"Be renewed in the spirit of your mind." --- Ephesians 4:23.
O Lord, grant me daily repentance, and a tender feeling of my sins, that by the power of thy death the old man may be crucified; and by the power of thy resurrection, the new man may rise up, and grow in grace, being filled and refreshed by the fruits of the Spirit. Let me ever be earnest, and look upon every day as the first and the very last; that with each I may, as it were, begin anew to work out my salvation with fear and trembling, and so be always prepared for death and eternity.
Give me grace to surrmount all difficulties, and avoid every thing that may prove a torment of conscience in the hour of death. And, as there is no standing still, I humbly beseech thee to stir me up daily and hourly more and more, that I may make all haste, and "give all diligence to make my calling and election sure."
Lord, I am vile, conceived in sin,
And born unholy and unclean;
Sprung from the man whose guilty fall
Corrupts the race, and taints us all.
Soon as we draw our infant breath,
The seeds of sin grow up for death:
The law demands a perfect heart;
But we're defiled in every part.
Great God, create my heart anew,
And form my spirit pure and true!
Oh make me wise betimes, to spy
My danger and my remedy.