Or, if he is a poor man, he will say, ’Well, then, I will try and be more religious; I will think more about my soul, and come to church as often as I can, and say my prayers regularly, and read good books; and perhaps that will make my peace with God.  At all events, God shall see that I am not as bad as I look; not altogether bad; that I do care for Him, and for doing right.’

But, rich or poor, the man finds out by bitter experience how truly David said, ’Thou requirest no sacrifice, else would I give it Thee.  Thou delightest not in burnt-offerings.’

Not that they are not good and excellent; but that they are not good coming from him, because his heart is still unrepentant, because, instead of confessing his sin and throwing himself on God’s mercy, he is trying to win God round to overlook his sin.  So almsgiving, and ordinances, and prayer give the poor man no peace.  He rises from his knees unrefreshed.  He goes out of church with as heavy a heart as he went in, and he finds that for all his praying he does not become a better man, any more than a happier man.  There is still that darkness over his soul, like a black cloud spread between him and God.

My friends, if any of you find yourselves in this sad case, the only remedy which I can give you, the only remedy which I ever found do me any good, or give me back my peace of mind, is David’s remedy; the one which he found out at last, and which he spoke of in these blessed Psalms.  Confess your sin to God.  Bring it all out.  Make a clean breast of it—­whatever it may cost you, make a clean breast of it.  Only be but honest with God, and all will come right at once.  Say, not with your lips only, but from the very bottom of your heart, say, ’Oh, good God, Heavenly Father, I have nothing to say; I am wrong, and yet I do not know how wrong I am; but Thou knowest.  Thou seest all my sin a thousand times more clearly than I do; and if I look black and foul to myself, oh God, how much more black and how foul must I look to Thee!  I know not.  All I know is, that I am utterly wrong, and Thou utterly right.  I am shapen in sin, conceived in iniquity.  My heart it is that is wrong.  Not merely this or that wrong which I have done; but my heart, my temper, which will have its own way, which cares for itself, and not for Thee.  I have nothing to plead; nothing to throw into the other scale.  For if I have ever done right, it was Thou didst right in me, and not me myself, and only my sins are my own doing; so the good in me is all Thine, and the bad in me all my own, and in me dwells no good thing.  And as for excusing myself by saying that I love Thee, I had better tell the truth, since Thou knowest it already—­I do not love Thee.  Oh God, I love myself, my pitiful, miserable self, well enough, and too well:  but as for loving Thee—­how many of my good deeds have been done for love of Thee?  I have done right from fear of hell, from hope of heaven;