It is at the tribunal of a righteous law we stand accused, convicted, condemned. Angels cannot help us there, the ransom it demands they cannot pay. It requires blood to make an atonement for transgression, "the soul that sinneth it must die;" and God who is pitiful and of tender mercy, and hath no pleasure in afflicting, yet cannot otherwise pardon. "Without shedding of blood is no remission." This is the inexorable rule of justice. Another must be made sin, a sin-offering in our stead,—to bear our sin and curse, if we will escape ourselves. When satisfaction is made, then God can forgive, and pledges himself to forgive freely, those that seek his favor by that means; yea, forgive in all faithfulness and justice, not out of sheer compassion and indulgence.

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