What Is A Man Profited?

I recently finished reading Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. One of the main characters in the story is the uncle to Nicholas who is heartless and motivated only by money. He is out to get Nicholas throughout the story, and tries to punish him through the helpless young man, Smike, that Nicholas took under his wings. Nicholas became a true friend to Smike and took care of him when no one else would. Smike loved Nicholas and came of course to detest Ralph because of his persecutions of Nicholas and efforts to hurt Smike. At the end of the book, it is revealed that Smike is actually the son of Ralph, whom Ralph thought had died. But this revelation came only after Smike himself died, having been persecuted and mistreated nearly his whole life until he found Nicholas. When his son was very young, Ralph had kept him in the attic, trying to hide evidence of his marriage because it would potentially profit him if his secret outlived his brother-in-law’s life. Ralph’s clerk at the time, Brooker, had told Ralph that Smike had died and instead sent him off to a boy’s house (where Nicholas found him many years later) where he was cruelly treated. After finding out the truth about Smike and his death, Ralph returned home and went to the attic where he had kept his young son. His thoughts are described this way: “His own child, his own child! He never doubted the tale; he felt it was true; knew it as well, now, as if he had been privy to it all along. His own child! And dead too. Dying beside Nicholas, loving him, and looking upon him as something like an angel. That was the worst!” He had always hated Nicholas and could not bear the thought that his own child loved Nicholas and not him: “That [Nicholas’s], of all others, should have been the hands to rescue his miserable child; that he should have been his protector and faithful friend; that he should have shown him that love and tenderness which, from the wretched moment of his birth, he had never known; that he should have taught him to hate his own parent and execrate his very name; that he should now know and feel all this, and triumph in the recollection; was gall and madness to the usurer’s heart. The dead boy’s love for Nicholas, and the attachment of Nicholas to him, was insupportable agony. The picture of his deathbed, with Nicholas at his side, tending and supporting him, and he breathing out his thanks, and expiring in his arms, when he would have had them mortal enemies and hating each other to the last, drove him frantic.” All of this was too much for Ralph, who had given his life for money and nothing else, and he took his own life in that attic.

            The scripture that came to mind as I pondered this story is this question from the Savior: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Ralph had given his life over to the pursuit of wealth no matter who he had to trample on. He had indeed gained much of the world, but, in the end, he lost his own soul because he had no love, compassion, or goodness in him. Nicholas, on the other hand, sought to do good, defend the persecuted, and help those in need throughout the story, and in the end he found indeed the truth of these words, “whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:25-26). The story is a reminder that a life of evil will one day be rewarded as it is due, though that may not come immediately. Ralph thought he could conquer the world through his own ambition and at the expense of human compassion, friendship, and love. But, like Korihor, though he prospered for a while he found that “the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell” (Alma 30:60). These words of Mormon come to mind, “And these things doth the Spirit manifest unto me; therefore I write unto you all. And for this cause I write unto you, that ye may know that ye must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, yea, every soul who belongs to the whole human family of Adam; and ye must stand to be judged of your works, whether they be good or evil” (Mormon 3:20). Evil often appears to triumph for a time, but in the end we will all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ and the consequences for our actions will always come due. In the story Ralph’s death was mourned by no one, but Smike’s grave became the object of much affection. The final words of the story describe how the children of Nicholas came to weep over it: “The grass was green above the dead boy’s grave, and trodden by feet so small and light, that not a daisy drooped its head beneath their pressure. Through all the spring and summertime, garlands of fresh flowers, wreathed by infant hands, rested on the stone; and, when the children came to change them lest they should wither and be pleasant to him no longer, their eyes filled with tears, and they spoke low and softly of their poor dead cousin.” Like Lazaras in the Savior’s tale, Smike found rest and was figuratively taken to Abraham’s bosom, while Ralph, like the rich man, found only that he was tormented (Luke 16:22-25).