out our besetting sins! And how should we cry to God, " Search me, O God, and try the ground of my heart, &c.M" Let all then who name the name of Christ be jealous of them- selves. And, " laying aside every weight, and the sin that doth most easily beset them, let them run their race with patience."]
3. What reason have we to be thankful for the covenant of grace !
[Whatsoever God requires of us, he has also promised to us in the covenant of grace. Has he commanded us to part with every sin, however precious or profitable it may be ? He has also promised, that " sin shall not have dominion over usk." He has pledged his word not only to forgive the sins of the penitent, but to '■' cleanse them from all unrighteous- ness1." Let those then who tremble at the injunctions in the text, look up to Jesus for help. Let them plead the promises which he has made. And doubtless they shall find his " grace sufficient for them." " They shall do all things through Christ strengthening them." This is the portion of all who embrace that covenant, which " is ordered in all things and surem." Let every believer then rejoice in that covenant ; and " hold fast the beginning of his confidence steadfast unto the end."]
1 Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24. k Rom. vi. 14.
1 1 John i. 9. m 2 Sam. xxiii. 5.
Mark ix. 49, 50. Every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, ivherewith will ye season it ? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.
TO understand this subject aright, we must take into consideration the whole context. The Disciples had disputed amongst themselves about precedency in their Master's kingdom, which they supposed to be of a temporal nature; every one of them coveting for himself the highest post of dignity and power*. They had also, through jealousy and narrowness of mind, forbidden a person to cast out devils, merely because he did not exercise that power in concert
a ver. 33—37.