N00348:30
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.
6. He that buys a thing, comes to a price, and indents for it; in buying a bargain is driven home: It is not enough to cheapen; there are a great many that do so, and after that, blow upon the commodity, turn their backs, and go away; but the man who is resolved to have it, though at first he may for a while stickle at it, yet at last he comes to an agreement, accepts the terms, consents to the proposal, both in quantity and specie. There are many that lend an outward ear to the tenders of the Gospel, and wait till they hear what terms Christ propounds, but when they understand what they are, they cry out this is an hard saying, with them John 6. 60. and so they soon go away, vers. 66. but those that are for Christ and Truth, stand by it, and say with Peter, verse 68. Whether shall we go, thou only hast the words of Eternal Life.
6. He that buys a thing, comes to a price, and indents for it; in buying a bargain is driven home: It is not enough to cheapen; there are a great many that do so, and after that, blow upon the commodity, turn their backs, and go away; but the man who is resolved to have it, though at first he may for a while stickle at it, yet at last he comes to an agreement, accepts the terms, consents to the proposal, both in quantity and specie. There are many that lend an outward ear to the tenders of the Gospel, and wait till they hear what tearms Christ propounds, but when they understand what they are, they cry out this is an hard saying, with them John 6. 60. and so they soon go away, vers. 66. but those that are for Christ and Truth, stand by it, and say with Peter, verse 68. Whether shall we go, thou only hast the words of Eternal Life.
7. Buying is the parting with something in exchange for that which we buy: that ⟨p. 17⟩which a man buys, he is at cost for; so, though the Truth be not the proper recompense of any expense that we can be at, (being infinitely more worth than all that we can lay down) but is the mere free gift of God; yet there is something that we must let go for it. Now in humane contracts, a man either pays money or labour, or exchangeth one commodity for another; so here all these are requisite in the purchasing of the Truth. It requires labour, and it is an hard work to procure the Heavenly Wisdom,