Rare Jewel: Conclusion, Chapters Twelve and Thirteen

Ah, the meat. The help. The final installment of notes which are so practical. Hope the notes have been encouraging. Many thanks to Burroughs!

Chapters Twelve and Thirteen

How to Attain Contentment

1. Consider the great mercies you have and the little you lack. Above all, you have salvation.
2. Consider how you have been blessed with mercies before.
3. Consider how vast the sea of mercies is. A pail of affliction into a sea of mercy is swallowed.
4. Consider the vicissitude of all things in the world: light to dark to light.
5. Consider how all creatures (food sources and animal assistance) suffer for us, ought we not be willing to suffer for God?
6. Consider how little time you have in the world.You will only suffer here. It will be over soon.
7. Consider others who had little: Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Luther, Christ.
8. Before, you were content with a world without grace. Now be content with grace without the world.
9. Think how little glory you gave to God when you had all things. Let that quiet you now.
10. Think on the abundance of good that God brought through your past afflictions.

What Course to Take

1. Have a good temper through grace.
2. Do not grasp too much of the world.
3. Be sure of your to call to your business and then go about it with good conscience.
4. Walk according to the rule of the Word, and you will likely be blessed with peace.
5. Exercise much faith in God and his Word. God is careful for you. In the sea storm, let faith get on the shoulders of reason and spot land, saying good will come from this tempest.
6. Labor to meditate on the things above. A heavenly conversation is the way to contentment.
7. Don't promise yourselves too much beforehand. Rather, aim high for spiritual growth.
8. Labor to have hearts dead to the world. If you are dead, your bones need not be broken by afflictions.
9. Don't dwell too much on your afflictions. Think of comforts instead, things which stir us to thankfulness.
10. Make a good interpretation of providences: maybe God is trying me, protecting me from sin, this will better my soul, this will exercise grace, this will prepare me for work. This is opposed to the worst interpretation: this is his wrath, he delivers evils to me. Remember, Love thinketh no evil. 1 Corinthians 13:5 God makes the best interpretation of our efforts and calls us saints.
11. Don't regard the fancies of other men and let them belittle your own blessings and state.We may not even count ourselves afflicted when others do.
12. Don't be taken up by worldly comforts when you have them. Their loss then will be less.

You may live happy lives in the midst of storms. There is an ark where you may live comfortable, cheerful, and contented. It may take many, many years to learn these lessons. Persevere. Do not be content until you have obtained better skill than before at being content.

Rare Jewel: Chapter Eleven, Excuses

These are spot on. Onward!

Chapter 11: The Excuses of a Discontented Heart

1. I'm not discontent; I just have a sense of my condition.
   Answer: If the sense of your affliction takes away the sense of your mercies, it is out of bounds.
                It should not hinder you in your duties.
                It should not breed envy of others.

2. I'm not discontent, but I am troubled by my own sin.
   Answer: Is it really your affliction, rather than your sin? Were you troubled before the affliction came?
                 Are you really just increasing your sin with this lie to yourself?
                 If it is true that sin is vexing you, submit to God's hand in the affliction.

3. I am discontent because God has withdrawn from me.
    Answer: Just because you are afflicted does not mean God has withdrawn.
                 Be content and you will find God's presence. Disquiet drives him from you.
                 Is the answer, really, for you then to depart from him?
                 Make after God with all your might.

4. I can be content in affliction if I can see God's hand but not when affliction comes from other men.
    Answer: They are God's instruments.
                  Pity them. It is better to bear wrong than to do wrong.

5. But I never looked for this affliction.
    Answer: The Spirit witnesses that bonds and afflictions shall abide me everywhere.
                  We have many mercies we never looked for as well.
               
6. Oh, but the affliction is too great.
    Answer: It is not as great as your sin.
                 You might have been in Hell.
                 It may seem worse because you murmur so.

7. I'm sure my affliction is so much worse than others.
    Answer: Your discontent may be making it worse.
                  Why should you be discontented when God is gracious to others?
                  You have the opportunity to honor God more than others.
                  If the sorrows of the world were divided equally among all men, your portion would be greater than now.

8. If the affliction was of a different kind, I would be content.
    Answer: We don't get to choose our own rod.
                 God has chosen what is suitable for you. Other affliction might not suit your disease.
                 You should be able to manage your ship whichever wind blows.
                 God exercises you in a variety of ways for various rewards and crowns.

9. Oh, but the condition makes me unserviceable.
    Answer: You are in the Body and a member of the Body.
                  Even if unserviceable because of affliction, you have a higher calling than even the angels.
                  You are called to faith, which is glorious despite mean circumstances.
                  It is more obedience to submit to God in a low calling than to submit in a higher calling, for the motivator is sheer obedience without a hint of self-love, riches, or credit.

10. But the affliction is so unconstant and unsettled.
     Answer: Man in a settled state grows to rely and depend on himself.
                  God sees it is better for you to live in a continual dependence on him.
                  Often, the worse your outward estate, the better your soul.
                  You soul and eternal welfare are settled.

11. If I had never been in a better condition first, this wouldn't be so hard.
      Answer: Is your eye evil because God has been good to you before?
                   It was to prepare you for the affliction.
                   Prepare for your coming afflictions. In the calm, prepare for storms, and they will be less.
                   Consider how much sunshine God has blessed you with in your life. And now you murmur that it rains? Bless God that you have had so many comfortable days.
                   All God gives you is from his love. Pledge obedience.

12. I'm thwarted by this affliction.
     Answer: The greater the cross, the more obedience and submission required.
                   Be open-handed in your release of possessions and comfort which you were gifted freely.

13. At least I keep my discontent to myself.
     Answer: God hears your discontented heart even if no one else does.
                  The tongue and soul must be silent
           

Rare Jewel: Chapter 10

Here are the notes for Chapter 10.

The Sin of Murmuring

1. The more mercies you have, the viler is your sin of murmuring. There can be no afflictions greater than the mercies you enjoy. (breath, regeneration, preaching) Job 2:10 Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not evil?

2. What sin it is to murmur for small things not received.

3. Murmuring is even more odious in the one blessed with abilities and wisdom.  

4. Consider, all that you have has been freely given to you. We are at God's table daily, and it is free. Who are you as a guest to complain ?

5. So often, when we do receive mercy, we remain discontent.

6. What shame to murmur when God has raised you already from such a low position.

7. Consider what a sinner you were and how you have been raised. How can you then murmur?

8. If you are of so little service to God, why would he be serviceable to you?

9. Maybe God is humbling you. Observe it and be humbled.

10. Seriously consider the affliction if it seems a remarkable, extraordinary providence. It is best to fall down before God and not resist.

11. If the affliction has run long, it is more noxious to continue in discontent. A new cart may creak and make a noise, but after it has been used awhile, it will not do so.

Rare Jewel: Chapter 9

Here are the notes to Chapter 9.

The Evils of a Murmuring Spirit, Part Two

1. There is evil in it.

     F. Murmuring undoes your prayers. Pray for "daily" bread.

     G. Murmuring has woeful effects.
          i. You lose a great deal of time.
          ii. It unfits you for duty by its distraction.
          iii. Bad resolutions are made in a discontented fit. 
          iv. Unthankfulness breeds from murmuring. 
          v. Murmuring makes you liable to other temptations. 

     H. Murmuring is folly.
          i. It takes away the present comfort you do have.
          ii. You gain nothing by it.
          iii. It eats out the good and sweetness of a mercy before it comes, like a worm-eaten nut.
          iv. It makes your affliction heavier. 

     I. There is great danger in murmuring because it provokes God's wrath.
          i. It may cost you your life, like the Israelites in the wilderness.
          ii. It slights God's mercies.
          iii. It is contrary to faith, as you aren't believing God's word. 
          iv. It may tempt you to murmur more and bring even greater wrath upon you.  
          v. Murmuring is a wrangling and contending and striving with God himself. 

     J. There is a great curse of God on murmuring and discontent, so far as it prevails in one who is wicked.
          i. They shall grudge and not be satisfied.
          ii. They will lose perspective of reality. 
          iii. The curse is threatened because they didn't serve God with joy for the abundance of all things. 

     K. There is much of the spirit of Satan in a murmuring spirit. 

     L. A murmuring spirit brings disquiet your entire life. 

     M. God may withdraw his care and protection. 

     N. Humble yourself to break the pattern of discontent. 

   

Rare Jewel: Chapter 8

Here are the notes to Chapter 8.

The Evils of a Murmuring Spirit, Part One

1. There is evil in it.

     A. Murmuring reveals corruption in your heart. (like a septic sore) It is more grievous than any affliction you are under.

     B. Murmurers are listed in the forefront of the ungodly in the Word.

     C. God counts a murmur as rebellion.

     D. It is contrary to Grace.
          i. View your sin and murmurs will quiet.
          ii. Think of the excellence of Christ.
          iii. Know afflictions disengage your heart from the world.
          iv. Look to Christ for all good.
          v. Think of Christ as king.
          vi. Think of the covenant.

     E. Murmuring is below a Christian.
          a. Think of your relationships.
               i. You are a king' s son.
              ii. Christ is your husband.
              iii. You are flesh of his flesh.
              iv. Christ is your brother and coheir.
              v. You are the temple of the Holy Ghost.
              vi. Angels minister to you. Christ joined the principalities and powers to his church.
              vii. You stand with the saints.
          b. Death is your servant and slave. Don' t bow to afflictions with a murmur.
          c. Do not have a fretting, childish spirit when weaned from the world.
          d. You profess to live dead to the world, so don' t murmur.
          e. God never promised comforts but faith.
          f. You have the promises of God for hope.
          g. It is below what God expects.
          h. Others have suffered more and been content.

Rare Jewel: Chapter Seven

Here are the notes from Chapter 7: The Excellence of Contentment.

1. By contentment we come to give God the worship that is due to him.
2. There is much exercise of grace in contentment.
    a. There is faith, humility, love, patience, wisdom, and hope which are tried.
    b. There is a great deal of strength found in quiet contentment.
    c. There is a great deal of beauty of grace. God's glory appears in the man living quietly in adversity.
3. By contentment, the soul is fitted with quietness to receive mercy.
4. And the soul is fitted to do service, once it has been quieted.
5. Contentment delivers us from an abundance of temptations.
6. There is an abundance of comforts in contentment.
    a. He doesn't depend on any else for comfort but God.
    b. If God raises him, he is assured it is by love.
    c. No matter storms or tempests, there will be light in his soul.
 7. God fashions our spirits to our conditions.
        a. Possessions won't bring contentment like grace in the soul.
        b. Possessions don't better my soul.
        c. Satisfied desires can be the result of self-love versus contentment which is from love to God.
        d. Acquiring one thing, we'll only desire more and more, while true contentment brings comfort in all conditions.
8. Contentment is a great blessing upon the soul.
9. God will give the comfort of the thing which we are contented to be without or something in lieu of it.
10. Through contentment, the soul comes the closest possible to God.

Rare Jewel: Chapters Five and Six

Notes from Chapters 5 and 6
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

Christ Teaches Contentment

1. He teaches it through self denial.
   a. We are nothing in ourselves.
   b. We deserve nothing.
   c. We can do nothing.
   d. We cannot, of ourselves, even receive good.
   e. We can make no use of what we have if God withdraws from us.
   f. We are worse than nothing.
   g. If we perish, it will be no loss. God can raise another to serve.
   h. The soul comes to rejoice and take satisfaction in all of God's ways, even those which don't suit our own ends.

A discontented heart is troubled because he has no more comfort, but a self-denying man rather wonders that he has as much as he has.

2. He teaches it through the knowledge that all things of the world are vanity. There is nothing which will feed our hearts.

3. He teaches it through the fear of eternity. Earthly concerns seem to have no consequence in comparison.

4. He teaches we are pilgrims on earth; our momentary stay needs little comfort.

5. He teaches the good we do have is from God's hand; it can draw us closer to God, and it can cause us to be of better service.

6. He teaches us to examine our own hearts.
   a. We'll find the root of our discontent.
   b. In the affliction, we'll know it is suited for us, particularly.
   c. We'll be content knowing what we can manage, and that this condition is perfect for us.

7. He teaches that the prosperous condition is a burden.
   a. There is a burden of trouble.
   b. There is a burden of danger.
   c. There is a burden of duty.
   d. There is the burden to give account to God.

8. He teaches it is a great evil to be given up to the heart's desires. Better a plague than a hard heart.

9. He teaches the right knowledge of God's providence.
   a. God's providence has universality. Nothing is outside of it.
   b. God's providence is not altered by us, even our loudest rantings.
   c. All the infinite varieties of providence work in an orderly way.
   d. He makes us familiar with God's ways of working.

       * God's ordinary course is that his people in this world will be afflicted.
       * Often when God intends the greatest mercy, he brings a person into the lowest condition.
          i.e. Joseph in prison, David hunted, Christ crucified.
       * God will often use evil for his good.

Rare Jewel: Chapter Three and Four

Continuing on in this book of awesome, here are the notes from Chapter 3 and 4.

1. The contented believer lives on God's blessing
    a. knowing what he has is God's love.
    b. knowing what he has is sanctified for his good.
    c. knowing he won't be called to pay for what he has as it's already been purchased by Christ.
    d. knowing what he has is an earnest for future glory.
2. The contented believer sees God's sweet love in all afflictions, evils, and mercies.
3. The contented believer sees the afflictions are sanctified in Christ who suffered the same and takes the curse of the current affliction.
4. The contented believer brings Christ's strength into his soul.
5. The contented believer makes up all loses in God. He has the Kingdom within him.
6. The contented believer gains contentment through the Covenant of Grace
    a. when seeing disorder in his life, he knows there is order in the everlasting covenant
    b. by seizing the promises of God.
7. The contented believer makes up all his outward wants from what he finds within himself, as he has God within.
8. The contented believer makes the Kingdom of Heaven present by faith in the midst of trial.
9. The contented believer opens and lets his heart cry to God.

And that's a wrap!

Life with Lupus: In the Predni-ZONE

Logo from this blog.

An update as I'm living in the predni-ZONE. This is my second round of prednisone in my fall, 2012, flare. The first wasn't strong enough, so the dosage is doubled. At the 8 week mark of being housebound, I'm looking at 4 weeks in the zone. Hopefully, the flare cycle will be broken! 

There's a love/hate relationship with prednisone, that's for certain. As a powerful steroid, it has the potential to heal. It removes pain. But along with the: "I love, love, love how this works!" is the: "I hate this drug of evil evilness!" Here's the dialogue that might be exchanged these coming weeks. The response is always: "I'm in the predni-ZONE."

"It's 1 AM. You are still up?"

"It's 3 AM. You are starting your day?"

"Really? You can't concentrate?"

"Why are there cuts on your hands?"

"Are you drinking pickle juice?"

"I think your face has grown round as the moon."

"Why are you crying?"

All of this calls for the big guns. I finished reading A Place of Healing by Joni Eareckson Tada which was wonderful and encouraging. 

But now I return to A Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs. 

Ah, that bestseller from 1651. I began the work nearly 2 years ago. I'm starting over with a 99 cent Kindle download! 

Here's where I posted highlights previously:

Chapter One 

Chapter Two 

Contentment is the sweet, inward, quiet, gracious, frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights in God's wise disposal in every condition. Burroughs

Of course, that includes the predni-ZONE. I hope to add more chapter notes to encourage myself. Thanks to everyone for the cards, notes, gifts, and visits. I appreciate you each very much. Onward!

 

Rare Jewel: Chapter Two

I have the notes for Chapter Two, "The Mystery of Contentment." I found these concepts invaluable. Woot! These will sound odd to many, but remember I am a Calvinist. :~)


A. The Christian will be content but always unsatisfied until he is ultimately in God's presence. 
B. A Christian comes to contentment by subtraction. Bring your desires down to your possessions. Shrink your heart to what you have.
C. Meditate on the weight of your sin.
D. Metamorphose the afflictions into light. Find the benefit inside of the circumstance.
E. Do the work of the present circumstances faithfully. In this, serve the counsels of God. 
F. Melt your will into God's will. This is a higher act than merely submitting.
G. Purge your lusts and bitter humours. 


Onward! 

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment: Chapter One

I don't often bring my theology straightforwardly to my blog, but I'm reading this amazing work by Jeremiah Burroughs from 1648, and I thought it would be helpful for me to consolidate my notes from my journal to my blog. If it is of benefit to anyone else, I am thankful. I know many in the children's lit industry are not of this persuasion, so maybe you will pass this by. And that is okay.

Contentment is a blessed thing, and I seek it. So here is Chapter 1, largely in the paraphrased words of Burroughs.

"I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. Philippians 4:11

Contentment is a great art, a spiritual mystery, and it is to be learned. In a sense, it is only attributed to God who shares it in Christ according to each person's measure. It is to be able to say: I have a right to the covenant and an interest in Christ, therefore I am content.

Definition:
Contentment is the sweet, inward, quiet, gracious, frame of spirit which freely submits to and delights in God's wise disposal in every condition. 

Note:
1. You will still sense affliction.
2. You may in a submissive way complain to God.
3. You may grieve.
4. You may communicate the sad condition to your friends.
5. You may use lawful means to seek relief from the circumstances.
6. You will still exhibit quick and lively service to God
7. You will be active in sanctifying God's name in the affliction,
8. You will readily come to peace.
9. You will willingly, and freely submit, knowing the affliction is good because the hand of God is good.
10. You will look up to God, not at the means of the affliction.
11. You will submit no matter the affliction, no matter how long it lasts, or how many instances arrive.

Contentment is not:
1. a murmuring and repining
2. a vexing and fretting
3. a tumultuous spirit which can't think, act, or complete duties
4. a consuming distraction from Christ
5. a sinking discouragement
6. a welcoming of sinful shirks and shifts to find relief
7. a natural quietness of personality
8. a sturdy resolution
9. a natural reasoning

Contentment is to be satisfied in your judgment, the will submitting, and the thoughts and affections in order. It is a good mood, a constant temper of quietness. It is to be able to say: "Through God's mercy, mine is a good condition, despite being grievous and sore."

"Godliness creates an even disposition." Tom Lyon