from the bottom of my heart, Oh! thou blessed Captain of my salvation, take my hands, my feet, my head, my tongue, and my mouth, yea, my whole body, soul, und spirit, and do with me as seemeth thee good; for I am not my own, but am bought with a price, even with the precious blood of Christ, therefore I desire to glorify God in my body and in my spirit, which are his first by creation; second, by the gift of the Father; third, by the right of redemption; fourth, by the purchase of his precious blood; fifth, by the conquest of his almighty, sovereign and irresistible grace; lastly, by voluntary surrender.

I hope many of you, my dear friends, can join me in this sweet assurance that we are the Lord's, by the evidences I have been enabled to set before you, and that I may be enabled, under every dark cloud, to say : Lord, what wilt thou have me to do, that I may be willing to spend, and be spent in the service, and to the glory of God,and the good and welfare of his people in love.

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II. We have now in the second place to drop a few ideas on the words "another shall call himself by the name of Jacob."

Now, my dear friends, we come to wrestling work, and when men wrestle they summon up all the power they are capable of doing, for fear they should be overcome; and, in spiritual wrestling, it is something of the same, for we read: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.' We have a great many obstacles to overcome, the

greatest are the world, the flesh, and the devil, with all the unbelieving doubts, carnal misgivings, presumptuous confidence, and legal workings; things that we cannot kill, only bring under for a time, for the promise is, the elder shall serve the younger, that Ephraim shall be put before Manasseh. We have, also, to wrestle against principalities and powers; against the rulers of the darkness of this world; against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand: "Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, and for me; that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, under much debility and affliction, that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak, not seeking to please men, but desiring to be a faithful minister of the gospel, craving the unctious teaching of God the Holy Ghost. Therefore I never have been suffered to lean to this man's opinion, or the other, not supposing myself better than they by any means; but,

solemnly beseeching the Lord to teach me himself, as he knows the cases and condition of the hearers, feeling the importance of the trust committed unto me, to stand between a living God and poor perishing sinners, and keenly feeling my inability and insufficiency for so great a work. But, blessed be his holy name, he is pleased, in the discharge of this duty, often to fill my poor soul with joy and peace in believing; and, at times, I have felt as if an angel prompted me: to the honor of his name be it spoken, he has blessed the word, through this frail instrument, to the hearts of many of his dear tried, afflicted, tempted, tossed, and persecuted family. In this world ye shall have tribulation, but in me, says our blessed Saviour, ye shall have peace; be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, and we are to be more than conquerors, through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The particular circumstance that this passage refers to, is recorded in Gen. xxxii., 24, and following verses: "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said

unto him, what is thy name? And he said, Jacob." When we become wrestling Jacobs, our names are altered from unregenerate to regenerated characters; from wicked sinners to righteous persons. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed desolate; but thou shalt be called, Hephzibah, that is, my delight is in her, and thy land Beulah, that is married; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married; and further, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. It matters not, my dear friends, what the circumstances are that are the means of bringing us into similar exercises with Jacob. Whatever the trial is, if it is very pressing, we shall, like him, have to do with the Lord alone. This is peculiar to the true Israelites, they must mourn apart, and pray apart, and their wives apart. It is as Hart says of these dark dispensations

Companions, if we find,

Alas! how soon they're gone!

For, 'tis decreed, that most must pass

The darkest paths alone.

Distressed on ev'ry side,

With evils, felt or fear'd,

We pray, we cry; but cannot find

That pray'rs or cries are heard.

But again he says—

"Our dear Deliverer's love is such,

He cannot long refrain "

And even when we are wrestling with him, he imparts strength to our feeble souls, or we should give up altogether; but all the while deliverance is delayed, he is waiting to be gracious. He will be exalted, that he may have mercy upon us. Our time is always ready; but the promise is: When our strength is all gone, and there is none shut up or left, then he will appear, and make darkness, light, and crooked things straight. But surely we think our strength is all oftentimes before he thinks so, he will have us brought to perfect weakness, and, as the poet observes,

""Tis perfect poverty alone,

That sets the soul at large;

gone

While we can call one mite our own,

We have no full discharge."

When we are strengthened by his Spirit's might in our inner man, we then say, with the Patriarch, “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." A blessing I came for, and a blessing I must have, but perhaps we meet with a similar rebuff to the woman of Canaan, when she came to our Lord on behalf of her daughter. "He answered her not a word," and the disciples wanted him to send her away, for she crieth after us, they said. But he answered her and said, not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." If she had not been in earnest, and her case a pressing one, she would have turned back, for it is as if our Lord said: you are a poor Gentile; it is to the Israelites I But we see she would take no denial. Then

am sent.

C

"I am