SERMON XIX. CONTENTMENT. BY THE REV. WILLIAM P. APPELBE, LL.D., OF BELFAST. FOR I HAVE LEARNED IN WHATSOEVER STATE I AM, THEREWITH TO BE CONTENT."-PHILIPPIANS IV. 11. WHEN Faul wrote the Epistle to the Philippians, he was a prisoner at Rome; during that imprisonment he had suffered keen distress from the want of even the necessaries of life, but the Philippians liberally contributed towards his comfort, and sent him a present by the hands of Epaphroditus. The Apostle in this chapter makes grateful mention of their kindness: "but I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity." Paul introduced the Gospel into Philippi; the Philippians were not insensible of their obligations to their spiritual father; but the Apostle, while duly appreciating their kindness, informs the Philippians that he did not indulge in murmuring and repining in his poverty, for that he had learned the important lesson of being perfectly satisfied with his lot in all circumstances and under every privation; in adversity his spirit was not unduly L depressed, in prosperity it was not excessively elated. In all the varieties of his condition, through the power of Christ, he was enabled to preserve a calm serenity, an unruffled composure, which could not be agitated by the storms of adversity. "I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.". Happy are they who have learned a like lesson! In meditating upon the words of the text, let us consider― II. HOW THIS IMPORTANT LESSON IS TO BE LEARNED. I. TO THE NATURE OF CONTENTMENT. It is not a sullen apathy, it is not a stupid and morbid insensibility amid the sorrows and trials of life; but contentment implies that there are things connected with our circumstances which are felt to be painful, that our condition in life is not, in all respects, such as we might desire; it, therefore, implies a principle of self-government and self-control by which the mind, while it feels the smart of the trials, preserves a happy and and tranquil frame. Nor is contentment inconsistent with legitimate means in subordination to the will of God to improve our circumstances, and to better our worldly condition; such efforts are the principles and stimulants of active industry in attending to the duties of our proper calling. Christianity enjoins, and produces in the hearts of all who are governed by its precepts, a spirit of patient industry, of a noble independence; it places idleness among the most hateful vices, and denounces all who will not labour to procure an honest subsistence. "These The noble writer of this Epistle could say: hands have ministered to my necessities, and to them that were with me." It is a command, it is a characteristic of a true Christian-"not slothful in business"-which implies that every man has some calling to which he should attend. The human body, by the wise Author of our being, is formed for activity; healthy exercise and industrious efforts are beneficial both for the body and mind of man. Christ himself, our Divine Saviour, worked at the occupation of a carpenter, thus did he sanctify and dignify labour; therefore, industrious toil and mechanical employment do not degrade a man. But contentment is opposed to covetousness, a sin awfully denounced in Holy Scripture, yet a sin of which thousands who profess the self-denying religion of the Lord Jesus. Christ, are guilty; the covetous man is never satisfied, but with the greediness of insatiable desire ever cries, give, give, and the more he possesses, the appetite for more still rages with increasing fury. But theman of a contented spirit with even a little is satisfied; having food and raiment, he is there with content, and partakes of the hard crust of poverty with a benignant and grateful smile; the less he has, so much the more illustriously does the noble grace of contentment discover itself in his disposition and language. Contentment is altogether inconsistent with an envious spirit: envy is one of the basest passions which can torment the human bosom; the envious man looks with a wistful eye upon the possessions and enjoyments of others, pines away at witnessing their prosperity, and derives an infernal gratification at beholding the sun of their felicity setting, and at perceiving the dark clouds of adversity and disappointment gathering around them. But the man of a contented spirit beholds with an undazzled eye the glitrering possessions of the prosperous, feels his happiness increased by their joy, and rejoices not in the downfall of those who at one time occupied a comfortable and independent position, but deeply and sincerely sympathises with them in their sad reverse. Contentment is inconsistent with excessive anxiety, with wasting and corroding care; feelings which spring from, and which generate distrust in, the care and providence of God; the contented man beholds goodness and mercy stamped upon every act of the Divine administration in reference to him, and is assured that the same benevolent principles will guide the Divine Being in all his dealings towards him for the future; for he knows "the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly:" therefore he trusts in God at all times, casts all his care upon the Most High, and beholds the Son of Promise spanning the dark and lowering firmament, cheering him with the pleasing thought, that behind a frowning Providence, God often hides a smiling face. Contentment is a cheerful and thankful acquiescence without condition and circumstances, even should they be adverse and unpropitious, is directly opposite to that corrosive fretfulness and repining temper which was so frequently manifested by the Israelites in the Wilderness, who, as new difficulty arose, murmured against the providence of God. The man of a contented spirit will not only say, just is the Lord in all his allotments, but good is the Lord in all his dispensations; he will deeply and gratefully acknowledge that God is good, not only when He gives, but also when He takes away or withholds, and He will resign at the call of God any temporal blessing, or earthly comfort without a murmuring or a rebellious thought. In contentment there is combination of Christian graces. Faith, love, patience, and humility are all found in it. By faith we see the hand of God in all the events of our history, and we discern the gracious design of the dispensations of heaven, even though adverse and painful. Love crushes in the heart the spirit of rebellion, and implants there a filial and loving confidence in our heavenly Father. Patience disposes us to sustain with a noble magnanimity the heavy burdens of disappointment and poverty; armed with it we travel through this howling wilderness; the briars and thorns which meet us in our journey are blunted and wound with less severity. By humility we feel our extreme unworthiness, we are taught the folly and impiety of murmuring against any act of the Divine Being in our case. It is most desirable that we should be taught this most important lesson which the Apostle so thoroughly learned, which suggests the important inquiry,-How is it learned? "I have learned," says the Apostle, "there are more hearers than learners." Some may be hearing the Gospel for ten, twenty, or thirty years; but what have you learned? What have you reduced to practice. The important duty of contentment is to be learned by the rich as well as by the poor, for discontent results not from the circumstances of any individual, but is an evil which dwells in the heart; and where it exists, no matter what the extent of a man's possessions may be, there is still a restless feeling of dissatisfaction, which makes the heart of the person, like the grave, never satisfied; for it is men's passions, not their circumstances or necessities, which are the instruments of their torture. Contentment is a plant, which does not naturally grow in the soil of the world, it cannot bloom in its polluted and selfish atmosphere; it can exist nowhere but in the regions of piety; it is possessed by none but by those who enjoy true religion. For until a man seek his supreme happiness in God; until the guilty sin be washed away |