THE K I NG ' S BUS I NES S had used him so wonderfully, should cease to do so and should cast him aside in favor of someone more unself ish, more pliant.—Meyer. The word “ castaway” is literally “disapproved." The apostle is writing of service, not of salvation. He is not expressing' fear th a t he may fail of salvation but of his crown.—Scofield. The word means “re jected candidate.” Before the races a herald 'always proclaimed the condi tions of entrance. Paul is here - a herald, telling the conditions of re ward for service.—Bishop. There would be difficulty indeed if the apostle spoke of having been born again' and afterward becoming a castaway, for life would not then be eternal, but he says nothing of the sort. He only shows the solemn danger and certain ruin of preaching without a practice according to •it. Do any Christians more deeply need to watch and pray than those who are much occupied with handling the Word of God or guiding others in the way of the Lord?—Kelly. The apostle shows th a t all the blessed knowledge he had had and with it the most posi tive assurance of eternal glory, did not make him careless but prompted him to still greater earnestness and con tinued self denial.—Anno. Bible. Gal. 6:7. Be not deceived. This phrase occurs several times as a pre face to warning, seeming to indicate that the subject of the warning is one about which we are especially liable to deception.—Evang. Review. That shall he reap. God does not pay up every week but in the end he pays.—Sel. The law of the harvest is a natural law. Hell is not an arbitrary penalty but the natural fruit of sowing. Certain means are inseparable from certain ends. Fur thermore a seed produces a crop. One sin produces many more like itself and sins of deeper dye.—Pierson. It does not follow th a t God cannot come in and deliver us from what would otherwise be the necessary fruit of such sowing if only there be true judgment of it in the soul, for to a Christian reaping of it is but in order to self judgment and if we will judge it first, there may be no need of reaping a t all.—Num. Bible.
362 wholly and entirely, spirit, soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23). Hand it over therefore to Him and as of old the glory of the Lord filled the whole structure, so tru st the Spirit of holiness to make and keep you whole.—Devo. Com. 1 Cor. 9:24. They which run in a race. It is remarkable th a t Paul should pick out the Grecian games as contain ing for Christian people any lesson, for they were honeycombed with immoral ity so .that no Jew ventured to go near them. Yet Paul takes these poor racers as teaching us a lesson. Consider their utmost tension, energy and strenuous effort, the rigid self control, the definite ness and concentration^ of aim.-*-Mac- laren. We get life before we even enter the race by simple faith in Christ (1 Jn. 5:11, 12; Jn. 3:36; 5:24). If we do not first get life as a free gift (Rom. 6:23), we have no strength to run at all, but while we get eternal life a t the beginning, we get a crown a t the end of it on the condition th a t we run well. No one who is really in the race will be lost but they may lose the crown (re wards) if they do not run well.—Tor- rey. One receiveth the prize. It is one thing to be saved. It is another to be crowned. A crown is a symbol of reward. We are saved by faith. We are rewarded on the basis of our works. E ternal life is inalienable and non-for- feitable because it depends upon the finished work of Christ. A crown may be lost through disobedience, slothful ness or lack of watchfulness.-—Parr. v. 25. Temperate in all things. Every athlete has to be put on the training table. If they would be win ners they must obey the laws laid down by the trainers.—Brown. Literally “ex ercise self control in every matter,” a technical term for the training of the athlete.—Weiss. To obtain a corrupt ible crown. Look at the contrast he hints a t between the prize th a t stirs these racers' energies into such tre mendous operation and the prize which Christians profess to be pursuing. They do it to obtain a tw ist of pine branch and a little passing glory. We do NOT do it though we professedly have an incorruptible one as our aim and ob ject.—Maclaren. v. 27. Keep under my body. We keep the body under by keeping the Holy Spirit, on top.—Cole. I should be a castaway. Paul lived in dread of becoming a castaway. He had no fear of being'rejected from God’s love (Rom. 8:35-39), but he feared lest God who
Subject Illustration.—While preach ing on the street, a man about 35 years old stepped out and told this story. He said, “ I have been a sailor and me-
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