In the fulfillment of our personal consecration and in the further
process of renunciation and excision, there must be a separation, a
cutting loose from all reliance, as a ground of merit or of
self-gratulation in any shape,
on our own works. It is
undoubtedly trying to unsubdued and selfish nature, to attach no value,
considered as its own works, to what it fondly calls its good deeds;
such as its outward morality, its attendance upon the institutions of
worship, its study of the Scriptures, its visits to the sick, its
charities to the poor, and other things of a similar nature. These
things, it is true, are all good and desirable. We would not, by any
means, speak lightly of them. It is perhaps difficult to value them too
highly, if we ascribe them, as we ought to do, to the mere favor and
grace of God. But by excluding the influence of the grace of God, and
ascribing them to his own merit, it is easy to see that a man may make
an idol of his good works, whatever may be their nature; and that he
may, in the perversity of his spirit, fall down and worship them. We
must be willing, therefore, to account our good deeds as nothing; and to
regard ourselves, when me have done all in our power, as unprofitable
servants; in order that Christ may be to us all in all.
— edited from the Interior or Hidden Life (1844) Part 2, Chapter 10.
