Refined worldliness

(Horatius Bonar)

The multitudes of professors among us want as much religion as will save them from Hell — and not an atom more. The world is their real God; gold is their idol — it is in mammon's temple that they worship. They are, in fact, worldly men varnished over with religion — that is all. Oh, do not trifle with religion. Do not mock God and Christ.

Refined worldliness is the present snare of the Church. The young are trained and encouraged by their parents to be "lovers of pleasure." Parties, dancing, theaters, and such like, are no longer forbidden things to the followers of the Lamb!

Parents! Beware of giving your children a taste for the world's gaieties.

"Do not love the world!" (1 John 2:15). Do not teach your children to love it. Keep them "from being polluted by the world!" (James 1:27).