Deuteronomy 9:4

Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.

Ver. 4. For my righteousness.] We are all apt to weave a web of righteousness of our own, to spin a thread of our own to climb up to heaven by, to set a price upon ourselves above the market, to think great thoughts of ourselves, and to seek great things for ourselves. Caelum gratis non accipiam, saith one merit monger, I will not have heaven for nothing; and, Redde mihi aeternam vitam quam debes, saith another; Give me heaven, for thou owest it me. How blasphemous is that direction of the Papists to dying men, Coniunge, Domine, obsequium meum cum omnibus quae Christus passus est prome: Join, Lord, my righteousness with Christ's righteousness! How much better was it with those ancient Papists here in England, to whom, upon their deathbeds, the ordinary instruction appointed to be given was, that they should look to come to glory, not by their own merits, but alone by the virtue and merit of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ; that they should place their whole confidence in his death only, and in no other thing! a &c. Those justiciaries, that seek to be saved by their works, Luther fitly calls the devil's martyrs; they suffer much, and take much pains to go to hell, and by their much boasting, Haec ego feci, haec ego feci, they become no better than Faeces, saith he wittily. It is a good observation of a reverend divine, b that the Church in the Canticles is nowhere described by the beauty of her hands or fingers. Christ concealeth the mention of her hands - that is, of her works - (1.) Because he had rather his Church should abound in good works in silence, than boast of them, especially when they are wanting, as Rome doth; (2.) Because it is he alone that "worketh all our works for us." Isaiah 26:12 Hos 14:8

a Dr Ussher, Ser. on Ephesians 4:13 .

b Mr Cotton, on Cantic., p. 217.