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It is not long before mercy will not be needed, as guilt and sin will be done away. The salvation which is now advancing will be complete. Holiness will be perfected, and happiness is inseparable. Anticipate with grateful satisfaction the joyful period, when holiness and happiness will be uninterrupted and without end.

SERMON IV.

PAUL AN EXAMPLE OF MERCY*.

1 TIMOTHY i. 16.

Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.

THE writer of these words was a distinguished character. As an Apostle, he stood pre-eminent; as a Christian, his attainments were of the highest order; and as a Minister of the Gospel, his labours, his sufferings, and success excite our astonishment and delight.

But his conversion was most remarkable, and the circumstances which attended it are particularly worthy of regard. This man was "turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God,"

* The Author is glad of the opportunity which this edition affords him of acknowledging his obligation to the Rev. Edward Cooper for several thoughts, in this discourse, selected from the second volume of " Sermons for parochial and domestic Instruction ;" and of bearing his testimony to the evangelical and appropriate excellency of the publications of that highly respectable clergyman.

by an energy-irresistible, shall we say? It was at least invincible. His conversion was a miracle; the arm of Omnipotence effected it; and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ was exceeding abundant towards him. From this event resulted an entire change in all his plans and procedure: he believed the truth which he formerly despised; he preached the faith which once he laboured to destroy; and the substance of his message was: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."

With the most exalted sentiments of the Saviour, he connected the most abasing views of himself : he sunk, in his own estimation, into the dust: he classed himself with the worst, and even lower than the worst-the chief of sinners. "Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting."

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We notice three things-The IMPROBABILITY of Paul's obtaining mercy-The MERCY which, notwithstanding, he did receive-And the DESIGN of its bestowment.

I. The IMPROBABILITY of Paul's obtaining

mercy.

The manner in which the text is introduced naturally suggests this. He had spoken of himself as of all men the least likely to be an object of mercy; indeed, as most unfit to be thus distinguished; the strongest improbability appeared in the way :howbeit, I obtained mercy."

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Now what was Paul's character previous to his

conversion to Christianity? Had he been an idolater, a publican, a profligate, a slave to licentious appetites and habits? No.-Had he been an extortioner and unjust; an oppressor of the poor, the fatherless, or the widow? We have no evidence of this. Had he profaned the Sabbath, lived in contempt of the law, and in disregard of moral and religious duties? The reverse was the fact. In propriety of external behaviour, he was better than most, and in sincerity of intention he was excelled by none. He sums up the character which he gives of himself in these remarkable words :-" touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless."

in

act.

How then was he "the chief of sinners?" Whereappears the atrocity of his guilt? In ascertaining this, we must regard the state of his heart, as evinced by his spirit and conduct in matters distinct from what has just been mentioned. We are accustomed to judge of sin too much merely from the outward We forget that the seat of sin is the heart; that it always begins there, and is brought forth, though not in grossly immoral practice. We forget that the sinfulness of sin consists in its being committed against God; and that a man's guilt is to be measured by the enmity and opposition of his mind against the revealed will of the Most High.

By this rule judge of Paul's character before his conversion, and you will see the improbability of the case, the hindrances which appeared in the way of his obtaining mercy. His early advantages, in some respects, were considerable; his education was liberal: he had sat at the feet of Gamaliel; but what had he there learnt? Nothing of his own heart, nothing of the Gospel, nothing of Christ, nothing of the way of salvation by his cross. Of these

things he had no knowledge, or had been egregiously misled. His prejudice was inveterate, and. his pride was excessive: his self-righteous pride indeed was his greatest sin in the sight of God, the mainspring of all his other sins, and the strongest barrier in the way of his conversion. of his conversion. He hated the Gospel -why? because it opposed his prejudice and touched his pride; and, hating the Gospel, he refused to attend to its evidences, which might have convinced him of its truth. What he did was ignorantly," but then he refused the means of knowledge: it was "in unbelief," but he rejected the way of faith. He obstinately shut his eyes that he might not see, and closed his ears that he might not hear; and thus cherished the most rancorous enmity against the holy Jesus and his followers.

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Nor was this all. He speaks of himself, verse the thirteenth, as "a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious."- By a blasphemer is not here meant, a profane curser and swearer, but one that degraded the dignity and vilified the name of the Saviour, the Son of God. Many think lightly of the words they utter; but sinful words are exceedingly sinful, as out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh. Who can tell how much abusive language this man had uttered against the blessed Jesus and his Gospel! How many malicious words he had spoken against the unoffending Christians! But words did not suffice his unhallowed zeal urged him on to savage deeds. "Breathing out threatenings and slaughter, he made havock of the Church. Entering into every house, he haled men and women, committing them to prison. Being exceedingly mad against them, he persecuted them even unto strange cities; and when they were put to death, he gave his

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