III. to do so; for not in vain it bears the sword; that SERMON sword which is the emblem of the power to punish; for it, the authority of the human ruler, is, in this case also, a minister of God; and charged with a very different office from that which it exercises towards the good; namely, that of an avenger for wrath, to assign punishment, to him that doeth that which is evil. Wherefore there is a necessity to submit, Verse 5. to be submissive and obedient, not only on account of the wrath, that wrath of which the foregoing verse spoke, but also for the sake of the conscience, to keep it clear and without offence in the sight of God. For Verse 6. for this cause ye pay tribute also: it is this consideration which justifies the imposition of pecuniary burdens upon the subject: namely, because they, human rulers, are officers of God, constantly engaged upon this very thing; upon God's work in one of its definite departments. Render therefore, give back— Verse 7. it is an act of simple restitution; not of merit, but of honesty and equity—to all their dues; whatever it be to which they are entitled at your hands: to him to whom you owe tribute, tribute; to whom custom, custom; the former word probably denoting all payments levied upon persons, whether by a foreign power, or in the form of direct taxation at home; and the latter, custom, all duties upon things, whether in the form of toll, custom, or duty; to whom fear, fear; to whom honour, honour. SERMON III. And now, my brethren, having read to you once again this important, though often neglected and sometimes misapplied, passage of the Holy Word of God, I would ask you to go on with me into one or two considerations, first upon the passage itself as a whole, and then in reference to our own conduct and circumstances. We shall find, in so doing, that the special practical request with which my sermon is to conclude has not been lost sight of nor put aside. 1. First, then, I would notice, as suggested by the passage generally, the breadth and largeness of the Gospel precepts. The Bible contains nothing of what is commonly called casuistry. It does not deal in cases of conscience. It supposes the minds of its readers to be capable of treating it rationally; of exercising good sense and sound judgment in its adaptation to varying and sometimes trying conjunctures. People say, on reading this passage, St. Paul makes no exceptions here. He lays down a principle too broad for literal obedience. He says nothing here, for example, of bad rulers. He does not introduce, after the charge to obey human authorities, the words, "So far as their own character is decently good, or their commands not clearly opposed to the law of justice and right." He does not say, "When conscience clashes with authority, then you must obey God rather than men." No, he does not say this. And why? Because he is writing to Christian men, SERMON who know this well enough already. He is writing to those who showed by their lives, by their constancy (in many cases) even unto death, that they were well aware that, if the emergency should arise, they must be prepared to make any sacrifice, even that of life itself, rather than obey the command of a human ruler to dishonour or deny their Saviour. Nor does St. Paul enter here into the case which has sometimes proved so perplexing, that of persons living in disturbed times, and called to witness, or even to take part in, a transfer of power, a change of dynasty, a period of revolution, or of usurpation. He has aid down no rule as to the precise point at which authority becomes established; at which adhesion to the old becomes a senseless fanaticism, and allegiance to the new a rational and therefore also a Christian duty. These things have been found by experience to be not merely matters of anxiety and of peril, but questions too of right and wrong, upon which it was easy to err, and in which error was of no trivial import. But here also the precept must be broadly stated, and the application of it to circumstances left to the individual judgment. St. Paul knew that the Bible is not God's only gift to man. There is the gift of conscience too. There is the gift of intelligence and of practical wisdom. There is the gift, above all, of His Holy Spirit, whose bright III. SERMON shining within, in the hearts of those who believe, III. 15. is a guide not less amidst the difficulties of God's Word than in the intricacies of human life and circumstance. Nor does St. Paul in this passage enter into any of those distinctions, which sometimes have to be made, between the Christian's duty to particular rulers, and his duty to those higher laws by which they rule. Prov. viii. No particular authority stands entirely isolated. By me kings reign. The power of every sovereign is limited by some law; if not by constitutional law, yet at least by human and by Divine law; by those restrictions of common humanity and of religious responsibility, which are in one point of view checks upon the ruler, and in another point of view rights of the subject. St. Paul himself did not consider that he was precluded from urging his rights as a citizen Acts xxii. in bar of inhumanity and injustice. As they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? He was not one of those who court martyrdom, though he met it bravely when it came to him. The preservation of life is a duty in its place. The maintenance of rights is a duty in its place. It is an act of suicide to disregard one, and it is an act of treason to be indifferent to the other. When St. Paul speaks here of constituted authorities, he includes those higher laws under 25. the III. which all human rulers act, as well as the special and SERMON lower laws made under them. It is one of the most anxious questions for a Christian in certain times, how far he is justified in waiving rights which are a national birthright, in deference to edicts which derive their binding force from the very constitution which they violate. And nothing, assuredly, contained in this chapter, calls upon any man to forego the exercise of powers conferred upon him by his own citizenship, and which as truly come under the description of powers that be, of authorities ordained of God, as the prerogatives of princes or the majesty of a throne. But the remark at present made is upon the absence of any such express exceptions and limitations with reference to the precept here enforced. The broad principle is stated; obedience to lawful power. The application of it is left to reason, to conscience, to the inward guidance of the Holy Spirit. And which of us may not thankfully acknowledge that for us, at all events, the absence of exceptions makes the passage only the more suitable? We live in times which need no such limitations. Our duty is clear and plain. There is no conflict, for us, between authority and conscience. There is no question, for us, of disputed or divided allegiance. There is no restriction attempted, for us, upon the rights of the subject, the freedom of thought or the freedom of discussion. In the same |