2. Carnal compliance. The worldling serveth the times, cozeueth, lieth, cheateth, hateth Christ; so must not you: 1 John v. 19, 'And we know that we are of God, and tlie whole world lieth in wickedness,' as a carrion ia a sink.
[1.] Consider your condition; you are strangers. The fathers of old dwelt in tents ; we never read that Abraham made any purchase but of a grave. Cain built cities. David was a king, yet a stranger : Ps. xxxix. 12, ' For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.' The world is not our country. Tlie fathers of the Old Testament, for tlie most part, lived a wandering life : Heb. xi. 14, * For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.' Jacob passed over Jordan with a staff. Gen. xxxii. 10. It is a most unbeseeming thing as can be for one that professeth himself a christian to take up with the things of this world.
[2.] Consider it is a dishonour to God, and a scandal to religion, to be of a worldly conversation, to profess an interest in Christ, and yet run after such low tliin2;s.
SERMON XXIV.
I jpray not that thoic sliouldest take them out of the ivorld, hut that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. — John XVII. 15.
Christ having enforced his request, explaineth it ; not to inform God, but to comfort the disciples, as explications in prayer are for ouu benefit. Our heavenly Father can interpret our sighs and breathings, but formed and explicit words have a greater force and efficacy upon our hearts. This explication is delivered, Kara apatv Kal Kara deaiv. 1. Kara apatv, 'not that thou shouldest take them out of the world ;' that is, presently glorify them, either by an ordinary death, or
890 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. XXIV.
by an extraordinary translation, as Elijah and Enoch were translated. Christ was not ignorant of their danger, yet he would have them ride out the storm ; he would not carry his disciples to heaven with liim, nor doth he pray his Father to do it, though he loved their company, and they his, that they could be content to die with him ; as John xi. 16, 'Let us also go, that we may die with him;' yet, 'I pray not that thou wouldst take them out of the world.'
2. Kara Oecriv, ' but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil ;' eK rov TTovrjpov, it may be rendered from the evil one, or from the evil thing, as referring to a person or thing. To a person ; the evil one is often put for the devil : Mat. xiii. 19, ' When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, 6 irovrjpo';, and taketh away that which he heard ;' 1 John ii. 13, * I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome, rou iTovr^pov, the wicked one;' 1 John iii. 12, 'Not as Cain, who was e'/c Tov irovqpov, of that wicked one, and slew his brother.' Or else to the evil thing : Mat. vi. 13, pvaai rjfjLd^ cltto tov Trove pov, ' deliver us from evil ;' Mat. v. 37, 'Whatever is more than this, cometh of evil,' e'/c tov irovTjpov ; 1 John v. 19, ' The whole world lieth, ev tm irovrjpro, in wickedness.' Which shall we prefer ? I answer — Since the words lie so indifferently for either sense, we may interpret them of both ; keep them from the author of evil, and from evil itself; from sin, from the power and snares of the devil, from destruction, till their ministry be accomplished. Satan he is the author ; the world is the bait. Sin is the hook. Keep them from the devil, that they may not come under his power ; from the world, that they may not be deceived by its allure- ments. Briefly, this keeping may be referred to their life or to their souls ; keep them alive as long as they have work to do ; keep their souls, that they may neither, by the world or by the devil, be drawn to do anything unseemly and unbecoming their profession : 2 Cor. xiii. 7, ' I pray God that 5^0 do no evil, but that ye should do that which is honest ;' and Rev. iii. 10, ' I will keep them from the hour of temptatiou, which shall come upon all the earth, to try them that dwell upon the earth.' It is meant of a preservation in the time of a bloody persecution under Trajan. Christ prays for temporal and spiritual safety ; temporal safety, so far as is necessary to carry on the duty of their calling.
Points.
1. Observe that it standeth with the wisdom and goodness of God to continue us in the world, notwithstanding the dangers of it. Christ loved his disciples, and knew they were exposed to the world's hatred ; yet, ' I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world.' In evil times sometimes God taketh his children out of the world, and sometimes he continueth them in the world; both dispensations stand with his wisdom and goodness. There are reasons on both sides.