she came and worshipped him, saying, "Lord, help me look on poor helpless me! have compassion on me!" But he answered and said, "It is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs." And she said, "Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table." Amidst all opposition, she was strengthened by the spirit and grace of God. Then Jesus answered and said unto her: "O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt." He seemed to throw the reins into her hands, as much as to say: ask what thou wilt, it shall be done. We find our father Abraham wrestled on behalf of Ishmael, and said unto God: "O that Ishmael might live before thee!" But the promise was to Isaac, and his seed, which was a new covenant one, with great blessings. And God said: Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac; and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, saith God, I have heard thee; behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him excedingly: twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation; the Ishmaels shall have the world, but the Isaacs are to have the better inheritance, that fadeth not away. Is it not grievous, my beloved, to see the Christian grasping after riches and honour in this world, apparently wishing to hold God and mammon, when we have the promise of durable riches and righteousness; surely, when we think of it, we may each of us be ashamed

of ourselves, to consider how worldly-minded we often are, whereas, poor thing, the only happiness that the worldling, living and dying a worldling, will have, is what he enjoys in this life, and at the end thereof, eternal death. I have no doubt in my mind, that the man after God's own heart wrestled with God when Ziglag was burned with fire, and his wives and children, with all that he possessed, and all that appertained to his men were taken by the Amalekites; for we read, "He wept till he had no more power to weep." No doubt with weeping he added supplication, as we read, "he encouraged himself in the Lord his God," feeling the sweet promptings of the blessed Spirit of God; moreover he enquired at the Lord saying, "Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them?" And he answered him, "Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and, without fail, recover all." Do we not know something of the wonders of wrestling prayer when we are brought to a complete stand still, or under, in our feelings, a set-fast trial, we then wrestle night and day; and, as the watchmen God hath set upon the walls of Zion, which are never to hold their peace, day nor night, and give him no rest till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise on the earth. Did not our blessed Immanuel wrestle in prayer, when it is said of of him: "He spent whole nights in prayer; not for himself, for he needed it not, but for his chosen elect people and, being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood, falling down to the ground," Oh! the com

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passion and love of his heart, to shed his precious blood for us sinners; yea, rebellious sinners, both by nature and by practice. And how coldly and slightingly do we often treat him now, who has done so much for us, and is now at the right hand of God, interceding for us, and appearing as our head and representative, ever liveth, and we shall live through him.

III. I now come, lastly, to the words: "And another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel." Though another, yet one and the same character, is both a wrestling Jacob and prevailing Israel. A word or two upon these words, "shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord;" shall make an open confession of whom he serves, and to whom he belongs, desirous of keeping all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord blameless, to cast in his lot with the poor, tried, afflicted family of the Lord, wishing to enter into church union and fellowship, and openly acknowledge himself to be one of the same family, and enjoy the same privileges with the sons of God; he feels and knows he is a prevailing Israel, having many times obtained an answer of peace to his feeble petitions, and enjoying sweet communion and fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, under the unctious teaching and influence of God the Holy Ghost, as it was with Jacob, for we read in Hosea: "He had power over the angel, and prevailed;" was a prince, or behaved himself princely; he wept and made supplication with him; he found him in Bethel, and there he

spake with us.

Even the Lord God of Hosts, the

Lord is his memorial. Further, and he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; that is, the face of God, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. Something like Abraham, when God communed with him, and he said: "Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes." When pleading that the Lord would spare Sodom for the righteous' sake, he goes on humbly entreating the Lord to spare the city, coming down from fifty to ten. And he said: "Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once; peradventure ten shall be found there." And he said, "I will not destroy it for ten's sake." See, my dear friends, how low true vital godliness was in that day, and how few really believed, that in all the cities of the plain, there should not be ten righteous persons found. And of Rachel, it is said: "With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed; and she called his name Naphtali, that is, my wrestling." It is recorded of King Hezekiah, who is spoken very highly of, "That he trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments. And the Lord was with him and he prospered whithersoever he went forth." When this dear man was brought

low through affliction of body, a huge army encompassing the city about, that he said, "This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke, and of blasphemy; for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth." And he sent to the prophet Isaiah, requesting him to lift up his prayer for the remnant that was left, feeling more concern for the dear people of God than he did for his throne. O blessed people, to have such a king as this: where is the man to be found in this day that feels more concern for the languishing state of Zion than he does for his own prosperity and interest? I would, were it the will of Almighty God, that a spirit of prayer and supplication might be poured out upon the Israel of God, to beseech his Divine Majesty on behalf of his Zion, for they shall prosper, saith God, that love her, and they that mourn with her, shall be comforted; for in her peace we shall have peace. We read, this godly king spread the letter he received from Rabshakeh, before the Lord, and prayed unto the Lord, and obtained an answer of peace, both for himself and the people, and also a token for good that the Lord would restore him to health. He turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, and said, “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight; and Hezekiah wept sore. Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears; behold, I will add