More Watson On Contentment

We live in an age where men dare to reproach God Himself. The divinity of the Son of God is blasphemously reproached by the Socinian. The blessed Bible is reproached by the Antiscripturist, as if it were but a legend of lies, and every man's faith a fable. The justice of God is called to the bar of reason by the Arminian. The wisdom of God in His providential acts is questioned by the atheist. The ordinances of God are decried by some a s being too heavy a burden for a freeborn conscience, and too low and carnal for a sublime, seraphic spirit. The ways of God, which have the majesty of holiness shining in them, are calumniated by the profane. The mouths of men are open against god as if He were a hard Master, and the path of religion too strict and severe. If man cannot give God a good word, shall we be discontented or troubled that they speak harshly of us? Such as labor to bury the glory of religion, shall we wonder that their throats are open sepulchres to bury our good name? Oh, let us be contented to have our names sullied a little while we are in God's scourging-house! The blacker we seem to be Here, the brighter we shall shine when God sets us upon the celestial shelf.-Thomas Watson, The Art Of Divine Contentment