For this would be to halt between two opinions, to worship Baal, and
to kiss the hand to him, which is a very great iniquity, as Job says.
Therefore, when you begin to believe, you learn at the same time that
all that is in you is utterly guilty, sinful, and damnable, according to
that saying, "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom.
iii. 23), and also: "There is none righteous, no, not one; they are all
gone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable: there is
none that doeth good, no, not one" (Rom. iii. 10-12). When you have
learnt this, you will know that Christ is necessary for you, since He
has suffered and risen again for you, that, believing on Him, you might
by this faith become another man, all your sins being remitted, and you
being justified by the merits of another, namely of Christ alone.
Since then this faith can reign only in the inward man, as it is said,
"With the heart man believeth unto righteousness" (Rom. x. 10); and
since it alone justifies, it is evident that by no outward work or
labour can the inward man be at all justified, made free, and saved; and
that no works whatever have any relation to him. And so, on the other
hand, it is solely by impiety and incredulity of heart that he becomes
guilty and a slave of sin, deserving condemnation, not by any outward
sin or work. Therefore the first care of every Christian ought to be to
lay aside all reliance on works, and strengthen his faith alone more
and more, and by it grow in the knowledge, not of works, but of Christ
Jesus, who has suffered and risen again for him, as Peter teaches
(1 Peter v.
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