they live, whatever may be the imperfections and faults by which it is characterized.

It deserves notice, also, before we close our observations on this head, that the apostle's command is, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the punishment of evil-doers, and the praise of them who do well." These words, taken by themselves, might mean,-Submit yourselves to civil government, whatever form it may wear; monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, or any conceivable combination of these elements; and there can be no question that in this sense the words would express the Christian's duty. It is equally the duty of the Christian, if he live in Austria, to submit to monarchy; if he live in America, to submit to democracy; if he live in Great Britain, to submit to our mixed government of king, lords, and commons; but from the context it is plain that the reference is not to different forms of civil rule in different countries, but to the different organs of civil rule in the same country. Whether to the king," that is, to the Roman emperor, within the limits of whose wide dominions those addressed by the apostle lived, "or to governors sent by him," that is, to the proconsuls, or procurators, deputed by the emperor to perform the offices of government in the distant parts the empire. To all the officers by whom the law is administered, Christians are to render obedience. Whether they be persons in a higher station or in a lower; whatever be the nature or the denomination of their office; whether the jurisdiction extend over the whole land, or be limited to a county or to a parish; to every one of the persons appointed to execute the laws, we are bound to render obedience in all those particulars in which he is authorized to demand it. So much for the illustration of the duty enjoined by the apostle.

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III-THE MOTIVE OF THE DUTY OF CIVIL OBEDIENCE: FOR THE LORD'S SAKE."

Let us now turn our attention to the motives by which the apostle enforces this duty. These are unfolded in the words, "For the Lord's sake; for so is the will of God, that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men." "The Lord" is here as generally in the New Testament, our Lord Jesus Christ. Christians are to yield obedience to the civil government under which they live, "for his sake;" for the sake of his commandment; for the sake of his example; for the sake of his cause.

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First, Christians are to obey the civil government under which they live, for the sake of Christ's commandment. Now, what is his commandment? This was his commandment when he was on earth, Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's," that is, give to the civil government its due; and, if you look into the writings of the apostles, you will find that the due of civil government is obedience, tribute, and honor. These apostles had the mind of Christ, and they thus express it: "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the or

dinance of God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath on him that doth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For, for this cause pay you tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually on this very thing. Render therefore to them all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor." "Put them in mind," says Paul to Titus, " to be subject to principalities and powers; to obey magistrates." They who "despise government," who are "presumptuous, self-willed," and "not afraid to speak evil of dignities," are, according to Peter, among "the unjust whom the Lord knows how to reserve unto the day of judgment to be punished." 1 It may be said "the commandment of the Lord," in these words, "is pure," "2 clear as crystal; but how are we to know what is that civil government to which they refer? We know that the civil government established among the Jews was God's ordinance to them. We know that the Roman government was God's ordinance to the primitive Christians; but how are we to know what civil government is God's ordinance to us? The true answer to that is given by Dr. Paley "It is the will of God that the happiness of human life be promoted. Civil society conduces to that end. Civil societies cannot be upholden, unless in each the interest of the whole society be binding on every part and member of it. So long as the established government cannot be resisted or changed without public inconveniency, it is the will of God that the established government be obeyed." We have not the same means of judging of any particular government that it is God's ordinance to us, as those had whom the apostles Paul and Peter plainly told, that the Roman government was the ordinance of God to them; but we have sufficient means of ascertaining that point; and when, by their use, we have come to the conclusion, that the government under which we live is so, then the obligation to obedience, arising out of the commandment of our Lord, binds us as strongly as it bound them.

Happily for us, my brethren, there is no difficulty in coming to a determination. On the one hand, our civil constitution is based on so many just principles-is upon the whole, compared to most other governments, so well administered, and contains within itself such a deep-seated and powerful spring of improvement, that we can have no reasonable doubt that, though an ordinance of man, it is also the ordinance of God to us; while, on the other hand, the ruling power in this country, supported, as it is, by the great body of the subjects giving their approbation to the principles on which it is founded, is so powerful, that to think of resisting it would not only be highly criminal, but folly almost amounting to madness. "For the Lord's sake," then, let us submit ourselves to this ordinance of man, whether 1 Matt. xxii. 21. Rom. xiii. 1-7. Tit. iii. J 2 Pet. ii. 9, 10.

2 Psal. xix. 8.

to the queen, as supreme, or to inferior magistrates, as commissioned by her.

Secondly, Christians are to obey the civil government under which they live, for the sake of the example of the Lord. We are distinctly informed by our apostle in the context, that "Christ has left us an example, that we should walk in his steps." It is the duty of his followers "to be in the world as he was in the world," and to “walk even as he also walked." The life of our Lord Jesus should be manifested in our mortal bodies;" our lives should be the counterpart of his. There is caution, however, no doubt necessary, in applying the example of Christ as a rule of conduct. We ought always to act on the principles on which he acted; and when our circumstances coincide with his, we cannot too exactly copy his conduct. But his circumstances and ours are often very different; so that an action which was right in him, might be wrong in us. Knowing the hearts of men, for example, he spoke to hypocrites in a way that it would be presumptuous in us to speak to any man. His situation, in reference to the civil government under which he was placed, was so different from that in which we stand to the civil government under which we are placed, that we need caution in reasoning from the manner in which he acted to the manner in which we ought to act; yet still his example here, and in every other instance, is replete with instruction. He made it plain that he would not permit political considerations to turn him aside from his great work. The political state of the world very much needed improvement; but his directly interfering in it would have thrown obstacles in the way of gaining his great object an object which, when gained, will ultimately put everything right. He did not "cry nor strive." He took no part in the political controversies of his times. "He did no violence;" he stirred up no seditions. He rendered to Cæsar the things that were Cæsar's. We should err if we were to draw the conclusion, that we ought to have as little to do with politics as Jesus Christ had; for our place, as citizens of a free commonwealth, is very different from his, who had no political standing at all in the existing forms of rule, whether Jewish or Roman; but we are taught, that as Christians we are to place the religious above the political; the kingdom not of this world, above every worldly kingdom; that the citizen of heaven must not be sunk either in the citizen of Britain or the citizen of the world; that where there is no prospect of our improving political institutions, it is wisest to let them alone; and that if he was uniformly obedient and submissive to one of the worst of human governments, it ill becomes us to be factious, and seditious, and disobedient, under a system of civil rule, which, though far, very far indeed, from being perfect, is yet among the best which the world has yet seen.

It is, however, chiefly, we apprehend, to the bearing which their submission to the civil government is likely to have on the cause of Christ, that the apostle refers in the words before us. I therefore go on to remark, in the third place, that Christians are bound to obey the civil government under which they are placed, for the sake of the cause of the Lord. Among the false charges brought against the 2 Isa. xlii. 2; liii. 9.

1 1 Pet. ii. 21.

primitive Christians, this was one,-they were bad subjects; and their refusal to join in the rites of the idolatrous religion, sanctioned by public authority, seemed to give plausibility to the charge. It deserves notice, that this is a charge which, in all ages, has been brought against the people of God by their enemies. The adversaries of Judah and Benjamin, when God turned again the captivity of his people, branded Jerusalem as "the rebellious and the bad city-a city hurtful unto kings and provinces, whose inhabitants had moved sedition of old time;" and Haman, "that wicked adversary and enemy," described the Jews as "a certain people scattered abroad, and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of the kingdom; whose laws were diverse from all people, and who keep not the king's laws : whom it was therefore not for the king's profit to suffer." There was a strong report," says one of the fathers of the church,2 commenting on the parallel passage in the Epistle to the Romans, "that the apostles were seditious and innovators, and that their principles and practices tended to the subversion of the common laws." So far as this report was credited, it was plainly calculated, in a variety of ways, to impede the progress of Christianity; and nothing was so much fitted to give currency and credit to the calumny, as a neglect or violation on the part of Christians of the injunction contained in the text. This was sure to expose them to the vengeance of the laws, and so to deprive them of the power of extending Christianity; while discredit was cast on the christian cause as hostile to the order of civil society. On the contrary, nothing was better fitted to live down the calumny, than a scrupulous and conscientious compliance with the injunction. When it was found that no class of subjects so readily obeyed all the laws of the empire, except those which required what was inconsistent with the laws of Christ, while even in this case they meekly submitted to the consequences of their non-compliance, though these often were torture and death; that while they refused to give their property for the support of idolatry, they patiently took the spoiling of their goods, and readily rendered "tribute to whom tribute was due, custom to whom custom was due," the conclusion must have forced itself on every reflecting mind: These are peaceable, orderly men, and there is nothing in their religion inconsistent with the welfare of the state.' In this way their well-doing was fitted to "put to silence" the ignorant and malignant calumnies of their foolish and unprincipled accusers. Such an even tenor of good conduct, such an onward course of well-doing, was better fitted to silence adversaries than the most elaborate apologies and defences.

The principle on which the apostolic injunction proceeds, is one applicable to all countries and ages. If Christians wish to recommend the religion they profess, they must be exemplary in the discharge of all the duties of domestic and social relative life; and few things are more fitted to prejudice worldly men against religion generally, or against particular forms of religion, than the manifestation on the part

1 Ezra iv. 12. Esth. iii. 8.

2 Chrysostom.

The word pipov, rendered put to silence, properly signifies to muzzle; which, in one expressive word, shows the apostle's opinion of these adversaries of Christianity. They belonged to the Kúves, of which Paul warns the Philippians.—Ch. iii. 2.

of their professors of a disposition to evade the laws, or violate the order, or disorganize the constitution of civil society.

At the same time it must not be forgotten, that the interests of genuine Christianity may be as really injured by the maintenance and exemplification of slavish principles as by the maintenance and exemplification of revolutionary principles; and that the true medium is not so happily described in the verse which follows our text, the thinking, and feeling, and acting as free men, guarding against making our liberty a cloak of wickedness, conducting ourselves always as the servants of God, honoring all men, loving the brotherhood, fearing God, honoring the king. Thus have I briefly illustrated the apostolic injunction, "Submit yourselves to every human ordinance, for the punishment of evil-doers, and the praise of them that do well;" and the powerful motive by which it is enforced, "for the Lord's sake," from a regard to the law, the example, and the cause of him who is Lord of all; and, with a peculiar emphasis, "OUR Lord Jesus."

The discourse has been throughout practical, so that it stands in little need of what is ordinarily called improvement. Almost all that requires to be said in this way is, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." It is an easy matter for us to do them, when compared with those to whom they were originally addressed; and, of course, if we fail, our conduct is doubly criminal.

I conclude with a reflection which, I am sure, must have already suggested itself to your minds. If we should submit ourselves to "every ordinance of man, for the punishment of evil-doers, and the praise of them that do well," should we not much more submit ourselves to every ordinance, every institution, every appointment of God, all of which have for their object the glory of his great name and the happiness of his intelligent creatures? If we ought to be obedient to human governments, though necessarily imperfect, faulty both in their constitution and administration, how readily should we yield obedience to the Divine government, which both in principle and administration is absolutely perfect, being formed and conducted by him who is infinite in knowledge and wisdom, and power, and righteousness, and benignity. If we have human governors to whom our bodies are subject, should we not, much rather in our spirits, be subject to the King of souls? "He is a Rock, his work is perfect; all his ways are judgment: a God of truth, and without iniquity; just and right is he." "His work" as a legislator, governor, or judge, "is most honorable and glorious, and his righteousness endureth forever."" How high a privilege should we account it to be the subjects of such a government! What folly and wickedness must it be to neglect or violate any of its laws! What madness to expose ourselves to the consequences of such violation! If, then, every soul should be subject to the powers that be, though they once were not, and may very likely, ere long, cease to be: should not every soul be subject to that power which was, and is, and ever shall be? Is it not of supreme importance that we should be loyal subjects of the King of the universe, the immortal, invisible, only wise God?

John xiii. 17.

* Deut. xxxii. 4. Psal. cxi. 3.