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The reasons that justify this anxiety are —

I. THE VALUE OF THAT OBJECT ON WHICH IT IS BESTOWED. We look around upon the solicitude which men feel in reference to earthly objects; and we justify that solicitude up to a certain point. What then should be the solicitude which should be cherished with reference to the immortal soul? Oh, that I had ability to describe the madness a thousand times multiplied of that man who professes to believe that he is immortal, and who can find anything on earth more important to him as a subject of attention than the salvation of his soul!

II. THE CONCERN WHICH OTHERS HAVE MANIFESTED ABOUT OUR SOULS. The whole moral universe has been drawn into concern for the immortal soul of man. What was it brought the Son of God from the throne of heaven to the Cross? Per what are all the miraculous agencies of the Holy Spirit granted? For what purpose did the finger of inspiration write the Bible, and the arm of Providence defend it? Why did patriarchs live, and priests minister, and prophets predict, and apostles preach? For the salvation of man.

III. CONSIDER WHAT THE SALVATION OR THE DAMNATION OF THE SOUL INCLUDES. I dwell for a moment on that vast word — "salvation." The pardon of all your sins; the justification of your person; your adoption into the family of Jehovah, and a spirit of sonship connected with it; the renovation of your fallen nature; consolation in affliction; assurance that all things work together for good; hope in death; the resurrection of the just; life everlasting; a blissful heaven made up of the presence of God in Christ. Turn to the opposite of this. What is hell? The loss of all happiness; but it is a state of conscious existence; it is a state of prolonged death. Hell means banishment from the presence of God, consignment to the dark world where hope never enters and mercy is never seen. This is the question, What shall we do to be saved, so as to gain heaven and to escape hell?

IV. THE SOUL OF EVERY MAN, UNTIL HE REPENTS AND BELIEVES IN CHRIST, IS ACTUALLY IN A LOST STATE, ALTHOUGH NOT IRRECOVERABLY LOST. You have no need to ask what will bring the soul into a state of death and condemnation: it is done already. "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." You are under the terrors of the law and exposed to the wrath of God. How shall I be delivered from the guilt which sin has brought on my conscience so as to avoid the dominion of sin here and the punishment of sin in the world that is to come?

V. THE MULTITUDE OF SOULS THAT ARE IRRECOVERABLY LOST. Such is the loss of the soul, that if it occurred but once in a century it is so tremendous a catastrophe, that it should awaken the solicitude of the whole world. And that man must be guilty of the greatest folly who can go on in reckless security even under the very possibility that he may be that one in a century who might thus perish eternally.

VI. THE LOSS OF THE SOUL MAY YET BE AVERTED AND THIS SALVATION SECURED. It were perfectly useless to talk to men of miseries which cannot be remedied, or excite them to the pursuit of benefits which never can be obtained. But this is not your case; you are in that world where mercy reigns; where all the opportunities of salvation and the means of grace are continued. You ask the question, "What shall I do to be saved?" And I am commissioned to reply, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

(J. Angell James.)

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KJV: And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

WEB: and brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"