whether of the two, thinkest thou, is the greater blessing of God? Thou wouldst think thyself happy, if thou hadst his worldly wealth and ability; and he would think himself happy, and that with much better reason too, if he had that health and ability of body that thou hast.

But to return to the poorer sort, liker thyself. When thou seest a rich man, saith one, carried in his chair or on men's shoulders, have an eye withal to them that carry him, and that run through thick and thin by him: When thou eyest Xerxes that mighty Monarke with his endless army digging down hills, and drying up deeps, building bridges over the sea it self, and lincking shore to shore, Asia to Europe, making the dry land nauigable, and the Ocean passable on foot: cast thine eye withal down on those miserable slaves, that dig down mount Athos under the whip, and that are maimed and disfigured, their noses and ears cut of, because the bridge they made brake as the army passed over it: thou countest him happy; and they count thee happy. As if he had said, applying it to us and our times: Thou hearest of the King of Spain, what millions of treasure he hath every third year from his Indies: and thou thinkest him an happy man. I say not to thee, though I might so say, consider withal, how many mouths he hath to feed, how many Followers, how many Fauourites, how many ships and gallies to set out, how many garrisons to keep, how many Soldiers to pay, how many Intelligencers to maintain, &c. But, think withal upon those poor wretches that row in his Gallies, that tug at the oar end under the whip, or under worse then it, having scarce a bit of good bread to put in their mouths, or a whole rag almost to hang on their backs, enduring all the misery there that can be imagined. Thou thinkest him happy that hath that that thou hast not: and they think thee happy that hast not that that they have, and yet hast that that they have not.

Or, (because such excessive great ones are not so much regarded, the sun showeth not so great when he is at his highest as he doth when he is nearer the edge of the Horizon, and the Faulcon seemeth less still, the higher he soreth, when he is once gone above that that our weak eye-sight can well reach. those that come nearer us, and are nearer at hand with us, are more in our eye, oftener eyed, and consequently more envied of us:) A rich neighbor or two not much above thine own rank, that dwell by thee, set thy teeth on edge, and are a shrewd eye-sore unto thee, and make thee think thyself but in evil case, that thou art not as they are, that thou hast not so much coming in yearly as they have, that thou canst not fare as they fare and do as they do. But thou considerest not withal for those two or three rich, how many poor and needy ones are on every side of thee, that come as far short of thee as thou doest of them. Which if thou didst, thou mightest justly say, as the Psalmist, The Lord hath not dealt so with every Nation; so, The Lord hath not dealt so with everyone, no nor with many an one, as he hath done and doth with me. As the Cynic, when he found a mouse in his sachell, said, he saw well that he was not yet so poor, but that some were glad of his leavings: So many a poor hungry soul, yea many a deer child and sincere servant of God, would be glad of thy leavings, and yet deseruest thou no more than any of them do.

Lastly, consider thine own unworthiness. Thou deseruest nothing at God's hands but hunger and stripes. All that thou hast from him thou hast it of free gift. And therefore are we taught to pray, Give us our bread. If we deserve not then so much as a bit of bread at God's hands, can we not be content, when God giveth us abundantly both bread and meat to feed us, and good clothing to cover us, and convenient housing to harbor us, & friends & favor and credit and countenance in the world, so much of that that so many want, and so much more than we are worthy of; unless we may have to waste on our inordinate and extravagant lusts, and to revel and not, as we see some others do?

We would think that beggar intolerably impudent and insolent, that coming to our doors to ask an alms, when we have bestowed on him some broken bread and meat, or some sory (cast coat, yet, like those importunate persons the Psalmist speaketh of, that grudge and grumble if they be not satisfied, if they have not their own fill, and their own will, he should not be quiet and hold himself contented therewith, unless he might have one of the best dishes of meat from our bord, or one of▪ our own ordinary wearing suites given him. And yet is this the case of the greatest number of us. We come all as Beggars to God's mercy gate▪ and God giveth us out abundance of many good things, life, liberty, health of body, strength and ability of limbs, food and raiment, &c. a courtesy and competency of each, as he seeth to be fittest for us: and yet, forsooth, can we not be quiet, nor think our selves well, unless we may sare as deliciously as Dives did, or go in silks and • attins as such and such do.

•• Iaco • as good a man as any of us, was far otherwise minded: he prayeth to God but for bread to eat, and raiment to cloth him: that if he might have only, he thought himself well apa •• . And what made him so sparing 〈◊〉 his petition, but the sight and consideration of his own unworthiness: I am less, • aith he, than the least of all thy mercies. He knew he deserved nothing, and was therefore content with anything: he would ask no great matter, but would hold himself satisfied▪ with whatsoever it should please God in mercy and goodness to allot and allow him. In a word; Beggers, as I said before, we are; no better then beggars the very best of us: And Beggers, we use to say, must be no choosers, they must not be their own carvers. Rest we must therefore contented with what God shall see good to assign us, be it more or less, being more by much than ever we either do or can deserve any of us.

But is Contentment so necessary, and so precious a Jewel? let us in the next place then consider by what means may we compass it: And so pass we the second point before propounded, to wit, that Godliness only can procure and produce true Contentment.

A man would think that as meat asswageth hunger, and drink allayeth thirst; so riches should satisfy, and by satisfying slake and quench the immoderate and inordinate desire of wealth. But it is herein far otherwise, as Solomon himself, and it may well be, upon his own experience informeth us: He that loveth money, saith Solomon, shall never have enough of it. The desire of more groweth, as a man's riches arise. As the Dropsy-man, the 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 more he drinketh, the dryer he is, and those that are sick of the greedy disease, canina appetentia, the doggish desire, as they term it, the more they devour, the more hungry they are▪ so the richer men grow, the more commonly they desire, more greedy do they wax ordinarily of the world, then they were when they had less of it. As when the fruits of their ground come in abundantly on them, they make their barns bigger, and their storehouses larger to hold more: so withal they beat out the walls of their hearts to cover more, and inl • rge their desire as the Grave, or as Hell; that never crieth, Ho, because it never hath enough; is never the fuller for all the souls that descend down into it, no more than the se •• is for all the rivers that empty themselves into it.

As those diseased persons therefore before mentioned, have need rather to be emptied, to have somewhat purged out, than to have more poured in • the one must be • id of the watery humor that possesseth his body, ere his drought can be slaked, the other of the salt and slimie substance that pestereth his stomach, ere his ravenous appetitie can be stayed: So the Covetous person, that is so greedy of the world, and so immoderate and insatiable in his desires, hath not need of more to be heaped upon him, but hath need rather of something to be taken away from him: he must have that discontent humor of his purged out of his head, that covetous affection of his wrought out of his heart, that is the cause of this his greedy and insatiable desire, ere he can attain to any true Contentment of mind, ere he can come to have his fill. Till then all this worlds wealth will be but as wine and strong drink to the drunkard, that further inflameth him, and increaseth his drought; as oil or fuel to the fire, that doth not quench or smother it, but feed it, and make it burn fiercer than at the first.

If no wealth then can stay, or satisfy the mind of man, what must? or what may? The Apostle pointeth us to it, as here, so else where. It is good, saith he, to have the heart stayed, or ballaced as it were, with grace, and not with meats, nor with money neither. That that must keep the ship stiff and steedy on the Sea, must not be leauers & shores without it, but weight and ballast within it. So that that must stay a man's raging and ranging desires, must not be the outward supporting of his worldly estate, but the inward ballacing and settling of the heart and mind; that which God's grace alone can do, as the Apostle speaketh there, which is the same in effect with Godliness, of which he entreateth here. And in regard hereof it is that the Psalmist saith, that A small matter to the godly, the man that feareth God, is much better than the greatest wealth and riches, that the ungodly and the mighty hath or can have. And Solomon, that a little with the fear of God is much better than great treasures and trouble or vexation therewith.

In which words also Solomon closely and covertly rendereth a reason of that which his Father David had before him said, why A little to the godly man should be of more worth, even the same in effect that the Apostle here hath, because there is no trouble or vexation of mind, but quietness and sweet contentment withal. According to that which the same Solomon else-where saith; It is God's blessing that maketh a man truly rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it. Without God's permission and providence no man can have riches: For it is God that giveth every man power to get wealth. But God giveth a man money many times in his wrath: as in the wilderness he gave the Israelites meat in his anger: And so the curse of God many times maketh a man rich: But those riches are but accursed riches; there is a curse and car • ing care, ever accompanying such wealth. But where God's blessing maketh a man rich, there he giveth ever withal contentment, that causeth comfort and quiet of mind, and maketh a man rest satisfied and well apaid with that portion of wealth, be it more or less, that God hath assigned him.

Neither is this a common courtesy that God casteth on all sorts indifferently; but a peculiar blessing that he bestoweth on those only that love and fear him, and that are his beloved ones. Blessed is everyone, saith the Psalmist, that feareth God, and that walketh in his ways: For thou, that so doest, shalt eat of the labors of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall go well with thee. But, ^c Unless the Lord build the house, they labor but in vain that build it: It is vain for you, as worldly men are wont to do, to rise up early in the morning, and sit up late at evening, and toile and moile, like an horse, all the day long, and to eat the bread of sorrow and care; for, it is God that giveth his beloved rest: It is he alone that can give sweet comfort, and quietness, and contentment of mind, and this grace he vouchsafeth to none but his beloved, to the Godly that love him, and are beloved of him.

It is Godliness then alone, that can cause true Contentment; and that can cause true Contentment alone.

Godliness alone is able to cause true Contentment: because Godliness alone bringeth man home unto God, out of whom true Contentment cannot be had. For the soul of man, as it beareth the image of God; so nothing can satisfy it, but he whose image it beareth. Our Soul, saith Augustine well, was created as by God, so for God, and is therefore never quiet till it rest in God. As man fell at first into this restlesnes by falling away from God; so he cannot be recovered of it, but by returning to him again. It is with man's soul in this regard, as it was with Noah's Dove in the Deluge. As the Dove, after she left the Ark, found no rest for the soale of her foot in the wide world, being then all a-float, till she betook her again thither, from whence before she came forth: So neither can man, fallen from God, find any sure rest for the foot of his soul in the whole world beside, till he come back to him again from whom it came at the first. But it is Godliness alone, that bringeth man home unto God; that tieth and knitteth the soul fast unto God; whereof Religion, say some, hath its name; that findeth rest and repose for the whole man in God, which can nowhere else be found. That which Solomon, out of his own experience, confirmeth unto us, who having ranged abroad through all those creatures and courses, under the cope of heaven, wherein any hope of contentment seemed to show forth it self, is in conclusion enforced to retire back again to God, directing them all to him that desire to find true contentment, and pointing them the way to him by the fear of him; that is, by Godliness leading them unto God, that they may with him and in him find true Contentment, as being nowhere else to be had.

Godliness then, you see, is alone able to cause true Contentment. But is Godliness, may some say, able to cause true Contentment alone, without help and aide of these outward things? Can it make a man content as well in want as in wealth? whither he have worldly wealth or no?

Yea undoubtedly. That that is sufficient of it self alone to make a man truly happy, is of it self alone sufficient to give true contentment, though a man have nothing else but it. For Happiness is every man's utmost aim: and he that hath attained to it, cannot but rest content with it: he were not happy, if he found no content in his happiness. Whatsoever thing therefore is able to bring us unto happiness, cannot but bring to us Contentment together with it. But Godliness is of it self alone able to make a man happy. That which the Heathen men said of their moral Virtue, a mere shadow of it, is indeed true of true Godliness, it is sufficient of it self to make him that hath it truly happy, though he have nothing else but it. For holiness and happiness, Godliness and blessedness are inseparably linked together, and cannot be severed the one from the other. Every holy man is an happy man, every godly man is in a blessed estate, be he rich or poor, be he in wealth or in want, whatsoever his worldly estate outwardly be. So that of true Godlines, we may well say, as he sometime of divine knowledge, the ground of it, it is not earthly gain, nor worldly wealth, nor gold, nor silver, nor corruptible treasures, but it is that that that can make a man happy without all these. And the Godly man, though he have not these or the like, yet hath he that that can make him truly happy without them, and so consequently that can give him contentment in the want of them. And certainly if God be El-shaddai, All-sufficient; then God's grace and Godliness that bringeth a man home unto God, and giveth him interest in God, cannot but be likewise of it self sufficient to make a man truly happy, and to procure unto him true Contentment.

But will we see yet more particularly by what means Godliness worketh this Contentment in those that are truly▪ possessed of it?

First, it purgeth the heart of him that hath it: and so bringeth with it a sanctified use of the creature. For unless the vessel be seasoned, it tainteth all that cometh into it; and how can ought taste well then, that cometh out of it? So unless a man's heart be seasoned with grace, it pollu • eth and de • ileth all that a man dealeth with. Unto the pure, saith the Apostle, all things are pure, but unto the impure and the vnbelee • ing all things are impure, because their minds and consciences are defiled. Since the worldly man then doth but moile and soil and defile himself with his wealth, doth but taint and pollute it, and himself in the use of it, no marvel, if he find no comfort or contentment at all in it.

Nothing is pure to them, saith the Apostle, because their heart is impure. As a foul stomach, stuffed with Choler, turneth all into Choler, even the finest and daintiest meats soonest of any, by means whereof no good nourishment can accrue to the body by them, nor it grow to any good plight and health: So a foul heart turneth all into spiritual Choler, a bitter humor and unsavory, that impaireth and hindereth the health and welfare of the soul as much, yea much more than that material choler doth the health and welfare of the body.

Whereas Godliness sanctifying and cleansing the heart, and purging out that corruption that before tainted and polluted it, and so made all uncomfortable, because noisome and hurtful, unto us, restoreth unto us a pure and sanctified use of the creature, and enableth us to suck spiritual nourishment and wholesome juice even out of temporal blessings; which the soul beginneth now to find sweet comfort and true contentment in, because it useth them as it ought.

Secondly, it quieteth the Conscience; which in the wicked, in the worldly man is ever unquiet; and no true Contentment can be till it be quieted.

The wicked man is continually like a woman in travail, saith Eliphaz. His guilty Conscience is ever and anon inwardly griping him, and with privy pangs and throws pinching and twiching him there, where pains are most unsupportable, and where none feeleth or seeth save himself. And the wicked man's soul, as the Prophet compareth it, is as a raging Sea, full of soil and filth, that is never at rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. Unto the wicked therefore, saith the Spirit of God, there is no peace. A seeming truce they may have, true tranquility they cannot have: Secure they may seem; but they can never be safe. If at some time they seem to have rest, and to be at ease; it is but as with the Sea, that seemeth still sometime, but indeed never standeth still, but is ever rising or falling, ebbing or flowing, incessantly rolling to and fro from shore to shore: It is as with the Sea, that seemeth calm and smooth sometime, but upon every breath of air or blast of wind, is ready to rise and to rage, yea upon some sudden gust sometime swelleth so, that ships are there swallowed up suddenly, where they lay becalmed but a little before. Their seeming tranquility is but as the health of a feverous person when he is out of his fit, or the lightsomnes of a Lunatick that hath his lucida intervalla, and talketh by times as a man well in his wits.

Now what Contentment can there be in ought, while the mind is thus affected, while the Conscience is vnquieted? So long as a man is heart-sick, he can have no joy of ought, find no relish in ought, be it never so pleasant and delightful otherwise, be it never so acceptable to him at other times; his wonted company is then but tedious & troublesome to him, his bed hard and uneasy, his chamber too close, his usual fare, yea or fare more dainty than usual, is distasteful, he findeth no good taste in ought that he taketh: but come health once, and that sweeteneth all again; and then liketh he his company well again, and can endure his bed well, and can feed savorly on a dry piece of course bread, that loathed his panada of fine manchet before. In like manner here: So long as a man is soul-sick, he can have no joy of ought; be his outward estate what it will, it can no more minister sound comfort unto him, then hot cloths or blanckets can give inward warmth to a dead corps, where natural heat is utterly extinct: He may force himself sometime to some seeming mirth; but, Even in laughter, saith Solomon, the heart is heavy. He may set a good face on it in outward show to others, when his heart is full of heaviness and bitterness within him, and wringeth and pincheth him privily there where none is aware of it but himself only that sustaineth and endureth it.

And undoubtedly, let a man strive to smother it and smooth it over all that ever he can, let him strain himself to lightsomnes by all means that may be, let him want no outward matter of worldly either support or delight, yet so long as he hath his guilty Conscience racking and griping him within; though he may geere and grin outwardly, while he is nipped and galled inwardly, he can take no more true joy and delight, can find no more sound comfort and contentment in all his wealth and his treasures, or in his delights & his pleasures, than a prisoner or condemned person, that sitteth drinking and swilling, or playing at cards and tables in the laile, while the halter that he is to be hanged withal, hangeth over his head.

But on the other side, to a quiet mind, to a good Conscience, anything is acceptable, yea and comfortable, as to him that is now in health. Let the mind be truly settled, let the Conscience be once quieted; and the same man that before took no joy at all in a large estate, found no relish at all in great variety of dainties, walked melancholic to and fro in his gardens of pleasure, had no comfort of friends and acquaintance, or of wife & children, can now find much sweetness in a far poorer pitance, give God hearty thanks for an homely repast, walk cheerfully abroad, live comfortably at home, rejoice with his wife, be merry with his friends, be comforted in his children. And this quietness of mind and Conscience can nothing procure but sincere Godliness. Which therefore, as it giveth true ease, and worketh sound cure of those inward gripes and galls, not by benumbing of a guilty Conseience, nor searing it, and making it stupid and senseless, as for a time it is sometime in the wicked; but by removing the ground of them, by giving a man assurance of the remission of his sin, and of reconcilement unto God, and so freeth a man from that inward disquiet of mind, that banished and kept out all true comfort and contentment before; so it bringeth with it a sweet and comfortable use of all God's good creatures; which a man now enjoyeth as fruits of God's love, as effects of God's favor, and in that regard more delightful than the things themselves in themselves are, as a present sent a man from his Prince.

Thirdly, it bringeth with it assurance of a greater benefit than all the world is able to countervail; to wit, of God's favor, and of his fatherly love toward a man in Christ.

It is the most heavy and the most uncomfortable thing that can be for a man to be forth of God's favor. The wrath of a King, saith Solomon, is as the roaring of a Lion; as the messengers of the Death. And what is the wrath of him then, whose angry look alone is able to shake heaven and earth? And if Haman had little joy of all his wealth and his treasures, when Ahasuerus frowned on him, when he was fallen forth of his favor; no marvel if a man have no joy of ought, find no comfort or contentment in ought, so long as God frowneth on him, so long as he is displeased with him, while the black clouds of God's heavy wrath hang over his head?

And on the other side, by the law of Contraries, as God's wrath is most hideous, so his love and favor is most gracious. As there is nothing more discomfortable than the one; so there is nothing more comfortable than the other. In thy favor, saith David, there is life. Yea, Thy loving kindness, it is better than life. The body is better than raiment, and life of more worth than meat that maintaineth life, saith our Savior. And, All that a man hath, as the Devil sometime said, will a man give for his life. But God's favor and the assurance of it is a greater blessing than life it self, and much more then greater then any worldly wealth, that is not at all truly desirable, but as an help and prop to this present life: Able therefore alone of it self to stay and support a man, to comfort and cheer up a man, to give him true contentment, to make him an happy man, in the want of all worldly wealth, though he have nothing else but it.

The old Gracians that had fed altogether on acorns before, after that bread-corn came in among them, made no reckoning of their mast anymore, but kept it only for their Swine: and leathren and iron coin began to grow out of request, after that gold and silver once came in use. So when a man hath once found the favor & love of God in Christ, hath lighted once on it, and got assurance of it, he ceaseth then to be greedy of this worldly trash, that is in regard of it but as dross or peble stones to Gold and Diamonds, as maste to the best bread-corn, yea rather of far less worth and value to that, than either of these are to it.

To which purpose David saith, that whereas the worldly man's song is, who will show us any good, who will tell us of any matter of profit? his wish or request rather was, (with other the Godly) Lord lift thou the light of thy face, or thy favor, on us. For that he had found more true joy and contentment in the assurance of God's love, in the view of his loving countenance towards him, then they had or could reap comfort by their worldly commodities, their corn and their wine, wherein their wealth chiefly consisted, though they came in never so plentifully upon them. There was sound rest and assurance of safety by the one, no security in, or surety at all of the other.

Lastly; In that it fitteth a man's mind to his means, while it assureth him both for the time present, that that estate, whatsoever it be, that he is then in, is the best and fittest for him; and for the time to come, that God will continually provide for him, and never see or suffer him to want ought that he shall stand in need of.

Let your conversation, saith the Apostle, be without covetousness; and be Content with what you have. For God hath promised that he will never leave nor forsake you. So that you may boldly say, as the Psalmist, The Lord is my protector, I need fear nothing; so, The Lord is my Shepherd, I am sure to lack nothing. For who so seeketh God's Kingdom and the righteousness thereof, shall be sure to have all other things cast upon him, that may be for his good, he shall have the one as an over-plus in to the other.

It is a great stay of mind to a man for himself or his son, if the King shall say to him, as David to Mephibosheth, or to Barzillai the Gileadite, I will see that thou, or he shall never want, or, you shall neither of you ever want, if I may help it: What a stay of mind must it needs be to the Godly man then, when the King of heaven and earth shall say as much unto him, he that is able to make his word good at will, and liveth forever to perform whatsoever he hath promised?

Again, the Godly may say it, and assure himself of it, that whatsoever estate he is in, that estate for the present God seeth to be best and fittest for him. If he be poor, poverty is best for him, or else he should not so be: if he be sick, sickness is best for him then, otherwise God would not suffer him to keep his sick-bed: if in prison, restraint of liberty is then fittest for him, otherwise the prison should no more be able to hold him, then it was to hold • eter, when the doors were fast locked on him, and a guard of soldiers set to keep him sure. If riches were good for him, he should be sure to have them: if health were good for him, he should be sure not to want it: if liberty, God without delay would enlarge him and restore it. For there shall nothing be wanting to those that fear God: The Lions shall lack and suffer hunger; but those that seek the Lord, shall want nothing that is good. God their Sun and Shield will give them grace and glory: and no good thing will he, who is God all-sufficient, deny unto them, that walk uprightly before him.

Mark the Apostles argument, that he useth for the proof of this point: He that spared not his Son, but bestowed him upon us, how can he but give us all things together with him. And conceive we the force of it by this comparison: Suppose a man have a friend, who having but one precious Jewel of great price, that he maketh special reckoning of, is content to part with it, and bestow it on him for the ransoming and redeeming of him out of captivity: he is content again, when he is sick, to be at any charge with him for Physician and Physic; and yet when he is in the fit of a burning Fever, he will not by any means suffer him to have a cup of cold water. May not such a one in this case reason thus with himself? Surely, if it were good and safe for me, yea were it not certainly dangerous and prejudicial unto me to drink such cold and raw drink, this my friend that thinketh nothing too good or to deer for me that may do me good, that is content to be at all this cost and charge with me for Physic, would never deny me a cup of cold water that standeth him in nothing. And consequently, if he be wise, he will strive against his own desire of it, and bend himself patiently to endure the want and denial of it, as done in wisdom by his friend, and out of a tender regard of his good. And in like manner doth the Apostle teach the Godly man to reason: God, that having but one precious Jewel, to speak of, his own Son and his only Son, was content to bestow him upon me, to shed his heart-blood for the saving of my soul, if he saw health or wealth to be good for me, he would never deny it me, being no more than as a crumb of bread or a drop of water with him. So that so long as he with ▪holdeth it, I know well that it is better for me to want it than to have it; and therefore I will endeavor to keep myself quiet, and rest content with the want of that, which I want for my good.

This Godliness persuadeth every Christian unto; and this Godliness enabled the same Apostle to do: I have learned, saith he, to abound: and I have learned to be in want. (Taught it a man must be, ere he can attain to it; and it is a lesson, that is not easily learned.) I have learned to be hungry; and I have learned to be full. (The one had need to be learned as well as the other: and till a man have learned it, he shall never be filled.) I have learned in whatsoever estate I am, therewith to be content. I am able to do all things, yet not of mine own strength, but through the power of Christ enabling me. And so pass we to the third Point, that at first we propounded, to wit hat true Contentment is an undoubted argument of Godlines.

A Contented mind argueth a religious heart; and a discontented mind argueth an irreligious spirit. It is a sign that a man seeth not God's goodness, considereth not his own unworthiness, when he is ever murmuring and repining, misliking and finding fault with his own estate, and envying those that be above him. So that where discontent, meant is lodged in the heart, there is Godliness excluded and shut out of doors. And hereby may a man know himself to be truly religious, if he have a mind contented ever with his present estate: not barely because he cannot mend the matter, or ease himself by being discontent at it; (that is a kind of doggish stupidity, rather than Christian aequanimitie, as one well saith:) but because God hath placed him in it, and seeth it fittest and best for him, whose holy will he desireth to conform his own to, and not to writh and wrest God's to his; and therefore is willing to receive as well evil as good from God, and to rest content with whatsoever he doth; whom he knoweth to do nothing but good, and to do all things for his good: that which is true piety, and a good note of sincerity wheresoever it is found.

But here every man will be ready to say, that he may seem religious, that he is well content with his estate, and thanketh God for it with Job, whatsoever it be. Well; if it be so, as Saint James saith, Shew me thy faith by thy works: so let us show our Contentment by the effects, by the fruits of it.

Of a Note or two of Contentment then a word or two, and so an end.

One sign of Contentment then is, the use of lawful means only; When a man desireth not, nor endevoreth to better his estate by indirect and unwarrantable courses: when a man doth not fret to see wicked men rise by bad means, nor is sorry that he may not do as they do: much less is moved to do wickedly, and to take such courses as he seeth wicked ones thrive withal, while himself and other godly, as himself seemeth to observe, either decay, or else stand at a stay.

Abraham, when the King of Sodom offered him some part of his spoils, refused to take so much as a shoe-latchet of him, that the King of Sodom might not say that he had made Abraham rich; that men might not say, that Abraham had been made rich, not by God's blessing, but by the Kings means; he might thank the King of Sodom for his wealth. So a Godly man will not gain, nor desire to gain so much as a shoe-string or shoe-thread by profaning God's Sabbaths with the Zidonian Merchants, by fraud or deceit, by oppression and extortion, by biting usury, the Devils brokery, or by any other unlawful and indirect course; that the Devil may not say, that, he hath made him rich; as he said sometime to our Savior, All this will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. For it is of the Devils gift all that is gotten by such means, that is compassed by such courses: and he hath neither a contented mind, nor a religious heart, that will seek or take ought at the Devils hand.

As the Israelites therefore travailing through the wilderness towards the land of promise, (which, to have gone the next way, had not been a journey of many days, yet were they many years about) they were to go as God led them, as they saw the Cloud go before them, and not to take that way that seemed best or most compendious in their own eyes. So must we observe God's ways in our trading & trafficking, in our walking towards wealth: we must keep the way that God leadeth us; go no other way than we can see him going in before us, follow the line of his law, though it seem to lead us in and out, backward and forward, as if we were treading of a maze; and not take those ways, leaving the guidance of it, that seem gainer and nearer in our own eyes, and much more compendious than the other. Though we might compass wealth with a word or two, with the bow of a knee only the one way, whereas we must travail, and toile and moile much ere we come by it the other way: though we might attain to it within a day, or a week, the one way, whereas we are like to stay long, many years, it may be, ere we come at it, the other way: yet this way must we keep, and refuse all the world with our Savior, if it be offered us to entice us out of it.

Otherwise as the Israelites, when they went out of God's precincts, they went withal out of God's protection, and so fell before their foes, into whose hands they fell, forsaking God's shelter and sauegard. So those that make more haste then good speed to be rich, that balk God's paths, and step aside out of God's way, to compass wealth, shall undoubtedly come to evil. For those that will be rich, saith the Apostle, that set this down, rich they will be, howsoever they come by it, per fas & nefas, by hook or crook, as we say, by right or by wrong, they pierce their hearts through with many sorrows, pester their minds with many fond and noisome lusts and desires, and plunge themselves into many dangerous snares, that at length drown their souls in destruction.

Yea the very desire of bettering a man's estate by such means, is an evident argument of discontent: when it grieveth a man at the heart, that his conscience will not give him leave, or that God's law will notsuffer him to use those means that he seeth worldly men grow wealthy withal. He is out of God's way, though he seem to be yet in it, though he stride not outwardly out of it, that misliketh it, that liketh any other way better than it, that walketh in it with an evil will. And as Adam and Eve sinned and were evil even in desiring to eat, before ever they tasted of the forbidden fruit: So the very desire of liberty for such courses argueth evidently so far forth a mind irreligious, though the heart never consent to put them in practice.

A second Sign of a Contented mind is the use of such lawful means without Care and Covetise, without distrustful care, without greedy desire.

It is the saying of some of the Ancients, and it is a true saying, that A man may commit adultery with his own wife: So a man may commit spiritual fornication with the lawful means, that he useth and lawfully may use, if he use them in unlawful manner. For the preventing and avoiding whereof our Savior Christ biddeth us, Take no care, (or, no thought rather, if you will) what we shall eat or drink, or wherewith we shall be clad. In which precept, or prohibition rather, he forbiddeth not the use of lawful means, but the distrustful affection in the use of those means. Which appeareth both by some of the instances that there he maketh use of, as that of the fowls, that yet labor and fly about for their food and their living, but without covetousness and care; as also by the word that he there useth, signifying properly such a carking care, as even divideth the mind in twain, and cutteth the very soul as it were asunder.

For the better and fuller conceiving hereof, we must know, that there is a twofold Care: there is a studious care, and there is a carking care, which we call commonly a taking of thought: there is cura de opere, and cura de operis successu; a care for our work it self, and a care for the success of it, for the issue and event of it. And it is not the former, but the latter of the two, that is there inhibited.

There is a Care for the work it self, when a man is careful to do his duty, and to do well that he doth, and accordingly doth painfully and faithfully endeavor to effect it the best he can. And thus there is no man more careful than the child of God, than the Christian man; because he doth of Conscience all he doth. There is another Care about the issue and success of the work, which our Savior Christ calleth else-where, an hanging in suspense, and doubt for the event of it, as the meteors do in the air, uncertain whither to stay there, or to fall down to the ground. This is then, when a man is not content to do his best endeavor, but he casteth doubts, and taketh thought for what the issue of it will be; he fore thinketh with himself, that if he gain not by such a bargain, he shall be undone; if such a debtor break or keep not touch with him, he shall be utterly overthrown; if his grounds take not, or his cattle stand not, he shall not have bread to put in his belly; if he cannot get the favor of such a Judge, or such a great man, he shall never have any good success in his Law suites, or, if he be toward the Law, his Counsel will grow out of request. &c.

Conceive it yet further by these two Examples. Our Savior forbiddeth his Apostles both to take care, and to take thought before hand, when they are to appear before great persons; both to fore-cast with themselves what to speak when they come before them, and to fore-think how that they shall speak will be taken when they have spoken it. Yet the Ministers of the word now a days are to study before hand what to speak either in Church or Court, if they be there to appear, because they have it not now ordinarily by immediate instinct at an instant, as they then had: But they are not to take thought how their speeches will speed, but leave the issue of it to God's good will.

Again, the Priests bid the Soldiers say, that CHRIST'S corps was stolen away by night while they slept, and promise withal to secure them, or so to save them harmless, that they shall not need to take further care in that kind. The Soldiers were yet to plot and devise how to tell their Tale so, as it might carry most show of truth with it, and having so done, they were to rely on the Priests credit for the rest, who had given them their word before for the issue of it, that it should no way prove prejudicial or jeapordous to them. In like manner it is our part to take care how to perform those offices and duties that God hath called us unto in the best manner that we may: but for the success of it, when we have performed our part, and done our duty and our endeavor, we must, as the Apostle willeth us, be wholly secure or careless; take no thought for ought, but leave all to God, and rely wholly upon him, who hath commanded us to cast all our care in this kind upon him, and promised withal that he will take this care for us.

This distrustful care breedeth that Covetousness that is the Roote of all evil. Not amiss termed the Roote, as some well have observed: because as there is life oft in the root, when there is no sap in the branches: so this vice oft liveth, when other die and decay. For even old men, against reason, that have least time to live, are ofttimes most careful for, most covetous of the things of this life: they think, though they have never so much, that unless they gather still more, they shall want or starve yet ere they die; they shall not have meat, saith one, to put in their mouths while they live, nor money to bury them with when they be dead.

But neither will such Carefulnes, or such Covetousness stand with Contentment: and therefore must be both far from us, if we would be accounted truly religious. We must banish all such distrustful thoughts, we must abandon all such greedy desires. We must learn, as we pray but for daily bread; so to rest content with it when we have it; yea to rest content too, when we have it not, with the want of it. We must learn, when we have done our best endeavor, to leave the issue and event of our labors to God. As Joab saith to his soldiers; Let us be of good courage, and fight valiantly for our King and our Country; and let the Lord then do what seemeth good in his sight. So must we do what God hath enjoined us to do; and when we have so done, commit our way for the issue of it to him, and rely upon him, and he will bring it about; he will be sure then to give such issue to it as shall be for our good.

The third and last Note of Contentment may be Silence before the Sheerer. When God cometh to sheere a man of his substance, of his wealth and his riches, if he have a contented mind, he will not murmur and repine at it, as the Israelites ever and anon when they wanted water, or bread, or flesh in the wilderness: but rather praise God with Job; God gave it, and God taketh it: blessed be God's name. I return my life to Nature requiring it back, said that Apostate, as some report of him, when he lay a dying, as a faithful debtor, with a good will. So should we return God his own again, that he hath pleased to lend us, as faithful and thankful debtors with hearty good will; rendering thanks unto him, that we have had them so long, not repining because we can have them no longer.

But we contrariwise, when we have had a long time the use of God's blessings, are wont to lay claim to them, and to account them as our own by prescription; and so, as it falleth our ofttimes by bad borrowers and worse pay-masters, God looseth a friend with us for asking his own of us.

I was dumb, saith David, and opened not my mouth, because it was thy doing. It is a sign that a man seeth God's hand on him for his good, if he can be silent when God straitneth and impaireth his estate.

And the faithful Hebrews, saith the Apostle, with joy, not quietly only but cheerfully, sustained the loss of their worldly goods, knowing that they had better treasure and more durable laid up for them in heaven. It is a sign that a man looketh at a better matter, when he can so readily and so cheerfully part with his wealth: as Jacob regarded not his household-stuff and substance in Canaan, when he had all the fat of Egypt before him.

Shut we up this last point with this familiar similitude. A garment that hangeth loose about a man is put off with ease; but so is not the skin that sticketh fast to the flesh, nor the shirt that cleaveth fast to the ulcerous leper; a tooth if it be loose, it cometh out with ease, but if it stick fast in the head, it is not pulled out but with pain, yea many times it bringeth away some piece of the gum or the jaw with it. So here, a man is content willingly to part with his riches, when his heart is not set upon his wealth: but if his heart be glued to it, it even renteth his heart in two to part with it, it pulleth as it were a piece of his soul away with it. And that is the reason why Job blessed God, when he took away all that ever he had from him, whereas most men, if God take from them but a small pitance of that they have, are ready, as the Devil untruly said that Job would do, even to curse him to his face.

To conclude then: Would we be esteemed truly Religious? Let our contentment of mind appear to the world; in not seeking of these outward things, either by indirect courses, or with distrustful desire; in patient enduring the want of them, when God seeth good to deny them, and in quiet parting again with them, when God shall call again for them: Assuring our selves that God doth all for our good, as well in with-holding or with-drawing of them from us, as in conferring them upon us, or in continuing them unto us: So shall we be sure of a comfortable use of God's good blessings in this life, and of certain enjoyment of eternal blessedness together with God himself in the next life.