Put My Finger On the Word "ALL."

"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth us from all sin."—1 John i. 7.

In one of the wards of a London hospital, a woman of notoriously bad character lay dying.  She was still young; but disease, aggravated by her careless, frivolous life, was speedily finishing its deadly work.
Week after week a visitor had sat at her bedside seeking to point her to Christ.  But while she entertained the hope of recovery for her body, there seemed little desire for the message of life for her soul.  But now the end had come; and as she realized it, the dark sins of her past, and the appalling uncertainty of the future, pressed with agonizing power upon her conscience.  The Spirit of God was doing His blessed work of convincing her of sin. (John xvi. 9); and it now but remained for the visitor to urge her to rest her weary soul on the atoning work of Him who "came into the world to save sinners."
Many passages of Scripture were turned to on this last day; and at length, the verse at the heading of this paper was slowly and distinctly read, "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth us from all sin."
The dying woman partly raised herself, "Read that again," she said, "does it say all?"
"Yes; all," replied her visitor.  "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth us from all sin."
"Are you sure it says all?"
"Quite sure."
"Put my dying finger on the word 'all,' " she replied, "I can go into the presence of God on that!"
Dear reader, I have written this little incident for the sake of any who know themselves to be sinners, and who are yet unsaved.  Are you one of them?  If so, I pray you, defer not to a dying hour, as this poor woman did, accepting God's salvation.  True,

"There is life in a look at the glorified One."

and the dying "look" of faith, be it ever so feeble, brings instant and eternal salvation.  But can you insure yourself having a dying hour?  You know you cannot!  You know that, like thousands of others, you may be struck down in unconsciousness in the midst of your business, your pleasure, or your every-day duties, and in that state, pass into eternity.  You may not care to be told it; but the fact lies before you.  The present moment, while your eye is glancing down this page, is the only portion of time you can count upon, and call your own.  How solemn, then, for you to trifle with God's message to you to-day, when you know not if you will be alive to-morrow!  How solemn for you to say you hope to be saved by-and-by, when He says NOW!  "NOW is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation!"
But if you are really anxious to be saved; if the cry of your heart is, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?" and if you are conscious that you can in no wise achieve this deliverance for yourself, listen to this wonderful announcement from Heaven, this blessed message from God, whose heart is ever yearning over repentant sinners, "Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom." (Job xxxiii. 24)  Do you ask, "What does this mean?"  It means that the claims of God's justice and holiness have been perfectly met and satisfied by the death of His Son upon the cross.  The blood has been shed.  Atonement has been made; and now, on the ground of that atonement, God's salvation can go out in freest grace to the vilest sinner who believes!  "It is the Blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" (Lev. Xvii. 11), the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God." (Heb. ix. 14)  And now to this world's myriad sin-burdened souls, God's message of mercy is sounding out, and

"Jesus' blood through earth and skies,
Mercy! free, boundless mercy! cries."

So Peter delights to recall redemption not being "with corruptible things, as silver and gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot"  And Paul strikes the note of triumph,  "We have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins," while John sounds the full chord, which will re-echo throughout eternity, "The Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from ALL sin."
Dear reader, has it cleansed you?

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

This is the grand old message we give you to-day!  Will you respond to it by adding—

"The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there have I , though vile as he,
Washed all my sins away! "

A. S. O.

"The Gospel Watchman" 1882