two white doves flying

quote

But we must add at once that the pious...

But we must add at once that the pious will not cease from good works simply because it is impossible to gain any merit by them. Rather, the greater our faith, the more and greater our works…. For since faith is inspired by the Holy Spirit, how can it be slothful or inactive when the Spirit himself is unceasing in his activity and operation? Where there is true faith, works necessarily result, just as fire necessarily brings with it heat.

Philip Melancthon, Loci communes theologici in Melancthon and Bucer, ed. Wilhelm Pauck (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1969).