weakness, though he hath none of his own: "Let me fall into the hands
of the Lord, for his mercies are great; and let me not fall into the
hand of man."

But the apostle did not stop with a declaration that the judgment of
others did not move him; he brought it home to himself: _Yea, I judge
not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby
justified; but he that judgeth me is the Lord_. St. Paul had a witness
in himself that he was sincere and upright before God--"Our rejoicing
is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity, and
Godly sincerity, not by fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we
have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly toward
you."

The same is the import of his declaration in the text--"_I know
nothing by myself_--am conscious of no allowed wickedness--of no
willful error, either in profession or practice." But he dared not to
assert that he had made no mistakes--_yet am I not hereby justified_.
He knew himself liable to error--did not "trust his own heart". _He
that judgeth me is the Lord_--"his judgment is according to truth--
that will determine my character, and fix my doom."

The apostle could remember a time in which he had conscientiously done
wrong. He had persecuted the church; killed Christ's disciples, and
thought he was doing right; verily believed that he was doing God
service!--Now he acted conscientiously in "preaching the faith he
had once destroyed"--in the manner of his preaching it; and
discharging every ministerial and Christian duty; though he was
censured and calumniated by some, and suspected by others. He followed
the light of his own mind, and determined to follow it; so to act as