“Not "Forgive us for our sins" but "Smite us for our iniquities" should be the prayer of man to a most just God.”

“There was purification in punishment. Not 'Forgive us our sins,' but 'Smite us for our iniquities' should be the prayer of a man to a most just God.”

“If God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, why shouldn't we forgive? If we are faithful and just, we shall.”

“Our forgiving love toward men is the evidence of God's forgiving love in us. It is a necessary condition of the prayer of faith.”

“The gods' most savage curses come upon us as answers to our own prayers. Prayer is a dangerous business.”

“Why is it that it is often easier for us to confess our sins to God than to a brother? God is holy and sinless, He is a just judge of evil and the enemy of all disobedience. But a brother is sinful as we are. He knows from his own experience the dark night of secret sin. Why should we not find it easier to go to a brother than to the holy God? But if we do, we must ask ourselves whether we have not often been deceiving ourselves with our confession of sin to God, whether we have not rather been confessing our sins to ourselves and also granting ourselves absolution...Who can give us the certainty that, in the confession and the forgiveness of our sins, we are not dealing with ourselves but with the living God? God gives us this certainty through our brother. Our brother breaks the circle of self-deception. A man who confesses his sins in the presence of a brother knows that he is no longer alone with himself; he experiences the presence of God in the reality of the other person.”