The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment

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Christian Contentment Described
1. Contentment Is A Sweet, Inward Heart-Thing. It Is A Work Of The Spirit Indoors.
2. It Is The Quiet Of The Heart.
3. Now The Next Thing I Want To Explain In The Description Is This, It Is An Inward, Quiet, Gracious Frame Of Spirit.
4. Contentment Is The Gracious Frame Of The Heart.
5. The Fifth Characteristic Is Contentment Is Freely Submitting To And Taking Pleasure In God’s Disposal.
6. Contentment Is Freely Submitting To And Taking Pleasure In God’s Disposal.
7. Contentment Is Taking Pleasure In God’s Disposal.
8. The Eighth Thing In Contentment Is, Submitting, And Taking Pleasure In God’s Disposal.
9. The Last Thing Is, This Is In Every Condition.
The Mystery Of Contentment
1. The First Thing Is, To Show That There Is A Great Mystery In It.
2. A Christian Comes To Contentment, Not So Much By Way Of Addition, As By Way Of Subtraction.
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.
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.
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.
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.
7. The Mystery Consists Not In Bringing Anything From Outside To Make My Condition More Comfortable, But In Purging Out Something That Is Within.
8. He Lives Upon The Dew Of God’s Blessing.
9. Not Only In Good Things Does A Christian Have The Dew Of God’s Blessing.
10. A Godly Man Has Contentment As A Mystery,
11. There Is Still A Further Mystery,
12. A Godly Heart Enjoys Much Of God In Everything He Has, And Knows How To Make Up All Wants In God Himself.
13. A Gracious Heart Gets Contentment From The Covenant That God Has Made With Him.
14. He Has Contentment By Realizing The Glorious Things Of Heaven To Him.
15. The Last Thing That I Would Mention Is This,
How Christ Teaches Contentment
1. The Lesson Of Self-Denial.
2. The Vanity Of The Creature.
3. A Third Lesson Which Christ Teaches A Christian When He Comes Into His School Is This:
4. The Soul Comes To Understand In What Relation It Stands To The World.
5. Christ Teaches Us Wherein Consists Any Good That Is To Be Enjoyed In Any Creature In The World.
6. Christ Teaches The Soul Whom He Brings Into This School In The Knowledge Of Their Own Hearts.
7. The Seventh Lesson By Which Christ Teaches Contentment Is
8. Christ Teaches Them What A Great And Dreadful Evil It Is To Be Given Up To One’s Heart’s Desires.
9. The Nine And Last Lesson Which Christ Teaches
The Excellence Of Contentment
1. By Contentment We Come To Give God The Worship That Is Due To Him.
2. In Contentment There Is Much Exercise Of Grace.
3. By Contentment The Soul Is Fitted To Receive Mercy, And To Do Service.
4. As Contentment Makes Fit To Receive Mercy, So Fit To Do Service.
5. Contentment Delivers Us From An Abundance Of Temptations.
6. The Sixth Excellence Is The Abundant Comforts In A Man’s Life That Contentment Will Bring.
7. Contentment Draws Comfort From Those Things We Do Not Really Possess.
8. Contentment Is A Great Blessing Of God Upon The Soul.
9. Those Who Are Content May Expect Reward From God
10. Lastly, By Contentment The Soul Comes To An Excellence Near To God Himself, Yea, The Nearest Possible.
The Evils Of a Murmuring Spirit
1. This Murmuring And Discontentedness Of Yours Reveals Much Corruption In The Soul.
2. The Evil Of Murmuring Is Such That When God Would Speak Of Wicked Men And Describe Them,
3. As Well As Being Made A Brand Of Ungodly Men, You Will Find In Scripture That God Accounts It Rebellion.
4. It Is A Wickedness Which Is Greatly Contrary To Grace, And Especially Contrary To The Work Of God, In Bringing The Soul Home To Himself.
5. Murmuring And Discontent Is Exceedingly Below A Christian.
6. The Sixth Evil In A Murmuring Spirit Is,
7. The Seventh Thing Which I Add For The Evil Of Discontent Is
8. There Is A Great Deal Of Folly, Extreme Folly, In A Discontented Heart; It Is A Foolish Sin.
9. There Is A Great Deal Of Danger In The Sin Of Discontent, For It Highly Provokes The Wrath Of God.
10. There Is A Great Curse Of God Upon Murmuring And Discontent; So Far As It Prevails In One Who Is Wicked, It Has The Curse Of God Upon It.
11. There Is Much Of The Spirit Of Satan In A Murmuring Spirit.
12. If You Have A Murmuring Spirit, You Must Then Have Disquiet All The Days Of Your Life.
13. Finally, There Is This Further Dreadful Evil In Discontent And Murmuring:
Aggravations Of The Sin Of Murmuring
1. To Murmur When We Enjoy An Abundance Of Mercy;
2. A Second Aggravation Of The Sin Of Murmuring Is,
3. For Men Of Gifts And Abilities To Whom God Has Given Wisdom, To Be Discontented And Murmur, Is More Than If Others Do It.
4. The Consideration Of The Freeness Of All God’s Mercies To Us.
5. For Men And Women To Murmur And Be Discontented And Impatient,
6. For Those Men And Women To Be Discontented And Murmur Whom God Has Raised From Mean And Low Estates And Positions.
7. For Those To Be Discontented Who Have Been Very Great Sinners And Ungodly In Their Former Life.
8. For Men Who Are Of Little Use In The World To Be Discontented.
9. For Us To Be Discontented At A Time When God Is About To Humble Us.
10. The More Palpable And Remarkable The Hand Of God Appears To Bring About An Affliction,
11. To Be Discontented Though God Has Been Exercising Us For A Long Time Under Afflictions, Yet Still To Remain Discontented.
The Excuses Of A Discontented Heart
1. One That Is Discontented Says, “It Is Not Discontent; It Is A Sense Of My Condition.”
2. But A Discontented Heart Will Say,
3. “Oh”, Says Another, “I Find My Affliction Is Such That God Withdraws Himself From Me In My Affliction.
4. “I Think I Could Be Content With God’s Hand,” Says One, “So Far As I See The Hand Of God In A Thing I Can Be Content.”
5. “Oh, But The Affliction That Comes Upon Me Is An Affliction Which I Never Looked For.
6. “Oh, But It Is Very Great, My Affliction Is Exceeding Great,”
7. But However You May Lessen My Affliction, Yet I Am Sure It Is Far Greater Than The Affliction Of Others.
8. Another Reasoning That Murmuring Hearts Have Is This:
9. “Oh, But The Condition That God Has Put Me In, Makes Me Unserviceable, And This Troubles Me.
10. There Is Another Reasoning That Some May Have And It Is This:
11. But There Is Still Another Reasoning With Which Many Murmuring Hearts Think To Feed Their Humor. They Say,
12. Another Reasoning Of A Murmuring Heart Is This:
13. Now These Are The Principal Reasonings Of A Discontented Heart. But There Is One Plea More That May Be Named: Some Say,
How To Attain Contentment
1. Considerations To Content The Heart In Any Afflicted Condition.
2. The Main Thing That I Intend By Way Of Appliance, Is To Propound Directions,