Jeremiah Burroughs (1599-1646) was well-liked by his congregation and many from London came to hear him preach. It all came crashing down when he criticized a popular town official in a sermon. The church voted to deprive him of his salary and give it to another preacher, so Jeremiah went to serve a smaller church.
King James issued a decree that all preachers had to read in worship from the Book of Sports listing acceptable sports for Sunday afternoon recreation. The King declared that dancing, archery and vaulting were permissible activities after morning worship. A local bishop, who was gunning for nonconformists like Jeremiah, exiled him for refusing to comply with the king’s edict. He fled to Holland and served an English church for Puritan exiles.
Jeremiah preached a sermon series titled “The Rare Jewel of Contentment.” He based his sermons on Paul’s words in Philippians 4.11-13. He described Christian contentment as “that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.” Jeremiah was well acquainted with affliction–no salary, no church, no homeland yet he persisted in preaching, “Your mercies are more than your afflictions.” What a great line! “Though I cannot know of your afflictions,” he said, “I know what your mercies are. No afflictions of this world are as great as God’s mercies.” The greatness of God’s mercies is no match for the smallness of things we lack. I have utilized Paul’s words in Philippians, in keeping with Jeremiah’s sermons, as the focus of today’s prayer: