(Continued)  All the powers of my soul, all the members of my body, are Your gifts. I should have been prepared to offer You the holy service I owed to You with all the powers of my soul, and with all the members of my body. But I have made them—O! what cause for sorrow!—I have made them tools for unrighteousness and evil. Yours is the breath which I draw. Yours is the air which I breathe. Yours is the sun, whose light I behold every day. All these should have been for me aids and tools for a holy life. But I have turned them—what sorrow!—into servants of sin. Creation was to be used for the glory of the Creator, but unfortunately, I have misused it for His dishonor. The armor of light was to be put on in the light of the sun, but in the sun’s light I have committed works of darkness [Rom. 13:12]. Whatever time is added to my life is given to me out of Your kindness. Therefore my whole life should have been devoted to You, from Whom all of it comes. But not even the smallest part of my life has been devoted to You in holy service. As often as I have sensed what is good and right to do, just as often have I failed to follow through and turned away from service to You. By these impulses I was most kindly invited to return to You through repentance. But O!, how often have I harshly shunned their most loving encouragement!

Receive the one who now at last returns to You with groaning and a contrite heart. Sprinkle me with the blood of Your Son, so that I may be cleansed whiter than snow [Psa. 51:7] from all the filthiness of my flesh and spirit [2 Cor. 7:1], and may praise You eternally with all the elect, Amen. (The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.26-27)

#3 Part I, Chapter IX. All God’s Deeds of Kindness Testify to the Gravity of Our Sins.

O holy God, just Judge, the more deeds of kindness You have bestowed upon me, the more I am grieved that I have so often offended You, such a benevolent Father. Every gift you have bestowed upon me is like a bond of love. You have willed that I be bound to You, but I heaped up the number of sins, having forgotten You and Your kindness. I have sinned Father, against heaven and before You. I am not worthy to be called Your son. Make me as one of Your hired servants [Luke 15:19]. I am totally dissatisfied with myself. Grant that I be totally pleasing to You. The riches of Your goodness and Your extraordinary patience [Rom. 2:4] have for a long time called me to repentance, but so far I have declined to come. O most benevolent Father, again and again You have called me to repentance through the preaching of the Word, through the admonition of creation, through the reproof shown on Christ on the cross, through the internal working of the Holy Spirit. But I have completely closed my ears to this calling. (Text continues with Advent Four)  (from The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.26-27)

O holy God, just Judge, I know that I am conceived and born in sin (Psa. 51:7). I know that I was formed from unclean seed (Job 14:4) in the womb of my mother. The poison of sin has so corrupted and spoiled my entire nature that no powers of my soul are free from its infection. The holy gift of the divine image entrusted to me in the first parent of our race has perished in me. I now have no powers for initiating a saving recognition, fear, trust, and love of You. I have no capability to obediently perform Your commandments. My will is turned away from the law, and the law of sin in my members is opposed to the law of my mind [Rom. 7:23], so that my entire nature is corrupt and perverted. I am wretched and miserable and feel the assault of sin tenaciously clinging to every part of me. I feel the yoke of perverse desire weighing heavily upon me. I have been regenerated and renewed in the washing of baptism through the Spirit of grace [Tit. 3:5]. But I am not totally free from the yoke and captivity of sin, since that bitter root lurking in me always strives to shoot forth [Heb. 12:15]. The law of sin raging in my flesh fights to capture me. I am full of doubts, distrust, and the desire for my own honor. Depraved thoughts come forth from the heart [Mat. 15:19], which totally defile me in Your sight. From a poisoned spring flow forth poison streams.

Do not, O Lord, enter into judgment with Your servant [Psa. 143:2], rather be gracious to me according to Your great mercy [Psa. 51:3]. The depth of my wretchedness [Psa. 42:8] calls out for help to the depth of Your mercy. For this foulness of my unclean nature I place before You the most holy conception of Your Son. For me, He was born [Isa. 9:6], and so He was also conceived for me. For me, He was made sanctification and righteousness [1 Cor. 1:30], and so He also was made my purification and purity. Through and on account of this Your Son, have mercy upon me, O Most High, and do not place the hidden evil corruption of my nature in the light of Your face [Psa. 90:8]. Look to Your beloved Son, my Mediator! May His most holy and unpolluted conception be the remedy for my miserable conception. Amen. (The Daily Exercise of Piety by Johann Gerhard, Repristination Press, p.14-15)