his Wisdom, and not our Will,though it may be a particular detriment to you or to me; or if we repine against it, we must not think thereby to obtain our own wills.

3. The texture and frame of the World is fuch, that it is abfolutely neceffary, that if fome be rich and powerful, or great, or honourable, others must be poor, and fubject, and ignoble: If all were equally powerful, there would be no Power nor Government,because all would be equal; if all were equally rich, it would be but only nominally, indeed none would be rich, but all would be poor, there could be no Artificers, no Labourers, no Servants. Since therefore it is of neceffity, in the order of the World, that fome must be poor, or lefs rich or powerful than others, why fhould I be fo unreasonable, or unjuft, to defire that lot of poverty or lowness of condition fhould be another's and not mine? Or why fhould not I be contented to be of the lower fort of Men, fince the order of the World requires that fuch fome must be?

4. Let any Man obferve it whiles he will, he fhall find that whatsoever of worldly advantages any Man doth most plentifully enjoy, and moft Men moft greedily defire, of neceffity he muft thereby have more croffes and afflictions. A Man defires many Children, Friends, Relations; the more he hath of thefe, the more mortal dying comforts he hath; the more he hath that must be fick, and fuffer affliction, and die; and every one of these afflictions or loffes in a Man's Relations, are so many renewed afflictions, and croffes, and troubles to himself. A Man defires Wealth, and hath it; the more cares and fears he hath; and the more he hath, the more he hath to lose, and of neceffity he must have more loffes the more he hath, as he that hath a thousand Sheep, muft in probability lofe more in a year than he that hath but forty: And befides, Wealth is the common mark that every Man fhoots at,and every Man will be pulling fomewhat from him that hath much, because every Man thinks he hath enough for others as well as himfelf. A Man defires Honour, Power, Grandeur, and he hath it: but every Man envies him,and is ready to unhorfe him; and a imall neglect, reproach or misfortune

misfortune fits clofer to fuch a Man, than to a meaner Man; and the more of Honour or Power he hath, the more of fuch breaches he fhall be fure to meet with. A Man defires long Life, and accordingly enjoys it; but in the tract of long Life, a Man is fure to meet with more Sickness, more Croffes, more lofs of Friends and Relations, and over-lives the greatest part of his external comforts, and in old Age becomes his own Burthen.

5. If a Man defires much Wealth or Power, and enjoys it, yet it is certain fo much the more thereof he hath, fo much the lefs others have; for he hath that which might otherwise be divided among many: Why therefore should a Man defire it, or discontent himself, if he have it not, fince what he thus enjoys is with another's detriment and lofs, who would have a fhare in it, if he had it not alone? And why fhould I covet that,or be difcontented if I have it not, fince if I have it, I fhall procure the like difcontent in others?

6. It is certain in the courfe of the World, there are and must be a greater number of Croffes and Troubles, and of greater moment than there are of External Comforts; nay, there is fcarce any comfort that any Man hath, but like Jonah's Gourd, it hath a Worm growing at the root of it, which doth not only wither the comfort it felf, but most times creats greater trouble and forrow, than the Comfort itself hath good if entirely enjoyed. A Man hath many Children,it may be they are all very good and hopeful,yet they are mortal, and if they die, the death of fuch a Child is fo much the more grievous, by how much the more good and towardly he was. But if any of them prove vicious, foolish, and naught, by how much a Child is nearer than a Stranger, by fo much the more his vices give trouble, forrow, and care to his Parent: So that in all worldly things, the stock of Trouble is greater three to one, than that of Comforts; fo true is that of Job, a Man is born to troubles as the sparks fly upwards. Why therefore fhould a Man fink into difcontent, because the World doth but folitum obtinere, and follow its own hatural complexion and state?

7. We are generally greatly mistaken in the nature of Good and Evil, and have not the true measures of it. That is truly relatively Good which makes a Man the Better, and that truly Evil in its relative nature, which makes a Man the worse. If Profperity and Success make me Thankful, Watchful, Charitable, Beneficent, then is Profperity good to me, for it makes me better; but if it make me Proud, Haughty, Infolent, Domineering, Vain-glorious, it is Evil to me. If Adverfity make me Clamorous, Murmuring, Envious, Spightful, Injurious, then 'tis evil to me; but ifit makes me Humble, Sober, Patient, then 'tis good to me. And let any Man impartially take the measure of the very fame Man, or divers Men in each condition, he fhall find ten to one receive more mischief by Profperity than by Adverfity. Why fhould I then not content my felf with that condition which is more fafe to nie, and makes me the better Man, though not the richer or greater?

8. Which is but a farther explication of what is faid next before. It is certain, that a good Man is like the Elixir, it turns Iron into Gold, and makes the moft four conditi on of Life not only tolerable, but useful and convenient. If I be fuch, I mould and frame my worft. condition into a condition of comfort and contentment by my Patience and Contentation. Why fhould I then be difcontented with my Condition, fince by the Grace of God I am able to make it what I please? If I can content my felf with the good temper and difpofition of my own Heart and Soul, I have no reafon to be discontented with my condition, for if I find it not good, I can make it fuch by the equality, patience, and temper of my own Mind: And that the Mind is the principal matter in Contentation or Difcontent, we need no other inftance, than that of Ahab and Haman; the one a great King, the other a great Favourite of a mighty Monarch, full of Wealth and Honour; yet a Covetous Mind in one and a Froud Mind in the other, made the former fick for a little fpot of ground, and the latter grew to fo high a degree of difcontent for want of the Knee of a poor Jew, that it withered all his Enjoy. nents, 1 Kings 21. 5. Heft. 5. 13.

5. Difcontent and Impatience galls a thousand times more than the Cross or Affliction doth. We owe more of the evil of croffes, troubles, and afflictions, to the unquiet, reftlefs, impatient diftemper of our mind, than to them. We are like Men in a Fever, that infinitely increase their heat by their toffing and tumbling, more than if they lay ftill, and then they complain of the uneafiness of their Bed: Like the Prophet's wild Bull in a Net, we entangle and tire our felves worse with our ftrugling, than if we were more patient and ftill; or like the Ship, it is not broken by the Rock, but by its own violent motion against it. Why then should I difcontent and difquiet my felf with my condition, when I make it and my felf thereby worfe and more uneafy?

10. As my discontentedness and unquietness renders my Condition the more uneafie, so it no way conduceth to my rescue from it: For fince I cannot be fo brutish as to think that the occurrences which befal Men are without a Divine Conduct, fo it is certain, that all his Difpenfations are wife, and directed to a Wife End, and even Afflictions themfelves have their errand and business to make Men more humble, watchful, and confiderate. If I correct my Child for his fault, and he continue ftill more ftubborn, I fhall correct him longer, till he return to his fubmiffivenefs and duty. Why then fhould I difcontent my self, and be impatient under my affliction, when it is not only vain and fruitless, thereby no expect deliverance, but in all probability the likelieft way to keep me ftill under it?

II. As thus, my condition is not amended, but made the worse, more severe, and lafting by my impatience and discontent, fo Patience and Contentation will give me thefe great advantages: 1. In all probability it will shorten my Affliction, because it hath obtained its effect and end, and the meffage it brings is duly answered. 2. But howfoever it will make it infinitely more eafie, the lefs I ftrug-. gle under it. 3. And, which is the best of all, it gives me the Poffeffion of my own Soul, internal peace and tranquillity of Mind, a kind and comfortable ferenity of Spirit: Iremain Master of my paffions, of my intellectuals

of

of my felf and am not tranfported into another thing, than what becomes a reasonable Man: though there be ftorms and tempests and rolling Seas without me, yet all is calm and quiet within. Contentation and Patience renders my outward condition of little concernment to me,fo long as it gives me the opportunity to poffefs and enjoy my felf, my virtue and goodness, and the atteftation of a good Confcience.

12. Though I want fomewhat that others have, yet 'tis ten to one,that I have somewhat that many as good, if not better, want. It may be I want Wealth, yet I have Health; it may be I want Health, yet I have Children that others want I will learn Contentment by confidering others wants and my enjoyments, and not learn Difcontent from others enjoyments and my own wants.

These be the Moral Confiderations, and truly they be of great weight, moment, and ufe; and, as I faid, carried the Heathen a great way in the Virtues of Contentation and Patience: But yet they oftentimes failed,and were too weak to compose the Mind under a ftorm of croffes, loffes, and afflictions; and therefore Almighty God hath furnished us with a more excellent way, which lets me into the Second Confideration, namely the Divine and Evangelical helps to Patience and Contentation: Their number will not be so many as the former, but their weight and efficacy greater, and they are fuch as these :

1. The worst I here fuffer is less than I deferve; and the leaft that I enjoy is more than I can in juftice expect, it is the gift and bounty of God: I have therefore reason to be content and thankful for the leaft Mercy; and to be patient and quiet under my greatest Evil.

2. There is no affliction, cross, or condition of life, but is reached out to us from the Hand or Permission of the most glorious Soveraign of all the World, to whom we owe an infinite fubjection, because we have our Being from him: and therefore it is but just and reasonable for us to content our felves with what he is pleafed thus to inflict: And the greatest Cross or Affliction of this life, is not answerable to his Founty and Goodness in giving us a Being.