Poor clothing, coarse food, fasts, long prayers, vigils, or any works cannot be of benefit to us for eternal life. Only trust in mercy, only the promise, saves. If this is lacking, confess freely, and say: “I am nothing. The inheritance does not concern me; I have been cast out of my father’s house.”
This is the voice of the lad Ishmael, which God hears; and to those who cry in this manner He sends His angels from heaven itself.
Luther on Gen. 21:18; LW vol. 4
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