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8. There is not a man on earth that delights in the law of God who does not know that his soul cleaveth unto the dust.

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Comparing himself with the law of God, Paul might well lament his remaining corruption, as the Apostle Peter, experiencing the same consciousness of his sinfulness, exclaims, Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord;" or as the Apostle James confesses, "In many things we all offend;" and as the Apostle John says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourslves, and the truth is not in us." Were Paul, when judged at the tribunal of God, to take his stand on the best action he ever performed in the midst of his apostolic labours, he would be condemned for ever. Imperfection would be found to cleave to the very best of his services; and imperfection, even in the least possible degree, as it respects the law of God, is sin. "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." And who is the mere man that, since the fall, came up for one moment to the standard of this holy law, which says, "Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart?"

It was on a ground very different from that of his own obedience, that Paul, when about to depart from the world, joyfully exclaimed,

"Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day." Yes, it will be a crown of righteousness, because Christ having been made of God unto him " wisdom," Paul had renounced his own righteousness, that so being found in Him, he might possess "the righteousness which is of God, by faith." He was, therefore, covered with the robe of righteousness, even the righteousness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. And thus, in the judgment of strict justice, Paul and all believers, notwithstanding all his and their sins and shortcomings, shall be pronounced "righteous," a character twice given to those who shall appear on the right hand of the throne, Mat. xxi. 37-46,-in that day, when the "righteous servant" of Jehovah shall judge the world in righteousness. Thus, too, when the great multitude of those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb shall stand before the throne, the full import of the words of Paul, with which in the fifth chapter of this Epistle he closes the account of the entrance of sin and death, and of righteousness and life, will be made gloriously manifest, "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto

eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." That great truth which Paul has also declared will then be seen to be fully verified, that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, because therein is the righteousness of God revealed.

With carnality then-the corruption of his na ture,-Paul the Apostle was chargeable, and of this, at all times after his conversion, he was fully sensible. Conscious that he had never for one moment attained to the perfection of obedience to the law of God; and knowing by the teaching of the Spirit of God that there was a depth of wickedness in his heart which he never could fathom-for who but God can know the heart, which is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," Jer. xvii. 9;-well might he designate himself a "wretched man," and turn with more earnestness than ever to his blessed Lord to be delivered from such a body of death. With what holy indignation would he have spurned from him such perverse glosses as are put upon his words, to explain away their obvious import, by men who profess to believe the doctrines, and to understand the principles which form the basis of all he was commissioned by his Divine Master to proclaim to the fallen children of Adam.. He would have warned them not to think of him above that which is written1 Cor. iv. 6. And most assuredly

they who cannot persuade themselves that the confessions and lamentations in the passage before us, strong as they undoubtedly are, could possibly be applicable to the Apostle Paul, do think of him above what is declared in every part of the word of God to be the character of every renewed man while in this world.

In Mr Toplady's works it is stated that some of Dr Doddridge's last words were, "The best prayer I ever offered up in my life deserves • damnation. In this sentiment Dr Doddridge did not in the smallest degree exceed the truth. And with equal truth Mr Toplady says of him self, Oh, that ever such a wretch as I should "be tempted to think highly of himself! I that "am of myself nothing but sin and weakness. In whose flesh naturally dwells no good thing; I who deserve damnation for the best work I "ever performed.'- Vol. iv. 171, and 1-41. These are the matured opinions concerning themselves of men who had been taught by the same Spirit as the Apostle Paul.

Every man who knows "the plague of his own heart," whatever may be the view he has taken of this passage, knows for certain, that even if the Apostle Paul has not given here an account of his own experience at the time when he wrote this Epistle, such was actually the Apostle's experience day by day. He also knows that the man who

is not daily constrained to cry out to himself, "O wretched man that I am," from a sense of his indwelling corruption and his shortcomings, is not a Christian. He has not been convinced of sin by the Spirit of God; he is not one of those, who, like the Apostle Paul, are forced to confess, In this we groan, being burdened,

2 Cor. v. 2., or to say, we ourselves also which "have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we our"selves, groan within ourselves.' Rom. viii. 23. The Apostle's exclamation in the passage before us, "O wretched man that I am," is no other than this groaning. And every regenerate man convinced of sin, which in his natural state never disturbed his thoughts, the more he advances in the course of holiness, and the more nearly he approaches to the image of his master, the more deeply will he groan under the more vivid conception, and the stronger abhorrence of the malignity of his indwelling sin.

It is easy to see how suitable it was that the author of this Epistle should detail his own experience, and thus describe the internal workings of his heart, and not merely refer to his external conduct. He speaks of himself, that it might not be supposed that the miserable condition he described did not concern believers; and to show that the most holy ought to humble themselves before God; and that God would

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