“Tradesmen who trade for great matters must trust much. They cannot expect to have present pay in great sums. It’s true, men who trade for little matters trade by retail. They usually take in their pence and two pence as their commodities go forth. But it’s not so with merchants who trade for great things in wholesale. Traders for heaven trust much and, indeed, the grace of faith is the great grace that helps in the trading for heaven; they have a little earnest for the present.
You who are traders and go to exchange and sell bargains for many thousands, you may not have more than twelve pence or a crown for the present, the first fruits of the Spirit, or a bare promise from Christ. This is that which binds the whole bargain, and they expect to have the full pay hereafter when they come to heaven. It is a happy thing when God gives men and women hearts to be willing to trust God for eternity; and if they have just a little comfort and grace now, they ought to look at that as an earnest penny of all the glory that Jesus Christ has purchased by His blood and that God has promised in His Word. You are not fit to be a tradesman for heaven if you cannot trust, if you cannot be content that great bargains should be bound with a little earnest. But that’s the soul that trades in heaven, that can be content to wait for the fulfilling of the promises, and to take what they have from God for the present, though it is but a very little, as an earnest to bind all those glorious things that God has promised in His Word.”
Jeremiah Burroughs, A Treatise on earthly-mindedness
http://www.puritanlibrary.com
No comments:
Post a Comment