take comfort from the thought-"if God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not, with Him, freely give us all things? Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again; Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us.'

IV.

St. Paul's Humility.

"Less than the least of all saints."—EPH. iii. 8.

THE man who has left us this record of himself was one of the holiest and most exalted saints that ever graced the Christian Church. He seems to have entered more into the spirit of his Master than any of His followers, and to have received from Him more abundant honour. And yet, in the midst of his attainments, even while standing on the eminence to which divine mercy had raised him, we find this distinguished saint humbling himself in the dust. He who has been for ages the delight and admiration of the Church, here styles himself less than the least of all saints; and in another place says that he is not worthy to be called an apostle. He takes to himself a title of reproach, instead of one of boasting, for he calls himself"The chief of sinners."

This deep humility in an apostle of such exalted eminence may well excite our admiration; but let not admiration be its only fruit. It invites us to go and sit at his feet and learn of him. It calls upon us to be more meek and lowly of heart; to have a more abiding sense of our meanness, unworthiness, and guilt; to walk more humbly with our God.

With these objects in view, let us inquire, first, in what the humility of St. Paul consisted; secondly, how did it manifest itself? The slightest acquaintance with his character leaves us no room to suspect that it consisted in words only. There is such an appearance of honesty and integrity in his writings, that they give us at once the fullest conviction that the humility which appears in his language was to be found also in his heart and life. A reference to his writings will, consequently, be just as satisfactory as a reference to his history, and perhaps as interesting and instructive.

a. We cannot take even the most hasty glance at the writings of this apostle without at once noticing the entire submission of his mind to the gospel of Christ, the simple and hearty reception which he gave to every divine truth. He had naturally just the same proud heart which we have, and hated the humiliating doctrines connected with the cross of Christ as much as we hate them. Nay, they were more offensive to him than they are to us. They were opposed, not only to those common workings of pride which we all feel, but to a thousand prejudices peculiar to himself or to the age and country in which he lived. He was a Jew, he was a scholar of Gamaliel, he was a man of strong intellectual powers; and yet all the prejudices of the Jew, all the pride of the scholar, and all the dictates of worldly wisdom were torn out of his heart; and the once proud and haughty Saul is seen sitting at the feet of the carpenter's Son, humble and teachable as a little child. Read his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians, my brethren, and see how low the grace of God can humble the proudest mind. We do not find him endeavouring in these epistles to accom

modate the doctrines of the gospel to his former opinions, reducing and qualifying them to make them square with the feelings of the Jew or the pride of the philosopher; he receives them, in all their humiliating force, with godly sincerity. Every imagination and every high thing, which had so long exalted itself in his mind against the knowledge of God, seems to be utterly cast down, and every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

b. The writings of St. Paul prove the greatness of his humility by showing us that the highest spiritual attainments could not make him forget his meanness and guilt. There are indeed some professors of the gospel risen up in our day who would object to such a test of humility as this. They seem to regard it as the very perfection of religion to forget their iniquities and to look upon themselves as spotless in the sight of God. But mark the difference between such professors and this humble apostle. He knew as much of the freeness and fulness of redemption as any of us, and had tasted as much of the savour of the grace of Christ. He had been taken up, too, into the third heaven, and beheld there glorious revelations which had never been beheld before by mortal eye, and heard there unspeakable words which it is not lawful nor possible for man to utter. And yet what was his language? what, in the midst of these attainments and honours, was his estimate of himself? Did he forget his sins? Never. "I am the chief of sinners; I am carnal, sold under sin." Like David, he could say, "My sin is ever before me." The Christian is always most poor in himself because he sees himself most rich in Christ.

c. We ought also to observe in St. Paul his marked

C

anxiety to give all the glory of all his labours and. attainments unto God. We never find him taking any part of the praise to himself, but always expressly disclaiming it. He seems always afraid of taking any credit to himself lest he should rob God of what belongs to Him. Lest the glory of Jesus should be lessened, he takes the crown of excellency off his own head, and like the angels in heaven, he casts it down before the throne of the Lamb, as though he was unworthy and unwilling to wear the meanest crown in His presence. "His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they all," and then he adds, as if he had said too much, "yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."

d. The humility of St. Paul was also manifested in the low opinion which he had of himself when compared with his Christian brethren. He speaks not, in the text, the language of unmeaning compliment. As he felt, so he wrote. His lowliness of mind had really taught him to esteem others better than himself. When he takes a view of his own character, he seems to find in himself nothing but infirmity and sin; but when he looks at others, he tries to magnify their exellences, so as to comfort them in their religious growth. Thus, in the true spirit of charity, esteeming others better than himself.

This spirit of charity was the natural result of his humility. The man who walks humbly with his God will always be distinguished by it; he will always deem his own guilt peculiarly aggravated. The reason is obvious. He sees the iniquity which dwells in his own heart, while the corruptions that are struggling