ANNOTATIONS CHAP. V.
6. Faith.] This is the faith vvorking by charitie, vvhich S. Paul meaneth els vvhere, vvhen he faith that faith doth iustifie. And note vvel that by these termes circumcision & prepuce not auai∣lable to iustification,* 1.1 it is plaine that in the other places he meaneth the vvorkes of Circumcision and Prepuce (that is, of the Ievves and the Gentils) vvithout faith, vvhich auaile not, but faith vvor∣king by charitie: as vvho should say, faith and good vvorkes, not vvorkes vvithout faith.
Againe note here, that if the Protestants vvho pretend conference of places to be the best or only vvay to explicate hard speaches of the holy Scriptures, had folovved but their ovvne rule, this one text vvould haue interpreted & cleated vnto them al other vvhereby iustice and saluation might seeme to be attributed to faith alone: the Apostle here so expresly setting dovvne, the faith vvhich he commendeth so much before, not to be alone, but vvith charitie: not to be idle, but to be vvorking by Charitie:* 1.2 as S. Augustine noteth. defid. & ep. c. 14. Further the good Reader must obserue, that vvhereas the Protestants some of them confesse, that Charitie and good vvorkes be ioyned and requisite also, and that they exclude them not, but commend them highly, yet so that the said Charitie or good vvorkes are no part of our iustice or any cause of iustification, but as fruites and effectes of faith onely, vvhich they say doth all, yea though the other be present: this false glose also is reproued euidently by this place,* 1.3 vvhich teacheth vs cleane contrarie: to vvitte, that faith hath her vvhole actiuitie and operation tovvard iustice and saluation, of charitie, and not contrarievvise: vvithout vvhich it can not haue any act meritorious or agreable to God for our sal∣uation, for vvhich cause S. Augustine saith, li. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 de Trin. c. 18. Fidem non facit vtilem nisi charitas. nothing maketh faith profitable but charitie. But the Heretikes ansvver, that vvhere the Apostle saith,