Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/105

 Martin Luther and Ids Revolt against the Church 67 which proceed from your faith. Now when there is no faith or good conscience toward God, works are headless and nave no life or goodness. So it comes about that when I place faith so high and reject such unbelieving works, they accuse me of forbidding good works altogether, although I gladly extol the good works of faith. If you ask my critics if they regard as good works labor- ing at one's trade, coming and going, eating, drinking, and sleeping, and all the other acts that help nourish the body or are generally useful, and whether they believe that God is pleased by such works, you will find that they say no, and limit good works so narrowly that they must consist in praying in church, fasting, or giving alms ; other things they regard as actions which God does not esteem. By this damnable want of faith they reduce and diminish the service of God, whom all serve, who believe in him, in all that they say or think. And this the Preacher teaches, say- ing, " Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God hath already accepted thy works. Let thy garments be always white ; and let not thy head lack ointment. Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun." 1 To keep our garments white is to have all our works good, whatever they may be, without any distinction. And they will be white when we confidently believe that they are pleasing to God. . . . We can understand this whole matter by an obvious human example. When husband and wife are fond of one another and live together in love and in confidence in one another, and each believes truly in the other, who shall teach them how they should act, what they should do or leave undone, say or not say, think or not think ? Their own insight tells them all that need be, and more too. There is no distinction in their " works " for one another. They do the long, hard, and heavy tasks as willingly as the slight and easy things, and moreover they act with glad, Luther criticises the narrow con- ception of " good works." 1 Eccles. ix. 7-9.