in this phrase ; for it never was, nor ever uill be the lot of any man to be the sole owner and possessor of the whole world *. But suppose all the power, pleasure, wealth, and honour of the whole world were bid and offered in exchange for a man's soul ; what a dear purchase would it be at such a rate ! " What were this, says *' one -f, but to win Venice, and then be hanged at the gate of " it ?" As that man acts like a mad man, that goes about to purchase a treasure of gold with the loss of his life ; for life being lost, what is all the gold in the world to him ? he can have no enjoyment of it, or comfort in it : so here, what is all the world, or as many worlds as there are creatures in it, when the soul is lost, if he gain this ?
And lose his own soul] The comparison lies here betwixt one single soul and the whole world. The whole world is no price for the poorest, meanest, and most despised soul that lives in it.
By losing the soul, we are not to understand the destruction of its being, but of its happiness and comfort, the cutting it off from God, and all the hopes of his favour and enjoyment for ever. This is the loss here intended, a loss never to be repaired. The whole world can be no recompence for the loss to the soul, if it be but the loss of its purity or peace for a time ; much less can it re- compence the loss of the soul, in the loss of all its happiness for ever. When a man's chief hapjDiness is finally lost, then is his soul lost : for what benefit can it be, nay, how great a misery must it be, to have a being perpetuated in torments for ever ? I This is the Jine or mulct which is set upon sin, as some render the word. What shall a man gain by such pleasures, for which God will mulct, or Jine him at the rate or price of his own soul ? That is, of all the happiness, joy and comfort of it to all eternity.
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul ^ |{ The ques- tion aggravates the sense, and amplifies the loss and damage of the man that sells his soul for the whole world. There is no recom- pence in all the world for the hazard or danger of the soul one hour ; nor would a man that understands what a soul and eternity are, put them into danger for ten thousand worlds, much less for one penny, yea, for nothing, as many do : but to barter or exchange it for the world, to take any thing in lieu of it ; this is the height of madness. " The way of buying in former times was not by
* By this hypothetical hyperbole is denoted the great atrociousness of losing eter- nal salvation. Glnssius.
f Non magis juvabitur , quam qui acqvirat Venetias, ipse vero suspendatur adportam. Parseus in loc.
\ Anima vero tua mvdctetur^ i. e. If one *is punished with the loss of his own soul. Bez. Maldon.
(I Interrogaiio exaggerans.
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN. 1-55
*' money, but by the exchange of one commodity for another;" and to this custom * Brugensis thinks this phrase is allusive. Now, what commodity is found in all the world ; or who, that is not blinded by the god of this world, can think that the whole world itself, if all the rocks in it were rocks of diamonds, and the seas and rivers were liquid gold, is a commodity of equivalent worth to his own soul? Hence two notes arise naturally.
Doct. 1. That one soul is of more value than the whole world.
Doct. 2. How precious and invaluable soever the soul of man is^ it may be lost and cast awayjbr ever.
I begin with the first.
Doct. 1. That one soul is of more value than the whole world.
I need not spend much time in the proof of it, when you have considered, that he who bought them, hath here weighed and valued them ; and that the point before us is the result and con- clusion of one that hath the best reason to know the true worth of them. That which I have to do is to gather out of the scriptures the particulars ; which, put together, make up the full demonstra- tion of the point. And,
1. The invaluable worth of souls appears from the manner of their creation. They were created immediately by God, as hath been proved, and that not without the deliberation of the whole Trinity ; Gen. i. 26. " Let us make man."" For the production of other creatures, it was enough to give out the word of his com- mand. " Let there be light, let the earth and the waters bring " forth ;"" but when he comes to man, then you have no fiat^ let there be, but he puts his own hand immediately to it, as to the master-piece of the whole creation : yea, a council is called about it; Let US', implying the just consultation and deliberation of all the persons in the Godhead about it, that our hearts might be raised to the expectation of some extraordinary work to follow; great counsels and wise debates being both the forerunners and founda- tions of great actions and events to ensue thereupon. Thus Elihu in Job xxxv. 10. " None saith. Where is God my Makers .?" And David, in Psal. cxlix. 2. " Let Israel rejoice in his Makers :"" in both places the word is plural. The consultation here is only amongst the divine Persons, no angels are called to this council- table, the whole matter was to be conducted by the wisdom, and
AvruXXay/Ma vocat id quo dato, redimitur aliqtdd t juxla j>riscorum commerciat ^uce non moneta, sed rerum permutations constabant, Brugens.
156 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MA^.
effected by the power of God ; and therefore there was no need to consult* with any but himself, the wisdom of angels being from him : but this great council shews what an excellent creature was now to be produced, and the excellency of that creature man was principally in his soul; for the bodies of other creatures, which were made bv the word of his command, are as beautiful, elegant, and neat as the body of man; yea, and in some respects more excellent. The soul then was that rare piece which God in so condescending an expression tells us was created with the deliberation of the God- head ; those o-reat and excellent Persons laid their heads, as it were^ together to project its being.
And by the way, this may smartly check the pride and arrogance of souls, who dare take it upon them to teach God, as murmurs at his disposals of us. Shall that soul which is tlie product of his wisdom and counsel, dare to instruct or counsel its maker ? But that by the by. You see there is a transcendent dignity and worth in the soul of man above all other beings in the world, by the peculiar way of its production into the number of created beings: no wise man deliberates long, or calls a council about ordinary mat- ters, much less the AU-^vise God.
2. The soul hath in itself an intrinsic worth and excellency, worthy of that divine Original v/hence it sprang: view it in its noble faculties, and admirable powers, and it will appear to be a creature upon which God hath laid out the riches of his wisdom and power.