What Shall It Profit?

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Not all earth's gold and silver Can make a sinner whole

Author: Johnson Oatman
Tune: [Not all earth's gold and silver]
Published in 20 hymnals

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Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Not all earth’s gold and silver
Can make a sinner whole;
What shall it profit thee, O man,
If thou should’st lose thy soul?

Chorus:
What shall it profit a man,
What shall it profit a man,
If He gain the whole world,
And lose his own soul?

2 The heaping up of riches
To many seems life’s goal;
But in the eager rush for wealth,
Forgotten is the soul. [Chorus]

3 This solemn question answer:
Is worldly gain thy goal?
Can fleeting riches be compared
To an immortal soul? [Chorus]

Source: Christian Hymns: for every purpose in worship #174

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Author: Johnson Oatman

Johnson Oatman, Jr., son of Johnson and Rachel Ann Oatman, was born near Medford, N. J., April 21, 1856. His father was an excellent singer, and it always delighted the son to sit by his side and hear him sing the songs of the church. Outside of the usual time spent in the public schools, Mr. Oatman received his education at Herbert's Academy, Princetown, N. J., and the New Jersey Collegiate Institute, Bordentown, N. J. At the age of nineteen he joined the M.E. Church, and a few years later he was granted a license to preach the Gospel, and still later he was regularly ordained by Bishop Merrill. However, Mr. Oatman only serves as a local preacher. For many years he was engaged with his father in the mercantile business at Lumberton… Go to person page >

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First Line:	Not all earth's gold and silver Can make a sinner whole
Title:	What Shall It Profit?
Author:	Johnson Oatman
Language:	English
Refrain First Line:	What shall it profit a man
Publication Date:	1916
Copyright:	Public Domain