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salvation solely by their observance of and reverence for ceremonies,
as if they would be saved merely because they fast on stated days,
or abstain from flesh, or make formal prayers; talking loudly of the
precepts of the Church and of the Fathers, and not caring a straw about
those things which belong to our genuine faith. Both these parties
are plainly culpable, in that, while they neglect matters which are of
weight and necessary for salvation, they contend noisily about such as
are without weight and not necessary.

How much more rightly does the Apostle Paul teach us to walk in the
middle path, condemning either extreme and saying, "Let not him that
eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not
judge him that eateth" (Rom. xiv. 3)! You see here how the Apostle
blames those who, not from religious feeling, but in mere contempt,
neglect and rail at ceremonial observances, and teaches them not to
despise, since this "knowledge puffeth up." Again, he teaches the
pertinacious upholders of these things not to judge their opponents. For
neither party observes towards the other that charity which edifieth. In
this matter we must listen to Scripture, which teaches us to turn aside
neither to the right hand nor to the left, but to follow those right
precepts of the Lord which rejoice the heart. For just as a man is
not righteous merely because he serves and is devoted to works and
ceremonial rites, so neither will he be accounted righteous merely
because he neglects and despises them.

It is not from works that we are set free by the faith of Christ, but
from the belief in works, that is from foolishly presuming to seek
justification through works. Faith redeems our consciences, makes them
upright, and preserves them, since by it we recognise the truth that
justification does not depend on our works, although good works neither
can nor ought to be absent, just as we cannot exist without food and
drink and all the functions of this mortal body. Still it is not on them
that our justification is based, but on faith; and yet they ought not
on that account to be despised or neglected. Thus in this world we
are compelled by the needs of this bodily life; but we are not hereby
justified. "My kingdom is not hence, nor of this world," says Christ;
but He does not say, "My kingdom is not here, nor in this world." Paul,
too, says, "Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh"
(2 Cor. x. 3), and