Now, there can be no doubt at all that salvation is by faith, and that its being by faith is one of those special circumstances which make the gospel a new covenant; but still, it may be by works, also, for, to use a familiar illustration, obedience is the road to heaven and faith is the gate. Those who attempt to be saved simply without works are like persons who should attempt to travel to a place, not along the road, but across the fields. If we wish to get to our journey’s end, we shall keep to the road but, even then, we may go the wrong road. This was the case with the Jews. They professed to go along the road of works – they did not wander into the fields – so far, well; but, they took the wrong road. That particular road, of which faith is the gate, that particular obedience, those particular works, which commence in faith, these are the only right and sure road of heaven. It is wrong to leave the road for an open country; again, it is wrong to go along the wrong road – but it is not wrong to go along the right road. And, in like manner, it is sinful to attempt no obedience whatever; it is blind perversity to attempt obedience by the Jewish law or the law of nature, but it is not sinful, it is not perverse, it is nothing else than wisdom, nothing else than true godliness, to follow after that obedience which is of faith. – John Henry Newman (1801-1890), excerpt from “The New Works of the Gospel” (2 Corinthians 5.17). Newman, who became a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, was still an Anglican when he preached this sermon.
From: Parochial and Plain Sermons by John Henry Newman; reprint; 8 volumes in 1 (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1987), pp. 1,055-1,056. The 8-volume set was originally published in 1891.
