"All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." Such were the memorable words with which the people of Israel virtually abandoned the ground on which the blessed God had just been setting them, and on which, too, He had dealt with them in bringing them up out of the land of Egypt. "Ye have seen," said He, "what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself." All this was grace--pure, perfect, divine grace. He heard the groans and beheld the sorrows of the people amid the darkness and degradation of Egyptian bondage, and in His unmingled mercy He came down to deliver them. He sought not their aid, He looked not for aught from them. "His own arm brought salvation." He acted _for_ them, _with_ them, and _in_ them; and that, too, in the solitariness and sovereignty of His own unfailing grace. He said to Moses at the opening of the book of Exodus, "_I am come down to deliver them_." This was absolute and unqualified grace. There was no "if," no "but," no condition, no vow, no resolve. It was FREE GRACE, founded upon God's eternal counsels, and righteously displayed in immediate connection with "the blood of the Lamb." Hence, from first to last, the word to Israel was, "_stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah_." They were not called to "resolve," or to "vow," or to "do." God was acting for them--He was doing ALL: He placed Himself between them and every enemy, and every evil. He spread forth the shield of His salvation that they might hide themselves behind its impenetrable defences, and abide there in peace. But, alas, Israel made a vow--a strange, a singular vow indeed. Not satisfied with God's doings, they would fain talk of their own. They would be doing, as if God's salvation were incomplete; and in lamentable ignorance of their own weakness and nothingness, they said, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." This was taking a bold stand, a high ground. For a poor worm to make such a vow proved how little grace was really understood, or nature's true condition apprehended.