There is a world we are not required as Christians to separate from. There is a world we are under the strictest obligations to separate from.
The condemnation of the world by our Lord and his apostles is too plain and frequent not to have met the eye of any one who has the slightest acquaintance with the New Testament. { 160} "_You are from beneath,_" said the Saviour to the Jews, "_I am from above. You are of this world: I am not of this world_," [Footnote 51] "_Love not the world,_" says the beloved disciple and apostle, "_nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world the charity of the Father is not in him._" [Footnote 52] St. Paul, teaching the Romans, says: "_Be not conformed to the world._" [Footnote 53] "_The friendship of the world,_" says St. James, "_is enmity with God._" [Footnote 54] "_The whole world_," says St. John, "_is seated in wickedness._" [Footnote 55]
These declarations of the sacred Scriptures are plain and to the point. To be a disciple of Christ is to have nothing to do with the world. If any further proof were needed of so plain a fact, we may find it in the baptismal service, where the catechumen is engaged by the most solemn promises to turn his back upon the world. But what this world is, that we are so strictly engaged to renounce, is not at first sight so clear.
Is it the visible world, called nature, so full of instruction and rich in beauty, that we are to turn our backs upon? { 161} Are we called upon in our character as Christians to close our eyes to the flowers, the mountains, the rivers, the glowing sunsets, and the stars of heaven? Are we bound to shut our ears to the murmuring winds, the music of the rivulet, and the songs of the birds? Are we to be counted Christians on the condition only of our shutting out from our senses that beauty, which surrounds us on all hands, of the visible world? What is there profane in nature when Holy Writ assures us that, "The Lord is holy in all his works." [Footnote 56] and that "_all things serve Him?_" [Footnote 57]
[Transcriber's note: The USCCB reference is Psalm cxlv., 13.]
[Transcriber's note: The USCCB reference is Psalm cxix., 91.]
The royal prophet David was accustomed to open all the avenues of his soul to the beauty of nature, and, filled with admiration, he seems hardly able to contain his praise of Him by whom all things were made. "_O Lord our Lord, how admirable_," he exclaims, "_is thy name in the whole earth_." [Footnote 58] "_How great are thy works, O Lord! thou hast made all things in wisdom; the earth is filled with thy riches._" [Footnote 59]