N00348:143
Heavenly merchandiseHeavenly merchandize
Heavenly merchandise; or The purchasing of truth recommended and the selling of it dissuaded; as it was delivered in several sermons upon Prov. 23. 23. / By Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston. ; [Three lines of Scripture text]Heavenly merchandize; or The purchasing of truth recommended and the selling of it disswaded; as it was delivered in several sermons upon Prov. 23. 23. / By Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston. ; [Three lines of Scripture text]
printed by Samuel Green, 1686
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
4. Every Truth leads to Jesus Christ: that great and comprehensive Truth: All the Truths of Fallen Mans Religion are summed up in the Law and the Gospel: That Christ was the great end and scope of the Law, is in so many words affirmed, Rom. 10. 4 For Christ is the end of the Law, for Righteousness to every one that believeth; and that the Gospel wholly centres in him is therein manifest, because it is the Gospel of, or concerning Christ; and the abstract of it is Faith in, & Salvation by him; hence when he sent forth his Disciples to Preach it, he gave them that for their Text, Mark. 16. 16. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believes not shall be damned. Paul therefore, who to prove his fidelity in the course of his Ministry among the Ephesians, laid down that assertion, Acts 20. 20. I kept back nothing that was profitable to you; doth yet solemnly avouch that to his Corinthians, to whom he had been alike faithful in his Preaching, 1 Cor. 2. 2. I determined to know nothing among ⟨p. 118⟩you but Jesus Christ and him Crucified: and if we put these two together, we may safely conclude, that he who faithfully and fully Preacheth Christ Crucified, Preacheth all the Truth which is profitable to the souls of men. Examine therefore every Doctrine, and enquire, how doth this tend to lead men home to Christ, how doth this centre and rest in him? how doth it direct and lead me to fix my whole Salvation entirely upon him? and if there be no such tendency as this is in it, but contrariwise it leads you away to some other thing, and derogates from, or divides his honour, and will not yield him to be the only Saviour, it is a Doctrine of Devils, and comes not from above, but from him who is a Liar from the beginning, and the Father of such.
4. Every Truth leads to Jesus Christ: that great and comprehensive Truth: All the Truths of Fallen Mans Religion are summed up in the Law and the Gospel: That Christ was the great end and scope of the Law, is in so many words affirmed,