way and deranges their plans and turns them back sorely against their will, and, heedless of their frettings and cryings, saves them in spite of themselves. All this is provided in the everlasting covenant.— That is our anchor of hope.

"Amidst temptations sharp and long,

My soul to this dear refuge flies."

We are weak, but he is mighty. We are foolish, guilty, rebellious, but he is our "wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." We have no other way but to cast ourselves into his arms as helpless infants. In all our conflicts, in all our guilt, we can only resort to God's strength, to God's grace, to God in Christ as our all in all.

And this is the spirit which it is our life to cherish. This is the weakness by which we are made strong. We never shall cease to lean upon ourselves till we despair of our own strength. We never shall rest upon Christ till we cease to lean upon ourselves. We never shall draw strength from heaven till we rest upon Christ. Never therefore till we despair of our own strength shall we be strong in the Lord. And in the same proportion as we feel our utter weakness and go out of ourselves to rest on his strength, we shall be strong. He is the vine, we are the branches. "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can" we "except" we "abide in" him. But the very bond of union is this dependance on him for life. In proportion as we feel this dependance, the streams of life flow from him to us; in

proportion as this sense abates, we wither like a separated branch. "He" filleth "the hungry with good things, and the rich he" sendeth "empty away."

This childlike sense of weakness and dependance is unlike that temper which sinks into sluggish repose and leaves God to do both his work and ours. Was Paul inactive while he was weak? Was ever mere man since the fall strung up to higher exertions? His "labors more abundant," his "journeying often," his "weariness and painfulness," are put into the very definition of that weakness which constituted his strength. The Christian life is not sluggish rest. We must wrestle, fight, run, and endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ: but the point is, to feel, in all this exertion, that we are using the strength of another. God's agency does not set aside our agency, but puts it in motion, like a wheel within a wheel. He works all our works in us; but if our works are not done, it proves that he has not wrought. We must "work out" our "own salvation, for it is God which worketh in" us "both to will and to do."

This dependance is full of trust. It is not a morbid sense of weakness which resorts to God reluctantly. It is a consciousness of what we are in view of the whole work of redemption,-in view therefore of what God is in that work. It does not despair except of help from ourselves, but casts the soul on the mediation and fullness of Christ, and rises to a sweet and triumphant confidence in him. From what has been said we learn,

1. That we have no reason to fear any affliction which may come upon us for a wise and faithful adherence to the Gospel. The weaker we are in this respect the stronger we shall be in Christ. No labors, no sacrifices, no reproaches ought to be dreaded. We should hug the cross, "and count it all joy when" we "fall into divers temptations." Do we not wish above all things to enjoy more of God and to be more like him? and shall we shrink from trials which are sent to bring us to both parts of this salvation? Instead of fearing and fearing, let us comfort our hearts and go forward with undaunted zeal to meet a world in arms.

2. We see the vital importance of an humbled child-like spirit, free from all self-sufficiency, full of a sweet sense of dependance, of filial confidence, and willing to be supported and led by a parent's care. This brings us directly to the source of all life and joy, and is the only temper that can bring us there. In this spirit of dependance and trust let us daily go forth to our work, and learn habitually to say with David, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower." "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident." "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me."

And then from sweet experience, we may add, in the seraphic language of Isaiah, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."

In all our prayers and exertions for the kingdom of Christ, let us be sure to go forth under this deep sense of weakness and absolute dependance. Without this we never shall work any deliverance in the earth. Our "strength is to sit still," to refrain from Egypt and Assyria and to confide in the living God. In this point chiefly he is jealous for his honor. If we ever succeed, like Elijah on Carmel, to unstop the windows of heaven, we must be far more conscious of this utter weakness and dependance than Christians ordinarily are. How much dependance, think you, Elijah placed on an arm of flesh, when he "came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant?" And when he retired to the top of Carmel "and put his face between his knees," and sent his servant seven times to look for the western cloud, how much confidence, think you, he had in that little lump of clay which was called Elijah? Could his dependance or his trust in God have been greater? And had it been otherwise, would the fire have fallen from heaven "and consumed the― sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water-in the trench"? or would the heavens have gathered blackness and poured

222 WHEN I AM WEAK THEN AM I STRONG.

out abundance of rain? O my brethren, what almighty energy is wrapped up in this dependance and trust when we put our hands to the kingdom of Christ. I would say of it as David said of Goliath's sword, "There is none like that; give it me." For want of these heavenly attributes all our strength is withered, all our labor lost. We go forth like the Midianitish army and fill all the valley "as grass-hoppers for multitude;" but one shout of faith, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon," will do more execution than the whole. O that this lesson might now be written with sun-beams on our heart forever, and it would do more for our usefulness in the kingdom of Christ than all other things. This is the great secret that was to be discovered; this is the grand talisman that will accomplish all things. Supported by its power, "he that is feeble-shall be as David, and the house of David shall be as God." They "shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea," and "it shall be done," "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me:" and this is the heavenly amulet about the neck and heart, which conveys "When I am weak then am I power, strong."

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