evil must be seen and heard, he will silently look to his prayer-hearing God, and send up these unuttered but sincere and devout prayers, to be strengthened with all grace and kept from falling. If he continues to do so, then will the promise be made good, and he will be blessed. He shall have what he asks; he shall be filled; for thus saith the Lord, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."

Now, then, let us glance at the happiness or blessing which such persons obtain.

They have the things they hunger and thirst after; and in having these, they are blessed both now and hereafter. But to come to some particular instances. Let us take the man who is naturally hasty, hot, and passionate in his temper; this man, as an unconverted individual, is continually running into excess of rage and fury on every occasion of things going contrary to his will, or of people offering the smallest provocation. He is a torment to himself, and a dangerous

person to others. Now, when the renewing grace of God lays hold of his heart, this hasty temper is his greatest struggle; and often does the old Adam of passion strive for the mastery, and often is his mind ruffled, and his soul made sorrowful by some outbreak of this besetting sin. And is he quiet and contented? No, he longs for victory, and he earnestly prays for a meek and quiet spirit; and as he longs and prays for more grace, so he obtains more, and through that grace he becomes conqueror, and experiences the comfort and blessing of the state into which he is brought. So, with the man who feels that he is greatly tempted to repine or murmur against those providences which bring trial and disappointment in his family and circumstances. He longs for an entire resignation to all the will and dispensations of his heavenly Father; and he prays and prays on for that grace; and the Lord hears his prayer,

and blesses him with a contented and resigned state of mind; and this brings such a calm and quietude into his heart,

that he is quite a new man. Then, again, he may be sorely tempted by Satan, and evil women, to do as others do, "to go as a bullock to the slaughter and as a fool to the correction of the stocks in following her ways, which go down to hell." Proverbs vii. 13-27. He feels the power of his remaining corruptions, and the many and mighty snares that way-lay him; and he longs to be delivered from them. And in proportion as he longs for deliverance, so he prays, and so he is heard, and he obtains the victory. Yes, he is blessed with resolution and prudence to keep out of the way of evil; and when the tempter assaults him to his face, he is enabled, like Joseph of old, to exclaim, "How can I do this great evil, and sin against God!" Genesis xxxix. 9. So with respect to the snare of drinking, he longs to be, in this respect, one whose moderation may be known unto all men; and he prays for and obtains this grace; and he finds the comfort and blessing of such an experience. And thus, indeed, it is with respect to every grace. He

longs for more of the Redeemer's mind and spirit in all things, for more deadness to the world and the creature; for more faith, and hope, and love, and joy, and peace in the Holy Ghost; and he goes on praying and longing, and longing and praying; and his prayers and desires are answered, and his soul is blessed, for it grows in these graces, and in the experimental knowledge of the only true God and of Jesus Christ whom he hath sent. But the complete fulfilment of this promise remains to be experienced in another world. In this world the sinner is frequently filled with his own ways; that is, his lusts and sins are his frequent and heavy chastisers; but in another world he is ever filled with the consequences of them, in being made to know and feel what is meant by the worm that never dies and the fire that is never quenched. And so, in another point of view, it is with the christian soldier, the follower of the Lamb, the man who now hungers and thirsts after righteousness, he often is blessed even now with a sweet portion of

the Redeemer's love; but in heaven he continually receives out of the divine fulness grace for grace, and glory for glory, for he there stands in his presence where there is a fulness of joy, and is at his right hand where there are pleasures for evermore. Oh, then,

"What tongue can tell, what fancy paint
The joys that fill th' enraptur'd saint;

When mix'd with heav'n's triumphant throng,
He shares their bliss and swells their song?

"He feels no pain, he fears no want,
His portion all that God can grant:
To see the Saviour as he is,

And dwell in heaven with him and his.

“ No darkness then obscures the mind,
The darkness all is left behind:
And objects lately half conceal'd
In full resplendence stand reveal'd.

"His love so cold, so mix'd before,
In heaven is cold and mix'd no more;
It gains the regions whence it came,
And lives a pure, eternal flame."

Oh, the inexpressible blessing of obtaining part and lot with the redeemed and glorified children of God!

They are the