Unmistakably there exists a wide gulf of separation between the children
of God and the children of the world. Christ is the only avenue of escape
from the world. The wide, open door of salvation is the exit. He who would
return from the blissful shores of Christianity to the beggarly elements
of the world can do so only on the transporting barges of Satan. As a tree
is known by its fruits, so is a true follower of Christ. The fruit borne
by a Christian is directly opposite in its nature to the fruit borne by
the worldling. It is not the profession merely that produces the
separation, but it is the manner of life. The Son of God is the great
exemplar of Christianity. Just what true Christian principles did in him
will in the very nature of things do for all who possess like principles.
We are forced to the conclusion that the professed follower of Christ is
destitute of Christian principles when he delights himself in worldliness.
Jesus said of himself, “I am not of this world.” John 8:23. He says of his
followers, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but
because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you.” John 15:19.
Paul bears testimony to his separation from the world by the grace of God.
In Eph. 2:2, 3 he speaks of the time when he lived among those who were
worldly. He says, “Wherein [in sin] in time past ye walked according to
the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom
also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind: and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others.” In the next two verses he
testifies to the effects of saving grace: “But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ; by grace ye are saved.” It must be
made obvious to all by these texts that salvation from sin by grace saves
from walking according to the course of the world.
Again the apostle gives testimony: “But God forbid that I should glory,
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me, and I unto the world.” Gal. 6:14. How true! When man accepts
Christ he is by him separated from the world. Jesus was not of the world.
He was the light of the world. The world was in darkness. Light is the
opposite of darkness. Had he been of the world and like the world he would
not have been a light. Christians are said to be “the light of the world,”
and are to shine as lights in the world. They are lights in the world
because of the righteous principles they possess and manifest. They are
like Jesus and in as direct contrast to the world as he. The Savior says,
“I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from the evil. They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.”
John 17:14-16.
It is impossible for the heart’s affections to be centered upon opposing
natures. For instance, it is impossible for man to admire honesty and
dishonesty; to love temperance and intemperance; to enjoy peace and
strife. It is equally impossible for man to both love and possess sin and
righteousness. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the
one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the
other. Ye can not serve God and mammon.” Mat. 6:24. It is impossible to
love God and the world: “Love not the world, neither the things that are
in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of
the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the
world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth
the will of God abideth forever.” 1 John 2:15-17. “For do I now persuade
men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I
should not be the servant of Christ.” Gal. 1:10. “Ye adulterers and
adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with
God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of
God.” Jas. 4:4.
These are plain declarative texts. It is not meant by them that Christians
do not love sinners and can not be friends to them. Christ loved and died
for sinners. He visited them in their homes while here on earth, but never
did he approve of their sinful ways. He never participated with them in
anything that was worldly. He was not influenced by the world into any
spirit of worldly merriment. He loved the souls of men, but he did not
love the world. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from
sinners. Heb. 7:26. Christians, like Christ, love mankind, and are
friendly and treat with respect and kindness the sinner, but never
participate with him, nor become influenced in sinful, worldly ways. The
affections of the Christian are set on things above. Col. 3:1.
Persecutions.
In the early ministry of the Savior there is an intimation that the
righteous shall be persecuted. It is found in these words: “Blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and
persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for
my sake.” Mat. 5:10, 11. From whence may the righteous expect these
persecutions? We learned in the preceding subject that Christians were not
of the world. We learn also by the Scriptures that they are hated by the
world. Jesus was hated by the world because of the light of Christian
virtue and righteousness that shone through him. Those that glorify God by
reflecting the righteousness of Christ to the world will be regarded with
the same feeling. “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before
it hated you.” John 15:18. In every age of the world, from the days of
Cain and Abel to the present, true Christians have been hated and
persecuted by the wicked, and especially by false worshipers.
We will farther quote the language of the Savior: “If ye were of the
world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world,
but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Remember the word I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his
Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they
have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will
they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent
me.” John 15:19-21. When pretended worshipers of God are free from
persecutions for Christ’s sake it is because they are worshipers in form
only, but in spirit they are worldly. In truth these people are usually
foremost in persecuting the true children of God. Jesus was persecuted and
hated by the very pretentious Pharisees and Sadducees. “He came unto his
own, and his own received him not.” John 1:11. Those who professed to be
children of Abraham sought to take the Savior’s life. John 8:39, 40.
Because Jesus by a pure, holy life rebuked sin, because he in burning
words of Heaven’s glorious truth exposed the hypocrisy of the proud Jews,
because he told them of their sins, they gnashed upon him with their
teeth; they told him he had a devil; they spit upon him; they smote him;
they mocked him; they placed a crown of thorns upon his brow, and were the
instigators of his death.
Jesus says to his own beloved followers: “If they have persecuted me, they
will also persecute you.” John 15:20. “If they have called the master of
the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?”
Mat. 10:25. “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.” Luke
21:17. Those who live like Jesus, those who will boldly declare the truth
of the gospel, and rebuke sin and hypocrisy, they shall receive
persecutions from wicked men, and cold, proud-hearted professors, as did
the Savior. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall
suffer persecution.” 2 Tim. 3:12.
Christians must suffer the taunts of a sinful world, but they “rejoice,
inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory
shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be
reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory
and of God resteth upon you.” 1 Pet. 4:13, 14. “Blessed are ye when men
shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and
shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s
sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward
is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the
prophets.” Luke 6:22, 23.
One evening, shortly after God by his saving grace had separated us from
the world and bestowed his righteousness upon us, we for Christ’s sake
received insults and abuse from the wicked. We turned away from our
persecutors and entered the privacy of our home, when a rich glory rested
in such a heavenly sweetness upon our souls that we cried out, “O God, why
am I so wonderfully blessed?” The answer came: “If ye be reproached for
the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God
resteth upon you.” “Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy.” The grace
and glory that was poured out upon our soul on this occasion would have
made the coals and flames of martyrdom a bed of sweet repose.
Stephen as he faced death at the hands of cruel persecutors, saw the glory
of God and the heavens opened and saw the Son of man for whose sake he was
now stoned. Paul and Silas with their feet made fast in the stocks at
midnight prayed and sang praises to God. Is it not an occasion of wonder
and astonishment how the bigoted zeal of deceived and blinded, high-minded
professors leads them to become the most vile persecutors of the
righteous? Paul persecuted the church of God and wasted it. He thought he
was doing God’s service. The children of God in every age have received
their persecutions from religious bigots, and so will it ever be. We
rejoice to be counted worthy to suffer for Jesus’ sake. We glory in the
midst of tribulations. The Spirit of God and of glory rests upon the
devoted Christian in affliction’s furnace, and a bright, blessed hope of
great eternal reward ever cheers and nerves his faltering soul. He, who,
in this dark world will suffer with the Savior shall share a blissful
eternity with him.
Amusements.
The affections of a Christian’s heart are set on things above, and not on
things on the earth. Col. 3:2. The entertainments, such as suppers,
festivals, parties, concerts, regardless of what may be the ultimate
object, are engaged in and enjoyed only by the worldly minded and
graceless hearted. “She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.”
1 Tim. 5:6. Those who find enjoyment in the amusements afforded by the
world are without spiritual life. “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl
for your miseries that shall come upon you.... Ye have lived in pleasure
on the earth, and been wanton.” Jas. 5:1, 5. A life of pleasure here on
the earth in wantonness is directly opposed to a life with Christ. “No man
can serve two masters.” People who participate in and enjoy the socials,
the suppers, the fairs, and picnics, the Christmas festivities and church
entertainments of the present time have but little or no comprehension of
true Christianity. They are ignorant of God’s true character and the power
and beauty of his holiness. Children of God are to live “soberly,
righteously, and godly in this present world.” Titus 2:12.
Revelry is one of the fruits of the flesh, which if borne in our life, or,
in other words, if we engage in, Paul tells us we shall never inherit the
kingdom of God. Gal. 5:21. Peter tells us that the time of his life when
he walked in sin, when he indulged in the lusts of the flesh was
sufficient to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, to walk in lusts and
engage in revelings and banquetings. Salvation saved him from such a life,
and his former worldly associates think it strange that he will not engage
with them in the worldly riotousness and pleasures any longer, and because
he is saved from such a course they speak evil of him. This is the
substance of 1 Pet. 4:1-4. The gay scenes of a worldly life with their
pleasures and mirth have no delight for the heart filled with Christian
love. He who loves God has no love for worldly sports. The pleasurable
society of Jesus destroys all taste for the society of the world. The
Christian’s walk is alone with God.
Conversation.
An individual saved by grace will experience a marked change in his
language. The apostle says that in the time of his life when he walked
according to the world he had his conversation in the lusts of the flesh.
Eph. 2:2, 3. It is true the word “conversation” in this text, and many
others, is by many translators rendered “conduct,” which is a more correct
translation. But this is made to include the words of speech. “Out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Mat. 12:34. Where worldliness
and foolishness is lodged in the heart it will be manifest in the
conversation. Gay, frivolous, foolish talk, mirthful stories, and language
in jest, indicate a graceless heart. Listen at the world in conversation.
Note the idle bywords, the slang phrases, the jestings, the gay, giddy,
foolish expressions, the low and impure speech, which is all foreign to
the kingdom of grace. Man is not to be known by his profession, but by his
fruits: “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Mat. 7:20. Thus we
know regardless of profession, when man’s conversation is as the above,
that he is destitute of God’s pure love and grace.
“Be ye holy in all manner of conversation,” is the command of God’s holy
Word as recorded in 1 Pet. 1:15. From a pure heart can only flow a pure
and holy speech. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,
but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace
unto the hearers.” Eph. 4:29. Our words are to be in such gravity and
sincerity, in such depth of wisdom, and so flavored with the seasoning
qualities of grace as to be elevating or inspiring to a higher degree of
piety the listener. “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with
salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Col. 4:6. God’s
saving grace effects a change in the heart, and as a natural result a
change in the conversation. Paul no longer walked according to the course
of this world in conversation when saved by the grace of God.
Where there are amusing stories told, idle expressions, unmeaning remarks,
jestings and jokings, regardless of the assumed sanctity in the hour of
public worship, it is a life after the manner of the world, and betrays a
heart devoid of God’s sober, solemn, holy presence, and the sanctimonious
appearance on sacred occasions is but an effort of the human will, and not
the deep piety and spontaneous reverence of the heart. Jesus said that for
every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account thereof in
the day of judgment: “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy
words thou shalt be condemned.” Mat. 12:36, 37. “Young men likewise exhort
to be sober-minded. In all things, showing thyself a pattern of good
works: in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound
speech, that can not be condemned.” Titus 2:6-8. “But fornication, and all
uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as
becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting,
which are not convenient.” Eph. 5:3, 4. Slang phrases, gay, frivolous,
foolish talking, and unholy conversation is degrading to society,
disgraceful to Christianity, and a shame and a reproach to any people.
Dress.
When the new birth is experienced a marked change is made in the life. The
individual is made a new creature, old things are passed away and all
things become new. The heart that loved this world is gone, and a heart
filled with the love of God and heaven takes its place. The radical change
effected within the heart will affect the exterior man. “Make clean the
inside of the cup and platter and the outside will be clean also.” “Out of
the heart are the issues of life.” “Out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaketh.” It is impossible for a proud heart to receive the grace
of God. “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” 1 Pet.
5:5. The wonderful salvation of God which changes the heart will also
change the manner of dress, if the dress formerly was worldly, which is
very natural. The dear Lord has been so very careful to distinguish his
loved children from the world and make them a shining light that he has
given them plain directions how to dress. What a privilege the Christian
has in obeying God in what is considered the “little things” of his Word,
which however small are of such importance as to cause the eternal loss of
the soul if wilfully disobeyed.
Respecting the manner of Christian dress we will quote from 1 Tim. 2:9,
10: “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel,
with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or
pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness)
with good works.” This is a much abused and wrested scripture. The
proud-hearted, who have endeavored to persuade themselves to believe they
are Christians, have surmised and planned to enforce upon themselves the
conclusion that God did not here mean what he has said. In earlier days
when the human systems of religion were more consistent with the Word of
God such texts were incorporated in their creeds, but so deep has been
their plunge into the whirlpool of worldliness that they are rejected from
both Bible and creed. Many tell us that this was for the women in the
primitive days of Christianity when it was the custom to plait the hair
with gold and silver strands. This is only a ready sophistry to allure the
soul. We will admit it was for women in the early days of Christianity,
but we deny it is any less for women and men also in any other day. With
respect to Christianity some people are shamefully dishonest. All the
duties and sacrifices not congenial to a proud heart they are glad to
impose upon the Christians of some past or future time, but all the
blessings God has promised the saint they would gladly receive in this
present time.
The Christian is commanded to dress in “modest apparel” “with
shamefacedness.” It frequently happens that people become so boldly proud
that they can dress in the height of fashion and profess to be Christians
without a shame upon their face. One who is really and truly saved will
dress in modest apparel, while humility, meekness, and modesty are
depicted in loveliness upon their countenance. Those who adorn themselves
in pearls and gold and costly array usually bear a proud, disdainful look.
When redeemed by grace the fashionable dress and proud look give place to
a sweet Christian modesty. A humble heart and a fashionable dress are
incompatible. Shamefacedness is derived from _aidos_ in the Greek, and has
“modesty” and “bashfulness” for its primary meaning.
How beautifully the teachings of the apostles harmonize. Peter tells us
that the Christian’s adorning should be the hidden man of the heart
adorned by a meek and quiet spirit. This man in the heart, hidden as he
is, does however reveal himself. “Out of the heart are the issues of
life.” When the heart is meek and humble, lowliness, gentleness, and
modesty will be seen in the countenance. A meek, modest, Christ-like
countenance under a fashionably decorated hat is the greatest incongruity.
With shamefacedness the Christian is to be adorned with sobriety.
Fashionable dress is directly the opposite of sobriety. This word is
translated from the Greek word _sophrou_, which is properly defined,
soundness of mind. The weary toil and labor that many undergo to earn
money and then make the unnecessary expenditure in buying costly,
fashionable dress does certainly betray a lack of wisdom, which might in
reality be termed an unsoundness of mind. Gold and pearls and costly array
is intemperance in dress. Instead of dressing in sobriety many are crazed
or drunken on the spirit of worldliness in dress. There is a beautiful
consistency in Christianity, but how inconsistent with divine things is
the expenditure of money for the adornment of the physical being. No one
can spend money for gold rings and chains and charms, for pearls and
beads, for plumed hats, and such like, with the number around that are
destitute, penniless, and starving, without incurring the displeasure of a
merciful God. Man shall have to give an account in the day of awful
judgment how he has expended the money the Lord has entrusted to his care.
In the purchasing of any unnecessary article of dress there will be a
reproving of the Spirit unless the heart is so intoxicated with the love
of self that it is unconscious of the things and voice of God.
Ah, how shamefully inconsistent with the tender-heartedness and
sympathizing spirit of Christianity in this lavishing of charms and
adornments upon self! Our dress should be only such as is necessary for
protection and health. Going about in the world doing good in all humility
of heart, modest and unassuming in our manners and dress, making ourselves
as little conspicuous as possible, but lifting up Jesus everywhere, is the
true Christian life.
Secret Orders.
The present-day institutions known as “Secret Orders,” are of an earthly,
worldly origin. They are one of the things of this world which man can not
love and continue in the love of God. Within those secret organizations
are bundled together by strong oaths the professed Christian, the infidel,
the lawyer, the doctor, the saloon-keeper, the gambler, and almost every
character upon the earth. By the bonds of this secret union the preacher
is made a brother with an infidel. The apostle Paul tells us, “Be ye not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with
darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he
that believeth with an infidel?” 2 Cor. 6:14, 15.
The preacher who professes to believe in God is here having a part with an
infidel contrary to the Word of God. You who are professing to be a light
in the world, how can you in the fear of God take the oaths necessary to
make you a member of a secret order? How can you join in the worldly
hurrah and laughter, and foolish, ungodly pranks as played upon the
candidate within the secret walls? What do you think of a preacher, or
layman, becoming the laughing-stock of infidels, lawyers, saloon-keepers,
drunkards, and gamblers, as he trembles beneath the blindfold? What kind
of light are they letting shine? I appeal to your reason and common sense.
Is it Christlike? Do you think Jesus would engage in such dark works? Some
have charged the Savior with being a freemason. Such is a libelous
statement. In Isa. 45:19, the Lord says, “I have not spoken in secret, in
a dark place of the earth: ... I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare
things that are right.” Christ only speaks the things that are right and
never the dark, ungodly oaths and sayings of the secret lodge. Again, the
Savior said, “I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue,
and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort: and in secret have I
said nothing.” John 18:20. Jesus spake nothing in secret, and to charge
him with having connection with the dark, secret mysteries of masonry is
as slanderous as the charge made by the people who said, “Thou hast a
devil.” John 7:20. The Savior not only knew that men would, in order to
defend their unrighteous systems, charge him with having a devil, but he
also knew that for the same purpose men would charge him with having
connections with such systems; therefore he said, to uncloak the falsity
of such charges, “Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in
the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it
not.” Mat. 24:26. Jesus gives commandment to preach upon the housetop what
ye hear in the ear. Mat. 10:27. “For God shall bring every work into
judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be
evil.” Eccl. 12:14.
It is not the mission of this work to reveal the awful oaths and secret
works of these various orders. Other men by many volumes have done this.
We only hope to help you to see that secrecy is contrary to the Bible and
the Spirit of Christ and Christianity. It is a thing of the world and
conducted on a worldly basis. Connected with many of these orders are life
insurances—a thing of the world. The Christian is separated from the world
and Christ becomes his all in all. To make prominent the good qualities of
their secret systems men tell us of their obligations to help their
brother and his family. How these orders provide help for a man in time of
need, and how true each member is to his obligation, etc. Such might do if
there were no God nor Christianity. Secrecy provides only for its own
members. Salvation provides for all. A member of a secret order is under
no obligation from his order to visit a poor sick man by the way who is
not a member of his order, but is under obligation to visit and care for a
sick fellow member, though he be rich. We see no Christianity in this. We
see no humanity. It is having respect of persons, forbidden by Scripture.
Humanity, and much more Christianity, will not only send man to do good to
the rich, but to the poor also, be they of any class or nation. A man that
is a Christian will visit the sick and afflicted, no matter what may be
their station in life.
If a man thinks he is a light in the world because he is true to the
obligations of his secret order in visiting and administering to the needs
of his sick brother, he is very much deceived. Such is a false light. When
a man has to place himself under such solemn oaths to do good, it proves
that he has but little or no humanity. “Do good to all men,” is the spirit
of Christianity. A man need not take the obligations of a secret order to
be furnished with the qualifications for doing good. The Word of God is
all that is needed for reproof, correction, and instruction, that a man
may be thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Tim. 3:16, 17. A man
need not seek membership in some secret organization in order to be
provided for in his old days, or his family in case of his death. The
Psalmist says, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Paul says, “But my God
shall supply all your need.” Phil. 4:19. “Wherefore come out from among
them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;
and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my
sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” 2 Cor. 6:17, 18. “They are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” John 17:16.