(2.) The powers of the world ; usually they are set against Christ, and therefore at the latter end of the world they shall be broken and dashed to pieces. The world is a country wherein the church is a stranger ; every man fearing God is like a strange i)lant brought from a far country, hath much ado to grow. The wicked are like nettles and thistles, that grow without ploughing or watering, because they grow in their own place ; but the soil and air of the world doth not
VeK. 11.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 283
suit with, the saints ; one time or other they are nipped, here is no kindly weather for them. A christian is not only a stranger, but an unconformist to the world : Kom. xii. 2, ' And be ye not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed in the renewing of your minds.' In every age there is something or other started up for his trouble and exercise. In his Father's house he is taught to do otherwise, and this putteth him upon trouble. If God giveth the church a little rest, it is but like a well day out of the fit of an ague, to recover strength for the next trial ; a mortified saint, that is drawn up to heaven, and would live by the laws of his Father's house, must look for frowns : ' Yea, and all those that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution,' 2 Tim. iii. 12. Christ's grapes must expect the winepress ; all their care should be to yield good liquor. It is a statute, like the laws of the Medes and Persians : Acts xiv. 22, ' That through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.' Neither doth experience cross that rule ; the apostle saith, Eom. viii. 35, 36, ' Who shall separate us from the love of God ? shall tribula- tion, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? As it is written. For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' The world is the slaughter-house and shambles of the saints ; here Christ was slain, all his witnesses butchered. Christ's lambs must look to have their throats cut. There is an old enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent ; it lastetb from Abel till the day of judg- ment. Jacob's and Esau's quarrel began from the day of their birth : Ps. cxxix. 1, ' Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say ; ' from my youth upward, ever since Christ had a seed in the world. The world would not be the world, nor you christians, if the world did not hate you. Satan cannot change his nature, and the world waxeth worse and worse. Instead of marvelling to see the children of God afflicted and persecuted, we should marvel to see it otherwise. If one should tell you that your way lieth through a stony country, full of bushes and briars, you would think yourselves out of the way if you should meet with nothing but green and plea- sant plains. The roadway to heaven is through a howling wilderness ; if you have a foot of good land, it is God's blessing.
(3.) The men of the world. A man cannot hold any communion with them, but he shall be the worse for them : 1 John v. 19, ' We know we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.' The men of the world are sooty dirty creatures ; we cannot converse with them, but they leave their filthiness upon us. It is hard to touch pitch and not be defiled : Acts ii. 40, ' Save yourselves from this un- toward generation.' We grow in a wilderness, and there are many crooked trees that are like to twine about us, and to hinder our growth towards heaven. To disentangle ourselves, there must be a great deal of care. So 2 Tim. ii. 21, 'If a man, therefore, purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour.' ' From these ; ' from what ? In a great house, there are vessels of gold and vessels of earth, some to honour, and some to dishonour. There are carnal seducers that are apt to pervert us by their enticement and example, as black pots leave their soil upon those that touch them ; so base per-
284 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [Sek. XY.
sons and carnal heretics infect us with their sinful pollutions. By converse we are tainted unawares ; as untinomian doctrines make the children of God less strict ; though they do not pervert their judgment, yet they weaken their care and strictness. Nature is more susceptible of evil than of good. We easily catch a sickness, but we do not get health from one another. Ears of corn do not catch and hang upon men, but thorns do : Phil. ii. 15, ' We live in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation/ that are as briars and thorns, very catching.
(4.) The things of this world. The world is the valley of snares, and so to the children of God it often proveth the valley of sorrows. Frequency of converse maketh the snare more easily to insinuate. It is hard to be much conversant in any matter, and not to receive some tincture from it. These things, honours, pleasures, profits, they are accustomed objects, they are bred up with us ; we must of necessity be conversant with meats and drinks and worldly substance, and insen- sibly they leave a taint upon the soul, especially where we have tliem at full. Worldly prosperity is a great snare to the saints ; and things are better preserved in brine than honey. How soon is the soul cor- rupted. The warm sunshine maketh the w^eeds grow as well as the flowers. I observe great alterations in David's spirit ; in adversity he spared his enemy, when he found Saul in the cave ; in prosperity, he killed his servant, when he plotted Uriah's death ; when he threatened Nabal in affliction, he bore with Shimei. God's children have a better country when they have the world's best advantages. Some fruits are not natural in England ; though the weather be good, they do not agree with the soil.