4261. About faith alone
I spoke with those who had believed that faith alone saves, it being their confession at the time that they are saved if they believe that the Lord has redeemed them, liberated them from hell, and borne all their sins, saying that they thus consoled the sick who were at the point of death, and that they so teach. They added that some of them, especially in the anxiety of death, are able to come into a state of accepting this [faith] and of thinking piously in this way. But they were told that this may occur in states of sickness and anxiety, in which this process may occur, but that if they return into their life, they are the same as before, for then their own self ceases to be active, and the person is removed from voluntary action, and in such a state and similar ones, the Lord is acting, but this does not last. In such a state of anxiety, confession and devotion are concordant, but this state recedes when the person returns to his own life. In the other life they can be held in a similar confession, but in a semblance or state of anxiety when fear has passed away.
4261. CONCERNING FAITH ALONE.
I spoke with those who held that faith alone was saving; their confession was that they would be saved if they believed; that the Lord had redeemed them, had delivered them from hell, and taken away all their sins, saying that they thus consoled the sick who were at the point of death, and thus taught, to which they added, that some such, when they first came into anxiety in view of death, would be in a state for receiving this instruction and of thinking piously concerning it. But it was said in reply that this might occur in sickness and anxiety, when such an effect may take place but if they returned again to life they would be as they were before, for, [in the prospect of death] the propria of man cease to act, being thus removed from his voluntary principle, and in such a state and similar ones the Lord [temporarily] operates; but this does not last; although while such a state of anxiety remains, confession and devotion agree with it, yet it immediately recedes when the man returns into his life; just as in the other life such persons may be held in a similar confession, but in such a state or a state of anxiety, the confession is from a sinful fear.
4261. De fide sola
Loquutus sum cum iis, qui solam fidem salvare crediderunt, erat tunc confessio eorum, quod salventur si credant, quod Dominus redemit eos, liberavit eos ab inferno, et sustulit omnia peccata, dicentes, quod ita consolentur aegrotos qui morituri, et ita doceant; addendo, quod quidam eorum cumprimis in mortis anxietate possint tunc esse in statu recipiendi hoc et pie sic cogitandi; sed dictum quod hoc sit in morbis et in anxietate, in qua talis operatio dari potest, sed si in vitam redeunt, similes sunt ut prius, tunc enim proprium hominis agere cessavit, sic remotus a suo voluntario, et in tali statu et similibus operatur Dominus; sed hoc non durat, ex anxietate tali, confessio et devotio concordat, sed recedit illico dum homo in vitam suam redit: sicut in altera vita in simili confessione teneri possunt, sed in simili, seu statu anxietatis, perientis timoris.