and help everywhere except from God, from Whom
they are most urgently commanded to seek it; whom the Prophet
Isaiah reproves thus, Isaiah ix: "The mad people turneth not to
Him that smiteth them" [Isa. 9:13]; that is, God smote them and
sent them sufferings and all kinds of adversity, that they should
run to Him and trust Him. But they run away from Him to men, now
to Egypt, now to Assyria, perchance also to the devil; and of
such idolatry much is written in the same Prophet and in the
Books of the Kings. This is also the way of all holy hypocrites
when they are in trouble: they do not run to God, but flee from
Him, and only think of how they may get rid of their trouble
through their own efforts or through human help, and yet they
consider themselves and let others consider them pious people.

[Sidenote: Faith Must Do all Works]

XI. This is what St. Paul means in many places, where he ascribes
so much to faith, that he says: _Justus ex fide sua vivit_, "the
righteous man draws his life out of his faith," [Rom. 1:17] and
faith is that because of which he is counted righteous before
God. If righteousness consists of faith, it is clear that faith
fulfils all commandments and makes all works righteous, since no
one is justified except he keep all the commands of God. Again,
the works can justify no one before God without faith. So utterly
and roundly does the Apostle reject works and praise faith, that
some have taken offence at his words and say: "Well, then, we
will do no more good works," [Rom. 3:8] although he condemns such
men as erring and foolish.

So men still do. When we reject the great, pretentious works of
our time, which are done entirely without faith, they say: Men
are only to believe and not to do anything good. For nowadays
they say that the works of the First Commandment are singing,
reading, organ-playing, reading the mass, saying matins and
vespers and the other hours, the founding and decorating of
churches, altars, and monastic houses, the gathering of bells,
jewels, garments, trinkets and treasures, running to Rome and to
the saints. Further, when we are dressed up and bow, kneel, pray
the rosary and the Psalter, and all this not before an idol, but
before the holy cross of God or the pictures of His saints: this
we call honoring and worshiping God, and, according to the First
Commandment, "having no other gods"; although these things
usurers, adulterers and all manner of sinners can do too, an