self-abasement. Paul could never think of the distinction conferred on him by Christ, without adverting to his own unworthiness.
9. Tor I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God.
The leasts not because the last in the order of appoint- ment, but in rank and dignity. Who am not worthy to he called an apostle. See Matt. 3, 11. Luke 3, 16. This deep humility of the apostle, which led him to regard himself as the least of the apostles, was perfectly consistent with the strenu- ous assertion of his official authority, and of his claim to re- spect and obedience. In 2 Cor. 11, 5 and 12, 11, he says, he was " not behind the very chiefest apostles ; " and in Gal. 2, 6-9, he claims full equality with James, Cephas and John. Those of his children whom God intends to exalt to posts of honour and power, he commonly prepares for their elevation by leading them to such a knowledge of their sinfulness as to keep them constantly abased. Because I persecuted the church of God. This is the sin which Paul never forgave himself. He often refers to it with the deepest contrition, 1 Tim. 1, 13-15. The forgiveness of sin does not obliterate the remem- brance of it ; neither does it remove the sense of unworthiness and ill-desert.
10. But by the grace of God I am what I am : and his grace which (was bestowed) upon me was not in vain ; but I laboured more abundantly than they all : yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Christian humility does not consist in denying what there is of good in us ; but in an abiding sense of ill-desert, and in the consciousness that what we have of good is due to the grace of God. The grace of God^ in this connection, is not the love of God, but the influence of the Holy Spirit consid- ered as an unmerited favour. This is not only the theological and popular, but also the scriptural sense of the word grace in many passages. By the grace of God I am what I am. That is, divine grace has made me what I am. ' Had I been