2. The knowledge of the blood of Jesus Christ shed upon the cross, is God's way of giving eternal life to the poor perishing sinner. As it is written:-" I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.... Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.... Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." (John 6:32-69.)
Here we learn, that if any one receives the death of Jesus, and the atonement by the blood in death, he hath, (from that time onward) everlasting life, and can therefore never come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. To eat and to drink are very simple acts, such as we do every day, and know that we do them, so that we could not believe a man who said, I do not know if I have ever eat or drunk. Well, the figure, as applied to our souls, is very simple likewise; and though no man can tell if another has done it, it seems to me impossible for a man himself to have turned in heart to the broken body and shed blood of Jesus, and to have said, " Here are the proofs of God's grace toward sinners, and His way of being merciful-I am a sinner, and I will trust to God's grace as thus expressed," and not to know that he has done so. But if he has done so, he has (though he may not know it) everlasting life, I say if he has in heart, as before God, said, " The broken body and shed blood of Jesus are God's way of receiving the sinner, and they shall be my way of being received; and if I perish, I perish in this way." Jesus's answer to such an one in the Bible is, " Thou hearest the voice of my blood, then thou art mine. For it is my sheep which hear my voice, and I know them.... and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." Ponder the cross of Jesus, and receive His blood as atonement, then, poor sinner.