"Because I am so very wicked, and have put off repentance so long?"
"Jesus said, 'I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance,' and, 'Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.'"
"But, O Miss Layton, I am so vile, so wicked, I've sinned against him so long and so often, that I'm not fit to come to him, I don't dare to come."
"I would not have you think any better of yourself, Mary. You are just as vile and sinful as you have said—yes, even far more wicked than you think—but it was just such as you that Jesus came to call. Just such ruined, helpless, undone sinners; and the more you feel your sinfulness, the more conscious you are of your lost and ruined condition, the more you feel your need of him, the more willing he is to receive you."
"But I am so wicked, my heart is so hard, and when I kneel down to pray, and remember what a holy God I am going to speak to, and that he sees my heart and knows how hard and full of sin it is, I am afraid to say one word. I don't dare to pray, for it seems like mocking him."
"You might well be afraid to come, if you had to come in your own name, Mary, but even you may dare to come in the name of Jesus, since he tells us that it was just such sinners he came to seek and to save; and you need not fear to come, weak and helpless as you are, for does he not say, 'Let him take hold of my strength that he may make peace with me, and he shall make peace with me?' You have no strength to help yourself, you must just look to Jesus. Take hold of Christ."
"O Miss Layton, dare I come just as I am—with such a hard heart? Must I not wait till I feel my sinfulness more? I don't feel half so sorry for my sins as I ought to."
"Come just as you are, Mary; you will never grow any better by staying away; and do you expect to make yourself more acceptable to God by continuing longer in rebellion against him—by continuing to refuse to obey his command, 'My son, give me thine heart?'"
"But my heart is so very hard, so unfeeling; it seems to me that I ought to feel more sorry for my sins."