gave to Peter. It was indeed the observance of the ceremonial law that gave occasion for the reproof: but the works of the moral law must of necessity be comprehended in the reproof itself, because it is as a subversion of the faith of Christ that St. Paul chiefly complains of Peter's conduct. The observance of the ceremonial law, as an act of obedience to God, might have been unnecessary, and inexpedient: but it could not have been of so fatal a nature as St. Paul represents it, if obedience in other respects had been meritorious before God : if it did not add to the merit of moral obedience, it could not so detract from it, as to make both that and the death of Christ also of no value : yet St. Paul speaks of it as " removing the people from the grace of Christ to another Gospel c," yea, " as frustrating the grace of God," and causing " the death of Christ to be in vaind." It was in this view, I say, as tending to establish a salvation by works instead of a salvation by faith in Christ, that St. Paul so strenuously opposed the conduct of Peter. The Apostles " knew that a man could not be justified by the works of the law ;" and therefore they renounced all dependence on the works of the law, and looked for justification solely by faith in Christ. This, I say, they did themselves, and this they inculcated on others, as indispensably necessary to their salvation. St. Paul elsewhere tells us, that in this way Abraham was savede ; and David was savedf ; and all the world must be savedg. But in no part of Scripture is this truth more forcibly declared than in the passage before us. We may contrive to pervert ivords, however plain they be : but here are facts, which we cannot get over ; and which speak volumes. Let us learn then not to subject ourselves to similar reproof, by blending any human works with the merits of Christ, or using our influence towards the establishment of so fatal an error. Let us be thankful to God that we have had reformers, who have ventured to withstand the impositions of popery, and have, at the expense of their own lives, emanci- pated vis from the thraldom in which he who calls himself the successor of Peter, and boasts of deriving infallibility from him, had so long held the whole Christian world. And, if there arise amongst ourselves any who would yet stand forth as advocates of human merit, let us refer them to the Articles and Homilies of our own Church ; that, if they believe not the language of inspiration, they may at least be put to shame before that Church, which has received those documents as the acknowledged symbols of her faith h.]
c Gal. i. 6. d ver. 21. e Rom. iv. 1—5. f Rom. iv. 6—8. e Rom. iv. 9 — 14. See also Rom. ix. 30—33. and x. 3, 4. h See the 10th, 1 1th, and 12th Articles of the Church of England: and take for a pattern the Apostle Paul. ver. 5.