JOSEPH was my earliest chum. Our parents being next door neighbors, we crawled together when blue ribbons adorned our shoulders, walked out proudly together in our first male attire, roamed in field and wood ere school days began, sat in the ABC class and wondered at the peculiar card of twenty-six or more letters, remained more or less together till Grade 4 was reached, then parted never to meet again on this side of Eternity. Joseph caught a cold which settled on his lungs, and in a month his body was laid to rest in the quiet country churchyard. Ah, well do I remember that day.
Thoughts of the uncertainty of life, the suddenness of death, the bidding good-bye to all that is known, and entering the region of the unknown, made lasting impressions on my young heart. Remembering Joseph, has often recalled to memory sums we got which puzzled us.
The sums which never puzzled us, because no one cared sufficiently for our souls, were the sum of the lost and the sum of the saved, for there is a question which no one can answer.
Get a piece of paper and see if you can solve the profit and loss problem first, and if you cannot answer, take it to your master and see if he can solve it. It was put by “the Master” of all masters, so is well worth the consideration of all. Here it is,
Put into the profit side all the wisdom of a Solomon, the power of a Caesar, the triumphs of a Napoleon, the glory of a king, the wealth of a Rothschild, and any other figure of earthly pomp and splendor your schoolbook recounts—add it all up, as gained.
Over against that, place the loss of only one thing— “his own soul.” Count up the loss of a soul lost for all eternity, and then state the profit. Don’t apply the answer to Solomon, Napoleon, or Caesar; apply it to yourself, and weigh well the solemn fact that you may gain everything on earth, yet if you die “without God and without hope” (Eph. 2:1212That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: (Ephesians 2:12)), you are a miserable loser for endless ages.
In heaven the saved ones sing a new song to the Lord Jesus,
“Thou art worthy to take the bock, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood.” Rev. 5:99And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; (Revelation 5:9). Of the last is said,
ML 05/30/1937