What nation is there upon the earth, possessed of religion and sound reason, that does not know and believe that there is one God; that to do evil is contrary to Him, and that to do good is to be in accord with Him; also that man must do good from his soul, his heart, and his strength, although good inflows from God; and that religion consists in this? Who, therefore, does not see that to confess three Persons in the Divine, and to assert that in good works there is nothing of salvation, is to separate religion from the Church? For it is declared that in those works there is nothing of salvation, as in these statements "Faith justifies without good works," n. 12 (a, b). "Works are not necessary for salvation, nor for faith, because salvation and faith are neither preserved nor retained by good works," n. 12 (g, h, m, n). Consequently, there is no bond of conjunction of faith with good works. If it is afterwards said that good works nevertheless follow faith spontaneously, as fruit from a tree, n. 13 (l, n), who then does them; nay, who thinks of them, or who is spontaneously led to them, while he knows and believes that they contribute nothing to salvation, and, further, that no one can do any good of salvation from himself? and so on. It may be said that, nevertheless, they have conjoined faith with good works. We reply that this conjunction, when closely inspected, is not conjunction, but mere adjunction; and this only like a superfluous appendage that neither coheres nor adheres in any other manner than as a dark background to a portrait which serves to give it more of the appearance of life. Moreover, because religion belongs to life, and this consists in good works according to the truths of faith, it is clear that religion itself is the portrait and not an appendage. Indeed, with many, religion is as a horse's tail which, because it is of little value, may be cut off at pleasure. Who can rationally conclude otherwise while he understands such expressions as the following according to their obvious meaning? "It is folly to imagine that the works of the second table of the Decalogue justify in the sight of God," n. 12 (d). "If anyone believes he will necessarily obtain salvation because he has charity, he brings a reproach upon Christ," n. 12(e). "Good works are to be utterly excluded in treating of justification and eternal life," n. 12 (f): besides many other statements there. Who, therefore, when he reads afterwards that good works necessarily follow faith, and that, if they do not follow, the faith is false and not true, n. 13 (p, q, v), with more to the same effect, attends to these sayings or, if he attends to them, does so with any perception? Yet the good which proceeds from man without perception has no more life in it than if it came from a statue. But, if we enquire more deeply into the grounds of this doctrine, it will appear that the leaders of the Church first laid down faith alone as their ruling principle, in order that they might be severed from the Roman Catholics, as mentioned above, nos. 21-23, and afterwards adjoined works of charity lest their principle should be contrary to Sacred Scripture, and so that it might appear to be religious and sound.