2. For Condonation; for since no good works of ours do bear proportion to the rigour and exactness of the Law of God, but that all our righteousness is as a menstruous cloth, Isai. 64. 6. Omnis nostra humilis justitia, recta forsan, sed non pura, saith Bernard: And since the Lord appointed Aaron 1as a type of Christ, to bear the iniquity of the holy things of his people, Exod. 28. 38. we must therefore confess with St. Austin, that our righteousness 2here consisteth▪ Potius in remissione peccatorum quàm in perfection virtutum. As therefore Job professeth, If I say I am perfect, mine own mouth shall prove me perverse, Job 9. 20. And David, Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight no flesh living shall be justified, Psal. 143. 2. And Paul, Though I know nothing by self, yet am I not thereby justified, 1 Cor. 4. 4. So this holy man Nehemiah prays to be spared, as well as3 to be remembered, as knowing that the reward is of mercy, and not of debt. aIt was a sweet and golden confession which Bernard made, when he thought himself to be at the point of death: I confess, said he, I am not worthy, I have no merits of mine own to obtain Heaven by: But my Lord had a double right thereunto, an hereditary right as a son, a meritorious right as a Sacrifice: He was contented with the one right himself, the other right he hath given unto me; by the virtue of which gift I do rightfully lay claim unto it, and am not confounded.
2. For Condonation; for since no good works of ours do bear proportion to the rigor and exactness of the Law of God, but that all our righteousness is as a menstruous cloth, Isai. 64. 6. Omnis nostra humilis justitia, recta forsan, sed non pura, saith Bernard: And since the Lord appointed Aaron 1as a type of Christ, to bear the iniquity of the holy things of his people, Exod. 28. 38. we must therefore confefs with St. Austin, that our righteousness 2here consisteth▪ Potius in remissione peccatorum quàm in perfectione virtutum. As therefore Job professeth, If I say I am perfect, mine own mouth shall prove me perverse, Job 9. 20. And David, Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight no flesh living shall be justified, Psal. 143. 2. And Paul, Though I know nothing by self, yet am I not thereby justified, 1 Cor. 4. 4. So this holy man Nehemiah prays to be spared, as well as3 to be remembred, as knowing that the reward is of mercy, and not of debt. aIt was a sweet and golden confession which Bernard made, when he thought himself to be at the point of death: I confess, said he, I am not worthy, I have no merits of mine own to obtain Heaven by: But my Lord had a double right thereunto, an hereditary right as a son, a meritorious right as a Sacrifice: He was contented with the one right himself, the other right he hath given unto me; by the vertue of which gift I do rightfully lay claim unto it, and am not confounded.
- 1De verbis Isaiae, Serm. 5.
- 2Aug. de Civit. Dei, lib. 19. cap. 27. Et—contra Cresconin. Gram. lib. 3. c. 80.
- 3Chap. 13. 22.
- aAffuit Satan improbis •um accusationibus pulsans—Ille territus & turbatus ait, Fateor non sum dignus ego nec propriis possum meritis regnum obtinere Coelorum. Caeterum duplici jure illud obtinens dominus meus, haereditate patris, & merito passionis, Altero ipse contentus, Alterum mihi donat, ex cujus dono jure illud mihi vendicans non confundor. Guliel Abbas in vita Bern. lib. 1. cap. 12.
