September 21

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

OBEDIENCE to law, and acts of worship arising out of fear of penalty, are merely hiding from God among the trees of the garden. Even obedience from duty can never be a satisfactory or final state; it is merely educational, to make manifest defect of life. "I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died." When the glory of the Lord has filled all the courts of His temple, man's outward nature becomes reconstituted, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless or indissoluble life. The tree of knowledge becomes one with the tree of life which is in the midst of the city, and on both sides of the river of life, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

J. W. FAR- QUHAR

LAW AND LIFE

Alive unto God.

Sept.

I WAS quick in the flesh, was warm, and the live Evening heart shook my breast;

In the market I bought and sold, in the temple I bowed my head.

I had swathed me in shows and forms, and was honoured above the rest,

For the sake of the life I lived; nor did any esteem me dead.

But at last, when the hour was ripe—was it suddenremembered word?

Was it sight of a bird that mounted, or sound of a strain that stole?—

I was 'ware of a spell that snapped, of an inward strength that stirred,

Of a Presence that filled that place; and it shone, and I knew my soul.

And the dream I had called my life was a garment about my feet,

For the web of the years was rent with the throe of a yearning strong,

With a sweep as of winds in heaven, with a rush as of flames that meet,

The Flesh and the Spirit clasped; and I cried, "Was I dead so long?"

I had glimpse of the Secret, flashed through the symbol obscure and mean,

And I felt as a fire what erst I repeated with lips of clay;

And I knew for the things eternal the things eye hath not seen;

Yea, the heavens and the earth shall pass, but they HELEN never shall pass away. GRAY CONE

LETTER AND SPIRIT