The rare Jewd of Cbriftian Contentment'- I J ·f 'JoNr di fconunt you c.cnnot hi/ p 1o11r (dvu, youcannot get any . ~!Jing by it. Who can by taking any carking care lftid Mt-tubit to his {tlltHre, Gr m~~( om hair that is -g/Jite1 to le bla~~! Yoa may vex and trouble your felves, but you can ger nothing C, .it. Do you think that the Lord will come in a way of merq' ever a whit thefooner becaufe of the murmuring of your fpirits? Oh no,but mercy will be rather .deferred the longer for itjthougb, the Lord were before in a way of mercy, yet this di!lemper of your he-arcs were enough eo put him out of his conrfe of mercy, and though he bad thoughts that you fhould have the thing before, yet now you /hall not have it. If you had a mind to give fuch .a thing to your child, yet if you fee him in a difcoa1cnted fretting way, you will nor giyc it him; and this js the very rea[@n \Vhy there are fo many mercies denied to you, becau(e of your difcont~ntmeot,yon are difcontented for want oftbom, and therefore you have them not, you · do deprive your fel,.es of the enjoynment cf your own defires becaufe of the difcontent of your hearts, becaufe you have not your delires, And is not th1s afoolifh _thing? ; • There's a great de'l of foil y in this., There are ••fnJ foo- . Ufh o4rriagu &OtNtnonly that a difcgnunted he4rt is guilty of: They Cllrry themfelvrs foolifhly towards God and tQw.trds ww1, there are fuch expreffions;and fuch kind of behavior 'o:nes from them,as makes their friends to be.alhamed of them many times1 their carriages are unfeemJ y, they are a flume ro themfelves, and theirfriertds. 4· There is 11 great dui 6f folly in di{content and JHur•uring: for it ~oth ent out .the good and fwmne{s of a Mtrcy bdore it comrs. If God lhould give a mercy that 'fie are difcontcnted for tbe want of; yet the bleffing of the mercy is as ·it were eaten out before we come to have it. Difcontent i~ 1 ike a worm that eats the meat out of the Nut,and then wben, the meat is eaten out of it, then yon !hall have the lhel. If a cht\d lhould cry ~or a Nut that bath the meat eaten out, or all worm-eaten, what good would the child have by having the nut r fo fuch an outward comfort you would fain bave and you are troubled for the want of it, but tile very trov.ble of your fpirits is the worm that V ,. eats
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