December 25

The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. — ROMANS vi. 23.

God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. — JOHN iii. 16.

THE grandest doctrine of the Word of God to my mind is the doctrine of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. I will contend for every letter of truth, but if I must give up something, I will hold tenaciously to this: "Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin;" "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

As to this doctrine of sacrifice, — to put it plainly, this truth of substitution, — Christ Jesus was made sin for us, though he knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. When God the Holy Ghost led you to receive this fact, did it not satisfy the intense craving of your spirit? Did you ever know what perfect rest about sin was till you saw it laid upon Christ, carried away by Christ up to the tree, borne by him upon the tree, and there made an end of by the shedding of his precious blood?

Would anything short of that, do you think, content you now? I am sure it would not. There is a thirst in the human heart that nothing can ever satisfy, but "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

C. H. Shurgen

Oh, may we keep and ponder in our mind, God's wondrous love in saving lost mankind! Trace we the Babe who hath retrieved our loss From his poor manger to his bitter cross, Treading his steps, assisted by his grace, Till man's first heavenly state again takes place.

BYROM.