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{Since the Heavenly Trade Is the Best Trade…
The Blameworthiness of People’s Inordinate Pursuit of Earthly Things}
If the heavenly trade is the best trade, then this reproves people’s too greedy and inordinate pursuit of their earthly trades and concerns, to the great harm and hindrance of the heavenly trade. And, oh, that I could here dip my pen in tears, as well as gall. I would not only write against, but weep over this earthly-mindedness. This earthly-mindedness is the great, common, uncured disease of people, of almost all people, and of good people today! People pursue after the things of this world with earnestness, strong emotions, and unwearying labor. It is as if all their pleasure, happiness, and even life and eternal welfare lay wrapped up in these things. Jehu did not drive more furiously after a crown than people do this day after crumbs (2 Kings 9:20).336 For some, there was a time when godliness was considered to be gain, but now gain is valued above godliness. Trade is the great Diana (Acts 19:24–28)337 to which most people sacrifice. Profit is the wheel within the wheel that sets all else going. It is the salt that seasons all things; nothing tastes good that does not have profit in it. Advantage in the world is like the blood in people’s veins, the soul in the body, that enlivens their desires. The desire for profit puts life into their dead hopes, makes the blind to see, the lame to leap and run, the deaf to hear, and the lips of those who are asleep to speak.338 Gain is the whetstone339 to people’s minds, the magnetic compass to their emotional outlook and the spur to their actions. Gain is the object of people’s sharpest attention and the center of their liveliest actions. Oh, the projects, cares, tugging, sweating, rowing,340 riding,341 and restless labor that is expended about this query: “Who will show us any good?”342
336“Again the watchman reported, ‘He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously’” (2 Kings 9:20 ESV).
337“For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the craftsmen. He called them together with the workers of similar occupation, and said: ‘Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands. So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worship.’ Now when they heard this, they were full of wrath and cried out, saying, ‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians!’” (Acts 19:24–28 NKJV). The wallet is arguably the most sensitive part of the human anatomy.
338This sentence is a sarcastic reference to the miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ; it shows the idolatry in people’s hearts. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24 ESV).
339whetstone: a flat stone, natural or artificial, with a fine grained texture used for hand-sharpening knives and tools.
340rowing: hard labor as at the oars on a ship’s rowing deck, a brutal labor usually being done by slaves.
341riding: hard journeys on horseback. Properly riding at a fast trot is strenuous.
342A sarcastic reference to “Many are saying, ‘Who will show us any good? Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O Lord!’” (Psalm 4:6 NASB), a question that ought to be directed to God.
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