take place, and which the others were obliged to | It is very properly introduced with, KNOW YOU exert themselves to prevent, as much as if they NOT? for every citizen of Corinth was acquainted had been really intended; and, by these means, with the most minute circumstance of this most some dexterous pugilists vanquished their adversa- splendid and pompous solemnity. ries by mere fatigue, without giving them a single blow. (3) A pugilist was said to beat the air, when he contended with a nimble adversary, who, by running from side to side, stooping, and various contortions of the body, eluded his blows; and thus, by causing him to miss his aim, and frequently, perhaps, to overturn himself in attempts to strike, made him emphatically spend his strength on the wind. We have an example of this in Virgil's account of the boxing-match between Entellus and Dares, before cited, and which will give us a proper view of the subject to which the apostle alludes. 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. Hom., 1. xx., ver. 445 :— : "But I bruise my body, and lead it captive,* lest, perhaps, having proclaimed to others, I myself should be one not approved.”—I inure my body to the severest discipline, and bring all its appetites into subjection; lest when I have proclaimed t to others, I should at last be rejected as unworthy to obtain it. (4) This representation of the Christian race must have made a strong impression upon the minds of the Corinthians, as they were so often spectators of those games, which were celebrated on the Isthmus upon which their city was situated. The word dovλaλwyw is applied to the leading an enemy away captive from the field of battle. It denotes, therefore, an absolute victory. This and the former word are very emphatical, conveying a lively idea of the apostle's activity in the battle against the animal part of his nature, and of the obstinacy of his enemy, and so heightening the victory. We have already noticed that it was the office of the herald, at these festivals, 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 names of the victors, and put the crown on their heads. In allusion to that office, the apostle calls himself knovž, the herald, in the combat for immortality; because he was one of the chief of those who were employed by Christ to introduce into the stadium such as contended for the incorruptible crown. He called them to the combat; he declared the kind of combat in which they were to engage; he proclaimed the qualifications necessary in the combatants, and the laws of the battle; withal, he encouraged the combatants, by placing the crowns and palms full in their view. See Drs. Adam Clarke and Macknight, in loco, (5) What has been observed concerning the spirit and ardour with which the competitors engaged in the race, and concerning the prize they had in view to reward their arduous contention, will illustrate the following sublime passage of the same writer, in his Epistle to the Philippians, iii. 12— 14: "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do; forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."-Not that already I have acquired this palm; not that I have already attained perfection: but I pursue my course, that I may seize that crown of immortality, to the hope of which I was raised by the gracious appointment of Jesus Christ. My Christian brethren, I do not esteem myself to have obtained this glorious prize but one thing occupies my whole attention; forgetting what I left behind, I stretch every nerte towards the prize before me, pressing with eager and rapid steps towards the goal, to seize the immortal palm ‡ which God, by Jesus Christ, bestows. (6) That affecting passage, also, of the same apostle, in the second epistle to Timothy, written a little before his martyrdom, is beautifully allusive to the above-mentioned race, to the crown that awaited the victory, and to the Hellanodics or judges who bestowed it. "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 to all them also that love his appearing," 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. (7) In the Epistle to the Hebrews also an epistle Every term here employed is agonistical. The whole passage beautifully represents that ardour which fired the com batants when engaged in the race. Their spirit and contention are in a very striking manner described in the following truly poetical lines of Appian (Pisc., lib. iv., ver. 101), which happily illustrate this passage. We give Jones's translation: As when the thirst of praise and conscious force which, in point of composition, may vie with the were to receive the envied palm, and who were most pure and elaborate of the Greek classics immediate witnesses of their respective conduct the apostle says: "Wherefore, seeing we also are and merit; in imitation of them, let us Christians compassed about with so great a cloud of wit- keep our eyes stedfastly fixed upon Jesus, the nesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin original introducer and perfecter of our religion, which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with who, if victorious, will rejoice to adorn our tempatience the race that is set before us, looking unto ples with a crown of glory that will never fade; Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith; who," who, for the joy set before him, endured the for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way," Heb. xii. 1-3, 12, 13. (8) In allusion to that prodigious assembly, from all parts of the world,* which was convened at Olympia, to be spectators of those celebrated games, the apostle places the Christian combatant in the midst of a most august and magnificent theatre, composed of all those great and illustrious characters whom in the preceding chapter he had enumerated, the fancied presence of whom should fire him with a virtuous ambition, and animate him with unconquered ardour to run the race that was set before him." Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses," whose eyes are upon us, who expect every thing from the preparatory discipline we have received, and who long to applaud and congratulate us upon our victory; "let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us."—Let us throw off every impediment, as the competitors for the Olympic crown did, and that sin that would entangle and impede our steps, and prove the fatal cause of our losing the victory; and "let us run with patience the race set before us."—Like those who ran in the Grecian stadium, let us, inflamed with the idea of glory, honour, and immortality, urge our course with unremitting ardour toward the destined happy goal, for the prize of our high calling in God our Saviour; "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith."-As the candidates for the Olympic honours, during the arduous contention, had in view those illustrious and venerable personages from whose hands they * Not merely the inhabitants of Athens, of Lacedæmon, and of Nicopolis, but the inhabitants of the whole world, are convened to be spectators of the Olympic exercises. Arrianis Epictetus, lib. iii., p. 456. Upton. Entangle by wrapping round. An allusion to the garments of the Greeks, which were long, and would entangle and impede their steps, if not thrown off in the race. See Hallet, in loco. cross, despising the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of God."-Jesus himself, that he might seize the glorious palm which his God and Father placed full in his view, in order to inspirit him with that ardour and alacrity in the race he had set before him, cheerfully submitted to sorrows and sufferings, endured the cross, contemning the infamy of such a death, and, in consequence of perseverance and victory, is now exalted to the highest honours, and placed on the right hand of the Supreme Majesty. "For, consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds."—Consider him who contended with such opposition; wicked men all confederated against him; and let reflections on his fortitude prevent your being languid and dispirited. Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way." Exert in the Christian race those nerves that have been relaxed, and collect those spirits which have been sunk in dejection; make a smooth and even path for your steps, and remove every thing that would obstruct and retard your velocity.‡ 66 SECTION III. PHILOSOPHICAL SECTS MENTIONED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. The Stoics and the Epicureans. In treating of the several books of the New Testament, we have had occasion to notice some of those pernicious misnamed philosophical notions with which the Jewish and Christian churches were early infected. There are two sects, however, which demand a more specific consideration, and of which we proceed to give some account ; viz., the Stoies and the Epicureans. 1. The Sroics, mentioned in Acts xvii. 18, were a sect of heathen philosophers, of which Zeno, who flourished about 350 B. C., was the original founder. Their distinguishing tenets were-the eternity of matter, the corporeity of God, and the See the authorities before referred to, and Critica Biblica, vol. i., pp. 97-115, Seneca, who has conflagration and renovation of the world. They harmony. The Stoic idea of Providence is not were most rigid necessarians, and believed that all that of an infinitely wise and good Being, wholly things were subjected to an irresistible and irre- independent of matter, freely directing and governversible fatality. They strenuously asserted, that ing all things; but that of a necessary chain of man was self-sufficient to his own virtue and hap- causes and effects, arising from the action of a piness, and stood in no need of divine assistance; power which is itself a part of the machine it reguthat virtue was its own sufficient reward, and vice | lates, and which, equally with that machine, is subits own sufficient punishment. The grand end ject to the immutable law of necessity. Providence, and aim of their severe philosophy was, to divest in the Stoic creed, is only another name for absolute human nature of all passions and affections; and necessity or fate, to which God and matter, or the they made the highest attainment and perfection universe, which consists of both, is immutably of virtue consist in a total apathy and insensibility subject. In like manner we must be careful what to human evils. They affected great austerity in ideas we attach to the language which some of their manners, a proud singularity of dress and their writers have employed in treating of the habit, and were distinguished above all the other resurrection from the dead. sects of philosophy for their superior haughtiness written on this subject with much elegance and and supercilious arrogance. Concerning the whole effect, says, "Death, of which we are so much moral system of the Stoics, it must be remarked, afraid, and which we are so desirous to avoid, is that, although in many select passages of their only the interruption, not the destruction, of our writings it appears exceedingly brilliant, it is existence; the day will come, which will restore nevertheless founded in false notions of nature us to life."* But that this doctrine of the Stoics and of man, and is raised to a degree of refine- is not to be confounded with the Christian docment which is extravagant and impracticable. trine, is evident both from the passage in the Acts The piety which it teaches is nothing more than of the Apostles to which we have before referred, a quiet submission to irresistible fate. The self- and from a comparison of other parts of their command which it enjoins annihilates the best system. According to them, men return to life, affections of the human heart. The indulgence not by the voluntary appointment of a wise and which it grants to suicide is inconsistent, not only merciful God, but by the law of fate; and are not with the genuine principles of piety, but even renewed for the enjoyment of a better and hapwith that constancy which was the height of Stoic pier condition, but draw back into their former perfection. Even its moral doctrine of benevo- state of imperfection and misery. Accordingly, lence is tinctured with the fanciful principle which Seneca says, "This restoration many would relay at the foundation of the whole Stoic system, ject, were it not that their renovated life is accomthat every being is a portion of one great whole, panied with a total oblivion of past events.”+ from which it would be unnatural and impious to attempt a separation. On the doctrine of Divine Providence, which was one of the chief points upon which the Stoics disputed with the Epicureans, much is written, and with great strength and elegance, by Seneca, Epictetus, and other later Stoics. But we are not to judge of the genuine and original doctrine of this sect, from the discourses of writers who had probably improved their notions, or at least corrected their language, on this subject by visiting the Christian school. The only way to form an accurate judgment of their opinions concerning Providence, is to compare their popular language upon this head with their general system, and explain the former consistently with the fundamental principles of the latter. If this be fairly done, it will appear that the agency of the Deity is, according to the Stoics, nothing more than the active motion of a celestial ether or fire, possessed of intelligence, which at first gave form to the shapeless mass of gross matter, and, being always essentially united to the visible world, by the same necessary agency preserves its order and 2. THE EPICUREANS, mentioned in connexion with the Stoics, in Acts xvii., were the followers of Epicurus, who flourished about 300 B. C. The principal tenets of his philosophy were, that the world was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms; that the government of the world was unworthy the majesty of the gods, who lived in indolence and pleasure, but who were, nevertheless, the proper objects of reverence and worship. They derided the doctrine of Providence, and denied the doctrine of future rewards and punishments. The doctrine of Epicurus concerning nature differs from that of the Stoics chiefly in these particulars: that, while the latter held God to be the soul of the world, diffused through universal nature, the former admitted no primary intelligent nature into the system, but held atoms and space to be the first principles of all things; * Epist. 36. +See an able and interesting account of this sect, in Enfield's Hist. of Philosophy, vol. i., pp. 315–361. and that, whilst the Stoics conceived the active | system, only another term for happiness. Of the and passive principles of nature to be connected by Epicureans, then, there were two sorts: the one the chain of fate, Epicurus ascribed every ap- called the strict or rigid Epicureans, who placed pearance in nature to a fortuitous collision and all pleasure in the happiness of the mind, arising combination of atoms. Death he considered as from the practice of moral virtue; the other called the privation of sensation, in consequence of the loose or remiss Epicureans, who understood their separation of the soul from the body. He held master in the gross sense, and placed all their hapthat, when a man dies, the soul is dispersed into piness in the pleasure of the body, in brutal and the corpuscules or atoms of which it was com- sensual pleasure, in living voluptuously, and inposed, and therefore can no longer be capable of dulging every desire.* It was with some of this thought or perception. The moral philosophy of latter description that the apostle came in contact Epicurus, which is undoubtedly the least ob- at Athens; and of whom Seneca says, they were jectionable part of his system, made the ultimate profligates, not led into their irregularities by good of man to consist in pleasure, of which there the doctrines of Epicurus; but, being themselves are two kinds: one consisting in a state of rest, strongly addicted to vice, sought to hide their in which both body and mind are undisturbed by crimes in the bosom of philosophy, and had reany kind of pain; the other arising from an agree-course to a master who encouraged the pursuit able agitation of the senses, producing a cor- of pleasure, not because they set any value upon respondent emotion in the soul. Upon the former that sober and abstemious kind of pleasure which of these, Epicurus considered the enjoyment of life the doctrine of Epicurus allowed, but because they to depend. From this statement it is evident that hoped in the mere name to find some pretext or this philosopher was not the preceptor of luxurious apology for their debaucheries.† and licentious pleasures which he has been represented to be. It is true, he describes pleasure as the ultimate end of living; but pleasure is, in his * See Enfield's Hist. of Philosophy, vol. i., pp. 444—481. De Vit. Beat., c. 12. |