But, say they, the catholic Christians have Christ for a foundation, and they have not fallen away from union with Him, no matter how depraved a life they have built on this foundation, as wood, hay, stubble; and accordingly the well-directed faith by which Christ is their foundation will suffice to deliver them some time from the continuance of that fire, though it be with loss, since those things they have built on it shall be burned.Let the Apostle James summarily reply to them: "If any man say he has faith, and have not works,.can faith save him?"(4) And who then is it, they ask, of whom the Apostle Paul says, "But he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire?"(5) Let us join them in their inquiry;and one thing is very certain, that it is not he of whom James speaks, else we should make the two apostles contradict one another, if the one says, "Though a man's works be evil, his faith will save him as by fire," while the other says, "If he have not good works, can his faith save him?"We shall then ascertain who it Is who can be saved by fire, if we first discover what it is to have Christ for a foundation.And this we may very readily learn from the image itself.In a building the foundation is first.Whoever, then, has Christ in his heart, so that no earthly or temporal things--not even those that are legitimate and allowed--are preferred to Him, has Christ as a foundation.But if these things be preferred, then even though a man seem to have faith in Christ, yet Christ is not the foundation to that man; and much more if he, in contempt of wholesome precepts, seek forbidden gratifications, is he clearly convicted of putting Christ not first but last, since he has despised Him as his ruler, and has preferred to fulfill his own wicked lusts, in contempt of Christ's commands and allowances.Accordingly, if any Christian man loves a harlot, and, attaching himself to her, becomes one body, he has not now Christ for a foundation.But if any one loves his own wife, and loves her as Christ would have him love her, who can doubt that he has Christ for a foundation?
But if he loves her in the world's fashion, carnally, as the disease of lust prompts him, and as the Gentiles love who know not God, even this the apostle, or rather Christ by the apostle, allows as a venial fault.And therefore even such a man may have Christ for a foundation.For so long as he does not prefer such an affection or pleasure to Christ, Christ is his foundation, though on it he builds wood, hay stubble; and therefore he shall be saved as by fire.For the fire of affliction shall burn such luxurious pleasures and earthly loves, though they be not damnable, because enjoyed in lawful wedlock.And of this fire the fuel is bereavement, and all those calamities which consume these joys.
Consequently the superstructure will be loss to him who has built it, for he shall not retain it, but shall be agonized by the loss of those things in the enjoyment of which he found pleasure.But by this fire he shall be saved through virtue of the foundation, because even if a persecutor demanded whether he would retain Christ or these things, he would prefer Christ.Would you hear, in the apostle's own words, who he is who builds on the foundation gold, silver, precious stones? "He that is unmarried,"he says, "careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord."(1) Would you hear who he is that buildeth wood, hay, stubble? "But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.(2) "Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it,"--the day, no doubt, of tribulation--"because," says he, "it shall be revealed by fire."(3) He calls tribulation fire, just as it is elsewhere said, "The furnace proves the vessels of the potter, and the trial of affliction righteous men."4 And "The fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.If any man's work abide "--for a man's care for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord, abides--"which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward, "--that is, he shall reap the fruit of his care."But if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss,"--for what he loved he shall not retain: --" but he himself shall be saved,"--for no tribulation shall have moved him from that stable foundation,--" yet so as by fire;"(5) for that which he possessed with the sweetness of love he does not lose without the sharp sting of pain.Here, then, as seems to me, we have a fire which destroys neither, but enriches the one, brings loss to the other, proves both.