And they add further that such works also merit _de congruo_ the
remission of sins and justification. For human hearts without the
Holy Ghost are without the fear of God; without trust toward God,
they do not believe that they are heard, forgiven, helped, and
preserved by God. Therefore they are godless. For neither can a
corrupt tree bring forth good fruit, Matt. 7, 18. And without faith
it is impossible to please God, Heb. 11, 6.

Therefore, although we concede free will the liberty and power to
perform the outward works of the Law, yet we do not ascribe to free
will these spiritual matters, namely, truly to fear God, truly to
believe God, truly to be confident and hold that God regards us,
hears us, forgives us, etc. These are the true works of the First
Table, which the heart cannot render without the Holy Ghost, as Paul
says, 1 Cor. 2, 14: The natural man, i.e., man using only natural
strength, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God [That is a
person who is not enlightened by the Spirit of God does not, by his
natural reason, receive anything of God's will and divine matters.]
And this can be decided if men consider what their hearts believe
concerning God's will, whether they are truly confident that they are
regarded and heard by God. Even for saints to retain this faith [and,
as Peter says (1 Ep. 1, 8), to risk and commit himself entirely to
God, whom he does not see, to love Christ, and esteem Him highly,
whom he does not see] is difficult, so far is it from existing in the
godless. But it is conceived, as we have said above, when terrified
hearts hear the Gospel and receive consolation [when we are born anew
of the Holy Ghost].

Therefore such a distribution is of advantage in which civil
righteousness is ascribed to the free will and spiritual