O THOU blood of the Lamb of God—thou wondrous and omnipotent blood! If the world count thee as unclean, and tread thee under foot, I will speak thy praise as long as there is a breath in me and esteem thee as my highest and dearest possession! Where should I be, hadst thou not flowed for me? Thy living flood swept away the hateful image of my corrupt nature. Sprinkled with thee, I came forth a new creature, and out of thee sprang up my palm of triumph over hell and the grave. But who can sufficiently praise thee, and the boundlessness of thy power and efficacy? Blood, a drop of which is sufficient instantaneously to render blood-red transgressions as white as snow; which, in a moment washes me as clean as the angels themselves after a sanctification of a thousand years; which arrays me in an innocence and acceptableness in the sight of God, to which the beauty of Adam in paradise did not extend; which covers my sinful head with crowns of life, and opens out the road to me, even into the presence-chamber of the Triune God; which makes room for me to stand with joy before His face, and elevates, capacitates, and gives me a right to an endless repose in His arms, and on His paternal bosom. Praiseworthy and miraculous blood—who can worthily praise thee? Mayest thou never remove from the sight of my spirit, when this world shrouds itself in night and darkness before the closing eye of this mortal frame. O that I might behold thy lustre, blood of the cross! when eternity unfolds itself before me, and when in its sight the register of my sins in all their blackness once more presents itself more vividly than ever to my view. O then I shall be strong! Then I shall fear nothing. In beholding thee, I shall overcome all my terrors. Continue, therefore, ever present to my faith! Redden the threshold of my heart with thy brightest radiance! O sacred blood, come upon all of us, for our everlasting atonement and reconciliation! Amen.—Krummacher’s “Elisha.”