“I would,” said Helon, “that my whole heart belonged to Jehovah, then should I have peace and joy. But how may I attain this state?” “Tell me,” said the old man, “when, as priest, would you declare the leper cleansed from his leprosy?” “When no spot of leprosy remains in him from head to foot,” said Helon, “but all is sound, as far as the priest can see.” “So judge then of the sinfulness of your whole state, from a single sin. Read the penitential psalms, and tell me what you find in them most applicable to your own condition.” Helon obeyed his injunctions, but for several days the old man came and went without noticing him. One evening, however, when he returned from the sacrifice, and was about to withdraw again, Helon earnestly entreated him to stay. “I have found,” said he, “the words which too truly describe my own condition, There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger, Nor any health in my bones because of my sins; For mine iniquities rise above my head; They weigh me down as a heavy burden.—Ps. xxxviii. 3, 4. “What a new light has opened upon me from these words! in what a condition do I now appear to myself! How did I deceive myself when I supposed that, a learner as I was, I had already attained the rank of a Chasidean! What miserable self-deception was I practising, when I professed to renounce those things to which my heart so strongly clung! What contemptible pride, to imagine that I could reach the summit of perfection by ascending, step by step, from the fulfilment of one commandment to that of another! And when one frail support of my self-conceit gave way, how eagerly did I catch at another, to prop myself up. I must confess with Cain ‘My sin is too great to be forgiven,’ and I tremble at the words of the children of Korah, ‘No man can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him.’[158] I am under the curse pronounced from Sinai, 'Cursed be he that fulfils not all the words of this law to do them.'” “Praised be Jehovah,” said the old man, “that thou hast at length discerned one part of the eternal truth; the other will not be withheld from thee in due season. Israel is a people mourning for sin, but also hoping for forgiveness. If our sins separate between God and us, we have the more need of a mediator. The Messiah comes who shall also remove our sins.[159] Say not therefore ‘My sins are too great to be forgiven.’ Thou knowest that the mercy of Jehovah is like his nature, infinite. Pray then for faith, and even now thy offering on his altar shall reconcile thee, by virtue of the future sacrifice of the Messiah. Thou hast partaken of the sin of thy people, partake also with them in the atonement which is to be made on the morrow.” ----- Footnote 158: Ps. xlix. 7. Footnote 159: Dan. ix. 24. -----