Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin_,'
caught his eyes and profoundly impressed his mind. 'If,' he said, as he
closed the sacred Volume, 'if this be true, I will henceforth live by
the grace of God as a man should live who has been redeemed by the blood
of Jesus Christ.' That night he could scarcely sleep; the great words
repeated themselves again and again within his throbbing brain; they
seemed too good to be true.

'_All sin! All sin!_'

'_Cleanseth from all sin!_'

'_The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin._'

He never tired of telling of that wonderful experience. Miss Marsh, to
whom he was engaged to be married, says that, almost as soon as they
were first introduced to each other, 'he gave her an outline of the
manner in which God had worked the great change in his heart. With
forceful simplicity he told the point of the story; how the words, "_The
blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin_," became the
sheet-anchor of his soul, adding, "Thus was I born again of the Word of
God which liveth and abideth for ever!"'

II

Away back in the infancy of the world I hear one of the earliest of the
Patriarchs uttering a great and bitter cry. '_I have sinned!_' he cries;
'_what shall I do?_' And, as I turn over the leaves of my Bible, I find
that question echoed again and again, generation after generation and
age after age. Yet never once does it receive the slightest hint or
suggestion of an answer. And, depend upon it, if the Son of Man had
never come into the world, it would have echoed round the globe--still
unanswered and unanswerable--until this day. 'O Plato, Plato!' cried
Socrates, 'it may be that the gods can forgive sin, but, alas, I do not
see how!' Nor anybody else. Job's question fell back upon his face; the
universe could give him no reply. It is very striking. And so, here at
the beginning of my Bible, I hear the first man's question; and, here at
the end of my Bible, I hear the last man's answer!

'_What shall I do? What shall I do?_'

'_I have sinned; what shall I do?_'

'_The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin!_'

III

These two men--Job and John--present us, first with a _comparison_, and
then with a _contrast_. It is interesting to examine side by side their
views of the sin that represented so terrific a problem.

Job thought of it as a _contaminating_ thing. He felt that his soul was
soiled. 'What shall I do?' he