“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in
wickedness.”—1 John v. 19.
Few words are of more frequent occurrence in the language of
religion than “the world;” Holy Scripture makes continual mention of
it, in the way of censure and caution; in the Service for Baptism it is
described as one of three great enemies of our souls, and in the
ordinary writings and conversation of Christians, I need hardly say,
mention is made of it continually. Yet most of us, it would appear,
have very indistinct notions what the world means. We know that the
world is a something dangerous to our spiritual interests, and that it
is in some way connected with human society—with men as a mixed
multitude, contrasted with men one by one, in private and domestic
life; but what it is, how it is our enemy, how it attacks, and how it
is to be avoided, is not so clear. Or if we conceive some distinct
notion concerning it, still probably it is a wrong notion,—which leads
us, in consequence, to misapply the Scripture precepts relating to the
world; and this is even worse than overlooking them. I shall now, then,
attempt to show what is meant by the world, and how, in consequence, we
are to understand the information and warnings of the sacred writers
concerning it.
1. Now, first, by the world is very commonly meant the present
visible system of things, without taking into consideration whether it
is good or bad. Thus St. John contrasts the world with the things that
are in it, which are evil, “Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world[1].” Again, he presently says, “The world
passeth away, and the lust thereof.” Here, as in many other
parts of Scripture, the world is not spoken of as actually sinful in
itself (though its lusts are so, of course), but merely as some present
visible system which is likely to attract us, and is not to be trusted,
because it cannot last. Let us first consider it in this point of view.
There is, as a matter of necessity, a great variety of stations and
fortunes among mankind; hardly two persons are in the same outward
circumstances, and possessed of the same mental resources. Men differ
from each other, and are bound together into one body or system by the
very points in which they differ; they depend on each other; such is
the will of God. This system is the world, to which it is plain belong
our various modes of supporting ourselves and families by exertion of
mind and body, our intercourse with others, our duty towards others,
the social virtues,—industry, honesty, prudence, justice, benevolence,
and the like. These spring all from our present lot in life, and tend
to our present happiness. This life holds out prizes to merit and
exertion. Men rise above their fellows, they gain fame and honours,
wealth and power, which we therefore call worldly goods. The affairs of
nations, the dealings of people with people, the interchange of
productions between country and country, are of this world. We are
educated in boyhood for this world; we play our part on a stage more or
less conspicuous, as the case may be; we die, we are no more, we are
forgotten, as far as the present state of things is concerned; all this
is of the world.
By the world, then, is meant this course of things which we see
carried on by means of human agency, with all its duties and pursuits.
It is not necessarily a sinful system; rather it is framed, as I have
said, by God Himself, and therefore cannot be otherwise than good. And
yet even thus considering it, we are bid not to love the world: even in
this sense the world is an enemy of our souls; and for this reason,
because the love of it is dangerous to beings circumstanced as we
are,—things in themselves good being not good to us sinners. And this
state of things which we see, fair and excellent in itself, is very
likely (for the very reason that it is seen, and because the spiritual
and future world is not seen) to seduce our wayward hearts from our
true and eternal good. As the traveller on serious business may be
tempted to linger, while he gazes on the beauty of the prospect which
opens on his way, so this well-ordered and divinely-governed world,
with all its blessings of sense and knowledge, may lead us to neglect
those interests which will endure when itself has passed away. In
truth, it promises more than it can fulfil. The goods of life and the
applause of men have their excellence, and, as far as they so, are
really good; but they are short-lived. And hence it is that many
pursuits in themselves honest and right, are nevertheless to be engaged
in with caution, lest they seduce us; and those perhaps with especial
caution, which tend to the well-being of men in this life. The
sciences, for instance, of good government, of acquiring wealth, of
preventing and relieving want, and the like, are for this reason
especially dangerous; for fixing, as they do, our exertions on this
world as an end, they go far to persuade us that they have no other
end; they accustom us to think too much of success in life and temporal
prosperity; nay, they may even teach us to be jealous of religion and
its institutions, as if these stood in our way, preventing us from
doing so much for the worldly interests of mankind as we might wish.
In this sense it is that St. Paul contrasts sight and faith. We see
this world; we only believe that there is a world of spirits, we do not
see it: and inasmuch as sight has more power over us than belief, and
the present than the future, so are the occupations and pleasures of
this life injurious to our faith. Yet not, I say, in themselves sinful;
as the Jewish system was a temporal system, yet divine, so is the
system of nature—this world—divine, though temporal. And as the Jews
became carnal-minded even by the influence of their divinely-appointed
system, and thereby rejected the Saviour of their souls; in like
manner, men of the world are hardened by God's own good world, into a
rejection of Christ. In neither case through the fault of the things
which are seen, whether miraculous or providential, but accidentally,
through the fault of the human heart.
2. But now, secondly, let us proceed to consider the world, not only
as dangerous, but as positively sinful, according to the text—“the
whole world lieth in wickedness.” It was created well in all respects,
but even before it as yet had fully grown out into its parts, while as
yet the elements of human society did but lie hid in the nature and
condition of the first man, Adam fell; and thus the world, with all its
social ranks, and aims, and pursuits, and pleasures, and prizes, has
ever from its birth been sinful. The infection of sin spread through
the whole system, so that although the frame-work is good and divine,
the spirit and life within it are evil. Thus, for instance, to be in a
high station is the gift of God; but the pride and injustice to which
it has given scope is from the Devil. To be poor and obscure is also
the ordinance of God; but the dishonesty and discontent which are often
seen in the poor is from Satan. To cherish and protect wife and family
is God's appointment; but the love of gain, and the low ambition, which
lead many a man to exert himself, are sinful. Accordingly, it is said
in the text, “The world lieth in wickedness,”—it is plunged and
steeped, as it were, in a flood of sin, not a part of it remaining as
God originally created it, not a part pure from the corruptions with
which Satan has disfigured it.
Look into the history of the world, and what do you read there?
Revolutions and changes without number, kingdoms rising and falling;
and when without crime? States are established by God's ordinance, they
have their existence in the necessity of man's nature, but when was one
ever established, nay, or maintained, without war and bloodshed? Of all
natural instincts, what is more powerful than that which forbids us to
shed our fellows' blood? We shrink with natural horror from the thought
of a murderer; yet not a government has ever been settled, or a state
acknowledged by its neighbours, without war and the loss of life; nay,
more than this, not content with unjustifiable bloodshed, the guilt of
which must lie somewhere, instead of lamenting it as a grievous and
humiliating evil, the world has chosen to honour the conqueror with its
amplest share of admiration. To become a hero, in the eyes of the
world, it is almost necessary to break the laws of God and man. Thus
the deeds of the world are matched by the opinions and principles of
the world: it adopts bad doctrine to defend bad practice; it loves
darkness because its deeds are evil.
And as the affairs of nations are thus depraved by our corrupt
nature, so are all the appointments and gifts of Providence perverted
in like manner. What can be more excellent than the vigorous and
patient employment of the intellect; yet in the hands of Satan it gives
birth to a proud philosophy. When St. Paul preached, the wise men of
the world, in God's eyes, were but fools, for they had used their
powers of mind in the cause of error, their reasonings even led them to
be irreligious and immoral; and they despised the doctrine of a
resurrection which they neither loved nor believed. And again, all the
more refined arts of life have been disgraced by the vicious tastes of
those who excelled in them; often they have been consecrated to the
service of idolatry; often they have been made the instruments of
sensuality and riot. But it would be endless to recount the manifold
and complex corruption which man has introduced into the world which
God made good, evil has preoccupied the whole of it, and holds fast its
conquest. We know, indeed, that the gracious God revealed Himself to
His sinful creatures very soon after Adam's fall. He showed His will to
mankind again and again, and pleaded with them through many ages; till
at length His Son was born into this sinful world in the form of man,
and taught us how to please Him. Still, hitherto the good work has
proceeded slowly: such is His pleasure. Evil had the start of good by
many days; it filled the world, it holds it: it has the strength of
possession, and if has its strength in the human heart; for though we
cannot keep from approving what is right in our conscience, yet we love
and encourage what is wrong; so that when evil was once set up in the
world, it was secured in its seat by the unwillingness with which our
hearts relinquish it.
And now I have described what is meant by the sinful world; that is,
the world as corrupted by man, the course of human affairs viewed in
its connexion with the principles, opinions, and practices which
actually direct it. There is no mistaking these; they are evil; and of
these it is that St. John says, “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[2].”
The world then is the enemy of our souls; first, because, however
innocent its pleasures, and praiseworthy its pursuits may be, they are
likely to engross us, unless we are on our guard: and secondly, because
in all its best pleasures, and noblest pursuits, the seeds of sin have
been sown; an enemy hath done this; so that it is most difficult to
enjoy the good without partaking of the evil also. As an orderly system
of various ranks, with various pursuits and their several rewards, it
is to be considered not sinful indeed, but dangerous to us. On the
other hand, considered in reference to its principles and actual
practices, it is really a sinful world. Accordingly, when we are bid in
Scripture to shun the world, it is meant that we must be cautious, lest
we love what is good in it too well, and lest we love the bad at
all.—However, there is a mistaken notion sometimes entertained, that
the world is some particular set of persons, and that to shun the world
is to shun them; as if we could point out, as it were, with the finger,
what is the world, and thus could easily rid ourselves of one of our
three great enemies. Men, who are beset with this notion, are often
great lovers of the world notwithstanding, while they think themselves
at a distance from it altogether. They love its pleasures, and they
yield to its principles, yet they speak strongly against men of the
world, and avoid them. They act the part of superstitious people, who
are afraid of seeing evil spirits in what are considered haunted
places, while these spirits are busy at their hearts instead, and they
do not suspect it.
3. Here then is a question, which it will be well to consider, viz.
how far the world is a separate body from the Church of God. The two
are certainly contrasted in the text, as elsewhere in Scripture. “We
know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in
wickedness.” Now the true account of this is, that the Church so far
from being literally, and in fact, separate from the wicked world, is
within it. The Church is a body, gathered together in the world, and in
a process of separation from it. The world's power, alas! is over the
Church, because the Church has gone forth into the world to save the
world. All Christians are in the world, and of the world, so far as sin
still has dominion over them; and not even the best of us is clean
every whit from sin. Though then, in our idea of the two, and in their
principles, and in their future prospects, the Church is one thing, and
the world is another, yet in present matter of fact, the Church is of
the world, not separate from it; for the grace of God has but partial
possession even of religious men, and the best that can be said of us
is, that we have two sides, a light side and a dark, and that the dark
happens to be the outermost. Thus we form part of the world to each
other, though we be not of the world. Even supposing there were a
society of men influenced individually by Christian motives, still this
society, viewed as a whole, would be a worldly one, I mean a society
holding and maintaining many errors, and countenancing many bad
practices. Evil ever floats at the top. And if we inquire why it is
that the good in Christians is seen less than the bad? I answer, first,
because there is less of it; and secondly, because evil forces itself
upon general notice, and good does not. So that in a large body of men,
each contributing his portion, evil displays itself on the whole
conspicuously, and in all its diversified shapes. And thirdly, from the
nature of things, the soul cannot be understood by any but God, and a
religious spirit is in St. Peter's words, “the hidden man of the
heart.” It is only the actions of others which we see for the most
part, and since there are numberless ways of doing wrong, and but one
of doing right, and numberless ways too of regarding and judging the
conduct of others, no wonder that even the better sort of men, much
more the generality, are, and seem to be, so sinful. God only sees the
circumstances under which a man acts, and why he acts in this way and
not in that. God only sees perfectly the train of thought which
preceded his action, the motive, and the reasons. And God alone (if
aught is ill done, or sinfully) sees the deep contrition
afterwards,—the habitual lowliness, then bursting forth into special
self-reproach,—and the meek faith casting itself wholly upon God's
mercy. Think for a moment, how many hours in the day every man is left
wholly to himself and his God, or rather how few minutes he is in
intercourse with others—consider this, and you will perceive how it is
that the life of the Church is hid with God, and how it is that the
outward conduct of the Church must necessarily look like the world,
even far more than it really is like it, and how vain, in consequence,
the attempt is (which, some make) of separating the world distinctly
from the Church. Consider, moreover, how much there is, while we are in
the body, to stand in the way of one mind communicating with another.
We are imprisoned in the body, and our intercourse is by means of
words, which feebly represent our real feelings. Hence the best motives
and truest opinions are misunderstood, and the most sound rules of
conduct misapplied by others. And Christians are necessarily more or
less strange to each other; nay, and as far as the appearance of things
is concerned, almost mislead each other, and are, as I have said, the
world one to another. It is long, indeed, before we become at all
acquainted with each other, and we appear the one to the other cold, or
harsh, or capricious, or self-willed, when we are not so. So that it
unhappily comes to pass, that even good men retire from each other into
themselves, and to their God, as if retreating from the rude world.
And if all this takes place in the case of the better sort of men,
how much more will it happen in the case of those multitudes who are
still unstable in faith and obedience, half Christians, not having yet
wrought themselves into any consistent shape of opinion and practice!
These, so far from showing the better part of themselves, often affect
to be worse even than they are. Though they have secret fears and
misgivings, and God's grace pleads with their conscience, and seasons
of seriousness follow, yet they are ashamed to confess to each other
their own seriousness, and they ridicule religious men lest they should
be themselves ridiculed.
And thus, on the whole, the state of the case is as follows: that if
we look through mankind in order to find out who make up the world, and
who do not, we shall find none who are not of the world; inasmuch as
there are none who are not exposed to infirmity. So that if to shun the
world is to shun some body of men so called, we must shun all men, nay,
ourselves too—which is a conclusion which means nothing at all.
But let us, avoiding all refinements which lead to a display of
words only, not to the improvement of our hearts and conduct, let us
set to work practically; and instead of attempting to judge of mankind
on a large scale, and to settle deep questions, let us take what is
close at hand and concerns ourselves, and make use of such knowledge as
we can obtain. Are we tempted to neglect the worship of God for some
temporal object? this is of the world, and not to be admitted. Are we
ridiculed for our conscientious conduct? this again is a trial of the
world, and to be withstood. Are we tempted to give too much time to our
recreations; to be idling when we should be working; reading or talking
when we should be busy in our temporal calling; hoping for
impossibilities, or fancying ourselves in some different state of life
from our own; over anxious of the good opinion of others; bent upon
getting the credit of industry, honesty, and prudence? all these are
temptations of this world. Are we discontented with our lot, or are we
over attached to it, and fretful and desponding when God recalls the
good He has given? this is to be worldly-minded.
Look not about for the world as some vast and gigantic evil far
off—its temptations are close to you, apt and ready, suddenly offered
and subtle in their address. Try to bring down the words of Scripture
to common life, and to recognize the evil in which this world lies, in
your own hearts.
When our Saviour comes, He will destroy this world, even His own
work, and much more the lusts of the world, which are of the evil one;
then at length we must lose the world, even if we cannot bring
ourselves to part with it now. And we shall perish with the world, if
on that day its lusts are found within us. “The world passeth away, and
the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
[1] 1 John ii. 15.
[2] John ii. 15, 16.