Of this violence we have an example in Jacob wreftling with the angel, who faid, Let me go, for the day breaketh; and he faid, I will not let thee go, till thou bless me. * Here Jacob being left alone improves his folitude; danger and trouble work in him the right way. He prays-prays earnestly, and that against much difcouragement. God and man feem to oppose him; for the angel of the covenant wreftled, as if to get loose from his hold. It was a spiritual wrestling; he wept and made fupplication, but before he prevails the angel touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh, and hindered him from wrestling in his own ftrength. Then the Spirit alone made interceffion; nature failed and grace was conqueror--- When I am weak, then am I strong. He fays, Let me go, as God once faid to Mofes, Let me alone: thus does the Lord fometimes try our faith. This was the cafe of the woman of Canaan, when Jefus, at firft, anfwered her not, and afterwards faid, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and cast it to the dogs. But when the ftill worshipped, prayed, and waited, fhe obtained thefe words of approbation, O woman, great is thy faith! as well as the anfwer of her prayer. So the angel faith, Let me go, the day breaketh---thy affairs want thee---thou must have reft; but Jacob forgoes all for the bleffing--reft, family, wearinefs, pain; and answers, I will not let thee go, unless thou bless me. So muft it be with us; none prevail but those, who take the kingdom by violence. He conquers at laft. What is thy name? faith God.---He will have the finner know himlelf and confefs what he is; then he gives the new name, A prince with God. If God be for us, who can be against us? The angel does not tell him his name; for the tree of life is better than the tree of knowledge. He faw God face to face, and lived. So is it with faithful wrestlers: God refifts only to increafe our defires, and we must be refolved to hearken to nothing that would hinder. Wearinefs. care, friends. fear, and unbelief, muft all be thrown afide, when we feek E e 2 Gen. ii. 26.

to fee God face to face, and to be brought into the light of life.

They, who are weary of the Egyptian yoke of outward and inward fin, who cannot reft without the love of Jefus, the life of God, at last become violent. They forcibly turn from the world; by force they attack the Devil; bring themselves by force, before God; and drag out, by ftrong confeffion, the evils that lurk within. Againft these they fight by detefting and denying them. Their ftrength is in crying mightily to the Lord, and expecting continually that fire, which God will rain from heaven upon them. All this must be done by force, and with great conflicts; for it is againft nature, which hath the utmost reluctance to it.

The words of the text allude to the taking a fortified town by ftorming it; and this is of all military expeditions the most dangerous. The enemy is covered and hid, and thofe, who fcale the walls, have nothing but their arms and courage. But can the wrestling foul overcome-can he take this kingdom? Ah no, not by his own ftrength; but his Jofhua will take it for him. God only requires, that we should entreat him to do this: The prayer of repentance, the prayer of faith, ftorm mount Sion, the city of God. He that is violent fhall receive the kingdom of God---juftification and fanctification: but remember, the violent take it by force. He fhall have many a hard ftruggle with God's enemies, and, it may be, many with the Lord himfelf, before he declares him conqueror.

Some object, We have no might; and to endeavour to take the kingdom by violence, is taking the matter out of God's hand: Is it not better to wait for the promife, ftand still and fee the falvation of God?. If you mean by ftanding ftill, not agonizing to enter in at the trait gate, not wrestling in prayer, and fighting the good fight of faith-May God fave you from this flillnefs! You err, not knowing the fcriptures. The ftanding ftill there recommended, is to poffefs your foul in patience, without dejection, fear, and mur

muring. Stand fill as the apostles, who watched together in prayer, ran with patience the race fet before them, and fought manfully, as faithful foldiers, under the banner of the cross. Any other stillness is of the devil, and leads to his kingdom. Search the new teftament, and fhew me one ftanding ftill, after he had been convinced of his wants. Did the Centurion, did the woman of Canaan, did blind Bartimeus ftand still? Did St. Paul, did the woman with the bloody iffue stand still? Did not all of them úfe the power they had? I do not defire you to ufe, what you have not; only be faithful ftewards of the manifold grace entrusted to you. A kingdom, a kingdom of heaven is before you power to reign with Jefus as his priests and kings. Stir up then thy faith; reach forward to the things which are before. Become a wrestling Jacob, and you fhall fhortly be a prevailing Ifrael. Be not difcouraged, for, as a good man obferves," God frequently gives in one moment, what he hath apparently withheld for many years."

NINTH FRAGMENT.

Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Luke xii. 20.

LET us confider, I. Why our Lord calls the perfon mentioned in the text, fool-Thou fool. II. The fudden and unexpected feparation between this rich man and his all. III. The circumftance of the particular time of his death-This night. IV. Make fome obfervations on the nature and value of a foul. V. Obferve, who shall require the rich man's foul-it shall be required. VI. Make fome ren arks on the last words of the text,-Thy foul fhall be required of thee.

I. It is not without good reafon, that our Lord addreffes the rich man in the text with Thou fool. The picture our Lord has drawn of him hath eight strokes, each of which proves this worldling to have been an egregious fool.

1. He was ich in this world, but neglected being rich towards God, rich in grace. 2. He was perplexed without reafon, and exclaimed-What shall I ↳ do! I have not where to bestow my fruits. Had he been wife, he would rather have cried out, with the jailor, What shall I do to be saved! or he would have inquired, whether all the houfes of his poor neighbours were full; and whether he could not bestow upon them fome of those fruits, the abundance of which made him fo uneafy. 3. He determined to pull down his barns:—not to break off his fins. The pile of them, though towering to heaven, like Babel, did not make him uneafy. 4. He refolved to build greater barns; but forgot to build the hopes of his falvation on the rock of ages.* 5. He would fay to his foul, Soul, thou haft goods laid up: But had he been wife, he would have confidered, that although he was rich as to his outward circumstances and the things which fupport the body, yet his foul was poor, miferable, blind, and naked.† 6. He had the folly to promife himself a long life, as if he had a leafe of it, figned by his heavenly Lord. Soul, faid he, thou haft much goods laid up for many years; but God said, Thou fool, this night, &c. 7. He would fay to his foul, Soul take thine eafe; but had he been directed by wifdom, he would have exhorted his foul not to rest till he had obeyed the apoftle's precept, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.‡ Alas! how common and how dangerous is the mistake of the children of this world, who openly follow this fool, and fay either to themselves, or one to another, "Soul take thine cafe; take care of being under any concern about falvation, there is no need of so much + Phil. ii. 12.

*Mat. viii. 24. † Rev. iii. 7.

ado about religion and heaven."

8. The laft mark of the rich man's folly, was to fay to his deluded soul, Eat, drink, and be merry; as if a foul could eat and drink what money can procure or barns contain. No my brethren; the grace of God, and the benefits of Chrift's death, which are called his flesh and blood, the bread of life, and the living water, are the only food and drink proper for our fouls; and the true mirth and folid joy of a spirit is that, to which St. Paul exhorts us, Rejoice in the Lord, and again I fay rejoice.

II. The feparation between this rich farmer, and his all, was fudden and unexpected---This night, faid God, fhall thy foul be required of thee. This night; not fo much as to-morrow is allowed him to difpofe of thofe goods, which were laid up for many years: he muft fuddenly, immediately, part with all.

3.

1. All his moveable goods---except a windingfheet. 2. All his landed eftate, except a grave. All his barns, houses, and halls, except a coffin. 4. All his friends and relations, without exception: he mult go this difmal journey alone and unattended. 5. All his time; his precious time, which the living kill fo many ways, and which the dying and the dead would gladly recover, by parting with a world, if they had it to part with. 6. His foul, it is to be feared.

Let us here reflect, how careful we are, to fecure our doors, left thieves fhould break in, and take away fome of our goods; and yet how carelefs to provide for death, who carries away all, or rather hurries us away from all at once! What an alarming thought is this, for impenitent finners! May their fouls be required this very night? O let them not plot wickednefs, and contrive vanity, against to-morrow.

III. The circumftance of the particular time of this rich man's death, is very awful---This night, not this day, fhall thy foul, &c. This feems to imply four things.

* Phil. iv. 4.