But unhappily, in the way of religion also, in their professed walk of faith, men will be seeking out many inventions of their own, instead of submitting themselves, with simplicity and godly sincerity, to the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are seeking to accommodate His divine law to their corrupt inclinations and indulgences, to the maxims and fashions and interests of an ensnaring world: and thus they fail of the happiness, which they were led to expect. No wonder, that they find not the christian promises realised; that they fall short of the comfort, as they do of the obedience of faith. To the believing in our crucified Lord, with all the heart and soul; to “the seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness;” to the “forsaking all and following Him;” to “the spirit of God dwelling in us, and mortifying the deeds of the body;” to the sincere desire after holiness “as He is holy;” to “the fulfilling of the law of righteousness;” to a living hope of “the inheritance that fadeth not away”—to these things, the promise of life is made; of joy and favour here, and eternal felicity hereafter; but if we, in dependence upon our own vain inventions, seek to be blessed in any other way; with a less entire belief, and a less holy profession, and a less devoted obedience, and a less exalted hope, we must not complain or wonder, if we lose our object and aim; “Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap; he that soweth unto the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth unto the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.” The merciful God, when He created man innocent and happy, graciously revealed to him the means, by which his innocence and happiness might be preserved; and shewed thereby, that they were inseparable, that the loss of the one would be the loss of the other. “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” {327a} And no sooner had Adam disobeyed, no sooner was his innocence forfeited, than his happiness was gone; he found to his sorrow, as he would not believe to his comfort, the truth of his Creator’s word: and thus miserably ended the first covenant of God with man, the covenant of obedience and works.