131 World
WORLD
The whole system of created things. It is taken also for a secular life, the present state of existence, and the pleasure and interests which steal away the soul from God. The love of the World does not consist in the use and enjoyment of the comforts God gives us, but in an inordinate attachment to the things of time and sense. “1. We love the world too much,” says Dr. Jortin, “when, for the sake of any profit or pleasure, we willfully, knowingly, and deliberately transgress the commands of God.–2. When we take more pains about the present life than the next.–3. When we cannot be contented, patient, or resigned, under low and inconvenient circumstances.–4. We love the world too much when we cannot part with any thing we possess to those who want, deserve, and have a right to it.– 5. When we envy those who are more fortunate and more favoured by the world than we are.–6. When we honour, and esteem, and favour persons purely according to their birth, fortunes, and success, measuring our judgment and approbation by their outward appearance and situation in life.–7. When worldly prosperity makes us proud, and vain, and arrogant.–8. When we omit no opportunity of enjoying the good things of this life; when our great and chief business is to divert ourselves till we contract an indifference for rational and manly occupations, deceiving ourselves, and fancying that we are not in a bad condition because others are worse than we.
Charles Buck (1771-1815) was an English Independent minister, best known for the publication of his “Theological Dictionary”. According to the “Dictionary of National Biography”, a Particular Baptist minister named John C. Ryland (1723-1792) assisted Buck by writing many of the articles for the aforementioned publication. One may conclude, based not only Buck’s admiration for his friend Ryland, but also on the entries in his Theological Dictionary, that he stood head and shoulders with the High-Calvinists of his day.
Charles Buck on the Biblical Covenants (Complete)
Charles Buck's Theological Dictionary
