ng experiences,
and the sentence of death in myself. He may keep me waiting awhile
(I have kept Him a long time waiting); but He will not keep me
waiting always. Believing in Him, hoping in Him, relying upon Him,
and waiting for Him--I understand to be trusting in Him.

Mr. M.--Can all these friends here believe the promises?

Mr. R.--The promises are true, whether we believe them or not. We do
not make them true by believing them. God could not charge me with
being an unbeliever, or condemn me for unbelief, if the promises
were not true for me. I could in that case turn round and say:
"Great God, why did you expect me to believe a promise that was not
true for me?" And yet the Scriptures set forth unbelief as the
greatest sin I can continue to commit.

Mr. M.--How are we "cleansed by _the Blood?_"

Mr. R.--"The blood is the life." The sentence upon sinners for their
sin was, "The soul that sinneth it shall die." That we might not
die, the Son of God died. The blood is _the poured-out life of the
Son of God_, given as the price, the atonement, the substitute, for
the forfeited life of the believer in Jesus Christ. Any poor sinner
who receives Christ as God's gift is cleansed from all sin by His
Blood.

Mr. M.--Was the blood shed for us all?

Mr. R.--

"There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may we, though vile as he,
Wash all our sins away."

Mr. M.--Some may think that this is only a hymn, and that it is not
Scripture. Did the Lord ever say anything similar to what the hymn
says?

Mr. R.--He said: "I have given you the blood upon the altar to make
an atonement for your souls." That was said of the picture of the
blood of Christ. And at the Last Supper our Lord said His blood was
"the blood of the new testament which is shed for you and for many
for the remission of sins."

Mr. M.--What is "the gift of God?"

Mr. R.--There are three great gifts that God has given to us--

(1) His blessed Son.

(2) The Holy Ghost, "the promise of the Father," that we might
understand the unspeakable gift bestowed on us when He gave His Son.

(3) He has given us His Holy Word.

The Holy Ghost has inspired the writers of it that we may read, and
hear, and know the love that God has to us, "in that while we were
ye