12. Our good works
12. Our good works
Our deeds do us three manner [of] service. First, they certify41 us that we are heirs of everlasting life, and that the Spirit of God, Who is the earnest thereof, is in us, in that our hearts consent unto the law of God, and we have power in our members to do it, though imperfectly. And secondarily, we tame the flesh therewith, and kill the sin that remains yet in us, and wax daily perfecter and perfecter in the Spirit therewith, and keep that the lusts choke not the Word of God that is sown in us, nor quench the gifts and working of the Spirit, and that we lose not the Spirit again. And thirdly, we do our duty unto our neighbors therewith, and help their necessity unto our own comfort also, and draw all men unto the honoring and praising of God.
And whosoever excels in the gifts of grace, let the same think that they be given him as much to do his brother service as for himself, and as much for the love which God has to the weak, as unto him unto whom God gives such gifts. And he that withdraws aught that he has from his neighbor’s need, robs his neighbor and is a thief. And he that is proud of the gifts of God and thinks himself by the reason of them better than his feeble neighbor, and not rather (as the truth is) acknowledges himself a servant unto his poor neighbor by the reason of them: the same has Lucifer’s spirit in him, and not Christ’s.
These things to know: first, the law, how that it is natural right and equity; that we have but one God to put our hope and trust in, and Him to love with all the heart, all the soul, and all our might and power; and neither to move heart nor hand but at His commandment, because He has first created us of naught,42 and heaven and earth for our sakes. And afterward, when we had marred ourselves through sin, He forgave us and created us again, in the blood of His beloved Son.
And that we have the name of our one God in fear and reverence, and that we dishonor it not in swearing thereby about light trifles or vanity, or call it to record for the confirming of wickedness or falsehood, or aught that is to the dishonor of God, which is the breaking of His laws, or unto the hurt of our neighbor.
And inasmuch as He is our Lord and God, and we His double possession, by creation and redemption, and therefore ought (as I said) neither to move heart or hand without His commandment, it is right that we have needful holy days43 to come together and learn His will, both the law which He will have us ruled by, and also the promises of mercy which He will have us trust unto; and to give God thanks together for His mercy, and to commit our infirmities to Him through our Savior Jesus, and to reconcile ourselves unto Him, and each to others, if aught be between brother and brother that requires it. And for this purpose and such like, as to visit the sick and needy, and redress peace and unity, were the holy days ordained only: and so far forth are they to be kept holy from all manner works that may be conveniently spared for the time, till this be done, and no further, but then lawfully to work.
And that it is right that we obey father and mother, master, lord, prince and king, and all the ordinances of the world, bodily and ghostly,44 by which God rules us, and ministers freely His benefits unto us all. And that we love them for the benefits that we receive by them, and fear them for the power they have over us to punish us, if we trespass the law and good order. So far yet are the worldly powers or rulers to be obeyed only, as their commandments repugn not against the commandment of God: and then, ho.45 Wherefore we must have God’s commandment ever in our hearts, and by the higher law interpret the inferior, that we obey nothing against the belief of our God, or against the faith, hope, and trust that is in Him only, or against the love of God whereby we do or leave undone all things for His sake. And that we do nothing, for any man’s commandment, against the reverence of the name of God, to make it despised and the less feared and set by. And that we obey nothing to the hindrance of the knowledge of the blessed doctrine of God, Whose servant the holy day is.
Notwithstanding, though the rulers which God has set over us command us against God, or do us open wrong, and oppress us with cruel tyranny, yet because they are in God’s room, we may not avenge ourselves, but by the process and order of God’s law, and laws of man made by the authority of God’s law, which is also God’s law, ever by an higher power, and remitting the vengeance unto God, and in the mean season46 suffer until the hour be come.
And on the other side, to know that a man ought to love his neighbor equally and fully as well as himself, because his neighbor (be he never so simple) is equally created of God, and as fully redeemed by the blood of our Savior Jesus Christ. Out of which commandment of love spring these: Kill not your neighbor. Defile not his wife. Bear no false witness against him. And finally, not only do not these things in deed, but covet not in your heart his house, his wife, his manservant, maidservant, ox, ass, or whatsoever is his. So that these laws pertaining unto our neighbor are not fulfilled in the sight of God save with love. He that loves not his neighbor keeps not this commandment, “Defile not thy neighbor’s wife,” though he never touch her, or never see her, or think upon her. For the commandment is, though your neighbor’s wife be never so fair, and you have never so great opportunity given you, and she consent, or haply47 provoke you (as Potiphar’s wife did Joseph), yet see you love your neighbor so well that for very love you cannot find in your heart to do that wickedness. And even so, he that trusts in anything, save in God only and in His Son Jesus Christ, keeps no commandment at all in the sight of God.
For he that has trust in any creature, whether in heaven or in earth, save in God and His Son Jesus, can see no cause to love God with all His heart, etc., neither to abstain from dishonoring His name, nor to keep the holy day for the love of His doctrine, nor to obey lovingly the rulers of this world, nor any cause to love his neighbor as himself, and to abstain from hurting him, where he may get profit by him, and save himself harmless. And in likewise, against this law, “Love thy neighbour as thyself,” I may obey no worldly power, to do aught at any man’s commandment unto the hurt of my neighbor that has not deserved it, though he be a Turk.
And to know how contrary this law is unto our nature, and how it is damnation not to have this law written in our hearts, though we never commit the deeds; and how there is none other means to be saved from the damnation than through repentance toward the law and faith in Christ’s blood, which are the very inward baptism of our souls, and the washing and the dipping of our bodies in the water is the outward sign.48 The plunging of the body under the water signifies that we repent and profess to fight against sin and lusts, and to kill them every day more and more, with the help of God and our diligence in following the doctrine of Christ and the leading of His Spirit, and that we believe to be washed from our natural damnation in which we are born, and from all the wrath of the law, and from all the infirmities and weaknesses that remain in us, after we have given our consent unto the law, and yielded ourselves to be scholars thereof, and from all the imperfections of all our deeds done with cold love, and from all actual sin which shall chance on us while we enforce the contrary and ever fight thereagainst, and hope to sin no more. And thus, repentance and faith begin at our baptism and first professing the laws of God, and continue unto our lives’ end, and grow as we grow in the Spirit. For the more perfect we be, the greater is our repentance and the stronger our faith. And thus, as the Spirit and doctrine on God’s part, and repentance and faith on our part, beget us anew in Christ, even so they make us grow and wax perfect, and save us unto the end, and never leave us until all sin be put off and we clean purified and fully formed and fashioned after the similitude and likeness of the perfection of our Savior Jesus, Whose gift all is.
And finally, to know that whatsoever good thing is in us, that same is the gift of grace, and therefore not of deserving, though many things be given of God, through our diligence in working His laws and chastising our bodies and in praying for them and believing His promises, which else should not be given us, yet our working deserves not the gifts, no more than the diligence of a merchant in seeking a good ship brings the goods safely to land, though such diligence does now and then help therein. But when we believe in God, and then do all that is in our might, and not tempt Him, then is God true to abide by His promise, and to help us, and perform alone when our strength is past.