Distinguishing Character of Christians
This is from a sermon by Benjamin Beddome on John 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
1. It is not that they have no connection with the men of the world. Grace does not dissolve the union between man and man.
2. It is not that they are to be wholly disengaged from the things of the world.
3. It is not that even the best of men are entirely divested of a worldly spirit, though they are not of the world.
4. They are in a considerable degree mortified to the things of this life, so as not to have "the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God." They are in the world, but not of it: it is their residence, but not their portion.
5. They possess different tempers and dispositions from the men of the world. "Old things are passed away, and all things become new."
6. They speak a different language from the rest of the world.
7. They are neither influenced by the maxims of the world, nor do they imitate its customs.
8. They do not take up their rest in this world. They are born from heaven, and are bound to heaven.
9. To illustrate this character Christ has given his own.
10. From this view of the subject we may learn what judgment we are to form of those about us what is our duty with respect to ourselves.
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