the Roman Emperors need not be afraid. In the high- est sense it was a kingdom " not of this world."
But our Lord did not intend to teach that the kings of this world have nothing to do with religion, and ought to ignore God altogether in the government of their subjects. No such idea, we may be sure, was in His mind. He knew perfectly well that it was written, " By Me kings reign" (Prov. viii. 15), and that kings are as much required to use their influence for God, aa the meanest of their subjects. He knew that the pros- perity of kingdoms is wholly dependent on the blessing of God, and that kings are as much bound to encourage righteousness and godliness, as to punish unrighteous- ness and immorality. To suppose that He meant to teach Pilate that, in His judgment, an infidel might be as good a king as a Christian, and a man like Gallio as good a ruler as David or Solomon, is simply absurd.
Let us carefully hold fast the true meaning of our Lord's words in these latter days. Let us never be ashamed to maintain that no Government can expect to prosper which refuses to recognize religion, which deals with its subjects as if they had no souls, and cares not whether they serve God, or Baal, or no God at all. Such a Government will find, sooner or later, that its line of policy is suicidal, and damaging to its best inter- ests. No doubt the kings of this world cannot make men Christians by laws and statutes. But they can en- courage and support Christianity, and they will do so if they are wise. The kingdom where there is the most industry, temperance, truthfulness, and honesty, will al- ways be the most prosperous of kingdoms. The king who wants to see these things abound among his sub- jects, should do all that lies in his power to help Chris- tianity and to discourage irreligion.
The third point that we should notice in these verses