Regi Addictissimus
Completely sold out to the King
5. It moves us to the study of contentment.
XXIX. Fifth, the divine simplicity teaches us to acquiesce to our lot, however
simple it may be. For the more simple anything is, the more constant it is, and
durable, whereas the more composite, likewise the more dissoluble and corruptible.
Thus, God is most immutable because he is most simple, while on
the contrary the angels, because they exist with qualities that are distinct from
their essence, were able to be corrupted by sin, and material things are the more
corruptible the more composite they are, just as we see if we compare stable
chemical elements with substances that are mixed. When it comes to our lot,
the exact same is true: the more simple, the more solid, and the more variegated
from composition by wealth, honors, friends, the more mutable, and the
more you are distracted by so many objects, the more you are liable to cares and
anxieties (Luke 10:41), for the more you possess, the more you can lose. It is thus
on this account that we should, in godly self-sufficiency, accustom our soul to
simplicity, and should substitute, for the variety of things, the one God who is
most sufficient in every way for all things (Gen. 17:1), who is accordingly for us
the one thing necessary (Luke 10:42). So then let us possess him as our lot, with
a simple acquiescence, and other things as corollaries (Matt. 6:33), looking to
the apostle, who urges this contentment (1 Tim. 6:6) and lights our way in it
with his own example (Phil. 4:11–12).
Petrus van Mastricht (2019). Theoretical-Practical Theology (Vol. 2). Trans. Todd M. Rester. Ed. Joel R. Beeke. Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books.
