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SERMON XII.

DESPISERS OF THOSE THAT ARE GOOD.

2 TIM. iii. 1, 3.

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come: for men shall be..........despisers of those that are good-(not lovers of the good.)

THE word in the original is used only in this one passage of Scripture, as if many of these characteristics were so extraordinary as never to be used but in describing the last times. Strange words, to express a strange state of things; words which the Holy Spirit at no other time taketh into his lips. Of these words, that now before us properly signifies "Not lovers of the good," and may be taken indifferently of men or of things; and as such I do intend to treat of it in the following discourse, after our ordinary method, of First opening that characteristic of the Christian and the Christian church which is denied to the men of the last times; Secondly, endeavour, with all candour as the pastor of your souls, and with all faithfulness as the minister of Christ's church, to point out to you the signs of this evil disposition in the church in these our days.

Now, concerning "the good : " it was an old distinction, amongst the Greek and Roman philosophers, to separate the good from the beautiful or honourable on the one hand, and the useful on the other; considering them as distinct ends of human pursuit, and rating men more and more noble according as they ascended out of the lower into the higher spheres of action; from the pleasant to the useful, from the useful to the honourable, and from the honourable to the good. The pleasant, they regarded as a base object of pursuit; as terminating very much in bodily enjoyment, or immediate gratification of the tempers and passions of the mind. This is what is afterwards reproved in the text "as lovers of pleasure." The useful, or expedientwhich in these times, both by politicians and Christians, is regarded as the great object of pursuit-even the ancient heathens placed low down in the scale, being better moralists than we are Christians; conceiving it to respect rather the outward effects, than the inward principles of an action; bringing it under the controul of circumstances, rather than referring it to the purpose of the will. The honourable, again, they looked upon as that which was becoming in a man; which beseemed his station, and befitted his dignity, and carried with it a grace and a comeliness of worth: that which appealed from success, to the honour of men; from the issue of the event, to the seemliness of the action. But the good was that which they esteemed it divine

in man to aim at; being distinguished from the rest, by its appealing to the eternal principles of rectitude, and directly derived from the Lord God. This they considered as far removed above the sphere of the pleasant; for the good they knew to be oft unpleasant. Far removed also above the sphere of the useful; for they knew that the good oft proved useless in the outset, yea, very inexpedient, and full of harm. Also, as much more elevated than the honourable, which still carrieth an appeal to man, though it be to man's more refined tastes and most elevated sentiments; because they knew that the good was that which intuition could not at a glance discover, or the finest moral feeling detect; but it required much painful research, much self-denying pursuit; and could be discriminated only by the few who dwelt in the recesses of their own meditations, and endeavoured to read the law written on their hearts. Such was the scale by which the philosophers of Greece and Rome measured the dignity of human actions. And even these uninspired sages, these uncircumcised heathens, would have called a man who pursued his own inclination, and followed out his own taste and humour, however that gratification might be rated-though it were the enjoyment of an eloquent sermon, or of a religious party, or of a pleasant meeting for religious ends-they would have called such an one as our religious world is generally composed of, by the epithet in the text, "Not lovers of

the good." And those who follow what is useful-whether they be the utilitarians of the political school, or the prudent disciples of expediency amongst the religious; let that usefulness be ever so enlarged or refined; though it should respect the conversion of souls, yea, though it should respect the whole church itself -would have been pronounced by the ancients as taking a low view of the subject, and regarded as men who had never risen into the love of the good. And, further, though we should seek that which is comely and beautiful in the eyes of men and in our own eyes, of honest and of good report with all; even this they would have considered as beneath the dignity of the soul, and pronounced upon us as not lovers of the good.

These notions, which the ancients entertained concerning the good, are certainly not lowered by the word of God, wherein this quality of goodness is above all measure exalted; insomuch that our Lord himself would not receive the title of good, but, upon a certain occasion, when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, who kneeled to him, and asked him, "Good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" and Jesus said unto him, " Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." In which words of our blessed Lord there is contained a most precious truth,-that no creature is good, but only the Creator; and that he himself, as a creature, though sinless and spotless

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in his life, could not, from one who did not apprehend his Divinity, take unto himself the salutation Good master, but must refer back to the Father, in whose Godhead his own Godhead standeth represented: "There is none good but one, that is, God:" and Christ as God is good, but Christ as a creature will ever declare unto all the creatures, that they are to look for goodness in the Godhead only. The good, therefore, according to this word of the Lord, is truly the divine; and the ancients were right in elevating it far above the pleasant, the profitable, and the honourable. Moreover, in order to teach this great lesson, that goodness pertaineth only unto God, the creatures have all been permitted to fall-save the elect angels; whom, however, God faileth not to charge with folly. And that this was the great lesson taught in the fall of man, is manifest from the name of that tree which he was forbidden to eat; he was forbidden to eat of it, because the consequence of that disobedience would be the knowledge of good and evil. It was no virtue in the tree, nor in the fruit of the tree: the effect followed upon the violation of the Divine command. The creature thereby revealed its essential infirmity, and shewed that it was evil. And now it could tell where goodness lay, by having discovered where evil lay. As the idea of darkness is necessary to the idea of light, and the idea of confusion to the idea of order; so is the idea of