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THE RULE OF CHRISTIANITY, 
 
 IN REGARD TO 
 
 CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD: 
 
 SERMOX, 
 
 I 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN 
 PHILADELPHIA, MARCH 4, J833. 
 
 BY ALBERT BARNES. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY HARRISON HALL. 
 
 No. 47, South Third Street. 
 
 1833. 
 
I 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 This Sermon is printed at the request of a Jflj 
 few friends of the Author, in the hope that it ^^ 
 may be the means of promoting a correct 
 view of an important law of the Christian 
 religion. 
 
A SERMOX, &c. 
 
 And be not conformed to this world. — Rom. xii. 2. 
 
 I DO not know a more difficult passage in 
 the New Testament than this ; and I enter 
 upon the discussion of it with very little 
 hope of being able to furnish a satisfactory- 
 solution of the many inquiries which maybe 
 made respecting its meaning, and its appli- 
 cation. What is conformity to the world- 
 is the question which immediately presents 
 itself on reading the text. It is easy to see 
 that a command so plain as this appears to 
 be, may give occasion to a great variety of 
 
6 
 
 opinions. Every Christian may have an 
 " interpretation," and " a doctrine" of his 
 own. Every Christian denomination may 
 have its own rules. One will insist on con- 
 fining it to the feelings and general spirit 
 of the man ; another will maintain that it 
 refers only to the vices, and pomp and crimes 
 of the world ; a third will extend it to its 
 gaieties ; a fourth will affirm that it extends 
 to every article of apparel; and a fifth to 
 the ordinary intercourse, and courtesies of 
 life. Many will demand that the rich shall 
 abandon their houses, and their furniture, 
 and their equipage, and come down in all 
 these things to the level of their neighbours. 
 And many of the rich may deem their neigh- 
 bours unduly self-indulgent in their manner 
 of life. All of us can see some things in 
 which we judge others to be too much con- 
 formed to the world ; and most of us have 
 many perplexing questions pertaining to our 
 own duty as Christians, and to the demands 
 
of this and other similar texts of the Bible. 
 Most of us are probably satisfied that there 
 has been, and is, in the Church too much 
 conformity to the world. Our fellow men 
 who are not Christians, often reproach us 
 on this subject, and demand that we should 
 be less conformed to the follies and vanities 
 in which they freely indulge. Poor compli- 
 ment they pay to their own conduct and dis- 
 cretion ; and a sad employment to blame 
 others for that which they feel at liberty to 
 practise. 
 
 Amid these conflicting opinions, I have 
 little hope of traversing a perplexed and 
 difficult inquiry, with entire clearness and 
 satisfaction. If I can excite thought on the 
 subject among conscientious men, one part 
 of my object will be gained. If I can esta- 
 blish some principles by which we are to 
 interpret the text, I shall do all that I hope 
 to be able to effect. I need not add that 
 what I shall advance is submitted only to 
 
8 
 
 your candid inquiry. It would be easy to 
 declaim on this subject ; and it is always 
 easy to utter unmeaning and loose denuncia- 
 tions against Christians for conformity to 
 the world. And there may he occasion for all 
 the severity of reproof ever uttered ; but 
 after all, the inquiry arises what is the duty 
 of Christians, and by what principles shall 
 they judge of the text ? 
 
 The following inquiries I shall attempt to 
 answer — 
 
 I. To what does the rule apply .? 
 
 II. What is the rule.'' or what is it de- 
 signed to reach and effect .'' 
 
 III. What are the proper principles of its 
 application ? 
 
 1. To what does the rule apply.'' Here, 
 also, many questions might be asked ^ Was 
 it intended to he limited to the time of Paul, 
 and to that peculiar age of the world .? The 
 world then was idolatrous. Christians, es- 
 pecially at Rome, were placed amid the 
 
luxuries and gaieties of a refined, a vicious, 
 and an idolatrous age. To conform to that 
 age, would be to coincide with the splendor, 
 pride, ambition, fashion, and even corrupt 
 principles of a generation peculiarly wicked 
 and vain. Christians were expected to be 
 separated, and to constitute a distinct com- 
 munity. The difference between them and 
 others was to be marked, open, decided, and 
 there could have been little difficulty in ap- 
 plying the rule. 
 
 But the aspect of the world has, in some 
 respects changed. Idolatry is banished. Its 
 altars are overthrown. Christianity has dif- 
 fused intelligence, refinement, kindness, and 
 a thousand kindred virtues through the 
 community. It has elevated society, much 
 nearer to its own standards. And it is asked 
 whether the rule is still to be appUcable .? If 
 so, in what respects, and to what extent } 
 Yet on the question of the applicability, or 
 jurisdiction of the rule, there can be no 
 
10 
 
 doubt. It is unrepealed. There was no in- 
 timation that it was to be confined to that age, 
 or to any peculiar age. It involves also a 
 principles of Christian conduct as applicable 
 to one time as another. Other directions 
 respecting Christians have a similar mean- 
 ing. " 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." 1 John ii. 15, 16. " 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 cannot serve God and mammon." 
 Matt. vi. 24. " 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 ser- 
 vant of Christ." Gal. i. 10. " Know ye not 
 that the friendship of the world is enmity 
 
11 
 
 with God ? Whosoever, therefore, will be a 
 friend of the world, is the enemy of God." 
 James iv. 4. The text, is therefore, manifestly 
 a precept of the divine law, that is to extend 
 its jurisdiction over all the times, and places, 
 and circumstances to which it may apply, 
 until the peculiar community, called the 
 worlds shall be extinct. It extends to all Chris- 
 tians. 
 
 But if applicable to all times, to what class 
 of actions does it apply .? Is it to the dress, 
 the mind, the heart, the demeanor, the con- 
 versation, or to all .? Is it to be limited to one 
 class of these objects, and then to cease in 
 its influence, or is it to extend every where ? 
 I answer, it is like all other divine laws. 
 They are given in a general manner, and are 
 to be interpreted on the same principle. The 
 general principle of the laws of God is, that 
 they are first to be applied to the heart and 
 conscience, and then to follow out all the 
 conduct, and extend their jurisdiction over 
 all. Human law is satisfied if it can con- 
 
12 
 
 trol the external deportment, and preserve 
 the peace and prosperity of the commu- 
 nity. Divine law, extends its purpose of 
 control to the heart. If that is right, it sup- 
 poses all is right. If a proper influence can 
 be exerted over that, it supposes that all will 
 be well. And the text is evidently one of 
 the laws of Christian conduct, enacted on 
 this principle. The terms of the law are 
 applicable either to the mind, or to the ex- 
 ternal deportment; to the feelings, opinions, 
 and principles of action, as well as to the 
 dress, and conduct of life. Its direct aim 
 therefore, is the heart } its indirect, and com- 
 plete aim is reached only when it controls 
 the entire deportment. 
 
 It is still asked what place in the code of 
 Christian laws is this rule designed to oc- 
 cupy ? Here I answer, 1. — The design of 
 this law is not to keep Christians from open 
 vice and crime. That is placed on better 
 defined ground ; and it is presumed that 
 
13 
 
 Christians cannot commit them. Those 
 things which are absolutely and grossly evil, 
 are made the subjects of express statute. 
 Crime is specified, and absolutely forbidden. 
 It is not left to a rule so easily perverted ; 
 so capable of abuse, and variation, as the 
 simple injunction, not to be conformed to 
 the world. It is expressly declared that men 
 shall not he idolaters, or profane, or Sabbath- 
 breakers, or haters of their parents, or liars, 
 or adulters, or thieves, or drunkards, or re- 
 vilers, or false witnesses, or covetous. 1 Cor. 
 vi. 9, 10. Gal. V. 19, 21. Eph. v. 4. 5. Heb. 
 xii. 14. xiii. 4. Rev. xxH. 15. Ex. xx. What- 
 ever may be the conduct of the world on 
 these subjects, the law of God is positive, 
 and explicit. And it is perfectly obvious 
 that any thing pertaining to open sin and 
 vice, must be under the control of such abso- 
 lute and unchanging statutes. 2. The com- 
 mand in question is not designed to teach 
 Christians that they should not coincide with 
 
14 
 
 the world in any respect, or on any subjects. 
 It is not to be considered as enjoining sin^w- 
 larity for the sake of Angularity. Such a 
 purpose would be unworthy any legislator. 
 Unless the thing forbidden was either wrong 
 in itself, or was attended with bad conse- 
 quences, it would be the evidence of ty- 
 ranny or caprice, not of wisdom, to demand 
 separation. The conformity then, is to be 
 presumed to be in those things which would 
 be injurious to the object which the lawgiver 
 had in view. The matter of fact is, that 
 there are many things in which Christians 
 and others may, and must, externally at 
 least, coincide ; and in which to affect singu- 
 larity, would be to countenance evil. When 
 the Apostle directs Christians to think of what 
 soever things are true and honest, and just, 
 and pure, and lovely, and Osgood report ; of 
 virtue, and of that which is praiseworthy, 
 (Phil. iv. 8.) he evidently supposes that in 
 these things Christians are to coincide with 
 
15 
 
 others. Thus in industry, charity, temper- 
 ance, courtesy, meekness, order. 2 Thes.iii. 
 10. Rom. xii. 10, 11, «Sz:c. 1 Peter ii. 17,iii. 8. 
 1. Rom. xiii. 7, 8. Gal. v. 22. If the men 
 of the world are industrious, Christians are 
 not to be directed to be idle ; if they are tem- 
 perate, Christians are not to be intemperate; 
 if they are courteous, and refined. Christians 
 are not to affect rustity, or to violate the 
 proper rules of refined intercourse. On 
 these, and a thousand kindred subjects, 
 Christians and the world are to coincide, 
 nor does religion, common sense, or good 
 morals, demand or permit singularity. But 
 3. There is a large class of objects and ac- 
 tions which come under neither of these de- 
 nominations, which are not fixed by abso- 
 lute statute, and which it might yet be pro- 
 per to prohibit, or in which there might be 
 demanded a separation from the world. To 
 make laws on them all, would be endless. 
 These actions and feelings, the principle of 
 
16 
 
 the text, is designed to influence and control. 
 The general principle is settled, and the 
 application is to be made by the conscience 
 ol each Christian, on his own responsibility. 
 These actions pertain to the greater part of 
 our lives and intercourse. It is not often 
 that a man will be called on to apply the 
 statute respecting murder to himself, per- 
 haps never — but the principles of religion 
 pertaining to his daily conduct, need to be 
 carefully applied to the ever varying forms 
 and allurements of the world. You may 
 never have occasion to apply to yourself for 
 example, the ninth commandment ; but there 
 is a large territory of acts — a vast field over 
 which some law should be extended, which 
 cannot be reached by the decalogue, or by 
 any direct statute. Such are all those 
 acts and emotions pertaining to dress and 
 style of life ; to modes of intercourse ; to 
 gaiety and fashion, and equipage, to the 
 governing purposes of the heart in relation 
 
17 
 
 to our intercourse with men ; to the rules of 
 business ; to the aim of life ; and to that end- 
 less variety of things in which the men of 
 the world perceive it no harm for them to 
 indulge, and in which they indulge freely. 
 Now over this broad territory — this vast and 
 ever varying presentation of objects and 
 things, God has left the simple direction, 
 " be not conformed to the world." The 
 principles of actions and of life, are not to 
 be formed by the opinions of the world. 
 The rule is designed to occupy this vast 
 region of thought and feeling, over which 
 there could not be the formality of express 
 statute for every thing. It is a kind of bal- 
 ance wheel to the whole, to preserve it in 
 order ; and a general direction, that in rela- 
 tion to all these things, the opinion and con- 
 duct should not be formed by the views of 
 the men of the world, but by other princi- 
 ples. The law then, I suppose, is one not 
 confined to the age of Paul ; not applicable 
 J3 
 
18 
 
 to any single class of objects ; not designed 
 to control things in themselves absolutely 
 criminal, and subject to express statute ; not 
 designed to promote singularity for the sake 
 of singularity ; and to separate Christians 
 from the world, in things which are proper ; 
 but designed to reach and control the con- 
 duct, the feelings, and deportment, in that 
 vast variety of things which the world may 
 present from age to age as objects of plea- 
 sure, gaiety, business, luxury, splendor, or 
 ambition. 
 
 II. Our second inquiry is, what the rule is? 
 A few remarks may enable us to understand 
 this. 
 
 1. There is a difference contemplated be- 
 tween Christians and other men — a differ- 
 ence pertaining to principles of action, to 
 feelings, to laws, to destiny. 1 Cor. iv. 7, 2 
 Cor. vi. 14, 17. Isa. lii. 11. Rev. xviii. 4. 
 The whole arrangement by which this dif- 
 ference is produced and promoted, shows 
 
19 
 
 that it is not one of trifling magnitude, or 
 importance. To produce it, cost the labours 
 of the Son of God, and is the appropriate 
 work of the Holy Spirit on the soul, " Who 
 gave himself for us, that he might redeem us 
 from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a 
 peculiar people, zealous of good works." 
 Titus ii. 14. " But ye are a chosen genera- 
 tion, a royal priesthood, an holy nation a 
 peculiar people ; that ye should show forth 
 the praises of him who hath called you out 
 of darkness into his marvellous light." 1 Pet. 
 ii. 9. To advance this work calls into exer- 
 cise all the means of grace, and all the di- 
 rect operation of God on the human mind. 
 While as men, as citizens, we have many 
 things in common with other men, yet as 
 Christians, we are expected to possess some- 
 thing original and peculiar. There is no 
 change in the human mind so great, tho- 
 rough, and abiding, as that of regeneration. 
 John iii. 1. 7 — compare Eph. ii. 10. iv. 24. 
 
20 
 
 There is no kingdom more different from all 
 other kingdoms, than the empire of Christ 
 over the soul, is unlike all other empires. 
 " My kingdom is not of this world," is his 
 language; (John xviii. 36.) and while we 
 may have many things in common with 
 others, yet as Christians, his empire over 
 us is to be regarded as original and peculiar. 
 His larv is to form our opinions and practice, 
 and his will to influence our conduct. (1 
 John ii. 3, 6.) The world may be governed 
 by its own laws. The laws of fashion may 
 control one portion ; the laws of honour 
 another ; of ambition a third. One commu- 
 nity may frame its conduct by a set of arti- 
 ficial statutes, meaning or unmeaning, which 
 may have been agreed on respecting the in- 
 tercourse of the theatre, the ball-room, or 
 any other place of amusement or of business. 
 Another community is under the influence 
 of the laws of honour — so called — and those 
 laws are understood, and capable of being 
 
21 
 
 written down. The Christian community 
 rises in the midst of all others — subject to 
 laws of its own, voluntarily assumed, and 
 extending to all things, and claiming that 
 their jurisdiction should be admitted to ex- 
 tend over all the thoughts and doings of the 
 life. It claims that no other community 
 should be allowed to originate statutes for the 
 government, of Christians, or modify their 
 laws, or demand their submission to its man- 
 dates. It claims original jurisdiction over the 
 whole soul and body, and sternly rebukes the 
 interposition of the communities under the.in- 
 fluence of the laws of honour, or fashion, or 
 vice, if they come in with a claim to modify, 
 or repeal the original and independent stat- 
 utes of the Christian community. Christianity 
 regards all such interference as aggression. If 
 they coincide with Christianity in any thing, 
 or in every thing, it is well, and Christians are 
 not to affect sijigularity. If they differ, the 
 Christian community has another rule by 
 
22 
 
 which it is governed. Now the essential idea 
 of the rule which I am wishing to explain, is, 
 that Christianity has original jurisdiction in 
 all these cases ; that the laws of the New 
 Testament are the last appeal ; and that as 
 far as this community is concerned, its stat- 
 utes are to govern — nor are they to be modi- 
 fied by any intrusions of the laws of any 
 other commonwealth. 
 
 I do not know that I present the idea 
 clearly. Let me attempt further to illustrate 
 it. I have a family — in a gay, wicked, 
 thoughtless city. I may be surrounded by 
 families which have different views alto- 
 gether from thosel have on the various sub- 
 jects of employments and morals. As the 
 head of that family, I give laws, by which I 
 expect it will be influenced. Around me, may 
 be one family governed by the laws of fash- 
 ion. Another by the laws of honour. A 
 third, perhaps, by certain arbitrary rules, 
 which pick-pockets, and highway-men have 
 
23 
 
 set up. I do not interfere with them ; nor 
 do I say that in no respects shall my family 
 coincide with them. If they have any thing 
 commendable, I shall not denounce it ; nor 
 demand that my children shall affect singu- 
 larity. I shall not demand affected singu- 
 larity in quaint and unusual modes of speech; 
 in an inconvenient, or a ridiculous style of 
 dress ; or in an unnatural and forced gait or 
 demeanour ; or in a disgusting or an odious 
 tone of utterance, for the mere sake of singu- 
 larity. I expect my children will fall in 
 with, and obey my original laws, and remem- 
 ber that / have the jurisdiction in the pre- 
 mises. If my neighbour presumes to legis- 
 late in the case, to demand that my family 
 shall forsake my laws ; if he affirms that my 
 statutes are stern and harsh, and should be 
 modified — that is a question for me to con- 
 sider, not for him to legislate on. Just so it 
 is with Christianity. Christ has established 
 a set of laws, and demanded a certain course 
 
24 
 
 of life. If the members of any other com- 
 munity, or of fifty others, should in many 
 things, or in all things, coincide with what 
 religion would produce, the Christian is not 
 to affect singularity in the case. The ques- 
 tion is, whether I am adhering to the laws 
 of the peculiar kingdom by which I am go- 
 verned, and not whether others are falling 
 in with those laws also. What effect would 
 the Christian religion produce if obeyed by 
 the entire community, and if its principles 
 were suffered to be acted out every where ? 
 That is the question; and not what com- 
 pound and motley system of enactments can 
 be formed into a code, by amalgamating 
 Christianity with the artificial rules which 
 retrulate your communities of the gay and 
 fashionable, and of the proud, and ambitious. 
 Again — Let us take another illustration. 
 Lycurgus framed a code of laws for Sparta. 
 He had an object in his eye in each one of 
 his statutes, and he designed to rear a pecu- 
 
25 
 
 liar community. It was not the love of sin- 
 gularity ; it was not a wish to differ from 
 others for the mere sake of being different. 
 It was with reference to his great object — to 
 make the Spartans valiant, hardy, laborious, 
 daring freemen. With this object in his 
 eye, he framed his laws; and this design 
 was understood by every Lacedemonian. 
 Suppose now he had left some such direc- 
 tion as the text — be not conformed to sur- 
 rounding nations, or even to the other repub- 
 lics of Greece. The command would have 
 been intelligible. It would not mean, do 
 not in any thing coincide with others, for 
 they may be temperate, and laborious, and 
 valiant, as well as you, and in this do not 
 affect singularity. Their conduct in this re- 
 spect, is just what is required of you. Do 
 not pursue it because they do, but because it 
 will contribute to the great designs of the re- 
 public. The command would forbid confor- 
 mity to other people, if that conformity should 
 
26 
 
 interfere with the purpose of the Spartan 
 lawgiver. It might easily be seen that even 
 the arts of Athens, the extensive attention 
 to statuary and ornamental architecture, 
 might not consist with the main design of 
 the Lacedemonian. Innocent as they might 
 be in themselves, or consistent as they might 
 be in the members of the republic of Athens, 
 yet should the Lacedemonians turn their at- 
 tention to statuary, or to the fine arts as 
 a people, they would abandon the pecu- 
 liar design of their lawgiver, in mak- 
 ing them a hardy and valorous race of 
 freemen. It would easily be seen that the 
 delicacies and refinements of Corinth ; its 
 attention to fashion and splendor, its luxu- 
 ries and amusements, as well as its licen- 
 tious habits would be inconsistent with the 
 design of the Spartan. Whether they were 
 well for the Corinthian, was another ques- 
 tion ; and a question which it did not pertain 
 to the Spartan to settle. His inquiry was 
 
27 
 
 of a different kind. What was the will of 
 the lawgiver ? What was his great design ? 
 And are these things consistent with his 
 plain, and obvious directions ? His design 
 was to train up a peculiar community ; and 
 every member of that community was quali- 
 fied to judge of that design. He contem- 
 plated that no other one — not even one of 
 the confederated republics of Greece, should 
 presume to come in and legislate for liis 
 people. If his peculiar design was consis- 
 tent v/ith their views and conduct, it was 
 vi^ell. They would be conformed to, not 
 because they were the views of Mhens or 
 Corinth, but because they contributed to the 
 great purpose of the Lacedemonian lawgiver. 
 In no case had they a right to originate laws 
 for his people, or to demand that his laws 
 should be conformed to their views. 
 
 Thus with the Christian. If the views 
 and conduct of others coincide with his, it 
 is well. If they do not, they are not at 
 
28 
 
 liberty to come in and demand that he shall 
 be conformed to them. He has higher laws ; 
 and a higher object. He has a purpose 
 which strikes on to eternity. His aim is to 
 prepare for heaven. Theirs, to live for time. 
 Nor can they claim jurisdiction over con- 
 duct that has been directed by the Son of God, 
 and that he has judged best in ordering his 
 peculiar community. The simple question is, 
 whether a proposed course of conduct or 
 opinion, is consistent with the spirit and life 
 demanded by the King of Zion. 
 
 The amount of the rule, as 1 understand it, 
 is, that no other society or authority is per- 
 mitted to originate laws or opinions that 
 shall direct or control the Christian. The 
 first act of his religion, is to submit to 
 the laws of Jesus Christ. Acts ix. 6. xvi. 30. 
 His first movements are to forsake all which 
 God would not approve. No matter from 
 what community they have been derived, 
 they are to be abandoned. Be it from the 
 
2a 
 
 society of the vicious, the men of honour, or 
 of ambition, from the pleasure loving, the 
 rich or the gay, or even from a beloved pa- 
 rent or friend, if inconsistent with the pure 
 spirit of the gospel, they are to be abandon- 
 ed 3 Acts iv. 19, 20. v. 29, and Luke xiv 26. 
 God is raising up a peculiar community — an 
 empire, amid many other empires ; a king- 
 dom in the midst of other kingdoms — a king- 
 dom of seriousness and prayer and love, amid 
 the kingdoms of the gay, and dissipated, 
 and the worldly. His kingdom, though sur- 
 rounded by others, is designed to be peculiar 
 — not for the love of singularity, but because 
 all such designs involve singularity. Thus 
 the Athenian was singular ; the Spartan was 
 singular ; the Corinthian was singular ; the 
 Roman was singular. Thus, too, the votary 
 of pleasure is singular, and the follower of 
 fashion is singular, and the man seeking 
 wealth and honor, has his own views about 
 things, and is peculiar. Each society has its 
 
30 
 
 own laws ; and the kingdom of God is not 
 designed to take its complexion, cameleon 
 like, from surrounding objects, but to derive 
 its peculiar features from the laws of the 
 Son of God. If the Christian community is 
 singular, it is not because God loves singu- 
 larity, but because the world has gone out 
 of the way, and its maxims are an improper 
 guide for those who are seeking to honour 
 God, and to save their souls. If this be the 
 meaning, therefore, of the rule, we are pre- 
 pared, 
 
 III. To inquire on what principles it is to 
 be applied? 
 
 I might be contented with observing here, 
 that this is the appropriate business of every 
 Christian ; and that God has made him re- 
 sponsible for the honest application of the 
 rule to all his conduct. No small part of 
 our trial consists in ascertaining whether we 
 are disposed faithfully to apply the rule, or 
 whether we are disposed to be governed by 
 
31 
 
 every change of fashion, by every scene of 
 amusement, by all the allurements of gaiety, 
 and of wealth. Whether we are disposed to 
 take the lead in self-denial and humiliations 
 and consistencies of the Christian life ; or 
 whether we are disposed to lead a gay and 
 frivolous, and vain world farther and farther 
 in its wanderings from virtue, from prayer, 
 and from God. It would seem that the rule 
 was of easy application ; and that the exami- 
 nation of ourselves on this head would be 
 one of the least difficult parts of the Chris- 
 tian inquiry. But I may be permitted here 
 brief! V to specify a few principles on which 
 the rule is to be applied. Remember here, 
 that I speak to Christians — those who be- 
 long to that original and peculiar commu- 
 nity, which the Son of God came to estab- 
 lish. You will remember also that I claim 
 no infallibility here, or certainty that I am 
 right. 1 suggest these principles as they 
 seem to me to be demanded by the rule. 
 
32 
 
 1. You are not to regulate your feelings 
 and views, your apparel and manner of liv- 
 ing, your conversation and deportment, with 
 a view of leading the world in their own 
 ways of vanity, pleasure and ambition. You 
 are not to seek to be distinguished in the 
 manner in which they seek to be distin- 
 guished, and for which alone they live. The 
 world is tending to a different destiny from 
 the Christian. It matters little in xchat way 
 they go; whether in the ball-room, the 
 theatre, or any other scene of vice and 
 sin, they are going to their own home, and it 
 is a sad procession however gay or gorgeous, 
 where a Christian moves at the head of a 
 thoughtless throng] that is sporting down to 
 hell.° 
 
 2. You are not to regulate your opinions and 
 feelings, and conduct, by the people of the 
 world. You are not to approve of a thing 
 because they approve of it; to do a thing be- 
 cause they do it ; to love a thing because 
 
33 
 
 tlioy love it ; or to hate a thing because they 
 hate it. You are not to inquire then, how 
 they think or feel, or why they do it. They 
 have their own views of these things, and 
 you are to have yours — or rather you are to 
 imbibe the views of the Son of God. With 
 the feelings which the world has about the 
 objects of life, a thousand things may be 
 consistent, which would be repugnant to 
 the laws of the kingdom of Christ. While 
 ihcy tliink life is valuable only because it 
 ministers to the appetites, or contributes to 
 pleasure, numberless objects may accord 
 with their notions, all which would interfere 
 directly with the design for which the Chris- 
 tian lives, and with the laws^ by which he 
 is governed. If they have no other object 
 in life but to be amused, or to be caressed or 
 adored, it may be well to deck themselves, 
 and sport over the grave. Their race will 
 soon be run. Their dance will soon be over. 
 So have I seen in the beams of the western 
 C 
 
34 
 
 sun, as he sank behind the hills, thousands 
 of gay insects sporting in the departing 
 rays — ^joyous in the mazy dance, and uncon- 
 scious that they were in the last beams of 
 the parting day — and perhaps in the last 
 fleeting seconds of a very brief existence. 
 Soon the sun withdrew his beams, and 
 darkness came over the earth, and the dance 
 was ended, and perhaps also their life. Ano- 
 ther generation may play in those beams 
 to-morrow. But this one is gone. So the 
 gay and thoughtless world moves on to 
 darkness and to death. The scenes of their 
 festivity are soon to end, and darkness will 
 cover them, and they will plunge into the 
 world of judgment — a world where all is 
 serious, solemn, and fixed for eternity. All 
 the joy they seek or desire, is included in the 
 brief summer sun of their earthly being — the 
 fast fleeting moments of fashion, pride, and 
 folly here. To seek supremely for adorn- 
 ing, and admiration, to feel comfort in 
 
35 
 
 scenes of gaiety, and of sin, and of amuse- 
 ment, without prayer, and without God, may 
 have a most melancholy consistency with their 
 views of human life. But for you who are 
 living for eternity, and looking for an ever- 
 lasting dwelling in that world which has no 
 need of the moon, nor of the sun, where the 
 Lord God and the Lamb are the light there- 
 of, amid the splendors of that world where 
 the heavens and the earth shall flee away, 
 such amusements and gaieties may be folly j 
 may be worse — may be crime. 
 
 3. If in any of your views and deport- 
 ment, you coincide with the world, it will 
 not be because they do it, but because it will 
 be best. I know that this principle may be dif- 
 ficult to be understood, and may be abused. 
 Still it may be the correct principle in the 
 case. Let me illustrate it. In many things, 
 as I have remarked, you may coincide with 
 the world. You are industrious. So are 
 they. Your industry is not because the 
 
36 
 
 world requires it, but because it is best. It 
 is required by the law of your religion. You 
 are temperate, so may they be. You are 
 temperate, not because this is the fashion of 
 the world, but because your religion demands 
 it. You are courteous, polite, kind. So 
 may be, externally at least, the people of the 
 world. In this you may coincide. But you 
 are not thus because they are. You do not do 
 it) because they have originated it, or because 
 they have the right to dictate its forms. You 
 do it because it is the nature of your religion 
 It prompts to kindness, truth, courtesy, ten- 
 derness of feelings and character, mutual 
 respect, civility. It enthrones on the heart of 
 the Christian what may sit loose inform only j 
 around other men. It gives vitality to what 
 elsewhere may be a mere shadow. And if 
 the world changes its views on this subject, 
 and adopts any system of intercourse, that 
 may consist well enough with its views of 
 morals, you are not at liberty to follow it, if 
 
37 
 
 it is a departure from the spirit of Jesus 
 Christ. A mere votary of the world, for ex- 
 ample, who has no idea of morals, but a cer- 
 tain artificial and shapeless standard adopted 
 for convenience, may incorporate a thousand 
 falsehoods and evasions in his system, and 
 make a show of deception a part of his well 
 understood rules of intercourse. For his, or 
 her purpose, and in accordance with his or 
 her views of truth, it may be consistent enough. 
 to say, or instruct a servant to say, that they 
 are not at home, when they are at home; or to 
 say that they are sick, when they are not sick; 
 or that they are engaged, when they are not 
 engaged. For a man or a woman who is de- 
 voted to the service of the God of truth, it 
 becomes a different 'matter. And the ques- 
 tion of conformity to the world in this thing, 
 comes up with reference to the inquiry how 
 it will appear before Him who cannot lie, 
 and where it will be too late to deceive. You 
 are regular, decent, comely in your apparel, 
 
38 
 
 and your style of living. It is not because 
 the world does it, but it is the nature of re- 
 ligion to produce this in a community. It 
 elevates, refines, produces order, and per- 
 sonal neatness and propriety of living. It 
 does not require the man of wealth to seek 
 the wigwam of the Indian, or the hut of the 
 Laplander. It does not require him to be- 
 come a hermit ; nor would it change the 
 Christian community into monasteries. It 
 does not say that the Christian prince, or 
 man of wealth should cloth himself in rags, 
 or deny himself the ordinary comforts con- 
 nected with the rank of life where God has 
 placed him. It demands that he should carry 
 out the influence of religion on that rank of 
 life — that he should live and act in a certain 
 manner, not because the icorld does it, but 
 because Christian propriety demands it — be- 
 cause if the Christian religion were extended 
 to the cwf ire community, there would be men 
 who had wealth, who would still be Chris- 
 
39 
 
 tian men; there would be men of professional 
 skill and talent, who would be Christian 
 men ; and in that rank of life, it would be as 
 eas}' to apply the principles of the gospel to 
 what a man has, and does, as it would be in a 
 far inferior station. Christ never denounced 
 differences of rank in life. He never en- 
 gaged in the project of the dissatisfied and 
 disorganizing Roman people, in the de- 
 mands for an Agrarian law, nor in the cov- 
 etous schemes of modern infidelity, to break 
 up all ranks in society, to denounce the rich, 
 or to demand that all property should be re- 
 duced to a mass to be subject to the arts 
 of a cunning and unprincipled leader. He 
 designed a scheme of religion, adapted 
 to the exist ende of various orders in the com- 
 munity. And he demanded that the prin- 
 ciples of the rich should no more be modeled 
 after the judgment of the world, than those 
 of the poor. Live, and feel, and act in this 
 situation of life, is the language of his gos- 
 pel, not because a gay and wicked world 
 
40 
 
 requires you to do it, but so as in the best 
 way to evince tJie influence of tlie gospel in 
 the rank of life in which you are placed. 
 
 4. A fourth obvious principle in which 
 Christians will apply the rule is that their 
 views and feelings will not be prompted by a 
 desire to elicit the applause, and approbation 
 of the world. Your conduct will be regulated 
 by a higher law. It is not to produce admira- 
 tion, envy, rivalship, flattery, competition, 
 that you live ; it is not to be the subject of 
 conversation, commendation, or praise, it is 
 TO PLEASE God. If the kingdom of which 
 you are a member stood alone ; if the empires 
 of this world were removed en masse to other 
 abodes, your conduct would then be regular 
 ted by the Bible, and the will of God. So 
 should it be now. This is one of the plainest 
 applications of the rule. — And yet if honestly 
 applied, what a sad invasion would it make 
 in the Christian church. Remove from the 
 followers of Christ, all that has been assumed 
 
41 
 
 for the purpose of being admired by one ano. 
 ther and by the world ; all that has been the 
 result of envy, and rivalship, all that is ad- 
 justed to catch the passing gale of applause ; 
 all that comes under the denomination of the 
 lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the 
 pride of life, and a most fearful flight would 
 be given to numberless ornaments ; and a 
 most sad invasion would be made on the style 
 of living in every Christian community. 
 Stripped of the meretricious decorations 
 which the world has persuaded and enjoined 
 the church to assume ; dressed in the virgin 
 purity which the Son of God has prescribed 
 for it, it would at once rise to elevated influ- 
 ence, and be elad in beauty and in honor, We 
 are not to be guided by the world. But there 
 is an old Roman maxim, that it is right to be 
 taught by our enemy, " fas est et ab hoste do- 
 ceri." And if in any thingit would be right to 
 listen to the people of the world it would be in 
 this ; not whatthey loish us to be ; hut what they 
 
42 
 
 understand our religion to require. Glad would 
 they be that every Christian should be like 
 themselves. But well do they know that reli- 
 gion demands a difference, a great difference, 
 an eternal difference, and well do they under- 
 stand that this difference should be manifest 
 in the life. And never do they utter senti 
 raents more worthy of the attention of Chris- 
 tians than when they denounce us as fools 
 or hypocrites for conformity to their own 
 senseless and vain spirit, and opinions, about 
 the scenes of gaiety and ambition — about the 
 theatre, and the ball-room, and the trifles by 
 which they continue to amuse themselves in 
 the brief summer sun in which they are mov- 
 ing to a world of wo. Christians have a bet- 
 ter inheritance ; and much and well do the 
 men of this world marvel, that they find 
 their pleasures in their scenes of gaiety and 
 folly. 
 
 5. A fifth principle of the rule. It forbids 
 all mingling with the world which is incon- 
 
43 
 
 sistent with the great objects of the kingdom 
 of Christ, or which will not in the whole tend 
 to promote it. This principle seems also 
 obvious. The desire of obeying him to whom 
 we are devoted, and of promoting his glory, 
 will constitute a rule of action. It is not 
 needful to state what those objects are. They 
 are known to all Christians. They may be 
 summed up in a desire to become personally 
 aasimilated to Jesus Christ, and to bring our 
 fellow men to the hope of the same Heaven. 
 It demands of course the spirit of prayer, of 
 seriousness, of self-denial ; the faithful dis- 
 charge of our duties in all the relations of 
 life J a conscientious appropriation of our 
 time, our influence, and our wealth ; a faith- 
 ful meeting of all the demands made on us as 
 Christians and as men. God has given us 
 enough to do ; and if we follow his will we 
 shall not be oppressed with useless time, or af- 
 flicted with ennui. Now with this desire to 
 do precisely lohat will be approved by the mind 
 
44 
 
 of Christ we may apply the rule before us. 
 It will be a test of the propriety of a thousand 
 things which might otherwise be the subject 
 of much debate. — It will constitute a nice 
 act by which we may approach a great vari- 
 ety of objects without danger of error. A 
 child can much more easily decide whether 
 a thing will be acceptable to the mind of his 
 father, than he could settle its propiety by ar- 
 gument. The inhabitants of Sparta could see 
 at once that many things were inconsistent 
 with the design of his republic which he could 
 by no means settle in an abstract manner. 
 Whether the aim of the Athenian was proper, 
 or the mild and soft pleasures of the Corin- 
 thian lie might not be able to settle by argu- 
 ment, but they would not be the way to 
 train up the Lacedemonian. So it might be- 
 come a question of abstract casuistry about a 
 thousand scenes of amusement. It would 
 be easy to argue by the hour in favor of par- 
 ties of pleasure, and theatres, and ball-rooju^, 
 
45 
 
 and gaiety, and all the vanity of fdshiortable 
 life, and the mind mighf'find no end in wan- 
 dering mazes lost." But apply the rule before 
 us, and all mist vanishes. Since the heghi' 
 ning of the world, it is to be presumed that 
 no professing Christian, ever dreamed that he 
 was imitating the example of Jesus Christ, or 
 jyromoting his oum Salvation, or the Salvation 
 of others, or honoring the Christian religion 
 in a theatre, or a ball room, or a splendid par- 
 ty of pleasure. And equally clear would be 
 the decision in reference to multitudes of 
 pleasures which it is needless to specify; If 
 these things were favourable to the designs 
 of the founder of Christianity, they mighty 
 and shotild have been enjoined. But how 
 singular would have been such directions in 
 the New Testament ! How marvellous would 
 appear such a command when placed beside 
 those which enjoin prayer, and [spirituality, 
 and humility, and self denial ! If by the pat- 
 ronage of such places a man is promoting the 
 
46 
 
 Christian religion, or the Salvation of his 
 Soul, then they maybe lawful. If they will 
 not bear this test they cannot be right, and 
 maij he dangerous to the Soul. 
 
 6. A sixth principle of application of the 
 rule. A Christian should have a spirit and 
 temper above the things that influence his 
 fellow-men. Though in the midst of these 
 scenes, yet he may not be influenced by 
 them. A man may have wealth, and it may be 
 manifest that his affections are not supremely 
 fixed on it. He may be surrounded by a 
 thoughtless world, and yet be evidently liv- 
 ing above it. Christianity produces a spirit 
 that is elevated above these things ; that 
 draws its consolations and its principles of 
 action from far different objects. A man on 
 the throne may be aChristian'as really as in a 
 cottage, and he may become a nursing fa- 
 ther to the Church, with all the splendor of 
 the " diadem on his brow, and the imperial 
 purple flowing in his train." Thus in all 
 
47 
 
 ranks of life it may be manifest that Christi* 
 apity is uppermost ; that by this the man 
 lives ; that he desires to imbibe its spirit, and 
 to diffuse its blessings around the globe. 
 Rules, you may not be able to give in this, 
 but to the man himself, and to all others, it 
 may be clear that he is actuated by the love 
 of God, and a desire to be useful to a dying 
 world. 
 
 Again. A man may be placed in circum- 
 stances which require him to be large and 
 liberal, and what to a poorer man might be 
 deemed luxurious or extravagant; of this no 
 man can be the judge. To his own master 
 he stands or falls. But Christianity may be 
 diffused over all his conduct. He might be 
 as large and liberal in religion as in other 
 things. The men of the world would ex- 
 pend their money solely on banquets, and 
 houses, and equipage. They might court the 
 applause of their fellows, and live for this. 
 In all the conduct, there might be nothing 
 
4S 
 
 of the Christian. Now it is clear that th^ 
 rule in our text demands a difterent spirit. 
 Let a man be at least as large and liberal in 
 religion as in other things. Let him evince 
 its spirit in all things. Let him be the liberal 
 patron according to his rank, and station, 
 and wealth, of all that would promote the 
 influence of religion j and the extension of 
 the kingdom of the Son of God in all lands. 
 In all the relations of life, Christianity may 
 be pre-eminent ; and the mild and amiable 
 spirit of the gospel maybe evinced in every 
 movement, and in every desire of the souh 
 Thus it is that the spirit of the gospel may 
 as really take up its abode in the mansions 
 of wealth, as in the cottage of poverty ; nor 
 is there any reason why it should not reign 
 there, and interweave itself with all the in- 
 cidents of life, as well as constitue the bright 
 and lively details in the " short and simple 
 annals of the poor." Conformity to the 
 world may exist no more amid those who 
 
49 
 
 are blessed with wealth, than with those in 
 far obscurer life, and the man possessed of 
 the riches of the Indies may as little think 
 of it, or regard it, as those who live by toil 
 from day to day . That religion has ever yet 
 produced its appropriate influence on all 
 those classes of men, we do not maintain 
 That this rule may not be applied to all 
 classes, none can affirm. 
 
 The conclusion, then, to which we have 
 come is, that God has, in this rule, furnished 
 a guide to numberless actions, and to the 
 spirit of the life ; a rule which no man should 
 apply to his neighbour, but which every man 
 should honestly and perpetually apply to 
 himself — a rule which you can take to all 
 employments, and amid all the enjoyments 
 of life ; and a rule which may show its influ- 
 ence in the palace and ihe cottage ; in the 
 movements of the rich and of the poor ; on 
 the throne, and in the obscurest dwelling, 
 wherp resides a ransomed child of God 
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