I John 2:15
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): We have seen many professed Christians make shipwreck―in a few instances it has been attributable to overwhelming sorrow, but in ten cases to one it has been attributable to prosperity…I am never afraid for my brethren who have many troubles, but I often tremble for those whose career is prosperous.
F. W. KRUMMACHER (1796-1868): Very few souls thrive as well in times of prosperity as they do in seasons of adversity.
GEORGE WHITEFIELD (1714-1770): Prosperity lulls the soul, and I fear Christians are spoiled by it.
THOMAS MANTON (1620-1677): It is a hard matter to enjoy the world without being entangled with the cares and pleasures of it.
C. H. SPURGEON: I suppose he is like the sailor, when he sails along smoothly he loves to have fair weather, and wants this and that to amuse himself with on deck…It is just so with the Christian, when he is going along smoothly he wants this and that comfort; he is aspiring after this position, or is wanting to obtain this and that elevation.
SAMUEL RUTHERFORD (1600-1661): Christ’s well done is worth a ship-full of good days and earthly honours…But if this world and the lusts thereof be your delight, I know not what Christ can make of you; ye cannot be metal to be a vessel of glory and mercy. As the Lord liveth, a thousand thousands are beguiled with security―Among the many marks that we are under sail towards heaven, this is one: when the love of God so filleth our hearts that we forget to love and care too much for the having or wanting of other things.
JOSEPH ALLEINE (1634-1668): Pause a little, and look within. Does not this concern you? You pretend to be for Christ, but does not the world sway you? Do you not take more real delight and content in the world than in Him? Do you not find yourself more at ease when the world is in your mind and you are surrounded with carnal delights, than when retired to prayer and meditation in your room, or attending upon God’s Word and worship? There is no surer evidence of an unconverted state than to have the things of the world uppermost in our aim, love, and estimation… The prevailing love of pleasure. This is a black mark.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): Take away from the worldling those things in which he delights and he is wretched: is this so with you? Or, are your present joy and satisfaction found in objects which can never be taken from you?
THOMAS WATSON (1620-1686): The danger is when the world gets into the heart. Water is useful for sailing of the ship; all the danger is when the water gets into the ship; so the fear is when the world gets into the heart.
EDMUND CALAMY (1600-1666): If thou risest from a low estate to a great one, it is but like stepping from a boat or barge into a ship; thy dangers continue, for thou art still upon the sea.
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM (347-407): A boat overladen sinks, so much wealth drowns men in perdition.
THOMAS MANTON: If life be short, then moderate your worldly cares and projects; do not cumber yourselves with too much provision for a short voyage.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): The mind of a Christian ought not to be filled with thoughts of earthly things, or find satisfaction in them, for we ought to be living as if we might have to leave this world at any moment.
C. H. SPURGEON: So again, beloved, saints have drawn their anchor up and spread their sails, when they have been made to hold loose all there is in this world…I do not like to see a Christian die like a boy who leaves his play because he is tired of it, [or] see a Christian go from this world like a boy who is flogged out of his play and who is sorry to leave it. I like to see him like a fair ship which has all its cargo on board and all its passengers on deck, the flags are flying and the pennants streaming in the gale, and all the canvas is fully stretched, and it waits till it is just high tide, the tide begins to roll out towards the sea, and it sails on the head of the tide with the wind bellying out the sails, and so hath the soul an abundant entrance into the joy of its Lord. May it be yours and mine, as many years as we shall live, to be each of us ripening for the “rest which remaineth for the people of God.”
SAMUEL RUTHERFORD: O, let us be ready for shipping against the time our Lord’s wind and tide call for us.
THOMAS BOSTON (1676-1732): The last ship for Immanuel’s land is making ready to go. Therefore, now or never! The gospel is the Lord’s farewell sermon to the world.
J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): Come into the life-boat. The old world will soon break into pieces! Hear you not the tremblings of it? The world is but a wreck hard upon the sandbank. The night is far spent—the waves beginning to rise—the winds rising—the storm will soon shatter the old wreck. But the life-boat is launched, and we, the ministers of the Gospel, beseech you to come into the life-boat and be saved.
