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and distressing as though "a messenger of Satan" had been sent to "buffet" and bruise him. What was precisely this "thorn in the flesh," this "messenger of Satan?" Did they constitute a single, or were they different afflictions? These are questions which I cannot answer. It would be easy to give you innumerable conjectures, but none of them can be demonstrated to be correct: and indeed it appears to me not improbable that our Saviour designedly left us ignorant of the precise trial of Paul, that whatever might be our trials, we might copy his example, and obtain deliverance in the same manner in which he was relieved. Oh! who after meditating on this history will consider this as his rest! Who in his highest spiritual enjoyments will foolishly cry, "We will here build our tabernacles!" We must often bear the cross before we can wear the crown; after descending from Tabor we must trace our Saviour's bloody steps upon Calvary.

The effect of this trial upon Paul was the same that affliction always produces upon the real believer. It drove him to the mercy-seat, and caused him to implore the succour of that Almighty Friend, who was once tempted and tried in all points like as we are, and who alone could console his heart. Not immediately receiving an answer, but resolved like Jacob not to let his Lord go without receiving from him a blessing, he thrice implored his Saviour that this trial might be removed, as Jesus himself in his agony thrice supplicated the Father that "this cup might pass from him."

Persevering prayer never is unanswered; though we may be heard, and our requests granted in a manner different from what we expected, and not according to the letter of our petition, but more for our

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good and the divine glory. Though the affliction was not removed, Paul received that precious assurance, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." The love and favour which I will manifest to thee, the aids and comforts which I will communicate, the grace which shone so conspicuously in thy conversion, shall uphold thee in thy trials, and enable thee with the richest benefit to thine own soul to triumph over thy difficulties and distress. For my power shall be more illustriously displayed in proportion to thine inability and weakness.'

This was enough and more than enough for Paul. He not only acquiesced and submitted to the disposals of Providence, but even rejoiced and gloried in those afflictions, that he was assured would produce such excellent fruits.

Happy for us, my brethren, if our various trials have such blessed effects. Then we may exult in sorrows, reproaches, and pains. They prove the means of displaying the power of a supporting Redeemer; they are sent, not to bruise, but merely to polish us, as living stones for the heavenly temple. Let us only have the grace of Jesus resting upon us, and no adversary shall be too strong, no calamity too heavy, no duty too difficult.

SERMON LXVII.

LIFE OF PAUL.

No. III.

ACTS xii. 25. xiii. xiv.

IN our last lecture we attended Paul to Jerusalem, whither he went in company with Barnabas, to carry contributions from the believers of Antioch to the Christians suffering under the famine which prevailed in the reign of Claudius. Having executed their commission, they returned to Antioch, bringing with them John Mark, the nephew of Barnabas, and son of that Mary, at whose house the disciples had met to pray for Peter, when he was delivered by the angel. They brought him that he might assist them in their multiplied labours, and be gradually trained up for the full exercise of the ministerial functions.

The time, however, had now arrived, when they were to carry to more distant regions the religion of Jesus, and cause the light and the consolations of the gospel to beam upon those who had hitherto been involved in the darkness of paganism. They were directed thus to act by an express revelation from heaven. In the church of Antioch, which may be regarded as the mother church of believing Gentiles, there were not only teachers and ordinary ministers

of religion, but also prophets, who, under the immediate influence of the Spirit, sometimes predicted future events, and at other times were employed in explaining the mystic sense of the oracles of the Old Testament.* Among these were Barnabas himself, who had been a Levite, and who on his conversion had devoted his large estate to purposes of charity, and to the advancement of religion; Simeon, or Simon, who is supposed by many to have been Simon the Cyrenean, who bore the cross of the Saviour; Lucius, also of Cyrene; Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, but who, like Moses, cheerfully renounced all prospects of temporal advantage, and chose rather to be a companion of the despised believers, than the friend and associate of a persecuting prince; and Saul himself.

While these [A. D. 45.] were engaged in the solemn offices of religion, praying for the prosperity of the church, and seeking direction in their endeavours to extend it, the Holy Ghost ordered them, either by a distinct voice, or by immediate suggestion, to separate Paul and Barnabas, for the purpose of carrying the gospel to the Gentiles. For this office they were well suited, not only from their zeal, their piety, and the supernatural endowments they had received from the Holy Spirit; but also because they were both born on Gentile ground: the one at Tarsus, the other at Cyprus. To this office Paul had expressly been designated at the period of his conversion, the Lord Jesus then declaring that he was "a chosen vessel to bear his name

* For a view of the New Testament prophets, see Whitby's General Preface to the Epistles, and Vitringa's Synag. Vet. lib. i. pars ii. cap. vii,

before the Gentiles." But he was to be prepared for this mission by retirement, meditation, and converse with God; he was to wait for the directions of Him to whom he had committed himself, and at whose disposal he was. The predestined hour had now come his Lord gave the signal, and he cheerfully complied with his call. The pastors of Antioch tenderly commended them to the blessing of God, and, according to the established use of the Jews, laid their hands upon them, to give them a solemn benediction.

Let us in this lecture attend them during, if I may use the expression, their first missionary tour, and v mark their labours till they returned to Antioch. The gospel hitherto had been preached only to the Jews, or to proselyted Gentiles; but these holy men are now about to bear it to those who were in the grossest superstition, unacquainted with the oracles of the Old Testament, and bowing down to imaginary deities polluted with every vice. They know the dangers they will incur; the persecutions they may expect; but from these dangers they do not shrink; the prospect of these persecutions, far from appalling them, does not cause them for a moment to hesitate or delay. They know that the Lord is with them, and they do not fear what man can do unto them. Happy they, who thus always wait for the guidings of Providence, and put themselves under the protection of the Almighty! Their hearts shall be unagitated with apprehension at the view of the most formidable dangers.

From Antioch they went to Seleucia, a city about fifteen miles distant, situated on the Mediterranean, near the mouth of the Crontes. Here they did not long remain, but embarked for the island of Cyprus.

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