The Art of Divine Contentment

1. Because spiritual things are against nature. ¹Every thing in Religion is antipodes to nature. There are in Religion two things, Credenda & Facienda, and both are against nature.² 1. Credenda, Matters of Faith. As, for a man to be justified by the righteousness of another, to become a fool that he may be wise, to save all by losing all;³ this is against nature. 2. Facienda; ⟨p. 16⟩Matters of practice. As, 1. Self-denial; for a man to deny his own wisdom, and see himself blind; his own will, and have it melted into the will of God, plucking out the right eye, beheading and crucifying that sin which is the favourite, and lies nearest to the heart^*; For a man to be dead to the world, and in the midst of want to abound; for him to take up the Cross, and follow Christ, not only in golden, but bloody paths; to embrace Religion when it is dressed in its nightclothes, all the Jewels of honour and preferment being pulled off, this is against nature, ⁵and therefore must be learned. 2. Self-examination. For a man to take his heart (as a watch) all in pieces, to set up a spiritual inquisition, or Court of conscience, and traverse things in his own soul; to take Davids Candle and Lantern^*, and search for sin; nay, as Judge to pass the sentence upon ⟨p. 17⟩himself,^* this is against nature, and will not easily be attained to without Learning.⁸ 3. Self-reformation. To see a man as Caleb, of another spirit, walking antipodes to himself, his heart changed, the current of his life altered, and running into the channel of Religion; this is wholly against nature, and is as strange as to see the earth fly upward, or the bowl run contrary to its own bias. When a stone ascends, it is not a natural motion, but a violent; the motion of the soul heaven-ward, is a violent motion, it must be learned: flesh and blood is not skilled in these things: Nature can no more cast out Nature, then Satan can cast out Satan.