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quoted by sceptics as a proof that Christianity sanctions guile; I have heard it even quoted by Christian ministers as a warrant for having recourse to very ingenious schemes in order to win souls. But it is very evident such are incorrect inferences; for you will observe that this 16th verse is the objection of the Corinthians; and it ought strictly to be translated, "Be it so. You know I did not burden you; but you allege that I was a crafty person, and that I caught you with guile.” He proceeds to show that he did no such thing. And therefore, instead of this verse being a sanction for the practice of guile, or bearing out the common maxim, doing evil that good may come; it is, in fact, the objection of the Corinthians, " You, Paul, have craftily caught us with guile." Then Paul says, "What! how can you say so? Did I make a gain of you? Did Titus make a gain of you? Walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps? Then what do you mean by saying, I caught you with guile? Are we crafty? No such thing. The words that we addressed to you were in spirit and in truth, and all that we did was for your edifying, and not for our glory."

CHAPTER XII. 9.

GRACE SUFFICIENT FOR THEE.

It is easy to perceive the reason of the comfort addressed to the apostle by the apostle's Lord. Paul says he was prone to be exalted above measure, to be proud of the abundance of revelation given to him; and because of this tendency to pride, even in an apostle, there was sent to him a messenger of Satan to buffet or to persecute him, which he calls by the name of a thorn in the flesh. How strange that any man should be proud! A worm of the dust, the creature of a day, standing or moving along the edge of a precipice, knowing not what a day may bring forth. And yet there is the pride of ignorance, the pride of scepticism, the pride of wisdom; and of all forms of pride the most detestable of all, the pride of religion. There is no such thing, however, as a perfect character upon earth; there was no such phenomenon as a perfect apostle among the twelve; there is no perfect church, all is provisional; and there will only be perfection when that which is provisional shall be lost in everlasting glory.

But you will notice here that Jesus loved Paul too tenderly to allow Paul to become proud; and hence we read that he sent him what the apostle calls a thorn in the flesh. Some think it was weakness of eyes; others think it was a defect in his speech; others say, for there are all sorts of opinions, it was want of the power of a persuasive and impressive eloquence; mighty in writing, as many people are, but feeble in expressing their sentiments in oral and extemporaneous address. But whatever it was, it was something most poignant to his feelings, painful to his body; and sent by Satan as a poison, sanctified by Christ as a precious medicine; a thorn to torment only, if the devil had his will; a means of salutary correction, because Christ had said to an apostle before, what Paul felt in his experience now, "Simon, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed you, that your faith fail not."

for

This teaches us another lesson-that God's grace is very often preventive. In the case of sin committed, it is pardoning; in the case of sin contemplated, it is preventing. And if some have fallen into disastrous sins that bring discredit on the Church, and almost ruin on themselves, let us all feel that we too may have been upon the very brink of the precipice of ruin ; and preventive grace and anticipatory prayer has saved us from destruction, and rescued us as brands from the burning. In the case, for instance, of Joseph, we have preventive grace anticipating sin; in the case of David we have pardoning grace after sin was committed. In the case of Hezekiah, proud, but humbled, we have forgiving grace; in the case of Paul here, we have again preventive grace; the tendency to pride, the

thorn sent to check the tendency, and keep humble the spirit that otherwise would have been lifted up.

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say,

"But

But in the midst of all this, we must not fail to notice, Paul prayed. The thorn in the flesh, the trouble that was sent him, as the messenger of Satan to buffet him, made Paul pray. He felt the pain ; he therefore, it is said, besought the Lord that he would remove it. There was nothing wrong in so praying. He did not know its origin or its end; but he felt its agony, and with the instinct of human nature, he prayed to be delivered from it. So should it be with us. Whatever be the pain that feels keenest, you may pray that God would make it cease; whatever be the load that is most crushing, you may pray that God would lighten it. I know the objection, I have often endeavoured to reply to; some how do I know that this temporal grant is good for me? How do I know that this trial is not a disguised blessing?" Paul knew that this thorn was sent at least to humble him, and yet Paul prayed that that thorn might be removed. And so, whatever be your trial, or grief, or burden, it is your privilege to pray, as it is your conviction that you will be heard, "O Lord, remove this thorn from me." If it be not good for you to remove it, the Great Physician knows; if it be good for you to remove it, he knows also. Ask with all the confidence of a child, that your heavenly Father would remove the ill that afflicts you; and he, listening to your prayer, will either remove it, or will send a compensatory blessing, which will more than cover all the pain it momentarily inflicts. Of this we are sure, the heaviest burden that bows down the soul is lightened by kneeling under it, and the

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bitterest grief that gnaws the heart is mitigated by simply mentioning it in prayer. In all our troubles, in all our griefs, we have a source to which we are ever welcome, an ear that ever listens.

Paul prayed thrice that this thorn might be removed from him. Let us learn from this another lesson; the answer to prayer is not always immediate. Paul prayed, but how often? Three successive times. The woman of Canaan in the gospel prayed once, and she was not heard; she prayed a second time, and the indignant disciples ordered her to be removed; she prayed a third time, and Jesus heard, and granted her request. So Paul says here he had prayed three times. Now if he had ceased praying after the first time, no answer would have been obtained. What God tells us is, that he is the hearer of prayer, and that he will answer prayer; but how often you shall pray, how long you shall pray, he has left amidst the mysteries of his inscrutable sovereignty, simply urging you to pray, always and everywhere; the time to cease praying is the time when you are in full possession of all you have asked for. I do not believe that there is such a phenomenon on earth as an earnest prayer for a spiritual blessing, breathed from a believing and an earnest heart, that does not, sooner or later, descend in showers of benedictions. We too often pray as if it were a duty; alas! sometimes as if it were a penance. Instead of this, we ought to pray with the most absolute assurance, that whatever we ask truly that is good for us; God will, if not to-day, to-morrow, next year, or on the confines of the judgment-seat, assuredly bestow upon us. Nay more, I trust you will not think me fanatical when I express the belief that whenever an

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