his mercies; and he will bless them, and their posterity after them, and they shall shew forth his praise from one generation to another. These are the sincere Christians, Israelites indeed, (like Nathaniel) in whom there is no guile. The apostle Paul tells us such are true Jews; 'For he is not a Jew that is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that which is of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but of God.' These are such as rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.' These are the sheep of Christ, that hear his voice and follow him.' The great Shepherd of the sheep will feed them, and make abundant provision for them, and lead them unto living fountains of water, and they shall lie down in the pastures of life, and enjoy an everlasting rest.

Therefore, Fear not, little flock, (saith the good Shepherd,) it is your Father's good pleasure to give you a kingdom;' a kingdom that cannot be shaken, an everlasting kingdom, and a crown of life, a crown that is incorruptible, that fadeth not away. Now my Friends, all those that are chosen and sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Christ Jesus, and called of God, and led by the Spirit of God, as the children of God; these are such as glorify God on earth, and shall be for ever glorified in heaven, where they shall join with the general assembly and church of the first-born, who are written in heaven, and with the innumerable company of angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect, where they shall sing hallelujahs, and sound forth the praises of the eternal blessed God, saying, Blessing, honour, glory, power he unto him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and ever.' Amen.

the heavenly race, (viz.) so run as to obtain the crown, they did not accomplish the work they were called to, and the reason was, "They did not come to Christ, nor would they receive him upon whom help was laid.' And this is the sin and misery of the world in this our age and generation. They will not come to Christ that they might have life, and have it abundantly.' God hath a regard to all the works of his hands, more especially to the sons and daughters of men: He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, and to the knowledge of the truth, that they may be saved to such as receive Christ, (who is the gift of God) to them he giveth power to become the sons of God: if you receive Christ, you shall have power communicated to your souls.

But what power is it that we want, may some say? what do we want power for, and strength for? what do we need help for? O it is to resist the devil, to make war against the enemy of our souls: we have a subtle and potent enemy to war withal: 'Your adversary the devil like a roaring lion goes about continually seeking whom he may devour.' Are you not sensible of his temptations every day? do you not observe how he prevails over the world that lies in wickedness, and destroys the sons and daughters of men? such as drink iniquity like water, and sin as it were with cart-ropes; such as let loose the reins to their lusts, and take their swing in the pleasures and vanities of the world, not remembering they must give an account at Christ's tribunal for whatsoever they had done in the body, whether it be good or evil: these are they that the devil, the enemy of our souls, makes a prey of: 'He goes about continually, seeking whom he may destroy.' Blessed are they that are delivered from his snares he hath gins and traps to entangle men and women in; he matters not what it is, so it be made a snare to them. He seeks to make their

table a snare, their trade a snare, and their company a snare. Therefore it concerns you all to watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation.

Man (as I said) is a poor weak helpless creature, yet he is apt to pride himself in his own strength, and to value himself upon his own wisdom, and parts, and knowledge, and experience, and to esteem himself highly for his riches, honour and grandeur in the world, he values himself upon the account of these things which will not prove advantageous to him in a day of trial. When the enemy assaults, none of these things can defend from his temptations, none of these things can secure us; no, after all, we are not able to save and defend ourselves from the wiles and stratagems of that old serpent: we have no power or sufficiency, we cannot so much as think a good thought, much less do a good act

of ourselves.

Well, therefore did our Lord and Saviour say, 'what I say unto you, I say unto all, watch:' it greatly concerns you all to be a watchful and a praying people; therefore watch and pray continually, for all the time that we are off from our duty, we are obnoxious to the enemy: we ought always to be upon our guard, and to stand ready armed, that we may resist and defeat him in all his attacks. This is the great duty of a christian, entirely to depend upon the Lord, who is always graciously present with his people that trust in him, that are sensible of their own weakness and poverty, and low estate, without him; he is present with such an humble soul, that is vile in his own eyes, and bath nothing of his own to rely upon; we must not think to live independantly as if we had a sufficiency in ourselves, but we must always depend upon the Lord, that we may have fresh supplies from Him. We must, in all our conflicts with our spiritual enemies, wait to have fresh recruits from Christ, who is the Captain of our salvation, else we shall sustain loss and

damage. Now there is help laid upon Him, that is the mighty One, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is appointed of the Father, for salvation to the ends of the earth, there is a gracious invitation to all the ends of the earth, to look unto him that they may be saved. This is that which I would press you all to, to come where there is all-sufficient

power and ability to help us. I have told you already, it is not in ourselves, therefore we must not depend upon ourselves, upon our own wisdom, and strength, our own parts, and acquirements, we must not go there, we must not have a dependance upon any of these things, but our trust and dependance must be upon the Lord Jesus Christ, upon whom help is laid: they that come to him shall not want strength to save and defend them against all the attacks and assaults of the enemy, and the oppositions that they meet withal: He is able and willing to save to the uttermost, all that come unto God by him. Now we cannot come to God, but by Christ, and none can come to Christ, except the Father which hath sent him draw them, and we cannot come to God as our Father, and in the name of Christ our mediator, but by the help and assistance of the holy Spirit who maketh intercession for the saints, according to the will of God. Man by sin hath darkened his own mind, and clouded his understanding, that he cannot see the glory of God, nor come to the true knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, which is life eternal, till God is pleased by his Spirit to enlighten him, and reveal himself in him, and to him: now the way whereby God discovers his mind to man, is two-fold, without and within. The holy Scriptures without: and the holy Spirit within.

First, we may learn from without what a veil there hath been over the understandings of the children of men, that they could not see the glory of God. 'But his arm is not shortened that it cannot save,'

no, 'it is your iniquities that hath separated between you and your God,' this we learn from the Scriptures without us.

Second, but there is a further discovery made to us from within, the Spirit of the Lord convinceth us of sin, and shews us effectually, that it is our sins that have made a breach between God and us, and have provoked him to hide his face from us, and to shut up his bowels against us; therefore if we would draw nigh to God, and have him draw nigh to us, and lift up the light of his countenance upon us, we must not hug and embrace our sins, but we must love what God loves, and hate what God hates, and submit to the sceptre and government of Christ, who is of right our sovereign Lord, as well as our Saviour. But those mine enemies (saith he) that will not that I should reign over them, bring them forth and slay them before me.' This is that testimony which the Spirit of the Lord is ready to give you, when you are convinced of your sins, and have a sight and sense of them; you must when you shall have a call from God by his Spirit, do as Paul did, who was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. You must not consult with flesh and blood, but with full purpose of heart cleave to the Lord, for if you continue in sin after conviction, you will grieve the holy Spirit of God, whereby you might be sealed to the day of redemption, and then a curtain of darkness will be drawn between God and your souls; this is according to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, 'My spirit shall not always strive with man.' Though the loving kindness of God is exceeding great, yet it is many times withdrawn, when it meets with ungrateful entertainment from the sons and daughters of men, when they grieve the holy Spirit of God, and live in those sins which by the light in their own consciences they are condemned for. When you are condemned in yourselves (under self condemnation) how can you ever expect to be jus