Faith Justifies Us Before We Can Bring Forth any Good Work, Treatise · Part 33 – Part 34
THy prayers and almes ar come vp in to remembraunce in the preſens of God. (in the tenth Chapter of the Actes) That is God forgetteth the not / though he come not at the fyrſt callynge / he loketh on ād beholdeth thy prayers and almes. Prayer cometh from the herte. God loketh firſt on the herte / and then on the deade. As thou readiſt Geneſis .iiij. God be helde▪ loked fyrſt on Abell / and then on hys offerynge. Yf the hert be vnpure / the deade veryly playſeth not / as thou ſeyſt in Cayn. Marke the order. In the begynnynge of the chapter thou readeſt / there was a certayne man named Cornelius which feared God / gave moch almes / and praied God alwaye. He feared God / that is he trēblede and quakede to breake the cōmaū demētes of God. Thē praied he allwaie. Prayer is the frute effecte / deade or acte of faith & is no thige but the lōgige of the herte for tho thinges which a mā lacketh and which God hath promiſed to geve him. He doeth alſo almes. Almes is the frute / effecte or deade of compaſſiō and pitie which we have to our neyboure. Oh a gloryouſe fayth and a ryght which ſo tru…eth God and beleveth his promiſes / that ſhe feareth to breake his cōmaundemenres and is alſo mercyfull vntounto hyr neyboure. This is that fayth where of thou readeſt namely in Peter / Paule ād John / that we are there by both iuſtifyed and ſaved. And who ſo ever ymageneth any other fayth / deceaveth hym ſelfe and is a vayne diſputer and a b…auler a boute wordes / and hath no fealinge in his herte.
Though thou conſent to the lawe / that it is good righteous and holy / ſoroweſte and repē teſt becauſe thou haſt broken it / morneſt becauſe thou haſt no ſtrength to fullfill it: yet art not thou there by at one with God. Yee thou ſhuldeſt ſhortly deſpayre and blaſpheme God if the promiſes of forgevenes and of helpe were not there by / and fayth in thine herte to beleve them. Fayth therfore ſetteth the at one wyth God.
Fayth prayeth allwaye. For ſhe hath allwaye hyr infirmites and weakneſes before hir eyes / and alſo Gods promiſes / for which ſhe alwaye longeth and in all places. But blinde vnbelefe prayeth not alwaye nor in all places / but in the church only / and yt in ſoch a church / where it is not lawfull to preach gods promiſes / nether to teach mē to truſte there in. Faith when ſhe prayeth ſetteth not hyr good deades before hyrſayng: Lorde for my good deades do this or that. Nor bargeneth with God ſayinge lorde graunte me this or do this or that / ād I will do thys or yt for the / as mumble ſo moch daily / goo ſo ferre or faſt this or that faſt / entre in thys religyon or that / wyth ſoch other poyntes of infidelyte / yee rather ydolatrye. But ſhe ſetteth hyr infirmities and hyr lacke before hyr face ād Gods promyſes ſayinge: Lorde for thy mercye and trueth which thou haſt ſworne be mercyfull vntounto me / and plucke me oute of thys pryſon and oute of this hell. And looſe the bondes of Satan and gyve me power to glorifye thy name. Fayth therfore iuſtifyeth in the herte and before God / and the deades iuſtifye outewardly before the worlde / that is / teſtifye only before men / what we are inwardly before God.
Who ſo ever lokes in the perfecte lawe of libertye and continueth ther in (Yf he be not a forgetfull hearer but a do…r of the worke) he ſhalbe happye in his deade. James .i. The lawe of libertye / that is / which requyreth a fre hart / or (if thou fullfyll it) declareth afre harte loweſed from the bondes of ſatan. The preachinge of the lawe maketh no mā fre / but byn deth. For it is the keye that byndeth all cōſciences vntounto eternall dānacion / when it is preached: as the promyſes or Goſpell is the keye … lowſeth all conſciences that repe…t when they are bound thorowe preachinge of ye lawe. He ſhalbe happye in his deade / that is / by his deade ſhall he knowe that he is happye ād bleſſed of God which hath gevē hī a good harte & power to fullfyll the lawe. By hearinge the lawe thou ſhalt not knowe that thou art bleſſed but if thou do it / yt declareth that thou art happye and bleſſed.
WAs not Abrahā iuſtifyed of his deades / when he offered his ſonne Iſaac apō the altar? James .iij. his deade iuſtifyed hym before the worlde / that is / yt declared and vttered the fayth which both inſtifyeth hym before God / ād wrought that wō derfull worke as James alſo affermeth.
Was not Raab the harlo…t iuſtyfied when ſhe receaved the meſſingers and ſent them on…e an other waye? Jam .iij. that is lyke wyſe outewardly / but before God ſhe was iuſtified by fayth which wrought that outewarde deade / as thou mayſte ſe Joſue .ij. She had herde what God had done in Egypte / in the redd ſee / in the deſerte / and vntounto the two kinges of the Amorreās / Seon / ād Og. And ſhe confeſſed ſeynge: youre lorde God / he is God in heven / above ād in erth benethe. She alſo beleved yt god as he had promiſed y• chylderne of Iſraell wold gyve thē the londe where in ſhe dwelt / & conſented there vntounto / ſubmitted hyr ſelfe vntounto the will of God / & holpe God (as moch as in hyr was) ād ſaved his ſpies & meſſingers. The other feared y• which ſhe beleved / but reſyſted God with all ther might ād had no power to ſubmitte thē ſelfe vntounto the will of God. And therfore periſhed they / ād ſhe was ſaved & that thorowe fayth / as we reade Hebre. xi. where thou maiſt ſe how the holy fathers were ſaved thorowe fayth / ād how faith wrought in them. Faith is y• goodnes of all ye deades y• are done with in the lawe of god & maketh thē good ād gloriouſe / ſeme thei never ſo vile & vnbelefe maketh thē dānable ſeme they never ſo glorious.