Christian Contentment Part 2

The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
20
9. THE LAST THING IS, THIS IS IN EVERY CONDITION.
Now we shall enlarge on this a little.
1. Submitting to God in whatever affliction befalls us: as to the kind of affliction.
2. As to the time and continuance of the affliction.
3. As to the variety and changes of affliction: whatever they are, yet there must
be a submission to God's disposal in every condition.
1. As to the kind of affliction. Many men and women will in general say that they
must submit to God in affliction; I suppose that if you were to go now from one
end of this congregation to the other, and speak thus to every soul: 'Would you
not submit to God's disposal, in whatever condition he might place you?', you
would say, 'God forbid that it should be otherwise!' But we have a saying, There
is a great deal of deceit in general statements. In general, you would submit to
anything; but what if it is in this or that particular case which crosses you most?-
Then, anything but that! We are usually apt to think that any condition is better
than that condition in which God has placed us. Now, this is not contentment; it
should be not only to any condition in general, but for the kind of affliction,
including that which most crosses you. God, it may be, strikes you in your child.-
'Oh, if it had been in my possessions' you say, 'I would be content!' Perhaps he
strikes you in your marriage. 'Oh,' you say, 'I would rather have been stricken in
my health.' And if he had struck you in your health-'Oh, then, if it had been in
my trading, I would not have cared.' But we must not be our own carvers.
Whatever particular afflictions God may place us in, we must be content in them.
2. There must be a submission to God in every affliction, as to the time and
continuance of the affliction. 'Perhaps I could submit and be content', says
someone, 'but this affliction has been on me a long time, three months, a year,
many years, and I do not know how to yield and submit to it, my patience is
worn out and broken.' I may even be a spiritual affliction-you could submit to
God, you say, in any outward affliction, but not in a soul-affliction.
Or if it were the withdrawing of God's face-'Yet if this had been but for a little
time I could submit; but to seek God for so long and still he does not appear, Oh
how shall I bear this?' We must not be our own disposers for the time of
deliverance any more than for the kind and way of deliverance.
I will give you a Scripture or two about this. That we are to submit to God for the
time as well as the kind of affliction, see the latter end of the first chapter of
Ezekiel: 'When I saw it I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that
spake.' The Prophet was cast down upon his face, but how long must he lie upon
his face? 'And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet and I will speak
unto thee. And the spirit entered into me, when he spake unto me, and set me
upon my feet.' Ezekiel was cast down upon his face, and there he must lie till
God should bid him to stand up; yea, and not only so, but till God's Spirit came
into him and enabled him to stand up. So when God casts us down, we must be
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
21
content to lie till God bids us stand up, and God's Spirit enters into us to enable
us to stand up. You know how Noah was put into the Ark-certainly he knew there
was much affliction in the Ark, with all kinds of creatures shut up with him for
twelve months together-it was a mighty thing, yet God having shut him up, even
though the waters were assuaged, Noah was not to come out of the Ark till God
bid him. So though we be shut up in great afflictions, and we may think of this
and that and the other means to come out of that affliction, yet till God opens
the door, we should be willing to stay; God has put us in, and God will bring us
out. So we read in the Acts of Paul, when they had shut him in prison and would
have sent for him out; 'No', says Paul, 'they shut us in, let them come and fetch
us out.' So in a holy, gracious way should a soul say, 'Well, this affliction that I
am brought into, is by the hand of God, and I am content to be here till God
brings me out himself.' God requires it at our hands, that we should not be
willing to come out till he comes and fetches us out.
In Joshua 4:10 there is a remarkable story that may serve our purpose very
well: We read of the priests that they bore the ark and stood in the midst of
Jordan (you know when the Children of Israel went into the land of Canaan they
went through the river Jordan). Now to go through the river Jordan was a very
dangerous thing, but God had told them to go. They might have been afraid of
the water coming in upon them. But mark, it is said, 'The priests that bare the
ark stood in the midst of Jordan till every thing was finished that the Lord
commanded Joshua to speak unto the people, according to all that Moses
commanded Joshua, and the people hasted and passed over: And it came to
pass when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the Lord passed
over, and the priests in the presence of the people.' Now it was God's disposal
that all the people should pass over first, that they should be safe on land; but
the priests must stand still till all the people had passed over, and then they
must have leave to go. But they must stay till God would have them to go, stay
in all that danger! For certainly, to reason and sense, there was a great deal of
danger in staying, for the text says that the people hasted over, but the priests
they must stay till the people have gone, stay till God calls them out from that
place of danger. And so many times it proves the case that God is pleased to
dispose of things so that his ministers must stay longer in danger than the
people, and likewise magistrates and those in public places, which should make
people to be satisfied and contented with a lower position into which God has put
them. Though your position is low, yet you are not in the same danger as those
who are in a higher position. God calls those in public positions to stand longer in
the gap and place of danger than other people, but we must be content to stay
even in Jordan till the Lord shall be pleased to call us out.
3. And then for the variety of our condition. We must be content with the
particular affliction, and the time, and all the circumstances about the afflictionfor
sometimes the circumstances are greater afflictions than the afflictions
themselves-and for the variety. God may exercise us with various afflictions one
after another, as has been very noticeable, even of late, that many who have
been plundered and come away, afterwards have fallen sick and died; they had
fled for their lives and afterwards the plague has come among them; and if not
that affliction, it may be some other. It is very rarely that one affliction comes
alone; commonly, afflictions are not single things, but they come one upon the
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
22
neck of another. God may strike one man in his possessions, then in his body,
then in his name, wife, child or dear friend, and so it comes in a variety of ways;
it is the way of God ordinarily (you may find it by experience) that one affliction
seldom comes alone. Now this is hard, when one affliction follows after another,
when there is a variety of afflictions, when there is a mighty change in one's
condition, up and down, this way, and that: there indeed is the trial of a
Christian. Now there must be submission to God's disposal in them. I remember
it was said even of Cato, who was a Heathen, that no man saw him to be
changed, though he lived in a time when the commonwealth was so often
changed; yet it is said of him, he was the same still, though his condition was
changed, and he passed through a variety of conditions. Oh that the same could
be said of many Christians, that though their circumstances are changed, yet
that nobody could see them changed, they are the same! Did you see what a
gracious, sweet and holy temper they were in before? They are in it still. Thus
are we to submit to the disposal of God in every condition.
Contentment is the inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, freely submitting to
and taking pleasure in God's disposal in every condition: That is the description,
and in it nine distinct things have been opened up which we summarize as
follows: First, that contentment is a heart-work within the soul; Secondly, it is
the quieting of the heart; Thirdly, it is the frame of the spirit; Fourthly, it is a
gracious frame; Fifthly, it is the free working of this gracious frame; Sixthly,
there is in it a submission to God, sending the soul under God; Seventhly, there
is a taking pleasure in the hand of God; Eighthly, all is traced to God's disposal;
Ninthly, in every condition, however hard it be and however long it continue.
Now those of you who have learned to be content, have learned to attain to
these various things. I hope that the very opening of these things may so far
work on your hearts that you may lay your hands upon your hearts on what has
been said, I say, that the very telling you what the lesson is may cause you to
lay your hands on your hearts and say, 'Lord, I see there is more to Christian
contentment than I thought there was, and I have been far from learning this
lesson. Indeed, I have only learned my ABC in this lesson of contentment. I am
only in the lower form in Christ's school if I am in it at all.' We shall speak of
these things more later, but my particular aim in opening this point is to show
what a great mystery there is in Christian contentment, and how many distinct
lessons there are to be learned, that we may come to attain to this heavenly
disposition, to which St. Paul attained.
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
23
THE MYSTERY OF CONTENTMENT
But you will object: What you speak of is very good, if we could attain to it; but
is it possible for anyone to attain to this? It is possible if you get skill in the art of
it; you may attain to it, and it will prove to be not such a difficult thing either, if
you but understand the mystery of it. There are many things that men do in their
callings, that if a countryman comes and sees, he thinks it a mighty hard thing,
and that he should never be able to do it. But that is because he does not
understand the art of it; there is a twist of the hand by which you may do it with
ease. Now that is the business of this book, to open to you the art and mystery
of contentment.
There is a great mystery and art in what way a Christian comes to contentment.
By what has been already opened to you there will appear some mystery and
art, as that a man should be content with his affliction, and yet thoroughly
sensible of his affliction too; to be thoroughly sensible of an affliction, and to
endeavor to remove it by all lawful means, and yet to be content: there is a
mystery in that. How to join these two together: to be sensible of an affliction as
much as a man or woman who is not content; I am sensible of it as fully as they,
and I seek ways to be delivered from it as well as they, and yet still my heart
abides content-this is, I say, a mystery, that is very hard for a carnal heart to
understand. But grace teaches such a mixture, teaches us how to make a
mixture of sorrow and a mixture of joy together; and that makes contentment,
the mingling of joy and sorrow, of gracious joy and gracious sorrow together.
Grace teaches us how to moderate and to order an affliction so that there shall
be a sense of it, and yet for all that contentment under it.
There are several things for opening the mystery of contentment.
1. THE FIRST THING IS, TO SHOW THAT THERE IS A GREAT MYSTERY IN IT.
It may be said of one who is contented in a Christian way that he is the most
contented man in the world, and yet the most unsatisfied man in the world;
these two together must needs be mysterious. I say, a contented man, just as
he is the most contented, so he is the most unsatisfied man in the world.
You never learned the mystery of contentment unless it may be said of you that,
just as you are the most contented man, so you are also the most unsatisfied
man in the world.
You will say, 'How is that?' A man who has learned the art of contentment is the
most contented with any low condition that he has in the world, and yet he
cannot be satisfied with the enjoyment of all the world. He is contented if he has
but a crust, but bread and water, that is, if God disposes of him, for the things of
the world, to have but bread and water for his present condition, he can be
satisfied with God's disposal in that; yet if God should give unto him Kingdoms
and Empires, all the world to rule, if he should give it him for his portion, he
would not be satisfied with that. Here is the mystery of it: though his heart is so
enlarged that the enjoyment of all the world and ten thousand worlds cannot
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
24
satisfy him for his portion; yet he has a heart quieted under God's disposal, if he
gives him but bread and water. To join these two together must needs be a great
art and mystery.
Though he is contented with God in a little, yet those things that would content
other men will not content him. The men of the world seek after wealth, and
think if they had thus much, and thus much, they would be content. They do not
aim at great things; but if I had, perhaps some man thinks, only two or three
hundred a year, then I should be well enough; if I had but a hundred a year, or a
thousand a year, says another, then I should be satisfied. But a gracious heart
says that if he had ten hundred thousand times so much a year, it would not
satisfy him; if he had the quintessence of all the excellences of all the creatures
in the world, it could not satisfy him; and yet this man can sing, and be merry
and joyful when he has only a crust of bread and a little water in the world.
Surely religion is a great mystery! Great is the mystery of godliness, not only in
the doctrinal part of it, but in the practical part of it also.
Godliness teaches us this mystery, Not to be satisfied with all the world for our
portion, and yet to be content with the meanest condition in which we are. When
Luther was sent great gifts by Dukes and Princes, he refused them, and he says,
'I did vehemently protest that God should not put me off so; 'tis not that which
will content me.' A little in the world will content a Christian for his passage.
Mark, here lies the mystery of it, A little in the world will content a Christian for
his passage, but all the world, and ten thousand times more, will not content a
Christian for his portion. A carnal heart will be content with these things of the
world for his portion; and that is the difference between a carnal heart and a
gracious heart. But a gracious heart says, 'Lord, do with me what you will for my
passage through this world; I will be content with that, but I cannot be content
with all the world for my portion.' So there is the mystery of true contentment. A
contented man, though he is most contented with the least things in the world,
yet he is the most dissatisfied man that lives in the world.
A soul that is capable of God can be filled with nothing else but God; nothing but
God can fill a soul that is capable of God. Though a gracious heart knows that it
is capable of God, and was made for God, carnal hearts think without reference
to God. But a gracious heart, being enlarged to be capable of God, and enjoying
somewhat of him, can be filled by nothing in the world; it must only be God
himself. Therefore you will observe, that whatever God may give to a gracious
heart, a heart that is godly, unless he gives himself it will not do. A godly heart
will not only have the mercy, but the God of that mercy as well; and then a little
matter is enough in the world, so be it he has the God of the mercy which he
enjoys. In Philippians 4:7, 9 (I need go no further to show clear Scripture for
this) compare verse 7 with verse 9: 'And the peace of God which passeth all
understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.' The peace
of God shall keep your hearts. Then in verse 9: 'Those things which ye have both
learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace
shall be with you.' The peace of God shall keep you, and the God of peace shall
be with you.
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
25
Here is what I would observe from this text. That the peace of God is not enough
to a gracious heart except it may have the God of that peace. A carnal heart
could be satisfied if he might but have outward peace, though it is not the pace
of God; peace in the state, and his trading, would satisfy him. But mark how a
godly heart goes beyond a carnal. All outward peace is not enough; I must have
the peace of God. But suppose you have the peace of God. Will that not quiet
you? No, I must have the God of peace; as the peace of God so the God of
peace. That is, I must enjoy that God who gives me the peace; I must have the
Cause as well as the effect. I must see from whence my peace comes, and enjoy
the Fountain of my peace, as well as the stream of my peace. And so in other
mercies: have I health from God? I must have the God of my health to be my
portion, or else I am not satisfied. It is not life, but the God of my life; it is not
riches, but the God of those riches, that I must have, the God of my
preservation, as well as my preservation.
A gracious heart is not satisfied without this: to have the God of the mercy, as
well as the mercy. In Psalm 73:25, 'Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there
is none upon the earth that I desire beside thee.' There is nothing in heaven or
earth that can satisfy me, but yourself. If God gave you not only earth but
heaven, that you should rule over sun, moon and stars, and have the rule over
the highest of the sons of men, it would not be enough to satisfy you, unless you
had God himself. There lies the first mystery of contentment. And truly a
contented man, though he is the most contented man in the world, is the most
dissatisfied man in the world; that is, those things that will satisfy the world, will
not satisfy him.
2. A CHRISTIAN COMES TO CONTENTMENT, NOT SO MUCH BY WAY OF
ADDITION, AS BY WAY OF SUBTRACTION.
That is his way of contentment, and it is a way that the world has no skill in. I
open it thus: not so much by adding to what he would have, or to what he has,
not by adding more to his condition; but rather by subtracting from his desires,
so as to make his desires and his circumstances even and equal.
A carnal heart knows no way to be contented but this: I have such and such
possessions, and if I had this added to them, and the other comfort added that I
have not now, then I should be contented. perhaps I have lost my possessions, if
I could only have given to me something to make up my loss, then I should be a
contented man. But contentment does not come in that way, it does not come, I
say, by adding to what you want, but by subtracting from your desires. It is all
one to a Christian, whether I get up to what I would have, or get my desires
down to what I have, either to attain what I do desire, or to bring down my
desires to what I have already attained. My wealth is the same, for it is as fitting
for me to bring my desire down to my circumstances, as it is to raise up my
circumstances to my desire.
Now I say that a heart that has no grace, and is not instructed in this mystery of
contentment, knows of no way to get contentment, but to have his possessions
raised up to his desires; but the Christian has another way to contentment, that
is, he can bring his desires down to his possessions, and so he attains his
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
26
contentment. Thus the Lord fashions the hearts of the children of men. If the
heart of a man is fashioned to his circumstances, he may have as much
contentment as if his circumstances were fashioned to his heart. Some men have
a mighty large heart, but they have straitened circumstances, and they can
never have contentment when they hearts are big and their circumstances are
little. But though a man cannot bring his circumstances to be as great as his
heart, yet if he can bring his heart to be as little as his circumstances, to make
them even, this is the way to contentment. The world is infinitely deceived in
thinking that contentment lies in having more than we already have. Here lies
the bottom and root of all contentment, when there is an evenness and
proportion between our hearts and our circumstances. That is why many godly
men who are in low position live more sweet and comfortable lives than those
who are richer.
Contentment is not always clothed with silk and purple and velvets, but it is
sometimes in a home-spun suit, in mean circumstances, as well as in higher.
Many men who once have had great estates, and God has brought them into a
lower position have had more contentment in those circumstances than they had
before. Now how can that possibly be? Quite easily, if you only understood that
the root of contentment consists in the suitableness and proportion of a man's
spirit to his possessions, an evenness where one end is not longer and bigger
than the other. The heart is contented and there is comfort in those
circumstances. But now let God give a man riches, no matter how great, yet if
the Lord gives him up to the pride of his heart, he will never be contented: on
the other hand, let God bring anyone into mean circumstances, and then let God
but fashion and suit his heart to those circumstances and he will be content.
It is the same in walking: Suppose a man had a very long leg, and his other leg
was short-why, though one of his legs was longer than usual, still he could not
go as well as a man both of whose legs are shorter than his. I would compare a
long leg, when one is longer than the other, to a man who has a high position
and is very rich and a great man in the world, but he has a very proud heart,
too, and that is longer and larger than his position. This man cannot but be
troubled in his circumstances. Another man is in a mean position, his
circumstances are low and his heart is low too, so that his heart and his
circumstances are even. This man walks with abundantly more ease than the
other. Thus a gracious heart thinks in this way: 'The Lord has been pleased to
bring down my circumstances; now if the Lord brings down my heart and makes
it equal to my circumstances, then I am well enough.' So when God brings down
his circumstances, he does not so much labor to raise up his circumstances again
as to bring his heart down to his circumstances. Even the heathen philosophers
had a little glimpse of this: they could say that the best riches is poverty of
desires-those are the words of a heathen. That is, if a man or woman have their
desires cut short, and have no large desires, that man or woman is rich. So this
is the art of contentment: not to seek to add to our circumstances, but to
subtract form our desires. Another author has said, The way to be rich is not by
increasing wealth, but by diminishing our desires. Certainly that man or woman
is rich, who have their desires satisfied. Now a contented man has his desires
satisfied, God satisfies them, that is, all considered, he is satisfied that his
circumstances are for the present the best circumstances.
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
27
So he comes to this contentment by way of subtraction, and not addition.
3. A CHRISTIAN COMES TO CONTENTMENT, NOT SO MUCH BY GETTING RID OF
THE BURDEN THAT IS ON HIM, AS BY ADDING ANOTHER BURDEN TO HIMSELF.
This is a way that flesh and blood has little skill in. You will say, 'How is this?' In
this manner: are you afflicted, and is there a great load and burden on you
because of your affliction? You think there is no way in the world to get
contentment, but, O that this burden were but off! O it is a heavy load, and few
know what a burden I have. What, do you think that there is no way for the
contentment of your spirit, but to get rid of your burden? O you are deceived.
The way of contentment is to add another burden, that is, to labor to load and
burden your heart with your sin; the heavier the burden of your sin is to your
heart, the lighter will the burden of your affliction be to your heart, and so you
shall come to be content. If you burden were lightened, that would content you;
you think there is no way to lighten it but to get it off. But you are deceived; for
if you can get your heart to be more burdened with your sin, you will be less
burdened with your afflictions.
You will say, this is a strange way for a man or woman to get ease to their
condition, to lay a greater burden upon them when they are already burdened?
You think there is no other way, when you are afflicted, but to be jolly and
merry, and get into company. Oh now, you are deceived, your burden will come
again. Alas, this is a poor way to get one's spirit quitted; poor man, the burden
will be upon him again. If you would have your burden light, get alone and
examine your heart for your sin, and charge your soul with your sin. If your
burden is in your possessions, for the abuse of them, or if it is a burden upon
your body, for the abuse of your health and strength, and the abuse of any
mercies that now the Lord has taken away from you, that you have not honored
God with those mercies that you have had, but you have walked wantonly and
carelessly; if you so fall to bemoaning your sin before the Lord, you shall quickly
find the burden of your affliction to be lighter than it was before. Do but try this
piece of skill and art, to get your souls contented with any low circumstances
that God puts you into.
Many times in a family, when any affliction befalls them, Oh, what an amount of
discontent is there between man and wife! If they are crossed in their
possessions at land, or have bad news from across the seas, or if those whom
they trusted are ruined and the like, or perhaps something in the family causes
strife between man and wife, in reference to the children or servants, and there
is nothing but quarrelling and discontent among them, now they are many times
burdened with their own discontent; and perhaps will say one to another, It is
very uncomfortable for us to live so discontented as we do. But have you ever
tried this way, husband and wife? Have you ever got alone and said, 'Come, Oh
let us go and humble our souls before God together, let us go into our chamber
and humble our souls before God for our sin, by which we have abused those
mercies that God has taken away from us, and we have provoked God against
us. Oh let us charge ourselves with our sin, and be humbled before the Lord
together.'? Have you tried such a way as this? Oh you would find that the cloud
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
28
would be taken away, and the sun would shine in upon you, and you would have
a great deal more contentment than ever you had. If a man's estate is broken,
either by plunderers, or any other way; how shall this man have contentment?
How? By the breaking of his heart. God has broken your estate; Oh seek to him
for the breaking of your heart likewise. Indeed, a broken estate and a whole
heart, a hard heart, will not join together; there will be no contentment. But a
broken estate and a broken heart will so suit one another, as that there will be
more contentment than there was before.
Add therefore to the breaking of your estate, the breaking of your heart, and
that is the way to be contented in a Christian manner, which is the third mystery
in Christian contentment.
4. IT IS NOT SO MUCH THE REMOVING OF THE AFFLICTION THAT IS UPON US
AS THE CHANGING OF THE AFFLICTION, THE METAMORPHOSING OF THE
AFFLICTION, SO THAT IT IS QUITE TURNED AND CHANGED INTO SOMETHING
ELSE.
I mean in regard of the use of it, though for the thing itself the affliction remains.
The way of contentment to a carnal heart is only the removing of the affliction. O
that it may be gone! 'No,' says a gracious heart, 'God has taught me a way to be
content though the affliction itself still continues.' There is a power of grace to
turn this affliction into good; it takes away the sting and poison of it. Take the
case of poverty, a man's possessions are lost: Well, is there no way to be
contented till your possessions are made up again? Till your poverty is removed?
Yes, certainly, Christianity would teach contentment, though poverty continues.
It will teach you how to turn your poverty to spiritual riches. You shall be poor
still as to your outward possessions, but this shall be altered; whereas before it
was a natural evil to you, it comes now to be turned to a spiritual benefit to you.
And so you come to be content.
There is a saying of Ambrose, 'Even poverty itself is riches to holy men.' Godly
men make their poverty turn to riches; they get more riches out of their poverty
than ever they get out of their revenues. Out of all their trading in this world
they never had such incomes as they have had out of their poverty. This a carnal
heart will thing strange, that a man shall make poverty the most gainful trade
that ever he had in the world. I am persuaded that many Christians have found it
so, that they have got more good by their poverty, than ever they got by all their
riches. You find it in Scripture.
Therefore thing not this strange that I am speaking of. You do not find one godly
man who came out of an affliction worse than when he went into it; though for a
while he was shaken, yet at last he was better for an affliction.
But a great many godly men, you find, have been worse for their prosperity.
Scarcely one godly man that you read of in Scripture but was worse for
prosperity (except for Daniel and Nehemiah-I do not read of any hurt they got by
their prosperity); scarcely, I think, is there one example of a godly man who was
not worse for his prosperity than better. Sao rather you see it is no strange thing
to one who is gracious that they shall get good by their affliction.
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
29
Luther has a similar expression in his comment on the 5th chapter of the
Galatians, the 17th verse: he says, 'Christian becomes a mighty worker and a
wonderful creator, that is', he says, 'to create out of heaviness joy, out of terror
comfort, out of sin righteousness, and out of death life.' He brings light out of
darkness. It was God's prerogative and great power, his creating power to
command the light to shine out of darkness. Now a Christian is partaker of the
divine nature, so the Scripture says; grace is part of the divine nature, and,
being part of the divine nature, it has an impression of God's omnipotent power,
that is, to create light out of darkness, to bring good out of evil-by this a way a
Christian comes to be content. God has given a Christian such power that he can
turn afflictions into mercies, can turn darkness into light. If a man had the power
that Christ had, when the water pots were filled, he could by a word turn the
water into wine. If you who have nothing but water to drink had the power to
turn it into wine, then you might be contented; certainly a Christian has receive
this power from God, to work thus miraculously. It is the nature of grace to turn
water into wine, that is, to turn the water of your affliction, into the wine of
heavenly consolation.
If you understand this in a carnal way, I know it will be ridiculous for a minister
to speak thus to you, and many carnal people are ready to make such
expressions as these ridiculous, understanding them in a carnal way.
This is just like Nicodemus, in the third of John, 'What! can a man be born when
he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?' So
when we say of grace, that it can turn water into wine, and turn poverty into
riches, and make poverty a gainful trade, a carnal heart says, 'Let them have
that trade if they will, and let them have water to drink, and see if they can turn
it into wine.' Oh, take heed you do not speak in a scornful way of the ways of
God; grace has the power to turn afflictions into mercies. Two men may have the
same affliction; to one it shall be as gall and wormwood, yet it shall be wine and
honey and delightfulness and joy and advantage and riches to the other. This is
the mystery of contentment, not so much by removing the evil, as by
metamorphosing the evil, by changing the evil into good.
5. A CHRISTIAN COMES TO THIS CONTENTMENT NOT BY MAKING UP THE
WANTS OF HIS CIRCUMSTANCES, BUT BY THE PERFORMANCE OF THE WORK OF
HIS CIRCUMSTANCES.
This is the way of contentment. There are these circumstances that I am in, with
many wants: I want this and the other comfort-well, how shall I come to be
satisfied and content? A carnal heart thinks, I must have my wants made up or
else it is impossible that I should be content. But a gracious heart says, 'What is
the duty of the circumstances God has put me into? Indeed, my circumstances
have changed, I was not long since in a prosperous state, but God has changed
my circumstances. The Lord has called me no more Naomi, but Marah. Now what
am I to do? What can I think now are those duties that God requires of me in the
circumstances that he has now put me into? Let me exert my strength to
perform the duties of my present circumstances. Others spend their thoughts on
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
30
things that disturb and disquiet them, and so they grow more and more
discontented.
Let me spend my thoughts in thinking what my duty is, 'O', says a man whose
condition is changed and who has lost his wealth, 'Had I but my wealth, as I had
heretofore, how would I use it to his glory? God has made me see that I did not
honor him with my possessions as I ought to have done. O if I had it again, I
would do better than I did before.' But this may be but a temptation. You should
rather think, 'What does God require of me in the circumstances I am now
brought into?' You should labor to bring your heart to quiet and contentment by
setting your soul to work in the duties of your present condition. And the truth is,
I know nothing more effective for quieting a Christian soul and getting
contentment than this, setting your heart to work in the duties of the immediate
circumstances that you are now in, and taking heed of your thoughts about other
conditions as a mere temptation.
I cannot better compare the folly of those men and women who think they will
get contentment by musing about other circumstances than to the way of
children: perhaps they have climbed a hill and look a good way off and see
another hill, and they think if they were on the top of that, they would be able to
touch the clouds with their fingers; but when they are on the top of that hill,
alas, they are as far from the clouds as they were before. So it is with many who
think, If I were in such circumstances, then I should have contentment; and
perhaps they get into circumstances, and they are as far from contentment as
before. But then they think that if they were in other circumstances, they would
be contented, but when they have got into those circumstances, they are still as
far from contentment as before. No, no, let me consider what is the duty of my
present circumstances, and content my heart with this, and say, 'Well, though I
am in a low position, yet I am serving the counsels of God in those
circumstances where I am; it is the counsel of God that has brought me into
these circumstances that I am in, and I desire to serve the counsel of God in
these circumstances.
There is a remarkable Scripture concerning David, of whom it is said that he
served his generation: 'After David had served his generation according to the
will of God, then he slept.' It is a saying of Paul concerning him in Acts 13:36. In
your Bibles it is, 'After he had served his own generation according to the will of
God', but the word that is translated will, means the counsel of God, and so it
may be translated as well, 'That after David in his generation had served God's
counsel, then he fell asleep'. We ordinarily take the words thus, That David
served his generation: that is, he did the work of his generation-that is to serve
a man's generation. But it is clearer if you read it thus, After David in his
generation had served the counsel of God, then David fell asleep. O that should
be the care of a Christian, to serve out God's counsels. What is the counsel of
God? The circumstances that I am in, God has put me into by his own counsel,
the counsel of his own will. Now I must serve God's counsel in my generation;
whatever is the counsel of God in my circumstances, I must be careful to serve
that. So I shall have my heart quieted for the present, and shall live and die
peaceably and comfortably, if I am careful to serve God's counsel.
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
31
6. A GRACIOUS HEART IS CONTENTED BY THE MELTING OF HIS WILL AND
DESIRES INTO GOD'S WILL AND DESIRES; BY THIS MEANS HE GETS
CONTENTMENT.
This too is a mystery to a carnal heart. It is not by having his own desires
satisfied, but by melting his will and desires into God's will. So that, in one
sense, he comes to have his desires satisfied though he does not obtain the thing
that he desired before; still he comes to be satisfied with this, because he makes
his will to be at one with God's will. This is a small degree higher than submitting
to the will of God. You all say that you should submit to God's will; a Christian
has got beyond this. He can make God's will and his own the same. It is said of
believers that they are joined to the Lord, and are one spirit; that means, that
whatever God's will is, I do not only see good reason to submit to it, but God's
will is my will. When the soul can make over, as it were, its will to God, it must
needs be contented. Others would fain get the thing they desire, but a gracious
heart will say, 'O what God would have, I would have too; I will not only yield to
it, but I would have it too.' A gracious heart has learned this art, not only to
make the commanding will of God to be its own will-that is, what God commands
me to do, I will do it-but to make the providential will of God and the operative
will of God to be his will too. God commands this thing, which perhaps you who
are Christians may have some skill in, but whatever God works you must will, as
well as what God commands.
You must make God's providential will and his operative will, your will as well as
God's will, and in this way you must come to contentment. A Christian makes
over his will to God, and in making over his will to God, he has no other will but
God's. Suppose a man were to make over his debt to another man. If the man to
whom I owe the debt be satisfied and contented, I am satisfied because I have
made it over to him, and I need not be discontented and say, 'My debt is not
paid and I am not satisfied'. Yes, you are satisfied, for he to whom you made
over your debt is satisfied. It is just the same, for all the world, between God
and a Christian: a Christian heart makes over his will to God: now then if God's
will is satisfied, then I am satisfied, for I have no will of my own, it is melted into
the will of God. This is the excellence of grace: grace does not only subject the
will to God, but it melts the will into God's will, so that they are now but one will.
What a sweet satisfaction the soul must have in this condition, when all is made
over to God. You will say, This is hard! I will express it a little more: A gracious
heart must needs have satisfaction in this way, because godliness teaches him
this, to see that his good is more in God than in himself. The good of my life and
comforts and my happiness and my glory and my riches are more in God than in
myself. We may perhaps speak more of that, when we come to the lessons that
are to be learned. It is by this that a gracious heart gets contentment; he melts
his will into God's, for he says, 'If God has glory, I have glory; God's glory is my
glory, and therefore God's will is mine; if God has riches, then I have riches; if
God is magnified, then I am magnified; if God is satisfied, then I am satisfied;
God's wisdom and holiness is mine, and therefore his will must needs be mine,
and my will must needs be his.' This is the art of a Christian's contentment: he
melts his will into the will of God, and makes over his will to God: 'Oh Lord, thou
shalt choose our inheritance for us' (Psalm 47:4).
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
32
7. THE MYSTERY CONSISTS NOT IN BRINGING ANYTHING FROM OUTSIDE TO
MAKE MY CONDITION MORE COMFORTABLE, BUT IN PURGING OUT SOMETHING
THAT IS WITHIN.
Now the men of the world, when they would have contentment, and lack
anything, Oh, they must have something from outside to content them. But a
godly man says: 'Let me get something out that is in already, and then I shall
come to contentment.' Suppose a man has a fever, that makes what he drinks
taste bitter: he says, 'You must put some sugar into my drink'; his wife puts
some in, and still the drink tastes bitter. Why? Because the bitterness comes
from a bitter choleric humor within. But let the physician come and give him a
bitter portion to purge out the bitterness that is within, and then he can taste his
drink well enough. It is just the same with men of the world: Oh such a mercy
added to this mercy, then it would be sweet; but even if God should put a
spoonful or two of sugar in, it would still be bitter. The way to contentment is to
purge out your lusts and bitter humours.
'From whence are wars, and strifes? are they not from your lusts that are within
you?' (James 4:1).
They are not so much from things outside, but from within. I have said
sometimes, 'Not all the storms that are abroad can make an earthquake, but the
vapours that have got within.' So if those lusts that are within, in your heart,
were got out, your condition would be a contented condition. These are the
mysterious ways of godliness, that the men of the world never think of. When
did you ever think of such a way as this, to go and purge out the diseases of
your heart that are within? Here are seven particulars now named, and there are
many more. Without the understanding of these things, and the practice of
them, you will never come to a true contentment in your life; Oh, you will be
bunglers in this trade of Christianity. But the right perceiving of these things will
help you to be instructed in it, as in a mystery.
The mystery of contentment may be shown even more. A gracious heart gets
contentment in a mysterious way, a way that the world is not acquainted with.
8. HE LIVES UPON THE DEW OF GOD'S BLESSING.
Adrian Junius uses the simile of a grasshopper to describe a contented man, and
says he has this motto, 'I am content with what I have, and hope for better.' A
grasshopper leads and skips up and down, and lives on the dew.
A grasshopper does not live on the grass as other things do; you do not know
what it feeds on. Other things though as little as grasshoppers, feed upon seeds
or little flies and such things, but as for the grasshopper, you do not know what
it feeds upon. In the same way a Christian can get food that the world does not
know of; he is fed in a secret way by the dew of the blessing of God. A poor man
or woman who has but a little with grace, lives a more contented life than his
rich neighbor who has a great income; we find it so ordinarily-though they have
but little, yet they have a secret blessing of God with it, which they cannot
express to anyone else. If you were to come to them and say: 'How is it that you
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
33
live as happily as you do?', they cannot tell you what they have; but they find
there is a sweetness in what they do enjoy, and they know by experience that
they never had such sweetness in former times. Even though they had a greater
abundance in former times than they have now, yet they know they never had
such sweetness; but how this comes about they cannot tell. We may mention
some considerations, in what godly men enjoy, which make their condition
sweet.
For example, Take these four or five considerations with which a godly man finds
contentment in what he has, though it is ever so little.
1. Because in what he has, he has the love of God to him. If a king were to send
a piece of meat from his own table, it would be a great deal more pleasant to a
courtier than if he had twenty dishes as an ordinary allowance; if the king sends
even a little thing and says, 'Go and carry it to that man as a token of my love',
Oh, how delightful would that be to him! When your husbands are at sea and
send you a token of their love, it is worth more than forty times what you
already have in your houses. Every good thing the people of God enjoy, they
enjoy it in God's love, as a token of God's love, and coming from God's eternal
love to them, and this must needs be very sweet to them.
2. What they have is sanctified to them for good. Other men have what they
enjoy in the way of common providence, but the saints have it in a special way.
Others have what they have and no more: meat, and drink, and houses, and
clothes, and money, and that is all. But a gracious heart finds contentment in
this, I have it, and I have a sanctified use of it too; I find God goes along with
what I have to draw my heart nearer to him, and sanctify my heart to him. If I
find my heart drawn nearer to God by what I enjoy, that is much more than if I
have it without sanctifying of my heart by it. There is a secret dew that goes
along with it: the dew of God's love in it, and the dew of sanctification.
3. A gracious heart has what he has free of cost; he is not likely to be called to
pay for it. The difference between what a godly man has and a wicked man, is
this: A godly man is as a child in an inn, an inn-keeper has his child in the house,
and provides his diet, and lodging, and what is needful for him. Now a stranger
comes, and he has dinner and supper provided, and lodging, but the stranger
must pay for everything. It may be that the child's fare is meaner than the fare
of the stranger; the stranger has boiled and roast and baked, but he must pay
for it, there must come a reckoning for it. Just so it is: many of God's people
have only mean fare, but God as a Father provides it, and it is free of cost, they
need not pay for what they have, it is paid for before; but the wicked in all their
pomp, and pride, and finery: they have what they ask for, but there must come
a reckoning for everything, they must pay for all at the conclusion, and is it not
better to have a little free of cost, than to have to pay for everything? Grace
shows a man that what he has, he has free of cost, from God as from a Father,
and therefore it must needs be very sweet.
4. A godly man may very well be content, though he has only a little, for what he
does have he has by right of Jesus Christ, by the purchase of Jesus Christ. He
has a right to it, a different kind of right to that which a wicked man can have to
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
34
what he has. Wicked men have certain outward things; I do not say they are
usurpers of what they have; they have a right to it, and that before God, but
how? It is a right by mere donation, that is, God by his free bounty gives it to
them; but the right that the saints have is a right of purchase: it is paid for, and
it is their own, and they may in a holy manner and holy way claim whatever they
have need of. We cannot express the difference between the right of a holy man,
and the right of the wicked more fully than by the following simile: a criminal is
condemned to die, and yet by favor he has his supper provided overnight. Now
though the criminal has forfeited all his right to all things, to every bit of bread,
yet if he is given his supper he does not steal it. This is true though he has
forfeited all rights by his fault, and after he has once been condemned he has no
right to anything. So it is with the wicked: they have forfeited all their right to
the comforts of this world, they are condemned by God as criminals, and are
going to execution; but if God in his bounty gives them something to preserve
them here in the world, they cannot be said to be thieves or robbers. But if a
man is given a supper overnight before his execution, is that like the supper that
he was wont to have in his own house, when he ate his own bread, and had his
wife and children about him? Oh, a dish of green herbs at home would be a great
deal better than any dainties in such a supper as that. But a child of God has not
a right merely by donation; what he has is his own, through the purchase of
Christ. Every bit of bread you eat, if you are a godly man or woman, Jesus Christ
has bought it for you.
You go to market and buy your meat and drink with your money, but know that
before you buy it, or pay money, Christ has bought it at the hand of God the
Father with his blood. You have it at the hands of men for money, but Christ has
bought it at the hand of his Father by his blood. Certainly it is a great deal better
and sweeter now, though it is but a little.
5. There is another thing that shows the sweetness that is in the little that the
Saints have, by which they come to have contentment, whereas others cannot,
that is, Every little that they have is but as an earnest penny* for all the glory
that is reserved for them; it is given them by God as the forerunner of those
eternal mercies that the Lord intends for them. [*A first instalment which
guarantees that the rest is to follow.] Now if a man has but twelve pence given
to him as an earnest penny for some great possession that he must have, is that
not better than if he had forty pounds given to him otherwise? So every comfort
that the saints have in this world is an earnest penny to them of those eternal
mercies that the Lord has provided for them.
Just as every affliction that the wicked have here is but the beginning of sorrows,
and forerunner of those eternal sorrows that they are likely to have hereafter in
Hell, so every comfort you have is a forerunner of those eternal mercies you
shall have with God in Heaven. Not only are the consolations of God's Spirit the
forerunners of those eternal comforts you shall have in Heaven, but when you sit
at your table, and rejoice with your wife and children and friends, you may look
upon every one of those but as a forerunner, yea the very earnest penny of
eternal life to you. Now if this is so, it is no marvel that a Christian is contented,
but this is a mystery to the wicked. I have what I have from the love of God, and
I have it sanctified to me by God, and I have it free of cost from God by the
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
35
purchase of the blood of Jesus Christ, and I have it as a forerunner of those
eternal mercies that are reserved for me; and in this my soul rejoices. There is a
secret dew of God's goodness and blessing upon him in his estate that others
have not.
By all this you may see the meaning of that Scripture, 'Better is a little with
righteousness than great revenues without right' (Proverbs 16:8). A man who
has but a little, yet if he has it with righteousness, it is better than a great deal
without right, yea, better than the great revenues of the wicked- so you have it
in another Scripture. That is the next thing in Christian contentment: the
mystery is in this, that he lives on the dew of God's blessing, in all the good
things that he enjoys.
9. NOT ONLY IN GOOD THINGS DOES A CHRISTIAN HAVE THE DEW OF GOD'S
BLESSING.
And find them very sweet to him, but in all the afflictions, all the evils that befall
him, he can see love, and can enjoy the sweetness of love in his afflictions as
well as in his mercies. The truth is that the afflictions of God's people come from
the same eternal love that Jesus Christ cam from. Jerome said, 'He is a happy
man who is beaten when the stroke is a stroke of love.' All God's strokes are
strokes of love and mercy, all God's ways are mercy and truth, to those that fear
him and love him (Psalm 25:10). The ways of God, the ways of affliction, as well
as the ways of prosperity, are mercy and love to him. Grace gives a man an eye,
a piercing eye to pierce the counsel of God, those eternal counsels of God for
good to him, even in his afflictions; he can see the love of God in every affliction
as well as in prosperity. Now this is a mystery to a carnal heart. They can see no
such thing; perhaps them rich, but they thing God loves them when he prospers
them and makes them rich, but they think God loves them not when he afflicts
mystery, grace enables men to see love in the very frown of God's face, and so
comes to receive contentment.
10. A GODLY MAN HAS CONTENTMENT AS A MYSTERY, because just as he sees
all his afflictions come from the same love that Jesus Christ did, so he sees them
all sanctified in Jesus Christ, sanctified in a Mediator. He sees, I say, all the sting
and venom and poison of them taken out by the virtue of Jesus Christ, the
Mediator between God and man. For instance, when a Christian would have
contentment he works it out thus: what is my affliction? Is it poverty that God
strikes me with?-Jesus Christ had not a house to hide his head in, the fowls of
the air had nests, and the foxes holes, but the Son of man had not a hole to hide
his head in; now my poverty is sanctified by Christ's poverty. I can see by faith
the curse and sting and venom taken out of my poverty by the poverty of Jesus
Christ.
Christ Jesus was poor in this world to deliver me from the curse of my poverty.
So my poverty is not afflictive, if I can be contented in such a condition. That is
the way, not to stand and repine, because I have not what others have; no, but I
am poor, and Christ was poor, that he might bless my poverty to me.
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
36
And so again, am I disgraced or dishonored? Is my good name taken away?
Why, Jesus Christ had dishonor put upon him; he was called Beelzebub, and a
Samaritan, and they said he had a devil in him. All the foul aspersions that could
be, were cast upon Jesus Christ, and this was for me, that I might have the
disgrace that is cast upon me sanctified to me. Whereas another man's heart is
overwhelmed with dishonor, and disgrace, and he seeks in this way to get
contentment: perhaps you have been spoken ill of and you have no other way to
ease and right yourselves, but if they abuse you, you will abuse them back; and
so you think to ease yourselves. Oh, but a Christian has another way to ease
himself: others abuse and speak ill of me, but did they not abuse Jesus Christ,
and speak ill of him? And what am I in comparison of Christ? And the subjection
of Christ to such an evil was for me, that though such a thing should come upon
me, I might know that the curse of it is taken from me through Christ's
subjection to that evil.
Thus, a Christian can be content when anybody speaks ill of him. Now, this is a
mystery to you, to get contentment in this way. So if men jeer and scoff at you,
did they not do so to Jesus Christ? They jeered and scoffed at him, and that
when he was in his greatest extremity upon the Cross: they said, Here is the
King of the Jews, and they bowed the knee, and said, Hail King of the Jews, and
put a reed into his hand, and mocked him. Now I get contentment in the midst of
scorns and jeers, by considering that Christ was scorned, and by acting faith
upon what Christ suffered for me. Am I in great bodily pain?-Jesus Christ had as
great pain in his body as I have (though it is true he did not have the same kind
of sicknesses as we have, yet he had as great pain and tortures in his body, and
that which was deadly to him, as much as any sickness is to us). The exercising
of faith on what Christ endured, is the way to get contentment in the midst of
our pains.
Someone lies vexing and fretting himself, and cannot bear his pain: are you a
Christian? Have you ever tried this way of getting contentment, to act your faith
on all the pains and sufferings that Jesus Christ suffered: this would be the way
of contentment, and a Christian gets contentment when under pains, in this way.
Sometimes one who is very godly and gracious, may be found bearing grievous
pains and extremities very cheerfully, and you wonder at it. He gets it by acting
his faith upon what pains Jesus Christ suffered. You are afraid of death-the way
to get contentment is by exercising your faith on the death of Jesus Christ. It
may be that you have inward troubles in your soul, and God withdraws himself
from you; still your faith is to be exercised upon the sufferings that Jesus Christ
endured in his soul. He poured forth his soul before God, and when he sweat
drops of water and blood, he was in an agony in his very spirit, and he found
even God himself about to forsake him. Now thus to act your faith on Jesus
Christ brings contentment, and is not this a mystery to carnal hearts? A gracious
heart finds contentment as a mystery; it is no marvel that St. Paul said, 'I am
instructed in a mystery, to be contented in whatsoever condition I am in.'
11. THERE IS STILL A FURTHER MYSTERY, for I hope you will find this a very
useful point and that before we have finished you will see how simple it is for one
who is skilled in religion to get contentment, though it is hard for one who is
carnal. I say, the eleventh mystery in contentment is this: A gracious heart has
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
37
contentment by getting strength from Jesus Christ; he is able to bear his burden
by getting strength from someone else. Now this is a riddle, and it would be
counted ridiculous in the schools of the philosophers, to say, If there is a burden
on you you must get strength form someone else. Indeed if you must have
another come and stand under the burden, they could understand that; but that
you should be strengthened by the strength of someone else, who is not near
you as far as you can see, they would think ridiculous. But a Christian finds
satisfaction in every circumstance by getting strength from another, by going out
of himself to Jesus Christ, by his faith acting upon Christ, and bringing the
strength of Jesus Christ into his own soul, he is thereby enabled to bear
whatever God lays on him, by the strength that he finds from Jesus Christ. Of his
fullness do we receive grace for grace; there is strength in Christ not only to
sanctify and save us, but strength to support us under all our burdens and
afflictions, and Christ expects that when we are under any burden, we should act
our faith upon him to draw virtue and strength from him. Faith is the great grace
that is to be acted under afflictions. It is true that other graces should be acted,
but the grace of faith draws strength from Christ, in looking on him who has the
fullness of all strength conveyed into the hearts of all believers.
Now if a man has a burden to bear, and yet can have strength added to him-if
the burden is doubled, he can have his strength trebled-the burden will not be
heavier but lighter than it was before to his natural strength.
Indeed, our afflictions may be heavy, and we cry out, Oh, we cannot bear them,
we cannot bear such an affliction. Though you cannot tell how to bear it with
your own strength, yet how can you tell what you will do with the strength of
Jesus Christ? You say you cannot bear it? So you think that Christ could not bear
it? But if Christ could bear it why may you not come to bear it? You will say, Can
I have the strength of Christ? Yes, it is made over to you by faith: the Scripture
says that the Lord is our strength, God himself is our strength, and Christ is our
strength. There are many Scriptures to that effect, that Christ's strength is
yours, made over to you, so that you may be able to bear whatever lies upon
you, and therefore we find such a strange expression in the Epistle of St. Paul to
the Colossians, praying for the saints: 'That they might be strengthened with all
might according unto his glorious power', unto what? 'Unto all patience and
longsuffering with joyfulness'-strengthened with all might, according to the
power of God, the glorious power of God, unto all patience, and longsuffering
with joyfulness. You must not therefore be content with a little strength, so that
you are able to bear what a man might bear by the strength of reason and
nature, but you should be strengthened with all might, according to the glorious
power of God, unto all patience, and to all longsuffering.
Oh, you who are now under very heavy and sad afflictions more than usual, look
at this Scripture, and consider how it is made good in you; and why may you not
have this Scripture made good in you, if you are godly? You should not be quiet
in your own spirits, unless in some measure you get this Scripture made good in
you, so that you may with some comfort say, 'Through God's mercy, I find that
strength coming into me that is spoken of in this Scripture.' You should labor
when you are under any great affliction (you who are godly) to walk so that
others may see such a Scripture made good in you. This is the glorious power of
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
38
God that strengthens his servants to all longsuffering, and that with joyfulness.
Alas, it may be that you do not exercise as much patience as a wise man or a
wise woman who has only natural reason. But where is the power of God, the
glorious power of God? Where is the strengthening with all might, unto all
longsuffering and patience, and that with joyfulness? It is true, the spirit of a
man may be able to sustain his infirmities, may be able to sustain and keep up
his spirits, the natural spirit of a man can do that, but much more when the spirit
is endued with grace and holiness, and when it is filled with the strength of Jesus
Christ. This is the way a godly man gets contentment, the mystery of it, by
getting strength from Jesus Christ.
12. A GODLY HEART ENJOYS MUCH OF GOD IN EVERYTHING HE HAS, AND
KNOWS HOW TO MAKE UP ALL WANTS IN GOD HIMSELF.
That is another mystery, he has God in what he has. I spoke about that
somewhat before, in showing the dew of God's blessing in what one has, for God
is able to let out a great deal of his power in little things, and therefore the
miracles that God has wrought, have been as much in the little things as in
great. Now just as God lets out a great deal of his power in working miracles in
smaller things, so he lets out a great deal of goodness and mercy, in comforting
and rejoicing the hearts of his people, in little things, as well as in great. There
may be as great riches in a pearl as in a great deal of lumber; but this is a
different thing.
Further, just as a gracious heart lives upon God's dew in the little that he has, so
when the little that he has shall be taken from him, what shall he do then? Then,
you will say, If a man has nothing, nothing can be got out of nothing. But if the
children of God have their little taken from them, they can make up all their
wants in God himself. Such and such a man is a poor man, the plunderers came
and took away everything that he had; what shall he do now that all is gone? But
when all is gone, there is an art and skill that godliness teaches, to make up all
those losses in God. Many men whose houses have been burnt go about
gathering, and so get together by many hands a little; but a godly man knows
where to go, to get up all, even in God himself, so that he may enjoy the
quintessence of the same good and comfort as he had before, for a godly man
does not live so much in himself as he lives in God. Now this is a mystery to a
carnal heart. I say a gracious man does not live so much in himself as in God; he
lives in God continually. If anything is cut off from the stream, he knows how to
go to the fountain, and makes up all there. God is his all in all, while he lives; I
say it is God who is his all in all. 'Am not I to thee' said Elkanah to Hannah,
'instead of ten children?' So says God to a gracious heart: 'You lack this, your
estate is plundered-Why? Am not I to you instead of ten homes, and ten shops, I
am to you instead of all; and not only instead of all, but come to me, and you
shall have all again in me.' This indeed is an excellent art, to be able to draw
from God what one had before in the creature. Christian, how did you enjoy
comfort before? Was the creature anything to you but a conduit, a pipe, that
conveyed God's goodness to you? 'The pipe is cut off,' says God, 'come to me,
the fountain, and drink immediately.' Though the beams are taken away, yet the
sun remains the same in the firmament as ever it was. What is it that satisfies
God himself, but that he enjoys all fullness in himself; so he comes to have
The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment Jeremiah Burroughs
39
satisfaction in himself. Now if you enjoy God as your portion, if your soul can say
with the Church in Lamentations 3:24: 'The Lord is my portion, saith my soul',
why should you not be satisfied and contented like God? God is contented, he is
in eternal contentment in himself; now if you have that God as your portion, why
should you not be contented with him alone? Since God is contented with himself
alone, if you have him, you may be contented with him alone, and it may be,
that is the reason why your outward comforts are taken from you, that God may
be all in all to you. It may be that while you had these things they shared with
God in your affection, a great part of the stream of your affection ran that way;
God would have the full stream run to him now. You know when a man has
water coming to his house, through several pipes, and he finds insufficient water
comes into his wash-house, he will rather stop the other pipes that he may have
all the water come in where he wants it. Perhaps, then, God had a stream of
your affection running to him when you enjoyed these things; yes, but a great
deal was allowed to escape to the creature, a great deal of your affections ran
waste. Now the Lord would not have the affections of his children to run waste;
he does not care for other men's affections, but yours are precious, and God
would not have them to run waste; therefore he has cut off your other pipes that
your heart might flow wholly to him. If you have children, and because you let
your servants perhaps feed them and give them things, you perceive that your
servants are stealing away the hearts of your children, you would hardly be able
to bear it; you would be ready to send away such a servant. When the servant is
gone, the child is at a great loss, it has not got the nurse, but the father or
mother intends by sending her away, that the affections of the child might run
more strongly towards himself or herself, and what loss is it to the child that the
affections that ran in a rough channel before towards the servant, run now
towards the mother? So those affections that run towards the creature, God
would have run towards himself, that so he may be all in all to you here in this
world.
A gracious heart can indeed tell how to enjoy God as all in all to him. That is the
happiness of heaven to have God to be all in all. The saints in heaven do not
have houses, and lands, and money, and met and drink, and clothes; you will
say, they do not need them-why not? It is because God is all in all to them
immediately. Now while you live in this world, you may come to enjoy much of
God, you may have much of heaven, while we live in this life we may come to
enjoy much of the very life that is in heaven, and what is that but the enjoyment
of God to be all in all to us? There is one text in the Revelation that speaks of the
glorious condition of the Church that is likely to be here even in this world: 'And I
saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple
of it, and the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for
the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof' (Revelation
21:22).
They had no need of the sun or moon. It speaks of such a glorious condition that
the Church is likely to be in here in this world; this does not speak of heaven,
but of a glorious estate that the Church shall be in here, in this world; and that
appears plainly, for it follows immediately in the 24th and 24th verses, 'And the
Kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it'; why, the Kings of the
earth shall not bring their glory and honor into heaven, but this is such a time,