Eternal Father,

You are good beyond all thought,
But I am vile, wretched, miserable, blind;
My lips are ready to confess, but my heart is slow to feel,
and my ways reluctant to amend.
I bring my soul to You;
break it, wound it, bend it, mold it.
Unmask to me sin’s deformity,
that I may hate it, abhor it, flee from it.
My faculties have been a weapon of revolt
against You;
as a rebel I have misused my strength,
and served the foul adversary of Your kingdom.
Give me grace to loathe my insensitive folly,
Grant me to know that the way of transgressors
is hard,
that evil paths are wretched paths,
that to depart from You is to lose all good.
I have seen the purity and beauty of Your perfect law,
the happiness of those in whose heart it reigns,
the calm dignity of the walk to which it calls,
yet I daily violate and scorn its orders.
Your loving Spirit strives within me,
brings me Scripture warnings,
speaks in startling providences,
allures by secret whispers,
yet I choose devices and desires to my own hurt,
impiously resent, grieve,
and provoke him to abandon me.
All these sins I mourn, lament, and for them cry pardon.
Work in me profound and abiding repentance;
Give me the fullness of a godly grief
that trembles and fears,
yet ever trusts and loves,
which is ever powerful, and ever confident;
Grant that through the tears of repentance
I may see more clearly the brightness
and glories of the saving cross.

from

The Valley of Vision, A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, Arthur Bennett, p70, Banner of Truth.