15th verse of Genesis xxviii.

The Lord helping, it may perhaps be most profitable to consider a little of the pilgrimage or travail then of him in whom we hope, as in a glass, to see ourselves, which will lead us 1st, To notice whether all the living sons and daughters of Adam after the flesh are spiritually born wrestlers; if not, 2nd, What it is that makes some thus to differ from others; and 3rd, What are some of the principal marks whereby we may know them to be the people thus differing.

The two first questions or subjects of consideration, we may be brief upon, as our space is somewhat limited, and come as soon as possible to the third, which as before hinted most concerns us.

1st, That every soul is wholly opposite to being spiritually born wrestlers after the flesh, is plain from the following:-"That which is born of the flesh is flesh." John iii, 6. "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: surely the people is grass.' Isaiah xl, 6, 7. "Man that is born of a woman, cometh forth like a flower, and continueth not."

Job

xiv, 1, 2. "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Psalm xiv, 2, 3. "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Psalm li, 5. "We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee." Isaiah lxiv, 6, 7. These portions, together with

their proofs in our own souls, sufficiently show what the true state of Adam's fallen race is.

And now, 2nd, Why these, or a part of these should differ from the other part, is because the Lord the Spirit takes up his abode within them, and takes the reigns of their government in his own hands. "That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit." John iii, 6. "A Spirit hath not flesh and bones." Luke xxiv, 39. "God is a Spirit." John iv, 24. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth.” John vi, 63. "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; for he dwelleth within you, and shall be in you. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." John xiv, 16, 17, & 20. "Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you into all Truth, for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." John xvi, 13, 14. "And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts ii, 4. "They that are after the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit." "If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you, then are ye in the Spirit. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God."

Romans viii, 5, 9, 14, 26 & 27. Many other portions there are to prove this part of the subject, which at present, being omitted, will give us the sooner to come to the last consideration; viz.: What are some of the principal marks whereby we may know souls to be those who are thus led by the Spirit.

Then 1st, As every soul is entirely destitute of the Holy Spirit by the natural birth, so would every soul remain to all eternity, and must endure the punishment due to that state, which is a curse to everlasting. But 2nd, Because, by the Will of God, who is the Potter of all people, he hath determined some to be vessels of honour and the other some to be vessels to dishonour, it hath pleased him, though the clay was all of one lump, to extra garnish his honourable vessels, even imprinting upon them and in them his own likeness, while the others he hath been pleased to leave as they were first formed. "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Romans viii, 29, 30. "Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?" Ecc. viii, 4. And 3rd, The beginning of this conforming to the image of his Son, being a quickening by his Spirit, as we read, "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, &c.," Eph. ii., so doth it prove it a work of this Time state, and by the will of God, a fixed time: but, "The wind bloweth were it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

John iii, 8. So that though there be a fixed time that this chosen people should be called, according to the Mind and Will of God, yet it is very manifest that that fixed time is a secret time, and can only be known as having taken place, by the effects following after; for instance, "being all by nature the children of wrath," we are all dead to Spiritual life, and so consequently, are ignorant of our sinful condition, not knowing we require any thing besides what we are already in possession of to enable us to be with God and see him as he is, though it be written, "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord;" Heb. xii, 14. We learn that there is a God, that he will punish sin, and that with eternal death, yea, with everlasting burning torments; we see ourselves sinners also, but, only while our consciences accuse us of our wicked actions, and therefore, not in the light that God sees us, and so, of course not so filthy and abominable; nay, on the other hand, we are sure to dream we do please God, rather than offend him. Not, at the time of committing any wicked action, for this our consciences tell us is displeasing to him; but if we sorrowfully wished we had not committed it, we do verily think that atonement is sufficient to please him, nevertheless for its being written, "Without shedding of blood is no remission." Heb. ix, 22. We all are apt, more or less, to think our sins are little, and that God sees them as we do ourselves, and that the few we have, we can rub off so as to please him, ere he summons us by Death before his judgment seat; if not, what we are not able to do, his mercy boundless, we think he will make up the deficiency, and receive us graciously to himself. And though many continue here to fill up their measure of iniquity, yet the fixed time in God's mind being arrived to call or quicken

is so

his own people, his peculiar choice, he puts forth his power, yea, he bloweth with his Spirit upon their souls, and they live and breathe unto him from that moment, for, "The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life;" John vi, 63; and though, from that moment, they are spiritually born, yet, through the remaining darkness of the understanding, they know it not. Nevertheless, the Spirit hath given them light sufficient to see the old foundation upon which their wisdom built hopes of pleasing God, and being accepted of him, is a sandy one, and likely at the time of their mortality, or finished course of this life, to give way, disappoint their expectations, and ruin them everlastingly and here begins their warfare, their wrestling with God in right earnest, their cryings, their hungerings, their thirstings, their strivings to gain the favour of God, which they fancy they have sinned away, and without which, they are persuaded heaven for ever is lost to them. O, the different thoughts of self and sin now, to that time we thought our state secure! But, beloved, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ, we do hope." Phil. i, 6. And here we will, if it please him who is our only hope, turn our attention to his servant Jacob of old, as we hinted at the commencement of this subject.

that you are pretty well about work, for I like to hear