Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
Ver. 5. But he that believeth] A believer walketh about the world as a conqueror. He saith of these things here below, as Socrates did when he came into a fair, and saw there sundry commodities to be sold, Quam multis ego non egeo? Nec habeo, nec careo, nec curo, as another said, I neither have these things, nor need them, nor care for them. He hath his feet where other men's heads are, Proverbs 15:24; Revelation 12:1. He sets not his desire upon the asses, since he is assured of the kingdom. He looks upon the world as Hiram did on the cities Solomon had given him, which he called Cabul, that is, the land of dirt. His eye is upon Uranople, the new Jerusalem, the crowns and palms of that golden country. Children admire gawds a and gewgaws; b but let a nobleman (that hath been used to the pomp and bravery of the court) pass by a whole stall of such toys and trifles, he never casts his eye towards them.
a One of the larger and more ornamental beads placed between the decades of ‘aves' in a rosary. ŒD
b A gaudy trifle, plaything, or ornament, a pretty thing of little value, a toy or bauble. ŒD