reproaches of their own consciences for the headlong impetuosity of their passions in this world. My brethren, the best direction we can follow for the establishment of our ways, is frequently to set the judgment which we shall one day form of them, against that which we now form. Let us often think of our deathbed. Let us often realize that terrible moment, which will close time, and open eternity. Let us often put this question to ourselves, What judgment shall I form of that kind of life which I now lead, when a burning fever consumes my blood, when unsuccessful remedies, when useless cares, when a pale physician, when a weeping family, when all around, shall announce to me the approach of death? what should I then think of those continual dissipations which consume the most of my time; what of those puerile amusements, which take up all my attention; what of these anxious fears, which fill all the capacity of my soul; what of these criminal pleasures, which infatuate me? what judgment shall I make of all these things, in that terrible day, when the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, when the foundations of the earth shall shake, when the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, when the elements shall melt with fervent heat, when the great white throne shall appear, when the judge shall sit, and the books be opened, in which all my actions, words, and thoughts are registered? If we follow these maxims, we shall see all objects with new eyes; we shall tremble at some ways which we now approve; we shall discover gulfs in the road, in which we walk at present without suspicion of danger. I said at the beginning, my brethren, and I repeat it again, in finishing this exercise, the text we have been explaining includes a voluminous subject, more proper to make the matter of a large treatise than of a single sermon. The reflections, which we have been making, are only a slight sketch of the maxims with which the Wise Man intended to inspire us. All we have said will be entirely useless, unless you enlarge by frequent meditation the narrow bounds in which we have been obliged to include the subject. "Ponder the path of thy feet, and all thy ways shall be established." Who weighs, who calculates, who connects and separates, before he believes and judges, before he esteems and acts? The least probability persuades us; the least object, that sparkles in our eyes, dazzles us; the least appearance of pleasure excites, fascinates, and fixes us. We determine questions on which our eternal destiny depends, with a levity and precipitancy, which we should be ashamed of in cases of the least importance in temporal affairs. Accordingly, the manner in which we act, perfectly agrees with the inattention with which we determine the reason of acting. We generally spend life in a way very unbecoming intelligent beings, to whom God has given a power of reflecting: and more like creatures destitute of intelligence, and wholly incapable of reflection. In order to obey the precept of the Wise Man, we should collect our thoughts every morning, and never begin a day without a VOL. II.-2 cool examination of the whole business of it. We should recollect ourselves every night, and never finish a day, without examining deliberately how we have employed it. Before we go out of our houses, each should ask himself, Whither am I going? In what company shall I be? What temptations will assault me? What opportunities of doing good offer to me? When we return to our houses, each should ask himself; Where have I been? What has my conversation in company been? Did I avail myself of every opportunity of doing good? My brethren, how invincible soever our depravity may appear, how deeply rooted soever it may be, how powerful soever tyrannical habits may be over us, we should make rapid advances in the road of virtue, were we often to enter into ourselves; on the contrary, while we act, and determine, and give ourselves up without reflection and examination, it is impossible our conduct should answer our calling. My brethren, shall I tell you all my heart? This meditation troubles me, it terrifies me, it confounds me. I have been forming the most ardent desires for the success of this discourse; and yet I can hardly entertain a hope that you will relish it. I have been exhorting you with all the power and ardour of which I am capable; and, if you will forgive me for saying so, with the zeal which I ought to have for your salvation; I have been exhorting you not to be discouraged at the number and the difficulties of the duties which the Wise Man prescribes to you; but, I am afraid, I know you too well to promise myself that you will acquit your selves with that holy resolution and courage which the nature of the duties necessarily de mands. May God work in you, and in me, more than I can ask or think! God grant us intelligent minds, that we may act like intelligent souls! May that God, who has set before us life and death, heaven and hell, boundless felicity and endless misery, may he so direct our steps, that we may arrive at that happiness which is the object of our wishes, and which ought to be the object of our care! God grant us this grace! To Him be honour and glory for ever. Amen. SERMON LIII. THE NECESSITY OF PROGRESSIVE RELIGION. 1 CORINTHIANS, 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. MY BRETHREN, THAT was a fine eulogium, which was made on one of the most famous generals of antiquity. It was said of him, that he thought there was "nothing done, while there remained any thing to do." To embrace such a system of war and politics, was to open a wide field of painful labour: but Cesar aspired to be a hero, and 1. In these games the most remarkable objects was the course. The ground, on which the games were celebrated, was marked out with great exactness. In some places lines were drawn, and the place of combat railed, and when he who ran went beyond the line, he ran to no purpose. It was dangerous to ramble, especially in some places, as in Greece, where the space was bounded on one side by the river Alpheus, and on the other by a sort of chevaux de frise, as at Rome; where before the construction of the circus, which was afterward built on purpose for spectacles of this sort, an area was chosen, on one side of which was a chevaux de frise, and on the other the Tiber, so that the combatant could not pass the bounds prescribed to him without exposing himself to the danger either of being wounded by the spikes, or drowned in the waves. This is the first emblem, which our apostle uses here; “I run," alluding to the course in general; "I do not run uncertainly," in allusion to such combatants as, by passing the boundaries, lost the fruit of their labour. there was no way of obtaining his end, except | Roman people-bread and public shows. It that which he chose. Whoever arrives at is needless to repeat here what learned men worldly heroism, arrives at it in this way. By have collected on this subject, we will remark this marvellous secret, the Roman eagles flew only what may serve to elucidate our text, all to the utmost parts of Asia, rendered Gaul the ideas of which are borrowed from these tributary, swelled the Rhine with German exercises. blood, subjugated Britain, pursued the chattered remains of Pompey's army into the deserts of Africa, and caused all the rivers that fell into the Adriatic sea, to roll along the sound of their victories. My brethren, success is not necessarily connected with heroism; the hero Cesar was a common misfortune, all his heroism public robbery, fatal to the public, and more so to Cesar himself. But, in order to be saved, it is necessary to succeed; and their is no other way of obtaining salvation, except that laid down by this great general, "thinking nothing done, while there is any thing to do." Behold, in the words of our text, behold a man, who perfectly knew the way to heaven, a man most sincerely aspiring to salvation. What does he to succeed? What we have said; he counted all he had done nothing, while there remained any thing more to do. After he had carried virtue to its highest pitch, after he had made the most rapid progress, and obtained the most splendid triumphs in the road of salvation, still he ran, still he fought, he undertook new mortifications, always fearing lest lukewarmness and indolence should frustrate his aim of obtaining the prize which had always been an object of his hope; "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 castaway." St. Paul lives no more. This valiant champion has already conquered. But you, you Christians, are yet alive; like him, the race is open before you, and to you now, as well as to him formerly, a voice from heaven cries, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne," Rev. iii. 21. Happy, if animated by his example, you share with him a prize, which loses nothing of its excellence, by the number of those who partake of it! Happy, if you be able one day to say with him, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing," 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. Let us first make a general remark on the expressions of the text; they are a manifest allusion to the games which were celebrated among the heathens. Fable, or history, tells us, that Pelops invented them, that Hercules and Atreus brought them to perfection, that Iphitus restored them; all which signify very little to us. What is certain is, that these games were celebrated with great pomp. They were so solemn among the Greeks, that they made use of them to mark memorable events and public eras, that of consuls at Rome, of archons at Athens, of priestesses as Argos. They passed from Greece to Italy, and were so much in vague at Rome, that an ancient author said, two things were necessary to the 2. Among other games were those of wrestling and boxing. Address in these combats consisted in not aiming any blow which did not strike the adversary. He who had not this address, was said to "beat the air;" and hence came the proverb "to beat the air," to signify labouring in vain. This is the second allusion of St. Paul, "I fight, not as one that beateth the air." 3. The combatants observed a particular regimen, to render themselves more active and vigorous. The time, the quantity, and the nature of their aliments were prescribed, and they punctually complied with the rules. They laid aside every thing likely to enervate them. "Would you obtain a prize in the Olympic games?" said a pagan philosopher, “a noble design! But consider the preparations and consequences. You must live by rule, you must eat when you are not hungry, you must abstain from agreeable foods, you must habituate yourself to suffer heat and cold; in one word, you must give yourself up entirely to a physician." By these means the combatants acquired such health and strength, that they could bend with the greatest ease such bows as horses could hardly bend; hence the "health of a champion" was a common proverb to express a strong hale state. As this regimen was exact, it was painful and trying. It was necessary not only to surmount irregular desires, but all those exercises must be positively prac tised which were essential to victorious combatants: it was not sufficient to observe them a little while, they must be wrought by long preparation into habits, without which the agility and vigour acquired by repeated labours would be lost; witness that famous champion, who, after he had often and gloriously succeeded, Eustat. in Homer. Iliad. Epict. cap. 36. Voi. Plat. de legibus, lib. 8. 1 was shamefully conquered, because he had ne- | What a wide field opens here to our medita- We might show, that they owe their origin to Paganism. Plutarch says, that in the city of Lacedæmon, they were sometimes pursued even to death in honour of Diana.§ Herodotus speaks to the same purpose concerning the festival of the great goddess in Egypt. In like manner Philostratus speaks of the devotions performed in honour of the Scythian Diana. Thus also Apuleius concerning the priests of the goddess of Syria;** and thus authors more credible, I mean the writers of the Book of Kings, concerning the priests of Baal. should not then have a right to determine that the apostle had his eye on such services here. For our parts, we think, he intended all acts of repentance prescribed in Scripture, and exemplified by the saints; as silence, retirement, fasting, abstinence from criminal pleasures, and so on. 4. Further, there were persons who presided over the pagan games. They were called heralds. The name given them in the Greek language is precisely the same which in our language is rendered preacher. Their office was expressed by a word which signifies to preach. It consisted in proclaiming the game, directing the combatants, encouraging the weak, animating the valiant, exposing the prize to public view, and giving it to the victor. This is the fourth allusion of our apostle, "lest when I have preached to others." The original word which we have translated preached, is the very word which is used to describe the office of such as presided at the games; and St. Paul, by using this term, gives us a beautiful idea of the apos tleship, and, in general of the gospel ministry. What is the office of a minister of the gospel? We publish the race, we describe the "good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them;" we animate you by often saying, "run with patience the race that is set before you:" we lift up to public view the prize, and in the name of God we cry, "so run that you may obtain." Happy if you all attend to this voice, and if, while a few are eagerly and constantly running the race set before them, others do not run more eagerly across the space, like those unhappy people just now mentioned, who were wounded with iron spikes, or drowned in the waves. 5. In fine, The last remark we make on paWe might show the weakness of the argu- gan games regards the different destiny of the ments on which such practices are founded; as combatants. The conquered derived no advanfabulous miracles, and, among many others, a tages from their pains; but the victors were coletter brought by an angel from heaven to Je-vered with honours and advantages; they were rusalem, which declared, that the blessed virgin having implored pardon for the guilty, God had replied, that their pardon should be granted on condition they whipped themselves in this manner.tt We might produce the weighty reasons which many of the Roman communion, and among others Gerson and De Thou, urged against such practices, and the testimonies of our Scriptures, which expressly forbid them; but we will content ourselves with observing, that the words of our text have nothing that can serve even for a plausible pretence for these zuperstitions. We said St. Paul alluded to the regimen observed by combatants; combatants observed that kind of life, which was most proper to fit them for their profession; in like manner, St. Paul observed what fitted him for his. Were it possible to prove that mortifications and macerations were necessary to this purpose, we c. 9. distinguished in all public assemblies; they were called by the high sounding name of Olympian; they were crowned with great ceremony; statues were erected to their honour, and breaches were made in the walls of cities to admit them with the greater pomp. This is the fifth allusion which the apostle here makes to the games, "lest I should be a cast-away.” A cast-away; the heathens applied this word to such combatants as entered the lists but did not obtain the prize. Such were the games celebrated through all Greece, and in particular at the city of Philippi, where St. Paul wrote this epistle, and in that of Corinth to which it is addressed. The believer is a stranger on earth, he sees there a thousand delights of which he does not partake. The eyes of Paul at Philippi, more properly his ears (for St. Paul hardly attended public amusements,) were struck with the fame and magnificence of these games. The Corinthians were in the same condition. How hard is it to live in a country and to be excluded from the * Baudelot de Dairval. Hist. de Ptolomee Auletes, p. 61. lans. ens the Corinthians and himself against these temptations; he rises from sensual to spiritual pleasures, and says, he has also an area, a race, a crown, a triumph. "I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beat 1. In these games the most remarkable objects was the course. The ground, on which the games were celebrated, was marked out with great exactness. In some places lines were drawn, and the place of combat railed, and when he who ran went beyond the line, he ran to no purpose. It was dangerous to ramble, especially in some places, as in Greece, where the space was bounded on one side by the river Alpheus, and on the other by a sort of chevaux de frise, as at Rome; where before the construction of the circus, which was afterward built on purpose for spectacles of this sort, an area was chosen, on one side of which was a chevaux de frise, and on the other the Tiber, so that the combatant could not pass the bounds prescribed to him without exposing himself to the danger either of being wounded by the spikes, or drowned in the waves. is the first emblem, which our apostle uses here; "I run," alluding to the course in general; "I do not run uncertainly," in allusion to such combatants as, by passing the boundaries, lost the fruit of their labour. there was no way of obtaining his end, except | Roman people-bread and public shows. It that which he chose. Whoever arrives at is needless to repeat here what learned men worldly heroism, arrives at it in this way. By have collected on this subject, we will remark this marvellous secret, the Roman eagles flew only what may serve to elucidate our text, all to the utmost parts of Asia, rendered Gaul the ideas of which are borrowed from these tributary, swelled the Rhine with German exercises. blood, subjugated Britain, pursued the shattered remains of Pompey's army into the deserts of Africa, and caused all the rivers that fell into the Adriatic sea, to roll along the sound of their victories. My brethren, success is not necessarily connected with heroism; the hero Cesar was a common misfortune, all his heroism public robbery, fatal to the public, and more so to Cesar himself. But, in order to be saved, it is necessary to succeed; and their is no other way of obtaining salvation, except that laid down by this great general, "thinking nothing done, while there is any thing to do." Behold, in the words of our text, behold a man, who perfectly knew the way to heaven, a man most sincerely aspiring to salvation. What does he to succeed? What we have said; he counted all he had done nothing, while there remained any thing more to do. After he had carried virtue to its highest pitch, after he had made the most rapid progress, and obtained the most splendid triumphs in the road of salvation, still he ran, still he fought, he undertook new mortifications, always fearing lest lukewarmness and indolence should frustrate his aim of obtaining the prize which had always been an object of his hope; "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 castaway." St. Paul lives no more. This valiant champion has already conquered. But you, you Christians, are yet alive; like him, the race is open before you, and to you now, as well as to him formerly, a voice from heaven cries, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne," Rev. iii. 21. Happy, if animated by his example, you share with him a prize, which loses nothing of its excellence, by the number of those who partake of it! Happy, if you be able one day to say with him, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing," 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. Let us first make a general remark on the expressions of the text; they are a manifest allusion to the games which were celebrated among the heathens. Fable, or history, tells us, that Pelops invented them, that Hercules and Atreus brought them to perfection, that Iphitus restored them; all which signify very little to us. What is certain is, that these games were celebrated with great pomp. They were so solemn among the Greeks, that they made use of them to mark memorable events and public eras, that of consuls at Rome, of archons at Athens, of priestesses as Argos. They passed from Greece to Italy, and were so much in vague at Rome, that an ancient author said, two things were necessary to the This 2. Among other games were those of wrestling and boxing. Address in these combats consisted in not aiming any blow which did not strike the adversary. He who had not this address, was said to "beat the air;" and hence came the proverb "to beat the air," to signify labouring in vain. This is the second allusion of St. Paul, "I fight, not as one that beateth the air." 3. The combatants observed a particular regimen, to render themselves more active and vigorous. The time, the quantity, and the nature of their aliments were prescribed, and they punctually complied with the rules. They laid aside every thing likely to enervate them. "Would you obtain a prize in the Olympic games?" said a pagan philosopher, "a noble design! But consider the preparations and consequences. You must live by rule, you must eat when you are not hungry, you must abstain from agreeable foods, you must habituate yourself to suffer heat and cold; in one word, you must give yourself up entirely to a physician." By these means the combatants acquired such health and strength, that they could bend with the greatest ease such bows as horses could hardly bend; hence the "health of a champion" was a common proverb to express a strong hale state. As this regimen was exact, it was painful and trying. It was necessary not only to surmount irregular desires, but all those exercises must be positively practised which were essential to victorious combatants: it was not sufficient to observe them a little while, they must be wrought by long preparation into habits, without which the agility and vigour acquired by repeated labours would be lost; witness that famous champion, who, after he had often and gloriously succeeded, Eustat. in Homer. Iliad. Epict. cap. 36. Voi. Plat. de legibus, lib. 8. was shamefully conquered, because he had ne- | glected the regimen for six months, during which time a domestic affair had obliged him to reside at Athens. This is the third allusion which our apostle makes in the text, "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection." Let us observe, by the way, that these expressions of our apostle have been abused to absurd though devotional purposes; and, to omit others, it was an abuse of these expressions which produced the extravagant sect of the Flagellants. All Italy in the thirteenth century was seized with a panic, which ended in the birth of this sect. The next century, the Germans being afflicted with a plague, it filled all Germany, and the folly of Henry III. king of France, joined to that mean complaisance which induces courtiers to go into all the caprices of their masters, introduced it into that kingdom, and into that kingdom it went with so much fury, that Charles, cardinal of Lorraine, actually killed himself by adhering too closely to its maxims during a rigorous winter.t What a wide field opens here to our meditation, were it necessary to show the absurdity of such devotions! We might show, that they owe their origin to Paganism. Plutarch says, that in the city of Lacedæmon, they were sometimes pursued even to death in honour of Diana.§ Herodotus speaks to the same purpose concerning the festival of the great goddess in Egypt. In like manner Philostratus speaks of the devotions performed in honour of the Scythian Diana. Thus also Apuleius concerning the priests of the goddess of Syria;** and thus authors more credible, I mean the writers of the Book of Kings, concerning the priests of Baal. We might show the weakness of the arguments on which such practices are founded; as fabulous miracles, and, among many others, a letter brought by an angel from heaven to Jerusalem, which declared, that the blessed virgin having implored pardon for the guilty, God had replied, that their pardon should be granted on condition they whipped themselves in this manner.ti We might produce the weighty reasons which many of the Roman communion, and among others Gerson and De Thou, urged against such practices, and the testimonies of our Scriptures, which expressly forbid them; but we will content ourselves with observing, that the words of our text have nothing that can serve even for a plausible pretence for these zuperstitions. We said St. Paul alluded to the regimen observed by combatants; combatants observed that kind of life, which was most proper to fit them for their profession; in like manner, St. Paul observed what fitted him for his. Were it possible to prove that mortifications and macerations were necessary to this purpose, we * Baudelot de Dairval. Hist. de Ptolomee Auletes, p. 61. c. 9. lans. Hospinian. Hist. Monach. Boileau. Hist. des Flagel De Thou, Hist. liv. 59. De Vit. Apollon. lib. vi. c. 20. ** L'Ane d'Or, liv. viii. tt Bosius Anal. under the year 1349. should not then have a right to determine that the apostle had his eye on such services here. For our parts, we think, he intended all acts of repentance prescribed in Scripture, and exemplified by the saints; as silence, retirement, fasting, abstinence from criminal pleasures, and so on. 4. Further, there were persons who presided over the pagan games. They were called heralds. The name given them in the Greek language is precisely the same which in our language is rendered preacher. Their office was expressed by a word which signifies to preach. It consisted in proclaiming the game, directing the combatants, encouraging the weak, animating the valiant, exposing the prize to public view, and giving it to the victor. This is the fourth allusion of our apostle, "lest when I have preached to others." The original word which we have translated preached, is the very word which is used to describe the office of such as presided at the games; and St. Paul, by using this term, gives us a beautiful idea of the apostleship, and, in general of the gospel ministry. What is the office of a minister of the gospel? We publish the race, we describe the "good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them;" we animate you by often saying, "run with patience the race that is set before you:" we lift up to public view the prize, and in the name of God we cry, "so run that you may obtain." Happy if you all attend to this voice, and if, while a few are eagerly and constantly running the race set before them, others do not run more eagerly across the space, like those unhappy people just now mentioned, who were wounded with iron spikes, or drowned in the waves. 5. In fine, The last remark we make on pagan games regards the different destiny of the combatants. The conquered derived no advantages from their pains; but the victors were covered with honours and advantages; they were distinguished in all public assemblies; they were called by the high sounding name of Olympian; they were crowned with great ceremony; statues were erected to their honour, and breaches were made in the walls of cities to admit them with the greater pomp. This is the fifth allusion which the apostle here makes to the games, "lest I should be a cast-away." A cast-away; the heathens applied this word to such combatants as entered the lists but did not obtain the prize. Such were the games celebrated through all Greece, and in particular at the city of Philippi, where St. Paul wrote this epistle, and in that of Corinth to which it is addressed. The believer is a stranger on earth, he sees there a thousand delights of which he does not partake. The eyes of Paul at Philippi, more properly his ears (for St. Paul hardly attended public amusements,) were struck with the fame and magnificence of these games. The Corinthians were in the same condition. How hard is it to live in a country and to be excluded from the pleasures of the inhabitants! St. Paul strengthens the Corinthians and himself against these temptations; he rises from sensual to spiritual pleasures, and says, he has also an area, a race, a crown, a triumph. "I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beat |