Southern Presbyterian
Puritan Board Doctor
And I never was so certain, although I have been for so many years separated by Providence and God's grace from the grosser sins of youth, that I cannot receive this justification on my own merits. 'For in me—that is, in my flesh—there dwelleth no good thing.' Having not a single act, nor a single virtue of my own, that is complete and pure enough in motive to pass muster for itself, I know I have nothing to offset a multitude of sins, for which I know I am responsible. My justification must be in the merit of my Surety. And so my religion is not, do right in order to be reconciled to God; but, be reconciled in free grace, in order to do right.
~R. L. Dabney, The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney, pp. 620-1.
*Emphasis mine.