buying and selling what, but yesterday,
they took home with them as the best bargain they had ever made. Yes,
the things that, once possessed, either by inheritance or by purchase or
by gift, you would think they would die rather than part with--a
patrimony in ancient lands and houses, a possession they had toiled and
prayed and waited for all their days, Christ on His cross, their own
child in his cradle--absolutely everything they possess, or would die to
possess, they part with again, just that they may have the excitement,
the debate, the delight, the security, and the liberty of purchasing it
all over again every day in the poor man's market.

Over all this merchandise God Himself is the Master Merchant. It all
belongs to Him, and He has put it all into the poor man's purchase. He
owns all the merchandise, and He has opened the market: He invites and
advertises the purchasers, fixes the prices, and settles the conditions
of sale. And the first condition of sale is that all intending
purchasers shall come to Himself immediately for whatever they need. All
negotiation here must be held immediately with God. There are no
middlemen here. They have their own place in the markets of earth; but
there is no room and no need for them here. The producer and the
purchaser meet immediately here. He employs whole armies of servants to
distribute and deliver His goods, but the bargain itself must be struck
with God alone. The price must be paid directly to Him; and then, with
His own hand, He will write out your right and title to your purchase.
Let every poor man, then, be sure to draw near to God, and to God alone.
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Ho, ye that have no
money: incline your ear, and come to Me: hear, and your soul shall live!

Now, surely, one of the most remarkable things about the purchasers in
this market is just their fewness. We find Isaiah in his day canvassing
the whole of Jerusalem, high and low, and glad to get even one purchaser
here and another there. And Rutherford, looking back to Anwoth from
Aberdeen, was not sure that he had got even so much as one really earnest
purchaser brought near to God. And thus it was that, while at Anwoth, he
was so much in that market himself. Partly on the principle that
preachers are bidden to take to themselves for their trouble what their
proud people refuse, and partly because Rutherford was out of all sight
the poorest man in all Anwoth.