^ J. Munro Gibson.
I JOHN V. 4
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exists, whether we belong to it or no, although our belonging to it is a matter of inward motives and character. The world penetrates like a subtle atmosphere in Christendom, while in heathendom it is organized as a visible system. But it is the same thing at bottom. It is the essential spirit of corrupt human life, taking no serious account of God, either forgetting Him altogether, or putting something in His place, or striking a balance between His claims and those of His antagonists. And thus friendship with it is " enmity with God," who will have our all. And a first duty in His servants is to free themselves from its power, or, as St. John says, to overcome it.
(1) Sometimes the world brings its power to bear on us by direct assault. In the first ages of the Church, when it was confessedly pagan, it made great use of this instrument for enforcing its supremacy. It imprisoned and killed Christians from the days of Nero to the days of Diocletian. It persecuted by social exclusiveness, by inflicting loss of property and position, by bodily tortures and by death. The mildest forms of perse- cution are all, thank God, that are now possible in this country, but if a man be deprived of advantages which he would other- wise have enjoyed, if he be met by a cold bow or a vacant gaze where he expects a cordial greeting, if he feels, in short, that he is under a social ban, and all this because he has dared to obey his conscience where obedience has been unwelcome or unpopular, he is, to all intents and purposes, persecuted. And if he can stand this persecution patiently, calmly, silently, so much the better for him. "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." But how is he to stand it ? By " seeing him who is invisible." Who that has had to undergo a painful operation does not know the support that is derived from holding the hand of a friend who stands by, full of love and sympathy, till all is over ? And faith links the hands of the persecuted with the very hand of Christ. " Fear not," He says, " for I am with thee. I have called thee by my name : thou art mine." And it is thus that the world, when it has done its very worst, is vanquished.
(2) The world assails us by offers of compromise, by appealing to our interests, our desires, our passions. It seeks to throw its
394 VICTORY OVER THE WORLD
spell over us. As music charms the ear, so do the world's honours, applause and popularity the hearts of many. Over some they exercise an irresistible sway. Over all they are mighty. There are few who can bear, without a sense of pain, the turning away from them of the world's favour. It may be regarded as a test of the strength and sincerity of one's religion, that one can bear without wincing the frown or scorn of the world. It requires more than human strength to contend against and overcome that for which we have a warm desire. But the more we delight in the favour and approval of God, the less will we care for that of the world. The approbation of God and our own consciences is a better support than all the smiles the world can bestow.
(3) The world seizes the opportunity of attacking us when we are worn out by manifold cares and duties and troubles. Its influence- is continuous and persistent. It seeks to absorb us. How many notable housewives, busy from morning to night with their household affairs, their children, their servants, could tell us that they scarce can find a minute to read the Bible, or to stop and think where they are going ; and that at morning they are so anxious to get to the avocations of the day, and at evening so completely wearied and worn out, that they have not time or heart for prayer ! How many a toiling, anxious man, working and scheming to make ends meet, and to maintain his children, and to advance them in life, has not a thought to spare for the other world — for his own soul's eternal destiny, or for the eternal destiny of those he holds dear ! It is when we are " careful and troubled about many things," that we are ready to forget that " one thing is needful."
^ The world overcomes us, not merely by appealing to our reason, or by exciting our passions, but by imposing on our imagination. So much do the systems of men swerve from the truth as set forth in Scripture that their very presence becomes a standing fact against Scripture, even when our reason condemns them, by their persevering assertions, and they gradually over- come those who set out by contradicting them. In all cases, what is often and unhesitatingly asserted at length finds credit with the mass of mankind ; and so it happens, in this instance, that, admitting as we do from the first that the world is one of our three chief enemies ; maintaining, rather than merely granting, that the outward face of things speaks a different language from