The Art of Divine Contentment

2. It prevents murmuring, a sin which is a degree higher then the other; murmuring is a quarrelling with God, & inveighing against him, They spake against God^*; the murmurer saith interpretatively, that God ⟨p. 134⟩hath not dealt well with him, and he hath deserved better from him. The murmurer chargeth God with folly; This is the language, or rather blasphemy of a murmuring spirit, God might have been a wiser and a better God. The murmurer is a mutineer. The Israelites are called in the same text murmurers and Rebels^*; and is not rebellion as the sin of witchcraft? Thou that art a murmurer, art in the account of God as a Witch, a Sorcerer, as one that deals with the Devil. This is a sin of the first magnitude; murmuring oft ends in cursing: Micah's mother fell to cursing when the talents of silver were taken away^*. So doth the murmurer when a part of his estate is taken away; our murmuring is the Devils music; this is that sin which God cannot bear, How long shall I bear with this people that murmur against me^*? It is a sin which whets the sword against a people, it is a land-destroying sin; Murmur ye not ⟨p. 135⟩as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer^*. 'Tis a ripening sin; this, without Gods mercy, will hasten Englands funerals. O then how excellent is contentation which prevents this sin? To be contented and yet murmur, is a solecism; A contented Christian doth acquiesce in his present condition, and doth not murmur, but admire. Herein appears the excellency of contentation, it is a spiritual antidote against sin.

2. It prevents murmuring, a sinne which is a degree higher then the other; murmuring is a quarrelling with God, & enveighing against him, They spake against God