A YOUNG man, well known for his mathematical knowledge, resided in a village where a dear old minister of the Gospel was working. Whilst the minister was going his round visiting, he met the young scholar, and after a brief conversation addressed him as follows: ― “I have heard that you are celebrated for your great mathematical skill: I have a problem which I should like you to solve.”
“What is it?” very excitedly inquired the young man.
The minister replied, with a solemn tone of voice, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
The young man returned home, and endeavored to shake off the deep impression fastened on him by the problem, but all in vain. Again and again in his business, in his studies, and in his pleasures of sin, would that question forcibly return to him, “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Blessed be God, it finally resulted in the conversion of the young man, who in after-life became an able preacher of the Gospel he once neglected and rejected.
Reader, have you ever faced this query of the Lord Jesus? If not, do so now. Look to the cross of Christ and live. Cast yourself upon Christ, for the salvation of the soul is by resting alone upon Him, and depending wholly upon Him. Sinner, you are nearing eternity, and neither your sins nor your good works can save you. The Saviour cries, “Look unto me, and be ye saved.” It is not doing, but leaving off doing; nor is it working, but trusting in the work which Jesus has done, that saves the soul. Trust, and in that self-same moment you will be saved. Swifter than the lightning flash the deed of grace is done.
E. M.