1. There is a difierence in the inward principles — the spirit of the
382 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. XXIII.
world and the Spirit of God. Ciiristians are acted by the Spirit of God, not by the spirit of the world : 1 Cor. ii. 12, ' Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God.' There is a particular genius that suiteth with worldly affairs, and fits men to turn and wind in outward employments, as the ostrich's wings serve her only to run, not to fly ; their hearts and affections wholly run out this way. It is the character of some : John iii. 31, 'He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth.' They mind nothing, affect nothing, speak of nothing, but the earth.
2. They are under different rulers. Christ is head of the church, and he professeth ' that his kingdom is not of this world,' John xviii. 36. But noAv the devil is called ' the god of this world,' 2 Cor. iv. 4, the head of the worldly state.
3. There is a difference in their course and conversation. The children of God, tS> kuvovc crToi)(r](7ov(nv, Gal. vi. 16, ' Walk according to the rule of the word.' The men of the world, kut alwva rov Koajiov TovTov, Eph. ii. 2, ' According to the course of the world,' as fishes swim with the stream. A christian is the world's nonconformist: Eom. xii. 2, ' Be ye not conformed to the world ;' he is estranged from the pursuits and aspiring projects of worldly men, and can deny the interests and concernments of the flesh for God's sake.
4. There is a difference in their aims, A christian liveth to glorify God : 1 Cor. x. 31, ' Whether ye eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.' And a child of the world is all for aspiring pro- jects, how to compass the conveniences of the present life, and advance his secular interests : Phil ii. 19, ' They mind earthly things.'
5. Their ends are different. A christian is hastening to his country, his way is upward ; first he gets his heart in heaven, and then his soul, and then his body. But a carnal man is grovelling and tending down- ward, first to the earth, and then to hell. So that you see there is a perfect difference and counter-motion ; they are not of the world, nor of that faction, communion, or fellowship.
But if you ask me why ?
[1.] Because of Christ's example. We do not worship the god of this world, nor mammon, but Christ. Worldly men had need seek another god, Jesus Christ is not for their turn, ' I am not of this world ;' he is not a worldly Christ. We are to imitate our great master, to be unlike the world, and like Christ ; to be led, not by the course of the world, but by Christ's example. Christ, by his own examj)le, hath put a disgrace nivm worldly greatness : he chose a mean estate, to teach us to be contented with a little, and his eye was ' to the glory set before him,' Heb. xii. 2. Christ's poverty was not out of necessity, but choice ; his were the cattle upon a thousand hills. At his birth, he was born in an inn ; to show that he came into the world as a stranger and passenger. In the course of his life we find that he had a bag that was filled with alms, but no annual rent, or constant pos- sessions : Mat. viii. 20, ' Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests ; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.* Christ was no landed man, he had no tenement of his own. Christ speaketh it when a young man came to him and professed to follow him ; he had no certain place of residence, neither house, nor furniture, nor house-
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hold stuff; certainly he was little beholden to the world, it would hardly afford him house-room and lodging : ' The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof,' yet Christ, his own Son, had but little of it. He begged a draught of water of a stranger when he was weary, John iv., and every way lived as a poor man, not out of necessity but choice. He refused a crown when profiered him : John vi. 15, ' When Jesus perceived that they would come and take hinl by force, and make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.' He had no heart to these things, no relish in crowns and worldly glory. When he died, he was not master of a cup of cold water to quench his thirst ; his coat was all his legacy, and he lodged in a borrowed grave. This was the captain of our salvation, whose steps we are to follow. You see what a disgrace he put upon crowns, and honours, and pleasures, and the glory which we doat upon. Christ came from heaven on purpose to cast contempt upon the world by his own choice and course of life.