(cleaveth) after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me." It was in the exercises of vowing to God and fulfilling his obligations that he did so, for he said, "But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory."[326] Secondly. God enjoins obedience as the fulfilment of Covenant duties. He gives command to _do_ the words of his covenant. "Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them."[327] By his authority he calls on men to _keep_ the words of his covenant. "Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do."[328] The obedience thus inculcated was not merely made known by the glorious Lawgiver, but acknowledged as obligatory by men. In two channels, from one source, its claims proceeded. First, directly through the promulgation of the Divine law to men; and next, through the acknowledgment, by Covenant engagement, of that law as holy, just, and good. Had obedience been claimed to the duties inculcated, as if they had been merely requirements of the law, they had not been spoken of as performed in fulfilment of Covenant engagement. Because the words of the Covenant are done or kept when those are performed, they are incumbent on account of the making of the Covenant. By submitting to the rite, every one that received circumcision became a debtor to do the whole law. And in like manner, by Covenanting, each one who vows to God becomes bound, by His command, to keep or do the words of his law as the words of his Covenant. And finally, the Lord commands that his Covenant be kept as a charge. That which is kept, or to be kept, is a charge. That his law and covenant are a charge is manifest from his words, "If thy children will keep my covenant, and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for evermore."[329] But his charge, or his law and covenant, as a trust, he explicitly gives his people commandment to keep. "Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway."[330] "But that which ye have already, hold fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations."[331] In such injunctions, it is implied that two things, or the same thing under two aspects, should be kept. The statutes of God are at once the commands of his law and the dictates of his covenant. These are kept as his law, when obeyed, because of his authority as righteous moral Governor of all. They are kept as the requirements of his covenant when recognised as not merely issued according to his sovereign will, but as having received the acquiescence of the heart, and been acceded to by solemn oath and vow. That the acceptance of them in Covenanting brings under obligation is therefore most manifest. They are permanently the Lord's charge. His law remains so, whether or not it be obeyed by men. It remains so when