Page:Profit and loss, or, The Christian merchant.pdf/10

 pain with all his labour. When the wealth one world is divided among hundreds of millions it is comparatively a small portion that can fall each. But Christ makes the supposition of a man gaining it all; and what after all would it signify? If he lose his own soul, where is the profit? Reader, thou hast in thy possession what is most valuable than all the world; that is thine own immortal soul. There are many precious things the world, but what are all these to thee, if the soul be lost? Every creature of God is good but thy soul is more to thee than them all. The sun, end the moon, and the stars, are great and glorious objects: but thy soul is more to thee than them all. Suppose, then, it were possible thou shouldest gain a thousand worlds, and enjoy them all a thousand years, where is the profit, if, in the end, thou lose thine own immortal soul?

These reflections will be read and approved but many who, when they have laid aside the book will think no more of the matter; but will go and pursue the world as eagerly as ever. They admire the truth of what is stated about the value of the soul, and they cannot but admit that this world is of no use to one who is leaving it, and abound to enter into an eternal state. But these convictions have no happy influence upon their present disposition and conduct. The world is enchanter ground. It is full of glittering phantoms, by which the imagination is seduced; and he that breathed its atmosphere, is subject to a fascinating power, under the influence of which he mistakes shadow for substances, attaches himself to the trifles of the day, and turns aside from the important realities of eternity.

This melancholy state of mind is to be traced