with God," and that he beholds the very counsels of the heart, they strive to "set him ever before them;" and to "walk in his fear all the day long."]
2. They walk in dependence on the divine aid —
[They are scarcely more conscious of their own existence, than they are of their utter insufficiency for any thing that is good. They have so often failed through their reliance on their own strength, and they feel such a proneness to every species of iniquity, if left one moment to themselves, that they are compelled to cry to their God for help. And, if they were not sure that " the grace of Christ is sufficient" for all who trust in it, they would utterly despair of holding out unto the end. Hence their continual prayer is, " Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe : " and God imparts to them his promised assistance0.]
3. They delight in doing the divine will —
[The " commandments of God are not grievous" to them. Their only grief is, that they do not obey them with greater readiness and joy. Not but that they often find the workings of an evil principle, that would bring them back again into captivity to sin and Satan: but, through the operation of the blessed Spirit, they are enabled to get the victory over their corrupt nature, and both to obey the law outwardly, and to " delight in it after their inward mand." They would gladly do the will of God on earth, as it is done in heaven, without reluctance, without weariness, and without reserve.]
There doubtless is a great difference between the attainments of different saints : yet this is, on the xvhole, the state of all ; and that they are blessed in it will appear by considering,
II. The privileges they enjoy by means of it —
While the saints thus live nigh to God, God " keeps them in safety," and covers them,
1. From the curse of the law —
[We might speak of their deliverance even from temporal evils : since they have none which are not sanctified to their souls, and made blessings in disguise e. But respecting spi- ritual evils we are warranted to speak with the fullest confi- dence. The saints may, it is true, be left to dread the wrath of Godf: but it shall never come upon themg. While they are
c Zech. x. 12. Isai. xxvi. 3. d Rom. vii. 14 — 25.
e Job v. 19—24. f Ps. lxxvii. 7—9.
g Rom. viii. 1.