Ah Calvinism

A quote from George Marsden's book Jonathan Edwards - A Life:
It is essential to notice that in this Calvinist scheme of things God's grace could not be controlled. Puritans, like others in the Reformed tradition, were insistent on giving God credit for everything. God's saving grace was in no way a reward for good works. Truly good works, or works motivated by true love to God, were possible only for the regenerate, and even then they were tinged by the tenants of one's inherited sinful nature. Even faith itself, though a positive act of receiving God's free gift of salvation, was not the efficient cause of salvation but only a necessary means by which one received the gift as one's own.
Unable to control God's grace, one could at best prepare oneself to be in a position to receive it. So the steps leading through the gradual process of conversion were steps of "preparation." The irony of the rigorous discipline was that one could not take any pride in successfully following it. One sign of being on the road to conversion was to strive fervently to keep God's law, but it was only when sinners came to realize their total inability to succeed in keeping that law that they would be prepared truly to depend on God's grace. Seldom has there been a spiritual discipline where so much effort was put into recognizing the worthlessness of one's own efforts.

It is the last line that I love - so much effort was put into recognizing the worthlessness of one's own efforts.