UNSPOTTED FROM THE WORLD.
By A. SMITH
One of the chief characteristics of a Christian is that he keeps himself “unspotted from the world.” In his daily intercourse with his fellow-men he is thrown, more or less, into the society of those whose spirit and deeds are not in harmony with Christ, and hence not in union with his own spirit. He hears the name of God blasphemed; but if by word or act he shows no disapprobation, he becomes spotted by the contact, and guilty in the sight of Heaven (see Lev. 5:1); or, if wrong principles are expressed, and he makes no protest, he becomes contaminated with the evil. He frequently witnesses a wrong spirit of levity and jesting; but if he join in the laugh and pass around the joke he becomes “spotted with the world.” There are gatherings and associations for worldly amusement or profit; there are secret societies for worldly gain multiplying upon every hand; but the language of the Christian’s heart should be: “O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united.” Gen. 49: 6. Opportunities to bear the cross for Jesus’ sake are allowed to slip, and self-condemnation and spiritual barrenness is the result. A man who followed the business of threshing once said to me, that he had been, with his machine, all through a certain community that was largely religious by profession, and yet only one man there had the courage to call the hands together and pray before them. Although he (the thresher) may not in any way have acknowledged it to that humble Christian, I knew that he respected the piety of that man above that of any other professor of religion in that section. It may be asked, “Should a Christian exclude himself from the society of worldly people?” By no means. Jesus, our pattern, did not thus exclude himself. The Christian may have business transactions with unbelievers, may cultivate a friendly intercourse with them as neighbors or acquaintances, and yet in all these relations honor and glorify God. A Christian may often do wrong, but as soon as he becomes aware of it, let him at once go to the person or persons that may be affected by it, and fully confess it, and, as far as possible, make reparation. Nothing else, perhaps, would go so far as this to establish confidence in his integrity. I believe that men of the world sometimes put professed Christians to severe tests to prove them. Happy is he who endures the trial.