the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name" (John i. 12).

From all this it is easy to understand why faith has such great power,
and why no good works, nor even all good works put together, can compare
with it, since no work can cleave to the word of God or be in the soul.
Faith alone and the word reign in it; and such as is the word, such is
the soul made by it, just as iron exposed to fire glows like fire, on
account of its union with the fire. It is clear then that to a Christian
man his faith suffices for everything, and that he has no need of works
for justification. But if he has no need of works, neither has he need
of the law; and if he has no need of the law, he is certainly free from
the law, and the saying is true, "The law is not made for a righteous
man" (1 Tim. i. 9). This is that Christian liberty, our faith, the
effect of which is, not that we should be careless or lead a bad life,
but that no one should need the law or works for justification and
salvation.

Let us consider this as the first virtue of faith; and let us look also
to the second. This also is an office of faith: that it honours with the
utmost veneration and the highest reputation Him in whom it believes,
inasmuch as it holds Him to be truthful and worthy of belief. For there
is no honour like that reputation of truth and righteousness with which
we honour Him in whom we believe. What higher credit can we attribute
to any one than truth and righteousness, and absolute goodness? On
the other hand, it is the greatest insult to brand any one with the
reputation of falsehood and unrighteousness, or to suspect him of these,
as we do when we disbelieve him.

Thus the soul, in firmly believing the promises of God, holds Him to be
true and righteous; and it can attribute to God no higher glory than