MR. FOSCUE, a Frenchman living in Paris some years ago, had amassed an enormous amount of wealth. He was a miser, and his great anxiety was to securely hide his treasure so that even his friends should be ignorant of the vast fortune he possessed. For this purpose he dug a large cave in his wine-cellar, so deep that it needed a ladder to reach to the bottom. It was entered by a carefully concealed trap-door fitted with a spring lock, so that when the door was let down it would fasten of itself.
One day Mr. Foscue was missing. The whole house was searched from attic to cellar, but no trace of him could be found. He had suddenly and mysteriously disappeared.
Time passed by and no more was heard of him, so his house was put up for sale and very soon found a purchaser.
After the new owner had taken possession, he one day determined to make a thorough examination of his purchase, looking into every nook and cranny. When he reached the cellar he discovered the trap door, forced it open, and descended the ladder. A ghastly spectacle met his gaze. On the floor lay the body of the miser, a candlestick beside him; around were piled the hoards of gold he had so jealously guarded. In a moment the terrible truth was revealed. The miser had been starved to death. He had entered the cave, and by some accident the trap-door had fallen to and fastened him in. He had been buried alive with his treasure, and all his wealth had been unable to rescue him from an agonizing death.
One cannot meditate upon this sad case without the feelings being deeply harrowed.
This miser in seeking to secure his wealth had lost his life. But there are many men that risk a still more terrible fate, for, to obtain earthly good, they risk the loss of the precious soul. The language of the life, if not of the lip, proclaims that with them temporal things are pre-eminent.
Yet in a few years the millionaire and the pauper are leveled by the hand of Death. But though the body lies in the tomb the soul still lives. The Christian departs to be with Christ, and has treasure laid up in heaven; but the man that has rejected the Saviour will be a pauper for eternity.
He who knew the secrets of the unseen world said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. 16:2626For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:26)).
“Tomorrow’s sun may never rise
Upon thy long-deluded sight;
This is the time, oh then be wise:
Thou would’st be saved? why not tonight?”
ANON.