And this will help explain the famous doctrine of the reformation concerning justification by faith alone. Not that faith itself is our justifying righteousness, either in whole or in part. In itself 'tis weak and imperfect, like as other graces, and pleads no merit of its own. 'Tis the glory of faith, that it unhinges the soul of all dependance upon every thing in self. 'Tis a self-emptying grace. It knows it can do nothing separate from the righteousness of Christ, its great and most glorious object; and therefore it receives and rests upon that. We put on the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, Rom. xiii. 14. Faith applies to Christ, and unites the soul unto him; seeks in him all it wants, and trusts alone in the pardoning mercy of God thro' him.

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