Eternal God, as a loving Father,

you have heaped on me unnumberable blessings;

and I have heaped up many sins.

I have despised that which is good, holy, pleasant

and acceptable in your sight, and I have chosen that which was delicious, pleasant and acceptable in my sight.

It was no surprise that I did this

for I refused to know you and learn your ways.

I loved darkness better than light.

Indeed, darkness seemed to me to be light.

I embraced ignorance as knowledge;

and rejected true knowledge as pointless.

I had little regard for your word

but gave myself to the vanities and shadows of the world.

I abandoned you, in whom all is truth,

and followed the foolish imaginations of my own heart.

You spoke many pleasant and sweet words to me,

and I would not hear.

You called me in many ways,

but I would not answer.

I count myself one of the most wicked

and miserable sinners in the world

because I have been so contrary to Christ my Saviour.

Christ was innocent and empty of all sin,

and I wallowed in filthy sin

and was free from no sin.

Christ was obedient to you, his Father,

even to the death of the cross,

and I was disobedient and stubborn.

Christ was meek and humble in heart,

and I most proud and self-serving.

Christ despised the world with all its vanities,

and I made it my god because of its vanities.

Christ came to serve his brothers and sisters,

and I longed to rule over them.

Christ despised worldly honour,

and I delighted to attain it.

Christ loved the lowly and simple things of this world,

and I esteemed the most fair and pleasant things.

Christ loved poverty,

and I loved wealth.

Christ was gentle and merciful to the poor,

and I was hard-hearted and unkind.

Christ prayed for his enemies,

and I hated mine.

Christ rejoiced in the conversion of sinners,

and I was not grieved to see them revert to sin.

Shall I fall in desperation?

No, I will call upon Christ,

the Light of the world,

the Fountain of life,

the relief of all careful consciences,

the Peacemaker between God and man,

and the only health and comfort

of all true repentant sinners.

By his almighty power he can save me

and deliver me out of this miserable state.

For this is the life everlasting, O Lord,

to believe you to be the true God,

and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

By this faith I am assured,

and by this assurance I feel the forgiveness of my sins;

this is what gives me confidence,

this is what comforts me,

this is what quenches all despair.