River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-03-31
THE FATAL
EXCHANGE
By REV. CnAS. Dew. BR0WER
Pastor Of Fifty-Second Avenue Con.
gregationai Church, Austin, Ill.

For what shall it profit man If he
shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange
for his ul?-Mark 8: $685.
Few words are more familiar in the
business world than profit and loss.
Men go into business for profit; it is
the object of their thought, of their
toll. They deal in the good which they
believe will produce profit. and if any
thing is handled at a loss 1t is for the
sake of maintaining a market or for
some future advantage. Will it pay?
is the question ever on the lips, or,
What is there in it for me?
Now, one of the striking character
istics of Jesus Christ was that he
looked back of the things that are
seen, back of the material to the un-
seen and spiritual He knew absolute
ly the right value of things. Money
had value, pleasure had its place.
food must be considered to it's de-
gree Of necessity, but these all were
secondary to the soul. The person
using these things was of infinite
value We deal too much with the
superficial, we are taken up with the
things that perish, we become in
volved with the lesser, even worthless
things of life; Jesus Christ never.
He was the light of the world and
sorely did the work of his day and OF
our day need the illumination which
he brings to the relations of life. We
need to see as he saw if we are to be
saved from fatal mistakes. So in
this matter of profit and loss Christ
realized perfectly the comparative
value of the soul and the things to
which men gave their thought and
finite wisdom that he uttered the
warning conveyed in the question:
what shall it profit man if he gain
the whole world and lose his own
soul?"
Men we're making the fatal exchange
| every day when the question was
asked, and he who came to be their
| Saviour saw and felt as no one else
of earth ever did the tragedies of such
lives. His question implied that the
soul of man has greater value than
the whole world of things.
The soul is the immortal part of
man. We understand by it here the
spirit, which has a body. We are
children of God, with capacities for
knowing him, fellowshipping with him,
growing in grace and knowledge,
serving his cause, rejoicing in heaven
ly places. There can be friendship
with Christ here and forever, compan-
ionships everlasting with all who love
him So the spirit of man has ca
pacity for degradation, suffering, USE
lessness in separation from the Fa-
Their.
And man has free will and can
choose the evil, throw himself away in
quests of worthless and destroying
things. The loss of the soul is G
theme on which we naturally dread to
dwell. The awfulness of such a
tragedy is beyond our powers to ex-
press. But Christ, who is infinite wis
dom and love, solemnly warned men
of the danger of such a loss.
The soul is lost when it is away
from it's place with Christ, like the
i
flock. It is lost when it is out of
service, useless, doing no good in the
world, like the coin that rolled away.
The soul is lost when it is indiffer-
ent to the Father and off in some far
country of evil wasting it's strength
and goodness in shame, soon with re-
morse to be seeking for food with the
swine, like the prodigal son.
We do not have to look far for ex-
amples of the folly of men in exchang-
ing their souls for that which brings
no profit, but only loss. There was
the rich young ruler, who went away
sorrowful from Jesus when the
Teacher showed him the way to
eternal life as the way of love of 9TH
ers He loved his money too much.
There was Judas, who, for a paltry
handful of silver, betrayed his Lord.
Did it pay? There was PLATE, who
preferred power and reputation and
applause to pustice. He saved these
things for a few days and has been
branded as Infamous ever since. In
the early history of the church Ana
MAS and Sapphire made the same sad
exchange-for money. Paul writes of
one who had been his companion and
had known the truth. "Demas hath
forsaken me, having loved this pres
ent world
But Christ came to seek and to
save the lost. He was tempted like
as we are, but never yielded The
devil offered him the whole world,
fame, pleasure. Christ sympathizes.
yearns over us. We all have sinned,
but in him is forgiveness and strength
for the new life.
The fundamental work of Christs
church is to preach and to witness to
the gospel of his grace; to herald the
truth that by repentance and faith in
him the soul once exchanged for the
lusts and prides and love of money
can come back to the Father and be
restored to beauty and service.