appointed by him. They judged, therefore, that all other
authority was an usurpation; and they were ready at all times, if possible, to throw offa foreign yoke. This being the known character o( the Jews, (though it was in direct opposition to the command which God himself had given them, to "seek the peace of the cities to which they should be carried captive, and to pray for them'1,") it was supposed that the same charac- ter attached to them after they became Christians, and that, in tut, it was the habit of the whole Christian world. It was in vain that Christians denied this imputation : their enemies were ignorant, wilfully ignorant, of their principles; and con- tinued, in spite of all remonstrances, to load them with this reproach. ' Now,' says the Apostle, ' it is the will of God that you should cut off all occasion for this calumny; and though you cannot hope to convince "ignorant" people, who do not know, and " foolish " people, who will not learn, yet you may, " by well-doing, put them to silence;" and so " muzzle1" their ignorance and folly, that they may not be able to open their mouths against you.'
This should be an object near to the heart of all the Lord's people ; and they should labour to accomplish it, " for the Lord's sake."]
After viewing your duty in this light, you will be prepared to consider,
III. The manner in which it should be performed —
It should be performed,
1. With integrity of mind, as unto the Lord —
[Christians were " free," and had a right to assert their freedom. But, from what were they free? from obedience to civil magistrates ? from those bonds which hold all society together? No: God forbid. They are, in these respects, under the same restraints as all other people under heaven. But, as Christians, they were free from the yoke of bondage, to which they had been subject in their Jewish state ; and the command of God to them was, " Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage*." In like manner, those who had been converted from heathenism were freed from the va- rious superstitions which, under their former state, they had been bound to observe : and though they should be under heathen governors, yet were they absolved from all allegiance to them in this respect, being now placed under the higher authority of God himself. Daniel, and the Hebrew Youths
h Jer. xxix. 7. ' (pipovv. k Gal. v. 1.