/ ·160 The r4re Jewel of ,'chriflian Contetumenr. cot.1ld you bear that fuch. a one lhould complain·that fuch a thir.o i! riot well drell, or. the hke J you coul~ not bear it if you~ c'hitdren lhould do tt, but you could bear 1t a great deal betcer with them then to hear fucb ~ one do it : but thou -art a poor begger, and God bath (as Jt were) taken thee into his great Family, and if the Lord bath qeen pleafed to raife thee higher, that now thou hall a competency; ·that _thou may'!llive as a man, to be ofufe and fervice in , the place vvnere Gori bath [et thee, now wilt thou be difcontent bec.aufe thou b.tll not every ·· thing that thou defirelt? We know tpe Prodigal, when he came· to hi~felf, Oh r faith he, 'in my fAthers boufe is bre~td enough. He dtd not fay there's good chear ~nough, and a ' great deal of dainties; no,he thought of nothing but bread, ,there's bread enough ; So its ordinary for men and women when they are in a lotV condition, they think that if they may have bread, any competency, they will be contented and blefs God, but 'when they have their bread and t1:linrs convenient, they mufi have more or elfe they a.re not 'contented : know that this ie an ex-· ceeding great aggravation to thy difcontentment, when you are raifed from a very low conditiofJ and yet you cannot be contented with what you have. · , A feventh aggravation of this fin is this,For them to be difcolt-' Nnt that h11ve been vfry great finners ~tnd ungodly in their f~rmer time. For men and vvomen that have much guiltinefs Uj)On them, the guilt of very many fins upon them, that have provo. ked God exceedingly againfi them·, and have brought rbemfelves in a mofl dreadfull manner under the fentence of Gods Juftice, and yet God being pleafed to reprieve them, for them to murmur and to be difcontcnt with Gods adminiflrations towards them, this is exceeding evil, Oh it were .ecnlideration enough to qttiet any murmuring in our hearts, to think thus, We are but finnen, why lhould not we be fufferers that ne finners But then confider, we that are fuch great finners, guilty of fucb, noto;iousfins, that it is a wonder that we are out of Hell ac this prefent, yet for us to be dif~Gntent :m? murmur ,how exceedingly doth this encreafe our fms, Conftder how we have croffed God in our fins, tb'en ifGod lhould crofs us in the way of our ' ft.Uf.erin~s, thould not we fit down qniec without murmuring ? · Ce~
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