But all these mythological explanations are supererogatory, since the actual legend in question can be definitely traced to the pamphlet of 1602.
So great were his variations even in his latter years, that he could speak to his friend Allsop in a highly latitudinarian sense, declaring that in Christianity "the miracles are supererogatory," and that "the law of God and the great principles of the Christian religion would have been the same had Christ never assumed humanity."
And that He does not accept a supererogatory work of worship until the obligatory has been done.
But individual worship, invocations, supererogatory prayers, and specially recommended prayers are not binding.
Theories of legal merit, amount of debt, supererogatory goodness, and ascetic claim - representing the aspect of Catholicism as law - are more and more worked out.