(4) St. Paul is not therefore boasting of his sin. He is, on the contrary, glorying in his salvation. If Christ came just to save sinners, he says, in effect. Why that means me ; for that is what I am. There is a sense, then, no doubt, in which he can be said to be glad that he can claim to be a sinner. Not because he delights in wickedness, but because that claim places him within the reach of the mission of Him who Himself de- clared that He came not to call the righteous, but sinners.
^ " Methought," said " Eabbi " Duncan on one occasion, " I heard the song of one to whom much had been forgiven, and who therefore loved much. But it was the song of the chief of sinners, of one to whom most had been forgiven, and who therefore loved most. I would know, O God," he went on, " what soul that is. 0 God ! " — he pleaded, " let that soul be mine." ^
2. The Apostle does not say " I was," but " I am chief." What ! A man who could say, in another connexion, " if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature; old things are passed away" — the man who could say, in another connexion, " I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God " — does he also say, " I am chief " ? Is he speaking about his present ? Are old sins bound round a man's neck for evermore ? If they are, what is the meaning of the gospel that Jesus Christ redeems us from our sins ? Well, he means this : No lapse of time, nor any gift of Divine pardon, nor any subsequent advancement in holiness and righteousness, can alter the fact that I, the very same I that am now rejoicing
^ K. Moody Stuart, Brovmlow North, 62. ' A. Smellie, In the Secret Place, 145.
I TIMOTHY I. 15 97
in God's salvation, am the man that did all these things; and, in a very profound sense, they remain mine through all e\ ei nity I may be a forgiven sinner, and a cleansed sinner, . \nd a sanctified sinner, but I am a sinner — not I was. Tfie imperis labU connexion between a man and his past, wliich may be so tragical, and, thank God, may be so blessed, even in the case of rem, um- bered and confessed sin, is solemnly hinted at in the woids before us. We carry with us ever the fact of past transgressio. 1 and no forgiveness, nor any future " perfecting of holiness in the fear" and by the grace "of the Lord" can alter that fact. Therefore, let us beware lest we biing upon our souls any more of the stains which, though they be in a blessed and suffivieni sense blotted out, yet leave for ever the marks where they havi fallen.
^"That good man, Stead," that Waugh put upon his kind little extravagant eulogy of me, refei'S properly, not to me, bui to father. He was a good man, I am not, never was, and, 1 feai-. never will be. 1 often feel as if I were far worse than any of the other convicts. They had not such a home as ours, such a father and such a mother.^
Also I ask, but ever from the praying
Shrinks my soul backward, eager and afraid,
Point me the sum and shame of my betraying.
Show me, 0 Love, Thy wounds which I have made !
Yes, Thou forgivest, but with all forgiving
Canst not renew mine innocence again : Make Thou, 0 Christ, a dying of my living.
Purge from the sin but never from the pain !
So shall all speech of now and of to-morrow, All He hath shown me or shall show me yet,
Spring from an infinite and tender sorrow, Burst from a burning passion of regret:
Standing afar I summon you anigh Him,
Yes, to the multitudes I call and say, " This is my King ! I preach and I deny Him,
Christ ! whom I crucify anew to-day." ^
1 "W. T. Stead, in My Father, 141. 3 F. W. H. Myers, Saint Paul. I THESS.-HEB. — 7
The Mystery of Godliness.
Literature.
Alcorn (J.), The Sure Foundation, 51.
Archibald (M. G.), Su7idays at the Royal Military College, 196.
Bacon (L. W.), The Simplicity that is in Christ, 80.
Barrett (G. S.), The Earliest Christian Hymn, 4.
Bernard (T. D.), The Witness of God, 21.
Bonar (H.), Light and Truth, 185.
Conn (J.), The Fulness of Time, 102.
Dix (M.), Christ at the Door of the Heart, 52.
Faitlifull (R. C.), My Place in the World, 217.
Goulburn (E. M.), Tlie Holy Catholic Church, 241.
Holland (C), Gleanings from a Ministry of Fifty Years, 110.
Home (C. S.), The Life that is Easy, 31.
Liddon (H. P.), Christmastide in St. Paul's, 107.
Little (W. J. K.), The Perfect Life, 245.
Macgregor (W. M.), Jesus Christ the Son of God, 230.
Mackenzie (W. L.), Pure Religion, 10.
McKim (R. H.), TTie Gospel in the Christian Year, 50.