abominable principle it is owing, that they leave it till they cannot turn in their beds. Satan tells them that it is too late, their consciences are filled with horror, and they go off in a whirlwind. May this be the case of none here! That is a most excellent prayer in our communion office, Turn us, O good Lord, and we shall be turned: we can no more turn our hearts than we can turn the world upside down; it is the Redeemer, by his Spirit, must take away the heart of stone, and by the influence of the Holy Spirit give us a heart of flesh. I might as well attempt to reach the heavens with my hand; I might as well go to some church-yard and command the dead to rise; I might as well shake my handkerchief and bid the streams divide, and they give way, as to expect a soul to turn to God without the grace of a Mediator. Come, my dear hearers, I am of a good man's opinion, that prayed he might be converted every day. In the divine life, not to go forwards is to go backwards; and it is one great part of the work of the Spirit of God to convert the soul from something that is wrong to something that is right, every day, hour, and moment of the believer's life, so that in short his life is one continued act of converting grace. There is not a day but there is something wrong; there is something we want to have taken away; we want to get rid of the old man, and to get more of the new man, and so the Spirit of God works every day. O! my brethren, God give us more of this converting grace!

Then there is establishing grace. David prays, Create in me a new heart, and renew a right spirit within me; in the margin, it is constant spirit; and you hear of some that are rooted and grounded in the love of God, and the apostle prays, that they may always abound in the work of the Lord. Again, it is good to have the heart established with grace. There is a good many people have some religion in them, but they are not established; hence they are mere weather-cocks, turned about by every wind of doctrine; and you may as soon measure the moon for a suit of clothes, as some people that are always changing; this is for want of more grace, more of the Spirit of God; and as children grow that are stronger and riper, so as people grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, they will be more settled, more confirmed. On first setting out they prattle, but they will be more manly, more firm, more steady. Young christians are like little rivulets that make a large noise, and have shallow water; old christians are like deep water that makes little noise, carries a good load, and gives not way.

What think you, my brethren, of the Redeemer's comforting grace? O! what can you do without it? In the multitude

of my thoughts within me, says the Psalmist, thy comforts have refreshed my soul. I believe you will all find what Lord Bolingbroke, in spite of all his fine learning, and deistical principles, found when under affliction. He sent a letter which I saw and heard read to me, at least that part of it in which he says, Now I am under this affliction I find my philosophy fails me. With all our philosophy and striving, it is too hard to work ourselves into a passive state. Alas! it is commendable to strive, but we shall never be content, we shall never be cheerful under sufferings, but through the assistance of the Redeemer. Even now, in respect of parting from one another, what can comfort friends when separated, but the Spirit of God. Paul when going away from Jerusalem, said, What mean ye to weep and break my heart? He also says, I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus, which he could not have said, had he not felt the comforting grace of Jesus Christ. Our Lord, when going away, says, I will send the Comforter; I will not leave you comfortless and helpless, I will come again: the Lord helps the believer from time to time. We can easily, my brethren, talk when not under the rod ourselves; there is not a physician or apothecary in London but can give good advice, but when they are sick themselves, poor souls! they are just like their patients, and many times are more impatient than those they used to preach patience to; so it is with the greatest christian; we are all men of like passions; there is not one of us when under the rod, if left to ourselves, but would curse God, and Ephraim like, be as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; and there are many here, I do not doubt, that have said to the Redeemer, What dost thou? or, perhaps, with Jonah, We do well to be angry; if the Lord does but take away his goard from us, if he is pleased to baulk us in regard to the creatures, how uncomfortable are we? and there are so many afflictions and trials, that if it was not for the Lord Jesus Christ's comfortings, no flesh could bear them.

In a word, what think you, my brethren, of the quickening grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? Remember David says, Quicken me according to thy word; quicken me in thy way; quicken me in thy righteousness. God's people want quickening every day; this is trimming our lamps, girding up the loins of our minds, stirring up the gift of God that is in us. It is just with a soul as it is with the plants and trees; how would it be with them if the Lord did not command quickening life to them after the winter? The believer has his frosty and winter days, and wo be to them that think they have always a summer; the believer at times can say. The winter

is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land, the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell, Cant. ii. 12. What is all this but God's quickening grace, restoring the believer to his blessed joy. Oh! my brethren, I have not time to show you in how many ways the Redeemer's grace is displayed; but wherever this grace is, what reason have you that are partakers of it, and I, to pray that it may be with us all; the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, says John here, be with you all: it is not said all ministers, it is not said all of this or that particular people, but with all believers. O! my friends remember what Mr. Henry said, he desired to be a Catholic, but not a Roman Catholic. I have often thought since I went to see the waterworks, that it was an emblem of Christ; there is a great reservoir of water from which this great city is supplied; but how is it supplied from that reservoir? Why by hundreds and hundreds of pipes: but where does this water go, does it go only to the dissenters or to the church people, only to this or that people? No, the pipes convey the water to all; and I remember when I saw it, it put me in mind of the great reservoir of grace, that living water that is in Christ Jesus, and the pipes are the ordinances by which his grace is conveyed to all believing souls. God grant we may be of that happy number. O what a mercy it is that Christ has said I will be with you always even to the end of the world, Matt. xxviii. 20.; and therefore we must look upon this prayer to be efficacious now, as it was the moment the words dropped from the apostle's pen. I believe the most minute philosophers, and those that have the greatest skill in astronomy, cannot perceive there has been any abatement in the heat of the sun since God first commanded it to rule the day; then surely, if my God can make a sun that for so many thousands of years shall irradiate, enlighten, and warm the world, without losing any of its light and heat, so does the Sun of Righteousness, the Son of God, arise upon the children of God with healing under his wings; he raises, warms, nourishes, and comforts his people, and we have the gospel on the ends of the earth, as well as those who had the honor of conversing with him in the days of his flesh. I mention this in answer to all those who have wrote against the Methodists, and represented them as fanatics; there is no other way of talking against the divine influence, but by allowing it was so formerly, but that it is not so now; they say the primitive christians had it, but it is not to be so with us now as it was formerly. O my brethren, what fools these

great men are when they talk about things they know nothing of; give them a polyglot, give them a lexicon, give them a geographical text, or the chronological part of the scripture, they have something to say; but when they come to talk of the Spirit of God, they see the word Spirit, and they read the word grace, but while they read it their hearts cry, because their knowledge puffs them up, surely if it was so, we great, men that have been in the university should have it, God would give it us; and because they find it not in themselves, their abominable pride will not own it may be in any. Pray what was Peter, James, and John; I do not mean to speak disrespectfully of them, they were as weak, as blind, as obstinate, and worldly-minded as others, till Jesus Christ changed their hearts; and that same grace that changed their hearts, changes now the hearts of God's people; and blessed be God, that same grace is with all his people.

It is so in his ordinances. Here is the difference between a formalist and a christian; the formalist goes to ordinances, but then he does not feel the God of ordinances, and that is the reason most formal people do not care to go to church very often. Who cares to go to the house of a person he does not love? They will only just knock at the door, and ask if such a person is at home, and are very glad to hear the servants say their master or mistress is not at home; the visit is paid; so it is with many people who go to church and meeting; and I do not doubt but there are many Methodists, hundreds and hundreds, that have been at the ordinances, who never felt the God of ordinances converting them to this day.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with his people in prayer. Who can pray without grace? They may laugh at it that will, but God give you and I a spirit of prayer; let them laugh as they please; what profit will it be to us to read this book without the grace of God. What a horrid blunder has the bishop of Gr been guilty of? What do you think his lordship says, in order to expose the fanaticism of the Methodists? Why, says he, they say they cannot understand the scriptures without the Spirit of God. Can any man understand the scriptures without the spirit of God helps him? Jesus Christ must open our understandings to understand the scriptures, and the Spirit of God must take of the things of Christ and show them unto us; as we are taught to pray, O Lord, thou hast caused thy holy scriptures to be written, &c. as in the second Sunday in Advent; and here the bishop pretends to tell us there is no need of it; here our collect and bishop disagree very much. So with respect to all ordinances it is the

same.

What signifies my preaching and your hearing if the

Spirit of God does not enlighten? Formal ministers can steal a sermon, and add a little out of their own heads, but a minister of the gospel cannot preach to purpose without the assistance of the Spirit of God, no more than a ship can sail without wind. As for a carnal man he may take his sermon in his pocket, and you will find his sermons always the same; but spiritual preachers are seldom so; sometimes they are in darkness, so as to speak to those that are in darkness; sometimes they are tempted, so as to speak to those that are tempted; sometimes they have a full gale, and go before the wind, and this is all by the assistance of the Spirit of God, and without this a man may preach like an angel, and do no good at all. So in respect of hearing the word of God, I declare I would not preach again, if I did not think that God would accompany the word by his Spirit. What are we but sounding brass and tinkling cymbals? If the word is preached in the strength of the Spirit, it will be attended with convictions, and conversions, and the grace of God will be both with preacher and hearer.

The grace of God is with his people in his Providence. O! says Bishop Hall, a little aid is not enough for me. My going on the water puts me in mind of what I have seen many times if the sailors perceive a storm coming, they do not choose to speak to the passengers for fear of frightening them, they will go quietly on deck, and give orders for proper care to be taken; and if a sailor can tell of storms approaching by the clouds, why cannot God's people tell why God does so and so with them? The people of God eye him in his Providence; the very hairs of their heads are all numbered, and the grace of God is with them in the common business of life. Some people think that the Methodists preach so and so to make them neglect their business; and we preach at unseasonable times we would not preach at this time, but that we are going to part from one another. No, we preach that the grace of God may attend them in their counting-houses, and wo be to those persons that do not take the grace of God with them into their counting-houses, and in their common business. O what blessed times would it be if every one made the grace of God their employ, that when the Lord comes he may say, Lord, here I am waiting for thee.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is with his people when sick and when dying. O my dear souls, what shall we do when death comes? What a mercy it is that we have a good master to carry us through that time! As a poor converted negro that saw a believer who was dying in comfort, said, Master, don't fear, Jesus Christ will carry you safe