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CHAPTER VIII.

ON INTERCOURSE WITH THE WORLD.

THAT the object of the Christian's aim and desires is something which this world cannot supply, is not only declared in a few explicit passages, but implied throughout the whole of the New Testament. Nor is it there less clearly intimated, that this world does propose certain enjoyments and pursuits, against the seductions of which the Christian has to maintain a vigilant guard and incessant conflict. Hence arises an inquiry of vital importance and interest, as to the interpretation we ought to give to the language of the Apostles concerning the WORLD, and the degree of intercourse with it a Christian may justly hold.

In the first place, it is undeniable, that in

ON INTERCOURSE WITH THE WORLD. 275 Scripture the world, and the believers in Christ, are set in strong opposition. Our Saviour himself gives the example: "The children of "this world are, in their generation, wiser than

the children of light." Luke xvi. 8.—“ I "will pray the Father, and he shall give you "another Comforter, that he may abide with

you for ever; even the Spirit of truth, whom "the world cannot receive, because it seeth him "not, neither knoweth him; but ye know

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him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be "in you." John xvi. 16.

So the character which Jesus gives of his disciples is," They are not of the world, even "as I am not of the world." John xvii. 16.

In the spirit of these expressions, St. Paul enjoins the Romans: "Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Rom. xii. 2.

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He says to the Corinthians,

"We have re

"ceived not the spirit of the world, but the

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spirit which is of God." 1 Cor. xi. 12. To

the Galatians : "God forbid that I should

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'glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus

"Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, " and I unto the world," vi. 14.

Christians are still more decisively distinguished from the world in the two passages that follow: "But when we are judged, we

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are chastened of the Lord, that we should

not be condemned with the world." 1 Cor. xi. 32.-"You hath he quickened, who were "dead in trespasses and sins; wherein, in "times past, ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the

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power of the air, the spirit that now worketh "in the children of disobedience." Eph. ii. 2.

To the same purpose St. James makes it one of the characteristics of true religion, that a man "keep himself unspotted from the world," i. 27; and declares expressly, that "the

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friendship of the world is enmity with God," iv. 4; and the principal aim throughout St. John's Epistles is to exhort Christians to "love "not the world, neither the things that are in "the world."

The first question which arises here is, whe

ther it becomes the duty of the apostolical preacher, on the strength of these passages, to consider the business of the world at large altogether a separate concern from that which the people of Christ's kingdom ought to regard; whether St. Paul authorizes him to instruct his hearers, that, if they are true Christians, they are to reckon themselves a sort of secluded body, unconcerned with the events that pass around them, and keeping at a distance from all subjects, whether literary or political, which have not religion immediately in view? or, whether, on the other hand, they are to esteem the general business of the world as that which they are to bear a part in, and to carry on, and to intermix with, as far as is possible without a compromise of religious duties, or a sacrifice of the unalienable allegiance they owe to Christ?

It is not uncommon to meet with sentiments and insinuations founded on the partial and narrow views of the genius of Christianity which I have above alluded to; though few,

probably, would be willing to avow them, when openly and broadly stated. To argue on such principles, would be no less erroneous, than to interpret universally those remarks of St. Paul concerning marriage, which he himself applies to the present distress." That interpretation would be grounded upon a notion, that God elects, from time to time, a certain number as his children, and heirs of the adoption, from among the "children of wrath and "unbelief." It is equally unworthy of the spirit of the Gospel to assume, that the business of this world is to be carried on by those who are without the pale of God's favour, for the benefit of a few believers; and to understand the words of St. Paul so literally, as if it were beneath the notice of a Christian to concern himself with the welfare of his country, or the affairs of nations, or the arts of civilization; as if his only business were the performance of his own immediate duties, leaving all temporal things to those who are strangers to the grace of real religion.