What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? This is an extreme, a paradoxical utterance. No man can, in any precise sense, "gain the whole world." If he could, it would weigh nothing in the scale against the value of his life. For on life depends enjoyment of possessions. Illustrate by the parable of the rich farmer who boasted of what he possessed, and lost it all when he died in the night. Compare our Lord's advice to "lay up treasure in heaven."

I. THE GREAT GAIN IS EARTHLY THINGS. Look over the whole world. Examine the pursuits of every class. Read the story of the long ages. This is clearly men's opinion everywhere. They live to get, to win, to grasp, to hold what they call wealth, earthly valuables - houses, laud, jewels, money, fame. Is that really great gain? Test it by one thing - How does it stand related to man's real soul life? Then it is seen to belong only to the body, which man has for a while; and in no way to the being that he is, and will be forever. All a man acquires of a merely earthly character belongs to his body, and goes with his body when his body goes; then it is his no more. Treasure on earth is but falsely and unworthily called "great gain."

II. THE GREATER LOSS IS SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. For character is a man's true wealth; it belongs to the being he is, and is forever. And one application of our Lord's teaching here comes out in a very striking way. Gaining earthly things is only too likely to involve the destruction of spiritual character, because it is so sure to hinder that "self-denial" which is the absolutely essential foundation of noble and enduring spiritual character. A man gains the heavenly treasure by what he gives up, and not by what he holds fast to (see ver. 24). The sublime illustration is presented in the case of our Lord himself, who acquired nothing earthly, who gave up everything he had that men are wont to esteem as gain, but who gained the eternal treasure of tested spiritual character, perfected Sonship. In conclusion, meet the difficulty of the apparently unpractical character of such teaching. Show that it is really a question of relativity. Which is to be first, possessions or character? - R.T.

1. The text assumes a certain inherent dignity in the human soul itself.

2. The folly of those competing rivalries, on account of which men seem willing that this inestimably precious soul should be lost.

(D. Moore. M. A.)

1. In its origin.

2. In its operations.

3. In its redemption.

(J. Sherman.)

What volumes of meaning there are in that one word lost. A ship lost — a traveller lost — a brother lost — a parent lost — and, notwithstanding every effort to save, all as nothing to a lost soul.

(C. T. Pizey, B. A.)

I. THE NATURE OF THE SOUL.

1. The soul is the seat of thought.

2. The soul is the subject of moral government.

3. The soul is the heir of immortality.

II. THE WORTH OF THE SOUL.

1. Refer to the great atonement as the most magnificent proof of the soul's worth.

2. To the triumphant joy awakened in heaven by the conversion of one sinner from the error of his ways.

3. To the certain anticipations of misery or bliss which await each soul as it passes into eternity.

(J. Morison, D. D.)

The man who, for the sake of worldly happiness, shall lose his soul, makes a foolish bargain.

I. EXPLAIN AND PROVE THIS. In order to judge of a bargain we must take into account the thing bought, and the price paid for it. Worldly happiness is considerable, but it must come to an end.

II. THE WORTH OF THE SOUL. It is the most excellent part of man. It will never die. The value of a thing is often best known when it is lost. How greatly you are concerned in this.

(E. Cooper.)

In order to elucidate the meaning of the text —

I. INSTITUTE A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE THINGS WHICH ARE HERE SET IN COMPETITION with each other.

1. By" the world," we are to understand pleasure, riches, and honour. This, if considered in itself, is vile. It is earthly in its nature. It is unsatisfying in its use. It is transitory in its continuance. "If it be considered as it has"been estimated by the best judges, it is worthless (Hebrews 2:8, 9; 24-26; Ecclesiastes 1:14; Philippians 3:8; John 6:15; John 17:16).

2. The "soul," on the contrary, if considered in itself, is noble. It is exalted in its origin (Hebrews 12:9). Capacious in its powers. Eternal in its duration. Doomed to everlasting happiness or misery. As estimated by the best judges, it is invaluable (Acts 20:24). The gift of God's Son to die for it — of infinite value in His sight. Such being the disparity between the value of the world and that of the soul, we are prepared to —

II. SEE THE RESULT OF THE COMPARISON. We suppose, for argument sake, that a man may possess the whole world. We suppose also that, after having possessed it for awhile, he loses his own soul. What, in the issue, "would he be profited"?

1. Enquire concerning this in general. Would carnal enjoyments compensate for the loss of heaven? Would transient pleasures counterbalance an eternity of glory? Would he have anything to mitigate his pain (Luke 16:24)?

2. Enquire more particularly. These questions are strong appeals to our hearts and consciences. They bid defiance to all the arts of sophistry. Let the "lover of pleasure" etc., etc., ask, "What shall it profit me," etc.? Conclusion: Which have I more regarded hitherto, the world, or my own soul? Which do I intend in future to prefer, etc.?

(C. Simeon.)

"Two things a master commits to his servant's care," saith one: "the child and the child's clothes." It will be a poor excuse for the servant to say, at his master's return, "Sir, here are all the child's clothes, neat and clean, but the child is lost!" Much so with the account that many will give to God of their souls and bodies at the great day. "Lord, here is my body; I was very grateful for it; I neglected nothing that belonged to its content and welfare; but as for my soul, that is lost and cast away for ever. I took little care and thought about it.

(Flavel.)

1. Every man has a soul of his own.

2. It is possible for the soul to be lost; and there is danger of it.

3. If the soul is lost, it is the sinner's own losing; and his blood is on his own head.

4. One soul is worth more than all the world.

5. The winning of the world is often the losing of the soul.

6. The loss of the soul cannot be made up by the gain of the whole world.

7. If the soul be once lost, it is lost for ever; and the loss can never be repaired or retrieved.

(Matthew Henry.)

1. The good in the gain is imaginary and fantastical; the evil in the loss is real and substantial.

2. The good in the gain is convertible into evil; the evil in the loss is never to be improved into good.

3. The good in the gain is narrow and particular; the evil in the loss is large and universal.

4. The good in the gain is mixed and sophisticated; the evil in the loss is pure and unmingled.

5. The good in the gain is full of intermissions; the evil in the loss is continual.

6. The good in the gain is short and transitory; the evil in the loss is eternal.

(Dr. J. Scott.)

I. The soul's WORTH:

(1)nature;

(2)capacities;

(3)immortality;

(4)purchase-price.

II. The soul's LOSS, is loss of

(1)holiness;

(2)happiness;

(3)heaven;

(4)hope.

III. Enforce the question:

(1)gain uncertain, loss inevitable;

(2)gain imaginary, loss positive;

(3)gain temporary, loss irretrievable.

(Pulpit Germs.)

A converted Jew, pleading for the cause of the society through whose instrumentality he had been brought to a knowledge of Christianity, was opposed by a learned gentleman, who spoke very lightly of the objects of the society and its efforts, and said "he did not suppose they would convert more than a hundred altogether." "Be it so," replied the Jew; you are a skilful calculator; take your pen now, and calculate the worth of one hundred immortal souls!"

Are there not things more precious than gold and bank stocks? When the Central America was foundering at sea, bags and purses of gold were strewn about the deck as worthless — as merest rubbish. "Life, life," was the prayer. To some of the wretched survivors, "Water, water; bread, bread; " it was worth its weight in gold, if it could have been bought. And oh! above all — far above all, the salvation of your soul is precious. Is it not yet lost? Is it saved?

(Christian Treasury.)

A little boy on his father's knee said, "Pa, is your soul insured? Why do you ask, my son? I heard Uncle George say that you had your house insured, and your life insured; but he did not believe you had thought about your soul, and he was afraid you would lose it. Won't you get it insured right away?" It was all too true; and the question led the father to seek the Divine guarantee of his soul's well-being.

It is recorded concerning one of the martyrs, that when he was going to the stake, a nobleman besought him, in a compassionate manner, to take care of his soul. "So I will," he replied; "for I give my body to be burned, rather than have my soul defiled.

(Archbishop Sacker.)

I. We possess immortal souls of INCALCULABLE VALUE. The incomparable worth of the soul appears from

(1)the nature of its powers;

(2)the price of its redemption;

(3)the efforts for its possession;

(4)the duration of its existence.

II. OUR SOULS ARE IN IMMINENT DANGER OF BEING LOST.

1. The loss of the soul is certainly possible.

2. The loss of the soul is highly probable.

3. The loss of the soul is deplorable.

4. The loss of the soul is utterly irreparable.

III. NOTHING CAN COMPENSATE FOR THE LOSS OF THE SOUL.

1. The case supposed — "If he gain the whole world."

2. The inquiry instituted — "What is a man profited?"

3. The exchange proposed — "What shall a man give?"

(Sketches.)

from the following considerations: —

I. From its essence and capacities. The body is composed of dust, like the bodies of other animals, but the soul was infused by the breath of God. It is capable of the heavenly exercises of love, pity, and mercy. The extent of its capacities is amazing. It is capable of exerting itself like an angel in the employments of the heavenly world. Vast capacities has the soul for happiness and misery. The happiness which appertains to the soul is far the most noble in its kind. If to contemplate the sun and moon produces a delight full of dignity, what does the contemplation of Him who spoke these orbs into being? The soul alone is capable of enjoying God. What is the world to this?

II. From the amazing respect that has been paid to it. God has discovered His high regard for the soul by the pains He has taken to give a written revelation to the world. Angels also discover their high regard for the soul by leaving the realms of glory to consume their time upon this distant planet by daily ministrations to its salvation.

II. What completes the value of the soul is its immortality and perhaps eternal progression.How may we best know the worth of the soul? By considering —

I. What is meant by the soul.

1. "Soul," or ψυχὴ, the word here used, is put for life, by a metonymy of the efficient for the effect, because our life depends upon the soul. Thus: "Take no thought for your life" — ψυχὴ (Matthew 6:25).

2. The word "soul" is put for the whole man frequently in Scripture. Thus, the number of persons "that came with Jacob into Egypt" is reckoned by so many "souls" (Genesis 46:26).

3. This word "soul" is taken most properly and strictly for the form, constituent, and better part of man; that breath that is breathed into him from God, when man becomes a living soul (Genesis 2:7). In this acceptation we proceed to inquire —

II. What this "soul" is.(a) The soul is a distinct substance from the body. This will appear if we consider

(1)that such things as are proper to distinct substances — as, to " dwell in the body," whilst a man lives; to "leave the body " when he dies — are attributed to the soul;

(2)that it does " substare," i.e., is the subject of accidents — such as are virtue and vice, arts and sciences; which cannot inhere in bare matter;

(3)that it was made after the body;

(4)that it exists separately from the body — "Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). It is certain his body was not with our Saviour's.(b) The soul is a spiritual substance.

1. Were it only that the soul is so often called " a spirit " by God Himself in His Word, it were a very considerable argument to prove that it is a spirit (Ecclesiastes 12:7; Zechariah 12:1; Acts 7:59).

2. That the soul is a spiritual substance, is evident in that it is not produced out of matter (Genesis 2:7; Ecclesiastes 12:7).

3. A third argument to prove that the soul is a spirit, is, because in it man bears the image of God — "God is a Spirit" (John 4:24).

4. The actions or operations of the soul are such as cannot proceed from any bodily being.

5. The soul is a spirit, in that it is in the body, and one body cannot be in another. The soul takes up no place, as bodies do; it is tota in tote.

6. In what the soul's excellency does appear.

I. The first thing that speaks the soul's prerogative is its original. It is accounted no small privilege to be nobly born.

II. Then again in the end it is designed for.

1. The soul of man is made for to bring glory to God.

2. The soul of man is made capable of enjoying God.The endeavours that are used for to gain souls.

I. God's endeavours.

1. His parting with His Son, and Christ with His heart blood and life, for them.

2. I might add unto God's giving of His Son for our souls, His giving of His Spirit to the soul.

3. God's valuing of our soul appears in the care and pains which He takes for our souls daily.(a) In that He hath instituted means whereby He might come to obtain our souls, nay, to strengthen and comfort them, and have communion with them.(b) He bears with us, and exercises a great deal of patience towards us, if so He might at length gain our souls; and says, "when shall it once be?"(c) His bearing with the whole world of wicked men, notwithstanding their blasphemies and open defiances of Him, is only out of love to some few souls who serve and fear Him.(d) All the providences of God. in which He worketh hitherto, are intended by Him for the good of our souls, and done by God out of respect unto them.

II. Endeavours used by Satan for our souls.(e) The duration of our souls. APPLICATION:

1. If the soul be so precious, we have heard enough to make us abhor sin for ever.

2. This does recommend and endear our blessed Saviour to us.

3. This commends holiness in all its parts to us.

4. Have a care that ye do not lose these souls that are so valuable. Consider that —

(1)the danger your souls are in is very great;

(2)the loss of your souls is very great;

(3)the loss is never to be repaired.

(4)Shall I add, that this soul is thine own, and that thou hast not, nor ever shalt have, another, and therefore it behoves thee to keep it safe.

(5)Thou must answer for the loss of thy soul: God hath entrusted it with thee.

(P. Vinke, D. D.)

A problem that deserves the study of the longest life. The best medium through which to view this all important question is the following verse. In this light I view this great question, and what do I see?

I. THAT WE HAVE IN OUR POSSESSION A JEWEL CALLED THE SOUL, ASTONISHING IN ITS PROPERTIES, AND INESTIMABLE IN ITS VALUE. The soul is —

(1)Divine in its origin;

(2)astonishing in its properties — vitality, rationality, accountability;

(3)an immortal principle;

(4)has fallen from its glory;

(5)has been redeemed by Christ;

(6)angels rejoice over its salvation.

II. THE POSSIBILITY OF THAT SOUL BEING LOST, THE LOSS WILL BE INEXPRESSIBLY GREAT.

1. What is the loss of a lost soul? The loss of grace in time. Glory in eternity.

III. THE CHARACTERS WHO, IF THEY DIE AS THEY ARE, WILL SUFFER AND ENDURE THIS FEARFUL LOSS. "Is it I?" If you are living in open sin, etc., it is you. Have you repented, believed in Christ, etc.? Look at this matter in the light of the judgment day, and. read Matthew 25.

IV. THE INDESIRABLE, INEXPRESSIBLE, INCONCEIVABLE FOLLY OF THE MAN THAT BARTERS AWAY HIS SOUL — get what he will in exchange, riches, honours, pleasures, etc.

V. THE WISDOM OF THAT MAN WHO IS DETERMINED TO HAVE HIS SOUL SAVED — COST WHAT IT WILL.

VI. THAT NEXT TO THE SALVATION OF OUR OWN SOULS, IT IS OUR HIGHEST DUTY AND BEST INTEREST TO PROMOTE THE SALVATION OF OTHERS.

(W. Dawson).

He that hath all the world (if we can suppose such a man), cannot have a dish of fresh summer fruits in the midst of winter, not so much as a green fig: and very much of its possessions is so hid, so fugacious, and of so uncertain purchase, that it is like the riches of the sea to the lord of the shore; all the fish and wealth within all its hollownesses are his, but he is never the better for what he cannot get; all the shell-fishes that produce pearl, produce them not for him; and the bowels of the earth shall hide her treasures in undiscovered retirements: so that it will signify as much to this great purchaser to be entitled to an inheritance in the upper region of the air; he is so far from possessing all its riches, that he does not so much as know of them, nor understand the philosophy of her minerals.

(Jeremy Taylor)

Nay, those things which he esteems his ornament, and the singularity of his possessions, are they not of more use to others than to himself? For suppose his garments splendid and shining, like the robe of a cherub, or the clothing of the fields, all that he that wears them enjoys, is, that they keep him warm, and clean, and modest; and all this is done by clean and less pompous vestments; and the beauty of them, which distinguishes him from others, is made to please the eyes of the beholders; and he is like a fair bird, or the meretricious painting of a wanton woman, made wholly to be looked on, that is, to be enjoyed by every one but himself: and the fairest face and most sparkling eye cannot perceive or enjoy their own beauties but by reflection. It is I that am pleased with beholding his gaiety; and the gay man, in his greatest bravery, is only pleased because I am pleased with the sight; so borrowing his little and imaginary complacency from the delight that I have, not from any inherency of his own possession.

(Jeremy Taylor.)

The poorest artizan of Rome walking in Caesar's gardens, had the same pleasures which they ministered to their lord: and although, it may be, he was put to gather fruits to eat from another place, yet his other senses were delighted equally with Caesar's: the birds made him as good music, the flowers gave him as sweet smells; he there sucked as good air, and delighted in the beauty and order of the place, for the same reason and upon the same perception as the prince himself; save only that Caesar paid, for all that pleasure, vast sums of money, the blood and treasure of a province, which the poor man had for nothing.

(Jeremy Taylor.)

Cannot a man quench his thirst as well out of an urn or chalice, as out of a whole river? It is an ambitious thirst, and a pride of draught, that had rather lay his mouth to the Euphrates than to a petty goblet; but if he had rather, it adds not so much to his content as to his danger and his vanity.

(Jeremy Taylor.)

If any man should give to a lion a fair meadow full of hay, or a thousand quince trees; or should give to the goodly bull, the master and the fairest of the whole herd, a thousand fair stags; if a man should present to a child a ship laden with Persian carpets, and the ingredients of the rich scarlet: all these, being disproportionate either to the appetite or to the understanding, could add nothing of content, and might declare the freeness of the presenter, but they upbraid the incapacity of the receiver. And so it does if God should give the whole world to any man. He knows not what to do with it; he can use no more but according to the capacities of a man; he can use nothing but meat, and drink, and clothes; and infinite riches, that can give him changes of raiment every day, and a full table, do but give him a clean trencher every bit he eats; it signifies no more but wantonness and variety, to the same, not to any new purposes. He to whom the world can be given to any purpose greater than a private estate can minister, must have new capacities created in him: he needs the understanding of an angel, to take the accounts of his estate; he had need have a stomach like fire or the grave, for else he can eat no more than one of his healthful subjects; and unless he hath an eye like the sun, and a motion like that of a thought, and a bulk as big as one of the orbs of heaven, the pleasures of his eye can be no greater than to behold the beauty of a little prospect from a hill, or to look upon the heap of gold packed up in a little room, or to dote upon a cabinet of jewels, better than which there is no man, that sees at all, but sees every day.

(Jeremy Taylor.)

But then, although they only have power to relish any pleasure rightly, who rightly understand the nature; and degrees and essences, and ends of things; yet they that do so, understand also the vanity and the unsatisfyingness of the things of this world, so that the relish, which could not be great but in a great understanding, appears contemptible because its vanity appears at the same time; the understanding sees all, and sees through it.

(Jeremy Taylor.)

The greatest vanity of this world is remarkable in this, that all its joys summed up together are not big enough to counterpoise the evil of one sharp disease, or to allay a sorrow.

(Jeremy Taylor.)

But in the supposition it is, "If a man could gain the whole world," which supposes labour and sorrow, trouble and expense, venture and hazard, and so much time expired in its acquist and purchase, that, besides the possession is not secured to us for the term of life, so our lives are almost expired before we become estated in our purchases. And. indeed, it is a sad thing to see an ambitious or a covetous person make his life unpleasant, troublesome, and vexatious, to grasp a power bigger than himself, to fight for it with infinite hazards of his life, so that it is a thousand to one but he perishes in the attempt, and gets nothing at all but an untimely grave, a reproachful memory, and an early damnation.

(Jeremy Taylor.)

And this I observe to be intimated in the word, lose. For he that gives gold for cloth, or precious stones for bread, serves his needs of nature, and loses nothing by it; and the merchant that found a pearl of great price, and sold all that he had to make the purchase of it, made a good venture; he was no loser: but here the case is otherwise; when a man gains the whole world, and his soul goes in the exchange, he hath not done like a merchant, but like a child or a prodigal; he hath given himself away, he hath lost all that can distinguish him from a slave or a miserable person,he loses his soul in the exchange. For the soul of a man all the world cannot be a just price; a man may lose it, or throw it away, but he can never make a good exchange when he parts with this jewel; and therefore our blessed Saviour rarely well expresses it by ζημιοῦν, which is fully opposed to κέρδος, "gain; " it is such an ill market a man makes, as if he should proclaim his riches and goods vendible for a garland of thistles decked and trimmed up with the stinking poppy.

(Jeremy Taylor.)

But we must come far lower yet. Thousands there are that damn themselves; and yet their purchase, at long-running, and after a base and weary life spent, is but five hundred pounds a-year: nay, it may be, they only cozen an easy person out of a good estate, and pay for it at an easy rate, which they obtain by lying, by drinking, by flattery, by force; and the gain is nothing but a thousand pounds in the whole, or, it may be, nothing but a convenience.

(Jeremy Taylor.)

If the elephant knew his strength, or the horse the vigorousness of his own spirit, they would be as rebellious against their rulers as unreasonable men against government; nay, the angels themselves, because their light reflected home to their orbs, and they understood all the secrets of their own perfection, they grew vertiginous, and fell from the battlements of heaven. But the excellency of a human soul shall then be truly understood, when the reflection will make no distraction of our faculties, nor enkindle any irregular fires; when we may understand ourselves without danger.

(Jeremy Taylor.)

But yet from these considerations it would follow, that to lose a soul, which is designed to be an immense sea of pleasures, even in its natural capacities, is to lose all that whereby a man can possibly be, or be supposed, happy. And so much the rather is this understood to be an insupportable calamity, because losing a soul in this sense is not a mere privation of those felicities, of which a soul is naturally designed to be a partaker, but it is an investing it with contrary objects and cross effects, and dolorous perceptions: for the will, if it misses its desires, is afflicted; and the understanding, when it ceases to be ennobled with excellent things, is made ignorant as a swine, dull as the foot of a rock; and the affections are in the destitution of their perfective actions made tumultuous, vexed and discomposed to the height of rage and violence.

(Jeremy Taylor.)

The old rabbins, those poets of religion, report of Moses, that when the courtiers of Pharaoh were sporting with the child Moses, in the chamber of Pharaoh's daughter, they presented to his choice an ingot of gold in one hand and a coal of fire in the other, and that the child snatched at the coal, thrust it into his mouth, and so singed and parched his tongue, that he stammered ever after. And certainly it is infinitely more childish in us, for the glittering of the small glow-worms and the charcoal of worldly possessions, to swallow the flames of hell greedily in our choice: such a bit will produce a worse stammering than Moses had: for so the accursed and lost souls have their ugly and horrid dialect, they roar and blaspheme, blaspheme and roar, for ever.

(Jeremy Taylor.)

You wonder at the folly of that rude and naked savage who would barter a coronet of gold for small worthless trinkets, and buy the wonders of a mirror, the tinkling of a bell, or the string of coloured beads, with a handful of pearls, fit ornaments of a crown. Yet what is that compared with the folly of him who, in exchange for the toys of earth, gives his soul?

(Dr. Guthrie)

nt: —

I. How INCONSIDERABLE THE PURCHASE.

1. If we had it all, yet the great uncertainty of holding it, or any part of it.

2. The impossibility of using and enjoying it all.

3. If we had it, and could use it all, the improbability of being contented with it.

II. How GREAT A PRICE IS PAID FOR IT.

1. The loss is great.

2. Irreparable.

3. The severe reflection men will make upon themselves for their folly.

(J. Tillotson, D. D.)

God hath so contrived things that, ordinarily, the pleasures of human life do consist more in hope than enjoyment: so that if a man had gained all the world, one of the chief pleasures of life would be gone, because there would be nothing more left for him to hope for in this world.

(J. Tillotson, D. D.)

If the happiness were true and real, it were an imprudent method. As if a man should choose to enjoy a great estate for a few days, and to be extremely poor the remaining part of his life. If there were any necessity of making so unequal a bargain, surely, a man would reserve the best condition to the last; for precedent sufferings and trouble do mightily recommend the pleasures that are to ensue, and render them more tasteful than they would otherwise have been; whereas the greatest heightening of misery, the saddest aggravation of an unhappy condition, is to fall into it from the height of a prosperous fortune. It is comfortable for a man to come out of the cold to a warm fire; but if a man in a great heat shall leap into the cold water, it will strike him to the heart. Such is the fond choice of every sinner, to pass immediately out of a state of the greatest sensual pleasure, into the most quick and sensible torments.

(J. Tillotson, D. D.)

With what indignation will he look upon himself, and censure his own folly! Like a man who, in a drunken fit, hath passed away his estate for a trifling consideration: the next morning, when he is sober and come to himself, and finds himself a beggar, how does he rate himself for being such a beast and a fool, as to do that in a blind and rash heat which he will have cause to repent as long as he hath a day to live.

(J. Tillotson, D. D.)

"What shall a man give in exchange, for his life?" This question has been largely on the lips of the world of late.

I. LIFE IN ITS ORIGIN AND DESTINY, IS A DEEP MYSTERY. Its only solution, as its only worth, is found in faith and religion. Life is growth under a force and principle. guided by intelligence. To be, to act, and to suffer or enjoy, is to live.

II. Its UNFOLDING MAY TAKE PLACE AROUND EITHER OF TWO CENTRES — SELF OR GOD. Life offers us, in this direction, either bondage or freedom. It is determined by choice. He who decides to live to himself, becomes the slave of sin, passion, and lust. He who chooses God, attains to freedom, etc.

III. WHETHER LIFE WILL SECURE WORTH WILL DEPEND UPON WHAT WE BELIEVE.

1. In natural science.

2. In mental philosophy.

3. In morals.

4. In religion.

IV. BELIEF AND KNOWLEDGE WILL HAVE THEIR EFFECT UPON CHARACTER AND CONDUCT, AND WILL MANIFEST THEMSELVES. In what we become ourselves, and in what we help others to become.

V. REASONS. WHY WE SHOULD MAKE THE MOST OF LIFE AND FILL IT WITH WORTH.

1. God gave it and upholds it.

2. God has redeemed it in order to give it worth.

3. God has a plan for each life, which, if followed, will lead from grace to glory, and from the utilities of time to the rewards and inheritance of eternity. Unless we do so, most. assuredly, in the light of our text, life will not be worth the living, and indeed it were far better never to have been born.

(L. O. Thompson)

If the soul perish, it is, once more, an irreparable loss — a loss that cannot be retrieved. A man may lose health, and yet, by the blessing of Providence upon medical aid, he may become more healthy than before; a man may lose property — his all in the world, and yet, by industry and the smile of Providence, he may become richer than before; a man may lose friends — God may raise up others in their room; but, Oh, if the soul is lost, it is lost not for a day. a month, or a year, but for eternity; and it is that word "eternity" which gives emphasis to bliss or woe, to ease or pain, to hell or heaven.

(R. Newton. D. D.)

There is no proportion between the one and the other. There is some proportion between a particle of matter and the globe — there is some proportion between a drop of water and the ocean; but there can be none between the little drop of time and the shoreless, fathomless ocean of eternity. The man, then, that gains the whole world for time and loses his soul for eternity, can gain no profit.

(R. Newton. D. D.)

Elias, Elijah, Jeremiah, Jeremias, Jesus, John, Jonah, Jonas, Peter, SimonCaesarea Philippi, Jerusalem, MagadanBenefit, Buy, Exchange, Forfeit, Forfeits, Gain, Gains, Gets, Lose, Loss, Profit, Profited, Return, Soul, Suffer, Yet1. The Pharisees require a sign.
5. Jesus warns his disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
13. The people's opinion of Jesus,
16. and Peter's confession of him.
21. Jesus foretells his death;
23. reproves Peter for dissuading him from it;
24. and admonishes those who will follow him, to bear the cross.

Matthew 16:26

     4016   life, human
     5003   human race, and God
     5413   money, attitudes
     5414   money, stewardship
     5450   poverty, spiritual
     5465   profit
     5766   attitudes, to life
     5974   value
     8211   commitment, to world
     8779   materialism, nature of
     8780   materialism, and sin
     9513   hell, as incentive to action

Matthew 16:24-26

     8120   following Christ
     8401   challenges

Matthew 16:24-27

     5500   reward, God's people

Matthew 16:25-26

     5398   loss
     8302   love, abuse of

October 14. "Get Thee, Behind Me, Satan" (Matt. xvi. 23).
"Get thee, behind me, Satan" (Matt. xvi. 23). When your old self comes back, if you listen to it, fear it, believe it, it will have the same influence upon you as if it were not dead; it will control you and destroy you. But if you will ignore it and say: "You are not I, but Satan trying to make me believe that the old self is not dead; I refuse you, I treat you as a demon power outside of me, I detach myself from you"; if you treat it as a wife would her divorced husband, saying: "You are nothing …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Christ Foreseeing the Cross
'From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.'--MATT. xvi. 21. The 'time' referred to in the text was probably a little more than six months before the Crucifixion, when Jesus was just on the point of finally leaving Galilee, and travelling towards Jerusalem. It was an epoch in His ministry. The hostility of the priestly party in …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Divine Christ Confessed, the Suffering Christ Denied
'When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Phllippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? 14. And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Unity of the Church.
"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."--Matt. xvi. 18. Too many persons at this day,--in spite of what they see before them, in spite of what they read in history,--too many persons forget, or deny, or do not know, that Christ has set up a kingdom in the world. In spite of the prophecies, in spite of the Gospels and Epistles, in spite of their eyes and their ears,--whether it be their sin or …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

The Human Jesus.
God's meaning of "Human": man's fellow--two meanings of word human--original meaning--natural limitations. The Hurt of sin: sin's added limitations. Our Fellow: Jesus truly human--up to first standard--His insistence--perfect in His humanness--fellowship in sin's limitations--hungry, Matthew 16:5. John 4:6-8.--tired, John 4:6. Mark 4:38.--poverty, Matthew 13:55. Mark 6:3.--hard toil, John 19:25-27.--homeless, Luke 4:16-30. Matthew 8:20. Luke 9:58.--discipline of waiting. There's More of God …
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

Words with a Freshly Honed Razor-Edge.
Now please group these six sweeping statements in your mind and hold them together there. Then notice carefully this fact. These words are not spoken to the crowds. They are spoken to the small inner group of twelve disciples. Jesus talks one way to the multitude. He oftentimes talks differently to these men who have separated themselves from the crowd and come into the inner circle. And notice further that before Jesus spoke these words to this group of men He had said something else first. Something …
S. D. (Samuel Dickey) Gordon—Quiet Talks on Prayer

The Threefold Cord of Jesus' Life.
Think for a moment into Jesus' human life down here. His marvellous activities for those few years over which the world has never ceased to wonder. Then His underneath hidden-away prayer-life of which only occasional glimpses are gotten. Then grouping around about that sentence of His--"I do always the things that are pleasing to Him"--in John's gospel, pick out the emphatic negatives on Jesus' lips, the "not's": not My will, not My works, not My words. Jesus came to do somebody's else will. The …
S. D. (Samuel Dickey) Gordon—Quiet Talks on Prayer

The Important Question
"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Matthew 16:26 1. There is a celebrated remark to this effect, (I think in the works of Mr. Pascal,) that if a man of low estate would speak of high things, as of what relates to kings or kingdoms, it is not easy for him to find suitable expressions, as he is so little acquainted with things of this nature; but if one of royal parentage speaks of royal things, of what concerns his own or his father's kingdom, his language …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The Signs of the Times
"Ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?" Matthew 16:3. 1. The entire passage runs thus: "The Pharisees also, with the Sadducees, came, and tempting, desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Twelfth Day. Fidelity in Rebuke.
"The Lord turned and looked upon Peter."--Luke, xxii. 61. Jesus never spake one unnecessarily harsh or severe word. He had a Divine sympathy for the frailties and infirmities of a tried, and suffering, and tempted nature in others. He was forbearing to the ignorant, encouraging to the weak, tender to the penitent, loving to all,--yet how faithful was He as "the Reprover of sin!" Silent under His own wrongs, with what burning invectives did He lay bare the Pharisees' masked corruption and hypocrisy! …
John R. Macduff—The Mind of Jesus

"Take My Yoke Upon You, and Learn of Me," &C.
Matt. xi. 20.--"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me," &c. Self love is generally esteemed infamous and contemptible among men. It is of a bad report every where, and indeed as it is taken commonly, there is good reason for it, that it should be hissed out of all societies, if reproaching and speaking evil of it would do it. But to speak the truth, the name is not so fit to express the thing, for that which men call self love, may rather be called self hatred. Nothing is more pernicious to a man's …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Edwards -- Spiritual Light
Jonathan Edwards, the New England divine and metaphysician, was born at East Windsor, Connecticut, in 1703. He was graduated early from Yale College, where he had given much attention to philosophy, became tutor of his college, and at nineteen began to preach. His voice and manner did not lend themselves readily to pulpit oratory, but his clear, logical, and intense presentation of the truth produced a profound and permanent effect upon his hearers. He wrote what were considered the most important …
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3

Of Sufferings
Of Sufferings Be patient under all the sufferings which God is pleased to send you: if your love to Him be pure, you will not seek Him less on Calvary, than on Tabor; and, surely, He should be as much loved on that as on this, since it was on Calvary He made the greater display of His Love for you. Be not like those, who give themselves to Him at one season, and withdraw from Him at another: they give themselves only to be caressed; and wrest themselves back again, when they come to be crucified, …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

Of Suffering which must be Accepted as from God --Its Fruits.
Be content with all the suffering that God may lay upon you. If you will love Him purely, you will be as willing to follow Him to Calvary as to Tabor. He must be loved as much on Calvary as on Tabor, since it is there that He makes the greatest manifestation of His love. Do not act, then, like those people who give themselves at one time, and take themselves back at another. They give themselves to be caressed, and take themselves back when they are crucified; or else they seek for consolation in …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

Of the Royal Way of the Holy Cross
That seemeth a hard saying to many, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow Me.(1) But it will be much harder to hear that last sentence, Depart from me, ye wicked, into eternal fire.(2) For they who now willingly hear the word of the Cross and follow it, shall not then fear the hearing of eternal damnation. This sign of the Cross shall be in heaven when the Lord cometh to Judgment. Then all servants of the Cross, who in life have conformed themselves …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

The Great Confession - the Great Commission - the Great Instruction - the Great Temptation - the Great Decision.
If we are right in identifying the little bay - Dalmanutha - with the neighbourhood of Tarichæa, yet another link of strange coincidence connects the prophetic warning spoken there with its fulfilment. From Dalmanutha our Lord passed across the Lake to Cæsarea Philippi. From Cæsarea Philippi did Vespasian pass through Tiberias to Tarichæa, when the town and people were destroyed, and the blood of the fugitives reddened the Lake, and their bodies choked its waters. Even amidst …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Last Journey of Jesus to Jerusalem.
Jesus had for a long time been sensible of the dangers that surrounded him.[1] During a period of time which we may estimate at eighteen months, he avoided going on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.[2] At the feast of Tabernacles of the year 32 (according to the hypothesis we have adopted), his relations, always malevolent and incredulous,[3] pressed him to go there. The evangelist John seems to insinuate that there was some hidden project to ruin him in this invitation. "Depart hence, and go into Judea, …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus

The Preparatory Service; Sometimes Called the Confessional Service.
In our examination of the nature and meaning of the Lord's Supper, we have found that it is indeed a most important and holy Sacrament. It is in fact the most sacred of all the ordinances of the Church on earth. There is nothing beyond it--nothing so heavenly, on this side heaven, as this Feast. Nowhere else does the believer approach so near to heaven as when he stands or kneels, as a communicant at this altar, the Holy of Holies in the Church of Christ. What a solemn act! To approach this altar, …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

A Divine Saviour.
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew xvi. 1; John vi. 69.) We meet with a certain class of Enquirers who do not believe in the Divinity of Christ. There are many passages that will give light on this subject. In 1 Corinthians xv. 47, we are told: "The first man is of the earth earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven." In 1 John v. 20: "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true; and we are in Him that is …
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It

Self-Denial.
"If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me."--Matt. xvi. 24. Good works are not the saint's sanctification, any more than drops of water are the fountain; but they spring as crystal drops from the fountain of sanctification. They are good, not when the saint intends them to be good, but when they conform to the divine law and proceed from a true faith. Yet the intention is of great importance; the Church has always taught that a work could not be called …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Foundation of the Church among the Heathen
A.D. 38-45 [Sidenote: A.D. 38] During St. Peter's journey, the course of God's good Providence led him to the sea-port town of Joppa, on the borders of Samaria and Judaea, and there we read that "he tarried many days," a measure of time which is supposed to be equivalent to three years. At the expiration of this time an event occurred which had a deep and lasting influence on the life of the Church of Christ. [Sidenote: Further fulfilment of the promise to St. Peter.] Hitherto no Gentiles had been …
John Henry Blunt—A Key to the Knowledge of Church History

Christ the Son of God.
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. xvi. 16). "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him and he in God" (I. John iv. 15). "And who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" (I. John v. 5). In one sense all men are sons of God. In a much dearer sense all Christians are sons and daughters of the Almighty. But the relationship of Christ to the Father is infinitely above this. He is the Son of God. God is …
Frank G. Allen—Autobiography of Frank G. Allen, Minister of the Gospel

Tries to Become a Politician. Fails. Last Act as a Politician. Tries to Join the Southern Army. Fails Again. His First Appointment. Feeling of Responsibility. His
Tries to Become a Politician. Fails. Last Act as a Politician. Tries to Join the Southern Army. Fails Again. His First Appointment. Feeling of Responsibility. His Plan. Text. Analysis of Sermon. Buys a Family Bible. Rules of Life. When I obeyed the Saviour, the brethren urged me to begin at once to preach the gospel. I had been accustomed to making political speeches, and public addresses of different kinds, and they thought I could just as easily preach a sermon as to make a speech on any other …
Frank G. Allen—Autobiography of Frank G. Allen, Minister of the Gospel

Concerning the Sacrament of Penance
In this third part I shall speak of the sacrament of penance. By the tracts and disputations which I have published on this subject I have given offence to very many, and have amply expressed my own opinions. I must now briefly repeat these statements, in order to unveil the tyranny which attacks us on this point as unsparingly as in the sacrament of the bread. In these two sacraments gain and lucre find a place, and therefore the avarice of the shepherds has raged to an incredible extent against …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation

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