Such was the estimate formed of this world by one who had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. “The world is crucified unto me,” said he, “and I unto the world.” Such was Paul, and such should every Christian be—a stranger on earth, a citizen of heaven, and this not merely in sentiment and theory, but in downright fact and reality; for as surely as our deliverance from hell is more than a mere sentiment or theory, so surely is our separation from this present evil age. The one is as positive and as real as the other. But here let us ask, Why is not this great practical truth more pressed home upon the hearts of evangelical Christians at the present moment? why are we so slow to urge upon one another the separating power of the cross of Christ? If my heart loves Jesus, I shall not seek a place, a portion, or a name where He only found a malefactor’s cross. This, dear reader, is the simple way to look at the matter. Do you really love Christ? has your heart been touched and attracted by His wondrous love to you? If so, remember that He was cast out by this world. Yes, Jesus was and still is an outcast from this world. There is no change. The world is the world still; and be it remembered that one of Satan’s special devices is to lead people to accept salvation from Christ, while at the same time they refuse to be identified with Him in His rejection—to avail themselves of the atoning work of the cross, while abiding comfortably in the world that is stained with the guilt of nailing Christ thereto. In other words, he leads people to think and to say that the offense of the cross has ceased; that the world of the nineteenth century is totally different from the world of the first; that if the Lord Jesus were on earth now, He would meet with very different treatment from that which He received then; that it is not now a pagan world, but a Christian one, and this makes a material and a fundamental difference; that now it is quite right for a Christian to accept of citizenship in this world—to have a name, a place, and a portion here, seeing it is not the same world at all as that which nailed the Son of God to Calvary’s cursed tree.