Effectual Covering of Sins.
By John Nevins Andrews
MEN CANNOT cover their own sins. It is labor thrown away to attempt it. Nay, it is a fatal, ruinous business to engage in. There is a better way to act. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Prov. xxviii, 13. This confessing and forsaking our sins is the way to have them covered, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” Rom. iv, 7. This very work of covering our sins by the Lord, is made dependent upon our not covering but confessing them ourselves. 1 John i, 9. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The Lord will do this work most effectually, if we will co-operate with him. True repentance causes us to confess our sins, and to forsake them. On this condition God forgives us our sins, cleanses our hearts from their stain, and finally blots out the record of them, so that he himself will remember them no more. How full of meaning the declaration of James: “He which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” Shall we cover our sins ourselves, or shall we have the Lord cover them for us? Sins covered by us shall every one stand out with fearful distinctness in the day of Judgment; but sins repented of, confessed, forsaken, washed away, blotted out, and remembered no more, shall be hidden and covered, even from the sight of Him that is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.