When one faces the question of his sins, and realizes that they deserve just punishment, one of the first impulses is to pray and beg of God to be let off, to be forgiven; and, alas! much of the religious instruction to the sinner is to the same effect. Jesus to Nicodemus gave no such instruction (John 3:14-16); Philip to the Eunuch gave no such instruction (Acts 8:29-39); Paul and Silas to the jailer gave no such instruction (Acts 16:30, 31); Peter to the household of Cornelius gave no such instruction (Acts 10:42, 43); the gospel of John, the one book specially given to lead a sinner to be saved (John 20:30, 31), gives no such instruction. But the objection is at once brought up that in the Lord's Prayer we are taught to pray, "Forgive us our sins." That prayer begins "Our Father," and God is not the Father of sinners ("Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus."--Gal. 3:26); and the prayer was given by the Saviour to disciples (Luke 11:1, 2), and not to sinners. But the objection is further raised that the Bible says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins." That is from the first epistle of John, and was not written to sinners, but to believers. John says (1 John 5:13), "These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, even _unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God_." (R. V.) God can and does forgive the believer on confession, because the believer is a child of God. With the sinner it is a question of law, of justice, of right. Hence, the Lord Jesus said, "Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law" (Matt. 5:18). "Every transgression and disobedience received _a just recompense of reward_" (Heb. 2:2); but there is no "_just recompense of reward_" at all, if God lets the sinner off from the just penalty of his sins because he prays and begs and cries to be let off, or because priests or preachers pray and beg for him to be let off. "It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin" (Heb. 10:4), because there is no "just recompense of reward" in such cases. Much less can the sins be taken away when there is no recompense of reward at all in the case, but simply the praying and begging of the sinner to be forgiven, to be let off, and the praying and begging of some priest or preacher that the sinner be forgiven, let off. God has given a plain warning, "Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission."--Heb. 9:22. Among what are called evangelical denominations it would be looked upon as worse than folly for a Jew, a Unitarian or a Universalist, who had asked God to forgive his sins, or had confessed the sins, to claim that therefore he was forgiven and was sure to go to Heaven. But it is just as fatal a delusion among others as among Jews, Unitarians and Universalists. Every transgression must have "_a just recompense of reward_," however sorry