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The rare jewel of Christian contentment Wherein is showedThe rare jewel of Christian contentment Wherein is shewed
The rare jewel of Christian contentment Wherein is showed; 1. What contentment is. 2. The holy art or mystery of it. 3. Several lessons that Christ teacheth, to work the heart to contentment. 4. The excellencies of it. 5. The evils of murmuring. 6. The aggravations of the sin of murmuring. By Jeremiah Burroughs. The first of the eleven volumes that are published by Thomas Goodwin, William Greenhil, Sydrach Simpson, Philip Nigh, William Bridge, John Yates, William Adderly.The rare jewel of Christian contentment Wherein is shewed; 1. What contentment is. 2. The holy art or mystery of it. 3. Several lessons that Christ teacheth, to work the heart to contentment. 4. The excellencies of it. 5. The evils of murmuring. 6. The aggravations of the sin of murmuring. By Jeremiah Burroughs. The first of the eleven volumes that are published by Thomas Goodwin, William Greenhil, Sydrach Sympson, Philip Nye, William Bridge, John Yates, William Adderly.
London: printed for Ben. Billingsley, 1666
THE RARE JEWEL OF CHRISTIAN CONTENTMENT. › Sermon 2: At Stepney. Aug. 3. 1645.
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.
and that is the reason that many that are godly men that are in a low condition, live more sweet and comfortable lives than those that are richer: Contentment is not always clothed with silk, and purple, and velvets, but Contentment is sometimes in a russet suit, in a mean condition, as well as in a higher; and many men that sometimes have had great estates, and God hath brought them into a lower condition, they have had more Contentment in that condition than the other: Now how can that possible be? Thus easily, For if you did but understand the root of Contentment, it consists in the suitableness and proportion of the spirit of a man to his estate, and the evenness, when one end is not longer and bigger than another: the heart is contented, there is comfort in that condition; now let God give a man never so great riches, yet if the Lord gives him up to the pride of his heart, he will never be contented: But now let God bring any one into ⟨p. 31⟩a mean condition, and then let God but fashion and suit his heart to that condition and he will be content. As now in a mans going, Suppose a man had a mighty long Leg, and his other Leg were short, why, though one of his Legs be longer than ordinary, yet he could not go so well as a man that hath both his Legs shorter than he. I compare a long Leg, when one is longer than another, to a man that hath a high condition, and is very rich, and a great man in the world, but he hath a great proud heart too, that is longer and larger than his condition: now this man cannot but be troubled in his condition: Now another man that is in a mean condition, his condition is low, and his heart is low too; so that his heart and his condition is both even together, and this man goes on with more ease abundantly than the other doth: So that now a gracious heart works after this manner, The Lord hath been pleased to bring down my condition, now if the Lord bring down my heart and make it even with my condition, then I am well enough: And so when God brings down his condition, he doth not so much labour to raise up his condition again, as to bring down his heart to his condition: The Heathens themselves they had a little glimpse of this; they could say, That the best riches that is, it is the poverty of desires: that is a speech of a Heathen, that is, If a man or woman have their desires cut short;
and that is the reason that many that are godly men that are in a low condition, live more sweet and comfortable lives than those that are richer: Contentment is not alwayes cloathed with silk, and purple, and velvets, but Contentment is sometimes in a russet suit, in a mean condition, as well as in a higher; and many men that sometimes have had great estates, and God hath brought them into a lower condition, they have had more Contentment in that condition than the other: Now how can that possible be? Thus easily, For if you did but understand the root of Contentment, it consists in the sutableness and proportion of the spirit of a man to his estate, and the evenness, when one end is not longer and bigger than another: the heart is contented, there is comfort in that condition; now let God give a man never so great riches, yet if the Lord gives him up to the pride of his heart, he will never be contented: But now let God bring any one into