SERMON IV.

CHRISTIAN CONTENTMENT.

PHILIPP. 4. 11.

-I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

THE apostle speaks thus of himself, not boastfully, but in order to the praise of Christ who strengthened him. For thus he proceeds in the verses following the text: "I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." So that it was God's work, and not his own; it was Christ's glory, and not his own; it was to teach us both how to be content, and, when contented, to give God the praise; it was to teach us both these duties, that he de

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clares, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."

And first, observe, he had "learned." This means somewhat more than that he had read, or had heard. Many hear the doctrines and duties of the Gospel, who never learn them. Many, when they hear, feel affected at the time; and are yet far from learning. For presently they think no more about the matter. Are you then hearers only? or are you learners, such learners as are doers? One may know much of Christ, and yet not have thus learned Christ: for the devils knew Him. (See Matt. 8. 29.) Nay, a man may preach Christ, and yet not thus learn Christ, for so did Judas. To have learned Christ is to live as Christ lived, as Christ taught by his own life and precepts, as He taught by the mouth of his apostles. Remember, that for this learning, you must be all, as Isaiah writes, "all taught of the Lord.” (54. 13.) And so does our Lord Himself tell us, citing the very words of this prophecy: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and

I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and,” not heard only, observe, but, "Every man that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." (John 6. 44, 45.)

1. And now let us see what St. Paul had thus learned. "In whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." This is a lesson not easy to be learnt; and nowhere taught effectually but in the Gospel. Even of angels there were some, we know, "which kept not their first estate." (Jude 6.) And they kept it not, we may very probably suppose, because they were not contented with it. Our first parents, even in the garden of Eden, had not learned to be content. Of the trees in that paradise, they could be satisfied with none, without tasting of the very one which was forbidden. If then this lesson was so hard to them in their innocency, what must it be to us who are clogged with corruption!

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The greater part either fret and repine,

in whatsoever state they are; or else take far too anxious thought about bettering, as they reckon it, their condition. Are they young? They are restless till grown older, that they may become more their own masters, that they may be able to do work more profitable, that they may be free to enjoy pleasures more large. Are they old? They either wish they might be young again, or at least complain of the inconvenience of old age, and murmur at the privations of health and strength which usually attend on it. Are they straitened in their circumstances? They then think how much better they could do, if they partook of their neighbour's prosperity. Are they prosperous? They are then only the more forcibly induced to covet some more eminent condition, to which the height they have now reached may serve to introduce them. In any case, in every case that can be conceived, an unconverted heart will be sure to find something to complain of; something to be dissatisfied with; something to want; something in the want of which it frets, and

murmurs, and thinks itself excused in neglect of duty, and in unthankfulness to God.

For

It is not to be rich that would make the poor contented. For they who are rich are discontented still. It is not to be more wealthy that would satisfy the rich. they who are most wealthy of all, are often of all the most discontented. It is not to move from this or that place, or business, it is not to advance from this or that age, or station, that can ensure the satisfaction we expect. For they who are there already, they who occupy the very post we fancy would so exactly suit ourselves, they are often thinking how much better they should like some other. And so should we, if we were there, be thinking too; unless we had learned, with the apostle, in whatsoever state we are, therewith to be content. And this if we have once well learned, then matters it not where we are, nor who we are, nor how high, nor how low, nor how prosperous, nor how afflicted; nor how young, nor how old, nor how long to live, or how near to die; whatever can befal us from