The Art of Divine Contentment

3. Contentment makes a man in tune to serve God;¹ it oils the wheels of the soul, and makes it more agile and nimble; it composeth the heart, and now is fit for prayer, meditation, &c. How can he that is in a passion of grief, or discontent, serve God without distraction^*? Contentment doth prepare and tune the heart. First you prepare the Viol, and wind up the strings, ere you play a fit of music. When a Christians heart is wound up to this heavenly frame of Contentment, then it is fit for duty. A discontented Christian is like Saul when the evil spirit came upon him. O what jarrings and discords doth he make in prayer! When an Army is put into a disorder, now it is not sit for battle: When the thoughts are scattered and distracted about the cares of this life, a man is ⟨p. 125⟩not fit for devotion. Discontent takes the heart wholly off from God, and fixeth it upon the present trouble, so that a mans mind is not upon his prayer, but upon his •rosse.

3. Contentment makes a man in tune to serve God;¹ it oiles the wheeles of the soul, and makes it more agil and nimble; it composeth the heart, and now is fit for prayer, meditation, &c. How can he that is in a passion of grief, or discontent, serve God without distraction^*? Contentment doth prepare and tune the heart. First you prepare the Viol, and winde up the strings, ere you play a fit of musick. When a Christians heart is wound up to this heavenly frame of Contentment, then it is fit for duty. A discontented Christian is like Saul when the evil spirit came upon him. O what jarrings and discords doth he make in prayer! When an Army is put into a disorder, now it is not sit for battell: When the thoughts are scattered and distracted about the cares of this life, a man is ⟨p. 125⟩not fit for devotion. Discontent takes the heart wholly off from God, and fixeth it upon the present trouble, so that a mans mind is not upon his prayer, but upon his rosse.