the sinner may be, however much he may pray and beg to be forgiven, let off; however much the priest or preacher or friends may pray for him to be forgiven, to be let off. A man who has violated the state law falls on his knees before the judge, confesses his sin and begs the judge to forgive him, to let him off; and he calls men from the audience to come and help him beg. The judge replies, "If I should yield to these petitions I would be a perjurer; I would trample on law. Every transgression must receive a just recompense of reward." Would that all could realize that every prayer from sinner, priest, or preacher, for a sinner to be forgiven, let off, is a prayer to God to become a perjurer. If sinners could realize that, after all their kneeling every night and confessing their sins, and praying to be forgiven, to be let off, every sin ever committed is still there, and that "Apart from shedding of blood there is no remission," they would then realize their real need of a Saviour, a Redeemer. One question for the reader: If God forgives, lets a sinner off, simply because he is sorry and cries and prays and begs to be let off, or because the priest or preacher cries, prays and begs for him to be forgiven, to be let off, _why did Jesus die_? _FOR FURTHER STUDY_: The word translated forgiveness in the Bible means simply to send away, without reference to how the sin is sent away; but God's word states plainly that sins are forgiven, sent away, by Christ bearing them. "Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."--John 1:29. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree."--1 Peter 2:24; "Christ died for our sins."--1 Cor. 15:3. Concerning the justice of Christ dying for our sins, see the next chapter. The prayer of the publican in the old version, "God be merciful to me the sinner," Luke 18:13, has misled many. If that was really the prayer of the publican, how _could_ the Saviour have said, "This man went down to his house _justified_"? The margin of the Revised Version gives what the Greek says, "Be thou propitiated." It is the same Greek word that in Heb. 2:17 is translated, "to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." President Strong of Rochester Theological Seminary gives the exact meaning of it when he renders it, "Be thou propitiated to me the sinner by the sacrifice whose smoke was then ascending in the presence of the publican while he prayed." And Jesus shows what the publican said when He added, "This man went down to his house _justified_."