Summary
We live in a restless age, and even believers can confuse contentment with lowered expectations or emotional numbness.
Burroughs teaches contentment as a learned grace, a quiet strength of soul that rests in the Father’s wise providence without denying real sorrow.
Why Should We Read This Resource?
This book diagnoses complaining with unusual precision. Burroughs exposes the subtle pride beneath murmuring, then directs the heart to the sovereignty, goodness, and fatherly care of God.
It is especially helpful for pastoral ministry because it gives categories for counselling, how to speak to those crushed by disappointment, and how to correct those who demand their own way. The counsel is firm, yet it aims at healing.
For preaching, the applications are plentiful. Burroughs shows how the gospel trains us to receive Christ as enough, and to interpret hard circumstances through the promises of God rather than through fear.
Closing Recommendation
We strongly recommend it for pastors and leaders, and for any believer learning to endure with faith, patience, and quiet joy.
Jeremiah Burroughs
Jeremiah Burroughs was an English Puritan of the seventeenth century, an Independent divine with clear Reformed convictions.
Known as a gifted preacher and pastor, he served the church during a turbulent public moment and contributed to the Westminster Assembly. His writing is largely sermon shaped, aiming to steady believers under providence and to lead hearts into glad submission to the Lord. Burroughs has a rare ability to expose grumbling and spiritual restlessness, then to replace them with faith filled contentment rooted in Christ and the covenant promises of God.
He remains valued for biblical plainness, doctrinal solidity, and a tender, searching application that neither flatters sin nor crushes the bruised reed. Recommended titles include The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Gospel Worship, and The Evil of a Murmuring Spirit.
Theological Perspective: Reformed