Chapter One
Chapter One
“There was a certain rich man which had a steward, that was accused unto him, that he had wasted his goods: and he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? Give account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer my steward. The steward said within himself, What shall I do, for my master will take away from me my stewardship? I cannot dig, and to beg I am ashamed. I wot what to do, that when I am put out of my stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. Then called he all his master’s debtors, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my master? And he said, An hundred tons of oil. And he said to him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.
Then said he to another, What owest thou? And he said, An hundred quarters of wheat. He said to him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely. For the children of this world are in their kind wiser than the children of light. And I say also unto you, Make you friends of the wicked mammon, that when ye shall have need, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.”
FOREASMUCH as with this, and divers such other texts, many have enforced to draw the people from the true faith, and from putting their trust in the truth of God’s promises, and in the merits and deserving of his Christ, our Lord; and have also brought it to pass, (for “many false prophets shall arise and deceive many, and much wickedness must also be,” saith Christ; and Paul saith, “Evil men and deceivers shall; prevail in evil, while they deceive, and are deceived themselves;”) and have taught them to put their trust in their own merits, and brought them in belief that they shall be justified in the sight of God by the goodness of their own works, and have corrupted the pure word of God, to confirm their Aristotle withal; (for though that the philosophers and worldly wise men were enemies above all enemies to the gospel of God; and though the worldly wisdom cannot comprehend the wisdom of God, as thou mayest see 1 Corinthians 1 and 2; and though worldly righteousness cannot be obedient unto the righteousness of God, yet whatsoever they read in Aristotle, that must be first true; and to maintain that, they rend and tear the scriptures with their distinctions, and expound them violently, contrary to the meaning of the text, and to the circumstances that go before and after, and to a thousand clear and evident texts:) wherefore I have taken in hand to expound this gospel, and certain other places of the new Testament; and (as far forth as God shall lend me grace) to bring the scripture unto the right sense, and to dig again the wells of Abraham, and to purge and cleanse them of the earth of worldly wisdom, wherewith these Philistines have stopped them. Which grace grant me God, for the love that he hath unto his Son, Jesus our Lord, unto the glory of his name. Amen.
That faith only before all works and without all merits, but Christ’s only, justifieth and setteth us at peace with God, is proved by Paul in the first chapter to the Romans. “I am R not ashamed (saith he) of the gospel,” that is to say, of the glad tidings and promises which God hath made and sworn to us in Christ: “for it (that is to say the gospel) is the power of God unto salvation to all that believe.” And it followeth in the foresaid chapter, “the just or righteous must live by faith.”
For in the faith which we have in Christ and in God’s promises find we mercy, life, favour, and peace. In the law we find death, damnation, and wrath; moreover, the curse and vengeance of God upon us. And it (that is to say, the law) is called of Paul the ministration of death and damnation.
In the law we are proved to be the enemies of God, and that we hate him.
For how can we be at peace with God and love him, seeing we are conceived and born under the power of the devil, and are his possession and kingdom, his captives and bondmen, and led at his will, and he holdeth our hearts, so that it is impossible for us to consent to the will of God, much more is it impossible for a man to fulfil the law of his own strength and power, seeing that we are by birth and of nature the heirs of eternal damnation, as saith Paul, Ephesians 2? We (saith he) “are by nature the children of wrath;” which thing the law doth but utter only, and helpeth us not, yea, requireth impossible things of us. The law when it commandeth that thou shalt not lust, giveth thee not power so to do, but damneth thee, because thou canst not so do.
If thou wilt therefore be at peace with God, and love him, thou must turn to the promises of God, and to the gospel, which is called of Paul, in the place before rehearsed to the Corinthians, the ministration of righteousness, and of the Spirit. For faith bringeth pardon and forgiveness freely purchased by Christ’s blood, and bringeth also the Spirit; the Spirit looseth the bonds of the devil, and setteth us at liberty. For “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” saith Paul in the same place to the Corinthians: that is to say, there the heart is free, and hath power to love the will of God; and there the heart mourneth that he cannot love enough.
Now is that consent of the heart unto the law of God eternal life; yea, though there be no power yet in the members to fulfil it. Let every man therefore (according to Paul’s counsel in the sixth chapter to the Ephesians) arm himself with the armour of God; that is to understand, with God’s promises. And “above all things (saith he) take unto you the shield of faith, wherewith ye may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, that ye may be able to resist in the evil day of temptation,” and namely at the hour of death.
See therefore thou have God’s promises in thine heart, and that thou believe them without wavering: and when temptation ariseth, and the devil layeth the law and thy deeds against thee, answer him with the promises; and turn to God, and confess thyself to him, and say it is even so, or else how could he be merciful? But remember that he is the God of mercy and of truth, and cannot but fulfil his promises. Also remember, that his Son’s blood is stronger than all the sins and wickedness of the whole world; and therewith quiet thyself, and thereunto commit thyself, and bless thyself in all temptation (namely at the hour of death) with that holy candle. Or else perishest thou, though thou hast a thousand holy candles about thee, a hundred ton of holy water, a shipfull of pardons, a cloth-sack full of friars’ coats, and all the ceremonies in the world, and all the good works, deservings, and merits of all the men in the world, be they, or were they, never so holy. God’s word only lasteth for ever; and that which he hath sworn doth abide, when all other things perish. So long as thou findest any consent in thine heart unto the law of God, that it is righteous and good, and also displeasure that thou canst not fulfil it, despair not; neither doubt but that God’s Spirit is in thee, and that thou art chosen for Christ’s sake to the inheritance of eternal life.
And again, “We suppose that a man is justified through faith, without the deeds of the law.” And likewise, “We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.” Also, “Seeing that we are justified through faith, we are at peace with God.” Also, “With the heart doth a man believe to be made righteous.” Also, “Received ye the Spirit by the deeds of the law, or by hearing of the faith? Doth he which ministereth the Spirit unto you, and worketh miracles among you, do it of the deeds of the law, or by hearing of faith? Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. Understand therefore (saith he) that the children of faith are the children of Abraham. For the scripture saw before that God would justify the heathen or gentiles by faith, and showed before glad tidings unto Abraham, In thy seed shall all nations be blessed. Wherefore they which are of faith are blessed, that is to wit made righteous, with the righteous Abraham. For as many as are of the deeds of the law, are under curse: for it is written (saith he), Cursed is every man that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to fulfil them.”
Item, Galatians 2 where he resisted Peter in the face, he saith: “We which are Jews by nation, and not sinners of the Gentiles, know that a man is not justified by the deeds of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; and have therefore believed on Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the deeds of the law; for by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Item, in the same place he saith: “Touching that I now live, I live in the faith of the Son of God, which loved me, and gave himself for me: I despise not the grace of God; for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
And of such like ensamples are all the epistles of Paul full. Mark how Paul laboureth with himself to express the exceeding mysteries of faith in the epistle to the Ephesians and in the epistle to the Colossians. Of these and many such like texts are we sure, that the forgiveness of sins and justifying is appropriate unto faith only, without the adding to of works.
Take forth also the similitude that Christ maketh: “A good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and a bad tree bringeth forth bad fruit.” There seest thou, that the fruit maketh not the tree good, but the tree the fruit; and that the tree must aforehand be good, or be made good, ere it can bring forth good fruit. As he also saith, “Either make the tree good and his fruit good also, either make the tree bad and his fruit bad also. How can ye speak well while ye yourselves are evil?” So likewise is this true, and nothing more true, that a man before all good works must first be good; and that it is impossible that works should make him good, if he were not good before, ere he did good works. For this is Christ’s principle, and (as we say) a general rule. “How can ye speak well, while ye are evil?” so likewise how can ye do good, while ye are evil?
This is therefore plain, and a sure conclusion, not to be doubted of, that there must be first in the heart of a man, before he do any good work, a greater and a preciouser thing than all the good works in the world, to reconcile him to God, to bring the love and favour of God to him, to make him love God again, to make him righteous and good in the sight of God, to do away his sin, to deliver him and loose him out of that captivity wherein he was conceived and born, in which he could neither love God nor the will of God. Or else, how can he work any good work that should please God, if there were not some supernatural goodness in him, given of God freely, whereof the good work must spring? even as a sick man must first be healed or made whole, ere he can do the deeds of an whole man; and as the blind man must first have sight given him, ere he can see; and he that hath his feet in fetters, gives, or stocks, must first be loosed, ere he can go, walk or run; and even as they which thou readest of in the gospel, that they were possessed of the devils, could not laud God till the devils were cast out.
That precious thing which must be in the heart, ere a man can work any good work, is the word of God, which in the gospel preacheth, proffereth, and bringeth unto all that repent and believe, the favour of God in Christ.
Whosoever heareth the word and believeth it, the same is thereby righteous; and thereby is given him the Spirit of God, which leadeth him unto all that is the will of God; and is loosed from the captivity and bondage of the devil; and his heart is free to love God, and hath lust to do the will of God. Therefore it is called the word of life, the word of grace, the word of health, the word of redemption, the word of forgiveness, and the word of peace: he that heareth it not, or believeth it not, can by no means be made righteous before God. This confirmeth Peter in the fifteenth of the Acts, saying that God through faith doth purify the hearts. For of what nature soever the word of God is, of the same nature must the hearts be which believe thereon, and cleave thereunto. Now is the word living, pure, righteous, and true; and even so maketh it the hearts of them that believe thereon.
If it be said that Paul (when he saith in the third to the Romans, “No flesh shall be, or can be justified by the deeds of the law”) meaneth it of the ceremonies or sacrifices, it is an untrue saying. For it followeth immediately, “By the law cometh the knowledge of sin.” Now are they not the ceremonies that utter sin, but the law of commandments. In the fourth he saith, “The law causeth wrath;” which cannot be understand of the ceremonies; for they were given to reconcile the people to God again after they had sinned. If, as they say, the ceremonies, which were given to purge sin and to reconcile, justify not, neither bless but temporally only, much more the law of commandments justifieth not. For that which proveth a man sick, healeth him not; neither doth the cause of wrath bring to favour; neither can that which damneth save a man. When the mother commandeth her child but even to rock the cradle, it grudgeth: this commandment doth but utter the poison that lay hid, and setteth him at debate with his mother, and maketh him believe she loveth him not.
These commandments also, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not lust, desire, or wish after thy neighbour’s wife, servant, maid, ox, or ass, or whatsoever pertaineth unto thy neighbour, give me not power so to do; but utter the poison that is in me, and damn me, because I cannot so do; and prove that God is wroth with me, seeing that his will and mine are so contrary. Therefore saith Paul: “If there had been given such a law that could have given life, then, no doubt, righteousness had come by the law: but the scripture concludeth all under sin (saith he), that the promise might be given unto them that believe through the faith that is in Jesus Christ.”
The promises, when they are believed, are they that justify; for they bring the Spirit, which looseth the heart, giveth lust to the law, and certifieth us of the good-will of God unto usward. If we submit ourselves unto God, and desire him to heal us, he will do it, and will in the mean time (because of the consent of the heart unto the law) count us for full whole, and will no more hate us, but pity us, cherish us, be tender-hearted to us, and love us as he doth Christ himself. Christ is our Redeemer, Saviour, peace, atonement, and satisfaction; and hath made amends or satisfaction to Godward for all the sin which they that repent (consenting to the law and believing the promises) do, have done, or shall do. So that if through fragility we fall a thousand times in a day, yet if we do repent again, we have always mercy laid up for us in store in Jesus Christ our Lord.
What shall we say then to those scriptures which go so sore upon good works? As we read Matthew 25, “I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat,” etc. and such like. Which all sound as though we should be justified, and accepted unto the favour of God in Christ, through good works. This wise answer I: Many there are, which when they hear or read of faith, at once they consent thereunto, and have a certain imagination or opinion of faith: as when a man telleth a story or a thing done in a strange land, that pertaineth not to them at all; which yet they believe, and tell as a true thing: and this imagination, or opinion, they call faith. They think no farther than that faith is a thing which standeth in their own power to have, as do other natural works which men work; but they feel no manner working of the Spirit, neither the terrible sentence of the law, the fearful judgments of God, the horrible damnation and captivity under Satan. Therefore, as soon as they have this opinion or imagination in their hearts, that saith, Verily this doctrine seemeth true, I believe it is even so; then they think that the right faith is there. But afterward when they feel in themselves, and also see in other, that there is none alteration, and that the works follow not, but that they are altogether even as before, and abide in their old estate; then think they that faith is not sufficient, but that it must be some greater thing than faith that should justify a man.
So fall they away from faith again, and cry, saying, Faith only justifieth not a man, and maketh him acceptable to God. If thou ask them, Wherefore? they answer, See how many there are that believe, and yet do no more than they did before. These are they which Judas in his epistle calleth dreamers, which deceive themselves with their own fantasies. For what other thing is their imagination, which they call faith, than a dreaming of the faith, and an opinion of their own imagination wrought without the grace of God? These must needs be worse at the latter end than at the beginning. These are the old vessels that rend when new wine is poured into them; that is, they hear God’s word, but hold it not, and therefore wax worse than they were before. But the right faith springeth not of man’s fantasy, neither is it in any man’s power to obtain it; but it is altogether the pure gift of God poured into us freely, without all manner doing of us, without deserving and merits, yea, and without seeking for of us; and is (as saith Paul in the second to the Ephesians) even God’s gift and grace, purchased through Christ. Therefore is it mighty in operation, full of virtue, and ever working; which also reneweth a man, and begetteth him afresh, altereth him, changeth him, and turneth him altogether into a new nature and conversation; so that a man feeleth his heart altogether altered and changed, and far otherwise disposed than before; and hath power to love that which before he could not but hate; and delighteth in that which before he abhorred; and hateth that which before he could not but love. And it setteth the soul at liberty, and maketh her free to follow the will of God, and doth to the soul even as health doth unto the body, after that a man is pined and wasted away with a long soking disease: the legs cannot bear him, he cannot lift up his hands to help himself, his taste is corrupt, sugar is bitter in his mouth, his stomach abhorreth, longing after slibbersauce and swash at which a whole stomach is ready to cast his gorge. When health cometh, she changeth and altereth him clean; giveth him strength in all his members, and lust to do of his own accord that which before he could not do, neither could suffer that any man exhorted him to do; and hath now lust in wholesome things, and his members are free and at liberty, and have power to do, of their own accord, all things which belong to an whole man to do, which afore they had no power to do, but were in captivity and bondage. So likewise in all things doth right faith to the soul.
The Spirit of God accompanieth faith, and bringeth with her light, wherewith a man beholdeth himself in the law of God, and seeth his miserable bondage and captivity, and humbleth himself, and abhorreth himself: she bringeth God’s promises of all good things in Christ. God worketh with his word, and in his word: and when his word is preached, faith rooteth herself in the hearts of the elect; and as faith entereth, and the word of God is believed, the power of God looseth the heart from the captivity and bondage under sin, and knitteth and coupleth him to God and to the will of God; altereth him, changeth him clean, fashioneth, and forgetteth him anew; giveth him power to love, and to do that which before was impossible for him either to love or do; and turneth him unto a new nature, so that he loveth that which he before hated, and hateth that which he before loved; and is clean altered, and changed, and contrary disposed; and is knit and coupled fast to God’s will, and naturally bringeth forth good works, that is to say, that which God commandeth to do, and not things of his own imagination. And that doth he of his own accord, as a tree bringeth forth fruit of her own accord. And as thou needest not to bid a tree to bring forth fruit, so is there no law put unto him that believeth, and is justified through faith, as saith Paul in the first epistle to Timothy, the first chapter. Neither is it needful; for the law of God is written and graved in his heart, and his pleasure is therein. And as without commandment, but even of his own nature, he eateth, drinketh, seeth, heareth, talketh, and goeth; even so of his own nature, without co-action or compulsion of the law, bringeth he forth good works. And as a whole man, when he is athirst, tarrieth but for drink, and when he hungreth, abideth but for meat, and then drinketh and eateth naturally; even so is the faithful ever athirst and an hungered after the will of God, and tarrieth but for occasion. And whensoever an occasion is given, he worketh naturally the will of God: for this blessing is given to all them that trust in Christ’s blood, that they thirst and hunger to do God’s will. He that hath not this faith, is but an unprofitable babbler of faith and works; and wotteth neither what he babbleth, nor what he meaneth, or whereunto his words pertain: for he feeleth not the power of faith, nor the working of the Spirit in his heart; but interpreteth the scriptures, which speak of faith and works, after his own blind reason and foolish fantasies, and not of any feeling that he hath in his heart; as a man rehearseth a tale of another man’s mouth, and wotteth not whether it be so or no as he saith, nor hath any experience of the thing itself.
Now doth the scripture ascribe both faith and works, not to us, but to God only, to whom they belong only, and to whom they are appropriate, whose gift they are, and the proper work of his Spirit. Is it not a froward and perverse blindness, to teach how a man can do nothing of his own self; and yet presumptuously take upon them the greatest and highest work of God, even to make faith in themselves of their own power, and of their own false imagination and thoughts? Therefore, I say, we must despair of ourselves, and pray God (as Christ’s apostles did) to give us faith, and to increase our faith. When we have that, we need no other thing more: for she bringeth the Spirit with her; and he not only teacheth us all things, but worketh them also mightily in us, and carrieth us through adversity, persecution, death, and hell, unto heaven and everlasting life.
Mark diligently, therefore, seeing we are come to answer. The scripture (because of such dreams and feigned faith’s sake) useth such manner of speakings of works, not that a man should thereby be made good to Godward, or justified; but to declare unto other, and to take of other, the difference between false feigned faith and right faith. For where right faith is, there bringeth she forth good works: if there follow not good works, it is (no doubt) but a dream and an opinion, or feigned faith.
Wherefore look, as the fruit maketh not the tree good, but declareth and testifieth outwardly that the tree is good, (as Christ saith, “Every tree is known by his fruit,”) even so shall ye know the right faith by her fruit.