Ezra 9:5

I would have the Reader observe, that until the hour of the evening sacrifice, the man of God expressed the perturbations of his mind in humble silence. Neither the rending of the garment, nor the mantle, could expiate the offence. Not all the silence, and humbleness of soul, could atone for it, or do it away. Neither tears, nor prayers, nor repentance, sweet signs as they are of the humbled state of the soul, can wash away sin. But Jesus alone, in his complete salvation, can make up the deadly breach. Oh! Reader! how precious is it to see Jesus, and his atoning blood, thus looked to by faith, in ages so long before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Doth it not comfort your heart in the review? I profess, with all thankful acknowledgment to the Lord, it doth mine. We have another beautiful example, which the Lord favored the prophet Daniel with, in the preceding generation to this of Ezra, while in Babylon. Daniel 9:3.