Mat. xvi. 26. " JFbr what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"
JUiVERY man doth carry a treasure about wath liim, a Divine Soul; and that this jewel should not be undervalued, our Saviour here sets a price upon it, he lays the soul in balance with the whole world, and being put in the scales, the soul weighs heaviest. "What is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"
The world is a stately fabric, enriched with beauty and excellency, it is like a curious piece of arras, set about with divers colours; it is a bright mirror and crystal, in which much of the wisdom and majesty of God is resplendent; but as glorious as this world is, every man doth carry a more glorious world about him, a precious soul. It would bankrupt the world to give half the price of a soul; it will undo the world to buy it, and it will undo him that shall sell it. If we can save our souls, though we lose the world, it is a gainful loss; if we lose our souls, though we gain the world, our very gains will undo us. "For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"
The words branch themselves into these five parts:
1. A supposal of a purchase, "if a man shall gain." The proposition is hypothetical; Christ doth not say he shall gain, but puts a case; it is not a certain purchase, it is only supposed.
2. The purchase itself, the world.
3. The extent of the purchase, the whole world, the world with all its revenues and perquisites.
4. The terms of this purchase, "he shall lose his soul," not that his soul shall be annihilated (that were happy), but he shall lose the end of his creation; he shall miss of glory, he shall lose his soul. And the loss of the soul is amplified by two things :
First, The propriety, his own soul, that which is nearest to him, that which is most himself; the soul is tlie most noble part, it is
the man of the man, he shall lose his ovnx soul.
Secondly, The irrecoverableness of tli ^ loss; "what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" The words are a miosis, there is less said, and more intended. What shall he give? as if Christ had said, alas! he hath nothing to give; or, if he had something to give, yet nothing will be taken for it; the soul cannot be exchanged, there shall be no bail or mainprise taken for it. " What shall a man give in exchange for his souL"
5. Our Saviour's verdict upon this pur- chase, "for what is a man profited?" as if Christ had said, he will have a hard bargain of it, he will repent him at last, it is but the fool's purchase: for what is a man profited, &c.
Doct. The observation is, that the soul of man is a jewel more precious than a world; all souls are of one price: in this sense that maxim in philosophy holds true, all souls are alike. The soul of prince and peasant, all are equal; and every soul of more value than a world. For the illustration of the doctrine there are two things to be demon- strated.
First, That the soul is very precious.
Secondly, That it is more precious than a world.
1. That the soul is very precious. What Job saith of wisdom, I may fitly apply to the soul. "Man knows not the price thereof, it cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire, the gold and the crystal cannot equal it; and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold," Job xxviii. 13, 16, 17. The soul is the glory of the creation ; the soul is a beam of God; it is a sparkle of celestial brightness, as Demascen calls it; it is, accord- ing to Plato, a glass of the Trinity. There is, in the soul, an idea and resemblance of God: an analogy of similitude, not propor- tion, as the schoolmen speak. If David did so admire the rare texture and workmanship
PRECIOUSNESS OF THE SOUL.
733
of liis body, Psal. cxxxix. 13, 15. "I am