Gerhard and Walther

Every proper prayer has to have its beginning from true repentance… What are the tears that the saints shed when they pray other than an indication of proper inward repentance?—Johann Gerhard, Schola Pietatis III:337.

Those who are lost are lost solely because they did not want to be rescued. Therefore, whoever knows he has an obstinate heart but still feels a secret longing for God’s grace and deliverance from sins is certainly not yet irretrievably lost. Every good thing in us—even the sinner’s longing for deliverance—is a work of God’s grace.—C. F. W. Walther, God Grant It!, p. 641.