upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications." When this blessing is poured out, the man is sure to prevail; whether it is for blessings on his soul, blessings of a temporal nature, or for God to avenge him of his persecutors; there is no standing against it. They will never be able to prevail against it. They will be overcome as sure as the Word of God is true. Why? Because "the Spirit makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God." There is no prevailing against the man. If you look into God's Word, you will find that when Haman had planned the device against the Jews to have them all destroyed, Mordecai ran out, "and cried with a loud and bitter cry." When Esther sent to know the cause, he told her. "You go and fast," said she; "I also and my maidens will fast likewise." Down came the spirit of supplication. The night before Haman asked to be allowed to hang Mordecai, Ahasuerus could not sleep, and the book of the Chronicles was brought in and read to him; and it so happened that that part of it was read which referred to Mordecai's having told of a conspiracy against the king, and the king said, "What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this?" And they answered, "Nothing." Then the king said, "Who standeth without?" And they said, "Haman;" so the king said, "Let him come in." Then the king said to him, "What shall be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour?" "Now Haman thought in his heart, to whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?" So he said, "For the man whom the king delighteth to honour, let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head; and let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that they array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the streets of the city, and proclaim before him; thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour." And the king told Haman to do such and such things to Mordecai. How mortified he must have felt, to have to do it to the man he wanted to destroy; the man whom he viewed as his greatest enemy. Having performed the king's pleasure, he went to his own house mourning, and with his head covered. "O," says Haman's wife, "if Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him;" so he found it. Hence, if you notice when Hezekiah was threatened in the manner he was by the captain of the king of Assyria, he spread the letter before the Lord; and when he did so God sent Isaiah to him, saying, "The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee," even this proud king; "I will put a hook in his nose and a bridle in his jaws, and lead him back by the way he came." He shall not cast a bank or shoot an arrow against the city. When Ahithophel had given counsel against David, up rose the cry in David's heart when he heard

of it. "Turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." Down it came; God is so quick of hearing you can see how he will prevail. So my friends, when God blesses his people with this, they are sure to prevail, like poor Jacob. "I cannot let thee go except thou bless me." If God has blessed you with this spirit, it proves you are of the house of David; one of the spiritual seed of the Son of God; and this is one of the blessed gifts he has received for men. As you read, "When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them." So the apostles were told to tarry at Jerusalem till they were endued with power from on high. On the day of Pentecost, down came the Spirit on each of them, and they were filled with the Holy Ghost. Then, if you notice, when Peter was shut in prison, and the friends prayed, how the prison was opened, and what things were done. "I will pour out my Spirit upon thy seed." O this spirit of grace and supplication is so different from saying prayers, and talking with the lips. It is a pouring out the heart before God with sighs, tears, and cries. I will tell you what it is mixed with; there is a crying to and an entreating of God; there is blessing God for mercies; and there is thanksgiving and praise mixed with this cry of the heart. There is no such thing as getting it of one's self. It comes from heaven. The blessed Spirit descends in the soul's feelings; so the man receives out of the fulness of Jesus Christ grace to answer grace. If you are the seed of Christ, and one in spirit with him, you know something of this. Christ will intercede on thy behalf before God with such intercession that must prevail; and, as I just said, thy poor heart is running to God's heart; God's will is thy will, and thy will is God's; and there is gratitude for what he has done, and for what he has encouraged thee to hope in. And if thou art destitute of such a spirit as this, O, poor thing, thou hast reason to fear all thy prayers have been like the chattering of a fool; and God says, "a prating fool shall fall.” You may have spoken extempore all the days of your life, and never said a word of prayer pleasing before God. God indites the prayer within, "the Christian's prayer is prompted from within," by the outpouring of the Spirit in the soul. Therefore, God says, "I will pour out my Spirit upon thy seed." If ever you have realized this in your soul, you will prove your life is bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord Jesus Christ. If you have partaken of this Spirit, as such, you can never die.

Secondly. This spirit is a humble spirit; wherever the Spirit of the Son of God descends, it makes the man so little in his own account that it brings him to feel (when he is under its anointing) he is less than the least of all. Though he may be the richest in grace, yet is he now the poorest in spirit. Though he may have been the greatest man, grace has made him the least. Hence the Son of God tells us, "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Now into that

Spirit none can come but God's elect; and this is the spiritual seed of the Son of God. All beside, in spirit, say, if not in word, "Stand by thyself, I am holier than thou." They all say, "Thank God I am not as other men;" they do indeed. God says "they make a tinkling with their feet;" and he says, "the day of the Lord shall be upon all those that are proud and lofty, and they shall be brought low." If God has poured out his Spirit on your heart, it has made you take a low place. It has made you simple as a babe. It has made you feel your own ignorance. It has made you the least of all; and at times, how you have looked for and desired to possess the grace that you could see shining in the hearts of God's children. "O that I were like them." It has made you go humbly before God to receive of his Word; and he promises to give it; so that if you know in heart what this is, "I will save the humble person," you have drunk of the Spirit of the Son of God. What a mercy, poor thing, it is for you that God blesses these with a broken spirit with a new spirit, and with a spirit of adoption. When he pours out his Spirit upon them, how they come into the very mind of Christ; they do indeed. He helps them to show forth whose they are and whom they serve. Do you know anything of what this Spirit is resting on you? Did you ever feel this divine power moving on the face of your soul; working so great a faith in your heart that you believed you should go to heaven; and so filial a spirit of godly fear that you felt, and now feel, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? And of such a humble spirit that you walk lowly before God. This is wherein God's people are made to differ from the world and mere professors. For as God pours out of his Spirit, so they rise up and give glory to God. Under this influence how firmly they believe the Lord is on their side. Under this sweet influence they "shake themselves from the dust, and go forth in the dances of them that make merry.' If this is the truth; if this is what the blessed Spirit does, then, I ask you, is it to be found in your heart? I ask you, where do you see it?

And then comes in, as I just said, "if it is not so," all our religion is nothing worth; it is an empty thing; it is a fancy, not a truth; and the Son of God will say to all such that are destitute of this (when they shall say, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name done many wonderful works"), "Depart from me, ye cursed. I never knew you." "I know nothing of your image; ye were never under my influence." "I never knew you; depart from me, ye workers of iniquity." O sinner, if it were God's will, O that you might know, O that you might realize, O that you might feel somewhat of this Spirit's influence in your heart! This would bring you into a right state of feeling, and it would cause you to walk in God's laws, and manifest you to be a child of God; as he says, "You shall be my people, and I will be your God." Is this it? Do you feel what it is? Then, as I said, you will "not die, but

live, and declare the works of the Lord." You have received of his fulness; and God has made a covenant with you ("ordered in all things and sure ") that shall never depart out of your mouth from henceforth and for ever. You will find this to be true; for the Spirit will bear witness to your spirit, and seal you to the day of redemption; so that now you are one spirit with him.

"I will pour out my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy offspring." O how true is the Scripture: "The blessings are upon the head of the just." What the poet says is a truth, "The men that fear the Lord,

In every state are blessed,

The Lord will grant whate'er they want,

Their souls shall dwell at rest.'

They are blessed in life; blessed in their going out and coming in; blessed in their lying down and in their rising up; blessed in their basket and in their store. They are blessed in death,-"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit;"-He sets his Amen to it, "Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." Then the Son of God welcomes them to eternal joy and blessedness. Now they come to enjoy the realities they have had a taste of in this life. "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Now, if you will look; and just before I came here this evening, I saw that in God's commanding Moses to bless the children of Israel which I never saw before, and thought, as I read it, "What more can God say? What more can he do in the way of blessing, that he has not blessed them with?" Well, look then, he said to Moses, "Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." Then, came, as if this was not enough, "They shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them." "They shall have everything in my heart to do them good. What I am, and what is communicable, they shall enjoy, and be blessed with. They shall inherit it, and be made glad therewith." What is there in God? "Why," say you, "everything to make a poor sinner happy in time and to eternity." Why, then, poor thing, if God has blessed you with his Spirit he will put his name on you, and you shall be blessed. For, "in blessing, I will bless thee." "I will pour out my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy offspring." 'They shall be so blessed," says God; "they shall not lack anything." If you notice, this is ever the state all God's people are in. What poor Joseph was blessed with, when Moses blessed him, was from God's mouth. Of Joseph, he said, "Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,

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and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good-will of him that dwelt in the bush; let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren." This is the blessing that drops upon thy head, if he has poured out his Spirit upon thee; and thou wilt find it so in thy soul. It matters not however cross things may appear, whatever trials God may be pleased to bring thee in, I tell thee thou wilt find it true according to God's Word; there is a blessing in it. For, if you notice, God's Word says, "All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Hence, if you notice, when Balaam was called by Balak, to come and curse the people; as he went to curse them, what did he say? "God hath blessed them." It is done; he had come too late. "He hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it," said Balaam. Yea, the people are blessed of God; "the shout of a king is among them." So in blessing they were to be blessed. What a mercy, poor thing, is this for you and me. But you may be ready to say, it does not appear so; but you cannot judge of love or hatred by all that is before you. If you look at present things you will make a mistake; it is the end, sinner, you must look at. Do not look at Joseph in the prison; look at him by and by on the throne. Do not look at Job on the dunghill, his friends scoffing at him, and his wife telling him to curse God. Wait a little. Now see him with twice as much as he had before. Though at times God's hand may seem against us, and we say, "What can this be for ?" My friends, you and I shall prove, though God's hand may appear to be against us, his heart is for us. Then, as such, if you look for a moment in his Word, you see his hand ap› pearing against this and that servant of his, while his heart was for them; and while his hand is scattering temporal favours on others, yet his heart is against them. So you will find this true, 'I will pour out my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy offspring." Therefore in blessing, God will bless these people; and when they come to die, I have no fear (if they have a grain of faith in exercise, and their senses), but they will each one say, "Goodness and mercy hath followed me all the days of my life." There has not anything failed of all God has promised. This you will find to be true; because God has put his name on you.

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God give you to taste of the sweetness of it, as you travel along, that you may be able to sing in the ways of the Lord, and find "wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;" and blessed is that man and woman whose God is the Lord.

THERE is a most excellent suitableness and congruity betwixt repentance and remission of sins, without prejudice to the freedom of God's grace; since God gives repentance, and makes his people what he would have them to be Fleming.