21. III. The leading reformers, Luther, Melancthon, and Calvin, retained all the dogmas concerning a Trinity of Persons in the Divinity, original sin, imputation of the merit of Christ, and justification by faith, just as they were and had been with the Roman Catholics; but they separated charity or good works from that faith, and declared that they were not at the same time saving, with a view to be totally severed from the Roman Catholics as to the very essentials of the church, which are faith and charity.