Philip Doddridge: Piercing Heaven – Puritan’s Prayers

I am reduced to a horrible condition. I have sinned, and what can I say to you, God?

I was a fool to amuse myself with petty excuses, and to imagine they would carry any weight in your presence.

Now I am silent. My hopes are dead. I am almost ready to wish that my immortal soul could die, too.

I am a criminal in the hands of justice, disarmed, stripped of the weapons I once trusted.

Now I can expect nothing other than condemnation from you. I know you have recorded it in your word, that your intention was gracious—that you want to alarm us, not destroy us.

Speak to me, God! I know it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And in one sense I have already fallen into your hands. So whatever your sentence is, I must condemn myself and justify you.

Amen.