beft for our Bodies, that we may not have temptations to Intemperance; it is beft however for our Account at the great Day, because it is easier to manage a little Stewardship, than it is a great; be careful therefore for nothing, as the Apoftle faith, but in every thing make known your Requeft to God, with Supplication and Thankf giving; there is great Reafon for it, if you confider all that hath been faid, for we have much caufe to be content, and if we give Thanks for it, that's a means, as you have heard, to make us ftill more contented. But the principal Thing I intend at this Time is to reprefent to you, VI. The great Evil of murmuring, complaining, and giving way to Difcontentedness of Mind: St. Jude puts this among the black Characters of the wicked and apoftate Chriftians of those Days, ver. 16. That they were murmurers, complainers, walkers after their own Lufts. That is, they murmured as the Ifraelites (their Forefathers) had done in the Wilderness, Numb. 11. 1, 4. because they were in an afflicted and diftreffed Condition, as the Church generally was at that Time, and had not that Plenty, and perhaps Dainties, that they longed for; and it is very probable (which is Grotius his Conjecture) that they complained of the Roman Government (being defirous to recover their ancient Liberty, by throwing off that Yoke) tho' there was little. Reafon for it; none of the former Monarchics, either Babylonian or Grecian, ufing them with more Gentleness and Civility than the Romans did; but nothing would fatisfy thefe Malecontents, but to have their own Luft, and Heart's Defire: And that would not fatisfy them neither, for they were proud Perfons, and fpoke great fwelling Words of Vanity, admiring none but themselves and their own Party, which made them complain of, and be difcontented with every Body elfe, This is the Condition of many in the World at this Day, who are ftill muttering and grumbling if every thing be not done according to their Defire; that is, are always ill at eafe, becaufe their Defire can never be fatisfied with any worldly Good; One complains of bad Trading; another of bad Government; one faith he hath a very hard Bargain; and another that he is not respected by his Neighbours; one is troubled because he is kept under, and fuch and such are preferred before him; and they alfo are not well pleased because they are not advanced higher, or are not regarded according to their Dignity. To ceafe which Complaints, that are without End, let us confider, First, That this is a very uncomfortable Condition, and puts the Soul into very great Diforders; for, to fay no more, fuch Men, as you have been often told, want not only that which they have not, but even that which they have; they want not only all things elfe, but themfelves too, they poffefs not their own Souls, which are carried away by Things without them, they know not whither, they are feldom at home, and and when they are there, they find nothing but Tumults and Disorders, which hurry them again away from themfelves. Let it be confidered alfo, Secondly, How prejudicial this Temper of Mind is, to him that labours with it. For, 1ft, it provokes God to with-hold thofe Bleffings, which otherwife he might have beftowed. It puts a Man further off from those things, the want of which he complains about. He gets nothing but rather lofes, by repining against God; as Theagenes in the Story tells his Chariclea, when the was fumming up all their Miseries, and crying to Apollo, ποῖ ταῦτα ςήσεις ; where or when will there be an End of thefe Things? Thou doft, fays he, by these unmannerly Complaints, but wažóvev to dãov, exasperate the Divinity, and sharpen its Displeasure against thee. Οὐ γὰ ὀνειδίζειν αλλά παρακαλῶν Χρεών ο ταῖς ἐκ αἰτίαις ἐξιλε Heliodor. 8 To xperlov. For we ought not to reproach but to befeech and intreat, when we are in Mifery. The most excellent Nature is propitiated and rendred mild and gentle to us, by Prayers not by Accufations. There is nothing truer, we drive our felves away from the Port, at which we would arrive, by these Storms and bluftring Paffions. If we would be carried to the Haven we desire, let us be calm and of a still and quiet Difpofition. For, 11. Æthi. 2dly, Thefe Complaints endanger the Lofs also of that which we have already. The Devil and our first Parents, were not well pleased in the the Station wherein God first fet them, and fo they fell from it, into a worse. It is a Saying of Ben Syra, a famous Man among the Hebrews, He that faith what shall I eat with my Eread, take his Bread from him. He deferves, he means to lofe a good Thing, who repines because he hath not more with it. Thus Balaam, they obferve, is found to be flain in the Battle with the Midianites, Numb. 31. 8. What did he there, fay the Doctors who difpute about it in the Talmud? R. Jobanan. anfwers, he came to receive his Reward for the Feat he had done, in feducing Ifrael to the Deftruction of four and twenty thousand of them. And thus faid Mar. Zutra. the Son of Tobias, the vulgar Saying was fulfilled, The Camel went to beg Horns, and they cut off his Ears. They that cannot be contented but they must be gaping after more, have this for their Reward, that they do not always keep what they enjoy; especially, when they grumble at their prefent Condition, and quarrel because it is no better: And is it not a fad thing, instead of being raised higher, to find our felves to have caught a Fall? And yet there is fomething more to be lamented behind, which is, that, Gemara. Cap. XI. 3dly, Thefe Complaints make us more miserable in that worfe Condition, when we fall into it; if we cannot bear our prefent Estate, we fhall ill agree with another that may have more Preffures in it. Feremy, I remember, tells us, how his Townfinen, the People of Anathoth fought very trea fought his Life, as you may read in the latter End of the eleventh Chapter of his Prophecy, ver. 19, 20, 21, &c. and yet notwithstanding, they flourished, and grew fo great, as to tempt him to Discontent; for he begins the twelfth Chapter, with a Complaint to God, faying, Wherefore doth the Way of the wicked profper ? Wherefore are all they happy that deal cherously and he defires to be revenged of them, faying, ver. 3. Pull them out like Sheep for the Slaughter, and prepare them for the day of Slaughter. But in this Beginning of his Paffion, the Voice of God quiets and appeafes his Spirit with thefe Words, ver. 5. If thou haft run with the Footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canft thou contend with Horfes? And if in the Land of Peace wherein thou truffedft, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the fwelling of for dan? Which is as much as to fay, if thou canft not endure the Malice and Rage of this little City Anathoth, then how wilt thou be able to brook the Fury of the Men of Jerufalem, against whom I must have thee to prophecy? If these affault thee as a Company of. Footmen, the other will be as terrible as Horfemen, much stronger, and mightier, and fwifter, to execute their malitious Intentions. If whilft thou enjoyest thy own Estate, thou canst not be fatisfied, because of their Hatred, which makes fome feek thy Deftruction; what wilt thou do, when all fhall be swallowed up by the Men of ferufalem? Who will in great Violence and Rage break in upon thee, as fordan doth upon the lower Grounds, when he fwells over his Banks. That |