Pithy gems from Jeremiah Burroughs

1600-1646

Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.

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Contentment is not by addition but by subtraction: seeking to add a thing will not bring contentment. Instead, subtracting from your desires until you are satisfied only with Christ brings contentment.

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Your mercies are more than your afflictions.

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I beseech you to consider that God does not deal by you, as you deal with Him.

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One drop of the sweetness of Heaven is enough to take away all the sourness and bitterness of all the afflictions in the world.

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All the beautiful objects in the world are not so lovely in the eye of God, as a heart that trembles at the Word. "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My Word!" Isaiah 66:2

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You will not find one Godly man who came out of an affliction worse than when he went into it. Though for a little while he was shaken, yet, at last, he was better for an affliction. But, a great many Godly men have been worse for their prosperity.

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You should so walk before men as to manifest to all the world that your Savior is a wonderful Savior!

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Saving grace enables men to see love in the very frown of God's face.

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It is the happiness of Heaven to have God be all in all.

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A godly man, in the midst of the waves and storms that he meets with, can see the glory of Heaven before him and so contents himself. One drop of the sweetness of Heaven is enough to take away all the sourness and bitterness of all the afflictions in the world!

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Oh, that we could but convince men and women that murmuring spirit is a greater evil than any affliction, whatever the affliction!

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Thus, a godly man wonders that his cross is so small.
A wicked man wonders that his cross is so great.

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When God has given you your heart's desire, what have you done with your heart's desire?

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To be well skilled in the mystery of Christian contentment is the duty, glory and excellence of a Christian. "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." Philippians 4:11-12

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The Lord does not so much look at the work that is done, as at the faithfulness of our hearts in doing it.

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I am discontented because I have not those things which God never yet promised me.

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Holiness is the very principle of eternal life, the very beginning of eternal life in the heart, and that which will certainly grow up to eternal life.