Wesley Corpus

(Preached on board the Simonds.) Brethren, I count not myself to have appre hended : but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto these things which are before, I press towards the markfor the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philip, iii. It is observed that the several inspired writers of the Holy Scriptures, who have professedly treated of our progress in religion, and pointed out the various steps in the scale of perfection, have always represented their sentiments on the subject by obvious allegories and familiar allusions. Thus we find Christianity some times compared to a race, at others to a war fare ; and the passage of the Sacred Scripture now before us is no way to be understood without this metaphorical mode of interpreta tion, the phrases used being in a great measure borrowed from the circus, and the diversity of races represented. Thus, when the Apostle tells his Philippians that he counteth not him self to have " apprehended," it must be re marked, in order to understand him, that the word we translate " apprehended " is in the original Greek almost always applied in a technical sense to him that wins and carries off the prize ; it being the custom to place the crown, which was to be the victor's reward, over the goal, and the first of the competitors that came in reached the prize and carried it away with him. So that the meaning of St. Paul is, that he doth not think himself already possessed of his crown, nor yet so secure of it as not to be exposed to some danger of losing it : he doth not imagine that he hath yet attained the reward of his labours, nor sufficiently ascertained the victory ; and therefore, as he emphatically proceeds " this one thing I do," or this is my only care, " for getting those things which are behind, and