joy and rejoicing of my heart, when I saw any poor creature burdened, I was so simple and foolish, that I did really think, if I could get them under the word, they would hear something that would be blessed to them, and keep them there. However, I find to this day, all will soon wear off unless the Spirit, by bis almighty power, draws their souls, and keeps them fast; unless Christ take hold of the heart it is of no use, but where the Lord the Spirit once fastens a word of conviction upon the heart of a sinner, he never leaves him.

"Now one of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother, Simon, and saith unto him, we have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ, and he brought him unto Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jona; thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, a stone. The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and there findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Then Philip findeth Nathaniel, and saith to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write. Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathaniel said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see." Philip had got a living spirit, a spirit of love to souls, and he wanted to draw poor sinners to Christ. If you have ever tasted the love of God, ever known anything of the goodness of God, you will be always trying to get other poor sinners to come and know how precious the way of God is in Christ Jesus. The effect it had upon me years ago, when I sat under Mr. Beeman, and have seen a stranger come in, there has been something in my heart going out to God, with, "Now, Lord, do send thy word home with power to

the heart of that man.” If I have heard of a person within fifty miles of me, who has been brought to see his lost estate, to cry to God for mercy, my heart has gone out to God on his behalf. Thus what God the Spirit puts into the heart will never leave the man. It matters not what he is, what trouble he may be in, or who he is amongst, that which comes from God will surely lead to God. If he is among a parcel of hypocritical professors, he will find his spirit cannot unite with them, there will be a bar between him and them.

་་

"An Israelite, in whom there is no guile." This it appears had some effect npon Nathaniel, it came to him with power. When the Lord said to him, Behold an Israelite, in whom there is no guile;" Nathaniel said, 66 Whence knowest thou me?" Jesus answered. "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the figtree, I saw thee." What a wonderful thing this was to him. When under the fig-tree he thought nobody saw him, and concluded he was secretly pouring out his heart to God, was wrestling with the Lord the same as some of you may have been many times, and the Lord knew it, and answered him to the joy of his heart. If you are an Israelite, you will be a wrestler, and will wrestle until you prevail, you will never give up unti! you are brought to the knowledge of God's eternal truth. When the heart has been so sunk in trouble and distrees, some known by me, such has been their distress, they have gone to some secret place to seek the Lord, yea, some have even gone behind a hay-stack, and there poured out the heart before God. No consequence what your occupation in life may be, something moves your soul to seek the living God, and you must unburden yourself before the presence of God. Where this moving is not, the soul is destitute of, the fear and grace of God. The Lord Jesus, when he saw Nathaniel said, behold an Israel

ite, in whom is no guile; if we look into the scriptures, we shall see what effect this had, Nathaniel answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the king of Israel;" though he thought no good thing could come out of Nazareth, a to soon as ever Christ spoke that word him, that word of life as it had an effect, must ever have on the heart; all words that reach only to the understanding, that never touch the heart, soon drop off again; thus these words spoken by the Son of God, had an effect upon him, though he only, if I may so speak, brought this out before him, it was enough, it went home to his heart. He concluded if he had not been God, he could not have seen him the Almighty always has some way to convince a soul, and to bring it under conviction, that he seeth in secret, and knows all our inmost thoughts. In the case of Thomas, he had unbelief in his heart, this is a dreadful sin in the heart of man, very few people in the world know what it is, thousands talk about it, but do not understand what they say, it is compared in scripture to iron bars and gates of brass; these bars of iron nothing but the Spirit of God can cut them asunder. We find though Thomas was a real man of God, a praying man, a real true lover of the Lord Jesus Christ, yet he had a heart of unbelief, he had such a heart, he would not believe what he heard, he would not believe what the rest of the disciples told him, I mean when they assembled together to worship God, and the Lord Jesus ap. peared to them, and said, "Peace be unto you." Oh this word entered their souls, now Thomas was not amongst them, when they told him the way that Jesus had visited them, that he had been with, and spoken to them; Thomas said, he would not believe, oh no, Thomas was so hard of belief, he would not believe his fellow disciples, though they declared to him, that the Lord had been with

them and said, Peace be with you, he would not believe any of them, but my friends," Let God be true, and every man a liar;" no man can of himself believe, if a man could give a million worlds for faith, (if there were so many), he could never purchase that, it is the fear of God, his favour and love teach what faith is; unbelief is a bar of iron, such a bar to your entrance to the promised land, that you have sometimes thought you should die in the wilderness, and never enter the promised land. Unbelief will bring such pain upon the poor creature, that it will make even his heart bone sore, make his heart ache, such abominable things rise up in the mind, when the poor soul is in the dark, so dreadful are his feelings, he concludes, he has no religion; all the ministers in the world cannot speak a word that fastens on his conscience till the Lord is pleased to bless the message, all they say he will not be lieve. Sometimes the minister is led to speak the very things the poor scul has tasted, handled, and felt; then the devil comes in, but you are not sure these are sent of God, if they are good men, they may be all deceived. Very few know what it is to grapple with unbelief; Thomas knew, he said, he would not believe the church, if they would swear to it; say you, does it convey as much? I think it does. Thomas said, "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." He would not believe his eyes, no, not unless he thrust his hand into the wound. Some of you know what it is to be bound down with the chains of unbelief, so that you have been almost ready to curse the day of your birth. Jeremiah said, cursed be the day wherein I was born, let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed; cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, a man child is born." Oh this stripping i

hard work, bringing the poor soul down into the path of humility, bringing him to cry to God for mercy, it is a crying time with him in earnest; at times, some of you get cold, and careless under the word; there is such a thing as this, they cannot hear such a minister, they do not think he is a very good speaker, some things he advances do not please them, he may commit a breach in the rules of grammar; were he a little more refined, some would like him much better, poor souls. The great Toplady when journeying in Ireland, was led by the good providence of God, to hear a man preach in a barn; the man as it respects human learning, was so illiterate, he could scarce read his text, yet the Lord so blessed that discourse to his soul, that he was set at liberty; do not despise the workman; the Lord will work, and none shall hinder; he even opened the mouth of the dumb ass to rebuke the madness of the prophet; he will speak by any creature whomsoever he please; I beg of you to watch, and read this history; Thomas he got cold in his feelings in a backsliding state, be did not know where he was; the child of God frequently gets into such a state, he cannot tell where he is; he may like Samson say, he will go out, and shake himself, as at other times, and alas, finds the Lord is gone, and he isas weak as another man. Some of you know what this is for the Lord to leave you month after month you have got into such a backsliding state, you have no heart to read or hear the word, and when you hear, you do not care whether you ever go again or not. Though I speak it with reverence, it is impossible for a child of God to be damned, yet sometimes the Lord so hides his face from him, for his backsliding that the poor child sometimes falls into that he is so tried, flogged, and plagued, he seems really to be in the hands of the devil; he seems given up to Satan, nothing else will do, this is for the destruction of the

flesh. Because when he gets into this careless unconcerned state, neglect. ing the house of God, thinking lightly of the cross and of religion, the Lord is sure to mark all this, and though he will never suffer any of his children to finally fall into hell, yet he will so bring them down to the gates of death, that they will in their soul seem to be cut off. When he shuts, none can open, and when he opens noue can shut.

At the next meeting of the disciples Thomas was among them, and I dare say he had something pretty weighty upon his mind. The Lord Jesus did not give him an opportunity of speaking, but said: "Thomas" -Oh, the words no doubt went through his very soul-" Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing." And Thomas answered, my Lord and my God." It was enough, it came home, unbelief, death, and hell, always flee before him. Yea, ten thousand devils all flee before faith; so sure as God speaks, faith rises up, and they are all gone in the twinkling of an eye. Where the word of a king is there is power." When the Lord enables you to look into your own heart, you then see how it is bound up with unbelief, such wretched feeling, such backwardness to all that is good, that you would sink under the burden if left to yourself; but what a mercy it is the Almighty comes again. If he did not we should never go to him, our going away is of ourselves, as Bunyan says, and coming back is of the Lord; for a poor child, a backslider, would never come back if God did not fetch him. All he loved, elected, redeemed, and gave his Son to die for, shall never be finally lost. I only drop these things. to show that if the word only reaches the head and not the heart, it will have no effect. Some have gone or ten, twelve, or twenty years, and

never had the word drop with power into their heart; a poor child of God who goes often to the house of God, feels so hard, wretched, and shut up, he is ready to give all up, being long and grievously tempted by the devil that the Lord never will appear. When he is brought to such straits that he thinks he will go once more, then give all up, the Lord in a moment drops a word into his soul, which causes his heart to ascend in thanksgiving, praises and adoration; so the poor soul finds it as the poet says,

The deeper we sink the higher we rise."

"Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him, and saith of him: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." Let me just point out to you another Israelite, a praying soul coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. It appears he was threshing in a barn; he came to Christ. You may be doing your work, employed in your lawful calling, yet, as Nathaniel, may come to the Lord Jesus. He came with all his heart, soul, and affections; his heart going out in desires, longings, hungerings, and thirstings; he knew Jesus Christ was the Mesiah, all he wanted for life and salvation; then if we look back into the Old Testament we shall find Gideon was an Israelite in whom was no guile, one who was complete in Christ, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, all fair; he was raised up as an instrument in the hand of God; when the Lord called him to go out, he could not take God at his word, he wanted a token, "O Lord, grant me some token." Some people talk of taking the Lord at his word, and say, they believe all the promises. But however the case with me is far different; so far from taking God at his word, I seem at times like Bunyan's man shut up in the iron cage, fearing that I should never be let out; say you, can this be possible, can you be a real worshipper of

God, and so harrassed and shut up? Yes. If I was not so tried, how could I come into cases of conscience. But when the Lord has brought me through, and I find that the Lord is a God of mercy, that "justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne; that mercy and truth bego fore his face;" when it is all over, the poor soul is led to wonder how it was the Lord did not cut him off. But he is the God of Israel, "the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, God over all, blessed for evermore." Gideon wanted the Almighty to grant him a sign, if he went against the Midianites, that if he put a fleece of wool in the floor, the dew to be on the fleece only, and dry upon all the earth beside, then he would know that the Lord would save Israel, by his hand. He wanted a miracle wrought to coufirm his faith, to confirm God's word. The Lord told him he would go with him, but he would not be lieve it. Oh, what a heart man has got, he cannot believe the word of God. I defy any man in the world to believe, if destitute of the grace of living faith in his heart; so sure as a soul has faith, so sure it will be tried. The Lord granted his request, the ground was dry, and all around it wet. But, say you, if he is not convinced now, what will convince him? nothing will. But he was not convinced, for now he wanted it the other way, the ground to be wet and the fleece dry. The Almighty came down to this poor sinful worm, for he is long suffering to his own children, and granted him his request. But this did not do, he was well nigh as far off as ever, but the Lord told him to send a certain person down and he should hear something, so down he goes with one of his servants to the edge of the camp, and hears a man telling his dream, and when Gideon heard the dream, and interpretation thereof, he worshipped and back to the host of Israel. Thus you

came

who know the power of unbelief, know what a wretched thing it is to combat with this devilism, this atheism; the Lord will so lead and bring his children, that they shall find they can do nothing to save themselves, either in whole or in part. They find they know nothing, they are Israelites in whom is no guile. Jesus, when he saw Nathaniel coming to him knew all that was in his heart, and when he looked on Gideon he knew what was in his heart. No doubt it was a great grief to Gideon, but he could not help it, to be bowed down with such hardness, deadness and bondage; he could no more help it than he could create a world, he could not extricate himself from that state until he had faith in exercise. The Lord will make his children know he is to be sought for every blessing they have. I will be inquired of by the house of Israel for all these things." So every child of God is an Israelite, and every Israelite is a wrestler, who wrestles with God and prevails.

Now just go a little further, and you will find this the character which the Lord gives his people, and may you, under the teaching of the Holy Ghost, be enabled to trace it in your own experience, so that you may prove you are one of these wrestlers. One of the most prevailing of these wrestlers was Jacob. His name was called Jacob, a supplanter, significant of the name given to God's elect before they are called; they are Jacobs in the world, in their natural state they are supplanters, until they are called by divine grace. Look at good old Jacob, you find how he got the blessing by fraud; the Almighty did not cut him off. Let me drop a word in love and faithfulness, some may say, there is no call to be so particular, for if Jacob was a good man, and was let do so, we may do so; look at what followed Jacob, left his home, and went under Laban, the Lord retaliated with him under Laban; he exercised, and cheated poor Jacob, and changed his

wages ten times. But the Lord confounded the wisdom of Laban, and made every thing prosperous with Jacob; Laban tried every way to keep him down, but the Lord blessed Jacob. When the Lord watches over a man, it is for his good; he makes all things work together for his good. After Jacob left Laban to go home, it came into his mind in a very powerful way, the words of Esau, that when the days of mourning for his father were ended, he would kill Jacob, because he knew, he had got the blesssing; and when it was told him Esau was coming with four hundred men, he was afraid; he wrestled with God, he seems to use his natural wisdom first, he goes to work as Paul says, 'Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual." He takes his flock into droves, that which he could best spare, he put first, and the next second, so that if the first was smitten the next might escape, if the first, or second, or third, the fourth, might escape. This was natural wisdom. We find what unbelief is in the heart; sometimes we plot and contrive how we shall bring the things about, and so forget God. But the Lord's eye was over Jacob, though he seemed to lose all his confidence, through the wretched sin of unbelief that was in his heart, yet it proved by what he did he was a child of God: he went to God in secret, he calls on the Almighty to protect him, his wives, and his property; after he had done this he pours out his heart before the Lord, and we read, a man appeared and wrestled with him. This wrestling is taken from certain games practised in some places: two men get hold of each other, and try which should throw the other on his back. Thus Jacob wrestled with God, and may you be enabled to wrestle as Jacob did with the living God, and prevail; then your name, as his, will be changed from Jacob a supplanter, to Israel a prevailer. He wrestled till he prevailed. In this wrestling