Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 2.djvu/133

Rh that it is, who, without any merit or deserving on our part, calls and justifies, and that if we are obedient to this call He will justify us at the last. This obedience may be the simple act of faith, as in the case of the penitent thief, who was justified here and hereafter because he believed, (for he had no time given him to testify further the sincerity of his confession;) or it may be faith evinced by a life of obedience. Not, however, that even his faith, as a good work, or faith and obedience conjoined, can make a man to merit the favour of ; for any such doctrine is clearly disproved by § 7 and 8, given under Chap. XV. "Repentant in my thoughts I call upon Thee, O Thou Physician Who healest gratuitously, that as Thou didst create me out of nothing, so, in Thy grace, heal Thou my misdeeds, since I cannot attain unto salvation, even by my repentance, unless Thou dost help me." And again, "O Thou just Judge Who dost justify freely, unto Thee do I declare all my shortcomings. Give me, therefore, whiteness of face on the day of judgment, through the mercies which sent Thee to our race, and have mercy upon me."

Moreover the clauses in the above extracts, which speak of the fruits of repentance "reconciling" the, do not necessarily teach that such works, or that any other "charitable deeds of ours, are the original cause of our being accepted before , or that for the dignity or worthiness thereof our sins may be washed away, and we purged and cleansed from all the spots of our iniquity;" but I conceive that thereby nothing more is meant than is conveyed by the following extract from the second part of the Homily on Alms-Deeds: "When He and His disciples were grievously accused of the Pharisees, to have defiled their souls in breaking the constitutions of the Elders, because they went to meat, and washed not their hands before, according to the custom of the Jews; answering their superstitious complaint, teacheth them an especial remedy how to keep clean their souls, notwithstanding the breach of such superstitious orders: Give alms, saith He, and behold all things are clean unto you. He teacheth them, that to be merciful and charitable in helping the poor, is the means to keep the soul pure and clean in the sight of. We are taught, therefore, by this, that merciful alms-dealing is profitable to