What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Most people are not seeking to escape from the wrath to come. They are busy in worldly things while hell is near them. They are like idiots catching flies on board a ship which is in the very act of sinking. We see many people busy about their bodies, decorating themselves when their soul is in ruin. They are like a man painting the front door when the house is in flames.

Men are in a restless pursuit after satisfaction in earthly things. They will greedily hunt after wealth. They will travel the pathways of fame. They will dig into the mines of knowledge. They will exhaust themselves in the deceitful delights of sin. And, finding them all to be vanity and emptiness, they will become very perplexed and disappointed. but they will still continue their fruitless search. Though wearied, they still stagger forward under the influence of spiritual madness, and though there is no result to be reached except that of everlasting disappointment, yet they press forward with much ardor.

Living for today is enough for them. That they are still alive, that they possess present comforts and present enjoyments, this contents the many. As for the future, they say, let it take care of itself. As for eternity, they leave others to care for its realities. The present life is enough for them. Their motto is, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. They have no forethought for their eternal state. The present hour absorbs them.

Carnal minds pursue with all their might
Earth's vanities,
And when they are wearied in their pursuit,
They but change their direction and continue the idle chase.
They turn to another and another of Earth's broken cisterns,
Hoping to find water where not a drop was ever discovered yet.

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