to the public purse, is no more than a part of common honesty. These things are Cæsar's. They are the right of the government for the good of the community, and should be paid as fully, as fairly, as cheerfully, as though they were due from each man to his neighbour. And thus truly they are due, unless they be not our neighbours who depend on these means for their just support; unless they be not our neighbours, who for every penny we withhold of our own tax, will have exactly so much the more in some shape to pay. Render therefore to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, by the ready payment of every public demand. Conceal not wilfully the enjoyment of any comfort which renders you liable to an increased amount; nor venture on the purchase of things that are sold cheap because made or imported in violation of the laws. Dear will they be found in the end if they have cost many times the blood, always the honesty of all who are knowingly concerned in procuring them; dangerous to your - souls' salvation, if they are enjoyed in transgression of this plain Christian precept, to rend.. er unto Cæsar the things that are his.

A third duty we owe to our governors, and one to which great importance is attached in

present welfare, but because they are contrary to the word of Christ. Peace and good will, and social order, he promotes, to the utmost of his ability, not because they conduce to his immediate prosperity, but because they are the will of his Father which is in Heaven. In the busy contentions of party he can take no share; in the schemes of disappointed vanity or interested ambition, which make up the chief substance of political intrigue, he can feel no concern; nor does he listen to the tale of aggravated wrongs reported to inflame the angry passions of men "who mind earthly things." (Phil. iii. 19.) The state of life unto which it has pleased God to call him is, he doubts not, the best for him to occupy; for he has learned," with St. Paul in whatsoever state he is "therewith to be content." (Phil. iv. 11.) To the advocates of discontent and disturbance, to the emissaries of sedition and strife, he replies. by the reflection of the prophet "Wo unto him that striveth with his maker. Let the potsherd strive with the potsherd of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, what makest thou? or thy work, he hath no hands (Isaiah xlv. 9.) To resist, whether by word or deed, to strive, that is, unlawfully against the powers that are by law established,

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may be counted, in the apprehension of the world for a matter that is merely between man and man; but, in the judgment of the Christian subject, in him who is a believer in the Christian word, it is to resist the ordinance of God, and to "receive," therefore, unto himself, "damnation." (Rom. xiii. 2.)

To flee from that wrath to come is, in every thing, the purpose of his life. He aims at "that glory which shall be revealed in us," with which "all the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared." (Rom. viii. 18.) Here, though he "suffer wrongfully," yet doth he "take it patiently;" herë, though he be "as having nothing," yet is he, at the same time, " as possessing all things.' (2 Cor. vi. 10.) His treasure, his heart, is elsewhere, even in heaven. This world is to him, a country with which he has no further concern than to pass through it in godliness and peace to a world that shall endure for ever. In it he will enjoy with thankfulness all that is excellent; and greatly will he rejoice to live under good laws, and these duly administered. It is his duty also to amend therein all that is evil, as far as his influence can extend; and he will endeavour, wheresoever by law he may, to

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improve what is ill ordered in the law itself.
To do good, and that especially in a matter of
such paramount importance to the happiness of
mankind, he will not be backward, he will not
forget. But if the spirit of the world here usu-
ally prevails, if change is agitated for no worthy
end, if commotions are attempted, such as no
end could justify; if, in short, men are resist-
re'
ing out of pride or perversity, by slander, by
violence, or any other unlawful means; with
these he will not join hands, against these he
will plainly set his face, lest, haply, he should
be found guilty of striving with his Maker.
Thus will the most faithful Christian prove
himself, at the same time, the best subject.
Thus will the rendering unto Cæsar the things
which are Cæsar's, be the rendering unto God
the things that are God's. These duties are
not divided.
The one is part and partner of
the other. An orderly and peaceable behaviour
in the state is no other than our Christian sér-
vice. It is a debt we owe to Him who “ gåve
himself for us.". It is one of those "good
works" of which He would have us "zealous."

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If indeed in any case, such as rarely occurs, our duty to God were plainly at variance with what the government of our country required, then must we bear in mind how above all we

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are obliged to "render uuto God the things that are God's." Cæsar must have his own, and no more. No law, no command of man, must prevail with us to do that which is sin against the Almighty. Subjects we are of both Kings, but of one only according to the will of the other; citizens of either country, but in the one we have no abiding place, in the other an eternal inheritance. And therefore it is that in comparison we are to take so little heed of the one, and to devote our chief care to the other; that in the one we should behave as strangers and pilgrims, to the other we should look as to our home. Here then let us comply as far as rightly we may with the demands of them that bear rule. Here let us promote as far as lawfully we can, that social order, that genuine liberty, whereby the persons and property of the peaceable and the poor are protected against the assaults of the violent, and the oppression of the proud. But there let us lay up the treasure we most value, thereon set the affection we most deeply feel; and unto God who t here ever reigneth, let us render that which is most truly His, the subjection of our will, the tribute of our love, the prayers, the thanksgiving of our souls..

THE END.