28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?



Ver. 28. That we might work] We would still be working, weaving a web of righteousness of our own, spinning a thread of our own to climb up to heaven by, that we might say with the spider, Nulli debeo; and with that Popish merit monger, Coelum gratis non accipiam, I will not have heaven of free cost. Men would have heaven as a purchase. I would swim through a sea of brimstone, said one, that I might come to heaven at last. But those that cry haec ego feci, I do this, Luther wittily calls the devil’s faeces; dregs, as those that seek to be saved by their good works, he fitly calls the devil’s martyrs; because they suffer much and take much pains to go to hell. Let us all take heed of this piece of natural Popery; and learn to be in duty in respect of performance, and yet out of duty in respect of dependance. We are all apt to do otherwise; and like broken chapmen (merchant) we would still be chaffering, if but for small matters; and think to be saved for a company of poor beggarly businesses.