WHAT shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? If you had the wealth of a Rothschild, the money king, if you stood on the loftiest pinnacle of literary fame, or political ambition, if your name were adorned with all the honors which the universities of this world could bestow, if your brow were wreathed with the laurels, and your breast covered with the medals of a hundred victories, what would it profit you? You must leave all, you must pass through the narrow arch of time into the boundless ocean of eternity. Men of princely wealth, men of literary fame, men who have ruled by their intellectual power the Houses of Lords and Commons, men who have held their thousands hanging entranced upon their lips, men who have reached the very highest point of naval, military, and forensic distinction, have passed away into eternity; and the awful question as to such is, “Where is the soul?”
Beloved reader, we beseech thee, by the most weighty arguments that can possibly be urged upon the soul of man, not to turn away from this subject until thou hast come to a right conclusion. By God’s great love, by the cross and passion of Christ, by the powerful testimony of God the Holy Ghost, by the awful solemnity of a never-ending eternity, by the unspeakable value of thy immortal soul, by all the joys of heaven, by all the horrors of hell, ―by these seven weighty arguments, we urge thee, this moment, to come to Jesus. Delay not; argue not; reason not, ―but come now, unsaved soul. Just as you are, with all your sins, with all your misery, with your misspent life,— with your dreadful record of mercies slighted, advantages abused, opportunities neglected,—come to Jesus, who stands with open arms and loving heart ready to receive you, and points to those wounds which attest the reality of His atoning death upon the cross, and tells you to put your trust in Him, and assures you, you will never be confounded.
May God’s Spirit carry home this appeal to thy heart, this moment, and give thee no rest until thou art savingly converted to Christ, reconciled to God, and sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, for His blessed name’s sake. C. H. M.