From The Art of Divine Contentment, by Thomas Watson
Paul, in regard of his faith and courage, was like a cedar, he could not be stirred; but for his outward condition, he was like a reed bending every way with the wind of providence.
It is our work to cast away care; and it is God’s work to take care.
The wise God hath ordered our condition; if he sees it better for us to abound, we shall abound.
Riches are thorns; art thou angry because God hath pulled away a thorn from thee? Perhaps thy affections, which are the feet of the soul, might have stuck so fast in this golden clay that they could not have ascended up to heaven.
Faith chides down passion; when reason begins to sink, let faith swim.
It is an easy thing to be wicked; hell will be taken without storm.
Contentment is a flower that doth not grow in every garden; it teacheth a man how in the midst of want to abound.
Christ is the pearl of price; when we disesteem this pearl, we shall never learn its value.
If men are rich, they learn to be covetous; thirsting insatiably after the world, and by unjust means scraping it together.
A gracious heart spies mercy in every condition, therefore hath his heart screwed up to thankfulness.
A man may read the figure on the dial, but he cannot tell how the day goes, unless the sun shines upon the dial: we may read the Bible over, but we can not learn the purpose, till the Spirit of God shines into our hearts.
Another man desires liberty, God sees restraint better for him; he will work his liberty by restraint; when his feet are bound, his heart shall be most enlarged.
The wise God sees that condition to be bad for one, which is good for another.
Contentment is a slip taken off from the tree of life, and planted by the Spirit of God in the soul.
Whatever we have is not merit, but bounty; the least bit of bread is more than God owes us; we can bring faggots to our own burning, but not one flower to the garland of our salvation.
Contentment lies within a man, in the heart; and the way to be comfortable, is not by having our barns filled, but our minds quiet.
God’s word must be the star that guides, and his will the weight that moves our obedience.
Did we believe this, it would give a check to the sinful disputes and cavils of our hearts: shall I be discontented at that which is enacted by a decree, and ordered by a providence? Is this to be a child or a rebel?
A man had better be at the trouble of setting a bone, than to be lame, and in pain all his life.
It is not trouble that troubles, but discontent; it is not the water without the ship, but the water that gets within the leak, which drowns it; it is not outward affliction that can make the life of a Christian sad; a contented mind would sail above these waters.
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