vain." Who could have conceived that Paul should receive such a speedy and effectual answer to his prayer ? But if we were alike urgent in our supplications, we should be crowned with the like success ]
Let us exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ — [He says to us, " Believe in God ; believe also in me "*." He is God, equal with the Father; and " in him all fulness dwells." His promise is addressed to all his suffering and tempted people ; and the truth of it shall be experienced by them all. Only let us believe in him ; and no adversary shall be too strong, no calamity too heavy, no duty too difficult ; for " all things ai'e possible to him that belie veth."]
°i John xiv. 1.
2 Cor. xii. 10. When I am weak, then am I strong.
THERE are many things in Scripture which ap- pear inconsistent and contrary to truth. Christ is represented as God, and yet a man ; as the Lord of David, and yet his son ; as a lion, and yet a lamb. And, as his person is thus variously described, so is his work : he is said to heal us by his own stripes, and to give us life by his death. But, however strange such expressions may seem, they contain many important truths. In the same manner the Apostle's words, which we have now read, may be thought to imply a contradiction : but they accord with the experience of all God's people, and justly deserve the most attentive consideration.
In discoursing on this paradoxical assertion, we shall illustrate, confirm, and improve it. I. Illustrate it —
A part of David's history will help us to elucidate the words before us —
[When the champion of the Philistines defied, and ter- rified, the whole army of Israel, David, " a stripling," without armour, defensive or offensive (except a sling and a stone), went forth against him; and, though unused to war himself,