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The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment: Puritan Paperbacks

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment: Puritan Paperbacks


£4.75 £5.75
Product Details
Publisher Banner of Truth
Year 2009
ISBN 9780851510910

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.

 

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
  1. 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


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