Lk. 11:13). Thus the Lord’s answers to prayer are never negative, except in a superficial and proximate sense; for essentially and in the ultimate issue they are fully positive, and directed to the eternal blessing of His people. The stake for the flesh, then, continued to afflict the Apostle. But while it remained so also did the force and validity of the Lord’s answer to his supplication: “He hath said …,” and what He has said remains unshakeably firm.140 To this answer, in which the will of God