1. If the greatest and best men of the old dispensation had to renounce entirely dependence upon their works, and to accept of the favour of God as a gratuity, justification by works must, for all men, be impossible, vs. 2, 3.
2. No man can glory, that is, complacently rejoice, in his own good- ness in the sight of God. And this every man of an enlightened con- science feels. The doctrine of justification by works, therefore, is incon- sistent with the inward testimony of conscience, and can never give true peace of mind, v. 2.
3. The two methods of justification cannot be united. They are as inconsistent as wages and a free gift. If of works, it is not of grace ; and if of grace, it is not of works, vs. 4, 5.
4. As God justifies the ungodly, it cannot be on the ground of their own merit, but must be by the imputation of a righteousness which does not personally belong to them, and which they received by faith, vs. 5, 6, 11.
5. The blessings of the gospel, and the method of justification which it proposes, are suited to all men ; and are not to be confined by sectarian limits, or bound down to ceremonial observances, vs. 9 — 11.
6. The sacraments and ceremonies of the church, although in the
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