The rare jewel of Christian contentment. By Jeremiah Burroughs, preacher of the Gospel to…The rare jevvel of Christian contentment. By Jeremiah Burroughs, preacher of the Gospel to…

1 Much exercise of Grace, There is a composition of Grace in Contentment, there is faith, and there is humility, and love, and there is patience, and there is wisdom, and there is hope, all graces almost are compounded, it's an oil that hath the ingredients of all kind of graces; & therefore though you cannot see the particular grace yet in this oil you have it all; God sees the Graces of his Spirit exercised in a special manner, and this pleases God at the heart to see the Graces of his Spirit exercised. In some one action that you do you may exercise some one grace especially, but now in Contentment you exercise a great many graces at once.

1 Much exercise of Grace, There is a composition of Grace in Contentment, there is faith, and there is humillity, and love, and there is patience, and there is wisdom, and there is hope, all graces almost are compounded, it's an oyle that hath the ingredients of al kind of graces; & therfore though you cannot see the particular grace yet in this oyl you have it all; God sees the Graces of his Spirit exercised in a speciall manner, and this pleases God at the heart to see the Graces of his Spirit exercised. In some one action that you do you may exercise some one grace especially, but now in Contentment you exercise a great many graces at once.

2 There is a great deal of strength of Grace in Contentment, It argues a great deal of strength in the body, the body to be able to endure hard weather and whatsoever falls out, and yet not to be much altered by it; so it argues strength of Grace to be content: You that complain of weakness of memory, of weakness of parts, you cannot do what others do in other things, but have you this gracious heart-contentment that hath been opened to you? I know that you have attained to strength of Grace in this, when it is so spiritual as hath been opened to you in the explication of this point. As it is with a mans brain, if a man be distempered in his body, and hath many obstructions in his body, hath an ill stomach, and his spleen ⟨p. 104⟩and liver obstructed, and yet for all this his brain is not distempered, it is an argument of a great strength of brain, & though there be many ill fumes that riseth from his corrupt stomach, yet still his brain is not distempered but he continues in the free exercise of the use of his reason and understanding; every one may understand that this man hath a very strong brain, that such things shall not distemper him, whereas other people that have a weak brain, if they do not digest but one meals meat, the fumes that do arise from their stomachs, doth distemper their brain & makes them unfit for every thing, whereas you shall have others that have strong heads, and strong brains, though their stomachs be ill that they do not digest meat, yet still they have the free use of their brain, this argues strength: So it is in a mans spirit, you shall have many that have weak spirits, and if they have any ill fumes, if accidents do befall them you shall presently have them out of temper, but you shall have other men that though things do fume up yet still they keep in a steady way, and have the use of reason and of their graces, and possess their Souls with patience. As I remember it's reported of the Eagle, it's not like other fouls, other fouls when they are hungry make an noise, but the Eagle is never heard to make an noise though it wants food, and it is from the magnitude of his spirit that it will not make such complaints as other fowls will do when they want food, it is because it is above hunger, and above thirst: