SECT. IX.

RULE 9.

Let not your Hopes depend upon outward

Things.

We oft

LEAN not upon sandy pillars. build our comforts upon such a friend or estate, that when that prop is removed, all our joy is gone, and our hearts begin either to fail or fret. A lame man leans on his crutches; and, if they break, he is undone. Let not thy contentment go upon crutches, which may soon fail; the ground of contentment must be within thyself. The word, in the Greek, which is used for contentment, signifies selfsufficiency. A Christian hath that from within that is able to support him, that strength of faith and good hope through grace, as bears up his heart in the deficiency of all outward comforts. The philosophers of old, when their estates were gone, yet could take contentment in the goods of the mind, their learning and virtue; and shall not a believer much more in the grace of the Spirit, that rich enamel and embroidery of the soul? Say, with thyself"If friends leave me, if riches take wings, yet I have that within which comforts me, viz. a heavenly treasure; when the blossoms of estate are blown off, still there is the sap of

my

contentment in the root of my heart; I have still an interest in God, and that interest cannot be broken off." Oh! never place your felicity in these dull and beggarly things here below.

SECT. X.

RULE 10.

Let us often compare our Condition.

QUEST.

How shall I compare myself?
ANS. Make this five-fold comparison.

1. Let us compare our condition and our desert together; if we have not what we desire, we have more than we deserve. For our mercies, we have deserved less; for our afflictions, we have deserved more.

First, In regard of our mercies, we have deserved less. What can we deserve?-Can man be profitable to the Almighty? We live upon free-grace. Alexander gave a great gift to one of his subjects. The man, being much taken with it-"This," saith he, "is more than I am worthy of!"-"I do not give thee this," saith the King, "because thou art worthy of it, but I give a gift like Alexander." Whatever we have is not merit, but bounty the least bit of bread is more than God owes

Q

us; we can bring faggots to our own burning, but not one flower to the garland of our salvation he that hath the least mercy will die in God's debt.

Secondly, In regard of our afflictions, we have deserved more. Thou hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, Ezra, ix. 13. Is our condition sad? We have deserved it should be worse.

estate from us? Christ from us.

Hath God taken away our He might have taken away Hath he thrown us into prison? He might have thrown us into hell. He can destroy us as easy as to save us. This should make us contented.

2. Let us compare our condition with others, and this will make us content. We look at them who are above us; let us look at them who are below us. We see one in his silks, another in his sack-cloth; one hath the waters of a full cup wrung out to him, another is mingling his drink with tears. How many pale faces do we behold, whom not sickness, but want, hath brought into a consumption! Think of this, and be content. It is worse with them, who perhaps deserve better than we, and are higher in God's favour. Am I in prison? Was not Daniel in a worse place, riz. the lion's den? Do I live in a mean cottage? Look on them who are banished from their houses. We read of the primitive saints, that they wandered up and down in sheepskins and goat-skins, of whom the world was not worthy, Heb. xi. 37. Hast thou a gentle

fit of an ague? Look on them who are tormented with the stone and gout, &c. Others of God's children have had greater afflictions, and have borne them better than we. Daniel fed upon pulse, and drank water, yet was fairer than they who are of the King's portion, Dan. i. 15. Some Christians, who have been in a lower condition, that have fed upon pulse and water, have looked better; viz. been more patient and contented than we who enjoy abundance. Do others rejoice in affliction, and do we repine? Can they take up their cross, and walk cheerfully under it? And do we, under a lighter cross, murmur?

3. Let us compare our condition with Christ's upon earth.* What a poor, mean condition, was he pleased to be in for us? He was contented with any thing. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet, for your sakes, he became poor, 2 Cor. viii. 9. He could have brought down an house from heaven with him, or challenged the high places of the earth; but he was contented to be in the wine-press, that we might not lay under the weight of

* There is nothing more despisable in the sight of unconverted man, than poverty. It was the principal objection the Jews made to our Lord Jesus being the promised Messiah. O what a lamentable truth, that so many highminded professors of Christianity, should despise the poor children of God only because they are poor, forgetting that he who possessed heaven and earth became a poor man, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven.

Almighty wrath; and to live poor, that we might die rich. The manger was his cradle, the cobwebs his canopy; he, who is now preparing mansions for us in heaven, had none for himself on earth, he had no where to lay his head. Christ came in the form of a beggar; who, being in the form of God, took upon him the form of a servant, Phil. ii. 7. We read not of any sums of money he had; when he wanted money, he was fain to work a miracle for it, Matt. xvii. 27. Jesus Christ was in a low condition; he was never high, but when he was lifted up upon the cross, and that was his humility; he was content to live poor, and die cursed. Oh, compare your condition with Christ's!

4. Let us compare our condition with what it was once, and this will make us content.

First, Let us compare our spiritual estate with what it was once. What were we when we lay in our blood? We were heirs apparent to hell, having no right to pluck one leaf from the Tree of the Promises; it was a Christless and hopeless condition, Eph. ii. 12. But now hath God delivered us from the curse and condemnation of his righteous Law; he hath taken you out of the wild olive of nature, and engrafted you into Christ, making you living branches of that living Vine; he hath not only caused the light to shine upon you, but into you, (2 Cor. iv. 6.) and hath interested you in all the privileges of sonship. Is not this enough to make the soul content?