The Parable of the Wicked Mammon, Parable · Part 7
HEreby seist thou, yt ther is greate differēce betwene beinge rightuous, and good in declarynge and vtterynge a mans owne ryghtuousnesThe office of fayth▪ and goodnesse. The fayth onelye maketh a man safe, good, rightuous and the frēde of god, yea & heir of al his goodnes and possesseth vsus wyth the spirite of god. The worke declareth the same faith and goodnes. Nowe vseth the scriptureThe office of workes. the commune maner of speakinge, and the very same that is amonge the people. As whan a father sayeth to his chyld, go and be louynge, mercyfull, and good to such or such a poore man, he byddeth him not, ther with to be made mercyful, kynd and good: but to testifye and declare the goodnes that is in hym already with the outwarde dede: that it maye breake out to the profete of other, & that other maye fele it whiche hauehave nede therof.
After the same maner shalt thou enterprete the scryptures whiche make mencion of workes: that God therby wyll that we shewe forth the goodnes whyche wee hauehave receyued by fayth, and let it breake forth and come to the profet of other that the false fayth maye be knowen and weded out by the rotes. For God geueth no man hys grace, that he shoulde let it lyeThe talent. Math. xxv. styll and do no good withall: but that he shoulde encreace it and multiplye it with lendynge it to other, and with openly declaryng of it with the outwarde workes, prouoke & draw other to God, As Christ saieth in Mathew the fift chapter. Let youre lyght so shyne in the syght of men that they maye se your good workes, and glorifye youre father whiche is in heauē.
Or els were it as a treasure dygged in the ground and hid wysdōe, in the which is no profete. Moreouer therwith the goodnes grace, fauoure, & gyftes of God whiche a… in the, not only shalbe knowen vntounto other, but also vntounto thin owne selfe and thou shallt besure that thy fayth is ryghte, and that the true spirite of God is in the, and that thou art called and cho sen of God vntounto eternall lyfe, and loosed from the bondage of Sathan whose presoner thou waste. Peter exhorteth in the fyrst of his seconde epistle, thorowe good workes to make oure callynge and election (where with we are called and chosen of God) sure. For how darre a man presume to thynke, that his fayth is ryghte, and that goddes fauoure is on hym, and that Goddes spirite is in hym, when he fealeth not the working of the spirite, ne… ther hym selfe desposed to anye Godlye thynge? Thou canst neuer knowe or be sure of thy fayth, but by workes whiche workes must also come of pure louelove with out lokynge after any maner rewarde thou mayste be sure that thy fayth is but a dreāe and not ryght, and euen the same that Iames calleth in his epistell the secō chapter dead fayth and not iustifyenge.
Abraham thorowe workes Genesis. xxii. was sure of his faith to be right, and that the true feare of God was in hym▪ whē he had offered hys sōne (as the scrip ture sayeth) Now knowe I that thou fearest God, that is to saye▪ Now is it opē and manifest that thou feareste God in as muche as thou haste not spared thy onlye sonne for my sake.
So now by this abyde sure and fast that a man inwardly in the herte and before god is rightuous and good thorow faith only before all workes. Notwithstāding yet outwardly and openly before the peo ple yea & before him selfe, is he rightuous thorowe the worke that is, he knoweth and is sure thorowe the outwarde worke that he is a true beleuer and in the fauoure of God and ryghtuous and good thorow the mercy of God▪ that thou may est call the one an open and an outwarde rightuousnes, and the other an inwarde rightuousnes of ye hert (so yet) that thou vnderunder stande by the outwarde rightuous nes, none other thinge saue the fruit that foloweth as a declaringe of that inwarde iustifiyng and ryghtuousnes of the hert, and not that it maketh a man rightuous before God, but that he muste fyrste be rightuous before hym in the herte. Euen as thou mayste call the fruite of the tre, which foloweth and vttereth the inward naturall goodnes of the tre.
Thus meaneth Iames in his Epystle where he sayth, fayth without workes is dead that is, yf workes folow not, it is a sure and an euidente sygne, that ther is no fayth in the hert but a dead ymaginacion and dreāe which they falsly cal faith.
Of the same wyse is thys sayinge of Christe to bee vnderstande. Make you frendes of the vnryghtuous Mammon, that is shewe youre fayth openly & what ye are within the herte with outwarde geuynge and bestowynge youre goodes on ye poore, that ye may obtayne frendes, that is, that ye poore on whom thou haste shewed mercy may at ye daye of iudgmēt testifie and witnesse of thy good workes.
That thy fayth and what thou waste within in the herte before God maye ther appeare by thy fruits openly vntounto al mē For vntounto the ryghte beleueynge shall all thynges be confortable and vntounto consolacion at that terryble daye. And contrary wyse vntounto the vnbeleuynge, al thynge shallbe vntounto desperacion, and confusion, and eueryevery man shalbe iudged openly and outwardely in the presence of all men, accordynge to ther dedes and workes. So that not without a cause thou mayeste call them thy frendes, whyche testifie atWhy he called them frendes▪ that daye of the, that thou louedest as a true and a ryght christen man and folowedest the steppes of Christ in shewynge mercy, as no doute he doth whiche feleth God mercyfull in his herte. And by the workes is the faith knoweth, that it was ryght and perfecte. For the outwarde workes can neuer please God nor make frende, excepte they springe of fayth. For as muche as Christe hym selfe Matthew in the. vi. and. vii. Chapter dysaloweth and casteth awaye the workes of the pha rises: yea prophesyenge and workynge of miracles & castynge out of deuels, whiche we counte and esteme for very excellente vertues. Yet make they no frendes wyth their workes, while their hertes are false and vnpure and theyr eye double. Now without fayth is no herte true or eye singel: so that wee are conpelled to confesse that the workes make not a man ryghteous or good but that the herte muste fyrst be ryghteous and good before any good worke procede thence.