Vers. 24-26.-.77ze Christian race. "Know ye not that they which run in a race, run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And 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. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air." The Christian life is a race, and we are exhorted to run that the prize may be obtained. "So run." How? I. Ilun in the PRESCRIBED couRsE. The course is marked out and measured. The starting-place is at the foot of the cross, and the goal is planted in the grave. II. Run WITHOUT INCUMBRANCE. "Lay aside every weight," all worldly cares, and inordinate sympathetic embarrassing prejudices, and fettering habits. III. Run WITH ALL POSSIBLE CELERITY. Shake off sloth and languor, stretch every ::nuscle and limb, throw the whole force of your being into the effort. IV. Run WITH UNTIRING PEHSISTENCY. Pause not, nor loiter a moment until the end is obtained. "So run, that ye may obtain."
Ver. 27.-Hell after preaching. "But I keep," etc. These are terrible words, and they teach at least three things. l. THAT DELIVERANCE FROM HELL DEMANDS THE MOST EARNEST SELF-DISCIPLINE, "I keep under my body." I subdue the flesh by violent and reiterated blows. The reason for this mortification of the flesh is, "lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." Self-discipline may be said to con- sist of two things. 1. Tl,e entire subjugation of the body to the mind. The body was intended to be the organ, the servant, and the instrument of the mind, but it has become tbe master. The supremacy of the body is the curse of the world and the ruin of the man. 2. The subjugation rf the mind to the Spirit of Ghrist. Though the mind governs the body, if the mind is false, selfish, unloyal to Christ, there is no discipline. 'l'he mind must be the servant of Christ in order to be the legitimate sovereign of the body. These two things include spiritual discipline. II. THAT 'l'HE NECESSITY OF THIS SELF-DISCIPLINE CANNOT BE SUPERSEDED BY THE MOST succEBSFUL PREACHING. "Vvhen I have preached to others." Paul had preached to others. He bad preached to many in different lands, preached earnestly and suc- cessfully, preached so that thousands were converted by his ministry, preached so as no one else has ever preached; yet his preaching, he felt, did not do the work of self- discipline. Indeed, there is much in the work of preaching that bas a tendency to operate against persoual spiritual culture. 1. Familiarity with sacred truths destroys fur us their charm of freshness. 2. A professional handling of God's Word interferes- with its personal application. 3. 'l'he opinions of audiences, favoural,le or otherwise, exert an influence unfavourable to spiritual discipline. In connection with all this, Sat:rn is especially active in opposing the growth of spirituai piety in the preacher's tone. So that there is a terrible danger that, whilst the preacher is cultivating the vineyards of others, he is neglecting his own. Ill. '!'HE MOST" SUCCES~l'UL PREACIIING JIIAY BE FOLLOWED DY UL'l'BIATE RUI:S-- en. IX, 1-27.] THE FITIST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIAKS. 2!l5
"I myself sboulcl be a castaway I "-rejected! ·who shall fathom the meaning of this worcl? A successful preacher a" castnway "-be rejected l 'l.'he Tophet of him who hns offered mercy to others which be bas despised, ur"ed truths on the credence of others that he has disbelieved, enforced laws on others ~vhich he has trans.,ressed will bum with severer fires and peal with more awful thunders. A ma,,nifyi~"-"lns; 0 held in a certain position by the hand of a child may convey sufficient fir~ throu~h it to wrap the 0 neig~bourhood in conflagra!ion, albeit the glass through which the fire hns passed remarns unheated, cold as fhnt. So a man may convey to others the rays of the sun of Righteousness, and yet his own heart remain coltl as ice. Truly a terrible fact this.