sin that grace may abound a:" for the greater sinners we are before we are justified, the more will the grace of God be magnified in justifying such ungodly creatures: and, if a per- son be justified without any respect to his works, then, secondly, we may live in sin after we are justified; because we are not under the law which l-equires good works, but under a dispen- sation of grace b, wherein life is given freely without any regard to our works, past, present, or future.
Time will not admit of our considering how he answers these objections : (suffice it to say, that he shews they have no solid foundation; and that good works are effectually secured, though they be not taken into the account in our justification :) we mention the objections only, to shew what the doctrine must be that gave rise to them. Suppose the Apostle had said, that we were to be justified by our works alone, or by faith and works united, what room could there have been for such objections as these ? If works were taken into conside- ration in the matter of our justification before God, we could have no temptation whatever on that account, to neglect them, either before or after we were justified. But if we are justi- fied by faith without any respect to our works, then we can see at once, how a person, not understanding the whole of the Christian scheme, might conceive that the doctrine tended to licentiousness. Indeed these are the very objections that are yet daily urged by ignorant people against the Apostle's doc- trine : they cry, ' You need only believe, and you may live as you will : and the more wicked you are, the more will the free grace of God be glorified in saving you.' Persons never think of urging these objections against those who preach salvation by works, whether in the whole or in part ; which is a sure proof, that the Apostle did not preach that doctrine ; but that the doctrine which he delivered was that of salvation by faith without the works of the law. In this view of his doctrine there is some apparent ground for the objection : in any other view of it, there is none at a//.]
3. The perversions he complains of —
[What was it he complained of in the conduct of the Galatians ? It was this : that they added the observance of the Mosaic ritual to the duties enjoined by the Gospel6, hoping thereby to render themselves more acceptable to God. And in what manner does he complain of this ? He calls it an introducing of " another Gospel, which yet was not another*1" (for it was a mongrel religion, neither law nor Gospel); or, in
a Rom. v. 20. and vi. 1. b Rom. vi. 15.
c Gal. iv. 9, 10. <• Gal. i. 6, 7.