“There is a fearful tendency in man to attach the idea of merit to his religious conduct. How many there are who imagine that by their social integrity, their benevolent deeds, their devotional observances, they will procure the favor of their Maker? But he who has this idea has not learned the alphabet of Christianity. Were I as holy as an angel, as devoted as a seraph, could I ever do aught that would merit a single favor from my Maker? No! for the power with which I should work would be His and the instrumentality by which I acted would be His, and the time I employed would be His, and the influence which incited me would be His; what merit then could attach to my operations? How absurd therefore for a sinner to attach the idea of merit to the best of his labors!” David Thomas (1813-1894)