'Of whom I am chief.'--1 TIM. i. 15.
The less teachers of religion talk about themselves the better; and yet
there is a kind of personal reference, far removed from egotism and
offensiveness. Few such men have ever spoken more of themselves than
Paul did, and yet none have been truer to his motto: 'We preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus.' For the scope of almost all his personal
references is the depreciation of self, and the magnifying of the
wonderful mercy which drew him to Jesus Christ. Whenever he speaks of
his conversion it is with deep emotion and with burning cheeks. Here,
for instance, he adduces himself as the typical example of God's
long-suffering. If _he_ were saved none need despair.
I take it that this saying of the Apostle's, 'Of whom I am chief,'
paradoxical and exaggerated as it seems to many men, is in spirit that
which all who know themselves ought to re-echo; and without which there
is little strength in Christian life.