SERMON XX'.

RICHES A TEMPTATION TO BE HIGH-MINDED.

1 TIM. vi. 17.

Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the Living God."

THE tender anxiety with which St. Paul laboured for the spiritual welfare of his converts, is manifested full as clearly in those parts of his Epistles which relate to the daily duties of Christians, as in those more striking portions which show his zeal for the true faith. To teach the correct doctrines was only one part of the task he proposed to himself; to engraft them on the characters of his disciples was another at least as important, and which seems to have occupied as large a share of his attention. Accordingly, we find in his writings most valuable lessons of Christian practice, and deep-sighted knowledge of the temptations which interfere with it.

[Preached June, 9, 1833. This was the Author's last Sermon.]

In the present instance, he is instructing his assistant Timothy how to follow up the system on which he himself had acted; how to adapt his preaching to the spiritual wants of his different hearers; what were the duties most especially incumbent on each class of persons to whom he would have to address himself; and the dangers against which each ought most especially to be cautioned. Among other classes he notices "the rich in this world ;" and the advice he gives to these is, "that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the Living God." From which, of course, we understand that the temper of mind which St. Paul thought it especially incumbent on the rich to cultivate is lowliness of mind; the danger against which they ought most carefully to guard, that of trusting in uncertain riches.

Now, I suppose, there is no one here present who will not at once assent to the justice of this precept. It seems obvious, as soon as it is stated, that the rich ought not to trust in riches, and equally obvious that no one ought to be highminded. This is quite plain; perhaps it is no less plain that the persons most likely to transgress this precept are the rich in the world. So far we may seem to have gained little by the statement of a precept so obvious, on inspired authority; we may suppose we should have known it intuitively, even though it had never been written in the Bible. Such may seem to be the case when we look at the

text in a vague and general way; but there are ways in which we may and must look at it, in which it will assume a very different aspect, and will require all the sanction of Apostolic authority to enforce our assent.

It is, indeed, very easy for us, each person within his own mind, to make pictures to himself of highmindedness and of trust in riches, such as appear to him most foolish and even wicked; nay, we may even view the matter more practically, and still suppose our own notions to be in accordance with St. Paul's, while in fact they are very far otherwise. We may select from among our neighbours what seem to be real instances of this unbecoming temper; and, when talking of them to our friends, and thinking of them to ourselves, we may imagine that we talk and think as St. Paul did, and that we have in our own persons realised his lowliness and contempt for riches.

But this way of satisfying ourselves is a sad species of self-deceit, and it is very melancholy to think how much we are all of us its victims; how readily we believe that we understand and assent to the Sacred Precepts, because we see their applicability, either in cases which we imagine to ourselves, or which we witness around us: whereas we too commonly overlook the nearer and surer test, which as commonly would lead us to a very different conclusion. Do we see their applicability to ourselves? This is the only true test whether we

rightly understand the Scripture Precepts. Do we find the want of them for the regulation of our own conduct? Do we recognize in ourselves the faults against which they warn us? Do we see the wide difference between the standard in which we are tempted to acquiesce, and that which the Word of God prescribes to us?

This mistake, as it is common in all cases, is especially so in the case before us. In order to satisfy ourselves, whether we really understand the precept in the text, we have no need to ask ourselves whether we feel disgust at high-mindedness, such as we picture it in our thoughts, or such as we see it in others; what we ought really to ask is, whether we experience it in ourselves. We, at least such of us as enjoy the conveniences of life, we are the rich of this world; we are those whom St. Paul saw to need such an admonition,-the very persons whom Timothy was to charge in the words so often cited, "that we be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the Living God." The artifices of the Tempter are not so altered since St. Paul's time, but that those who were liable to be seduced then, are liable to the same seduction now; and depend upon it, if we are not conscious of its influence, we are very grievously its victims.

In order, then, to caution you against the effects of this seductive, self-deceit, and to enable you to ascertain somewhat more precisely whether you really understand the warning in the text, and

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regulate your lives according to it, I shall endeavour, by referring to other parts of Scripture, to bring together some of the details of that character which St. Paul calls "high-mindedness" and "trust in riches." The description of this character, to which I shall first refer is contained in the Gospel for this day's service; where it is set before us in one of its most fearful forms, a form so fearful that the person in whom it is represented to us, is pronounced by our Lord worthy of that worst destiny which awaits wilful disobedience, the worm that dieth not, and the fire that is not quenched. "The rich man also died," says our Lord, "and was buried; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments." In him, then, we are to look for a representation of the very worst effects of the riches of this world let us examine the description carefully, for it concerns us that, at the last day, that description should not be found applicable to ourselves.

"There was a certain rich man," says our Lord, "which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day; and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried

1 [First Sunday after Trinity.]