[Faith and works, as grounds of justification, are opposite to each other b. If our works had any share in our justifica- tion we should have a ground of boasting ; which is utterly to be excluded0. The smallest reliance on our works makes void all hope by the Gospel d. All dependence therefore on the works of the law must be entirely renounced.]
These affirmations evidently exclude morality from the office of justifying. They are therefore supposed to discountenance all practical religion ; but this mis- take originates in the ignorance of the objectors themselves.
This will be seen, whilst we notice,
II. The objection obviated —
The believer, so far from making void the law, establishes it. The power of the law is twofold ; to command obedience, and to condemn for disobedience. The believer establishes the law in each of these respects :
1. In its commanding power :
[He owns its absolute authority over him as God's crea- ture ; all his hope is in the perfect obedience which Christ paid to it for him ; he looks upon his obligations to obey it as increased, rather than vacated, by the death of Christ ; he actually desires to obey it as much as if he were to be justified by his obedience to it.]
2. In its condemning power :
[He acknowledges himself justly condemned by it: he founds his hope in Christ as having borne its curse for him : his own conscience cannot be pacified but by that atonement which satisfied the demands of the law : bereft of a hope in the atonement, he would utterly despair : he flees to Christ continually " to bear the iniquity of his holiest actions."]
Thus he magnifies the law, while the objector him- self, as I will now prove, makes it void.
To see this more fully, consider,
III. The objection retorted —
The person who objects to salvation by faith alone, is in reality the one who makes void the law. Ob- jections against the doctrine of faith are raised from a pretended regard for the law ; but the person who
b Rom. xi. G. c Rom. iii. 27. d Gal. v. 2, 4.