N00348:29
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.
5. He that really intends to buy, will first cheapen; every one hath such a principle, that he would buy at the best rates; to have a thing good, and have it cheap, is most mens ambition; a man may look upon a thing, and like it well enough for the kind, and be desirous to have it, but may be afterwards discouraged, when he hears the price: he may either not be willing, or not able to come up to it; and truly let men look, talk, and commend, yet he never intends to make a real purchase of the true Religion, who doth not first compute the cost; he that takes up a profession on a sudden, and never enquires what it must stand him in, never took it up sincerely; nor doth he intend either to keep it, or to pay for it. Our Saviour Christ, when he had plainly told them what the true Religion must cost them, he urgeth upon them to cast up the account, and see whether ⟨p. 16⟩they could be content to be at the expense, intimating, that otherwise they might fall off from it with shame, and this by the parables of a Builder and Warrior, Luke 14. 28. &c.
5. He that really intends to buy, will first cheapen; every one hath such a principle, that he would buy at the best rates; to have a thing good, and have it cheap, is most mens ambition; a man may look upon a thing, and like it well enough for the kind, and be desirous to have it, but may be afterwards discouraged, when he hears the price: he may either not be willing, or not able to come up to it; and truly let men look, talk, and commend, yet he never intends to make a real purchase of the true Religion, who doth not first compute the cost; he that takes up a profession on a sudden, and never enquires what it must stand him in, never took it up sincerely; nor doth he intend either to keep it, or to pay for it. Our Saviour Christ, when he had plainly told them what the true Religion must cost them, he urgeth upon them to cast up the account, and see whether ⟨p. 16⟩they could be content to be at the expence, intimating, that otherwise they might fall off from it with shame, and this by the parables of a Builder and Warrior, Luke 14. 28. &c.