March 23

No condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.

ROMANS viii. 1.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. — JOHN v. 24.

"HATH eternal life," is the reading of the Revision. The phrase thus comes into accord with John xvii. 3. "This is life eternal," etc. Eternal is a better word than everlasting, and has a richer meaning. Everlasting makes us think only of time endlessly prolonged, which is dull and dreary. Eternal has to do with a region of condition in which the hour-glass and the curfew are irrelevant. Years do not add themselves together to make eternity. The eternal is not a matter of addition or multiplication, but is as simple and uncompounded as is he who inhabiteth eternity. The real genius of the eternal may all be comprised in a single instant, as the real totality of God's presence may be contained in a cubic inch. Hence Christ does not say, shall have, but hath; will be life eternal, but, this is life eternal. Christ thus conjugates eternal life in the present tense for the reason that it has no tense; just as no one would ever think of dating honesty, or labelling righteousness 1888. Eternity is a divine attribute; by derivation we become eternal in Christ. In Christ we become seasoned with the eternal, and are eternal, an instant matter, not a thing to hope for. "This is life eternal." He that believeth hath eternal life.

C. H. Parkhurst.

'Tis eternal life to know him.

Oh, how he loves!

Think, oh, think how much we owe him!

Oh, how he loves!

With his precious blood he bought us.

In the wilderness he sought us,

To his fold he safely brought us.

Oh, how he loves!

MARIANNE NUNN.