PHILIPPIANS. 4.11. For I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
WE proceed now. There are some two or three things more of the excellency of Contentment and then we are to proceed to Applycation of the point.
The Eight excellency is, Contentment is a great blessing of God upon the Soul. There is Gods blessing upon those that are content, the blessing of God is upon them, and their estates, and upon all that they have. We reade in Deut. of the blessing of Judah the principal Tribe; this is the blessing of Judah, And he said hear Lord the voice of Judah and bring him unto his people, let his hands be sufficient for him, and be thou an help to him from his enemies. Let his hand be sufficient for him, that is, bring in a sufficiency of all good unto him that he may have of his own, that’s the blessing of Judah. So when God gives thee a sufficiency of thine own, (as every contented man hath) there is the blessing of God upon thee, the blessing of the principle Tribe of Judah is upon thee. It is the Lord that gives us all things to injoy, we may have the thing and yet not enjoy it except God comes in with his blessing now whatsoever thou hast thou do’st injoy it: Many men have estates and do not enjoy them, it’s the blessing of God that gives us all things to enjoy, it is God that through his blessing, hath fashioned thy heart and made it sutable to thy condition.
The Ninth excellency, Those that are content they may expect reward from God, that God shall give unto them the good of all those things that they are contented to be without, and this brings in abundance of good to a contented spirit: There is such and such a mercy that thou thinkest would be very comfortable unto thee if thou had’st it, but canst thou bring thy heart to submit to God in it? thou shalt have the blessing of the mercy one way or other; if thou hast not the thing it self in re; thou shalt have it made up one way or other, thou shalt have a bill of exchange to receive somewhat in lieu of it, there is no comfort that any soul is content to be without, but the Lord will give either the comfort or somewhat in stead of it: Thou shalt have a reward to thy soul for what ever good thing thou art content to be without. You know what the Scripture saith of active obedience, and the Lord doth accept (of his servants) their will for the deed, though we do not do a good thing, yet if our hearts be upright, to will to do it, we shall have the blessing though we do not do the thing: You that complain of weaknesse, you cannot do as others do, you cannot do as much service as others do, if your hearts be as upright with God, and would fain do the same service that you see others do, you would account it a great blessing of God upon you, the greatest blessing in the world if you were able to do as others do; now you may comfort your selves with this, having to deal with God in the way of the Covenant of Grace you shall have from God the reward of all you will do, as a wicked man shall have punishment for all the sin he would commit, so thou shalt have the reward for all the good thou wouldest do. Now may not we draw an argument from active obedience to passive; there is as good reason why thou shouldest expect that God will reward thee for all that thou art willing to suffer, as well as for all that thou art willing to do, now if thou beest willing to be without such a comfort and mercy when God sees it fit, thou shalt be no looser, certainly God will reward thee either with the comfort or with that that shall be as good to thee as the comfort, therefore consider how many things have I that others want, and can I bring my heart into a quiet contented frame to want what others have? I have the blessing of all that they have, and I shall either possesse such things as others have, or else God will make it up one way or other, either here, or hereafter in eternity to me; Oh what riches are here! with Contentment thou hast all kind of riches.
Tenthly and lastly, By contentation the soul comes to an excellencie neer to God himselfe, yea the neerest that may be, for this word that is translated Content, it is a word that signifies a Self-sufficiencie, as I told you in the opening of the words. A contented man is a self-sufficient man, what is the great glory of God but to be happy and self-sufficient in himself? Indeed he is said to be All-sufficient, but that’s but a further addition of the word All, rather than of any matter, for to be sufficient, is All-sufficient, now is this the glory of God to be Sufficient, to have sufficiencie in himselfe, El-shaddai, to be God having sufficiency in himself? now thou comest neer to this, thou partakest of the Divine Nature, as by grace in generall, so in a more peculiar manner by this grace of Christian Contentment, what’s the excellency and glory of God but this? Suppose there were no creatures in the world, and that all the creatures in the world were anihilated, God would remain the same blessed God that he is now, he would not be in a worse condition if all creatures were gone, neither would a contented heart if God should take away all creatures from him, a contented heart hath enough in the want of al creatures and would not be more miserable than now he is. Suppose that God should continue thee here, and all creatures that are here in this world were taken away, yet thou still (having God to be thy portion) wouldest be as happy as now thou art, and therefore contentation hath a great deal of excellency in it.