A command from him supersedes all human authority, and must be obeyed under all circumstances. The Hebrew Youths were required to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's golden image : they were the only persons in the whole Chaldean empire who refused to comply with the royal edict : and they were threatened to be cast into a furnace of fire, if they persisted in their disobedience p : yet did they maintain their steadfastness, in despite of all these menaces : and in this they acted as became the servants of the living God. Daniel manifested the same holy boldness, when he was commanded not to offer prayers to Jehovah for the space of thirty days. He had been accustomed to pray with his window open to- wards the holy city of Jerusalem : and he might have avoided observation, if he would only have shut his window. But he felt himself bound to honour God at all events, and not to dissemble before him. He therefore yielded not to intimida- tion ; but submitted rather to be cast into the den of lions, than to violate his duty to his Godq. Who does not admire the fortitude of these men, and commend their pertinacity in such a cause? The Apostles of our Lord all maintained the same firmness, when forbidden to preach in the name of Christ. Their governors would probably have connived at their secret adherence to Christ, if only they would forbear to preach his name, and to diffuse their heresy around them. But these holy men had received a commission to preach the Gospel ; and execute it they would, whatever perils they might incur in the discharge of their duty. And they appealed to their governors themselves, whether it was right or possible for them to act otherwise: " Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye: for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard1." Thus we, in our respective situations, may be called upon, by those who are in authority over us, to neglect or violate a positive duty : but we must not give place by subjection, no, not for an hour ; but " must obey God rather than mans ;" and must "resist unto blood, striving against sin*;" and glory in death itself, when sustained in such a cause11.]
2. When otherwise the faith of Christ would be compromised —
[This was the particular point at issue between St. Paul and the Judaizing teachers whom he opposed. He had for- merly circumcised Timothy, because he judged that that measure would facilitate his access to his Jewish brethren, and his acceptance with them. But the circumcision of Titus was
p Dan. iii. 16—18. <i Dan. vi. 10, 11. r Acts iv. 18—20.
s Acts v. 29. ' Heb. xii. 4. " Acts xx. 24.
2054. j CHRISTIAN AND UNCHRISTIAN PERTINACITY. 37
demanded, as necessary to complete and perfect the Gospel- salvation. To accede to it in that view would have been to betray his trust, as the minister of the Gentiles. He knew that the Mosaic law was abrogated : and, so far would the obser- vance of it be from perfecting the work of Christ, that it would invalidate it altogether31, and cause Christ himself to have died in vainy. Could he then yield to such a demand as this? No, not for an hour ; not for a moment. On the contrary, if Peter himself were led to dissemble, and to compromise in any respect the faith of Christ, Paul would " rebuke him to his face," and that too before the whole Church2: so determined was he to preserve from every base mixture the faith which he had been commissioned to propagate and uphold. Now, this jealousy must we also cherish, in reference to the faith of Christ. We must suffer nothing for a moment to blend itself with the work of Christ, as a ground of our hope before God. The doctrine of human merit must be an utter abomination in our eyes; as robbing Christ of his glory, and as substituting a foundation of sand in the place of the Rock of Ages, There is but one foundation: there can be no othera: and if any power on earth could require us to build on any other, or to put so much as a single stone to it of our own forming, we must not listen to him for a moment. The altar was to be built of whole stones, not hewn or wrought by manb; and Christ alone must sanctify our offerings, and procure us ac- ceptance with our God. And so firm must we be in our adherence to him, and so simple in our affiance, that if an angel from heaven were to instill into our minds any doctrine that would interfere with this, we must not hesitate to denounce him as accursedc: so " earnestly must we contend for the faith d," and so resolutely must we keep it pure and undefined.]