Back |  |  |  |  |  | Contents |  |  |  |  |  | Next

##### Advice: Enlarge Your Trade

{Since the Heavenly Trade Is the Best Trade…

Exhortation to Good Traders in Christianity

Advice: Enlarge Your Trade}

You who have any good trading for Heaven: be exhorted to enlarge your trade; drive a greater trade in godliness every day. Prosperous people in the world build bigger barns, fairer houses, and larger shops and get more goods and land and diversify their businesses. Christians should do likewise. If God blesses your heavenly substance and prospers your souls and if the gain of godliness comes in, lay it out for greater godliness, as investors do who reinvest their gains. Put your profits back into your heavenly business and inventory and do more business. Here are nine things and motivations to consider for encouragement to grow in heavenly trading:1474

First, think on the small size of your first inventory and your low state when setting up. You were as a Syrian ready to perish (Deuteronomy 26:5).1475 Your grace was small as a mustard seed (Matthew 13:31).1476 Your abilities were weak and you were as a newborn baby (1 Peter 2:2).1477 You began with one talent [of gold or silver]. Do you not have reason to use it well? You were as Israel when they were the fewest of all peoples (Deuteronomy 7:7).1478 “Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms; But they did not know that I healed them” (Hosea 11:3 NASB). “Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely separate me from His people.’ Nor let the eunuch say, ‘Behold, I am a dry tree’” (Isaiah 56:3 NASB). “For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him” (Isaiah 53:2 NASB).

Second, consider what a poor trade most people carry on for Heaven these days. There are few who seek the things that are Christ’s and make Christianity their business. All people seek their own things. Most professors, as well as others, wonder [marvel] after this beast (Revelation 17:8),1479 the world. We may say of Christianity, as the prophet did of Zion (Jeremiah 30:17),1480 “This is godliness. Nobody cares for it.” There are few Israelites in whom there is no deceit (John 1:47).1481 There are few as Noah, righteous in their generation, walking with God (Genesis 7:1).1482 There are few as Caleb, who wholly follow the Lord (Joshua 14:14).1483 Most people’s Christianity consists in theology, profession, talking, social standing, privileges, going to meetings, and getting into churches, but few make conscience of their words, ways, promises, and duties. There are few men and women who heed the second table 1484 of the Commandments and cause their light to shine before people. There are few as Zachary and Elizabeth: “They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord” (Luke 1:6 NASB). Few heed: “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8 NASB). And: “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27 NASB). And should this not provoke your zeal for the Lord of Hosts, when you see the altars of Christianity down and see so few friends of godliness left, to stir up your holy ambition to excel and do more for God than others? It would demonstrate a brave spirit and be a worthy attempt to offer to lift up fallen godliness with your life as well as lip, and by the raised splendor of a holy life. This would be as a city on a hill to provoke others to imitation, saying, “Come up here.”

Third, think also about what an excellent trade the saints and angels in Heaven carry on who have their portion in hand and dwell in the city of the great King. They are always receiving and giving, carrying on a whole trade for God, out of reach of all hazards and interruptions. They always behold their Father’s face and serve Him day and night in His temple, with palm branches in their hands, songs in their mouths, and their crowns at His feet. Consider how far beneath these glorious merchants you are, what a large measure you have to fill up in godliness, and what advances you must make in holiness before you can reach their condition and stand with the saints in Heaven (Zechariah 3:7).1485 And is it not time to build the house of God (Haggai 1:2–4)?1486 Is it not time for you to hasten to get on with your work and raise higher stories [building floors] for God every day, pressing after greater measures of grace until you come to the fullness of the stature of Christ (Ephesians 4:11–16)1487 and perfections of glorified saints and angels?

Fourth, just when will you be fit to return to your own heavenly country and give a comfortable account of your stewardship if you are now so slothful and minimal in your heavenly trade? When will your ships be loaded and your sacks full for a departure from here if you trade so little and attend to the thriving of your soul no better? Your treasure is deep and requires more digging. Your crown is far off and requires faster running. Your reward is large, so much great labor is needed to prepare yourself for it. Oh, think how far glory is above all your proportions of grace and duty, and how much you need to press harder after more enlargement in your soul and suitableness for your estate above!

Fifth, the greater trade you carry on for Heaven, the less burdensome it is. This is not the case with earthly trades; more work means more weariness. But Christianity carries refreshment with it. “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work’” (John 4:34 NKJV). “Her [wisdom’s] ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace” (Proverbs 3:17 ESV). Oh, the sweetness and delicate pleasure that vigorous pursuit of holiness affords! “Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, So is my beloved among the young men. In his shade I took great delight and sat down, And his fruit was sweet to my taste” (Song of Solomon 2:3 NASB). If people do not experience the joy of godliness, it is because they neglect the work of it. They do not eat the kernel of the nut because they do not break open the shell. Christ’s myrrh needs to be gathered, and His honey eaten with the honeycomb, which must be squeezed out before it is eaten (Song of Solomon 5:1).1488 Rabbi Solomon believes that יער [yah´-ar, honeycomb in this context] is a cane out of which honey is sucked or the sugar boiled out.1489 Those who want to eat Christ’s pleasant bread must work hard for it. His idlers get none of His dainties. The greater the labor, the sweeter is the rest. The Lord’s way is not tiresome, unlike labor of flesh and blood. The more you run in it, the less weary you will be. “Yet those who wait for the Lord Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary” (Isaiah 40:31 NASB). And though they may be weary in well-doing through their carnal sloth, they are not weary from it. [Emphasis added. Ed.]

Sixth, the greater your trade, the richer you will be. In worldly employments, this is not always the case. People may labor in vain and sit down in sorrow, but godliness is profitable for all things (Isaiah 55:2; 1 Timothy 4:8).1490 And the heavenly trade brings in the true treasure, as I have already shown, and the more employment, the more profit.

Seventh, the larger trade you carry on for Heaven, the more you have of that honor that comes down from Heaven. “But glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 2:10 NKJV). The greater the trading, the greater the riches, and the greater the riches, the greater is the reputation. “The poor is hated even by his neighbor, But those who love the rich are many” (Proverbs 14:20 NASB). The greater the trade you carry on for Heaven, the greater regard you have from God, the more of His presence is with you, the more His delight is in you, and the more His blessing is upon you. His spouse’s growth and fruitfulness was much on Christ’s heart. “How beautiful and how delightful you are, My love, with all your charms! Your stature is like a palm tree, And your breasts are like its clusters” (Song of Solomon 7:6–7 NASB). The palm tree is an emblem of growth and fruitfulness; The more it is oppressed, the more it grows, and no tree is more fruitful. It is called always-leaf, always having leaves. Naturalists say that it is never without leaves and fruit. When some fruit is ripe, as Pliny tells us, other fruit is growing. It has leaves in the highest branches, from which the sweet sap comes, according to Alstea. It is a tree that is exceedingly profitable. Some count up three hundred sixty advantages that the palm tree yields, and hence the Egyptians make it a symbol of the solar year, which consists of three hundred sixty-five days. Its fruit is wonderfully restorative and nourishing, repairing decayed strength and radical moisture in a human body.1491 The palm tree is thus a fit metaphor to express the Church’s fruitfulness, in which fruitfulness the Lord Jesus takes great delight. He gets up early to the vineyard to see if the vine flourishes, whether the tender grapes appear, and the pomegranate buds (Song of Solomon 7:12).1492 So delightful is the view of a flourishing people to Christ that the more you thrive in grace, the more you will have of Christ’s company, and that is honorable.

Eighth, the greater trade you carry on for Heaven, the more useful you are while on earth. You have greater capability to do good to others and to serve your generation, which is a blessed thing. “I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35 NKJV). “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share” (1 Timothy 6:17–18 NASB). The richer you are in grace, the more able you are to do good, and not only able, but more willing also. The reason Christians have no more heart to do good and to give is their poverty of soul. They are not rich in grace, they have only a little spiritual treasure, so they have little grace to share. Their hands are shut because their hearts are empty. But the more divine treasure you have, the more ready you will be to do good and to lay out both your inward and outward riches. Oh, how useful rich people can be in the places they live if God gives them hearts to do it! And how helpful may those be who have an increase in spiritual goods in these days of poverty of soul. There are many impoverished souls these days who are ready to perish due to lack of light, peace, and comfort. They are perplexed with doubts, darkness, and distressing fears, but have nobody to help them. Oh, how refreshing in these days of troubles of souls would it be to have some rich neighbors among them, some prosperous Jobs! “If I have kept the poor from their desire, Or caused the eyes of the widow to fail, Or eaten my morsel by myself, So that the fatherless could not eat of it (But from my youth I reared him as a father, And from my mother’s womb I guided the widow); If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, Or any poor man without covering” (Job 31:16–19 NKJV). “And if you give yourself to the hungry And satisfy the desire of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness And your gloom will become like midday” (Isaiah 58:10 NASB). “I was eyes to the blind And feet to the lame” (Job 29:15 NASB). “To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!” (Proverbs 15:23 ESV). “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4 NASB). Christians, make haste to be rich in grace so that you may be rich in good works and may contribute much into the Lord’s treasury (Mark 12:41),1493 and out of your abundance contribute into the offerings of God (Luke 21:4).1494 Then the poor who were ready to perish will bless you (Job 29:13),1495 and the Lord will daily feed you with savory food, the fruit of your well-doing.

Ninth, the greater trade you carry on for Heaven now, the greater will your estate in Heaven be hereafter. “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8 NKJV). To me, who has run my race, finished my course, and kept the faith. To me, who has worked hard in the vineyard and traded diligently in the world for Heaven. For me, yes, for all who enlarge their heavenly trade, there is laid up ἀπόκειταί [root: ἀπόκειμαι ap-ok´-i-mahee: laid up in store, reserved] a crown of righteousness. Zanchy relates this to portions that parents lay up for their children. This crown is of a glory suitable to how well they used their grace. It is called a crown to note its excellence, and of righteousness to note its equity. It will bear a proportion to all of that grace, labors, and faithfulness that is in the saints, and infinitely beyond it. “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17 ESV). God will not leave out the least item of the saint’s due reward in the great day of righteousness. A cup of cold water (Matthew 10:42),1496 a little cake for the prophet Elisha (1 Kings 17:13),1497 a mite in the treasury (Luke 21:3),1498 or a desire to build God’s house (1 Chronicles 17:1)1499—all will be remembered in that day. Mercy gives the crown, but justice fits it for the overcomer’s head. Beda said, “God crowns His own gifts, not your mercies. He first gives grace in the time of mercy, then crowns it in the day of judgment.” And is not this sufficient strong proof, even a compulsion on a noble heart to labor after the greatest breadth of holiness? Is not Heaven enough to recompense all your duties and hardships on earth?1500 Someone said, “What is enough if Rome is considered little?” So what can be considered great if Heaven is [considered to be] small and not price enough for all your holy striving and utmost progress in the way of life?

Oh, give heed to your proficiency in this heavenly trade! Your hearts and hands can never be too deep in the concerns of the upper world. In this, you can never be too covetous. “But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31 NASB). Take heed of putting hindrances or limits against your holiness. (That is the practice of all unsanctified souls.) Only in this is it lawful to remove the ancient boundary markers and enlarge your spiritual inheritance as far as possible. “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14 ESV). Nothing undoes professors worse than stinting their measures of holiness and being content with present attainments. If these professors can get to a level of light, grace, and comfort that will make their salvation and present welfare secure, they sit down and go no further. This makes formalists and starvelings in Christianity.1501 “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward’” (Exodus 14:15 NASB). This is also God’s charge to His people in their passage to the heavenly Canaan: “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love” (2 Peter 1:5–7 NKJV). The greatest skill in this holy arithmetic is in addition and multiplication. Continue enlarging your inventory, get in more choice heavenly wares, greater quantities of goods and of more costly goods. Be moving more and more goods off your shelves as you have opportunity. Your present advantage is great, and your reward in Heaven even more so (Matthew 5:12).1502

#####

1474This sentence is not in Ashwood’s text, but is in the table of contents.

1475“And you shall answer and say before the Lord your God: ‘My father was a Syrian, about to perish, and he went down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous’” (Deuteronomy 26:5 NKJV).

1476“He presented another parable to them, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field’” (Matthew 13:31 NASB).

1477“Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2 NASB).

1478“It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples” (Deuteronomy 7:7 ESV).

1479“The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come” (Revelation 17:8 NASB).

1480“‘For I will restore you to health And I will heal you of your wounds,’ declares the Lord, ‘Because they have called you an outcast, saying: “It is Zion; no one cares for her”’” (Jeremiah 30:17 NASB).

1481“Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’” (John 1:47 ESV).

1482“Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation’” (Genesis 7:1 NKJV).

1483“Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel” (Joshua 14:14 NKJV).

1484second table: Commandments 6 through 10 of the Ten Commandments, a traditional, not biblical term.

1485“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘If you will walk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here’” (Zechariah 3:7 NASB).

1486“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.”’ Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ‘Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?’” (Haggai 1:2–4 NASB).

1487“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:11–16 NASB).

1488“I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam. I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey; I have drunk my wine and my milk. Eat, friends; Drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers” (Song of Solomon 5:1 NASB).

1489The identity of this rabbi is unknown, and his speculation is just that.

1490“Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance” (Isaiah 55:2 NASB). “For bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Timothy 4:8 NASB).

1491There appears to be considerable overstatement here, but given the large number of species of palm trees, it does not seem reasonable to attempt to prove or disprove these statements about the palm tree. Palm trees do remain an important food source in many tropical regions.

1492“Let us rise early and go to the vineyards; Let us see whether the vine has budded And its blossoms have opened, And whether the pomegranates have bloomed. There I will give you my love” (Song of Solomon 7:12 NASB).

1493“And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums” (Mark 12:41 NASB).

1494“For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on” (Luke 21:4 ESV).

1495“The blessing of the one ready to perish came upon me, And I made the widow’s heart sing for joy” (Job 29:13 NASB).

1496.“And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42 NASB).

1497“Then Elijah said to her, ‘Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son’” (1 Kings 17:13 NASB).

1498“And He said, ‘Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them’” (Luke 21:3 NASB).

1499“And it came about, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, ‘Behold, I am dwelling in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under curtains’” (1 Chronicles 17:1 NASB).

1500To say nothing of deliverance from Hell by Christ’s taking the equivalent torment on His own holy self for your sake?

1501And it may send them to Hell if they do not repent.

1502“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:12 NASB).

Back |  |  |  |  |  | Contents |  |  |  |  |  | Next