Great, Great Afflictions

This morning, we read this at the breakfast table; an excuse of a discontent heart:

'Oh, but it is very great, my affliction is exceeding great,' says someone, 'and however you say we must be contented, you may say so who do not feel such great afflictions, but if you felt my affliction, which I feel, you would think it hard to bear and be content'. To that I answer:

1. Let it be as great an affliction as it will, it is not as a great as your sin. He has punished you less than your sins.
2. It might have been a great deal more, you might have been in Hell. And it is, if I remember, Bernard's saying: he said, 'It is an easier matter to be oppressed than to perish.' You might have been in Hell, and therefore the greatness of the thing should not make you murmur, even grant it to be great.

Quote from Jeremiah Burroughs book "The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment" (page 192)