A30598:213
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment
The rare jewel of Christian contentment wherein is showed, I. What contentment is, II. The holy art or mystery of it, III. Several lessons that Christ teacheth, to work the heart to contentment, IV. The excellencies of it, V. The evils of murmuring, VII. The aggravations of the sin of murmuring / by Jeremiah Burroughs.The rare jewel of Christian contentment wherein is shewed, I. What contentment is, II. The holy art or mystery of it, III. Several lessons that Christ teacheth, to work the heart to contentment, IV. The excellencies of it, V. The evils of murmuring, VII. The aggravations of the sin of murmuring / by Jeremiah Burroughs.
London: printed for Peter Cole, 1649
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
And those indeed that are in more honourable places than others, those that are under them think not of their burden that they are to carry upon their shoulders, when as others have means to ease them; and many times those that are employed in the Ministry, or Magistracy, that sit at the stern to order the great Affairs of the Common-wealth and State, you think they live bravely: they lie awake when you are asleep; if you knew the burden that lies upon their spirits, you would think that your labour and burden were very little in comparison of theirs.
And those indeed that are in more honourable places than others, those that are under them think not of their burden that they are to carry upon their shoulders, when as others have means to ease them; and many times those that are imployed in the Ministrie, or Majestracie, that sit at the stern to order the great Affairs of the Common-wealth and State, you think they live bravely: they lie awake when you are asleep; if you knew the burden that lies upon their spirits, you would think that your labour and burden were verie little in comparison of theirs.
2. There's another burden of danger more than the rest, and that you shall find in Numb. 4.17. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites, but thus do unto them that they may live and not die: When they approach unto the most holy things, Aaron and his sons shall go in and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden; but they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die. Mark this text: saith the Lord to Moses and Aaron, Cut ye not off the tribe of the family of the Kohathites from among the Levites. Cut them not off, why? what had they done? had they done any thing amiss? no, they had not done any thing that provoked God: but the meaning is this; Take a great care of the family of the Kohathites, to instruct them in their duty that they were to do; for (saith God) they are in a great deal of danger, being to serve in the most holy things: if they should go in to see the holy things more than God would have them, it is as much as their lives are worth, and therefore if you should but neglect them, and not inform them thoroughly in their duty they would be undone: (saith God) they are to administer in the most holy things, and if they should but dare to presume to do any thing otherwise than God would have them about those services, it would cost them their lives; and