But the difficulty reaches much further back than Cowper’s time.

There is conformity to the world when we ignore the distinction between the people of God and the world; and this, I believe, lies at the very root of the subject.

There is nothing more unpopular to the world than this distinction.

I am well aware of the practical difficulty of maintaining the distinction. In many things the world conforms to the Church, as the Church does to the world; and the line is so shaded off on both sides, that it is almost beyond man’s power to trace it. The state of things is very much like two dissolving views at the time when they are passing from one to the other.

We are conformed to the world when we adopt the dress and appearance of the world.