Qualifications of those who

Entellus VIRES IN VENTUM EFFUDIT; et ultro
Ipse gravis, graviterque ad terram pondere vasto
Concidit: ut quondam cava concidit, aut Erymantho,
Aut Ida in magna, radicibus eruta pinus.—-
Consurgunt studiis Teucri et Trinacria pubes;
It clamor cœlo: primusque accurrit Acestes,
Equævumque ab humo miserans attollit amicum.
At non tardatus casu, neque territus heros,
Acrior ad pugnam redit, ac vim suscitat ira:
Tum pudor incendit vires, et conscia virtus;
Præcipitemque Daren ardens agit æquore toto;
Nunc dextra ingeminans ictus, nunc ille sinistra.
Nec mora, nec requies: quam multa grandine nimbi
Culminibus crepitant; sic densis ictibus heros
Creber utraque manu pulsat versatque Dareta.

Both on the tiptoe stand, at full extent;
Their arms aloft, their bodies inly bent;
Their heads from aiming blows they bear afar,
With clashing gauntlets then provoke the war.
One [Dares] on his youth and pliant limbs relies;
One [Entellus] on his sinews, and his giant size.
The last is stiff with age, his motions slow;
He heaves for breath, he staggers to and fro.-
Yet equal in success, they ward, they strike;
Their ways are different, but their art alike.
Before, behind, the blows are dealt; around
Their hollow sides the rattling thumps resound.
A storm of strokes, well meant, with fury flies,
And errs about their temples, ears, and eyes:
Nor always errs; for oft the gauntlet draws
A sweeping stroke along the crackling jaws.

Hoary with age, Entellus stands his ground;
But with his warping body wards the wound;
His head and watchful eye keep even pace,
While Dares traverses, and shifts his place;
And, like a captain who beleaguers round
Some strong-built castle, on a rising ground,
Views all the approaches with observing eyes;
This, and that other part, in vain he tries,
And more on industry than force relies.
With hands on high, Entellus threats the foe;
But Dares watched the motion from below,
And slipped aside, and shunned the long descend-
ing blow.

Entellus wastes his forces on the wind;
And thus deluded of the stroke designed,
Headlong and heavy fell: his ample breast,
And weighty limbs, his ancient mother pressed.
So falls a hollow pine, that long had stood
On Ida's height or Erymanthus' wood.-
Dauntless he rose, and to the fight returned;
With shame his cheeks, his eyes with fury, burned:
Disdain and conscious virtue fired his breast,
And, with redoubled force, his foe he pressed;
He lays on loads with either hand amain,
And headlong drives the Trojan o'er the plain,
Nor stops, nor stays; nor rest, nor breath allows;"
But storms of strokes descend about his brows;
A rattling tempest, and a hail of blows.

Dryden.

To such a combat as this the apostle most manifestly alludes: and in the above description the reader will

contend in the Isthmian games.

see the full force and meaning of the words, So fight I, not as one that beateth the air-I have a real and a deadly foe; and as I fight not only for my honour but for my life, I aim every blow well, and do execution with each.

No man, who had not seen such a fight, could have given such a description as that above; and we may fairly presume that when Virgil was in Grecce he saw such a contest at the Isthmian games, and therefore was enabled to paint from nature.

Homer has the same image of missing the foe and beating the air, when describing Achilles attempting to kill Hector, who, by his agility and skill (Poeticè by Apollo), eluded the blow:

Τρις μεν επειτ' επόρουσε ποδάρκης διος Αχιλλευς
Εγχεϊ χαλκειῳ, τρις δ' ηερα τυψε βαθειαν.
ILIAD., lib. XX., ver. 445.

This

Thrice struck Pelides with indignant heart, Thrice, in impassive air, he plunged the dart.-Pope. Verse 27. But I keep under my body, &c.] is an allusion, not only to boxers, but also to wrestlers in the same games, as we learn from the word vπal, which signifies to hit in the eyes; and dovλaywyw, which signifies to trip, and give the antagonist a fall, and then keep him down when he was down; and, having obliged him to acknowledge himself conquered, make him a slave. The apostle considers his body as an enemy with which he must contend; he must mortify it by self-denial, abstinence, and severe labour; it must be the slave of his soul, and not the soul the slave of the body, which in all unregenerate men is the case.

Lest-having preached to others] The word κnovžaç, which we translate having preached, refers to the office of the Knov, or herald, at these games, whose business it was to proclaim the conditions of the games, display the prizes, exhort the combatants, excite the emulation of those who were to contend, declare the terms of each contest, pronounce the name of the victors, and put the crown on their heads. See my observations on this office in the notes at the end of Matt. iii.

Should be a cast-away.] The word adokμog signifies such a person as the ẞpaßevrai, or judges of the games, reject as not having deserved the prize. So Paul himself might be rejected by the Great Judge ; and to prevent this, he ran, he contended, he denied himself, and brought his body into subjection to his spirit, and had his spirit governed by the Spirit of God. Had this heavenly man lived in our days, he would by a certain class of people have been deemed a legalist; a people who widely differ from the practice of the apostle, for they are conformed to the world, and they feed themselves without fear.

On the various important subjects in this chapter I have already spoken in great detail; not, indeed, all that might be said, but as much as is necessary. A few general observations will serve to recapitulate and impress what has been already said.

1. St. Paul contends that a preacher of the gospel has a right to his support; and he has proved this

General observations

from the law, from the gospel, and from the common sense and consent of men. If a man who does not labour takes his maintenance from the church of God, it is not only a domestic theft but a sacrilege. He that gives up his time to this labour has a right to the support of himself and family: he who takes more than is sufficient for this purpose is a covetous hireling. He who does nothing for the cause of God and religion, and yet obliges the church to support him, and minister to his idleness, irregularities, luxury, avarice, and ambition, is a monster for whom human language has not yet got a name.

2. Those who. refuse the labourer his hire are condemned by God and by good men. How liberal are many to public places of amusement, or to some popular charity, where their names are sure to be published abroad; while the man who watches over their souls is fed with the most parsimonious hand! Will not God abate this pride and reprove this hard-heartedness?

3. As the husbandman plows and sows in hope, and the God of Providence makes him a partaker of his hope, let the upright preachers of God's word take example and encouragement by him. Let them labour in hope; God will not permit them to spend their strength for nought. Though much of their seed, through the fault of the bad ground, may be unfruitful, yet some will spring up unto eternal life.

4. St. Paul became all things to all men, that he might gain all. This was not the effect of a fickle or man-pleasing disposition; no man was ever of a more firm or decided character than St. Paul; but whenever he could with a good conscience yield so as to please his neighbour for his good to edification, he did so; and his yielding disposition was a proof of the greatness of his soul. The unyielding and obstinate mind is always a little mind : a want of true greatness always produces obstinacy and peevishness. Such a person as St. Paul is a blessing wherever he goes on the contrary, the obstinate, hoggish man, is either a general curse, or a general cross; and if a preacher of the gospel, his is a burthensome ministry. Reader, let me ask thee a question: If there be no gentleness in thy manners, is there any in thy heart? If there be little of Christ without, can there be much of Christ within?

5. A few general observations on the Grecian games may serve to recapitulate the subject in the four last verses.

1. The Isthmian games were celebrated among the Corinthians; and therefore the apostle addresses them, ver. 24: KNow ye not, &c.

2. Of the five games there used, the apostle speaks only of three. RUNNING, ver. 24: They which run in a race; and ver. 26: I therefore so run, not as uncertainly. WRESTLING, ver. 25: Every man that striveth; ò aywviloμevoç, he who wrestleth. BOXING, ver. 26, 27 : So fight I, not as one that beateth the air ; ooru TURTEVW, so fist I, so I hit; but I keep my body under; Total, I hit in the eye, I make the face black and blue.

3. He who won the race by running was to observe

on the preceding chapter.

which marked out the path or compass in which they ran; and he was also to outrun the rest, and to come first to the goal; otherwise he ran uncertainly, ver. 24, 26, and was adokuuos, one to whom the prize could not be judged by the judges of the games.

4. The athletic combatants, or wrestlers, observed a set diet. See the quotation from Epictetus, under ver. 25. And this was a regimen both for quantity and quality; and they carefully abstained from all things that might render them less able for the combat; whence the apostle says they were temperate in all things, ver. 25.

A

5. No person who was not of respectable family and connexions was permitted to be a competitor at the Olympic games. St. Chrysostom, in whose time these games were still celebrated, assures us that no man was suffered to enter the lists who was either a servant or a slave, ovdeus aywvegetat dovyos, ovdeus orρATEVETAL OLKETS and if any such was found who had got himself inserted on the military list, his name was erased, and he was expelled and punished. tav de dovo wr, AETa Tuwptas aerat Tou TOY ITpaTOTOY Karaokyov. To prevent any person of bad character from entering the list at the Olympic games, the Kerux, or herald, was accustomed to proclaim aloud in the theatre when the combatant was brought forth : My Tus Tourou karnyope; GTE AUTO αποσκευασάμενον της δουλειας την ὑποψιαν οὕτως εις Tous ayovas suBnvar: Who can accause this man For which he gives this reason: "that being free from all suspicion of being in a state of slavery (and elsewhere he says of being a thief, or of corrupt morals), he might enter the lists with credit." Chrysost. Homil. in Inscript. Altaris, &c., vol. iii. page 59, Edit. Benedict.

6. The boxers used to prepare themselves by a sort of arapayta, or going through all their postures of defence and attack when no adversary was before them. This was termed beating the air, verse 26; but when such came to the combat, they endeavoured to blind their adversaries by hitting them in the eye, | which is the meaning of inwrayuy, as we have seen under ver. 27.

7. The rewards of all these exercises were only a crown made of the leaves of some plant, or the bough of some tree; the olive, bay, laurel, parsley, &c., called here by the apostle paprov σrɛpavov, a corruptible, withering, and fading crown; while he and his fellow-Christians expected a crown incorruptible and immortal, and that could not fade away.

8. On the subject of the possibility of St. Paul becoming a cast-away, much has been said in contradiction to his own words. He most absolutely states the possibility of the case: and who has a right to call this in question? The ancient Greek commentators, as Whitby has remarked, have made a good use of the apostle's saying, Ee de lavlog Toure de dou o Torourous dudaas, Tu av Etrouper tueus; If Paul, so great a man, one who had preached and laboured so much, dreaded this, what cause have we to fear lest this should befal us?"

Transgressions and punishments

A. M. 4060. A.D. 56. A. U. C. 809. Anno Imp. Nero

nis Cas. 3.

Christ.)

a

с

of the ancient Jews.

our

A. M. 4060. A. D. 56. A. U. C. 809. Anno Imp. Neronis Cæs. 3.

thrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things were d examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also

apostle here represents the people as thoroughly sprinkled and enveloped in its aqueous vapour. See the Note on Exod. xiii. 21.

Verse 2. And were all baptized unto Moses] Rather INTO Moses-into the covenant of which Moses was the mediator; and by this typical baptism they were brought under the obligation of acting according to the Mosaic precepts, as Christians receiving Christian baptism are said to be baptized INTO Christ, and are thereby brought under obligation to keep the precepts of the Gospel.

Verse 3. Spiritual meat] The manna, which is here called spiritual. 1. Because it was provided supernaturally; and, 2. because it was a type of Christ Jesus, who, speaking of it, John vi. 31, &c., tells us that it was a type of that true bread which came down from heaven, which gives life to the world, ver. 33, and that himself was the bread of life, ver. 48.

Verse 4. Spiritual drink] By the ẞрwμа vεvμaTɩov, spiritual meat, and woμa пvevμarikov, spiritual drink, the apostle certainly means both meat and drink, which were furnished to the Israelitish assembly miraculously, as well as typically: and he appears to borrow his expressions from the Jews themselves, who expressly say 1 on hallechem hallaz ruchani, that bread was spiritual, and 17“ “ meyim ruchainiyim haiu, the waters were spiritual. Alschech in legem, fol. 238, to which opinion the apostle seems particularly to refer.-See Schoett- | gen.

The spiritual rock that followed them] There is some difficulty in this verse. How could the rock follow them? It does not appear that the rock ever moved from the place where Moses struck it. But to solve this difficulty, it is said that rock here is put, by metonymy, for the water of the rock; and that this water did follow them through the wilderness. This is more likely; but we have not direct proof of it. The ancient Jews, however, were of this opinion, and state that the streams followed them in all their journeyings, up the mountains, down the vallies, &c. &c.; and that when they came to encamp, the waters formed themselves into cisterns and pools; and that the rulers of the people guided them, by their staves, in rivulets to the different tribes and families. And this is the sense they give to Numb. xxi. 17: Spring up, O well, &c.-See the places in Schoettgen.

Jude 5.- d Gr. our figures.cvi. 14.

e

Le Numb. xi. 4, 33, 34. Ps.

and that the Greek verb akoλovlew, to follow, has this sense, Bishop Pearce has amply proved in his note on this place. The Jews suppose that the rock itself went with the Israelites, and was present with them in their thirty-eight stations, for only so many are mentioned. See Alschech in legem, fol. 236. And see Schoettgen.

Now, though of all the senses already given that of Bishop Pearce is the best, yet it does appear that the apostle does not speak about the rock itself, but of Him whom it represented; namely, Christ: this was the Rock that followed them, and ministered to them; and this view of the subject is rendered more probable by what is said ver. 9, that they tempted Christ, and were destroyed by serpents. The same rock is in the Vale of Rephidim to the present day; and it bears aboriginal marks of the water that flowed from it in the fissures that appear on its sides. It is one block of fine granite, about seven yards long, five broad, and — high. A fragment of this typical rock now lies before me, brought by a relative of my own, who broke it off, and did not let it pass into any hand till he placed it in mine. See the note on Exod. xvii. 6.

Verse 5. They were overthrown in the wilderness.] And yet ALL these persons were under the cloud—ALL passed through the sea-ALL were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea—ALL ate the same spiritual meat—ALL drank the same spiritual drink, for they were made partakers of the spiritual Rock, CHRIST. Nothing can be a more decisive proof than this that people, who have every outward ordinance, and are made partakers of the grace of our Lord Jesus, may so abuse their privileges and grieve the Spirit of God as to fall from their state of grace, and perish everlastingly. Let those who are continually asserting that this is impossible beware lest they themselves, if in a state of grace, become, through their overmuch security, proofs in point of the possibility of ending in the flesh, though they began in the Spirit. Reader, remember who said, Ye shall not surely die ; and remember the mischiefs produced by a belief of his doctrine.

Verse 6. These things were our examples] The punishments which God inflicted on them furnish us with evidences of what God will inflict upon us, if we sin after the similitude of those transgressors.