Downame - Puritan-02038 v2

Of the excellency ofcontentment,& the means to obtain it.459 leaueto haue brought him out to execution, yet his chiefe comforter content, would haue accompanied him euenvnto death, feeing it was grounded upon his affiance and hope in Tob x3.r 5. God,which death it (elfcould not rake from him. So though the Amalekits did fpoile Dauidat once both ofhis wiues and =.Sam.3o.6. wealth,yet his contentment was not taken from him whets all outward things failed, becaufe it was not placed in them but in his heart,and in his God; and therefore when for leffe loifes his company were fo imaged through impatiency,that they were ready to (lone him, I Ike fooles and mad men (hi- king thole who are next voto them, yet afielionbeing ing added to afiE} ion, it is faid that Dauid comforted.him felfe in the Lord hisGod. But çontrariwife wee fee Ahab fo weakened with his dui-cafe of couetoufneffe, that fee fur£et- tech with thevery fight of Naboths vineyard; and wanting inward content, a whole kingdome could not fatisfie him, norraileoreale his deie &ed mind, which but an opinion of wanthad ouerthrowne. Would wee therefore haue fuch contentment as isvnap- 4,Seê7.54 . proachable in the affault ofany n;ifery, and as it were out of That we mull the gun(hot of any danger ?let vs feate it chiefly in heauenfeekecontent-- vnder theprote&ion of Gods prouidence, and fo much ofit mër,nor by mat- as remaineth with vs,let vs place it in the caille of our harts, váiriés, burdb which as long as life lafleth. none can furprife and fpoyle; moderating our and not in outward things which eafily are flollen away -and defires andof- it with them. For example, would wee haue fu(ficiencieoffailms, honours and worldly glory? why then muff wee not with that great enemie ofthe Romane monarchic, thinke of con- quering one nation after another, that fo fatisfyingour am- bition, we may in the end find reft,and fpend the remainder of our daies in pleaftre and delights : for honours are vain, and doe not fatisfie,and the mind is large, and naturally vn -- fatiabie; and therefore here canbe no fulneffe and content, for fooner may there want kingdomes to ouercome, then a heart to couet them, as wee fee in the example ofthe Greci -- an monarch. But this fufficiencie mull bee looked for in the mind and heart, not by fatisfying, but by moderating and overruling them,and not byfitting our eflate to our defires; for