ea, they are more in number
than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath failed me.--Ps. xl. 15.

I acknowledge my faults, and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee
only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight.--Ps. li. 3.

I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord; and so Thou forgavest
the wickedness of my sin.--Ps. xxxii. 6.

Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven, and whose sin is
purged.--Ps. xxxii. 1.

There is forgiveness with Thee, therefore shalt Thou be feared.--Ps.
cxxx. 1.

God is not against you but for you, in all the struggles of life; He
wants you to get through safe; wants you to succeed; wants you to
conquer; and He will hear your cry out of the deep and help you. And
therefore when you find yourselves wrong, utterly wrong, do not cry to
this man or that man, "Do _you_ help me; do you set me a little more
right before God comes, and finds me in the wrong and punishes me." Cry
to God Himself, to Christ Himself; ask Him to lift you up; ask Him to set
you right. Do not be like St. Peter before his conversion, and cry,
"Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord; wait a little till I have
risen up, and washed off my stains, and made myself somewhat fit to be
seen."--No. Cry, "Come quickly, O Lord--at once--just because I am a
sinful man; just because I am sore let and hindered in running my race by
my own sins and wickedness; because I am lazy and stupid; because I am
perverse and vicious, _therefore_ raise up Thy power, and come to me, Thy
miserable creature, Thy lost child, and with Thy great might succour me.
Lift me up, because I have fallen very low; deliver me, for I have
plunged out of Thy sound and safe highway into deep mire where no ground
is. Help myself I cannot, and if Thou help me not, I am undone."

Do so. Pray so. Let your sins and wickedness be to you not a reason for
hiding from Christ, who stands by; but a reason, the reason of all
reasons, for crying to Christ, who stands by. And then, whether He
delivers you by gentle means or by sharp ones, deliver you He will, and
set your feet on firm ground, and order your goings, that you may run
with patience the race which is set before you along the road of life and
the pathway of God's commandments wherein there is no death.

_Good News of God_, _Sermons_.

What are we to do when our sins bring us, as they certainly will some day
bring us, into trouble, but to open our eyes and s