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…

Certainly our contentment doth not consist in the getting of the thing we desire, but in Gods fashioning our spirits to our conditions, there's some men that have not a foot of ground of their own, yet will live better then other men that are heirs to a great deal of Land. I have known it in the country sometimes, that a man lives upon his own land, and yet lives very poorly, but you shall have another man that shall farm his Land, and yet by his good husbandry, and by his care shall live better sometimes, then he that hath the Land of his own, so a man by this art of Contentment may live better without an estate then another man can live of an estate, oh it ads exceeding much to the comfort of a Christian, and that I may show it farther, there is more comfort even in the Grace of Contentment then there is in any possessions whatsoever, a man hath more comfort in being content without a thing, then he can have in the thing that he in a discontented way doth desire.

Certainly our contentment doth not consist in the getting of the thing we desire, but in Gods fashioning our spirits to our conditions, there's some men that have not a foot of ground of their own, yet will live better then other men that are heirs to a great deal of Land. I have known it in the countrey sometimes, that a man lives upon his own land, and yet lives very poorly, but you shall have another man that shall farm his Land, and yet by his good husbandry, and by his care shall live better sometimes, then he that hath the Land of his own, so a man by this art of Contentment may live better without an estate then another man can live of an estate, oh it ads exceeding much to the comfort of a Christian, and that I may shew it farther, there is more comfort even in the Grace of Contentment then there is in any possessions whatsoever, a man hath more comfort in being content without a thing, then he can have in the thing that he in a discontened way doth desire.

You think if I had such a thing then I should be content. I say there is more good in Contentment, then there is in the thing that you would fallen have to cure your discontent, and ⟨p. 113⟩