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]]>Jeremiah Burroughs is worthily reckoned as belonging to the front rank of English puritan preachers. As such he played a prominent part in the Westminster Assembly of divines, but died prematurely before the Assembly’s work was concluded.
Burrough’s writings, some published before and others after his death, were numerous, but The Rare-Jewel of Christian Contentment is one of the most valuable of them all. Its author was much concerned to promote (1) peace among believers of various ‘persuasions’ (2) peace and contentment in the hearts of individual believers during what he describes as ‘sad and sinking times’. The Rare Jewel concentrates upon this second aim. It is marked by sanity, clarity, aptness of illustration, and warmth of appeal to the heart. ‘There is an ark that you may come into, and no men in the world may live such comfortable, cheerful and contented lives as the saints of God’. Burroughs presses his lesson home with all the fervour and cogency of a true and faithful minister of God.
Biographical Introduction | 11 | ||
1 | Christian Contentment Described | 17 | |
I | It is inward | 20 | |
II | It is quiet | 21 | |
What this is not opposed to | 21 | ||
What it is opposed to | 22 | ||
III | It is a frame of spirit | 25 | |
IV | It is a qracious frame | 29 | |
V | It freely submits to God’s disposal | 31 | |
VI | It submits to God’s disposal | 33 | |
VII | It takes pleasure in God’s disposal | 33 | |
VIII | It submits and takes pleasure in God’s disposal | 35 | |
IX | It does this in every condition | 36 | |
2 | The Mystery of Contentment | 41 | |
I | A Christian is content, yet unsatisfied | 42 | |
II | He comes to contentment by subtraction | 45 | |
III | By adding another burden to himself | 47 | |
IV | By changing the affliction into something else | 49 | |
V | By doing the work of his circumstances | 51 | |
VI | By melting his will into God’s will | 53 | |
VII | By purging out what is within | 55 | |
3 | The Mystery of Contentment – continued | 56 | |
VIII | He lives on the dew of God’s blessing | 56 | |
IX | He sees God’s love in afflictions | 60 | |
X | His afflictions are sanctified in Christ | 60 | |
Xl | He gets strength from Christ | 62 | |
XII | He makes up his wants in God | 65 | |
XIII | He gets contentment from the Covenant | 69 | |
4 | The Mystery of Contentment – concluded | 74 | |
He supplies wants by what he finds in himself | 74 | ||
He gets supply from the Covenant | 78 | ||
I. The Covenant in general | 78 | ||
2. Particular promises in the Covenant | 80 | ||
XIV | He realizes the things of Heaven | 83 | |
XV | He opens his heart to God | 84 | |
5 | How Christ Teaches Contentment | 86 | |
I | The lesson of self-denial | 86 | |
II | The vanity of the creature | 91 | |
III | To know the one thing needful | 92 | |
IV | To know one’s relation to the world | 93 | |
V | Wherein the good of the creature is | 97 | |
VI | The knowledge of one’s own heart | 99 | |
6 | How Christ Teaches Contentment- Concluded | 103 | |
VII | The burden of a prosperous condition | 103 | |
VIII | The evil of being given up to one’s heart’s desires | 109 | |
IX | The right knowledge of God’s providence | 111 | |
7 | The Excellence of Contentment | 118 | |
I | By it we give God his due worship | 119 | |
II | In it is much exercise of grace | 121 | |
III | The soul is fitted to receive mercy | 124 | |
IV | It is fitted to do service | 125 | |
V | It delivers from temptations | 126 | |
VI | It brings abundant comforts | 128 | |
VII | It gets the comfort of things not possessed | 129 | |
VIII | It is a great blessing on the soul | 133 | |
IX | A contented man may expect reward | 133 | |
X | By it the soul comes nearest the excellence of God | 134 | |
8 | The Evils of a Murmuring Spirit | 136 | |
I | It argues much corruption in the soul | 137 | |
II | It is the mark of an ungodly man | 138 | |
III | Murmuring is accounted rebellion | 139 | |
IV | It is contrary to grace, especially in conversion | 141 | |
V | It is below a Christian | 144 | |
9 | The Evils of a Murmuring Spirit – concluded | 152 | |
VI | By murmuring we undo our prayers | 152 | |
VII | The evil effects of murmuring | 153 | |
VIII | Discontent is a foolish sin | 157 | |
IX | It provokes the wrath of God | 161 | |
X | There is a curse on it | 165 | |
XI | There is much of the spirit of Satan in it | 166 | |
XII | It brings an absolute necessity of disquiet | 167 | |
XIII | God may withdraw his protection | 167 | |
10 | Aggravations of the Sin of Murmuring | 170 | |
I | The greater the mercies the greater the sin of murmuring | 170 | |
II | When we murmur for small things | 176 | |
III | When men of gifts and abilities murmur | 178 | |
IV | The freeness of God’s mercy | 178 | |
V | When we have the things for the want of which we were discontented | 178 | |
VI | When men are raised from a low position | 179 | |
VII | When men have been great sinners | 180 | |
VIII | When men are of little use in the world | 180 | |
IX | When God is about to humble us | 181 | |
X | When God’s hand is apparent in an Affliction | 182 | |
XI | When God has afflicted us for a long time | 183 | |
11 | The Excuses of a Discontented Heart | 185 | |
I | ‘It is a sense of my condition’ | 185 | |
II | ‘I am troubled for my sin’ | 186 | |
III | ‘God withdraws himself from me’ | 188 | |
IV | ‘It is men’s bad treatment that troubles me’ | 190 | |
V | ‘I never expected this affliction’ | 191 | |
VI | ‘My affliction is so great’ | 192 | |
VII | ‘My affliction is greater than others’ | 193 | |
VIII | ‘If the affliction were any other, I could be content’ | 194 | |
IX | ‘My afflictions make me unserviceable to God’ | 195 | |
X | ‘My condition is unsettled’ | 199 | |
XI | ‘I have been in a better condition’ | 202 | |
XII | ‘I am crossed after taking great pains’ | 204 | |
XIII | ‘I do not break out in discontent’ | 205 | |
12 | How to Attain Contentment | 207 | |
I Considerations to content the heart in any afflicted condition | 207 | ||
1 | The greatness of the mercies we have | 207 | |
2 | God is beforehand with us with his mercies | 208 | |
3 | The abundance of mercies God bestows | 209 | |
4 | All creatures are in a vicissitude | 209 | |
5 | The creatures suffer for us | 210 | |
6 | We have but little time in the world | 211 | |
7 | This has been the condition of our betters | 211 | |
8 | We were content with the world without grace, and should be now with grace without the world | 213 | |
9 | We did not give God the glory when we had our desires | 213 | |
10 | The experience of God doing us good in afflictions | 213 | |
13 | How to Attain Contentment-concluded | 216 | |
II Directions for attaining contentment | 216 | ||
1 | There must be grace to make the soul steady | 216 | |
2 | Do not grasp too much of the world | 216 | |
3 | Have a call to every business | 217 | |
4 | Walk by rule | 217 | |
5 | Exercise much faith | 219 | |
6 | Labour to be spiritually-minded | 219 | |
7 | Do not promise yourselves great things | 220 | |
8 | Get hearts mortified to the world | 221 | |
II Directions for attaining contentment- continued | |||
9 | Do not pore too much on afflictions | 222 | |
10 | Make a good interpretation of God’s ways to you | 223 | |
11 | Do not regard the fancies of other men | 225 | |
12 | Do not be inordinately taken up with the comforts of the world | 226 |
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