“Quid enim proderit homini, si lucretur mundum totum et detrimentum animæ suæ faciat ?”
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”
“For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?”
“For what doth it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?”
(2.) We must dread the loss of our souls, yea, though we should gain the whole world by it (v. 36, 37); For what shall it profit a man, if he should gain the whole world, and all the wealth, honour, and pleasure, in it, by denying Christ, and lose his own soul? "True it is," said Bishop Hooper, the night before he suffered martyrdom, "that life is sweet, and death is bitter, but eternal death is more bitter, and eternal life is more sweet." As the happiness of heaven with Christ, is enough to countervail the loss of life itself for Christ, so the gain of all the world in sin, is not sufficient to countervail the ruin of the soul by sin.
Verses 34-38 Frequent notice is taken of the great flocking there was to Christ for help in various cases. All are concerned to know this, if they expect him to heal their souls. They must not indulge the ease of the body. As the happiness of heaven with Christ, is enough to make up for the loss of life itself for him, so the gain of all the world in sin, will not make up for the ruin of the soul by sin. And there is a day coming, when the cause of Christ will appear as glorious, as some now think it mean and contemptible. May we think of that season, and view every earthly object as we shall do at that great day.