266 · ·The Trial ofa foving 'Perfonal when they lived at eafe within the dominion~ or the ·covenant of the law : yet God bath fet fire to their neft there, that they have found themfelves unable ,to dwell any longer within the boundaries af that co– venant. Mount Sinai hath been altogether on afmolte round about them : and the· trumpet of ,the ·curft of the law hath waxed louder and louder, till it.. . made them to hear it on the fide of their righteoufnef· · and befi works, where they were deafefl:; and it bath eaufed them exceedingly to fear and quake, as a ~urfe denounced againfr them in particular, Rom. vii. 9· • When the commandmel}t came fin·revived, & I died! It bath chafed them from all th<;: fiarting holes about .that mountain, and left no place within the bounds of that covenant, fafc to them: not only has it cha· .fed them out of their prophane courfes, but alfo /out of all confidence in their good w9rks and duties of ,whatfoever kind; to flee for their life into the cove– nant offree grace, as thejlayer into the city of refuge; ·what thingJ were gain to them,rounting theft loft for . :~ Chrifl, Philip~ ii. 7. . · i!~i)I.·- They are·fuch as cordially approve of, and ac• :~:~;efce in, .the plan of the covenant, as fuited to the . . h'()n~nr 9fGod, and to their cafe in particular; look– , -ipg upon it as well order~d in all thing~-, 4Sarp.xxiii. 5· Whofoever duly confiders the corruption brought into .1nan's nature by ·the fall, will plainly perceive, that the method offalvation laid down in the covenant of grace, is the ye.ry reverfe of the inclination of cor-– .rupt human nature; fo that no~hing lefs, than the. · ·"powerful effic;acy of Divine grace, can bring a foul unto a cordial approbation ofit and acquiefcehce in it: wherefore our Lord pronounceth them, Bleffid who· foever !hall not be offended in him, Math.xi. 6. Natu· ral men may indeed fuape the covenant, in their own apprehenfions, into fu~h a form, as they may have every good liking of it. They_may . appre– hend it, as a covenant defigned to make men eafy · and
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