Faith Justifies Us Before We Can Bring Forth any Good Work, Treatise · Part 5 – Part 7
MArke diligently therfore ſeinge we are come to āſware. The ſcripture becauſe of ſoch dreamers ād fained faithes ſake / vſeth ſoch maner of ſpeakinges of werkes / not that a man ſhuld thereby be made good to Godwarde or iuſtified / but to declare vntounto other / and to take of other the differē ce betwene falſe fained faith and right faith. For where right faith ys / there bringeth ſhe forth good workes / yf ther folowe not good workes / it is no doute but a dreame & an opinion or fained faith.
Where fore loke as the frute maketh not the tree good / but declarith ād teſtifieth outewardly that the tree is good (as Chriſt ſaith) every tree ys knowē by his frute: evē ſo ſhall ye knowe the right faith by hir frute.
Take for an enſample mary that annoynted Chriſtes feete / Luke .vij. Whē Simō which bade Chriſte to his houſe had condemned hir / Chriſt defended hir and iuſtified hir ſainge: Simō I have a certaine thinge to ſay vntounto the. And he ſaid maſter ſaie on. There was a certayne lender which had two detters / the one oug…te five hundret penſe / and the other fiftie. When they had nothinge to paie he for gave bothe. Which of them tell me / will love him moſt? Simon anſwered & ſaid: I ſuppoſe that he to whom he forgave moſt. And he ſaid to him / thou haſt truly iudged. And he turned him to the woman / & ſaid vntounto Simō Seiſt thou this woman? I entred in to thine howſe / and thou gaveſt me no water to my feete / but ſhe hath weſhed my feete with teares / & wipte them with the heeres of hir heed Thou gaveſt me no kiſſe / but ſheſens the time I came in / hath not ceaſed to kiſſe my feete. My heed with oyle (which is but a vile thīg) thou haſt not annoynted. And ſhe hath annoynted my feete with coſtlie & preciouſe oyntement. Wherefore I ſay vntounto the / many ſinnes ar forgeven her for ſhe loveth moch. To whom leſſe is forgeven / the ſame doth love leſſe &c. Hereby ſe we that deades and workes are but outward ſignes of the inwarde grace of the bounteous and plenteous mercy of god frely receaved / with out all merites of deades / yee ād before all deades. Chriſt teacheth to knowe the inwarde fayth and love / by the outwarde deades. Deades are the frutes of love / and love ys the frute of faith. Love and alſo the deades are great or ſmall accordinge to the proporciō of fayth. Where fayth is mighty & ſtrong there is love fervent ād deades plentuouſe and done with excedinge mekenes Where fayth is weake / theris love colde and the deades fewe and fadith as flowres & bloſomes in winter. Simon beleved ād had fayth / yet but weaklie / ād according to the proporcyon of his fayth loved coldlye / ād had deades therafter: he bade Chriſte vntounto a ſimple and a bare feeſt only / and receaued hī not with ony great humanite. But Mari had a ſtronge fayth / and therfore burninge love / and notable deades done with exceadinge profounde and deape mekenes. On the on ſyde ſheſawe her ſelfe clerely in the lawe / both in what daunger ſhe was in / and her cruell bondage vnderunder ſinne / hyr horryble damnacyon and alſo the fearfull ſentence and iudgement of God apon ſynners. On the oderſyde ſhe herd the goſpell of Chriſt preached / and in the promyſſes ſhe ſawe wyth egles eyes the exceadinge abundaunt mercye of God / that paſſeth all vtteraunce of ſpeach / which is ſet forth in Chriſt for all meke ſynners. Which knowleage ther ſynnes. And ſhe beleved the word of God myghtylye and glorifyed God over his mercye and truth / and being overcome and overwhelmed with the vnſpeakeable yee and incomprehenſyble aboundante ryches of the kyndnes of God / dyd enflame and burne in love / yee was ſo ſwolne in love / that ſhe cowld not abyde nor hold / but muſt breake out / and was ſo dronke in love that ſhe regarded no thinge / but evyn to vtter the fervent and burnynge love of hyr hert only. She h…d no reſpecte to hyr ſelfe / though ſhe was never ſo greate and notable a ſynner / nethther to the curyouſe ypocryſye of the phareſes which ever dyſdayne weke ſinners / nether the coſtlynes of hyr oyntement / but wyth all humblenes dyd runne vntounto his fete. Weſhed them with the teares of hyr eyes / and wypyd them wyth the heyrys of her hede / and anoynted them wyth hyr precyous oyntement / yee and wold nodow…e have runne in to the grounde vnderunder hys fete to have vtt…ered hyr love towarde him / yee wold have deſcended downe in to hell / if it had byn poſſyble. Even as Paule ī the neynth Chapter of his pyſtle to the Romyans was dronke in love and overwhelmed wyth the plentuouſnes of the infinyte mercye of god (which he had receaved in Chryſte vnſought fore) wyſhed hym ſelf baneſhy… from Chriſte and damned / to ſave the Iewes / if it myght have bene. For as a man fealeth God in hym ſelfe / ſo ys he to hys neghboure.
Marke an oderihinge alſo. We for the moſt part becauſe of our groſſenes / in all oure knouwleage proceade from that which is laſt and hinmoſt vntounto that which is firſt / beginninge at the later ende / diſputinge ād making our argumentes backwarde. We beginne at the effecte and worke and procede vntounto the naturall cauſe. As becauſe of an enſample we firſt ſe the mone derke / ād then ſherch the cauſe / ād find that the puttinge of therth betwene the ſone ād the mone is the naturall cauſe of the darknes and that the erth ſtoppeth the light. Thē diſpute we backewarde ſayinge: the mone is darknede / therfore is the erth directli betwene the ſone & the mone. Now yet is not the derknes of the mone the natural cauſe that therth is betwene the ſone and the mone / but the effecte therof and cauſe declarative / declarīge and leadinge vsus vntounto the knowleage / how that the erth ys betwene the ſone and the mone directlye ād cauſeth the derknes / ſtopping the light of the ſonne frō the mone. And cōtrar…e wiſe the beinge of the erthe directelye betwene the ſone and the mone is the naturall cauſe of the derknes. Lyfe wiſe he hath a ſone therfore is he a father / and yet the ſone is not cauſe of the father / but contrarie wiſe. Not with ſtondinge the ſonne is the cauſe declarative / where bye we knowe that the other ys a father. After the ſame maner here / many ſynnes ar forgeven her / for ſhe lovethe moch / thou mayſt not onderſtand by the worde for / that love is the naturall cauſe of the forgeuinge of ſynnes / but declareth it onli / and contrary wiſe the forgevenes of ſynes ys the naturall cauſe of love.
¶ The workes declare love. And love declareth that ther is ſome benefite & kīdnes ſhewed or els wold ther be no love. Whi worketh one and an other not? Or one more then an other? Becauſe that one lovyth and the other not / or that the one loveth more then thother. Whilovyth one and an other not / or one more then an other? Bycauſe that one fealeth the excedinge kyndnes of god in hys herte and an other not / or that on fealeth it more than an other. Scripture ſpaeketh after the moſt groſſeſt maner. Be dilygent therfore that thou be not deceaved wyth curyouſnes. For men of no ſmall reputacyon have bene dceeaved wyth ther owne ſophiſtrye.
HEreby nowe ſeiſt thou / that ther is great difference betwene beinge righteous & good in a mās ſelf / & declarīge and vtterīge righteouſnes and goodnes. The faith ōly maketh a mā ſafe / good / righteouſe and the frēd of god / yee and the ſonne and the heire of God and of all hys goodnes and poſſeſſeth vsus wyth the ſpyryte of God. The worke declareth the ſelf fayth & goodnes. Now vſeth the ſcripture the cōmune māner of fpeatinge / and the very ſame that is amonge the people. As whē a father ſayth to hys chyld / go ād be loving mercyfull and good / to ſoch or ſoch a pore man / he byddyth hym not / there with to be made mercyful / fynd and good: but to teſtyfye and declare the goodnes that is ī hym all redie wyth the outward deade: that it maye breake out to the profet of other / and that other maye fele it which have neade ther of.
After the ſame maner ſhalt thou enterprete the ſcriptures which make mencyon of workes: that God therby wyll that we ſhewe forth that goodnes which we have receaved by fayth / and let it breake forth and come to the profet of other that the falſe fayth may be knowen and weded oute by the roetes. For God geveth no man hys grace / that he ſhuld let it lye ſtyll and doe noo good wyth all: but that he ſhuld encreace it and multyplye it wyth lendinge it to other / and wyth opynly declaringe of it wyth the outward workes / provoke and drawe other to God / As Chriſt ſayth in Mathew the fyft Chapter let youre lyght ſo ſhyne in the ſyght of men that they maye ſe youre good workes / and gloryfye your father which is in heven. Or els were it as a treaſure dygged in the ground and hyd wyſdome / in which what profett is ther?
More over ther wyth the goodnes / favour / and gyſtes of God which are in the / not only ſhalbe knowen vntounto other / but alſo vntounto ▪thyne awne ſelf / and thou ſhalbe ſure that thy fayth is right / and that the true ſpyryte of God is in the / and that thou art called and choſen of God vntounto eternall lyfe / and looſed from the bondes of Sathan whos captyve thou waſt / as Peter exhorteth in the fyrſt of hys ſeconde epyſtle / thorow good workes to make oure callinge and elecetyon (where wyth we…ar called and choſen of God) ſure. For how dare a man preſume to thynke / that hys fayth is right / and that Godes favoure is on hym / and that Godes ſpryte is in hym (when he fealeth not the workynge of the ſpyryte / nether hym ſelf deſpoſed to any godly thinge. Thou canſt never knowe or be ſure of thy fayth / but by the workes / yf workes folowe not yee and that of love / with out lokinge / after any rewarde / thou maiſt be ſure that thy faith is but a dreame and not right / and even the ſame that James called ī his piſtel the .ij. Chapter deed fayth and not iuſtifienge.
Abrahā thorow workes Geneſis .xxij. was ſure of hys fayth to be ryght / and that the true feare of God was in hym / when he had off ered hys ſonne (as the ſcripture ſaith) Now knowe I that thou feareſt god / y• is to ſaie Now is it open & manyfeſt that thou feareſt God / in as much as thou haſt not ſpared thy only ſonne for my ſafe.
SO now by this abyde ſure and faſt y• a man inwardly in the hert & before God is ryghteons and good thorow faith only before all werfys. Not wyth ſtandinge yet outwardly & opēly before the people / ye & before him ſelf / is he righteons throw the worke / that is / he fuowith and is ſure throw the outwarde worke that he is a true belever and in the favure of God and righteous and good thorow the mercy of God / that thou mayſt call the one an opyn ād an owtward rightweſnes / ād the other an inwarde righteouſnes of the hert (ſo yet) that thou vnderſiond by the outward righteouſnes / no oder thinge ſave the frute that foloweth / and a derclaringe of the inward Juſtyfyinge & righteouſnes of the hert / and not that it maketh a man righteous before God / but that he muſt fyrſt berighteons before him in the hert. Even as thou maiſt call y• frute of the tree / the outward goodnes of the tree which folowith & v…erth the inwarde natur all goodnes of the tree.
This meaneth James in hys pyſtle where he ſaith / fayth wythout worfes is deed thes ye / if workes folowe not / is a ſure and an evydent ſygne / that there is no fayth in the hert / but a deed ymagynacyon and dreame which they falſſly call fayth.
Off the ſame wyſe ys this ſainge of Chriſt to be vnderſtande. Make you frendes of the vnrighteous mammon / that ys ſhowe youre fayth openly and what ye are within in the hert / with outwarde geving and beſtowinge youre good is on the pore / that ye maye obtayne frendes / that is / that the pore on whom thou haſt ſhewede mercy maye at the daye of Judgement teſtyfye and witneſſe of thy good workes. That thy faith & what thou waſt wythin in the hert before God maye there apre by thy frutes openly vntounto all men. For vntounto the right belevinge ſhall all thinges be confortable and vntounto conſolacyon at that terryble daye. And contrary wyſe vntounto the vnbelevinge / all thynge ſhalbe vntounto deſperacyon / and confucyon / and every man ſhalbe iudged openly and outwarly in the preſens of all men / acordinge to ther deades and workes. So that not wyth oute a cauſe thou mayſt call them thy frendes / which teſtyfie at that daye of the / that thou levedſt as a true and a right Chriſten man and folowedſt the ſteppes of Chriſt in ſhewinge mercy / as no donte he doth which fealeth God mercyfull in hys herte. And bythe workes ys the fayth knowen / that it was right ād perfect. For the outwarde workes can never pleaſe God nor make frende / except they ſpringe of fayth. For as moch as Chriſt hym ſelfe Maith. in the .vi. and .vij. Chapter dyſaloweth and caſteth awaye the workes of the phareſeys: yee propheſyenge and workinge of miracles and caſtynge out of devyls / whych we counte and eſteme for veray excellent vertues. Yet make they no frēdes with there workes / whyle ther hertes are falſe and vnpure and ther eye double. Now wyth out fayth is no herte true or eye ſyngle: ſo that we ar cōpelled to cōfeſſe that the workes make not a mā righteous or good but that the hert muſt fyrſt / be righteous and good yer any good worke procede thenſe.