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the way in which he manages his assaults. And you have learned to combat him upon your knees. This, though a disadvantageous posture in earthly conflicts, you have found to be the best that can possibly be resorted to in the spiritual warfare. Hence you have had the comfort of seeing that wicked fiend, who assaulted you with the subtilty of a serpent, and the fury of a roaring lion, flee from your face intimidated and confoundeda."

O remember these your high privileges, and labour continually to walk worthy of them ! - -

III. Lastly, we would speak to you also who are "fathers" in Christ

[As age and experience elevate a man to a higher rank in the community than he possessed while in the vigour of his youth, so it is in the Church of God. Not that age, or even long continuance in the Church of Christ, can entitle a man to the appellation of "father:" for some are not born to God till they are far advanced in life; and others, through carnality or sloth, have made so little progress in religion, that they have need to be treated as babes, when, for the time that they have professed godliness, they ought to have attained the age and stature of fathers. Those only are deserving of this honourable name, who have maintained a long and successful conflict with the powers of darkness.

Respecting you then it is said, that ye have known him that is from the beginning." Whom he intended to designate under this expression, the Apostle himself tells us: it is Christ, who "was in the beginning with God, and was God." Now the distinction between you and young men principally consists in this; that by your numerous conflicts you have been compelled to make use of Christ in all his offices, and have thereby attained a more extensive knowledge of his love and mercy, his power and grace, his truth and faithfulness. From your own experience therefore you can trust in him yourselves, and can exhort others also to trust in him with the most unlimited confidence, and to glory in him as their "all in all.”

See then, fathers, that ye improve your knowledge for this end and soon ye shall "see him as ye are seen, and know him as ye are known".

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APPLICATION

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1. To those who are included under any of the foregoing titles

a Jam. iv. 7.

b 1 Cor. iii. 1, 2. Heb. v. 12. Compare John i. 1. with 1 John i. 1.

[Let the least and meanest in God's family rejoice in the unspeakable blessings vouchsafed unto them. But let not the most advanced imagine, that they are not yet to proceed to higher attainments. All must "war a good warfare;" all must seek to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus:" all must "be faithful unto death, if ever they would obtain a crown of life."]

2. To those who have never yet been brought into the family of God—

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[Dearly beloved, the forgiveness of sins is the exclusive privilege of God's children. This is manifestly implied in the - address to little children. O then seek to be made new creatures in Christ Jesus! Our Lord tells you repeatedly that you MUST be born again:" and that, "if you be not, you never can enter into the kingdom of heaven." Pray then that you may be born of the Spirit;" and that you may be interested in the Redeemer's death. So shall you be numbered with the children of God, and be made partakers of their inheritance for evermore.]

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MMCCCCXXXVIII.

LOVE OF THE WORLD FORBIDDEN.

1 John ii. 15-17. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man 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. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever a.

WHATEVER our attainments may be in the divine life, we still need the voice of warning and exhortation, to keep us from the evils to which we

a This text might be treated somewhat differently :-Thus,
Consider,

I. The persons addressed.

II. The exhortation given them.

III. The force of the exhortation as so addressed.

The two first heads might easily be taken from this and the foregoing Discourse; and the third head be treated in distinct Addresses to the three different classes. Thus,

"Little Children;" Think into how many sins the world has

are exposed. As believers, we have been brought out of" a world which lieth in wickedness:" but still we are encompassed with temptations, and bear about with us a corrupt nature which is ever liable to be ensnared by them. In persons most advanced in the divine life" the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, as well as the Spirit against the flesh; so that they cannot do all that they would ;" and may be easily seduced to do things, which, according to their better judgment, they would not.

The Apostle has been addressing the whole Christian Church according to their age and stature in the divine life, under the names of Little Children, Young Men, and Fathers; and now, to the one as well as to the other of these classes, he gives the injunction in our text. Let all classes therefore amongst you also receive the word as addressed personally to yourselves, whilst we consider,

I. The injunction here given

There are few subjects, if any, in the whole course of our ministrations, that require a more careful and temperate discussion than that before us. The solemnity with which it is introduced, and the extraordinary emphasis with which it is impressed on our minds, evince beyond a doubt the great importance of it: whilst, as if it were of no importance whatever, or there were no danger of erring in relation to it,

enticed you; and will you love the world now that those "sins are forgiven you?"

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Young Men;" The world is Satan's ground: withdraw from it, and you vanquish him; but go back to it, and he will "overcome you."

"Fathers." You who have attained such a knowledge of God, cannot but see how irreconcileable the love of the world is with the love of God. Light and darkness are not more opposed to each other than are these opposing tastes. Compare Rom. viii. 5, 6. and Jam. iv. 4. with the text.

A more impressive subject than this would be, can scarcely be conceived; especially if the two parts were first treated separately, as in this book, and then a third Sermon were written on them conjointly, and the connexion between them formed the sole and entire subject of the

sermon.

every one puts the construction upon it which suits his own habits and inclinations, and takes for granted that his views of it are correct. But the truth is, that there is in this subject a need for the nicest discrimination, lest, on the one hand, we make the prohibition more strict than Jehovah himself intended it to be; or, on the other hand, give to it a latitude which is contrary to his mind, and ruinous to all who practically adopt it. A man who lives in monastic seclusion will be ready to say, that this passage forbids all intercourse with the world: whilst a person living in an unrestrained commerce with the world, will see in it nothing that condemns the most unrestrained compliance with the maxims and habits of the world, provided they be not palpably and grossly immoral. În like manner they will differ as widely respecting the extent of the prohibition as the object of it; the one supposing that every degree of inclination towards the world is forbidden; the other, thinking himself at liberty to "wallow in earthly indulgences as a sow in the mire"." It is obvious therefore that we should enter on this subject with extreme caution; determining with the greatest care,

1. The import of the terms

In

[What are we to understand by "the world?" answer to this question, I should say, it comprehends all the things of time and sense, as standing in opposition to the things which relate to a better world. The Apostle Paul suggests to us this very distinction, when he says that we are to "look, not at the things which are seen and are temporal, but at the things which are not seen and eternal." This will appear more clear, whilst we consider what is meant by "loving" the world. We are not to understand by it every degree of attachment to it, but only such a degree as is inordinate, and such a degree as puts its object in competition with the things which are invisible and eternal. Amongst the things of time and sense must be reckoned a man's intercourse with his own family. Shall we then say, that a man ought to have no pleasure in the society of his own wife and children? Such an absurdity carries its own refutation along with it. Hence then I take the term, not in a positive, but comparative, sense; and regard 2 Cor. iv. 18.

b 1 Pet. ii. 22.

it as importing, that we are not to give to any object of time and sense that kind or measure of affection which is due only to things of eternal moment.

The Apostle's own explanation of his meaning will throw further light on this matter. "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life," are very generally understood as importing all those things which administer to sensual gratification; and those things which, when beheld, are apt to fascinate us with their attractions; and those things which men chiefly affect, as elevating them in the estimation of mankind; or, in other words, pleasure, and riches, and honour. And if to these we apply what was before specified as implied in the term "love," we shall be prepared to determine with very considerable accuracy,]

2. The extent of the prohibition—

[The word "love" comprehends three things; esteem, desire, and delight: and, if we apply it in this extent to the various things above-mentioned, we shall, I think, understand with clearness the Apostle's meaning in our text. Some measure of love, I again say, the things of this world are entitled to: they may be esteemed, as gifts from a gracious God; they may be desired, as means of honouring him, and benefiting our fellow-creatures; and they may be delighted in, as conducive to our comfort, when rightly improved: for " God has given us all things richly to enjoy." But,

They are not to be esteemed, as though they possessed any intrinsic good. They are all in themselves empty, vain, perishing, and utterly incapable of administering any real comfort to the soul, or even of benefiting us at all, any farther than God shall be pleased to make use of them for that end.

They are not to be desired so as in the least degree to interfere with our pursuit of higher and better things. "Our affections are to be set on things above, and not on things on the earth." The two cannot, and must not, be put in competition with each other. The one, how dear soever in itself, must be despised and hated in comparison of the other: father, mother, wife, children, yea and our own life also, must be of no account with us, if they at all stand in our way of serving and honouring our God'. His claims are paramount to every other; and there is nothing either in heaven or on earth to be desired in comparison of him.

They are not to be delighted in, as things in which, to whatever extent they were multiplied, we could be satisfied with taking up our rest. Job seems to have had singularly clear

d 1 Tim. vi. 17.
f Luke xiv. 26.

e Col. iii. 2.
Ps. lxxiii. 25.

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