benefit of their teacliing and example. Believers would never value Clirist and heaven as much as they will do one day, if thej were not kept here on earth a good deal, taught to know their own hearts, and, like their Master, "perfected by sufier- ing." (Heb. ii. 10.)
Hutcheson remarks, " However much we ought to have our eye upon our rest, and make ready for it, yet we are not anx- iously to long for it till God's time come, nor to be weary of life because of any trouble, persecution, or inconvenience we meet with in His service."
There is a strong indirect argument here, as Bullinger and Gaulter remark, against the favorite theory of many, that en- tire retreat from the world, by going into monasteries and con- vents, is the secret of eminent holiness. Eminent holiness is most seen by publicly winning a victory over evil, and not by a cowardly desertion of our post in society.
Three of the only prayers not granted to saints, recorded in Scripture, are the prayers of Moses, Elijah, and Jonah, to be " taken out of the world."
Gerhard remarks that the Apostles were to be the first preachers of the Gospel and the light of the world. If they had been taken away immediately after their Lord, the world would have been left in darkness. Moreover, the cross is the school of faith and patience, and without remaining in the world they could not have become eminent saints.
George Newton remarks, " The world is the place where we bring glory to the Lord ; in the world to come we are glorified by Him. Oh, let us be so ingenuous as to desire to be awhile where we may glorify God, rather than where we may have glory from Him. Let us not be so eager for our wages and our rest, till we have finished our work and served our generation. When we have done so God will glorify us with Himself for ever."
The meaning of the phrase, " the evil," is a point on which there is much difference of opinion.
Some think that it means simply, as our translation of the Bible has it, — evil in the abstract, — all e^nl of every kmd, — like " deliver us from evil" in the Lord's prayer; and they think that it includes all evil that may assail us from the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Others think that the words would have been better rendered, " the evil one," and apply the expression to the devil, as the first great cause and beginner of evil. The word is so rendered in Matt. xiii. 19—38 ; 1 John ii. 13, 14 ; iii. 12 ; v. 18.
The question is one which will probably never be settled, and the Greek phrase may be translated either way. Nevertheless I decidedly incline to think that our translation is right. It is
9
194: