ge we do
not know the nature of these things. And it matters not. Paul does not
boast of his experience for the purpose of imparting knowledge to us
or of enabling us to duplicate it. The purpose of his boasting is
simply to stop the mouths of the fanatics and to show how paltry was
their glory in comparison with his own. Certain it is, however, that
Paul was ravished from this life into a life ineffable; otherwise his
expression would be meaningless.

PAUL'S THORN IN THE FLESH AND HUMILITY.

"There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan."

25. And must this mighty apostle, O merciful God, be subject to trials
lest he exalt himself because of his great revelations? Then how
should others, how should such infirm beings as we, be free from
self-exaltation? Many teachers have explained Paul's thorn to be the
temptations of the flesh. The Latin text is responsible for this
interpretation; it reads, "stimulus carnis," a spear, or thorn for the
flesh. Yet that rendering does not do justice to the words. Paul is
not in the habit of terming temptations of the flesh "thorns." The
thorn stands rather for something painful and afflicting. In "a thorn
of the flesh" the thought is not of an instrumentality whereby the
flesh stings, but of something that stings the flesh. The Greek text
impels us to the thought of a thorn for the flesh, or a thorn upon or
in the flesh. The idea is much like that in the German proverb, "The
clog is bound to the dog's neck." We may imagine Paul expressing
himself: "As a clog to a dog's neck, as a ring in a bear's nose, a bit
in a horse's mouth or a gag in the mouth of a swine, in order to
restrain them from running, biting and general mischief,--so is my
thorn a clog to my body lest I exalt myself."

26. But Paul himself explains the nature of the clog, or thorn. He
calls it "a messenger of Satan," a devil, to "buffet" him, or to flay
and jog him. Hence a spiritual trial cannot be meant. The explanation
appeals to me that the persecutions and sufferings the apostle
recounts above constitute the devil's flaying. Thus his meaning would
be: "I have received great revelations, for which reason the clog is
bound to the dog; that is, the many dangers and misfortunes with which
the angel of the devil buffets and humiliates my body will make me
forget to exalt myself. They are the thorn in my flesh, or upon my
body; for God will not permit it to come upon my soul."

27. Yet the text