SERMON III.

THE PRINCIPLE OF GOODNESS.

(A NEW YEAR'S SERMON TO YOUNG PERSONS.)

MARK X. 17-22.

And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and 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. Thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him, loved him, and said unto hin, One thing thou lack. est: go thy way, sell whatscever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved; for he had great possessions.

This circumstance, which appears from the account in Matthew xix. to be related of a young man, suggests many lessons not inappropriate to the present occasion. I shall only dwell on two or three of the most important of them, and which combine themselves into an uniformity of moral tendency and impression. But it may be useful to introduce these, by first glancing at the phraseology and several particulars in the narrative. Of the character and mo

tives of this young man, I shall speak presently. Looking at the external facts, his eagerness after our Lord's instruction is an honorable circumstance. He did not wait for, but sought, the teacher. He came to him, he ran towards him, as if fearful of losing the opportunity. He was not one of those as

to whom Wisdom may lift up her voice in the streets, and be unregarded. Pleasant for an instructer is it to have such dispositions to deal with. There are too many who are passive, who wait for truth and knowledge till they come, or who even oppose to them a positive resistance. So acceptable to Providence is even this humblest kind of merit, even the non-opposition to instruction, that the relative positions of teacher and pupil, as they here appear, may to you be considered as reversed; it is only asked of. you not to fly from wisdom. The great agencies of divine instruction are ever waiting for you, and as it were running towards you. Coming days and weeks and years hasten to kneel at your feet, as the young man did to Jesus, and ask you what they shall do to ensure your inheritance of eternal life. You have only not to spurn their proffered service, or misdirect their mission. And that great teacher himself, whom he might fear would have passed away before he obtained the answer which he had sought as an oracle, is ever waiting to afford you enlightenment and guidance; ever waiting in the simplicity of his discourses, the loveliness of his example, and the perfection of his religion; breathing from age to age in every listening ear the words which are spirit, and life, and everlasting truth. They are his princi

ples which I would impress on your minds; 'today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.'

But whether from time and experience, from the living friend or the dead philosopher, from history, science, nature, reason or revelation, seek knowledge; not in a spirit of servility or flattery, but in fair, honest, and manly inquiry. Thus will truth be most propitious to your search. The young man knelt to Christ, and called him, emphatically, good; and he therefore received rebuke. This was not so much for the thing itself, as for the adulatory disposition which prompted the gesture and the phraseology. In the East, men testify their respect for superiority, not merely by kneeling, but by prostration; and truly was Christ a good master. But he accepted not of incense, which, if appropriate to him in itself, yet arose not from the heart; and still less would he endure an offering for which the altar of Divinity had been despoiled. The reply of our Lord well deserves the attention of modern religionists. It should guard against the common tendency of advancing in dogma beyond solid evidence and rational conviction, and of stopping short in morality where we have means of further information. 'Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments.' You will, I trust, be untainted by that spurious religion of our times on which this sarcasm falls much more heavily than it did on him to whom it was addressed. They are kindred errors, to raise Christ to an unwarranted deification, and to forget the essential importance of moral works.

The one is reckoned sublime theolo

gy, and the other an unsaving legality. The profession of the first arrogates exclusively the Christian name; and, without it, the practice of the last is held not exempt from the pains of eternal torment. I have no wish to excite you to a premature voyage on the troublous ocean of controversy: but I do wish you to mark the spirit of Christ's language, and contrast it with the spirit of much that passes for religion. It is singular that the overstrained compliment of an individual should have led to the record of language so plain and conclusive, and so utterly destructive of the superstitions of a future age. Christ's reply is a demolishing blow at the central dogma of a mystical system, which has so long demanded the prostration of the understanding. When creeds, churches, and liturgies, ask you thus to kneel to Christ, let his answer ring in your ears, 'There is none good but one, that is, God:' and anticipate that other question, 'Who hath required this at your hands?' We honor Christ when through him we honor his and our God, the only good, infinitely and independently.

Christ only cites the commandments of the second table; those which relate to social,not to religious duties. They are to us a surer test of character. Much as morality has been misunderstood, there is yet far less difficulty in answering the question, What is true morality? than, What is true religion? Besides, the duties to God are instrumental, those to man are final. We cannot benefit him-we may them. 'My righteousness extendeth not to thee, but to the saints that are on the earth.' Man prays to God in order that he may be good towards men. Devotion is to gene

rate benevolence, as benevolence is to generate happiness. Christ's description of those who are placed on the right hand and the left in the judgment is framed on this principle. The classification is made altogether by moral and social qualities. He taught no worth in religious services, but as they act on character and conduct. This is ground not for their neglect, but for their practice; for which their having such a tendency is the best of all reasons. If, by devotion, purity is imparted to our feelings, fervor to our benevolence, elevation to our aims, strength to our hopes; then, while in one view it remains subservient to moral qualities, in another it becomes paramount to them, endowing them with nobleness and energy. They want dignity in the mere precept-monger and slavish workmen of a righteousness according to the form and letter of a prescribed rule. Such seems the young man in the text to have been. He boasted readily that all these had he observed from his youth. No doubt he had, so far as external propriety went, in a very decent and exemplary manner. It was not for that, I apprehend, that Jesus loved him. It was rather for his eagerness, his earnestness, and his simplicity. He had not obtruded any boast of his righteousness; he made no affectation of humility; he had come in quest of a better way, though he might not have the strength to tread it. This was enough to make Jesus love a man, in that land of hypocrites and Pharisees. It was some relief from the disgust which the grossness of their manners, and their pretensions to sanctity, must have continually made him feel. His affection was ever ready to