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Séeing that man is as it were risen from death and borne a new, when he is regenerate by the holy Ghost, it fol∣loweth then necessarily that he do other works, after that he is regenerate, than he did before his regeneration.
Thou mayest wel vnderstand that if there be so greate differēce betwene the mā regene∣rate & the not regenerate, as is betweene a dead and a liuing man, it must also ne∣cessarily come to passe, that there bee as
great difference betwene the workes of the one and the other.* 1.1
I do euen so vn∣derstand it.
And therfore Iesus Chryst hath sayd, that what is borne of fleshe is fleshe, and what is borne of the spirite is spirit. For euen as a dead bodie can bring forth but infection and corruption, euen so on the contrary, a liuing body doth the works of lyfe, bicause of the liuing soule that he hath more than hath the dead bo∣die.
It foloweth then, that the faith wherby man is viuified and regenerate, is vnto him as the soule, which bringeth to him spiritual life, and that the vnfaith∣ful, and not regenerate man, is as a body without a soule.* 1.2
S. Paule following the prophet Abacuk, giueth thée playnly to vnderstand that it is so, by that whiche he sayth: The iust man shall liue of his faith. Wherefore if the iust man do liue of his faith, it followeth then, that Faith is to his soule, to giue it spirituall lyfe, that whiche the naturall soule is to the bodie, to giue it corporall lyfe.
There are then two things to be consi∣dered in the regenerate & spiritual man: to wit, Faith which is in him as the soule
whiche giueth him spiritual lyfe, euen as the soule naturall which giueth corporall lyfe to ye body, & then the workes of ye spi∣rite are ioyned to it, which are the works of faith, which is the spiritual soule, euen as the works of life, procéeding from the soule are in the liuing man.
Thou mayst well iudge, that as the liuing man hath not onely lyfe, but also mouing and féeling by the power of the soule that is in him, euen so the mā regenerate by the spirite of God, is disposed by the same to doe spirituall works, which are the wor∣kes of lyfe, where as he did the works of death, whilest he was dead thorow sinne not being regenerate by ye spirite of God.
Iohn. 3. ••
Abac. 2. a Rom. 1. b