A30598:547
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
THE SAINTS DUTY IN TIMES OF EXTREMITY.THE SAINTS DVTY IN TIMES OF EXTREMITY.
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.
As with wicked men, when God is in a way of wrath against the ungodly, he many times suffers them to prosper in the highest way, with the most flourishing prosperity that ever they had in their lives: So when he is in a way of salvation of his Saints, he lets them be in the lowest ebb that ever they were in in all their lives: As in Job, 20. saith the text there at the 5. verse, In the fullness of his sufficiency be shall be in straights. In the fullness of his sufficiency; what a phrase is here! A wicked man shall be in straits when he is full, when he hath sufficient (as he thinks,) in the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straights: and on the other side, a godly man in his greatest straights, he hath a fullness of sufficiency; I will show you that clear, in 2 Cor. 1.5. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ: We have a fullness of Consolation, when we have a fullness of Suffering; yea, not only abound, but do super abound, for so the word is; in 2 Cor. 7.4. I am (saith he) filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulations: We are brought into tribulation, into great straights, and I have a fullness filled with comfort, and exceeding joyful, more than abundantly-joyful; so the word signifies: there is abounding in the other text, but here is a super added to it, a super-abounding, more than joyful, not in times of prosperity only: Carnal hearts never know how to rejoice but in times of prosperity, when they can eat, and drink, and play, then they can be merry; but the Saints know how to joy, how to be filled with joy, how to abound in joy, and how to be exceedingly abounding in joy when they are in tribulation: Thus, as wicked men are in straights in their sufficiencies; so godly men when God is in a way of comfort, they may be in a way of great affliction, and the reason of it may be,
As with wicked men, when God is in a way of wrath against the ungodly, he many times suffers them to prosper in the highest way, with the most flourishing prosperity that ever they had in their lives: So when he is in a way of salvation of his Saints, he lets them be in the lowest ebb that ever they were in in al their lives: As in Job, 20. saith the text there at the 5. verse, In the fulness of his sufficiency be shall be in straights. In the fulness of his sufficiency; what a phrase is here! A wicked man shall be in straits when he is full, when he hath sufficient (as he thinks,) in the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straights: and on the other side, a godly man in his greatest straights, he hath a fulness of sufficiency; I will shew you that cleer, in