Augustine

"For Thy omnipotency is not far from us, even when we be far from Thee...I will love Thee, O Lord, and thank Thee, and confess unto Thy name; because Thou hast forgiven me these so great and heinous deeds of mine. To Thy grace I ascribe it, and to Thy mercy, that Thou hast melted away my sins as it were ice."

from The Confessions, Book II