The Protestants mean only that nothing good precedes justifying faith
Thesis LIV. But it is clear from what was set out above that when the Protestants teach that whatever is done before justification is sin and not a good work, and say with Augustine that good works do not go before the one who is to be justified but follow the one who is justified, they mean only this: that nothing good at all can be done before justifying faith, and that they include under justification the very faith by which we are justified. For them, then, a good work's being done before justification is the same as its being done by someone who is still an unbeliever.
If, however, someone distinguishes justification from justifying faith itself and takes it precisely for the sinner's absolution and the forgiveness of his sins, the same Protestants do not deny that certain good acts, works that please God, precede our justification.
First among these is the act of the faith that justifies the ungodly, the sinner's flight to God's mercy. Others are sorrow for past sins and hatred of them, the resolve to live a new life, prayer for God's grace, the hope of obtaining pardon, and similar acts. These exist in a man, in the order of nature, before his sins are forgiven and before he can be counted as justified.
Latin
LIV. Sed manifestum est ex iis quae superius exposita fuerunt, Protestantes quum docent, quicquid fit ante justificationem non bonum opus, sed peccatum esse, & cum Augustino dicunt bona opera non praecedere justificandum, sed sequi justificatum, non aliud sibi velle, quam nihil omnino boni fieri posse ante fidem Justificantem, & eos sub justificatione complecti ipsam fidem per quam justificamur: adeoque tum pro eodem habere, bona opera fieri ante justificationem, & fieri ab eo qui adhuc infidelis est. Caeterum, si quis justificationem distinguat ab ipsa fide justificante, & sumat illam praecise pro peccatoris absolutione, & peccatorum ejus remissione, Protestantes eosdem non inficiari quin boni quidam actus, & opera quae Deo placeant, antecedant nostram justificationem. Qualis est in primis ipse actus fidei quae justificat impium, perfugium peccatoris ad Dei misericordiam, dolor de peccatis praeteritis & eorum detestatio, propositum novae vitae, Imploratio divinae gratiae, spes veniae obtinendae & actus alii similes, qui prius natura in homine existant, quam peccata illi remissa sint, & priusquam haberi possit pro justificato.