A30598:277
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.
First, That we should he humbled in our hearts for the want of this, that we have had so little of this grace in us. For there is no way to set upon any duty with profit, till the heart be humbled for the want of the performance of the duty before; many men when they hear of a duty that they should perform, they will labour to perform it, but first thou must be humbled for the want of it, therefore that's the thing that I shall endeavour in the Application, to get your hearts to be humbled for the want of this grace; Oh had I had this grace of Contentment, what a happy life I might have lived? what abundance of honour I might have brought to the Name of God? and how might I have honoured my profession? and what a deal of comfort might I have enjoyed? but the Lord knows it hath been far otherwise, Oh how far have I been from this grace of Contentment that hath been opened to me? I have had a murmuring, a vexing and a fretting heart within me, every little cross hath put me out of temper and out of frame, Oh the boisterousness of my spirit, what a deal of evil doth God see in my heart, in the vexing and fretting of my heart, and murmuring and repining of my spirit? Oh that God would make you to see it: Now to the end that you might be humbled for the want of this, I shall endeavour in these particulars to speak unto it.
First, That we should he humbled in our hearts for the want of this, that we have had so little of this grace in us. For there is no way to set upon any duty with profit, till the heart be humbled for the want of the performance of the duty before; many men when they hear of a duty that they should perform, they will labour to perform it, but first thou must be humbled for the want of it, therefore that's the thing that I shall endeavour in the Application, to get your hearts to be humbled for the want of this grace; Oh had I had this grace of Contentment, what a happy life I might have lived? what abundance of honour I might have brought to the Name of God? and how might I have honoured my profession? and what a deal of comfort might I have enjoyed? but the Lord knows it hath been far otherwise, Oh how far have I been from this grace of Contentment that hath been opened to me? I have had a murmuring, a vexing and a fretting heart within me, every little crosse hath put me out of temper and out of frame, Oh the boisterousnesse of my spirit, what a deal of evil doth God see in my heart, in the vexing and fretting of my heart, and murmuring and repining of my spirit? Oh that God would make you to see it: Now to the end that you might be humbled for the want of this, I shall endeavour in these particulars to speak unto it.