nd righteousness. The two things
may lie side by side with perfect harmony, and ought to do so, in every
Christian heart.

But notice one more point. The Apostle does not say 'I _was_,' but 'I
_am_ chief.' What! A man who could say, in another connection, 'If any
man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature; old things are passed
away'--the man who could say, in another connection, '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 be, 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 in God's salvation, am the man that did all these
things; and, in a very profound sense, they remain mine through all
eternity. I may be a forgiven sinner, and a cleansed sinner, and a
sanctified sinner, but I _am_ a sinner--not I _was_. The imperishable
connection between a man and his past, which may be so tragical, and,
thank God, may be so blessed, even in the case of remembered and
confessed sin, is solemnly hinted at in the words before us. We carry
with us ever the fact of past transgression, 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 bring upon
our souls any more of the stains which, though they be in a blessed and
sufficient sense blotted out, do yet leave the marks where they have
fallen for ever.

II. Note how this man comes to such an estimate of himself.

He did not think so deeply and penitently of his past at the beginning
of his career, true and deep as his repentance, and valid and genuine as
his conversion were. But as he advanced in the love of Jesus Christ, his
former active hostility became more monstrous to him, and the higher he
rose, the clearer was his vision of the depth from which he had
struggled; for growth in Christian holiness deepens the conviction of
prior imperfection.

If God has forgiven my sin the more need for me to remember it. 'Thou
shalt be ashamed and confounded, and never open thy mouth any more
because of thy transgressions, when I am pacified towards thee fo