Therefore, God accepts only the forsaken, cures only the sick, gives sight only to the blind, restores life to only the dead, sanctifies only the sinners, gives wisdom only to the unwise fools. In short, He has mercy only on those who are wretched, and gives grace only to those who are not in grace. Therefore no proud saint, no wise or just person, can become God’s material, and God’s purpose cannot be fulfilled in him. He remains in his own work and makes a fictitious, pretended, false, and painted saint of himself, that is, a hypocrite. (Martin Luther)

Martin Luther, “The Seven Penitential Psalms,” trans. by Arnold Guebert, in Selected Psalms III from Luther’s Works (ed. Jaroslav Pelikan; St. Louis: Concordia, 1958), 14:163.