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(John Newton)
"But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in
me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as
an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life!" 1
Timothy 1:16
You would have liked to have been with me last Wednesday,
when I preached at the prison. The bulk of my congregation were burglars,
highway robbers, and poor unhappy prostitutes--such as infest the streets of
this city, sunk in sin, and lost to shame. I had a hundred or more of these
criminals before me.
I preached from 1 Timothy 1:15, "Here is a trustworthy
saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners--of whom I am the worst!" and began with telling them my own
story. This gained their attention more than I expected. I spoke to them nearly
an hour and a half. I shed many tears myself, and saw some of them shed tears
likewise.
Ah! Had you seen their present condition, and could you hear
the history of some of them, it would make you sing, "O to grace, how
great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be!"
By nature, they were no worse than the most upright and
moral people; and there was doubtless a time when many of them little thought
what they would live to do and suffer.
I might have been, like them, in chains--and one of them
have come to preach to me, had the Lord so pleased!
In my days of folly and vanity, I was a chief sinner
indeed--a vile blasphemer, and profligate to an extreme! But it has pleased Him
to set me forth as a pattern of His mercy to other chief sinners--that none may
despair when they see me!
"By the grace of God I am what I am!" 1
Corinthians 15:10
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