The Art of Divine Contentment

2. Discontent is accompanied with unthankfulness; because we have not all we desire, we never mind the mercies which we have: we deal with God as the widow of Sarepta did with the Prophet; the Prophet Elijah had been a means to keep her alive in the famine; for it was for his sake that her meal in the barrel, and her oil in the cruse failed not; but as soon as ever her son dies, she falls into a passion, and begins to quarrel with the Prophet; What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son^*? So ungratefully do we deal with God; we can be content to receive mercies ⟨p. 173⟩from God; but if he doth cross us in the least thing, then through discontent, we grow tetchy and impatient, and are ready to fly upon God; thus God loseth all his mercies^*. We read in Scripture of the thank-offering^*. The discontented person cuts God short of this; the Lord loseth his thank-offering. A discontented Christian repines in the midst of mercies, as Adam, who sinned in the midst of Paradise. Discontent is a Spider that sucks the poison of unthankfulness out of the sweetest flower of Gods blessings; and by a devilish chemistry extracts dross out of the most refined Gold. The discontented person thinks every thing he doth for God too much, and every thing God doth for him too little. O what a sin is unthankfulness^*! it is an accumulative sin. What ⟨p. 174⟩Cicero saith of Parricide^*; I may say of Ingratitude, there are many sins bound up in this one sin, it is a voluminous wickedness; and how full of this sin is Discontent? A discontented Christian, because he hath not all he would, therefore dishonours God with the mercies which he hath. God made Eve out of Adams rib, to be an helper (as the Father speaks;)