A30598:358
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.
The first Aggravation of the sin of discontent and murmuring is this, For men and women to be discontent in the ⟨p. 152⟩midst of mercies, in enjoyment of abundance of mercies. To be discontent in any afflicted condition, is sinful and evil, but to be discontent when we are in the middest of Gods mercies, when we are not able to count the mercies of God, yet after to be discontent because we have not all we would have, this is a greater evil. I only mentioned this the last day, that I might show to you what a great sin it is at such a time as this. The Lord this summer hath multiplied mercies one upon another, the Lord hath made this summer to be a continued miracle of mercy; never did a Kingdom enjoy (in so little space of time) such mercies one upon another: Now the public mercies of God should quiet our hearts and keep us from discontent; and the sin of discontent for private afflictions is exceedingly aggravated by the consideration of public mercies to the Land; when the Lord hath bin so merciful to the Land, wilt thou be fretting and murmuring, because thou hast not in thy family all the comforts that thou wouldst have? As it is a great aggravation of a mans evil for him to rejoice immoderately in his own private comforts when the Church is in affliction, when the public suffers grievous and hard troubles, if any man shall then rejoice and give liberty to himself, at that time to satisfy his flesh to the uttermost in all outward comforts, this is a great aggravation of his sin: So on the contrary for any man to be immoderately troubled for any private afflictions when it goes well with the public, with the Churches, this is a great aggravation of his sin: It may be when the Church of God was lowest, and it went worst in other parts, yet thou didst abate nothing of the comfort of thy flesh, but gavest full liberty to satisfy thy flesh as formerly, know this was thy great sin; so on the other side when we have received such mercies in public, we should have all our private afflictions swallowed up in the public mercies▪ and we should think with our selves, though we be afflicted for our particular, yet (blessed be God) it goes well with the Church, and with the public;
The first Agravation of the sin of discontent and murmuring is this, For men and women to be discontent in the ⟨p. 152⟩mid'st of mercies, in enjoyment of abundance of mercies. To be discontent in any afflicted condition, is sinful and evil, but to be discontent when we are in the middest of Gods mercies, when we are not able to count the mercies of God, yet after to be discontent because we have not all we would have, this is a greater evil. I only mentioned this the last day, that I might shew to you what a great sin it is at such a time as this. The Lord this summer hath multiplied mercies one upon another, the Lord hath made this summer to be a continued miracle of mercie; never did a Kingdom enjoy (in so little space of time) such mercies one upon another: Now the publick mercies of God should quiet our hearts and keep us from discontent; and the sin of discontent for private afflictions is exceedingly aggravated by the consideration of publick mercies to the Land; when the Lord hath bin so merciful to the Land, wilt thou be feetting and murmuring, because thou hast not in thy family all the comforts that thou would'st have? As it is a great aggravation of a mans evill for him to rejoyce immoderately in his own private comforts when the Church is in affliction, when the publick suffers grievous and hard troubles, if any man shall then rejoyce and give liberty to himself, at that time to satisfie his flesh to the uttermost in all outward comforts, this is a great aggravation of his sin: So on the contrary for any man to be immoderately troubled for any private afflictions when it goes well with the publick, with the Churches, this is a great aggravation of his sin: It may be when the Church of God was lowest, and it went worst in other parts, yet thou didst abate nothing of the comfort of thy flesh, but gavest full liberty to satisfie thy flesh as formerly, know this was thy great sin; so on the other side when we have received such mercies in publick, we should have all our private afflictions swallowed up in the publick mercis and we should think with our selves, though we be afflicted for our particular, yet (blessed be God) it goes well with the Church, and with the publick;