Watson, near the close of his book, sets forth some rules for being contented:
Rule 13. Get fancy regulated. It is the fancy which raiseth the price of things above their real worth. What is the reason one tulip is worth five pounds, another perhaps not worth one shilling? Fancy raiseth the price; the difference is rather imaginary than real; so, why it should be better to have thousands than hundreds, is, because men fancy it so; if we could fancy a lower condition better, as having less care in it, and less account, it would be far more eligible. The water that springs out of the rock, drinks as sweet as if it came out a golden chalice; things are as we fancy them. Ever since the fall, the fancy is distempered; God saw that the imagination of the thoughts of his heart were evil. (Ge. 6. 5) Fancy looks through wrong spectacles; pray that God will sanctify your fancy; a lower condition would content, if the mind and fancy were set right. Diogenes preferred his cynical life before Alexander’s royalty: he fancied his little cloister best. Fabricius a poor man, yet despised the gold of king Pyrrhus. Could we cure a distempered fancy, we might soon conquer a discontented heart.
Thomas Watson lived from 1620-1686, in England. He wrote several books which survive. This blog, thank God, has posted excerpts from his The Art of Divine Contentment: An Exposition of Philippians 4:11, over a number of weeks, on Sundays.
My source for the text is here, and I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this text (and many others) available. The previous excerpt is here.
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The title is from Psalm 84:11.
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Showing posts with label desires. Show all posts
Showing posts with label desires. Show all posts
Sunday, August 11, 2019
Sunday, June 30, 2019
The Art of Divine Contentment: An Exposition of Philippians 4:11 by Thomas Watson. Excerpt 83
Watson, near the close of his book, sets forth some rules for becoming contented:
Rule 5. Learn to deny yourselves. Look well to your affections, bridle them in. Do two things: mortify your desires; moderate your delights.
1. Mortify your desires. We must not be of the dragon’s temper, who, they say, is so thirsty, that no water will quench his thirst: “mortify therefore your inordinate affections.” (Col. 3.5) In the Greek it is, your evil affections; to show that our desires, when they are inordinate, are evil. Crucify your desires; be as dead men; a dead man hath no appetite.
How should a Christian martyr his desires?
(1.) Get a right judgment of the things here below; they are mean beggarly things; “wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?” (Pr. 23. 5) The appetite must be guided by reason; the affections are the feet of the soul; therefore they must follow the judgment, not lead it.
(2.) Often seriously meditate of mortality: death will soon crop these flowers which we delight in, and pull down the fabric of those bodies which we so garnish and beautify. Think, when you are looking up your money in your chest, who shall shortly lock you up in your coffin.
2. Moderate your delights. Set not your heart too much upon any creature, (Is. 62. 10) what we over-love, we shall over-grieve. Rachel set her heart too much upon her children, and when she had lost them, she lost herself too; such a vein of grief was opened as could not be staunched, “she refused to be comforted.” Here was discontent. When we let any creature lie too near our heart, when God pulls away that comfort, a piece of our heart is rent away with it. Too much fondness ends in frowardness. Those that would be content in the want of mercy, must be moderate in the enjoyment. Jonathan dipt the rod in honey, he did not thrust it in. Let us take heed of ingulphing ourselves in pleasure; better have a spare diet, than, by having too much, to surfeit.
Thomas Watson lived from 1620-1686, in England. He wrote several books which survive. This blog, thank God, has posted excerpts from his The Art of Divine Contentment: An Exposition of Philippians 4:11, over a number of weeks, on Sundays.
My source for the text is here, and I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this text (and many others) available. The previous excerpt is here.
Rule 5. Learn to deny yourselves. Look well to your affections, bridle them in. Do two things: mortify your desires; moderate your delights.
1. Mortify your desires. We must not be of the dragon’s temper, who, they say, is so thirsty, that no water will quench his thirst: “mortify therefore your inordinate affections.” (Col. 3.5) In the Greek it is, your evil affections; to show that our desires, when they are inordinate, are evil. Crucify your desires; be as dead men; a dead man hath no appetite.
How should a Christian martyr his desires?
(1.) Get a right judgment of the things here below; they are mean beggarly things; “wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?” (Pr. 23. 5) The appetite must be guided by reason; the affections are the feet of the soul; therefore they must follow the judgment, not lead it.
(2.) Often seriously meditate of mortality: death will soon crop these flowers which we delight in, and pull down the fabric of those bodies which we so garnish and beautify. Think, when you are looking up your money in your chest, who shall shortly lock you up in your coffin.
2. Moderate your delights. Set not your heart too much upon any creature, (Is. 62. 10) what we over-love, we shall over-grieve. Rachel set her heart too much upon her children, and when she had lost them, she lost herself too; such a vein of grief was opened as could not be staunched, “she refused to be comforted.” Here was discontent. When we let any creature lie too near our heart, when God pulls away that comfort, a piece of our heart is rent away with it. Too much fondness ends in frowardness. Those that would be content in the want of mercy, must be moderate in the enjoyment. Jonathan dipt the rod in honey, he did not thrust it in. Let us take heed of ingulphing ourselves in pleasure; better have a spare diet, than, by having too much, to surfeit.
Thomas Watson lived from 1620-1686, in England. He wrote several books which survive. This blog, thank God, has posted excerpts from his The Art of Divine Contentment: An Exposition of Philippians 4:11, over a number of weeks, on Sundays.
My source for the text is here, and I thank the Christian Classics Ethereal Library for making this text (and many others) available. The previous excerpt is here.
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