The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-12-05
Grace Sufficient.


Christ said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient
for thee" This message is full Of most sig
nificant thought, and replete with all holy
comfort. 1t means tue Unlimited favor, and
boundless kindness and wonderful love and
mercy OF God.
The favor of good men and true is worth
heartily striving for, and when it is secured
we highly prize it and greatly enjoy it;
People often sacrifice considerable time and
money for the sake of securing the favor
Sand love aud goodwill Of their respected
fellow men, But what is the grace of mon,
however great and highly esteemed they
may be, as compared with the free and
measureleSs grace Of our almighty Lordf 1t
is nothing. Gods grace extends infinitely
beyond the range Of any human beings
grace. Its sufiiciency reaches difficulties and
Strengthens weakness and helps infirmities,
and cheers faint hearts, and g!addenS de-
spon,lent souls, when mans grace is utterly
powerless to do SO. Now, Paul had 'thorn
In the flesh" and he wanted it removed.
One reason for this seems to he thut ho
thought he would moro readily receive the
grace Of those for whom he labored. lie
seems to have thought TINT his inirmity
was an obstacle to his obtaining the favor or
good. will of his hearers. This appears from
what he states respecting some Of his DILL
GERS, who spoke thus Of him; "His btHlIly
ible,n or "of no account"
His inGrmity seemed to him 10 hinder his
greatest e1Iec iveneSs as minister and
preacher But the Lord gave him to under
Stand that His favor was fur bstLer for him
thar that of men. His infirnlity might be
an excuse TO some Of his hearers, FOR not re-
ceiving him and his message, as cordially as
they would, had be not been thus afflicted
If his infirmity were removed he would prop
ably have been subjected to less critlclsm-
perhaps much less-than he was; and his
would seem to be quite an advantage 10 niln
But. even though he could have. received
such an adv .ntage, it woull not have been
as great US that of receiving full sufflclen-
CIV of his Lords grace, on the condition that
his thorn in the flesh should he retained:
The safficiency of the Lords grace was held
out, and virtually promised to Paul, as an
inducement to him to be satisfied and con.
tented with his thorn. On tho one hand, IL
his infirmity were removed, he might nave
been more favorably received by his hearers.
But, on the other hand, by retaining bis IN
lrmiLy, though he would receive less OF the
favor Of men, yet he would receive more Oh
the grace of his Lord.
And so if he were left to his own choice be-
tween the two, he would, we may believe,
prefer TO have more Of the grace OF Chris
and less of the grace of men. He could
really afford to do without the grace OF men,
rather than do without the grace OF Christ
And yet he was not deprived of the fnvor OF
his bearers by any means, even thoush he
had great infirmity to apparently binder
him. God could SO uso his infirmity. and
did so use it, that men We're led to glorlty
Christ rather than Paul.
The Lord knew that there was danger OF
Paul's becoming too elated and self-opinion-
ated, by reason of the exceeding greatness
of the revelations with which he was IA
vored. And this was, perhaps, the greatest
reason why God allowed satan to drive
thorn in Pauls flesh. His. old nature
would have gotten the advan-
tage of him, after receiving such
marvellous reveutic n. il he had not been
crippled and kept humble, by That personal
effliction. Ho was therefore afflicted with
great infirmity, that he might he kept
level-headed, while urder the ecstacy and
inspiration OF great revelations; and then he
had great grace given to him, that he might
bear his great iEfilmity to the praise Of his
great Lord. Now. however great our in
firmties may be, Gods grace is abundantly
sufficient for us. He measures the bcstoW-
ment Of His grace, according to tho great
ness of the inflrmities of HIS people. Let
this assurance brace us up, amid every a..
Fiction, and strengthen us under the temp
tation to complain because the lnrden OF our
iHtrmities S. EN- groater sometimes, than we
can bsar.-tIIa.t ord Religious Herald.