What Doth It Profit a Man?

What Doth it Profit a Man?

Worldly Gain Eternal Loss

By James E. Talmage, of the Council of the Twelve

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole

world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in ex-

change for his soul?" (Mark 8:36, 37).

These are questions put by the Teacher of teachers. They

are related; we may consider them as one. Simple, like unto

all the Master's teachings — for high precept and profound phil-

osophy are embodied in the interrogatory — the question is

searching, peremptory, challenging. Who that hears or reads

can brush it aside? Compelling in its incisive brevity, it is of

haunting directness. Once considered, even cursorily, it will not

down; once admitted to the inner consciousness, it will not out.

The baubles of earth are set over against the priceless jewels of

heaven; the fleeting things of mortality are put in contrast with

the enduring verities of eternity.

Granted that this is a material world, and that experience

in material affairs is a pervading and indispensable element in

the curriculum of life's school, it is no less truly a fact that earth-

life is neither the beginning nor the end of individual existence

and progression.

Material belongings, relative wealth or poverty, physical en-

vironment— the things on which we are prone to set our hearts

and anchor our aspirations, the things for which we sweat and

strive, ofttimes at the sacrifice of happiness and to the forfeiture

of real success — these after all are but externals, the worth of

which in the reckoning to come shall be counted in terms of the

u-e we have made of them.

Is the plow more than the field to be furrowed, or the sickle

than the ripened grain? Can gold stay the hunger pangs better

than the nourishing food that the money may buy?

The context with which occurs the crucial interrogation

quoted above points the question sharply: "Whosoever will

come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and

follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but

whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospeVs, the

same shall save it."

The cross to be taken up may be heavy, perhaps to be

dragged because too burdensome to be borne. We are apt to

assume that self-denial is the sole material of our cross; but this

i* true onlv as we regard self-denial in its broadest sense, com-

prising both positive and negative aspects. One man's cross may

consist mostly in refraining from doings to which he is inclined.

222 IMPROVEMENT ERA

another's in doing what he would fain escape. One's besetting

sin is evil indulgence; his neighbor's a lazy inattention to the

activities required by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, coupled per-

chance with puritanical rigor in other observances.

But the great question, striking home to every thoughtful

soul, is that of the Master — "For what is a man profited, if he

shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" (Matt.

16:26).

It is possible then for a man to lose his own soul. To deny

is to reject the Lord's own doctrine. The safeguard against

such incalculable loss is specifically indicated — to follow the

Savior; and this can mean only keeping His commandments,

whatever the temporary suffering or worldly sacrifice may be.

The occasion of Christ's question with its accompanying

brief but forceful discourse was this: He had reiterated to the

disciples, with greater directness than ever before, the facts of

His approaching death and the ignominy that would be forced

upon Him. Peter, impetuous and impulsive as ever, exclaimed

"Be it far from thee Lord: this shall not be unto thee" In that

remark, though well-intended and bold, lay the suggestion that

Jesus should avert the impending tragedy to Himself, and save

His own life. The Lord's reply to Peter was a rebuke of the

severest kind.

Then followed the avowal that one who saves his life at the

cost of righteous duty shall lose it, and the comforting assurance

that he who is ready to sacrifice his life in the Master's service

shall find it. If this be true with life as the stake, how more so

shall it be with wealth, station, worldly power, or pet but false

theory and doctrine, as the thing to be gained or lost?

Consider the words of Jacob the Nephite:

"O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of

men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they

hearken not unto the counsel of God for they set it aside, sup-

posing they know of themselves — wherefore, their wisdom is fool-

ishness and it profiteth them not Behold, the way

for man is narrow but it lieth in a straight course before him;

and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and He em-

ploy eth no servant there; and there is none other way, save it be

by the gate, for He cannot be deceived; for the Lord God is His

name. And whoso knocketh, to him will He open; and the wise,

and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up be-

cause of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches; yea,

they are they, whom He despiseth; and save they shall cast these

things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come

down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them."

(Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 9).