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A contented heart has enough in the lack of all creatures, and would not be more miserable than he is now. Suppose that God should keep you here, and all the creatures that are in the world were taken away, yet you still…
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…
A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by way of addition, as by way of subtraction.
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.
As it is in mercies, when they come unexpected, the less preparation there was in me for receiving mercy, the more need I have to be careful now to give God the glory of the mercy, and to sanctify God's name in the enjoy…
It is likewise useful for men and women of wealth to go to poor people's houses and see how they live, to go to hospitals, and to see the wounds of soldiers and others, and to see the lamentable condition that people liv…
Every Christian should say: 'Have I wealth now? I should prepare for poverty. Have I health now? I should prepare for sickness.
Here lies the bottom and root of all contentment, when there is an evenness and proportion between our hearts and our circumstances.
Psalm 106:24, 25: 'Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word; but murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord. Therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow th…
It is contrary to the worship that is in contentedness.
The consideration of the abundance of mercies that God bestows and we enjoy. It is a saying of Luther: 'The sea of God's mercies should swallow up all our particular afflictions.' Name any affliction that is upon you: th…
I look upon the creature and see what it suffers to be useful to me. Thus, the brute beasts must die, must be roasted in the fire, and boiled, must come on to the plate, be hacked all in pieces, must be chewed in the mou…
There once was a great merchant and trader—his name was Zeno—and it happened once that he suffered shipwreck, and he said, "I never made a better voyage and sailed better than at the time that I suffered shipwreck." Now…
This is the rhetoric of the Spirit of God'he said, 'to extenuate evil things, and to amplify good things: if a cross comes to make the cross but little, but if there is a mercy to make the mercy great.
Contentment is an inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit-the whole soul, judgment, thoughts, will, affections and all are satisfied and quiet.
For if all the men in the world looked upon you as more happy than themselves, then you would be contented. Oh, do not let your happiness depend upon the fancies of other men.
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.
When some men and women are complaining so much, and always whining, it is a sign that there is an emptiness in their hearts.
A godly man has contentment by opening and letting out his heart to God.
Now we should labour to keep the work of God upon our souls which was present at our conversion; for conversion must not be only at one instant at first. Men are deceived in this, if they think their conversion is finish…
The shoe may be smooth and neat without, while the flesh is pinched within. There may be much calmness and stillness outwardly, and yet wonderful confusion, bitterness, disturbance and vexation within.
Do but consider of what use you are in the world, and if you consider what little need God has of you, and what little use you are, you will not be much discontented.
If we perish we will be no loss. If God should annihilate me, what loss would it be to anyone? God can raise up someone else in my place to serve him in a different way.
The lesson of self-denial is the first lesson that Jesus Christ teaches men who are seeking contentment.
The reason why you have not got contentment in the things of the world is not because you have not got enough of them-that is not the reason-but the reason is, because they are not things proportionable to that immortal…
While I live in the world my condition is to be but a pilgrim, a stranger, a traveler, and a soldier.
It is, indeed, a dreadful evil, one of the most hideous and fearful evils that can befall any man on the face of the earth, for God to give him up to his heart's desires.
Not one hair falls from your head, not a sparrow to the ground, without the providence of God.
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 tho…
It is the peace of God that guards the heart from temptation.
You think you are not as ungodly as others, because you do not swear and drink as others do, but you may be ungodly in murmuring.
By murmuring you undo your prayers, for it is exceedingly contrary to the prayer that you make to God.
Many men and women in discontented moods are a mad sort of people, and though you may please yourselves with such a mad kind of behavior, you should know that it is a curse of God upon men to be given up to a kind of mad…
It is because your heart is so unsound that your affliction is great to you.
You must know that we are not to choose our own rod, that God shall beat us with.
Did God give you more prosperity before? It was to prepare you for affliction.
Consider, we have not long to live, it may be over before our days are at an end. But supposing it should not, death will put an end to all, all afflictions and troubles will soon be at an end by death.
I know nothing more available for the quieting of a Christian soul and getting contentment than this, the setting your heart on work about the duties of your very present condition that now you are in, and taking heed of…
Usually the people of God, before the greatest comforts, have the greatest afflictions and sorrows.
That the strong beams of the sun of prosperity upon many men make them to be leprous.
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…
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 godl…
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 h…
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…
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 meat and drink, and…
There is no condition that a godly man or woman can be in, but there is some promise or other in the Scripture to help him in that condition. And that is the way of his contentment, to go to the promises, and get from th…
God made a promise to deliver me, or at least to deliver me from all the evil of it; now if this thing does befall me and yet I have a promise of God, certainly the evil of it is taken away. This promise tells me that if…
There is a compound of grace in contentment: there is faith, and there is humility, and love, and there is patience, and there is wisdom, and there is hope; almost all graces are compounded. [...] In one action that you…
50 quotes
A contented heart has enough in the lack of all creatures, and would not be more miserable than he is now. Suppose that God should keep you here, and all the creatures that are in the world were taken away, yet you still…
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…
A Christian comes to contentment, not so much by way of addition, as by way of subtraction.
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.
As it is in mercies, when they come unexpected, the less preparation there was in me for receiving mercy, the more need I have to be careful now to give God the glory of the mercy, and to sanctify God's name in the enjoy…
It is likewise useful for men and women of wealth to go to poor people's houses and see how they live, to go to hospitals, and to see the wounds of soldiers and others, and to see the lamentable condition that people liv…
Every Christian should say: 'Have I wealth now? I should prepare for poverty. Have I health now? I should prepare for sickness.
Here lies the bottom and root of all contentment, when there is an evenness and proportion between our hearts and our circumstances.
Psalm 106:24, 25: 'Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word; but murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord. Therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow th…
It is contrary to the worship that is in contentedness.
The consideration of the abundance of mercies that God bestows and we enjoy. It is a saying of Luther: 'The sea of God's mercies should swallow up all our particular afflictions.' Name any affliction that is upon you: th…
I look upon the creature and see what it suffers to be useful to me. Thus, the brute beasts must die, must be roasted in the fire, and boiled, must come on to the plate, be hacked all in pieces, must be chewed in the mou…
There once was a great merchant and trader—his name was Zeno—and it happened once that he suffered shipwreck, and he said, "I never made a better voyage and sailed better than at the time that I suffered shipwreck." Now…
This is the rhetoric of the Spirit of God'he said, 'to extenuate evil things, and to amplify good things: if a cross comes to make the cross but little, but if there is a mercy to make the mercy great.
Contentment is an inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit-the whole soul, judgment, thoughts, will, affections and all are satisfied and quiet.
For if all the men in the world looked upon you as more happy than themselves, then you would be contented. Oh, do not let your happiness depend upon the fancies of other men.
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.
When some men and women are complaining so much, and always whining, it is a sign that there is an emptiness in their hearts.
A godly man has contentment by opening and letting out his heart to God.
Now we should labour to keep the work of God upon our souls which was present at our conversion; for conversion must not be only at one instant at first. Men are deceived in this, if they think their conversion is finish…
The shoe may be smooth and neat without, while the flesh is pinched within. There may be much calmness and stillness outwardly, and yet wonderful confusion, bitterness, disturbance and vexation within.
Do but consider of what use you are in the world, and if you consider what little need God has of you, and what little use you are, you will not be much discontented.
If we perish we will be no loss. If God should annihilate me, what loss would it be to anyone? God can raise up someone else in my place to serve him in a different way.
The lesson of self-denial is the first lesson that Jesus Christ teaches men who are seeking contentment.
The reason why you have not got contentment in the things of the world is not because you have not got enough of them-that is not the reason-but the reason is, because they are not things proportionable to that immortal…
While I live in the world my condition is to be but a pilgrim, a stranger, a traveler, and a soldier.
It is, indeed, a dreadful evil, one of the most hideous and fearful evils that can befall any man on the face of the earth, for God to give him up to his heart's desires.
Not one hair falls from your head, not a sparrow to the ground, without the providence of God.
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 tho…
It is the peace of God that guards the heart from temptation.
You think you are not as ungodly as others, because you do not swear and drink as others do, but you may be ungodly in murmuring.
By murmuring you undo your prayers, for it is exceedingly contrary to the prayer that you make to God.
Many men and women in discontented moods are a mad sort of people, and though you may please yourselves with such a mad kind of behavior, you should know that it is a curse of God upon men to be given up to a kind of mad…
It is because your heart is so unsound that your affliction is great to you.
You must know that we are not to choose our own rod, that God shall beat us with.
Did God give you more prosperity before? It was to prepare you for affliction.
Consider, we have not long to live, it may be over before our days are at an end. But supposing it should not, death will put an end to all, all afflictions and troubles will soon be at an end by death.
I know nothing more available for the quieting of a Christian soul and getting contentment than this, the setting your heart on work about the duties of your very present condition that now you are in, and taking heed of…
Usually the people of God, before the greatest comforts, have the greatest afflictions and sorrows.
That the strong beams of the sun of prosperity upon many men make them to be leprous.
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…
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 godl…
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 h…
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…
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 meat and drink, and…
There is no condition that a godly man or woman can be in, but there is some promise or other in the Scripture to help him in that condition. And that is the way of his contentment, to go to the promises, and get from th…
God made a promise to deliver me, or at least to deliver me from all the evil of it; now if this thing does befall me and yet I have a promise of God, certainly the evil of it is taken away. This promise tells me that if…
There is a compound of grace in contentment: there is faith, and there is humility, and love, and there is patience, and there is wisdom, and there is hope; almost all graces are compounded. [...] In one action that you…