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النشر الإلكتروني

ESSAY XIII.

NON-CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD.

SAINTS are expectants of glory. They are born from above, and have no home beneath their native skies. Here they are strangers and pilgrims, and plainly declare that they seek a better country. It is their avowed profession, that their happiness and hopes are neither in, nor from the present world. Their treasure is in Heaven. Much as they are influenced by the spirit, governed by the maxims, awed by the frowns, and seduced by the flattery of the world; they are so far aloof from all its corrupting influence, that between them and the world, there is a distinct line of demarcation. Perfectly aloof from the corruptions of the world, they are not in the present life. But

they are sufficiently so to make their nonconformity a distinguishing trait in their character. They have come out, and are separate. They are on the Lord's side. They are a city set on a hill; so far raised above the common level of the world, that they cannot be hid. They are not of this world, even as Christ was not of this world. Such is the excellence of their character and the purity of their conduct, that the world is constrained to take knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus.

The spirit of the world is incompatible with the spirit of the gospel. It is the spirit of pride, and not of humility; of self-indulgence, rather than of self-denial. Riches, honours, and pleasure, form the grand object of pursuit with the men of the world. Worldly men are solicitous to lay up treasures for themselves, and are not rich toward God. Their great inquiry is, "Who will show us any good? What shall we eat, what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed? They are sensual, not having the spirit. Regardless of every thing but that which is calculated to gratify a carnal mind, they lift up their souls unto vanity, and pant after the dust of the earth. Their thoughts and their affections are chained down to

the things of time and sense. In these they seem to be irrecoverably immersed. They seldom think, but they think of the world; they seldom converse, but they converse of the world. The world is the cause of their perplexity, and the source of their enjoyment. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, close every avenue of the soul to the exclusion of every holy desire, I had almost said, every serious reflection.

Non

This spirit, the Christian has mortified. we, saith the Apostle, Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God. The heavenly mind looks down on the things of the world as lying vanities that cannot profit. The disciple of Jesus, as he has nobler affections than the worldling, has a higher object and more elevated joys. What things were gain to him, those he counts loss for Christ, yea, doubtless he counts all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord; for whom he is ready to suffer the loss of all things, and to count them but dung that he may win Christ. While the wise man glories in his wisdom; while the mighty man glories in his might, and the rich man glories in his

riches-it is his privilege to glory in the Lord;

to glory in nothing save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to him, and he to the world. The character and cause of the Blessed Redeemer lie so near his heart, that, in comparison with these, every thing else vanishes to nothing. He views the world by the eye of faith. He sees it in a light that reflects its intrinsic importance: the light of Eternity. There, the world shrinks to a point. The fashion of it passeth away. All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. Compared with durable riches and righteousness, its highest enjoyments are trifles, light as air. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

As the spirit of the world is not the spirit of God's people, so the men of the world are not their companions. The saints are a peculiar people. The church is uniformly represented as a society that is distinct from the world. We know that we are of God, saith the apostle, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. Between the people of God, and the men of the world, there is an essential difference of character. The views, the desires, and the designs of the children of God, are diametrically opposite to the views, the de

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sires, and the designs of the men of the world,

The one loves what the other hates.

The one

pursues what the other shuns. Saints are passing

the narrow way which leads to broad way which leads to death.

life; sinners the

Hence there is

no common bond between them. The dissimilarity of character, the diversity in the great objects of pursuit, naturally draw them asunder. If there were no other ground for the expectation, therefore, than the common principles of human nature, we might look for dissention rather than unity, between the disciples of Christ and the men of the world. How can two walk together, except they be agreed? What fellowship hath light with darkness? Or what communion hath Christ with Belial? The same principles which prompt the men of the world not to select the people of God for their familiar companions, also induce the people of God to choose other companions than the men of the world. There is an irreconcileable spirit between them. The friendship of the world is enmi

ty with God.

Many as may be the mutual tokens of respect, civility, and kindness, (and many there should be,) between christians and the men of the world, they are, nothwithstanding, two distinct classes of men. Much as Christians esteem the men of the world as good members of civil so

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