::R0673 : page 3::

LIFE ONLY THROUGH CHRIST

“Pray, what is your life? It is even a vapor,
Appearing a moment, then passing away
Full soon it is gone, like the light of the taper,
Or melts like the stars at approach of the day.

Yes, such is your life; and no promise is given
That sin blighted man shall forever endure;
For ever since he from the Garden was driven,
Endurance of days is reserved for the pure.

And purity only is yours through the Saviour,
No merit nor work of your own can make clean.
The stains of your wayward and evil behavior
Are still on the robe of self-righteousness seen.

If hope, then, of living forever you cherish,
Acknowledge at once it is hope in the Lord,
Apart from the Saviour each sinner must perish:
The life is in Him, as revealed in His Word.

Since present existence is truthfully likened
To vanishing vapor, or grey morning mist,
‘Tis clear to conclude that the men who are quickened
To life everlasting—obtain it in Christ.”
G. P. M.

====================

— October, 1884 —