A treatise of the covenant of grace, as it is dispensed to the elect…

them: this manner of affection we find in David, when as the Lord had brought him and his people into a sweet frame and temper of spirit, to offer willingly towards the building of the Temple; what saith David now? doth he think this to be enough? No, no, But he prayeth to the Lord, 1 Chron. 29.18. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our Fathers, keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee: thus is he sensible, that these comforts and strength would soon fail them, and they should again wax barren and uncomfortable, if the Lord should not still keep them: and here is the nature of true strength and consolation in Christ; to look up unto the Lord to preserve and maintain it; and so he is still drawn nearer and nearer unto Jesus Christ. But now though both attend unto the Word, as their Rule of Sanctification, if you take it in the way in which the one and the other hold it forth, yet there is a great difference. Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments, Psal. 119.6. Here is a Rule: what may not Hypocrites walk according to this Rule? Truly, they profess no less, and they think it is enough, if they have but a rule in their eye; and therefore under a spirit of Bondage they are confident, and say, Whatsoever the Lord commandeth us, we will hear it, and do it, Deut. 5.27. and what saith Balaam? Though Balak would give me an house full of gold and silver, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, Numb. 22.18. and yet he loved the ⟨p. 51⟩wages of iniquity: and indeed those that undertake so much in their own strength, they come afterward to be weary of the Lord, and weary of his commandments; as