THE MISSION OF INFIRMITIES.
By William Samuel Sadler
"OF myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. For tho I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth; but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me." Few men pass through the experience that Paul passed through; hence few men are subject to greater temptations than Paul was. Therefore, also, few men have to guard themselves, or be guarded by God, more carefully than Paul. Paul, who went about persecuting the Christians, the man who had been transformed in a moment,—this same character had been exalted to the great position of being the first apostle to the Gentiles. He had ushered in, as it were, the new era when the Gentiles would have equal rights with the Jews. Yet such dangers beset him in the realm of spiritual exaltation that he represents himself as waging a continual spiritual and physical warfare against these temptations, lest, after preaching the Gospel to others, he himself should be a castaway. Paul's peace was acquired by faith in a time when, according to appearances, he had no peace, so he always had peace. He reckoned his happiness unto himself; and therefore was always happy. Paul was a man who had little difficulty with himself, because he had learned to reckon himself dead; and so he was always dead unto himself. Paul's personal experience led him to write one of the deepest books of the Bible, and it was an experience that he always enjoyed when in the face of the besetments that stood before him. The life of Paul stands as a triumphant example of what the Gospel of reckoning can do for a man. To reckon one's self dead unto sin and alive unto Christ is the soul and substance of the whole Gospel. There are two things people can not do who reckon themselves dead unto sin. Dead people do not fight God, or attempt to save themselves by their own works. When I die and am buried, you can go to the graveyard and say all kinds of things about me, and I wont rise up and make trouble for you about it. The same is true of the man who reckons himself to be dead unto sin. The Christian who is really dead unto sin treads a pathway high above the world. He has a connection with the world below to enable him to lift men up to his level, but the world has no power to draw him down. So you and I should reach such a high pinnacle of truth and righteousness that the world can not draw us down; at the same time we should have power to lift the men of earth up. "Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." Mortification is God's process of taking care of dead things. There are two ways of getting rid of dead things,—burying them under ground, or leaving them on top of the ground to putrefy. We have no record that Paul was ever tempted to persecute or kill the saints after his conversion. That was the part of Paul's old self that God buried beneath the ground; but there were other things in his character which God did not bury out of sight. Likewise in our lives and experiences the Lord will put some things out of sight, but others will be left a putrefying mass, becoming more and more obnoxious to us, until the whole thing is finally destroyed. Paul discovered that there was a part of his old self left above the ground, to mortify in his sight and the sight of others. But only that portion of our old dead self is left in sight which can accomplish something for the glory of God or the developing of our character. The rest is laid beneath the sod, and we shall never meet it again. If it were best for us to be divested of these things in a moment, the Lord would so order it. It is because of all these experiences that we go through down here that we shall be able to sing the song of Moses and the Lamb in the next world. "For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee." These things were left in Paul that he might see that, altho he had been to the third heaven, there was still some more reckoning to be done on his part, otherwise he would have received the idea that he was perfect when he was not. "My grace is sufficient for thee." When you have to get this new life by grace, and know in your heart that it is from God, there will be no danger of backsliding. "For My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Have we come to the place where we can say with Paul, "I am glad this is so"? Have you applied to the courts of heaven for a divorce from that old self to whom you were formerly married? Do you glory in the death and mortification of that sinful self, because it is the pledge, the evidence, that you have been wedded anew and now live with Christ? That is why He calls us out of the world, that we may not be of the world. We must be dead to self before we can live with Christ. W. S. SADLER.