as he is often represented in heaven, but standing; as much as to say, here, here, Jacob, thy brother wants to kill thee; here thou art come out without a servant, art lying upon a hard bed, but here I am ready in order to preserve thee; I stand above, and I see thy weariness--I see the fatigue and hardships thou hast yet to undergo, though thou dost not see it thyself; thou hast thrown thyself upon my providence and protection, and I will give thee the word of a God that I will stand by thee. The Lord stood above: if he had said nothing, that would have been enough to have shown his readiness to help.

:

But God speaks, behold: well might this word be ushered in with the word behold a ladder set on the earth, and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it; and above all, behold God speaking from it! What doth he say? I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father. O! happy they that can say, the Lord God of my father; happy you that have fathers and mothers in heaven. I remember, about twenty-five years ago, as I was traveling from Bristol, I met with a man on the road, and being desirous to know whether he was serious or not, I began to put in a word for Christ; (and God forbid I should travel with any body a quarter of an hour without speaking of Christ to them) he told me what a wicked creature he had been: but, sir, says he, in the midst of my wickedness, people used to tell me, you have a good many prayers on file for you; your godly father and mother have prayed very often for you; and it was the pleasure of God he was wrought upon, and brought to Christ. Lay in a good stock for your children; get a good many prayers in for them; they may be answered when you are dead and gone. I am the God of Abraham thy father, not thy grand father; to put him in mind what an honor God would put upon him, to make him as it were, the father of the church. "Though you have many instructors," says Paul, "you have but one Father" and the God of Isaac; the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. Amazing! amazing! You know very well when persons buy or come to an estate, they usually take possession of it by some ceremony, such as receiving or taking up a piece of dirt, or twig, in their hand, as a sign of their title. Now says God, poor Jacob, thou dost little think that this very spot of ground that thou liest on to-night, cold and stiff, I intend to give to thee, and thy posterity, for an inheritance. O my brethren, live all to God, and God will give all to you. Who would have thought of this; probably Jacob did not. It is as if God took pleasure in seeing his dear children lie on such hard ground; if he had been on a feather bed, he might not have had such a visit: thou shalt have now a

God to lean upon; to thee will I give it, and to thy seed, which shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south and in thee, and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Thus did heaven balance the loss of the comforts of his father's house, by the discovery of his and his offspring's prosperity, by an interest in the promised seed.

My particular circumstances call me to observe, and I believe that God has done it on purpose to encourage me, that faith, resting on the promise, is easily resigned to the loss of present good, whereas worldly hearts consider prosperity as a portion; they do not care if the devil takes them hereafter, so they have it now; and that makes carnal people wonder how we can give up things in this world, for the sake of those not yet born; but it is to glorify God, and lay a foundation for others' happiness. Here God gives Jacob to know, that hereafter his seed should spread on the east, west, north, and south, his branches should multiply, and at last from his loins should Jesus Christ come; what for? In whom all the families of the earth should be blessed. God Almighty grant we may be blessed in him.

Then if Jacob should say in his heart, hast thou no promise for me? here another behold comes in; Behold I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest. What a word is this! Thou hast nobody with thee, nothing but a staff, (he could not carry much upon his back, like a poor soldier with a knapsack behind, and a little bread in his pocket) well, saith God, I do not despise thee because thou art destitute, but I love thee the better for it; thy brother Esau longs to kill thee, but if Esau stabs thee, he shall stab thy God first; I will not only be with thee now, but I will watch every step thou takest, I will be with thee in all places whither thou goest: as much as to say, Jacob, thou art a pilgrim, thy life is to be a moving life; I do not intend thou shalt settle and keep in one place; thy life is to be a life of changes; thou art to move from place to place, but I will be with thee in all places whither thou goest, and thereby it shall be known that

am Jacob's God, and also by my bringing thee again into this land. He not only assures him of a successful journey, whither he was now going, but promises to bring him back once more to see his dear father and mother, and relations again: I will bring thee back to this land; and to confirm his faith and hope, the great God adds, I will not leave thee till I have done that I have spoken to thee of; that is, all the good he hath just now promised. Some people promise, but they cannot do it to-day, and they will not do it to-morrow.

I have known the world, and have wrung the changes of it ever since I have been here; but, blessed be God, an unchangeable Christ, having loved his own, he loved them to the end: I will not leave you till I have performed all things I have promised you. May this promíse come upon you and your children, and all that God shall call.

Thus spake the great Jehovah to poor Jacob, just setting out to a strange land, knowing not whither he went; but now God speaks not only to Jacob, but he speaks to you; and, blessed be the living God, he speaks to me also, less than the least of all; and as my design is (though I cannot tell but this may be the last opportunity) to speak something to you about my departure; yet, brethren, my grand design in preaching to you is, to recommend the Lord Jesus Christ to your souls; and, before I go, to make a particular, personal application. Give me leave, therefore, to ask you, (it may be the last time I may ask many of you,) whether you have ever set your foot upon this blessed ladder, the Son of God? I ask you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, did you ever set your foot, I say, upon this ladder? That is, did you ever believe on Jesus Christ, and come to him as poor lost sinners, relying upon no other righteousness than that of the Son of God? Perhaps, if you was to speak, some of you would say, away with your ladder; and what will you do then? Why, say you, I will climb to heaven without it; what ladder will you climb upon? O, I think to go to heaven because I have been baptized; that ladder will break under you; what, a ladder made of water, what are you dreaming of? No; O,I think I shall go to heaven because I have done nobody any harm; what, a ladder made of negative goodness? No; I think to go, you will say, by good works; a ladder made of good works, that has not Christ for its bottom, what is that? I think, say you, to go to heaven by my prayers and fastings; all these are good in their place: but, my brethren, do not think to climb to heaven by these ropes of sand. If you never before set your foot on Christ, this blessed ladder, God grant this may be the happy time.

I have been praying before most of you were up, I believe, that God would give me a parting blessing. I remember, soon after I left England last, that a dear christian friend told me, that there was one woman, who came only out of curiosity, that dated her conversion from hearing my last sermon; and, I bless God, I never once left England, but some poor soul has dated their conversion from my last sermon. When I put on my surplice, to come out to read the second service, I thought it was just like a person being decently dressed to go out to

be executed; I would rather, was it the will of God it should be so, than to feel what I do in parting from you, then death would put an end to all; but I am to be executed again and again, and nothing will support me under the torture, but the consideration of God's blessing me to some poor souls. Do pray for me, ye children of God, that God would give us a parting blessing. God help you, young people, to put your foot on this ladder; do not climb up wrong: the devil has a ladder, but it reaches down to hell; all the devil's children go down, not up; the bottom of the devil's ladder reaches to the depth's of the damned, the top of it reaches to the earth and when death comes, then up comes the devil's ladder to let you down; for God's sake come away from the devil's ladder; climb, climb, dear young men. O it delighted me on Friday night at the Tabernacle, when we had a melting parting sacrament; and it delighted me this morning to see so many young men at the table; God add to the blessed number! Young women put your feet upon this ladder; God lets one ladder down from heaven, and the devil brings another up from hell. O, say you, I would climb up God's ladder, I think it is right, but I shall be laughed at; do you expect to go to heaven without being laughed at? The Lord Jesus Christ help you to climb to heaven; come, climb till you get out of hearing of their laughter. O trust not to your own righteousness, your vows, and good resolutions.

Some of you, blessed be God, have climbed up this ladder, at least are climbing; well, I wish you joy, God be praised for setting your feet on this ladder, God be praised for letting down this ladder. I have only one word to say to you, for Jesus Christ's sake, and your own too, climb a little faster; take care the world does not get hold of your heels. It is a shame the children of God do not climb faster; you may say what you please, but the lukewarmness of God's people is more provoking to him than all the sins of the nation. We cry out against the sins of the land; would to God we did cry out more of the sins of the saints; "I will spew you out of my mouth, because you are lukewarm," says Christ; and if any of you say you cannot climb because you are lame-footed, look to Jesus Christ, my dear friends, and your afflictions shall make you climb; and if any of you are coming down the ladder again, the Lord Jesus Christ bless the foolishness of preaching to help you up again. O, say you, I am giddy, I shall fall; here, I will give you a rope, so God lets down a promise: climb, climb, then, till you get higher, into a better climate, and God shall put his hand out by and by when you get to the top of the ladder to

receive you to himself. Blessed be the living God, I hope and believe I shall meet many of you by and by.

And now, my brethren, it is time for me to preach my own funeral sermon; and I would humbly hope that, as a poor sinner, I may put in my claim for what God promised Jacob; and I do put in, with full assurance of faith, that God will be with me. I am now going, for the thirteenth time, to cross the Atlantic. When I came from America last, I took my leave of all the continent, from the one end of the provinces to the other, except some places which we had not then taken; I took my leave for life, without the least design of returning there again, my health was so bad; and the prospect of getting the Orphan-house into other hands, made me say when I first came over, I have no other river to go over than the river Jordan. I thought then of retiring, for I did not choose to appear when my nerves were so relaxed that I could not serve God as I wish to do; but as it hath pleased God to restore my health much, and he has so ordered it by his providence, that I intend to give up the Orphan-house, and all the land adjoining, for a public college. I wished to have had a public sanction, but his grace the late archbishop of Canterbury put a stop to it; they would give me a charter, which was all I desired, but they insisted upon, at least his grace and another did, that I should confine it wholly to the Church of England, and that no extempore prayer should be used in a public way in that house, though dissenters, and all sorts of people, had contributed to it. I would sooner cut my head off than betray my trust, by confining it to a narrow bottom; I always meant it should be kept upon a broad bottom, for people of all denominations, that their children might be brought up in the fear of God; by this means the Orphan-house reverted into my hands; I have once more, as my health was restored, determined to pursue the plan I had fixed on; and through the tender mercies of God, Georgia, (which about thirty-two years ago was a total desolate place; and when the land, as it was given me by the House of Commons, would have been entirely deserted, and the colony have quite ceased, had it not been for the money I have laid out for the Orphan-house, to keep the poor people together,) is arising to an amazing height, by the schemes now going on, and public buildings are erecting.

I had news last week of the great prosperity of the negroes; and I hope by the twenty-fifth of March, which is the day, the anniversary day, I laid the first brick, in the year 1739; I say I hope by that time all things will be finished, and a blessed provision will be made for orphans and poor students that will