(When I am weak then am I strong. (2 Cor., xii., 10.) BY THE REV. DAVID THOMAS, D.D., EDITOR OF THE Homilist. AUL'S experience under affliction was strange and sublime: Strange for few possess it, sublime for nothing higher can man desiderate. He says, "I take pleasure in infirmities." Most men murmur under "infirmities." The number are few who will even submit, but rare in truth are those who "take pleasure in infirmities." Paul seems to have had the philosopher's fabled stone that turns everything into gold. Look at Paul's "infirmities" as catalogued in the preceding verses. The text is a paradox, a startling one, too, one that on the principle of common experience is a glaring contradiction. Albeit, one that on the principle of Christly experience embodies a glorious truth. In the moral realm man ascends by descending, man conquers by yielding, man saves his life by losing it, man gets might by losing his strength.

J. A good man in weakness becomes "strong" in the SYMPATHY OF OTHERS. Of all the members of a large family, who has most of the sympathies of the family? Not the strong in health, the successful in plan, the buoyant in heart, but the poor little writhing son or daughter on the couch. The infant sufferer is the moral king, all hearts bow to its cries, all hands await its behests. So, in the larger circle of friends, the afflicted friend is the most thought of, felt for, and spoken about. James Garfield on his mortally suffering couch, swayed an influence for the time mightier, and deeper, than any king, The moral power of Christ Himself in the world, arose out of suffering, the cross is His power in the world, it is the arm of the Lord" revealed.

2. A good man in weakness becomes " strong," in HIS CONSCIOUSNESS OF DEPENDENCE ON THE ETERNAL. The strength in worldly men such as it is, is in the material, and the material is shadowy, fluctuating, and fleeting. But the true strength of man is

MANLY STRENGTH RISING WITH CONSCIOUS WEAKNESS. 15

in conscious dependence on God. I see a man to-day rich in abundance of all temporal good, robust health, enormous wealth, great popularity, his strength is in these. To-morrow he is bereft of the whole, all his possessions have vanished as a cloud, and he is shut up in the chamber, a pauper and a dying man. In that condition Christ is brought before Him, he believes in Him, accepts Him with an unquestioning faith, and hence he becomes possessed with the true power of a man, and he can say now, "When I am weak, then am I strong," strong in a power superior to the world. Conscious dependence on the Creator, and not on the creature, is the true strength. Having this, a man can be calm and triumphant amidst storms that shake the world. "The Lord is our refuge and strength."

3. A good man in weakness becomes "strong" in the EXPERIENCE OF DIVINE SUPPORT. God's rule is to fill the "hungry with good things," and to send the "rich empty away." "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." The profounder our sense of weakness, the more conscious we become of Divine supplies and trust in Him. When Paul and Silas lost their liberty, they became conscious of new strength, new supplies from God, and they sang praises. Never did the three Hebrew youths in Babylon have such manifestations of God to their souls as when in the burning fiery furnace. Was Daniel ever stronger than when he lost everything, when a pauper and a prisoner in the lions' den? "When I am weak then am I strong." Strong in the supplies of Divine succour and support.

4. A good man in weakness becomes " strong" in HIS POWER FOR USEFULNESS. Never does a minister of the Gospel preach so effectively as when he is conscious of his own insufficiency, when his selfism, so to speak, is gone, and he becomes the organ of Divine truths.

Who are the men who have been, and still are, the most really powerful preachers, preachers whose words and spirit, go deep down into the souls of their hearers, and there work a moral revolution? Not the men of self-consciousness, men in whose formal reasoning and pretentions rhetoric egotism rides rampant. No, but those who are overwhelmed with a sense of their own weakness, and who sigh out of the depths of their nature. "Who is sufficient for these things?" As our egotism wanes, our power for usefulness waxes strong, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." When I am weak then am I strong."

66

"When adverse winds and waves arise,
And in my heart despondence sighs,
When life its throng of care reveals,
And weakness o'er my spirit steals,
Grateful I hear the kind decree
That-"As my day, my strength shall
be."

When with sad footstep, memory roves
'Mid smitten joys and buried loves,
When sleep my tearful pillow flies,
And every morning drinks my sighs,
Still to Thy promise, Lord, I flee
That, "As my days, my strength shall
be."

WHO WILL VOLUNTEER FOR LAKE TANGANYIKA.

EN are constantly applying to us for to be appointed to mission work. There are many ports for those who have heroic sailor souls, and who are prepared to venture all for Christ. We want to-day men who are by the mighty power of God, able to create mission stations. Men who are willing to give their best life blood for the cause of missions. Recently an old shipmaster came to us for a missionary appointment. He said he had saved a little money, and he would now like to settle on shore, which, with a missionary's salary, he could do! This fell infinitely below our ideal of what the missionary ought to be. To test his faith and courage, we offered to introduce him into two magnificent foreign ports, where there were splendid mission openings, but no salary guaranteed. We have never heard of him from that day to this! We want men who will give their best to Christ. The best of their life, the best of their time, talent, money; men who must be missionaries, irrespective even of church or society, who feel "woe is me if I preach not the Gospel." Sailors, read our esteemed and beloved brother Hore's letter.

EDITOR.

20, Colbrooke Row, Islington, N.,
25th October, 1881.

DEAR MR. MATTHEWS,-I very much regret that I cannot be at the bazaar on behalf of your Society. I only returned to town last night, and am off again at noon to-day, for a round of meetings at Manchester, Birkenhead, &c. I enclose P.O.O. for 30s., viz., 105. annual subscription, and £1 as special thank-offering in a time of prosperity—I wish I could afford more—to the objects of the bazaar. One result of the missionary meetings I have recently spoken at is the completion of the fund of £1,500 for the purchase of a steam mission vessel for Lake Tanganyika. I was first led to Christ by a sailor missionary, and for ten years my earnest desire has been to get a mission ship, so you will understand that I have the interests of such work as yours really at heart-may the Lord bless and prosper it. I am very sorry I could not come to the bazaar, but appointments have been made for me. I wish you would look out for a sailor missionary for Central Africa. I want a mate for the vessel there. He must be a real good man. I am sorry to hear Mr. Lonsdale is ill, please convey my Christian regards to him. Missions to seamen ought to engage the special attention and interest of the great Missionary Societies, for sailors are missionaries for good or evil to the remote corners of the earth, and as Christianity in real life and earnest spreads amongst this class, I hope and trust the time will come when we shall draw largely upon them for missionary agents, and cease to be ashamed of them as representatives and examples of Christian civilisation.—In haste, I remain, yours sincerely, EDWARD C. HORE, Master Mariner.

Rev. E. W. Matthews.

(Extract from "Death unto Life," by Rev. W. HASLAM-page 300.) HENEVER the good ship "Cornwall" was in harbour, it was expected there would be a preaching on "board of her," under the well-known Bethel Flag. The mate of this vessel had been a terribly wicked man, and a most daring blasphemer. It pleased God to convert his soul in a remarkable manner, and now nothing would do but he must work for God.

One Sunday when he was at Cardiff, he heard that a vessel which had left that port on the previous Friday morning had gone down with all hands. He was greatly grieved about this, for one of the seamen of the vessel was in former times a friend and companion of

18

HOISTING THE BETHEL FLAG.

his. He had prayed for his soul, but hitherto without any success, and this added to his grief. To his amazement he saw his friend standing on the quay. "Hallo!" he said, “I am glad to see you. How is it you are here? Have you heard that your vessel has gone down with all hands ?"

"Has she, indeed!" he exclaimed, bursting out into tears, "then it is all my fault, for I let her go short-handed. After we set sail I had words with the captain, so he dismissed me, and I came back in the pilot boat; it is all my fault!"

"This is the third time, then, that the Lord has given you your life,” said Sam, "You had better call on Him to have mercy on your soul." So saying, he fell on his knees, and began to pray for him. His companion soon followed, crying aloud for mercy. Though a crowd of people quickly assembled and stood round, he took no heed, but continued his supplication until he obtained mercy, and could praise God.

Seeing that some of the bystanders were looking anxious, Sam invited them on board his ship, and had a meeting, at which he told them how the Lord had saved his soul. Having received much encouragement that day, he determined, if possible, that he would get a Bethel Flag, and hold services whenever and wherever he could.

On his arrival at Hayle from Cardiff, he went at once to see the wife of the owner of the ship, knowing that she took a great interest in the welfare of sailors. He told her his plans, and made his request for a Bethel Flag, which this lady kindly and generously gave him permission to get.

On obtaining it, Sam came and asked me if I would preach at the hoisting of it. This I consented to do, and on the following Sunday afternoon we had a large concourse of people on board, and also on the quay alongside. I gave out the hymn—

“O, God of Bethel, by Whose hand
Thy people still are fed."

While I was giving it out, Sam ran his flag up to the masthead in the shape of a ball. So it remained while we were singing, and during the prayer which followed; and when I gave out my text (Gen. xvviii., 19), "He called the name of that place Bethel," Sam pulled the halyard, and the flag, some eighteen or twenty feet long, flew out in all its grandeur. Before the sermon was finished, some of the people began to cry for mercy, and dear Sam was in an ecstacy of delight, and rejoiced aloud. Thus his flag was inaugurated with blessing from on high, and "many is the time since," said Sam, "when souls have been blessed under it, both at Cardiff and at Hayle."