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glected to seek them-if any such there be-now begin to seek them; and they who have always sought them, now seek them still more; thus receiving in themselves this most comfortable testimony, that they are "risen with Christ;" that their bodies, at the appointed time, shall arise; and both body and soul ascend to heaven after him, that "where he is, "they may be also."

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DISCOURSE IV.

THE CHRISTIAN RACE.

1 CORINTHIANS, IX. 24.

So run that ye may obtain.

MOST important was the matter by the apostles communicated to the world; the heavenly reward, and the way to obtain it. The manner of communication well deserves your notice and attention. It is not done in the dry didactic style. There is nothing dull and heavy. All is spirit, and all is life. Their ideas are clothed in such figures, as at once convince the understanding, strike the imagination, warm the heart, and excite the affections. It is impossible to continue cold and indifferent while we read their epistles. They look around on the various scenes of life, and the customs that prevail among those to whom they write. From these they select images calculated to convey with effect to the minds of their disciples, the doctrines which they wish to impress.

"The most splendid solemnities which ancient 'history hath transmitted to us, were the Olympic games. Historians, orators, and poets, abound with "references to them; and their sublimest imagery is "borrowed from these renowned exercises. The

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games were solemnized every fifth year by an infi* nite concourse of people from almost all parts of "the world. They were observed with the greatest 64 pomp and magnificence: hecatombs of victims were "slain in honour of the heathen deities, and Elis was "a scene of universal festivity and joy. We find "that the most formidable and opulent sovereigns of "those times were competitors for the Olympic 16 crown. We see the kings of Macedon, the tyrants “ of Sicily, the princes of Asia Minor, and at last "the lords of imperial Rome and emperors of the “ world, entering their names among the candidates, "and contending for the envied palm; judging their felicity completed, and the career of all human "glory and greatness happily terminated, if they "could but interweave the Olympic garland with the “ laurels they had purchased in the fields of wara." No subject could be more familiar than this was to the minds of the Corinthians, who were besides so often spectators of similar games, celebrated upon the isthmus on which their city was situated, and from thence denominated Isthmian. With the greatest propriety therefore the verse of which my text is a part, is introduced by the words, Knote ye not، Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, "but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may "obtain." For every citizen in Corinth was perfectly acquainted with each minute circumstance of this solemnity; a solemnity every way so splendid and

2 Dr. HARWOOD's Introduction to the Study and Knowledge. of the New Testament, vol. ii.

pompous, that there was no danger lest the allusions made to it in this and other parts of the apostolical writings, should appear low and degrading. To unfold and display to you the truths and duties enveloped in such allusions, shall be the business of the following discourse, in the prosecution of which I shall be often obliged, and therefore here make my acknowledgements, one for all, to the afore-cited ingenious writer.

Let us therefore observe, in the first place, that the comparison evidently intimates the Christian life to be a state of action, of strenuous, unremitted, unwearied action.

The candidates who were to engage in the stadium, were brought to the barrier. There, duly arranged, they waited, in all the excesses of ardour and impatience, for the signal. When it was made, at once they sprung forward, and it is natural to imagine, with what rapidity they would urge their course, and stretch every nerve to reach the goal.

How finely does this circumstance illustrate that sublime passage in the Epistle to the Philippians "Not as though I had already attained, either were

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already perfect; but I follow after, if I may appre"hend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ "Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have ap"prehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting "those things which are behind, and reaching forth "unto those things which are before, I press to“ ward the mark: Τα μεν οπίσω επιλανθανόμενος, τοις δε

b Ch. iii. 12-14.

εμπροσθεν επεκτεινόμενος, επι σκοπον διώκω επι το βραβείον. Every term here employed by the apostle is agonistical; and the whole passage beautifully represents that ardour which fired the combatants when engaged in the race.

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Thus again, in the Epistle to the Hebrews-" Let "us run with patience the race that is set before us,' τον προκειμενον ημιν αγωνα.-Like those who ran in the Grecian stadium, let us urge our course, with unremitting ardour, towards the destined happy goal.

Once more, in the Second Epistle to Timothy, ch. iv. ver. 7.; "I have fought a good fight, I have finish(6 ed my course:" τον αγώνα τον καλον ηγώνισμαι, τον δρόμον

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Life then is a contest, a conflict, a race, a progress from one degree of wisdom and goodness to another; from the virtues of childhood to those of youth; from the virtues of youth to those of manhood; from the virtues of manhood to those of old age; even till, at the near prospect of our dissolution, we can say, each of us, with the apostle,

"have fought a good fight, I have finished my "course." We must seek for rest and repose only in the arms of victory. While the race lasts, it is not a time to slumber and sleep, to loiter and be idle. Our competitors will pass us, and we shall lose all. Forgetting what is behind, we must still, still press forward, applying to ourselves in one case, what was said of a great commander in another,

Nil actum reputans, si quid superesset agendum. Day by day we should improve; day by day we

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