warrant, as a general principle, our entering into the world. But there are some points to be considered which will reduce the apparent breadth of that warrant to a much nar

rower measure.

We must remember, then, first of all, why He did so. It was not for His own sake, or for any of those motives and inducements which it would be an irreverence even to speak of. He went for the sake of others; He was "come to seek and to save that which was lost :"* as He told Zaccheus, giving the reason of His making Himself his guest. That day salvation was come to the publican's house. For the same cause, He laid Himself open to the reproach, "This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them;" and suffered also the woman which was a sinner to wash his feet with her tears. It was, therefore, plainly in the discharge of His ministry of salvation that He mixed at large among all men. The world was the field of His toil; it was the wilderness where His lost sheep were scattered abroad, and He therefore went out into the world to seck them.

And we must not forget Who He was that so adventured Himself: it was He who had overcome the tempter in the wilderness; the same in whom, when the prince of this world came to Him, he had no share nor title. It was safe for Him who was without sin to pass to and fro through all perils of contamination. He could no more be sullied than the light of day. Perhaps it was for this reason that, while prophets and seers, even to John, the greatest of all, had lived apart in watchfulness and mortification, our blessed Lord mixed among men, entered their homes, sat at their tables, and partook of their common habits, their food, and feasts, and social life.

These two considerations, however, while they remind us that both His work and His spotless sanctity made laws for Him which are not necessarily laws for us, do not take away the force of His conduct as a general rule to guide us in the same subject. After separating all differences, His is still our example. Let us see, therefore, how far it will

warrant us.

1. First of all, then, it will not only clearly warrant, but actually enjoin upon us to mix in the world, so far as the calling or work of our life requires. And this must be determined for each one of us by a multitude of details; such as, our condition by birth, education, fortune, profession, outward relations of kindred, neighborhood, charity, and the like. Every body has his place in the world, and that place has its duties, charges, and character. We must be in a great measure guided by these. For instance, high birth, or the possession of great wealth, forces people into a sphere of life which has a multitude of very extensive relations. It is their duty to fulfil the obligations thereby laid on them. Princes must be surrounded by their courts; high-born and wealthy men keep large houses, and have many guests and numerous entertainments. There need be no worldliness in all this. It may be, indeed, little better than worldly ostentation; and it may feed and kindle all manner of worldly lusts: but it need not do so. Like all things, it is capable of perversion; but in itself it is only the natural sphere of the princes and great men of this world. It is, however, a very different matter, when men of humbler birth and less fortunes either strive to gain entrance to the ranks of those that are above them, or strain to be their equals. There is a proportion in all the dispensations of Providence: every man has his own range and limit, within which he is safe; and all things may be

lawful and sanctified by the word of God and prayer. The administration of property, and the management of estates, necessarily mixes men up with the world. So, much more, do professions and employments: statesmen, lawyers, soldiers, physicians, merchants, tradesmen of every sort, are compelled to meet and deliberate, to barter and consult, to act in common, to combine for worldly objects, without knowledge of each other's character-often with the full knowledge of facts which make them desirous of having no more intercourse with each other than they can help. Now it is obvious that all this is lawful and necessary; that it is even inevitable; that, as St. Paul says, to escape it, "we must needs go out of the world."* We may be compelled to meet very bad men, and infidels, and even heathens, and to transact with them such things as "maintain the state of the world." And all this is plainly not only allowed, but imposed on us by the providence of God, which has determined the conditions on which all these things depend; such as our birth, station, fortune, calling, relations in life. In so mixing in the world, we are carrying out the work which is set us to do; just as our blessed Lord, for the fulfilment of His work, went wheresoever it could be done.

What has been said of those whose duties are simply of a secular kind, applies even more strongly to those who bear sacred offices. They are bound, in faithfulness to their commission, to mix even among the worst of men; not, indeed, as companions, but as instructors, reprovers, and guides.

There are, however, multitudes with whom the pastors of the Church are compelled to mix in an ordinary way, and to watch their opportunities of usefulness. To them the example of our Lord is a direct precedent. The cour

1. Cor. v. 10.

tesies and kindly offices of life they are under a sort of necessity to accept, that they may share the joys and sorrows of other men, and by their sympathy gain a hearing when they speak in their Master's name.

Thus far, then, is clear: It is not so much in the point of necessary work as in the matter of unnecessary society with the world, that the difficulty arises. And yet it will be found, that the limit of our common intercourse with people is very much regulated by the facts of our providential lot. Our Lord has sanctioned a marriage-feast by His own presence; and that will show that feasting is not unlawful in itself. There is a "gladness and singleness of heart "* in eating our bread, which is a duty. Sadness and sullenness are not the gifts of the Spirit; but thankful tempers, cheerful giving, mutual joy, music and dancing and the fatted calf: these things belong to the new creation, in which once more 66 every creature of God is good." Therefore we may fairly say, that such seasonable and measured participation of God's good gifts, and of the enjoyments naturally arising out of the relations which kindred, or neighborhood, or friendship involves, is lawful and good, and capable of the Divine presence and benediction. But this nobody disputes-nobody, that is, whose disputation it is profitable to hear. The true difficulty lics in so limiting these things in their extent, and so chastening their character, as to preserve them from being turned into occasions of temptation, and into hindrances to the spiritual life.

2. Our Lord's example, then, suggests to us, farther, that we ought to measure our intercourse with the world by what is safe for ourselves. It is perfectly certain, that the attraction and operation of the world upon the mind of most

* Acts ii. 46.

persons is highly injurious. It first hinders the work of their sanctification, and next changes their tone of mind into its own temper and spirit. This is what St. Paul means when he warns the Romans, "Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind."*

Here is the peculiar danger. All things about us are charged with some measure of the world's evil and power. No lines can be drawn round the infected quarters. They have neither beginning nor ending; no limit or boundary. The whole visible Church is affected by it; whole nations, states, and households. The evil is continuous, all-pervading, ubiquitous. If we would escape the world, we must needs go out of the world: nothing less than this will do it. And this shows the impossibility of that which some excellent persons, with the best intentions, have endeavored to do: I mean, to draw peremptory lines between their households and "the world." They might as well draw a line between themselves and the race of mankind; for, draw it where they will, they do but make a distinction without a difference; and moreover, they shut out of their precinct some of the holiest saints, and shut into it some who are the very worshippers of the world. And the ill effects of this mistake are manifold. It savors much of rash judgment, self-preference, and separation; and it fosters a dangerous spirit of security, making people think that within their circle they are safe, and that this safety consists in outward lines of separation, instead of an inward grace of watchfulness and purity of heart. It is remarkable how, in families which have isolated themselves from the healthy unconscious action of open intercourse with others, evils of the strangest and most unlooked for kind

* Bom. xii. 2.