BX 5037 .H3 Hall, Joseph Works of the Father 1808 v.8 , 1574-1656 Right Reverend Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/worksofrightreve08hall_0 THE WORKS OF THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, JOSEPH 1lALL, D.D. SUCCESSIVELY BISHOP OF EXETER AND NORWICH : NOW FIRST COLLECTED. WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE AND SUFFERINGS, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. ARRANGED AND BEVISED, WITH A GLOSSARY, INDEX, AND OCCASIONAL NOTES, BY JOSIAH PRATT, B.D. F.A.S. iectbrer of the united parishes of st. mary woolnoth and st. mary wootchurch haw, and lady camden's Wednesday evening lecturer at the church of st. lawrence jewry, london. IN TEN VOLUMES. VOL. VIII.— PRACTICAL WORKS. LONDON: PRINTED BY C. WHlTTINGHAIT, CosTiell Street; for williams and smith, stationers' court ; burditt; lyfield and son; t. conder ; j. hatchard; mathews and LEIGH ; J. NUNN ; F. C . AND J. R1VINGTON ; L, B. SEELEY J VERNOR, HOOD, andshakpe; J. walker; and J. WHITE. 1808. CONTENTS OF VOL. VIII. PRACTICAL WORKS CONCLUDED. Page I. THE REMEDY OF DISCONTENTMENT : or, a treatise or CONTENT ATION IN WHATSOEVER CONDITION ! FIT FOR THESE SAD AND TROUBLED TIMES. To the Christian Reader 3 The Method of this Treatise 4 Introduction. The Excellency of Contentation ; and how it is to be had. — The Contrariety of Estates, wherein Contentation is to be exercised 5 Part First. Contentation, in KNOWING HOW TO WANT. 6 CHAP. I. WHAT IT IS to know how to want, and to be abased. Sect. 1. HOW MANY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO WANT ib. 2. WHO THEY ARE, THAT KNOW HOW TO WANT 8 CHAP. II. HOW TO BE ATTAINED ib. Sect. !. Considerations for Contentment : which respect, (1.) Tlie Diversities of Life; as [1.] Of the Valuation of Earthly Things; viz. (a.) The Transitoriness of Life, Honour, Beauty, Strength, and Pleasure... 9 (b.) Unsatisfying Condition of them 1 1 (c.) Danger of over-esteeming them 12 [2.] Of Divine Providence over-ruling all Events 13 [3.] Of the Worse Condition of Others 14 [4.] Of the Inconveniences of great Estates ; viz. (a.) Expose to Envy 15 (b.) Macerate with Cares ib (c.) Danger of Distemper, both bodily and spiritual, 16 (d.) Torment in Parting , 17 (e.) Account to be rendered ib. [5.] Of the Benefits of Poverty ; viz. (a.) Freedom from Cares ib. (b.) Freedom from Fears of Keeping.... 18 (c.) Freedom from Fears of Losing ib. [6.] Of how little will suffice Nature ,. ib. [7.] Of the Miseries of Discontentment 19 [8.] Of the Vicissitudes of Favours and Crosses 21 f9-] Examples of Contentation, both within and without the Church of Cod 2? IV CONTENTS. Ml (2.) Death itself : wherein are to be considered... 2' [1.] Remedies against the Tenors of Death ; viz. (a.) Necessity and Benefit of Death ib (b.) Conscience of a well-led Life ib (c.) Final Peace with God ib (d.) Efficacy of Christ's Death applied... 2= (e.) Comfortable Expectation of certain Resurrection, and immediate Vi- sion of God It [2.] Miseries and Inconveniences of the con- tinued Conjunction of Sou) and Body ; viz. (a.) Defilement of Sin Original ib (b.) Proneness to Sin ib (c.) Difficulty of doing well '. 27 (d.) Dulness of Understanding ib- (e.) Perpetual Conflicts ib- (f.) Solicitude of Cares ib (g.) Multiplicity of Passions ib (h.) Retardation of Glory ib, Sect. 2. Holy dispositions for Contentment ib. (1.) Humility 28 (2.) Self-Resignation 29 (3.) True Inward Riches 30 Sect. 3. Holy resolutions for Contentment. ( I .) Tliat our Present Estate is best for us 32 (2.) To abate of our Desires 33 (3.) To digest smaller Inconveniences 35 (4.) To be frequent and fervent in Prayer 36 Part Second. Contentation, in KNOWING HOW TO ABOUND. The Difficulty of Knowing how to abound : and the 111 Consequences of Not Knowing it 37 II. THE PEACE-MAKER : laying forth the Right Way of Peace in Matters of Religion. Address to the Clergy of the Diocese of Norwich 43 Chap. I. INTRODUCTORY. Sect. 1. The Difference of Truths: and the Impor- tance of those, which concern Matter of Religion 46 2. What Differences of Judgment make a Dif- ferent Religion 47 3. Of the Fundamental Points of Religion 48 4. The Injurious Uncharitablkness of the Ro- mish Church, in excluding Christian Churches, and condemning their Professors. 50 5. The undue Alienation of the Lutheran Churches from the other Reformed 53 6. The Differences, betwixt the other Reformed Churches, and our own 56 . The Differences within our own Churches, at home 57 CONTENTS. V Page Chap. II. Of the Ways of Peace which concern PRIVATE PER- SONS. Sect. 1. The First Private Way of Peace: To LABOUR AGAINST THE 1NWAJU) GROUNDS OF contention ; viz 59 (1.) Pride 60 (2.) Self-Love 61 (3.) Envy ib. (4.) Covetuusncss 63 2. The Second Private Way of Peace : The composing ourselves to a fit disposi- tion for peace : and, therein, ( I .) A Meek and Humble Temper 64 (2.) Obedience to our Spiritual Guides.. ... 65 (3.) Charitable Affection to our Brethren 67 (4.) A Yicldableness upon Sight of Clearer Truths... 70 3. The Third Private Way of Peace : The avoiding unnecessary questions 71 4. The Fourth Private Way of Peace : To labour and pray for further illumina- tion in all requisite truths 73 5. The Fifth Private Way of Peace : To comply with our brethren so far as we safely may 76 6. The Sixth Private Way of Peace : To LET FALL OUR OWN INTEREST FOR THE PUBLIC 78 Chap. III. Of the Ways of Peace which concern the PUBLIC 81 Sect. 1. The First Public Way of Peace : To SUPPRESS THE BEGINNINGS OF SPIRITUAL QUARRELS ib. Which shall be done, if (1.) The Broachers of New Opinions be by gentle means reclaimed 82 (2.) The Means of spreading Infection be timely cut off: which are, [1.] The Society of the Infected 83 [2.] The Press 85 (3.) The Disturbers of Peace be timely suppressed.... 86 Such are those who [1.] Sow Strife, and broach New Opinions.... 87 [2.] Abet Quarrels, and pertinaciously main- tain dangerous Errors 83 2. The Second Public Way of Peace : Order for sure grounds to be laid by ca- techizing 90 3. The Third Public Way of Peace : Means appointed for strong convicti»n of error , , ..... 92 Vi CONTENTS. Page Sect. 4. The Fourth Public Way of Peace : Imposition of silence in some cases, both upon pulpits and presses 95 Chap. IV. A MOTIVE to peace, from the Miseries of Discord 98 JH. THE BALM OF GILEAD: or, Comports for the Distressed; BOTH MORAL AND DIVINE. Dedication to all the Distressed Members of Jesus Christ, wheresoever 105 Chap. t. Comforts for the sick bed. The Preface. — Aggravation of the Misery of Sickness ... 106 Sect. 1. The Freedom of the Soul 107 2. The Author of Sickness ; and the Benefit of it ... ib. 3. The Vicissitudes of Health 109 4. Sickness better than sinful Health ib. 5. The greater Sufferings of holier men; and the Resolutions of Heathens 1 10 6. Our Sufferings far below our Deservings 112 7. The Benefit of the Exercise of our Patience ... ib. 8. The Necessity of expecting Sickness 113 9. God's most tender Regard to us in Sickness ib. 10. The comfortable End of our Sufferings 114 11. The favour of a peaceable Passage out of the World 1 15 Chap. II. Comforts for the sick soul. Sect I. The Happiness of a deep Sorrow for Sin 116 2. The well-grounded Declaration of Pardon ib. 3. Aggravation of the grievous Condition of the Patient; and Remedies from Mercies ap- plied 117 4. Complaint of Unrepentance and Unbelief, satisfied 118 5. Complaint of Misgrounded Sorrow, satisfied ... ib. 6. Complaint of the Insufficient Measure of Sorrow for Sin, answered 119 7. Complaint of the Want of Fai'h, satisfied 120 8. Complaint of the Weakness of Faith, satisfied... 122 9. Complaint of Inconstancy and Desertion, an- swered ib. 10. Complaint of Unregeneration and Deadness in Sin, answered 124 11. Complaint of the Insensibleness of the Time and Means of Conversion, answered 126 12. Complaint of Irresolution and Uncertainty, in matter of our Election, answered 127 Chap. III. Comforts against Temptations. Sect. 1. Christ himself assaulted. — Our Trial is for our good 131 2. The powerful Assistance of God's Spirit ; and the Example of St. Paul 132 3. The Restraint of our Spiritual Enemies; and their overmatching by the Power of God ... 133 CONTENTS. VU Page Sect. 4. The Advantage that is made to us by our Temptations and Foils 134 5. Complaint of Relapses into Sin, with the Re- medy thereof 135 Chap. IV. Comforts against weakness of grace. Sect. 1. The Common Condition of all Saints 137 2. The Improvement of Weak Graces ; and God's Free Distribution ib. 3. God's Acceptation of Truth, not Quantity 138 4. The Variety of God's Gifts, and the Ages and Statures of Grace 139 5. The Safety of our Leisurely Progress in Grace ... ib. 6. Our good Desires and Endeavours 148 7. The Happiness of an humble Poverty in Spirit ... ib. 8. An Incitement to more" Caution, and faster Adherence to God 141 Chap. V. Comforts against infamy and disgrace. Sect. 1. Like Sufferings of the Holiest; yea, of Christ himself ib. 2. Our Recourse to God 142 3. The Cleanness of our Conscience 143 4. The Improvement of our Reason ib. 5. The Cause of our Suffering ib. 6. Our envied Virtue 144 7. Others' slighting of just Reproaches ib. 8. The Narrow Bounds of Infamy 145 9. The Short Life of Slander ib. Chap. VI. Comforts against Public Calamities. Sect. 1. The Inevitable Necessity of Changes ; and God's over-ruling them 146 2. The Sense and Sympathy of Common Evils ... ib. 3. The sure Protection of the Almighty 147 4. The Justice of God's Proceedings 148 5. The Remedy, our particular Repentance ib. 6. The Unspeakable Misery of a Civil War 149 7. The Woeful Miseries of Pestilence allayed by consideration of the hand that smites us ... 150 Chap. VII. Comforts against Loss of Friends. Sect. 1. The True Value of a Friend and the Fault of over-prizing him 152 2. The True ground of an Undefeasible enjoying of our Friends 153 3. The Rarity and Trial of True Friends ib. 4. Is but a Parting; not a Loss 154 5. The Loss of a Virtuous Wife Mitigated ib. 6. The Mitigation of the Loss of a dear and hope- ful Son ib. Chap. VIII. Comforts against Poverty, and Loss of our Estate. Sect. 1. The Fickle Nature of these Earthly Goods 155 2. They are not Ours; but Lent us 156 r CONTENTS. Sect. 3. The right Valuation of Riches is in the Mind ... 157 4. It may be good for us to be held Short ib. 5. The Danger of Abundance 153 6. The Cares that attend Wealth „ ib. 7. The Imperiousness of Ill-used Wealth ib." 8. The Causes and Means of Impoverishing us ... 159 9. The Examples of those who have affected Poverty ib. Chap. IX. Comforts against Imprisonment. Sect. 1. The Nature and Power of true Liberty 160 2. The sad Objects of a Free Beholder's Eye 161 3. The Invisible Company, that cannot be kept from us ib 4. The Inward Disposition of the Prisoner 162 5. The Willing Choice of Retiredness in some Persons 6. The Causes of Imprisonment 163 7. The Goodness of Retiredness ; and the Part- nership of the Soul's Imprisonment 164 Chap. X. Comforts against Banishment. Sect. 1. The Universality of a Wise Man's Country ib. 2. The Benefit of Self-Conversation 165 3. Examples of those holy ones, that have aban- doned Society ib. 4. The Advantage that hath been made of Re- moving 168 5. The Right that we have in any Country, and in God ib. 6. The Practice of Voluntary Travel 167 7. All are Pilgrims ib. Chap. XI. Comforts against the Loss of our Senses of Sight and Hearing. Sect. 1. The two inward Lights, of Reason and Faith ... 168 2. The Supply of better Eyes ib. 3. The better Object of our inward Sight 169 4. The ill Offices done by the Eyes ib. 5. Freedom from Temptations by the Eyes, and from many Sorrows 170 6. The Cheerfulness of some Blind Men 171 7. The Supply that God gives in other Faculties ... ib. 8. The Benefits of the Eyes, which once we had ... 172 9. The Supply of one Sense by another 173 10. The better Condition of the inward Ear 174 11. The Grief that arises from hearing Evil ib. Chap. XII. Comforts against Barrenness. Sect. 1. The Blessing of Fruitfulness seasoned with Sorrows ib. 2. The Pains of Child-bearing 175 3. The Misery of ill-disposed and undutiful Chil- dren 176 4. The Cares of Parents for their Children ib. 5. The great Grief in the Loss of Children 17S CONTENTS. IX Page Chap. XIII. CoiviroRTs against want of Sleep. Sect. 1 . The Misery of the want of Best ; with the best Remedy 178 2. The Favour of Freedom from Pain 179 3. The Favour of Health without Sleep 180 4. Sleep but a Symptom of Mortality 181 5. No use of Sleep whither we are going ib. Chap. XIV. Comforts against the inconveniences of Old Age. Sect. 1. The Illimitation of Age; and the Miseries that attend it ib. 2. Old Age a Blessing 183 3. The Advantages of Old Age (1.) Fearlessness: (2.) Freedom from Passions: (3.) Experimen- tal Knowledge: (4.) Near approach to our End 184 Chap. XV. Comforts against the Fears and Pains of Death. Sect. 1. The Fear of Death Natural 187 2. Remedy of Fear, Acquaintance with Death .... I8S 3. The Misapprehension of Death 189 4. The common Condition of Men ib. 5. Death not feared by some 190 6. Our Death-day better than our Birth-day 191 7. The Sting of Death pulled out ib. 8. Death but a Parting, to meet again ib. 9. Death but a Sleep 192 10. Death sweetened to us by Christ 193 1 1 . The Painfulness of Christ's Death ib. 12. The Vanity and Miseries of Life 194 13. Examples of courageous Resolutions in others ... 195 14. The happy Advantages of Death 196 Chap. XVI. Comforts against the Terrors of Judgment. Sect. 1. Aggravations of the Fearfulness of the Last Judg- ment 197 2. The Condition of the Elect 198 3. Awe more fit for thoughts of Last Judgment than Fear 199 4. In that great and terrible Day our Advocate is our Judge ib. 5. Frequent Meditation and due Preparation, the Remedies of our Fear 201 Chap. XVII. Comforts against the Fears of our spiritual Enemies. Sect 1. The great Power of Evil Spirits, and their Re- straint ib. 2. The Fear of the Number of Evil Spirits, and the Remedy of it 202 3. The Malice of the Evil Spirits, and our Fears thereof Remedied 203 4. The great Subtlety of Evil Spirits, and the Re- medy of the Fear of it 204 Chap. XVIII. Tire Universal Recipe for all Maladies. X CONTENTS. IV. A Treatise of CHRIST MYSTICAL : or, the Blessed Union op Christ and his members. Chap. I. INTRODUCTORY. Sect. 1. How to be happy in the apprehending op Christ 214 2. The Honour and Happiness of being united to Christ 215 Chap. II. The KIND and MANNER of this Union with Christ... 216 Chap. III. The RESEMBLANCES of this Union. Sect. 1. By the head and body 217 2. By the husband and wife 218 3. By the nourishment and the body 220 4. By the branch and the stock 221 5. By the foundation and the building 222 Chap. IV. The CERTAINTY and INDISSOLUBLENESS of this Union ib. Chap. V. The PRIVILEGES and BENEFITS of this Union 224 Sect. 1. The first of these Benefits — Life 225 Wherein (1.) A complaint of our Insensibleness of this mercy; and an excitation to a cheerful Recognition of it 237 (2.) An incitement to Joy and Thankfulness for Christ, our Life 228 (3.) The Duties zee owe to God for his mercy to us, in this Life which we have from Christ ib. (4.) The Jmprovemenl of this Life ; in that Christ is made, [1.] Our Wisdom .-230 [2.] Our Righteousness 231 [3.] Our Sanctification 234 [4.] Our Redemption ib. Sect. 2. The External Privileges of this Union, a right to the blessings of earth and heaven 236 Chap. VI. The MEANS, by which this Union is wrought 237 Chap. VII. The Union of Christ's members with THEMSELVES ... 238 Sect. 1. The union of Christ's members in heaven ^39 2. The union of Christ's members upon earth.... 240 (1.) In matter of Judgment ; ib. (2.) In matter of Affection 242 (3.) A complaint of Divisions ; and, notwith- standing them, an assertion of Unity 244 (4.) The necessary Effects and Fruits of this union of Christian Hearts 245 3. The union of the saints on earth with those in heaven 247 Chap. VIII. A RECAPITULATION and SUM of the whole treatise 24$ CONTENTS. XI Page V. THE CHRISTIAN : laid forth in his whole disposition and CARRIAGE. An Exhortatory Preface to the Christian Reader 253 Sect. 1. His Disposition 255 2. His Expends of the Day 257 3. His Recreations 258 4. His Meals 259 5. His Night's Rest 260 6. His Carriage 261 7. His Resolution in Matter of Religion 263 8. His Discourse ib. 9. His Devotion 264 10. His Bufferings 265 11. His Conflicts ib. 12. His Death 266 VI. SATAN'S FIERY DARTS QUENCHED : or, TEMPTATIONS REPELLED. In three decades. For the help, comfort, AND PRESERVATION OF WEAK CHRISTIANS, IN THESE DANGEROUS TIMES OF ERROR AND SEDUCTION. Address to the Christian Reader 271 First Decade. Temptations of Impiety 272 Second Decade. Temptations of Discouragement 299 Third Decade. Temptations of Allurement 322 VII. PAX TERRIS. Suasobe et Nuntio Josepho Hallo, Ecclesi* Norvicensis Servo 349 VIII. Resolutions and decisions of divers practical CASES OF CONSCIENCE, in continual use amongst men. In four decades. Address to the Reader 373 First Decade. Cases of Profit and Traffic. Case 1. Whether is it lawful for me, to raise any profit by the loan of money ? , 374 2. Whether I may not sell my wares as dear as I can, and get what I may of every buyer ? 377 3. Whether is the seller bound to make known to the buyer the faults of that which he is about to sell ? '. 379 4. Whether may I sell my commodities the dearer, for giving days of payment ? 381 5. Whether, and how far, monopolies are, or may be lawful 352 6. Whether, and how far, doth a fraudulent bargain bind me to performance ? 385 7. How far, and when, am I bound to make restitution of another man's goods remaining in my hand? 387 8. Whether, and how far, doth a promise, extorted by fear, though seconded by an oath, bind my con- science to performance? , , ,, 389 CONTENTS. Case 9. Whether those monies or goods, which I have found, may be safely taken and kept by me to my own use.. 39! 10. Whether I may lawfully buy those goods, which I shall strongly suspect or know to be stolen or plundered ; or, if I have ignorantly bought such goods, whether I may lawfully, after knowledge of their owner, keep them as mine 393 Second Decade. Cases of Life and Liberty. Case 1. Whether, and in what cases, it may be lawful for a man to takeaway the life of another 395 2. Whether may I lawfully make use of a duel, for the de- ciding of my right, or the vindication of mine ho- nour ? 398 3. Whether may it be lawful, in case of extremity, to pro- cure the abortion of the child, for the preservation of the mother ? 400 4. Whether a man, adjudged to perpetual imprisonment or death, may, in conscience, endeavour and practise an escape 403 5. Whether, and how far, a man may be urged to an oath.. 405 6. Whether a judge may, upon allegations, proofs, aDd evidences of others, condemn a man to death, whom he himself certainly knows to be innocent 408 7. Whether, and in what cases, am I bound to be an accu- ser of another? 411 8. Whether a prisoner, indicted of a felonious act which he hath committed, and interrogated by the judge concerning the same, may stand upon the denial, and plead, "Not guilty." 413 9. Whether, and how far, a man may take up arms, in the public quarrel of a war 415 10. Whether, and how far, a man may act towards his own death 417 Third Decade. Cases of Piety and Religion. Case 1. Whether, upon the appearance of Evil Spirits, we may hold discourse with them ; and how we may demean ourselves concerning them 421 2. How far a secret pact with Evil Spirits doth extend ; and what actions and events must be referred there- unto 425 3 Whether, reserving my conscience to myself, I may be present at an idolatrous devotion ; or, whether, in the lawful service of God, I may communicate with wicked persons 427 4. Whether vows be not out of season, now, under the Gospel : of what things they may be made : how far they oblige us-, and, whether, and how far, they may be capable of a release 430 5. Whom may we justly hold a heretic ? and what is to be done in case of heresy? 432 6. Whether the laws of men do bind the conscience ; and how far we are tied to their obedience 435 CONTENTS. xiii Page Case 7. Whether tithes be a lawful maintenance for Ministers under the Gospel ; and whether men be bound to pay them accordingly 438 8. Whether it be lawful for Christians, w here they find a country possessed by savage Pagans and Infidels, to drive out the native inhabitants ; and to seize and en- joy their lands, upon any pretence ; and, upon what grounds, it may be lawful so to do 441 9. Whether I need, in case of some foul sin, committed by me, to have recourse to God's Minister for absolution; and what effect I may expect therefrom 446 10. Whether it be lawful, for a man that is not a professed divine, that is, as we for distinction are wont to call him, for a laic person to take upon him to interpret the Scripture 450 Fourth Decade. Cases Matrimonial. Case 1. Whether the marriage of a son or daughter, without or against the parent's consent, may be accounted lawful 457 2. Whether marriage, lawfully made, may admit of any cause of divorce, save only for the violation of the marriage-bed, by fornication or adultery 460 3. Whether, after a lawful divorce for adultery, the inno- cent party may marry again 464 4. Whether the authority of the father may reach so far, as to command or compel the child, to dispose of himself in marriage where he shall appoint 468 5. Whether the marriage of cousins-german, that is, of brother's or sister's children, be lawful 470 6. Whether is it necessary or requisite there should be a witnessed contract, or espousals of the parties to be married, before the solemnization of the marriage?... 474 7. Whether there ought to be a prohibition and forbear- ance of marriages and marriage duties, for some times appointed 477 8. Whether it be necessary, that marriages should be cele- brated by a Minister ; and whether they may be va- lid and lawful without him 479 9. Whether there be any necessity or use of thrice pub- lishing the contract of marriage in the congregation, before the celebration of it ; and whether it be fit, that any dispensation should be granted for the for- bearance of it, 480 10. Whether marriages, once made, may be annulled and utterly voided ; and, in what cases this may be done.. 482 Additionals to the Fourth Decade: Case 1. Whether a marriage, consummate betwixt the uncle and niece, be so utterly unlawful, as to merit a sen- tence of present separation 485 2. Whether it be lawful, for a man to marry his wife's brother's widow 491 XIV CONTENTS. Case 3. Whether an incestuous marriage, contracted in simpli- ^ city of heart, betwixt two persons ignorant of such a defilement ; and so far consummate, as that children are born in that wedlock ; ought to be made known and prosecuted to a dissolution 493 An Advertisement to the Reader 497 IX. The HOLY ORDER: or, fraternity op the mourners in sion. Humbly and earnestly tendered to all God's faithful ones.. 499 X. SONGS IN THE NIGHT: or, Cheerfulness under affliction... 509 REMEDY OF DISCONTENTMENT: OR, A TREATISE OF CONTENTATION IN WHATSOEVER CONDITION: FIT FOR THESE SAD AND TROUBLED TIMES. BY JOSEPH, BISHOP OF NORWICH. I HAVE perused this Treatise, entitled " The Remedy of Discon- tentment ; " and, judging it to be aery pious, profitable, and necessary for these Sad and Distracted Times, I License it to be printed and published, and should much commend it to the Christian Reader, if the very name of the Author were not in itself sufficient, without any further testimony. JOHN DOWNAMK THE CHRISTIAN READER, GRACE AND PEACE. What can be more seasonable, than, when all the world is sick of Discontentment, to give Counsels and Becipes of Contentation ? Perhaps the patient will think it a time ill chosen for physic, in the midst of a fit : but, in this case, we must do as we may. I confess, I would rather have staid till the paroxysm were happily over ; that so, the humours being somewhat settled, I might hope for the more kindly operation of this wholesome medicine. But, partly, my age and weakness, despairing to outlive the public distemper ; and, partly, my judgment, crossing the vulgar opinion for the season of some kind of Becipes ; have now put me upon this safe and useful prescription. God is my witness, that I wrote this in the depth of mine own afflic- tions ; the particulars whereof, it were unseasonable to trouble the world withal : as one, that meant to make myself my own patient, by enjoining myself that course of remedies, that I prescribe to o'hers ; and as one, who, by the powerful working of God's Spirit within me, labour to find my heart framed to those holy dispositions, which I wish and recommend to every Christian soul. If there be no remedy, but the worst of outward troubles must afflict us ; it shall be happy yet, if we may find inward peace in our bosoms : which shall be. if we can reconcile ourselves to our offended God ; and calm our spirits to a meek undergoing of those sufferings, which the. Divine Providence hath thought fit to measure forth unto us. This is the main drift of this ensuing labour. Now the same God, who hath, in these blustering limes, put into my heart these quiet thoughts of Holy Contentation, bless them in every hand, that shall receive them ; and make them effectual to the good of every soul, that shall now and hereafter entertain them ! that so their gracious proficiency may, in the day of the appearance of our Lord Jesus, add to the joy of my account ; who am the unworthiest of the servants of God and his Church, J. jV. THE METHOD* OF THIS TREATISE. r I. WHAT IT IS, to know how i and (o be abased. [1 ] Of the V a lion Thing* H. HOW TO BE ATTAIN- ED: wherein^ I. Consi- derations which re- spect (l.)TheDi versit'es of J r_4, life; as HOW TO ABOUND. .iii.ubU |, C(a.) The Transito- J rinessofLife, &c. of Ea.thly< V™<"ly>"S 1 Condition of them. I (c.) Danger of over- ly esteeming mem. [2.] Of Div'me Providence over-ruling ail Events. [3.] Of the Worse Condition of others. (a.)Expose to Envy, (b.) Macerate with. Cares. Of thelncon- (<=•) Danger of Dis- temper, both bo- dily andspiritual. (d.) Torment in parting, (e.) Account to be rendered. f(a.) Freedom from I Cares. [5.] Of the Benefits j (b.) Freedom from of Poverty. 1 Fears of Keeping. 1 (c ) Freedom from I Fears of losing, [b.] Of how little will suffice Nature. [".] Of the Miseries of Discontentment, j [S.] Of the Vicissitudes of Favours aoi Crosses. . [9.] Examples of Conrentation, both with- in out and within the Church of God. (a.) Necessity and Benefit of Death, (b.) Conscience of a well-led Life, (c.) Final Peace [1.] Remedies /.T*Kg* . gains, the Ter-j(d-) Effi,cacy of. Death. ■ Ch"*'s Death applied. ,) Comfortable Expectation 0/ certain Resurrer- ', lion and immedi- L ate Vision of God. f (a.) Defilement of Sin Original, (b.) Proiieuess to Sin. (c.) Difficulty of do- ing well, (d.) Dulness of Una demanding, (e.) Perpetual Con- flicts, (f.) Solicitude of Cares, (g.) Multiplicity of Passions. ] (h.) Retardation of I Glory. (1). Humility. 2. Dispositions.^'.) Self-Res ^nation. (3.) True IwurdRkhes. (1.) Thit our Present Condition is best for sr. (-2.) To abate or our Desires. (3.) To diircsl smaller Inconveniencies. (4.) To be Frcq'ient and Fervent in Prayer. yirranjed somewhat dinirentlv from that printed in the/orrocr editions, to render it more (2.) De,,th it- sell': where- in are to be ( onsidered [2 ] Miseiies and Inconveniencies of the continued Conjunction of Soul and Body. 5 THE REMEDY OF DISCONTENTMENT. INTRODUCTION. The Excellency of Contentation ; and haw it is to be had. — The Con- trariety of Estates, w/u-rein Contentation is to be exercised. If there be any happiness to l>e found upon earth, it is in that, which we call Contentation. This is a flower, that grows not in every garden. The great Doctor of the Gentiles tells us, that he had it. / have learned, saith he, in what estate soever I am, there- with to be content : J know how to be abased, and I know how to abound*. Lo, he could not have taken out this lesson, if he had not learnt it : and he could not have learnt it of any other, than his Master in Heaven. What face soever philosophy may set upon it, all morality cannot reach it ; neither could his learned Gamaliel, at whose feet he sat, have put this skill into him.: no, he learnt it since he was a Christian, and now professeth it. So as it appears, there is a Divine Art of Contentation to be attained in the School of Christ : which whosoever hath learnt, hath taken a degree in heaven ; and now knows, how to be happy, both in want and abun- dance. The nature of man is extremely querulous. We know not what we would have ; and, when we have it, wc know not how to like it. We would be happy: yet we would not die. We would live long: yet we would not be old. We would be kept in order: yet we would not be chastized u ith affliction. We are loth to work. : yet are weary of doing nothing. We have no list to stir : yet find long- sitting painful t- We have no mind to leave our bed : yet find it a kind of sickness to lie long. We would marry ; but would not be troubled with household cares : when once we are married, we wish we had kept single. If, therefore, grace have so mastered nature in us, as to render us content with whatever condition, we have at- tained to no small measure of perfection. Which way soever the wind blows, the skilful mariner knows how to turn his sails to meet it. The contrariety of estates to which we lie open here, gives us * Phil. iv. 11. tjuaSov: Verse 12. pin pat. _ t Si sedeas, requies est magna laboris ; si multum sedcas, labor est. Tert. Carm. 6 PRACTICAL WORKS. different occasions for the exercise of Contentation. I cannot blame their choice, who desire a middle estate, betwixt want and abun- dance ; and to be free from those inconveniences, which attend both extremes. Wise Solomon was of this diet : Give me neither poverty nor riches ; feed me with the food of my meet allowance ; Prov. xxx. 8. Lo, he, that had all, desired rather to have but enough. And, if any estate can afford contentment in this life, surely this is it, in the judgment and experience of the wisest heathen *. But, forasmuch as this equal poise is hardly attainable by any man, and is more proper for our wishes and speculation than for our hopes, true wisdom must teach us so to compose ourselves, that we may be fit to entertain the discontentments and dangers of those excesses and defects, which we cannot but meet with in the course of our mortal life : and, surely, we shall find, that both extremes are ene- mies to this good temper of the soul: prosperity may discompose us, as well as an adverse condition : the sunshine may be as trou- blesome to the traveller, as the wind or rain. Neither know I whe- ther is more hard to manage, of the two ; a dejected estate, or a prosperous ; whether we may be more incommodated with a resty horse, or with a tired one. PART THE FIRST. CONTENTATION, IN KNOWING HOW TO WANT. Let us begin with that, which nature is w ont to think most diffi- cult: that, contrary to the practice of learners, we may try to take out the hardest lesson first. Let us therefore lean), in the first place, HOW TO WANT. CHAP. I. WHAT IT IS TO KNOW HOW TO WANT, AND TO BE ABASED. SECT. 1. How many do not know how to want. Coui.D we teach men how not to want, we should have disciples enow. Every man seeks to have, and hates to lack. Could we give an an- tidote against poverty, it would be too precious. And why can we not teach men even this lesson too ? The Lord is my shepherd, saith David ; therefore can I lack nothing ; Ps. xsiii. 1 : and most sweetly, elsewhere; Oh, fear the Lord } ye that be his saints; for they, that fear him, lack nothing. The lions do lack and suffer hun- * Senec. de Tranquil. OF CONTENTATION. 7 ger ; but they, which seek the Lord, shall want no manner of thing that is good ; Ps. xxxiv. 9, 10. Let God be true, and every man a liar. Certainly, if we were not wanting to God, in our fear of him, in our faithful reliance upon him, in our conscionable sc. ' .g of him, he, whose the earth is and the fulness of it, would not sutler our careful endeavours to go weeping away. But, if it so fall out, that his most wise Providence finds it better for us to be held short in our worldly estate ; as it may be the great Physician sees it most for our health to be kept fasting: it is no less worth our learning, to know how to want. For, there is many a one, that wants; but knows not how to want, and therefore his need makes him both of- fensive and miserable. There are those, that are poor and proud ; one of the Wise Man's three abominations ; Ecclus. xxv. 2 : foolish Laodiceans, that bear themselves for rich, increased with goods, and lacking nothing ; when they are no other than wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; Rev. iii. 17. These men know not how to want : their heart is too big for their purse : and, surely, pride, though every where odious ; yet doth no where so ill, as in rags. There are those, that are poor and envious ; looking with an evil eye upon the better fare of others : as, surely, this vice dwells more commonly in cottages, than in palaces, flow displeasedly doth the beggar look upon the larger alms of his neighbour : grudging to another whatever falls beside himself; and misliking his own dole, because the next hath more! whose eye, with the discon- tented labourers, is evil, because his master's is good; Matt. x\\ 15. neither do these men know how to want. There are those, that want distrustfully ; measuring the merciful provision of the Almighty, by the line of their own .sense: as the Samaritan peer, when, in the extremity of a present famine, he heard the Prophet fpretel a sudden plenty ; Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be ? 2 Kmgs vii. 2. There are those, that want impatiently ; repining at God's deal- ing with them, and making their own impotent anger guilty of a further addition to their misery : as the distressed king of Israel, in a desperate sense of that grievous dearth ; Behold, this evil is of the Lord; what should I wait on the Lord any longer f 2 Kings vi. 3'i. and those wretched ones, who, when the i'ouith angel hud poured out his phial upon the sun, being scorched with the extremity of the heat, blasphemed the God of Heaven; Rev. xvi. 9, 11. In this kind, was that sinful techiness of Jonah. When I see a poor worm, that hath put itself out of the cool cell of the earth, wherein it was lodged ; and now, being beaten upon by the sun-beams, lies wrig- gling upon the bare path, turning itself every way in vain, and not finding so much as the shade of a leaf to cover it ; I cannot but think of that fretting prophet, when, wanting the'protection of his gourd, he found himself scalded with that strong reflection J looking ii|> wrathfdly towards that sun, from w 10m he smarted, could say to the God that made it, I do well to be angry, tven to the death ; Jo- nah iv. 9. 8 Practical works. Lastly, there are those, that are poor and dishonest, even out of the very suggestion of their want. It was the danger hereof, that made Agur, the son of Jakeh, pray against penury ; Lest I be poor, and steal; and, by forswearing it, take the navte of Gcd in vain ; Prov. xxx. 9. SECT. 2. Who they are, that know how to want. These, and perhaps others, do and must want ; but, in the mean time, they do that, w hich they know not how to do : There is a skill in wanting, which they have not. THOSE ONLY KNOW HOW TO WANT, that have learnt to frame their mind to their estate ; like to a skilful musician, that can let down his strings a peg lower, when the tune requires it ; or like to some cunning spagirick, that can intend or /emit the heat of his furnace, according to occasion : those, who, when they must be abased, can stoop submissly ; like to a gentle reed, which, when the wind blows stiif, yields every way : those, that in an hum- ble obeisance, can lay themselves low at the foot of the Almighty, and put their mouth in the dust ; that can patiently put their necks under the yoke of the Highest, and can say, with the Prophet, Truly, this is my sorrow, and I must bear it ; Jer. x. 19: those, that can smile upon their afflictions ; rejoicing in tribulation ; sing- ing in the jail, with Paul and Silas, at midnight : lastly, those, that can improve misery to an advantage ; being the richer for their want ; bettered, with evils ; strengthened, with infirmities ; and can truly say to the Almighty, / know that of very faithfulness thou hast afflicted me : never could they have come out so pure metal, if they had not passed under the hand of the refiner ; never had they proved so toward children, if they had not been beholden to the rod. These are they, that know how to want, and to be abased ; and have erlectually learned to be content witli the meanest condition. CHAP. II. HOW TO BE ATTAINED. To which happy temper THAT WE MAY ATTAIN, there will be use of, 1. Certain Considerations : 2. Certain disposi- tions : ai.d 3. Certain resolutions These three shall be as the Grounds and Rules of this our Divine Art of Contentation. OF CONTENTATION. 9 SECT. l. Considerations/or Contentment : which respect, (I.) The DIVERSITIES OF LIFE; as [1.] Of the Valuation of Earthly f/iings; viz. (a.) The Transitorincss of Life, Honour, Beauty, Strength, and Pleasure ; (b.) Unsatisfying Condition of them , (c.) Danger of over-esteeming them : — [•_>.] Of Divine Providence over-ruling all Events : — [3.] Of the Worse Condition of Others : [4.] Of the Inconveniences of Great Estates ; viz. (a.) Expose to Envy; (b.) Macerate with Cares; (c.) Danger of Distemper, both bodily and spiritual ; (cl.) Torment in Parting ; (e.) Account to be rendered : — [5.] Of the Benefits of Poverty ; viz. (a.) Free- dom from Cares; (b.) Freedom from Fears of Keeping ; (c.) Freedom from Fears of Losing : — [6.] Of how little will suffice Nature: — [1.] Of the Miseries of Discontentment : — [8.] Of the Vicissitudes of Favours and Crosses : — [9.] Examples of Conienta- tion, both within and without the Church of God. (2.) Death itself: wherein are to be considered, [l.J Remedies against the Terrors of Death ; viz. (a.) Necessity and Benefit of Death; (b.) Conscience of a well-led Life ; (c.) Final Peace with God; (d.) Efficacy of Christ's Death applied; (c.) Comfortable Expectation of certain Besurrection, and immediate Vision of God: — [2.] Miseries and Inconveniences of the continued Conjunction of Soul and Body; viz. (a.) Defilement of Sin Original; (b.) Proneness to Sin ; (c.) Difficulty' of doing well ; (d.) Dulness of Understanding ; (e.) Perpetual Conflicts ; (f.) Solicitude of Cares , (g.) Multiplicity of Passions ; (h.) Betardation of Glory. These considerations respect, either the Diversities of Life ; or, Death itself. (I.) Those which respect the Diversities of Lfc, are such as follow : — [1.] The First Consideration shall be, of the Just Valuation of all these Earthly Things : which, doubtless, is such, as that the wise Christian cannot but set a low price upon them ; in respect, first, of their Transitoriness ; secondly, of their Insufficiency of Satisfac- tion ; thirdly, the Danger of their Fruition. (a.) At the best, they are but Glassy Stuff; which, the finer it is, is so much more brittle : yea, what other, than those gay bubbles, which children are wont to raise from the mixed soap and spittle of their walnut-shell ; which seem to represent pleasing- colours, but, in their flying up, instantly vanish ? There is, no re- medy : either they must leave us, or we must leave them. Well may we say that of the Psalmist, which Campian was re- ported to have often in his mouth ; My soul is continually in my hands: and who knows, whether it will not expire, in our next breathing ? How many have shut their eyes in a healthful sleep, 10 PRACTICAL WOHKS. who have naked in another world ! we give too large scope to our account, while we reckon seven years for a Life: a shorter time ■vcill serve ; while we hnd the revolution of less than half those years, to have dispatched five Caesars and five Popes *. Nay, who can assure himself of the next moment ? It is our great weakness, if we do not look upon every day as our last. Why should we think ourselves in a better condition, than the Chosen Vessel, who deeply protested to die daily? 1 Cor. xv. 31. W hat a poor com- plaint was tliat of the great conqueror of the Jews, Titus Vespa- sian ; who, putting his head out of his sick Inter, querulously ac- cused heaven, that he must die, and had not deserved it ! when he might have found it guilt enough, that he was a man; and, therefore, by the very sentence of nature condemned, 1 know not whether io live or die. Indeed, what can we cast our eyes up- on, that doth not put us in mind of our frailty ? All our feliow- creatures die for us, and by us. The day dies into night. '1 he trees, and ail other plants of the earth, suli'er a kind of autumnal mortality. The face of that common mother of us all, doth, at the lea>t, in winter, resemble death. But, if the Angel of Death, as the Jews term him, shall respite and reprieve us for the time; alas, how easily may we have over-lived our comforts ! If death do not snatch us away from them, how many thousand means of casual- ties, of enemies, may snatch them away from us ! He, that was the greatest man of all the sons of the East, within a few days became a spectacle and proverb of penary ; which still sticks by him, and so shall do to the w orld's end ; " As poor as Job." The rich plain of Jordan, which, over-night, was as the garden of the Lord, is, in the morning, covered over with brimstone, and salt, and burning ; Gen. xv. 10. Dent. xxix. 23. Wilt thou cause thine eyes to fly upon that n Inch is not ? saith w ise Solomon ! Prov. xxiii. 5. for riches cer- tainly male themselves vines : they fly away as an eagle towards hea- ven ': if we have w ings of desire to fly after them, they are nimbler of flight to outstrip us ; and leave us no less miserable in their loss, than we were eager in their pursuit. /As for Honour, what a mere shadow it is! Upon the least cloud interposed, it is gone ; and leaves no mention where it was. The same sun sees Hainan adored in the Persian Court, like some earthly deity ; and, like some base vermin, waving upon his gib- bet. Do we see the great, and glorious Cleopatra, shining in the pompous majesty of Pgypt r stay but a while, and ye shall see her in the dust : and her two children, whom she proudly styled the .Sun and the Moon, driven, like miserable captives, before the cha- riot of their conqueror. Man, being in honour, abideth not, saith the Psalmist, Ps. xlix. 12. He perisheth : but his greatness, as more frail than he, is oftentimes dead and buried before him ; and leaves him the surviving executor of his ow n shame. It w as easy for the captive prince, to observe in the chariot-wheel of his victor, that, * Gaiba, Otho, Vitellius, .El. Pcrtinax, Didius — Anno D. 1275, \:~6. Gre- go-« X. Innocent V. Hadrian V. j jlm XX. vd XXI. Xitulaus HI. OF CONTENT ATION. 1 1 ■when one spoke rose up, another went down ; and both these in so quick a motion, that it was scarce distinguished by the eye. Well, therefore, may we say of honour, as Ludovicus Vives said of Scho- lastical Divinity ; Cuifumns est profundamento *. It is built upon smoke : bow can it be kept from vanishing ? As for Beauty, what is it, but a dash of nature's tincture laid up- on the skin, which is soon washed off with a little sickness ? what, but a fair blossom, that drops off so soon as the fruit offers to suc- ceed it ? what, but a flower, which, with one hot sun-gleam, wel- teretli and falls ? He, that had the choice of a thousand faces, could say, Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vanity ; Prov. xxxi. 30. Lastly, for Strength and Vigour of Body, if it could be maintain- ed till our old age, alas, how soon is that upon us, ere we be aware t How doth it then shrivel our flesh, and loosen our sinews, and crip- ple our joints ! Milo, when he looked upon his late brawny arms, and saw them now grown lank and writhled, lets fall tears; and be- wrays more weakness of mind, than he had before bodily strength. But how often doth sickness prevent the debilitations of age; pull- ing the> strongest man upon his knees ; and making him confess, that youth, as well as childhood, is vanity ! Eccl. xi. 10. As for Pleasure, it dies in the birth ; and is not therefore worthy to come into this Bill of Mortality. Do we then, upon sad consideration, see and feel the manifest Transitoriness of Life, Riches, Honour, Beauty, Strength, Plea- sure, and whatever else can be dear and precious to us in this world; and can we dote upon them so, as to be too much dejected with our parting from them ? Our Saviour bids us consider the lilies of the Held ; Matt. vi. 28 : and he, that made both, tells us, that So- lomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Surely, full well are they worth our considering. But, if those beauties could be as permanent, as they are glorious, how would they carry away our hearts with them! now, their fading condition justly abates of their value. Would we not smile at the weakness of that man, that should weep and howl, for the falling of this tulip, or that rose ; abandoning all comfort for the loss of that, which he knows must flourish but his month? It is 'for children, to cry for the falling of their house of cards ; or the miscarriage of that painted gewgaw, which the next shower would have defaced : wise Christians know how to apprize good things according to their continuance ; and can therefore set their hearts only upon the invisible comforts of a better life, as knowing that the things, which are not seen, are eter- lUll. (b.) But, were these earthly things exempted from that fickle- ness, which the God of Nature hath condemned them unto ; were they, the very memory whereof perisheth with their satiety, as last- ing, as they are brittle : yet, what comfort could they yield for the soul to rest in ? Alas, their Eihcacy is too Short, to reach unto a True Contentation ! Yea, if the best of them were perpetuated un- * Ludo. Vires in 3 de Civit. censur.'i notatus Vallosillo. PRACTICAL WORKS, to us, upon the fairest conditions that this earth can allow, how in- tolerably tedious M ould it prove in the fruition ! Say, that God were pleased to protract my life to the length of the age of the first founders of nianl.nid ; and should, in tins state of body, add bun drecls of years to the days of my pilgrimage: woe is me, liow weary should I he of myself, and of the world ! I, that now complain of the load of seventy-one years, how should I be tired out, ere I could arrive at the age of Parr ! hut, before I could climb up to the third century of Johannes de Temporibus, how often should 1 call for death ; not to take up, but to take off my burden, and, with it myself! But, if any or all these earthly blessings could be freed from those grievances, wherewith tbey are commonly tempered ; yet, how little satisfaction could the soul find in them ! What are these' outward things, but very luggage, which may load our backs, but cannot lighten our hearts ? Great aud wise Solomon, that had the full command of them all, cries out Vanity of vanities : and a greater monarch than he, shuts up the scene with, " I have been all things and am never the better." All these are of too narrow an extent, to fill the capacious soul of man ; the desires whereof are enlarged with enjoying : so as, the more it hath, the less it is satisfied. Nei- ther, indeed, can it be otherwise : the eye and the ear are but the purveyors for the heart; if, therefore, the eye be not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing, (Eccl. i. s") how shall the heart say, It is .enough ? Now, who would suffer himself to be too much disquieted with the loss of that, which may' vex him, but cannot content him ? We do justly smile at the folly of that vain lord, of whom Petrarch speaks ; who, when a horse, which he dearly loved, was sick, laid that steed of his on a silken bed, with a wrought pillow under his head ; and caused himself, then afflicted with the gout, to be car- ried on his servants' shoulders to visit that dear patient ; and, upon his decease, mourned solemnly for him, as if it had been his son. We have laughed at the fashion of the girls of Holland, who, hav- ing made to themselves gay and large babies, and laid them in a curious cradle, feign them to sicken and die, and celebrate their fu- neral with much passion. So fond are we, if, having framed to ourselves imaginary contentments here in the world, we give way to immoderate grief in their miscarriage. (c.) Neither are these earthly comforts more defective, in yield- ing full satisfaction to the soul, than Dangerous, in their Over-Dear Fruition : for too much delight in them, robs us of more solid con- tentments. The world is a cheating gamester; suffering us to win at the first, that at last he may go away with all. Our very table may be made our snare ; and those things, which should have been for our wealth, may be unto us an occasion of falling ; Ps. lxix. 22. Leo, the fourth emperor of Constantinople, delighted extremely in precious stones : with these he embellishes his crown, which, be- ing worn close to his temples, strikes such a cold into his head, that causeth his bane. Yea, how many, with the too much love of OF CONTENTATION. 13 these outward things, have lost, not their lives only, hut their souls! No man can he at once the favourite of God and the world; as that Father said truly : or, as our Saviour, in fuller terms, No man can sene tivo masters, God and Mammon. Shortly, the world may he a dangerous enemy : a sure friend, it cannot he. It; therefore, we shall, like wise men, value things at their due prices, since we are convinced in ourselves, that ail these earthly comforts are so Transitory in their Nature, so Unsatisfying in their Use, and so Dangerous in their Enjoying, how little reason have we, to he too much atf'ected with foregoing them ! Our blood is- dear to us, as that, wherein our life is ; yet, if we find that it is ei- ther infected or distempered, we do willingly part with it, in hope of better health : how much more, with those' tilings, which are farther from us, and less concerning us ! [2. ] The Second Consideration is, of that Jll-zvise Providence rchu:k ordereth all events, both in heaven and earth ; allotting to cvery creature his due proportion ; so over-ruling all things to the best, that we could not want, if he knew it better for us to abound. This station he hath set us in, this measure he hath shared out to us, whose will is the rule of good : what we.have therefore, cannot but be best for us. The world is a large chess-hoard : every man hath his place as- signed him: .one is a King; another, a Knight; another, a Pawn; and each hath his several motion : without this variety, there could be no game played. A skilful player will not stir one of those chips, but with intention of an advantage : neither should any of his men either stand or move, if, in any other part of that chequer, it might be in more hope to win. There is no estate in this world, which can be universally good for all. One man's meat may be another man's medicine, and a third man's poison. A Turk finds health and temper in that opium, which would put one of us into our last sleep. Should the plough- man be set to the gentleman's fare, this chicken, that partridge or pheasant, would, as over-slight food, be too soon turned over; and leave his empty stomach, to quarrel for stronger provision : beef is for his diet; and, if any sauce needs besides his hunger, garlic. Every man halh, as a body, so a mind of ins own : what one loves is abhorred of another. The great Housekeeper of the World knows how to fit every pa- late with that, which either is or should be agreeable to it, for sa- lubrity, if not. for pleasure. Lay before a child, a knife and a rod, and bid him take his choice, his hand will be straight upon that edge- tool, especially if it be a little gilded and glittering ; but the parent knows the rod to be more safe for him, and more beneficial. We are ill-carvers for ourselves : he, that made us, knows what is fit for us ; either for time, or measure : without Ins Prov idence, not a hair can fall from our heads. We would have bodily health : I cannot blame us : what is the world to us, without it f he, whose we are, knows sickness to be for the health of the soul: whether should we. in true judgment. 14 PRACTICAL WORKS. desire ? We wish to live : who can blame us ? life is sweet : but, ff our Maker have ordained, that nothing but death can render us glo- rious, what madness is it to stick at the condition ! Oh, our gross infidelity, if we do not believe that great Arbiter of the World, i [finitely wise to know what is best for us, infinitely merciful to will what he I no^ best, infinitely powerful to do what he will ' And, if we be thus persuaded, how'can we, but. in matter of good, say, with Blessed Mary, Behold thy. servant : be it unto me according to >hy word ? and, 111 matter of evil, with good Eli, It is the Lard, let him do what he will ? E;.[3.] In the Third place, it will be requisite for us, to cast our eyes upon the Worse Condition of Others, perhaps better deserving than ourselves : for, if we shall whine and complain of that weif-hf, which others do run a*vay cheerfully withal, the fault will app°ear to be, not in the heaviness of the load, but in the weakness of the bearer. If I be discontented with a mean dwelling, another man lives merrily in a thatched cottage: if I dislike my plain fare, the four captive children feed fair and fat with pulse and water; Dan. i. 12, 13 : if I be plundered of my rich suits, I see a more cheerful heart under a russet coat, than great princes have under purple robes : if I do gently languish upon my sick bed, I see others patient under the torments of the cholic, or stone, or strangury : if I be clapped up within four walls, I hear Petronius profess, he would rather be in prison with Cato, than at liberty with Caesar; I hear Paul and Silas sing like nightingales in their cages: am I sad, because I am childless ? I hear many a parent wish himself so : am I banished from my home ? I meet with many, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in sheep-skins, in goat-skins, in deserts, and in -mountains, ai d in dens and caves of earth ; Heb. si. 38 : what am I, that I should speed better, than the miserablest of these patients ? what had they done, that they should fare worse than I ? If I have little, others have less : if I feel pain, some others torture : if their sufferings be just, my forbearances are merciful ; ray provisions', to theirs, liberal. It is no ill counsel therefore, and not a little conducing to a con- tented want, that great persons should sometimes step aside into the homely cottages of the poor; and see their mean stuff", coarse fare, hard lodgings, worthless utensils, miserable shifts; and to compare it w ith their own delicate and nauseating superfluities. Our great and learned king Alfred was the better, all his life after, for his hidden retiredness in a poor neat-herd's cabbin ; where he was sheltered, and sometimes also chidden, by that homely dame. Neither was it an ill wish of that wise man, That all great princes might first have some little taste, what it is to want ; that so their own experience might render them more sensible of the complaints of others. Man, though he be absolute in himself, and stand upon his own bottom ; yet is he not a little wrought upon by examples, and comparisons with others : for, in them, he sees what he is, or may OK CONTEXT ATION. tti be; since no events are so confined to some special subjects, as that they may not be incident to other men. Merits are a poor plea, for any man's exemption ; while our sin- ful infirmities lay us all open to the rod of divine justice : and, if these dispensations be merely out of favour, why do I rather grudge at a lesser misery, than bless God for my freedom from a greater judgment ? Those, therefore, that suffer more than I, have cause of more humbling ; and I, that suffer less than they, have cause of more thankfulness. Even mitigations of punishment are new mercies : so as others' torments do no other, than heighten my obligations. Let me not, therefore, repine, to be favourably miserable. [4.] The Fourth Consideration shall be, jof the Inconveniences, which do oftentimes attend a Fulness of Estate : such, and so many, as may well make us sit down content with a little. (a.) Whereof, let the first be Envy; a mischief, not to be avoided of the great. This shadow follows that body, inseparably. All the curs in the street are ready to fall upon that dog, that goes away with the bone; and every man hath a cudgel to fling at a well-loaded tree : whereas a mean condition is no eye-sore to any beholder. Lo.v shrubs are not wont to be struck with lightning; but tall oaks and cedars feel their flames. While David kept his father's sheep at home, he might sing sweetly to his harp in the fields, without any disturbance; but, when he once comes to the court, and finds applause and greatness creep upon him, now, emulation, despight, and malice, dog him close at the heels, where- soever he goes : let him leave the court, and flee into the wilder- ness; there, these blood-hounds follow him, in hot suit: let him ran into the land of the Philistines; there, they find him out, and chase him to Ziklag: and if, at the last, he hath climbed up to his just throne, and there hopes to breathe him after his tedious pur- suit; even there, he meets with more unquietness, than m his de- sert; and, notwithstanding all his royalty, at last cries out, Lord, remember David, and all his troubles ; Ps. exxxii. 1. How many have we known, whom their wealth hath betrayed, and made innoT cent malefactors! who might have slept securely, upon a hard bolster; and, in a poor estate, out-lived both their judges and accusers! Besides, on even ground, a fall may be harmless; but he, that falls from on high, cannot escape bruising. He, therefore that can think the benefits of eminence can countervail the dangers which haunt greatness, let him affect to overtop others : for me, let me rather be safely low, than high with peril. (b.) After others' envy, the next attendant upon greatness is our own Cares. How do these disquiet the beds, and sauce the tables, of the wealthy ! breaking their sleeps ; galling their sides ; embittering their pleasures ; shortening their days. How bitterly do we find the holiest men complaining of those distractions, which have attended their earthly promotions ! Nazianzen* cries out oi * G. Naz, Carm. deCalam. sub. 16 PRACTICAL WORKj. thein, as no other, than the bane of the soul: and that other Gregory, whom we are wont to call the last of the best Bishops of Rome and the first of the bad, passionately bewails this clog of his high preferment : " I confess," saith he, " that while I am out- wardly advanced, I am inwardly fallen lower. This burthensome honour depresses me; and innumerable cares disquiet me, on all sides: my mind, grown almost stupid with those temporal cares which are ever barking in mine ear=, is forced upon earthly things*." Thus he. There are indeed cares, which, as they may be used, may help us on towards heaven : such as Melancthon owns to his Camerarius : " My cares," saith he, " send me 10 my prayers, and my prayers dispel my cares t but those anxieties, which commonly wait upon greatness, distract the mind, and im- pair the body. It is a:i observation of the Jewish Doctors, that Joseph, the Patriarch, was of a shorter life, than the rest of his bretiiren ; and they render this reason of it, for that his cares were us much greater, as his place was higher. It was not an unfit comparison of himj, who resembled a coronet upon the temples, to a pail upon the head : we have seen those, who have carried full and heavy vessels on the top of their heads ; but then, they have walked evenly and ereci under that load : we never saw any, that could dance under such a weight : if either they bend or move vehemently, all their carriage is spiiled. Earthly greatness is a nice thing ; and requires so much churness in the manag.ng, as the contentment of it cannot leqmte. He is worthy of honey, i hat desires to lick it off from thorns. For my part, lam of the mind of him, who professed; not to care for those favours, that compelled him to lie waking. (c.) In the next place, I see greatness not more pale and worn with cares, than swollen up and sickly with Excess. Too much oil poured in, puts out the lamp. Superfluity is guilty of a world of diseases, which the spare diet of poverty is free from. How have we seen great men's eyes sur- feited at that full table, whereof their palate could not taste ; and they have risen, discontentedly glutted wi h the sight of that, which their stomach was incapable to receive: and when, not giv- ing so much law to nature, as to put over their gluttonous meal, their wanton appetite charging them with a new variety of curious morsels and lavish cups, they find themselves overtaken with fe- verous distempers; the physician must succeed the cook, and a second sickness must cure the first. But, alas, these bodily indispositions are nothing to those spiritual evils, which are incident into secular greatness. It is a true word of St. Ambrose^, seconded by common experience, that , a high pitch of honour is seldom held up without sin: and St. Jerome tells us ||, it was a common proverb in his time, That a rich man either is wicked, or a wicked man's heir : not, but that rich Abraham * Greg. 1. vii. Epist. 12. 7 5 Ambros. 1. iv. Epist. 29. + In vita Melanct. { Shichardus. 11 Hieron. Ep. ad HLedibium. OF CONTENT ATION. 17 may have a bosom for poor Lazarus to rest i;>; and many great kings have been great saints in heaven, and there is still room for many more : but that, commonly, great temptations follow great estates, and oftentimes overtake them : neither is it for nothing, that rielies are, by our Blessed Saviour, styled, The mammon of iniquity ; and wealth is, by the holy Apostle, branded with deceit- fumess, I Tim. vi. 9 : such as cheat many millions of their souls. (d.) Add unto these, if you please, the torment of Parting with that pelf and honour, which hath so grossly bewitched us : such as mav well verily that, which Lucius long since wrote* to die Bishops of Prance and Spain, That one hour's mischief makes us forget the pleasure of the greatest excess. I marvel not at our English Jew, of whom our story soeaks, thai, would rather part with, iiis teeth, than his bags : how many have we known, that have poured out their life together with their gold ; as men, that would not out-live their earthen god ! Yea, woe is me ! how many souls have been lost, in the sin of getting, and in the quarrel of losing this thkk day, as the Prophet terms it 1 (e.) But, lastly, that, which is yet the sorest of all the inconve- niences, is the sadness of the Reckoning, which must come in, after these plentiful entertainments : for there is none of all our cares here, but must be billed up : and great accompts must have long audits. How hard a thing it is, in this case, to have an Omnia (cque ! in the tailing whereof, how is the conscience a.l'ected ! I know not whether more tormented, or tormenting the miserable soul : so as the great owner is but, as witty Bromiard compares him, like a weary jade; which, all the day long, hath been labour- ing under the load of a great treasure, and, at night, lies down with a galled back. By that time, therefore, we have summed up all, and find here Envy, Cares, Sicknesses both of body and soul, Torment in Parting with, and more Torment in Reckoning for these earthly great- nesses ; we shall be convinced of sufficient reason, to be well apaid with their want. [5.] Let the Fifth Consideration be, the Benefit of Poverty : such, and so great, as are enough to make us in love with having nothing. (a.) For, first, what an advantage is it, to be free from those gnawing cares, which, like Tityus's vulture, feed upon the heart of the great! Here is a man, that sleeps, Ethiopian-like, with his doors open : no dangers threaten him : no fears break his rest : he starts not out of his bed, at midnight, and cries, "Thieves!" he feels no rack of ambitious thoughts: he frets not, at the disappoint- ment of his false hopes: he cracks not his brain, with hazardous plots: he misdoubts no undermining of emulous rivals; no traps of hollow friendship ; but lives securely in his homely cottage, quietly enjoying such provision, as nature and honest industry furnish him withal: for his drink, the neighbour-spring saves him the charge of his excise; and, when his better earnings have fraught i Ep. Lucii ad Episc. Gall, et Ilisp, IS PRACTICAL WORKS. his trencher with a mm and pleasing morsel, and his cup with a stronger liquor, how cheerfully is he affected with that happy va- riety, and, in the strength of it, digests many of his thinner meals! meals, usually sauced with a healthful hunger ; wherein no incocted crudities oppress nature, and cherish disease. Here are no gouts, no dropsies, no hypochondriac passions, no convulsive fits, no dis- tempers of surfeits : hut a clear and wholesome vigour of body ; and an easy putting over the light tasks of digestion, to the con- stant advantage of health. (b.) And, as for outward clangers, what a happy immunity doth commonly bless the poor man ! How can he fear to fall, that lies Hat upon the ground ? The great Pope, Boniface the Seventh, when he saw many stately buildings ruined with earthquakes, is glad to raise him a little cabin of boards, in the midst of a mea- dow ; and there finds it safest to shelter his triple crown. When great men hoist their top-sail, and launch forth into the deep, having that large clue, which they spread, exposed to all winds, and weathers; the poor man sails close by the shore: and, when he foresees a storm to threaten him, puts into the next creek; and wears out, in a quiet security, that tempest, wherein he see* prouder vessels miserably tost, and, at last, fatally wrecked. This man is free from the peril of spiteful machinations : no man whets his axe to cut down a shrub; it is the large timber of the world, that hath cause to fear hewing. Neither is he less free inwardly, from the galling strokes of a self-accusing conscience: here is no remurmuring of the heart, for guilty subornations; no checks, for the secret contrivances of public villainies ; no heart-breaking for the tailings of bloody designs, or late remorse for their success : but quiet and harmless thoughts, of seasonable frugality, of honest recreation, with an uninterrupted freedom of recourse to heaven. (c.) And if, at any time, by either hostile or casual means, he be bereft of his little, he smiles in the face of a thief; and is no whit astonished, to see his thatch on a flame, as knowing how easy a supply will repair his loss. And, when he shall come to his last close, his heart is not so glued to the world, that he should be loth to part : his soul is not tied up in bags ; but flies out freely, to her everlasting rest. Oh, the secret virtue and happiness of poverty ; which none but the right disposed mind knows how to value ! It was not for nothing, that so many great Saints have embraced it, rather than the rich proffers of" the world; that so many great Princes have exchanged their thrones for quiet cells. •Whoso cannot be thankful for a little, upon these conditions, I wish he may be punished with abundance. [6.] Neither will it a little avail to the furtherance of our Con- tentation, to consider Jlom Little will Suffice Nature ; and that all the rejt is but matter of opinion. It is the Apostle's charge, Having food and raiment, let us be ■therewith content; 1 Tim. vi. 8. Indeed, what use is there, of more, than what may nourish us within, and cover us without ? If that be wholesome and agreeable to our bodily disposition, whe- OF CONTENTATION. 19 ther it be fine or coarse, nature passes not : it is merely Will, that is guilty of this wanton and fastidious choice. It is fit, that civility should make difference of clothings; and that weakness of body, or eminence of estate, should make dif- ferences of diets : else, why not russet, as well as scarlet ? beef, as pheasant ? The grasshopper feeds on dew, the chameleon on air : what care they for other viands ? Our books* tell us, that those anchorites of old, that went aside into wildernesses, and sustained themselves with the most spare diet, such as those deserts could afford, outlived the date of other men's lives ; in whom nature is commonly stifled, with a gluttonous variety. How strong and vigorous, above their neighbour-Grecians, were the Lacedemonians held, of old ; who, by the ordinance of their lawgiver, held themselves to their black broth : which when Dionysius would needs taste of, his cook truly told him, that if he would relish that fare, he must exercise strongly, as they did, and wash in Urotas ! Who knows not, that our island doth not afford more able bodies, than they, that eat and drink oats ? And whom have we seen more healthful and active, than the children of poor men, trained up hardly in their cottages; with fare as little, as coarse ? Do I see a poor Indian, husbanding one tree to all his household uses; finding, in that one plant, timber, thatch, meat, medicine, wine, honey, oil, sauce, drink, utensils, ships, cables, sails? and do I rove over all the latitude of nature, for contentment ? Our ap- petite is truly unreasonable ; neither will know any bounds. We begin with necessaries, as Pliny f justly observes; and, from thence, we rise to excess ; punishing ourselves, with our own wild desires : whereas, if we were wise, we might find mediocrity an ease. Either extreme is alike deadly. He, that over-afflicts his body, kills a subject ; he, that pampers it, nourishes an enemy J. Too much abstinence turns vice : and too much ingurgitation is one of the seven ; and, at once, destroys both nature and grace. The best measure of having or desiring, is, not what we would, but what we ought § : neither is he rich, that hath much ; but he, that de- sireth not, much. A discreet frugality is fittest, to moderate both our wishes and expences : which if we want, we prove dangerously prodigal in both ; if we have, we do happily improve our stock, to the advantage of ourselves and others. [7.] The next inducement to Contentation, shall be the serious consideration of the miserable Inconveniences of the Contrary Dis- position. Discontentment is a mixture of anger and of grief ; both which are * Paufo, primo Eremitce-, in spdunca viventi, palma et cibum et vestimentum prcebebat : quod cum impossibile tideatur, Jemm testor et Angelos, vidisse me Monachoi, de quibus unus; per 30 artnos clausiu; hordeaceo pane et lululenla aqua vuit. Hieron. de Viu Pauli. Revelatur Antonio nonagenario, de Paulo agent j jam 1 13 annum, esse aliumse scinctiorem Monachum. Ibid. f Plin. 1. xxvi. c. 6. % Uu°o lastit. Monac. Reg. S. Colutnb. § Senes. Epist. 88, 20 PRACTICAL WuRKS. wont to raise up fearful tempests in the soul, lie teareth himself in his anger, saith Bildad, concerning that Mirror of Patience; Job xviii. 4. And, The sorrow of the world worketh death, saith the Chosen Vessel : so as the male-content, whether he be angry or sad, mischiefs himself both ways. There cannot be a truer- word, than that of wise Solomon, An- ger resteth in the bosom of fools ; Eccl. vii. 9. What can be more foolish, than for a man, because he thinks God hath made him miserable by crosses, to make himself more miserable by his own distempers ? If the clay had sense, what a mad thing were it, for it to struggle with the potter ! and if a man will spurn against strong iron pikes, what can he hope to carry away, but wounds I How witless a thing it is, for a man to torment himself, with the thoughts of those evils', that are past all remedy ! What wise be- holder would not have smiled with pity and scorn, to have seen great Augustus, after the defeat of some choice troops, to knock his head against the wall; and to hear him passionately cry out, " O Varus, restore me my lost legions !" Who would not have been angry w ith that choleric Prophet, to hear him so furiously contest with his Maker, for" a withered gourd ? What an affliction was it to good Jacob, more than the sterility of a beloved wife, to hear Rachel say, Gke me children, or else I die ! Gen. xxx. 1: yea, how ill did it sound in the mouth of the Father of the Faith- ful; Lord God, what wilt thou gke me, seeing I go childless ! Gen. xv. 2. Yet, thus fro ward and techy is nature, m the best. If we may not have all we would have, aii that we have is nothing : if we be not perfectly humoured, we are wilfully unthankful: all Israel is nothing worth to Ahab, if he may not have one poor vine- yard. How must this needs irritate a munificent God, to see his bounty contemned, out of a childish pettishness ! How can he forbear, to take away from us his slighted mercies ? How can he hold his hand, from plaguing so ungrateful disrespects of his favours ? As for that other passion of Grief, what woeful work doth it make in ungoverned minds ! How many have we known, that, out of thought for unrecoverable losses, have lost themselves ! how many have run from their wits ! how man}', from their lives! yea, how many, that, out of an impatience to stay the leisure of vengeance, have made their own hands their hasty executioners ! And, even where this extremity prevails not, look about, and ye shall see men, that are not able matches to their passions, woefully macerating themselves, with' their own thoughts ; wearing out their tedious days, upon the rack of their own hearts; and making good that observation of the Wise Man, By the sorrow of the heart, the spirit is broken ; Prov. xv. 13. Now all these mischiefs might have been happily prevented, by a meek yieldance of ourselves to the hands of an all-wise and an all-merciful God ; and, by an humble composure of our affections to a quiet suffering. It is in the power of patience, to calm the heart hi the most blustering trials ; and, when the vessel" is most OF CONTF.NTATION. 21 fossed, j-ct to secure the freight ; Ps. xxxvii. 7. James r. 7. This, if it do not abate of our burden, yet it acids to our strength; a .d wins the Father of Mercies, both to pity and retribution : whereas, murmuring Israelites can never be free from judgments; and it is a dreadful word, that God speak etb of that chosen nation, Wine heritage is unto me as a lion in the jhrcst : it, still, yel/eth against me; therefore have I hated it; Jer. xii. 8. A child, that st niggles under the rod, justly doubles his stripes ; and an unruly ma.efuctor draws on, besides death, tortures. [8.] Furthermore, it is a main help towards Contentation, to consider the Gracious Vicissitude* of God's Dealing with us: how he intermixes favours with his -crosses; tempering our much honey, with some little gall. The best of us are but shrewd children; yet, he chides us not always, saith the Psalmist; Ps. ciii. 9. He smiles often, for one frown ; and why should we not take one with an- other ? It was the answer, wherewith that admirable Pattern of Patience stopped the querulous mouth of his tempting wife ; What ! shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not re- ceive evil ? Job ii. 10. It was a memorable example, which came lately to my know- ledge, of a worthy Christian, who had lived to his middle age in much health and prosperity ; and was now, for his two last years, miserably afflicted with the strangury : who, in the midst of his torments, could say, " O my Lord God, how gracious hast thou heen unto me ! thou hast given me eight and forty years of health, and now but two years of pain. Thou mightest have caused me to lie in this torture, all the days of my life; and now, thou hast carried me comfortably through the rest, and hast mercifully taken up with this last parcel of my torment. Blessed be thy name for thy mercy, in forbearing me; and for thy justice, in afflicting me." To be thankful for present blessings, is but ordinary ; but, to be so thankful for mercies past, that the memory of them should be able to put over the sense of present miseries, is a htgii improve- ment of grace. The very heathens, by the light of nature and their own ex- perience, could observe this interchange of God's proceedings ; and made some kind of use of them, accordingly. Caniitlus a'. er he had, upon ten years' siege, taken the rich city Veios, prayed that some mishap might befal himself and Home, to tempo, so great a happiness * ; when one would have thought the price would not countervail the labour, and the loss of time and blood : and Alexander the Great, when report was made to him or u:auy notable victories atchieved by his armies, could say, " QJup ier, mix some misfortune with these happv news." Lo, these men could tell, that it is neither fit nor safe, for great blessings to walk alone; but, that they must be attended with their pages, afflictions : why should not we Christians expect them with patience and thanks ? * Livius. es FKACTICAL WORKS. They say, thunder and lightning hurts not, if it be mixed with rain. In those hot countries, which lie under the scalding zone, when the first showers fall after a long drought, it is held dangerous tc walk suddenly abroad ; tor that the earth, so moistened, sends up un- . holesome steams : but, in those parts, where the rain and sunshine are usually interchanged, it is most pieasant to take the air of tiie earth, newly refreshed with kindly showers. "Neither is it otherwise, in the course of our lives. This medley of good and evil conduces, not a little, to the health of our sou's : one of them must serve to temper the other ; and both of them to keep the heart in order. Were our afflictions long, and our comforts rare and short, we had yet reason to be thankful : the lease is more than God owes Us : but now, when ir heaviness endure for a mgkt, joy ccmeth in the morning, and dwells wuh us, so that some fits of sorrow are re- compensed with many months of joy ; how should our hearts over- flow with thankf ulness, and easily dige ,t small grievances, out of the comfortable sense of larger blessings ! Eut, if we shall cast up our eyes to heaven, and there behold the glorious remuneration of our sufferings, how shall we contemn the worst, that earth can do unto us ! There, there is glory enough, to make us a thousand times more than amends, for all that we are capable to endure. Yea, if this earth were hell, and men devils, they could not inflict upon us those torments, which might hold any equality with tne glory which shall be revealed ; and, even of the worst of them, we must say, with the blessed Apostle ; Our light affliction, Which is but for a moment, worfceth for us a far more exceeding, eternal weight of glory; 2 Cor. iv. 17. When the blessed proto-martyr Stephen had stedfastly fixed his eyes on hea- ven ; and, that curtain being drawn, had seen the heavens opened, and therein the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right- hand of God ; Acts vii. 56. do we think he cared ought, for the sparkling eyes, and gnashed teeth, and killing stones of the en- raged multitude ? O poor impotent Jews, how far was that divine soul above the reach of your malice ! how did he triumph over your cruelty ! how did he, by his happy evolation, make all those stones precious ! [9.] Lastly, it cannot but be a powerful motive unto Contenta- tion, that we lay before us the notable Examples of Men, shether worse 0) better than ourselves, that have been eminent in the prac- tice of this virtue : men, that, out of the mere strength of mo- rality, have run away with losses and poverty, as a light burden ; that, out of their free choice, have fallen upon those conditions, which we are ready to fear and shrink from. What a shame is it for Christians, to be outstripped herein by very Pagans ? If we look upon the ancient philosophers, their low valuation of these outward things, and their willing abdication of those com- forts wherewith others were too much affected, made them admired of the multitude. Here do I see a cynic housed in his tub, scorn- OF CONTESTATION. 23 ing all wealth and state ; and making still even, with his victuals and the day * : who, when he was invited to supper to one of Alex- ander's great lords, could say, " I would rather lick salt at Athens* than feast with Craterus." Here I meet with him, whom their oracle styled the wisest of men, walking bare-foot in a patched, thread-bare cloak ; contemning honours, and all earthly things : and, when that garment would hang no longer on his back, I can hear him say, " I would have bought a cloak, if I had had money:" " After which word," saith Seneca, " whosoever offered to give, came too late:" Apollodorus, amongst the rest, sends him a rich taa title, towards his end ; and is refused : with what patience, doth this man bear the loud scoldings of his Xantippe ; making no other of them, than the creaking of a cart-wheel ! with what brave re- solution, doth he repel the proffers of Archelaus ; telling him how cheap the market afforded meal at Athens, and the fountains water! Here I meet with a Zeno, formerly rich in his traffic for purple* now impoverished by an ill sea-voyage ; and can hear him say, " I sailed best, when I shipwrecked." Here I see an Aristippus, drown- ing his gold in the sea, that it might not drown him. Here I can hear a Deruocritus, or Cleanthes, when he was asked how a man should be rich, answer, " If he be poor in desires." What should I speak of those Indian Sophists, that took their name from their nakedness ; whom we hear to say f> " The sky is our house, and the earth our bed : we care not for gold: we contemn death?" One of them can tell Onesicritus, " As the mother is to the child, so is the earth to me : the mother gives milk to her infant ; so doth the earth yield all necessaries to me." And, when gold was odered to him, by that great conqueror, " Persuade," said he, " if thou canst, these birds, to take thy silver and gold, that they may sing the sweeter ; and, if thou canst not do that, wouldst thou have me worse than them ?" Adding, moreover, in a strong discourse, " natu- ral hunger, when we have taken food, ceaseth ; and, if the mind of man did also naturally desire gold, so soon as he hath received that which he wished, the desire and appetite of it would presently cease : but, so far is it from this satiety, that the more it hath, the more it doth, without any intermiss.on, long for more ; because this desire proceeds not from any motion of nature ; but only out of the wantonness of man's own will, to which no bounds can be set." Blush, O Christian Soul, whosoever thou art that reariest these lines, to hear such words falling from heathen lips ; when thou seest those, that profess godliness, dote upon these worthless metals, and transported with the affection and cares of these earthly provisions. If, from these patterns of men that should be below ourselves, we look up to the more noble precedents of Prophets and Apo- stles, lo, there, we find Elijah, ted by ravens ; Klisha, boarding with his poor Sareptan hostess; a hundred prophets, fed by fifty in a cave, with bread and water; 1 Kings xviii. 13. the sons of * 4pg4%af. 7 Infer Opera Amlrosii, De Moribus Erachmaimcrum. ~ * PRACTICAL WORKS. the prophets, for the enlarging of their over-strait lodgings, hard at work : they aie their own carpenters, but their tools are borrow- ed ; 2 K.i.gs vi. 2 — 5. There, we shall find a few barley loaves and little fishes, the household provision of our Saviour's train. Yea, there, we find the most glorious Apostle, the great Doctor of the Gentiles, employing his hands to feed his belly ; bushy stitching of skins for his tent-work. \ ea, what do we look at any or all of these, when we see the Son of God, the God of all the V, orld, in the form of a sen ant? Not a cratch to cradle him in, not a grave to burv him in, was his Own : and he, that could command heaven and earth, can say, The foxes have holes, and the birds hate nests ; but the Son oj Man hath not where to lay his head j Matt. viii. -20. Who now can coinp'ain of want, when he hears his Lord and Sa- viour, hut thus provided for ? He could have brought down with him a celestial house, and have pitched it here below, too glorious for earthen eyes to have looked upon : he could have commanded ail the precious things, that lie shrouded in the bowels of the earth, to ha\e made up a majestical palace for him, to the dazzling of the eyes of all beholders: he coulo have taken up the stateliest court, that any earthiy monarch possessed, for his peculiar habitation : But his straitness wa< spiritual and heavenly : and he, that owned ah, would have nothing ; that he might sanctity want unto us ; and that he might teach us, by his blessed example, to sit down con- tented with any thing, with nothing. By that time, therefore, we have laid all these things together, find have serous! v considered of the Mean Valuation of ail these Earthly Things, for their Transitoriness, Unsatisfaction, Danger}- of the over- ruling Providence of the Almighty, who most wisely, justly, mercifully disposed] of us, and all events that befal us; of the worse Condition of many thousand Others ; of the great In- conveniences that attend Great and Full Estates ; of the secret Be- nefits of Poverty ; of the Smallness of that Pittance that may Suffice Nature ; of the Miseries that wait upon Discontentment; of the merciful Vicissitudes of Favours, wherewith God pleaseth to interchange our Sufferings; and, lastly, the great Examples of those, as wed w ithout as within the bosom of the Church, that have gone before us, and led us the w ay to Contentation : our judgment cannot clmse, but he sufficiently convinced, thai there is abundant reason to win our hearts, to a quiet and contented entertainment of want, and all other outward afflictions. (2.) But all these interveirient miseries are slight, in comparison fcf the last and utmost of evils, Death. Many a one grapples cheer- fully with these trivial afflictions, who yet looks pale and trembles at the King of Fear. His very name hath terror in it; but his looks more. The courageous champion of Christ, the bies>ed Apostle, and, with him, every faithful soul, makes his challenge universal, to whatsoever estate he is in : to the estate of Di ath, therefore, no less than the afflictive incidents of life. When, there- fore, this ghastly giant shall sulk forth, and bid defiance to the OF CONTENT ATION. 25 whole host of Israel; and when the timorous unbelievers shall run away at the sight of him, and endeavour to hide their heads from his presence ; the good soul, armed, not with the unmeet and cumbersome harness of tlesh and blood, but with the sure though invisible, armour of God, dares come forth to meet him; and, in the name of the Lord of Hosts, both bids him battle, and foils him in the combat ; and now, having laid him on the ground, can triumphirgly say, 0 Death, where is thy sting ? 0 Grave, where is thy victory f [l.J five smooth pebbles there are, which if we carry in our scrip, we shall be able to Q.uell, not oniy the Power of Death, but the Terror too. (a.) Whereof the first is, a sure apprehension of both the un- avoidable Necessity and certain Benefit of Death: a Necessity, grounded upon the just and eternal decree of heaven. It is ap- •poin ed to all wen, once to die; Hob. ix. 27 : and what a madness were ir, for a man to think of an exemption from the common condition of mankind! Mortality is, as it were, essential to our nature: neither could we have had our souls, but upon the terms of a re-delivery, when they snail be called for. If the holiest saints or the greatest monarchs sped otherwise, we might have some colour of repining: now, grieve if thou wilt, that thou art a man; grieve not, that, being man, thou must die. Neither is the Benefit inferior to the necessity. Lo here the remedy of all our cares, the physic for all our maladies, the rescue from ail our fears and dan- gers; earnestly sued for by the painful, dearly v\elcome to the distressed: yea, lo here the cherub, that keeps the gate of paradise: there is no entrance, but under his hand : in vain do we hope to pass to the glory of heaven, any outer way, than through the gates of death. (b.) The second is, the Conscience of a Well-led Life. Guilti- ness will make any man cowardly, unable to look danger in the face; much more, death: whereas, the innocent is bo d as a lion. What a difference therefore there is, betwixt a martyr aud a male- factor! This latter knows he hath done ill; and, therefore; if he can take his death but patiently, it is well: the former knows he hath done weil; and, therefore, takes his death not patiently only, but cheerfully. (c.) Lut, because no mortal man can have so innocently led his life, but that lie shall have passed many offences against his most holy and righteous God ; here must be, thirdly, a r inal Peace firmly made betwixt God and the Soul. Two powerful agents must me- diate in it; a lively faith and a serious repentance S for those sins can never appear against us, that are washed off with our tears ; and, being justified by Jaith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ ; liora. v. 1. Now, if we have made the judge our friend, what can the sergeant do ? (d.) The fourth is, the Power and Efficacy of Christ's Death, applied to the soul. Wherefore died he, but that we might live? 26 PRACTICAL WORKS. Wherefore would he, who is the Lord of Life, die, but to sanctify, season, and sweeten death to us ? Who would go any other way, than his Saviour went before him ? Who can fear that enemy, whom his Redeemer hath conquered for him ? Who can run away from that serpent, whose sting is pulled out ? O Death, my Saviour hath been thy death 5 and, therefore, thou canst not be mine. (e.) The fifth is, the comfortable Expectation and Assurance of a certain Resurrection and an immediate Glory. I do but lay me down to my rest: I shall sleep quietly, and rise gloriously. My soul, in the mean time, no sooner leaves my body, than it enjoys God. It did lately, through my bodily eyes, see my sad friends, that bid me farewell with their tears : now, it hath the bliss-making vision of God. I am no sooner launched forth, than I am at the haven, where I would be. Here is that, which were able to make amends for a thousand deaths; a glory, infinite, eternal, incom- prenensible. This spiritual ammunition shall sufficiently furnish the soul, for her encounter with her last enemy : so as, she shall not only en- dure, but long for this combat; and say, with the Chosen Vessel, I desire to depart, and to be with Christ] Phil. i. 2'i. [2.] Now, for that long conversation causeth entireness ; and the parting of old friends anil partners (such the soul and body are) cannot but be grievous, although there were no actual pain in the dissolution: it will be requisite for us, seriously to consider the State of this Conjunction ; and to enquire, what good offices the one of them doth to the other, in their continued union, for which they should be so loth to part. And here we shall find, that those two, however united to make up one person ; yet, as it falls out in cross matches, they are in continual domestic jars cue with the other, and entertain a secret familiar kind of hostility betwixt themselves: For tlie Jiesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the Jiesh ; and these are con- trary the- one to the other ; Gal. v. 17. One says well, that if the body should implead the soul, it might bring many foul impeach- ments against it ; and sue it, for many great injuries done to that earthly part : and the soul, again, hath no fewer quarrels against the body : betwixt them both, there are many brawls, no agree- ment. Our Schools have reckoned up, therefore, Eight main Incom- modities, which the soul hath cause to complain of, in her conjunc- tion with the body. (a.) Whereof the first is, the Defilement of Original Sin, where- with the soul is not tainted, as it proceeds, alone, from the pure hands of its Creator; but, as it makes up a part of a son of Adam, who brought this guilt upon human nature : so as now, this com- position, which we call man, is corrupt. Who can bring a ckan thing out of that, which is unclean t saith Job. (b.) The second is, a Proneness to Sin, which, but by the meet- OF CONTENT ATION. £7 ing of these partners had never been. The soul, if single, would have been innocent: thus matched, what evil is it not apt to en- tertain ! An ill consort is enough to poison the best disposition. (c.) The Difficulty of Doing Well, is the third: for, how averse are we, by this conjunction, from any thing that is good ! This clog hinders us from walking roundly in the ways of God. The good, that I would do, J do not ; saith the Chosen Vessel ; Rom. vii. 19. (d.) The fourth is, the Dulness of our Understanding, and the dimness of our mental eyes, especially in the things pertaining unto God; which now we are forced to behold through the vail of flesh. Ifj therefore, we misknow, the fault is in the mean, through which we do imperfectly discover them. , (e.) The fifth is, a perpetual Impugnation and Self-conflict; either part lalxuiring to oppose and vanquish the other. This field is fought in every man's bosom, without any possibility of peace or truce, till the last moment of dissolution. (f.) The sixth is, the racking Solicitude of Cares-, wh;ch con- tinually distract the soul ; not suffering it to rest at ease, while it carries this flesh about it. (g.) The seventh is, the Multiplicity of Passions which daily- bluster within us, and raise up continual tempest in our lives ; dis- quieting our peace, and threatening our ruin. (h.) The eighth is, the Retardation of our Glory: for, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God : we must lay down our load, if we would enter into heaven. The seed cannot fructify, unless it die. I cannot blame nature, if it could wish not to be unclothed, but to be clothed upon ; 2 Cor. v. 4 : but so hath the Eternal Wisdom ordered, that we should first lay down, ere we can take up; and be divested of earth, ere we can partake of heaven. Now then, since so many and great discommodities do so un- avoidably accompany this match of soul and body, and all of them cease instantly in the act of their dissolution, what reason have we, to be too deeply affected with their parting ? Yea, how should we rather rejoice, that the hour is come, wherein we shall be quit both of the guilt and temptations of sin ; wherein the clog shall be taken away from our heels, and the vail from our eyes ; wherein no intestine wars shall threaten us, no cares shall disu/ue: us, no passions shall torment us ; and, lastly, wherein we may take the free possession of that glory, which we have hitherto looked at only afar olf, from the top of our Pisgah ! SECT. 2. Holy Dispositions for Contentment. (1.) Humility . — (2.) Self-Resignation :— (3.) True Inward Riches. Hithrr TO we have dwelt in those powerful considerations, winch may work us to a quiet contentment with whatsoever adverse £8 PRACTICAL WORKS. estate, whether of life or death : after which, we address ourselves to those meet dispositions, which snail render us Tally capable of this blessed Conteiuation; and shah make all these Considerations effectual to that happy purpose. (1.) Whereof the nrst is true Humility ; under-valuing ourselves, and setting a high race upon every mercy that we receive: for. if a man have attained unto this, tltat he thinks every thing too good for him, and himse.f less than the least blessing, and worthy of the heaviest judgment; he cannot but sit do vn thankful for small favours, and meekly content with mean afflictions. As, contrarily, the proud man stands upon points with his Maker; makes God his debtor ; looks disdainfully at small blessings, as if he said, "What, no more?" and looks angrily at the least crosses, as if he said, " Why thus much?" The Father of the Faithful hath practically taught us this lesson of humility ; who comes to God with dust and ashes in his mouth ; Gen. xviii. 27. A"nd the Jewish Doctors tell* us truly, that, in every disciple of Abraham, there must l.e three things: a good eye, a meek spirit, and an humble soul. His grandchild Jacob, the lather of every true Israelite, had well taken it out; while he can say to his God, / am vot worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast stewed unto thy servant ; Gen. xxxii. t©. And, indeed, in whomsoever it be, the best measure of grace is humility: for, the more grace still, the greater humility ; -and, no humility, no grace. Solomon observed of old, and St. James took it from him, that God rcsistcth the proud, and gncth grace to tiie humble ; Prov. iii. 34. James iv. 6 : so as he, that is not humble, is not so much as capable of grace ; and he, that is truly humble, is a fit subject for all graces, and, amongst the rest, for the grace of Contentation. Give me a man therefore, that is vile in his own eves ; that is sensible of his own wretchedness; that knows what it is to sin, and what belongs to that sin whereof he is guilty: this man shall think it a mercy, that he is any where out of hell ; shall account all the evils that he is free from, so many new favours; shall reckon easy corrections am • igst his blessings ; and shall esteem any blessing infinitely obliging. -Whereas, contrarily, the proud beggar is readv to throw God's alms at his head ; and swells at every lash, that he receives from the divine hand. Not without great cause, therefore, doth the Royal Preacher oppose the patient in .spirit, to the proud m spirit ; Eccl. vii. 8 : for the proud man can no more be patient, than the patient can be discontent with whatsoever hand of his God. Every toy puts the proud man beside his patience: if hut a fly be found in Pharaoh's cup, he is straight in rage, as the Jewish tradition lays the quarrel ; and sends his butler into durance : and if the emperor * Pirke Avoth. OF CONTENTATION. 29 do but mistake the stirrup of our countryman Pope Adrian, he shall dance attendance for his crown : if a Mardochee do hut fail of a courtesy to Hainan, all Jews must bleed to death : and how unquiet are our vain dames, if this curl be not set right, or that pin misplaced! But the meek spirit is incurious; and so thoroughly subacted, that he takes his load from God, as the camel from his master, upon his knees : and, for men, if they compel him to go one mile, he goes twain ; if they smite him on the right cheek, lie turns the other ; if they sue away his coat, he parts with his cloak also ; Matth. v. 39, 40, 41. Heraclius, the emperor, when he was about to pass through the golden gate, and to ride in royal state through the streets of Jeru- salem, being put in mind by Zacharias, the Bishop there, of the humble and dejected fashion, wherein his Saviour walked through those streets towards his Passion, strips off his rich robes, lays aside his crown, and, with bare head and bare feet, submissively paces the same way, that his Redeemer had carried his Cross to- wards his Golgotha. Every true Christian is ready to tread in the deep steps of his Saviour; as well knowing, that if he should de- scend to the gates of death, of the grave, of hell, he cannot be so humbled, as the Son of God was for him. And, indeed, this, and this alone, is the true way to glory. He, that is Truth itself, hath told us, that he, who humbles himself, shall be exalted : and wise Solomon, Before honour is humility ; Prov. xv. The fuller treads upon that cloth, which he means to yvhiten: and he, that would see the stars by day, must not climb up into some high mountain, but must descend to the lower cells of' the earth. Shortly, whosoever would raise up a firm building of Cementation, must be sure to lay the foundation in Humility. (2.) Secondly, to make up a true contentment with the most adverse estate, there is required a faithful Self-Resignation into the hands of that God, whose we are; «rho, as he hath more right m us than ourselves, so he best knows what to do with us. How graciously hath his mercy invited us to our own ease ! Be careful, saith he, for uolliing ; but, i>i every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your reoiusts be made known unto God ; Phil. iv. 6. We are naturally apt, in our necessities, to have recourse to greater powers than our own ; even where we have no engagement of their help : how much more should we cast our- selves upon the Almighty, when he not only allows, but solicits our reliance upon him ! It was a question, that might have befitted the mouth of the best Christian, which fell from Socrates : " Since God himself is careful for thee, why art thou solicitous for thyself?" If evils were let loose upon us, so as it were possible for us to suffer any thing that God were not aware of, we might have just cause to sink under adversities; but now, that we know every dram of our affliction is weighed out to us, by that all-wise and all-merciful Providence ; Oh, our infidelity, if we do make scruple of taking in the most bitter dose ! 50 PltACTICAt WORKS. Here then is the right use of (hat main duty of Christianity, to live by faith. Brute creatures live by sense; mere men, by reason; Christians, by faith. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen ; Heb. xi. I. In our extremities, we hope for God's gracious deliverance : faith gives a subsistence to that deliverance, before it be. The mercies, that God hath re- served for us, do not yet shew themselves : faith is the evidence of them, though yet unseen. It was the motto of the learned and godly Divine, Mr. Perkins, Fidci vita vera vita; " The true life, is the" life of faith ;" a word, which that worthy servant of God did both write and live. Neither indeed is any other life truly vital, but this : for, hereby, we enjoy God, in all whatsoever occurrences. Are we abridged of means ? we feed upon the cordial promises of our God. Do we sigh and groan under varieties of grievous persecutions ? out of the worst of them we can pick out comforts ; while we can hear our Saviour say, Blessed are they, which are persecuted for righteous- ness'' sake ; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven ; Maim. v. 10. Are we deserted and abandoned of friends ? we see him by us, who hath said, / will never leave thee, nor forsake thee ; Heb. xiii. 5. Do we droop under spiritual desertions ? we hear the God of Truth say, For a small moment have I forsaken thee ; but with great viercy will J gather thee: in a little wrath, I hid my face from thee ; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer ; Is. liy. 7, 8. Are we driven from home ? If we take the wings of the morning, and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea ; even there also shall thy hand lead us, and thy right-hand shall hold us ; Ps. exxxix. 8, 9, 10. Are we dungeoned up from the sight of the sun: Peradvenfure the darkness shall timer us; but then shall our night be turned into day; yea, the darkness is no darkness with thee ; vv. II, 12. Are we cast down upon the bed of> sickness ? He, that is our God, is the God of Salvation ; and, unto God the Lord belong the issues from death ; Ps. lxviii. 20. It cannot be spoken, how injurious those men are to themselves, that will be managing their own cares ; and plotting the prevention of their fears ; and projecting their own, both indemnity and ad- vantages : for, as they lay an unnecessary load upon their own shoulders, so they draw upon themselves the miseries of an un- remediable disappointment. Alas, how can their weakness make good those events, which they vainly promise to themselves; or avert those judgments, they would escape; or uphold them in those evils, they must undergo ? Whereas, if we put all this upon a gracious God, he contrives it with ease; looking for nothing from us, but our trust and thankfulness. (3.) In the third place, it will be most requisite to furnish the soul with True Inward Riches : I mean not of mere moral virtues, which yet are truly precious when they are found in a good heart ; but of a wealth as much above them, as gold is above dross ; yea. as the thing, w hich is most precious, is above nothing. OF CONTENTATION. 31 And this shall be done, if we bring Christ home to the soul ; if We can possess ourselves of him, who is God all-sufficient. For, such infinite contentment there is, in the Son of God made ours, that whosoever hath tasted of the sweetness of this comfort, is in- different to all earthly things; and so, insensible of those extreme differences of events, wherewith others are perplexed. How can he be dejected with the want of anything, who is possessed of him, that possesseth all things ? How can he be over-affected with trivial profits or pleasures, who is taken up with the God of all Comfort ? Is Christ mine, therefore ? how can I fail of all contentment ? How can he complain to want light, that dwells in the midst of the sun ? How can he complain of thirst, out of whose belly flow river-; of living waters? John vii. 38. What can I wish, that my Christ is not to me ? Would I have meat and drink ? My flesh is meat indeed ; and my ' blood is drink indeed I; John vi. 55. Would I have clothing ? But, put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, saith the Apostle; Roni.xiii. 14. Would I have medicine ? He is the Tree of Life, the leaves ■whereof are for the healing of the nations ; Rev. xxii. 2. Would I have safety and protection ? He truly is my strength, and my salvation : he is my defenee, so as I shall not fall. In God is my health and viy glory; the rock of my might ; and in God is viy trust ; Ps. Ixii. G, 7. Would I have direction ? / am the way, and the truth ; John xiv. 6. Would I have life? Christ is to me to Uoe ; Phil. i. 2 1. Iam the resurrection and the life ; John xi. 25. Would I have all spiritual good things ? We are in Christ Jesus, ■who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctifi- cation, and redemption ; 1 Cor. i. 30. Oli, the happy condition of the man that is in Christ, and hath Christ in him ! Shall I account him rich, that hath store of oxen, and sheep, and horses, and camels ; that hath heaps of metals, and some spots of ground ? and shall I not account him infinitely more rich, that owns and enjoys him, whose the earth is, and the fulness of it; whose heaven is, and the glory of it ? Shall I justly account that man great, whom the king will honour and place near to him- self? and shall I not esteem that man more honourable, whom the King of Heaven is pleased to admit unto such partnership of glory, as to profess, To him, that overcometh, will I grant to sit with one in viy throne ; even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne ; Rev. iii. 21. It is a true word of St. Augustin, that every soul is either Christ's Spouse, or the Devil's Harlot. Now, if we be matched to Christ, the Lord of Glory ; what a blessed union is here '. What can he withhold from us, that hath given us himself? I could envy the devotion of that man, though otherwise misplaced, whom St. Ber- nard heard to spend the night in no other words, than, Deus mens et omnia ; " My God, and all things." Certainly, he, who hath that God, hath more than all things : he, that wants him, whatever else he seems to possess, hath less than nothing. 32 PRACTICAL WORKS. SECT. 3. Holy Resolutions for Contentment, (l.) That our present estate in bes tor u