"Everlasting Life is Free."

By:
MY ear suddenly caught the sound of singing. It was on a week day, in one of the crowded thoroughfares of a populous Scottish city, a time and a place one did not expect singing. Quickly looking round I saw a body of about forty men, four abreast, marching along and singing. I came to the conclusion that in these days of widespread unemployment, it was a procession of workless men, thus calling attention to their sad condition.
Judge of my surprise when I heard the words sung heartily and earnestly:
“Everlasting life is free!
Everlasting life is free!
Simply by believing on the Son of God,
Everlasting life is free!”
The words were joyous, the singing was sweet, the faces of the men in the procession were the faces of men in the sweetest of employment, that of praising God. The singing caught me and I joined in and followed the procession, which led to a large market place, where a happy gospel meeting was held on that and subsequent days, when God graciously saved more than one listener.
The writer was privileged to be one of the speakers on this occasion and he drew the attention of the crowd to the mistake that he had made. He contrasted the demands of the workless with the terms of the gospel. Strikers generally strike for more wages or fewer hours of work, or, as it is at this present moment, against a cut in their wages, but here was something offered for nothing, something priceless beyond words, something which cost the Son of God untold agony as He atoned for sin on the cross, but is the free gift of God.
Were these Christian men justified in the words which they sang? Assuredly, we give two texts from God’s sacred Word which amply justifies the two statements made in their chorus.
They sang: ―
“Everlasting life is FREE!”
Scripture says: ―
“The wages of sin is death, but THE GIFT OF GOD is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)).
They sang: ―
“Simply by BELIEVING on the Son of God, Everlasting life is free!”
Scripture says: ―
Here, indeed, is something for nothing. But more than that. Just as God’s greatest material boons are free―air, water, food, clothing1― without which we should perish, so God’s spiritual gift is free and without it we shall assuredly eternally perish.
My reader, I beseech you to give this matter earnest thought. You simply cannot do without eternal life, if you are to be happy and secure. The alternative is simply appalling.
Weigh well these verses: ―
“He that believeth on the Son HATH everlasting life: and he that believeth NOT the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on Him.” (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)).
Ponder over these texts. You can decide on which side of the line you are. If on the wrong side, we beseech you to get upon the right side by believing.
“Everlasting life is free!
Everlasting life is free!
Simply by believing on the Son of God,
Everlasting life is free!”
THE EDITOR.
 
1. Man only pays his fellow-man for rent, labor and transport, but God gives the soil, the reproductive power of life, sunshine and the rain God gives the increase.