SERMON XIII.

I COR. ix. 25.

EVERY MAN THAT STRIVETH FOR THE

MASTERY IS TEMPERATE

IN ALL

THINGS: NOW THEY DO IT TO OBTAIN

A CORRUPTIBLE CROWN, BUT WE AN
INCORRUPTIBLE.

'HE defign of this paffage is plainly to

T recommend the great Chriftian duty of

being "

temperate in all things;" that is, of obtaining an entire command over our paffions; or, as it is expreffed a few verfes after, of

keeping under our bodies, and bringing them "into subjection." This felf-government is indifpenfably neceffary, both to the real enjoyment of the present life, and to the poffeffion of everlasting happiness in the next. But, then, like every thing else that is valuable, it

is as difficult to acquire, as it is useful and excellent; and it ftands in need of the most powerful arguments to recommend and enforce it. One of the strongest is here urged by St. Paul. To raife the courage and invigorate the refolution of the Corinthians, to whom the Epiftle is addreffed, and of all others engaged in the fame ftate of warfare with their corrupt inclinations, he reminds them of the immortal prize they are contending for, that crown of glory which is to recompence their virtuous conflict. And to give this still greater weight, he compares their rewards with those propofed to the competitors in the wellknown games or sports which were celebrated near Corinth. In these, all that was contended for, was nothing more than "a corruptible

66

crown," a wreath compofed of perishable leaves whereas, the prize of the Christian is an incorruptible one, a crown of glory that fadeth not away, an eternity of real and substantial happiness in Heaven. And yet, poor and contemptible as the reward was in those games, they who ftrove for the maftery in them, were temperate in all things, were content to exercise the stricteft difcipline and ab

ftemioufnefs,

66

ftemiousness, to abridge themselves both in the quantity and the quality of their diet, to renounce every pleasure and every indulgence that tended to weaken the body, and voluntarily to undergo many hardships in order to prepare themselves for the conteft, and "to run so that they might obtain." How is it poffible, then, after this, for the Chriftian to complain of the difficulties he has to encounter in this his ftate of probation, and when celeftial rewards are held up to his view, to fhrink from the feverities through which he muft arrive at them? If he has any honeft ambition in his nature, will he not emulate the ardour and activity of thefe Grecian combatants? Will he not chearfully go through a fimilar course of preparatory discipline? Will he not impose upon himself a little moderation in his pleasures, a little felf-government and felf-denial? Will he not contentedly give up a few trivial indulgences, and tranfient gratifications, in order to fecure a prize infinitely more glorious than theirs; a crown incorruptible, felicity eternal, commensurate to the existence, and suited to the capacity of an immortal foul?

I do

To this irrefiftible ftrength of argument St, Paul fubjoins, as an additional motive, his own example. "I therefore," fays he, "fo run, "not as uncertainly," not heedlessly and ignorantly, but with a perfect knowledge of the course I am to purfue, the rules I am to observe, the prize I am to aim at, and the conditions on which it is to be attained. not act at random, but upon fure grounds, My views are steadily fixed on the grand point, and I prefs forwards in the way marked out with unwearied vigour and perfeve rance. "So fight I, not as one that beateth "the air." In this Christian combat I do not mis-spend my activity, and exert my powers to no purpose; I do not fight with my own fhadow, or with an imaginary antagonist*, wafting my ftrength on the empty air; but I ftrive for the maftery in good earnest; I confider myself as having real enemies to combat, the world, the flesh, and the devil; I know that my life, my falvation, my all, is at ftake; and therefore, in imitation of the competitors in the Ifthmian game, I exercife a ftrict government over myself; I sub

* See the commentators.

due

due my rebellious paffions, by continual acts of felf-denial; "I keep under my body, and "bring it into fubjection," left that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a caftaway,

Such is the reasoning of this eloquent apoftle at large; and it behoves us all to pay due attention to it; for, though in one circumstance we do not all refemble him, are not all appointed to preach to others; yet are we all, like him, engaged in the Christian conflict with paffion and temptation; and must, like him, either come off victorious in it, and gain the prize, or be fhamefully fubdued, and lofe our own fouls.

Ever fince the unhappy fall of our first parents, and the confufion introduced by it into our moral frame, the paffions have acquired fo much strength and boldness, that they afpire to nothing less than an abfolute fovereignty over the foul; and we are reduced to the neceffity of either governing them, or being governed by them. This is literally the choice proposed to us at our firft entrance into life; and it concerns us to weigh and confider it well; for we can never decide on a question of

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