The second thing that demands our attention in these verses^ is the marvellous loisdom of the reply lohich our Lord made to His e^iemies. The Pharisees and Herodiana asked whether it was lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not. They doubtless thought, that they had put a ques- tion which our Lord could not answer without giving them an advantage. — Had He simj)ly replied that it was lawful to pay tribute, they would have denounced Him to the people as one who dishonored the privileges of Israel, and considered the children of Abraham no longer free, but subjects to a foreign power. — Had He, on the other hand, replied that it was not laioful to pay tribute, they would have denounced Him to the Romans as a mover of sedition, and a rebel against Csesar, who refused to pay his taxes. — But our Lord's conduct completely baffled them. He demanded to see the tribute-money. He asks them whose head is on that coin. They reply, Cassar's. They acknowledge that Caesar has some authority over them, by using money bearing his image and super- scription, since he that coins the current money is ruler of the land where that money is current. And at once they receive an irresistibly conclusive answer to their question, — " Render to C^Bsar the things which are Caesar's, and unto Grod the things which are God's."
The principle laid down in these well-known words is one of deep importance. There is one obedience owing by every Christian to the civil government under which he lives, in all matters which are temporal, and not purely spiritual. He may not approve of every requirement of that civil government. But he must submit to the laws of the commonwealth, so long as those laws are unre-
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pealed. He must " render unto Cc^sar the things that are Cassar's." — There is another obedience which the Chris- tian owes to the God of the Bible in all matters which are purely spiritual. No temporal loss, no civil disability, no displeasure of the powers that be, must ever tempt him to do things which the Scripture plainly forbids. His position may be very trying. He may have to suffer much for his conscience sake. But he must never fly in the face of unmistakeable requirements of Scripture. If Caesar coins a new Gospel, he is not to be obeyed. We must ^' render to God the things that are God's."
The subject unquestionably is one of great difficulty and delicacy. It is certain that the church must not swallow up the state. It is no less certain that the state must not swallow up the church. On no point, perhaps, have conscientious men been so much tried. On no point have good men disagreed so much, as in solving the problem, " where the things of C«sar end, and the things of God begin." The civil power, on the one side, has often encroached terribly on the rights of conscience — as the English puritans found to their cost in the unhappy time of the Stuarts. The spiritual power, on the other side, has often pushed its claims to an extravagant ex- tent, so as to take Caesar's sceptre out of his hands — as it did when the church of Rome trampled on our own English king John. In order to have a right judgment in all questions of this kind, every true Christian should constantly pray for wisdom from above. The man whose eye is single, and who daily seeks for grace, and practical common sense, will never be allowed greatly to err.
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EXPOSITOR y THOUGHTS.