subordination to our duty to God ; and so endeavour to per- form the commands of both, that both may be honoured and both be pleased. The Pharisees had much to say for themselves against the right claimed by the Romans to govern that peopled The Herodians, on the other hand, had much to say in support of the Roman government. But, circumstanced as they all were, our Lord, though afterwards accused of forbidding to pay tribute to Caesar g, determined it to be their duty to pay to Caesar what belonged to Caesar, no less than unto God what belonged to God. In conformity with which decision,]
I would recommend to all of you,
1. Integrity, in the discharge of your duty to man — [There is in many a prevailing disposition to " speak evil
of dignities." This should on no account be indulged
Loyalty, even towards a Nero or a Saul, ought to be a very prominent feature in the Christian character. To defraud the revenue also, by the evasion of taxes, is a conduct of which every Christian should be ashamed ]
2. Spirituality, in the discharge of our duty to God —
[It is not a mere formal service that God requires, but the service of the heart. This, then, must be rendered unto God, "whose will should be done on earth as it is done in heaven " ]
f Pompey had prevailed through the treachery of Hircanus, and not altogether by fair conquest. £ Luke xxiii. 2.
Mark xii. 26, 21. As touching the dead, that they rise ; have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living : ye therefore do greatly err.
IT is no uncommon thing for persons to conclude a doctrine to be false, because it may be attended with difficulties which they are not able to solve. This is the great source of objection in the minds of infidels, who do not merely ask, " How can these things be ?" but reject at once the plainest declarations of Scrip- ture, because they cannot comprehend every thing