d the nature, but which had assumed dominion
over the whole man, and exercised a power for which he was answerable,
is displaced; and corruption, though not altogether removed, is
gradually bereft of its influence, and doomed to extermination. It is
not as if man in sin were altogether ignorant of what God requires, but
because he is unwilling to obey, that he does not yield it. His
disobedience is not as if that requirement were inconsistent with his
natural powers, but as opposed by their tendency. It is not as if
obedience were foreign to his nature, but because it is repugnant to his
will. But when the sinner is renewed, the requirement of the duty takes
effect. The result upon the man proclaims the adaptation of the claim to
his state; and the nature of that claim shows that he is prepared for
the exercise which it urges. The law of God demands of all what all
ought to give, but what man, in consequence of sin, because he is
unwilling, is unable to give. That law demands of all what believers are
desirous to render, but which of themselves they are unable to
implement, and the part of which that is accepted they are enabled by
Divine grace alone to perform. Calls to the exercise of Covenanting
addressed to men, whether in a state of sin or in a state of grace,
though differently apprehended by them, being in a varied manner
understood by both, must be in accordance with what is common to the
nature of each, and also to that of man in innocence. The wicked show
that they know what these calls imply; for they often refuse to attend
to them after any manner, and when they attempt to act according to
them, they aim at an end that is not elevated above deliverance merely
from the effects of sin, not to say comprehensive of the glory of God.
And the righteous do in measure understand them. After some manner they
obey them. They arrive at their full import progressively. Their
feelings are inadequate to them, not in kind, but in measure. As they
make progress in holiness they will be more thoroughly conformed to them
in fact. When about to enter upon the heavenly inheritance of the
promise itself, their conformity with these will be complete. Hence,

First. The reality of the Covenant of Works appears. It was not unworthy
of God to enter into covenant with man in innocence. He was the
workmanship of his own hands. The constitution given to him admitted of
intercourse on his part with his Creator. It was not unbecoming the