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SERMON II.

THE CHRISTIAN RACE AND THE CHRISTIAN

FIGHT.

1 COR. IX, 26, 27.

"I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:

"But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away."

Ir was observed and recorded as the peculiar praise and merit of the celebrated Socrates, by one who himself ranked among the profoundest philosophers of antiquity, that he was the first to bring down philosophy from the celestial regions, and accommodate her to the capacities and to the conceptions of ordinary men. This eminent Sage, who approached more nearly to the discovery of true wisdom than any other heathen, because more deeply and unfeignedly conscious of his own ignorance, rightly considered, that every

kind of knowledge which was essential to be acquired, was capable of being understood. Accordingly, discarding the idle distinctions of initiated and profane, to which contemporary philosophers attached so much importance, he was contented to teach in plain and intelligible language all who were willing to learn. Mingling familiarly with the people, he availed himself of every illustration which could be drawn from the habits and the intercourse of common life. His first object was, to find the level of the popular understanding: - and this once accomplished, he trusted for all the rest to the intrinsic value of the precepts that he delivered, in what appeared to him true wisdom and consummate virtue. Satisfied with instructing and improving his countrymen, he sought neither to display his own knowledge nor to extend his own renown.

What Socrates was in philosophy, St. Paul is in religion. The Sage taught the best that he knewthe Apostle knew the best and taught it. Socrates, while labouring to instruct others, acknowledged his own ignorance: St. Paul, while he exhorted his disciples to be strong in the faith, confessed his own infirmity. Thus each taught the more effectually, because the sympathies of the hearers were enlisted in his favour. Whether in the case of the Athenian multitude, or of the congre

gation at Corinth, the teacher was one of themselves, and naturally attracted their especial regard. The first care of the Athenian sage, as I have observed, was, that he might be understood; and this was ever the primary concern of St. Paul: with this view he avails himself when teaching, as the philosopher had been wont to do, of every custom or practice prevalent among his hearers, by which the subject under discussion might be illustrated or enforced-might be made more intelligible or more impressive. Equally familiar with the ritual of the Mosaic law and with the habits and institutions of the heathen world, he varies his language according to the peculiarities of the persons addressed, while inculcating throughout the same truths. To the Jews, he declares in this very chapter, "I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without law. I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means gain some.'

I have been led to offer these prefatory remarks in explanation of the text, as it refers to certain games or athletic exercises practised among the

heathen nations, which have long since fallen into disuse; and consequently there are some, at least among the more imperfectly educated of my hearers, to whom it may be necessary to explain the Apostle's motive for the allusion, as well as the allusion itself; especially as it is a motive in which he deserves to be imitated by all succeeding ministers of Christ. It was the desire, first, of making himself more clearly understood; and then of conveying his instructions with the utmost possible force and energy. In this desire we,

who are the authorized ministers of the Church of England, cannot but share; for if our venerable Reformers condemned the offering of prayer in a "language not understanded of the people," wherein would it be more rational or more useful, to preach to them in a style above their comprehension? The gospel with which we are put in trust, blessed be God, has nothing to do with the jargon of mere technicalities; we want no abstruse terms to mystify or perplex its meaning; the more plainly we speak, the more attentively shall we be heard; and shall always be more useful in proportion as we are better understood. It shall be my endeavour then, brethren, always and only under the guidance of the good Spirit of God, to bring home to your hearts the important lesson inculcated in the text, with as much as possible of

the lively and impressive similitude by which it is conveyed. We have here at once a precaution, and a peril; each common to all Christians, so that they only can be exempted from the one who are not exposed to the other; they only require no vigilance who are in no danger. But where shall such be found, when the Apostle admits, yea affirms the contrary even of himself. Let us then consider,

I. The HABITUAL EXERCISES OF THE BELIEVER, as denoted by the terms "I run," "I fight," with the CERTAINTY in either case of attaining, by resolution and perseverance, the end in view: "I run, not as uncertainly; I fight, not as one that beateth the air.'

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II. THE PRECAUTIONS то BE OBSERVED: "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection."

III. THE DANGER TO BE APPREHENDED AND AVOIDED: "Lest that, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away."

I. The expressive phrases, "I run," "I fight,” which are here used to denote the habitual exercises of the believer, are metaphors borrowed from the games that were celebrated in honour of a heathen deity, in the immediate vicinity of the city of Corinth; and with which therefore, the

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