John Newton's Letters
Conformity to the world
"Be not conformed to this world." Romans 12:2
Dear Sir,
You will perhaps be surprised to see my thoughts on your query in print,
rather than to receive them by the post, as you expected. But as the subject
of it is of general concern, I hope you will not be displeased that I have
taken this method. It might be of considerable service in the present day,
clearly to explain the force of the Apostle's precept, "Be not conformed to
this world;" and to state the just boundary between a sinful compliance with
the world, and that scrupulous singularity which springs from a
self-righteous principle, and a contracted view of the spirit and liberty of
the Gospel. To treat this point accurately, would require a treatise rather
than a letter: I only undertake to offer you a few hints; and indeed, when
the mind is formed to a spiritual taste, a simple desire to be guided by the
Word and Spirit of God, together with a due attention to our own experience,
will, in most practical cases, supersede the necessity of long and elaborate
disquisitions.
By the world, in the passage alluded to, Rom. 12:2, I
suppose the Apostle means conformity to the men of the world, in
distinction from believers: these, not having the love of God in their
hearts, or his fear before their eyes, are of course engaged in such
pursuits and practices as are inconsistent with our holy calling, and in
which we cannot imitate or comply with them, without hurting our peace and
our profession. We are therefore bound to avoid conformity to them in all
such instances; but we are not obliged to decline all interaction with the
world, or to impose restraints upon ourselves, when the Scripture does not
restrain us, in order to make us as unlike the world as possible. To
instance in a few particulars.
It is not necessary, perhaps it is not lawful, wholly to
renounce the society of the world. A mistake of this kind took place in the
early ages of Christianity, and men (at first, perhaps, with a sincere
desire of serving God without distraction) withdrew into deserts and
uninhabited places, and wasted their lives at a distance from their
fellow-creatures. But unless we could flee from ourselves likewise,
this would afford us no advantage; so long as we carry our own wicked hearts
with us, we shall be exposed to temptation, go where we will. Besides, this
would be thwarting the end of our vocation. Christians are to be the salt
and the lights of the world, conspicuous as cities set upon a hill; they are
commanded to "let their light shine before men, that they, beholding their
good works, may glorify their Father who is in heaven." This injudicious
deviation from the paths of nature and providence, gave occasion at length
to the vilest abominations; and men who withdrew from the world, under
pretense of retirement, became the more wicked and abandoned as they lived
more out of public view and observation.
Nor are we at liberty, much less are we enjoined, to
renounce the duties of relative life, so as to become careless in the
discharge of them. Allowances should, indeed, be made for the distresses of
people newly awakened, or under the power of temptation, which may for a
time so much engross their thoughts as greatly to indispose them for their
bounded duty. But, in general, the proper evidence of true Christians is,
not merely that they can talk about Divine things, but that, by the grace of
God, they live and act agreeable to the rules of his word, in the state in
which his providence has placed them, whether as masters or servants,
husbands or wives, parents or children; bearing rule, or yielding obedience,
as in his sight. Diligence and fidelity in the management of temporal
concernments, though observable in the practice of many worldly men, may be
maintained without a sinful conformity to the world.
Neither are we required to refuse a moderate use of the
comforts and conveniences of life, suitable to the station which God has
appointed us in the world. The spirit of self-righteousness and will-worship
works much in this way, and supposes that there is something excellent in
long fasting, in abstaining from pleasant food, in wearing coarser clothes
than is customary with those in the same rank of life, and in many other
austerities and singularities not commanded by the word of God. And many
people, who are in the main sincere, are grievously burdened with scruples
respecting the use of lawful things.
It is true, there is need of a constant watch, lest what
is lawful in itself becomes hurtful to us by its abuse. But these outward
strictnesses may be carried to great lengths, without a spark of true grace,
and even without the knowledge of the true God. The mortifications and
austerities practiced by the Bramins in India are vastly more severe than
the most zealous effects of modern superstition in our country. There is a
strictness which arises rather from ignorance than knowledge, is wholly
taken up with externals, and gratifies the spirit of self as much in one
way, as it seems to retrench it in another. A man may almost starve his body
to feed his pride: but to those who fear and serve the Lord, every creature
of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with
thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Notwithstanding these limitations, the precept is very
extensive and important. "Be not conformed to the world." As believers, we
are strangers and pilgrims upon earth. Heaven is our country, and the Lord
is our King. We are to be known and noticed as his subjects; and therefore
it is his pleasure, that we do not speak the sinful language, or adopt the
sinful customs, of the land in which we sojourn. We are not to conform to
the world, as we did in the days of our ignorance. And though we have
received the principles of grace, and have tasted of the goodness of the
Lord, the admonition is still needful; for we are renewed but in part, and
are liable to be drawn aside to our hurt by the prevalence of evil examples
and customs around us.
We must not conform to the spirit of the world. As
members of society, we have a part to act in it, in common with others. But
if our business is the same, our principles and ends are to be entirely
different. Diligence in our respective callings is, as I have already
observed, commendable, and our duty; but not with the same views which
stimulate the activity of the men of the world. If they rise early, and take
rest late, their endeavors spring from and terminate in self, to
establish and increase their own importance, to add house to house, and
field to field, that, like the builders of Babel, they may get themselves a
name, or provide means for the gratification of their sinful passions. If
they succeed, they sacrifice to themselves; if they are crossed in their
designs, they are filled with anxiety and impatience; they either murmur or
despond.
But a Christian is to pursue his lawful calling with an
eye to the providence of God, and with submission to his wisdom. Thus, so
far as he acts in the exercise of faith, he cannot be disappointed. He casts
his care upon his Heavenly Father, who has promised to take care of him.
What God gives, he receives with thankfulness, and is careful as a faithful
steward to improve it for the furtherance of the cause of God, and the good
of mankind. And if he meets with losses and crosses, he is not disconcerted,
knowing that all his concerns are under a Divine direction; that the Lord
whom he serves, chooses for him better than he could choose for himself; and
that his best treasure is safe, out of the reach of the various changes to
which all things in the present state are liable.
We must not conform to the maxims of the world. The
world in various instances calls evil good, and good evil. But we are to
have recourse to the law and to the testimony, and to judge of things by the
unerring word of God, uninfluenced by the determination of the great, or the
many. We are to obey God rather than man, though upon this account we may
expect to be despised or reviled, to be made a gazing-stock or a
laughing-stock to those who set his authority at defiance. We must bear our
testimony to the truth as it is in Jesus, avow the cause of his despised
people, and walk in the practice of universal obedience, patiently endure
reproaches, and labor to overcome evil with good. Thus we shall show that we
are not ashamed of Him. And there is an hour coming when he will not be
ashamed of us, who have followed him, and borne his cross in the midst of a
perverse generation, but will own our worthless names before the assembled
world.
We must not conform to the world in their amusements and
diversions. We are to mix with the world so far as our necessary and
providential connections engage us, so far as we have a reasonable
expectation of doing or getting good, and no farther. "What fellowship has
light with darkness, or what concord has Christ with Belial?" What does a
believer have to do into those places and companies, where everything tends
to promote a spirit of dissipation; where the fear of God has no place;
where things are purposely disposed to inflame or indulge corrupt and sinful
appetites and passions, and to banish all serious thoughts of God and
ourselves? If it is our duty to redeem time, to walk with God, to do all
things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to follow the example which he
set us when he was upon earth, and to work out our salvation with fear and
trembling; it must of course be our duty to avoid a conformity with the
world in those vain and sensual amusements, which stand in as direct
contradiction to a spiritual frame of mind, as darkness to light.
The leading desires of every person under the influence
of Gospel principles, will be, to maintain an habitual communion with God in
his own soul, and to manifest the power of his grace in the sight of men.
So far as a Christian is infected by a conformity to the spirit, maxims, and
sinful customs of the world, these desires will be disappointed. Fire
and water are not more opposite, than that peace of God which passes all
understanding, and that poor precarious pleasure which is sought in a
compliance with the world; a pleasure (if worthy the name) which grieves the
Spirit of God, and stultifies the heart. Whoever, after having tasted that
the Lord is gracious, has been prevailed on to make the experiment, and to
mingle with the world's vanities, has certainly thereby brought a damp upon
his experience, and indisposed himself for the exercise of prayer, and the
contemplation of Divine truths. And if any are not sensible of a difference
in this respect, it is because the poison has taken a still deeper effect,
so as to benumb their spiritual senses. Conformity to the world is the bane
of many professors in this day. They have found a way, as they think, to
serve both God and Mammon. But because they are double-minded, they are
unstable; they make no progress; and, notwithstanding their frequent
attendance upon ordinances, they are lean from day to day; a form of
godliness, a scheme of orthodox notions, they may attain to, but they will
remain destitute of the life, power, and comfort of piety, so long as they
cleave to those things which are incompatible with it.
Conformity to the world is equally an obstruction in the
way of those who profess a desire of glorifying God in the sight of men.
Such professors do rather dishonor him. By their conduct, as far as in them
lies, they declare, that they do not find the religion of the Gospel answer
their expectations; that it does not afford them the satisfaction they once
hoped for from it; and that therefore they are forced to seek relief from
the world. They grieve the people of God by their compliances, and
oftentimes they mislead the weak, and by their examples encourage them to
venture upon the like liberties, which otherwise they dared not have
attempted. They embolden the wicked likewise in their evil ways, while they
see a manifest inconsistency between their avowed principles and their
practice; and thus they cause the ways of truth to be evil spoken of.
The length of this paper constrains me to conclude abruptly. May the Lord
enable you and I to lay this subject to heart, and to pray that we may, on
the one hand, rightly understand and prize our Christian liberty; and, on
the other hand, be preserved from that growing evil—a sinful conformity to
the world!