Product Description
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.
Original Publication Date: 1648
Banner Publication Date: December 1964
Topic: Contentment; Christian Living
Pages: 232
Table of Contents:
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
Review:
Author
Jeremiah Burroughs combined harmoniously in his own person what might be considered incompatible qualities: a fervent zeal for purity of doctrine and worship, and a peaceable spirit, which longed and laboured for Christian unity.
For the first of these qualities the Puritans are renowned; in the second, they are deemed by some critics to have been deficient. A close study of the problem suggests that, as a whole, the Puritans were no more and no less concerned about the visible unity of the Church than is the Word of God. But in the case of Burroughs, certainly, we are faced with a man who, among his contemporaries and colleagues, was recognized as outstanding for his conciliatory temper and efforts.
Of Burroughs himself, it was said that his heart was broken by the divisions among the Puritan reformers in the 1640's and that this contributed to his premature death at the age of forty-seven.
