THE KING’S BUSINESS
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THE WORLD Three enemies confront us.
horse races, one class is about as fully rep resented as the other, What can be done to break this accursed spell of worldliness that has been cast upon the deluded church ? “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith,” . 1 John v :4. Christ must be seized with the strong and intense grasp of the soul, so that the world may be driven out by “the expulsive power of a new affection,” while Christians may learn by earnest prayer and diligent reading of the Word to live in , Him and for Him, saying daily from the •heart, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ?” Acts ix :6. THE FLESH The second of these enemies is the flesh, the nature with which we are born into this world, of which the apostle writes, “I know that in me (that is, my flesh) dweljeth np good thing. , . . The mind of the flesh is enmity against God; ffor it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be,” Rom. vii :18; viii:7. “Now the works of the flesh are: manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uricleanness, lasciv iousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, va riance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelMngs, and such like, of which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not in herit the kingdom of God,” Gal. v:19-21. Here is a long, black list; and it is not said that all men are always guilty of doing all these evil works, but each person, if he is careful and honest, will find himself de scribed somewhere. There is not only “the lusts of our flesh,' but “fulfilling the desires (or wills) of the flesh and the mind,” Eph. ii :3. Who has completely controlled his self-will, so that he never has any other will save that of God? All that we can do is to go to Christ again. To Christians it was written, “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make hot provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof,” Rom. xiii :14. To Christians it was written, “This I say then, Walk in the
The first of these is the world, which often in Scripture means that part of man kind uncontrolled by the love of Christ, unregenerate because they lack the grace of the Holy Spirit, unrestrained by the fear of God. Their aims and ambitions, their pur poses and plans, their habits and hopes, all center upon the earthly, temporal .and vis ible. The thought of eternity never en ters their minds except as a dark shadow, to be instantly banished as. frightful and repulsive. Paul could say, “To me to live is'» Christ,” Phil, i :21; these can as truly say, “To me to live is the world.” The relation of believers to the world is clearly set forth in the Scripture. Our Lord in His last prayer for His disciples, said to the Father, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world,” John xvii:16. The Holy Ghost writes, “Be not conformed to this world,” Rom, xii:2; and again, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any may love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world,” 1 John ii:15, 16. Such is the tenor of divine revelation from first to last, but in spite of entreaties, ex amples and warnings on almost every page, no one can detect a particle of difference between the great mass of professing Chris tians and the world, of which it is said, “The whole world lieth in the wicked one,” 1 John V :19. The same methods and prin ciples of doing business, the same “sharp practices,” the same stinginess and love of money, the same absorbing desire for the increase of possessions, that distinguish, men who make no religious profession character ize those who are members.of the church. The same amusements, the same habits of reading, the''same eagerness for fashion, the same „slavery to society, prevail -largely among the ladies, whether they are or are not professing Christians. At progressive euchre tables, theaters, operas, betting on
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