belief, how is it that we fear to believe? That we, in our blindness, consider it presumptuous to credit the word of our great High Priest? O, why not leave our fruitless toiling, and calmly and confidently resign our cause to the Captain of our salvation?

Mr. Fletcher gives us the following beautiful illustration of the point I am urging:

"Believers generally go on to Christian perfection as the disciples went to the other side of the sea of Galilee. They toiled some time very hard, and with little success; but after they had 'rowed about twentyfive or thirty furlongs, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He said to them, It is I, be not afraid; then they willingly received him into the ship, and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.' Just so, we toil till our faith discovers Christ in the promise, and welcomes him into our hearts; and such is the effect of his presence, that immediately we arrive at the land of perfection. Or, to use another illustration, God says to believers, 'Go to the Canaan of perfect love; arise, why do ye tarry? Wash away the remains of sin, calling, that is, believing, on the name of the Lord.' And if they submit to the obedience of faith, he deals with them as he did with the evangelist Philip, to whom he had said, 'Arise, and go toward the south.' For when they arise and run,' as Philip did, the Spirit of the Lord takes them, as he did the evangelist; and they are found in the New Jerusalem, as 'Philip was found at Azotus.' They 'dwell in God,' or in perfect love, and God,' or perfect love, dwells "in them.""

5. I would urge the necessity of attendance upon all the means of grace.

We have seen that the only condition, strictly so called, upon which entire sanctification is suspended,

is faith. But this faith must be associated with certain states of mind and courses of action. It cannot subsist alone. The states of mind which precede and accompany this faith I have already noticed. I shall now proceed to speak of the course of conduct necessary to be pursued.

It will be scarcely necessary to urge that he who would seek for entire conformity to the will of God must forsake all evil courses. The means of grace cannot be acceptably performed while we indulge in known sin. The psalmist says: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Forsaking every crooked way, and turning our back upon the vain pomp and glory of the world, we must betake ourselves to all the great duties of piety, charity, and mortification prescribed in the gospel. Here I need not go extensively into particulars. Some few of the duties which are of special importance, and which imply the rest, I shall proceed to notice.

Reading devotionally the Holy Scriptures, communicating at the Lord's table, hearing the word preached, fasting or abstinence, and prayer, will be found not only serviceable but imperatively necessary. We call these means of grace-not because they, of themselves, infallibly secure the grace of God, but because they are outward duties, to the right performance of which God promises his blessing. Any negligence in these duties implies a wrong state of the moral feelings, and the absence of the essential conditions upon which God suspends the gift of the Holy Spirit. But we must guard against making any of these means either grace itself or the cause of grace. Sanctifying grace is a spiritual and invisible influence, which proceeds from the infinite fulness of divine love. We can do nothing to deserve it. All we can do is to seek

it in God's appointed way, and then receive it as a mere gratuity, feeling that "after we have done all, we are unprofitable servants-we have done nothing more than was our duty to do."

After these general remarks it may not be unnecessary to give a more particular view of one leading duty -I refer to prayer. Prayer is the soul's converse with God-and God has seen proper to require it of all. None will doubt but God might have instituted some other plan or mode of intercourse between man and his Maker. None will doubt but he might have so arranged the conditions of his kingdom that men might receive gracious and saving influences without asking for them, had he seen this best. But the fact that he has instituted prayer as the way or means of access to the throne of grace, is abundantly asserted in the Scriptures, and exhibits no incongruity with any of the various developments of wisdom and goodness with which we are acquainted in the divine arrangements. And such an arrangement seems an eminent exhibition of wisdom and goodness. What better could our heavenly Father have done for us than to have said, "Ask, and ye shall receive." Poor, and unworthy, and wretched as we are, we can "ask." It is the province of paupers to beg—they can ask and receive, though they have nothing to pay.

The faith of which I have spoken has special reference to Christ. It submits to his governance, rests upon his atonement, and trusts his promises. Prayer for entire sanctification principally contemplates the agency of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is the grand efficient agent in the great work of renewing the soul in the image of God. And for the aid of the Holy Spirit we are instructed to pray. It was when the disciples were all with one accord in one place,

lifting up their hearts in prayer, that the Holy Ghost fell upon them, on the day of Pentecost. And our Saviour says, "If ye, being evil, know how to give good things to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him."

For this baptism of the Spirit we must pray in secret. Retiring from the world-shutting out its cares-we must pour forth a torrent of ardent supplications. Our soul's desires, like the smoking incense, must ascend to the very heavens, and curling around the divine throne, present a sweet savour to the Eternal. O how heaven-like is the closet! How sacred the place where man is in audience with the Deity! Here let the thirsty soul breathe out the unutterable prayer. Though thoughts too big for expression may labour in the recesses of the soul, there is a consciousness that "God knows them all together." Though the anguish of the spirit is too terrible for endurance, here the soul's best Friend eminently resides, and in the fulness of his compassion says to the weary and heavyladen, Roll your burdens on me. "Cast thy burdens on the Lord, and he will sustain thee." Though your sins are as mountains, he will annihilate them with a word. "Thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee." Though your corruptions, like a swelling tide, threaten to bear you away to the gulf of eternal ruin, his infinite love will dry up the vast abyss. For he promises to " purge away our sins till there be none of them." And though misery and grief shall be ready to swallow you up, he will give you comfort. "For, behold," saith he, "I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and my people a joy." Here, then, I say, in your closet go to God in prayer, and plead his promises and your own wretchedness and wants, and God will meet

you there, for he has said he would. He has promised, and he will perform.

Social prayer will be found especially beneficial. The pious vicar of Madeley especially recommends this.

"Social prayer is closely connected with faith in the capital promise of the sanctifying Spirit; and therefore I earnestly recommend that mean of grace,. where it can be had, as being eminently conducive to the attaining of Christian perfection. When many believing hearts are lifted up, and wrestle with God in prayer together, you may compare them to many diligent hands which work a large machine. At such times, particularly, the fountains of the great deep are broken up, the windows of heaven are opened, and 'rivers of living water flow' from the heart of obedient believers.

In Christ when brethren join,

And follow after peace,

The fellowship divine

He promises to bless,

His chiefest graces to bestow

Where two or three are met below.

Where unity takes place,

The joys of heaven we prove;

This is the gospel grace,

The unction from above,

The Spirit on all believers shed,

Descending swift from Christ their Head.'

"Accordingly we read, that, when God powerfully opened the kingdom of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, the disciples were all with one accord in one place.' And when he confirmed that kingdom, they were lifting up their voice to accord.' See Acts ii, 1, and iv, 24.

God with one

Thus also the

believers at Samaria were filled with the Holy Ghost,