Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1899-06-02

constitution for any other, We may ad-
nit that citizen of Great Britain ought
to feel himself Just as much at home
amid the political doctrines of the New
Testament as a subject Of the United
States. For the New Testament only
notices two necessary elements of mans
life as political or social being. One is
the existence of some government which
it is duty to obey; be it emperor.
king, president, or assembly. Each of
these may he higher power to which
every soul is to he subject, "because
there is no power but of God the pow
ers that he are ordained of God" The
other element is the freedom of the in
dividual Christian under any form of
government whatever.
There had been something like free
dom in the ancient heather world; free
dom for particular classes freedog.- for
particular races; freedom for the mas
ters of conquered provinces; freedom for
the owners of thousands of slaves. The
ruling race, or the ruling class, spoke,
acted, much as it liked; and jealously
noted any attempt on the part of a more
aspiring tyrant to destroy its liberty
This was an external rather than an in-
ward, political rather than moral,
{ liberty. 1t was the liberty of the few,
the enslavement of the many. As it had
no moral and internal basis, it was an
accident rather than the spirit of the
ancient world. And as political consti-
tutions grew old, it died away into
t tyranny. When our Lord came, all that
5 could be called civilization was under the
. sway Of the Roman Caesars. Yet with
4 our Lord there came also the germs of
, political liberty. When individual me II
: had learnt to feel the greatness and the
5 interest of life; the real horizon which
5 stretches out before the souls eye be-
' yond the grave; the depths of being
t within the soul; its unexhausted capaci.
: ties for happiness and for suffering; the
5 reality and nearness of God, of His
: Divine Son, of our fellow-ctiZens the
: blessed angels; the awful, inexpressible
n distinction of being redeemed from death
o bv the Blood of the Most Holy, and
n sanctifed 10y the Eternal Spirit; twas
+ impossible not to feel also that each man
), had in the highest sense, rights to as
= sert and bearing to maintain. Thus
S the Christian was free man, simply be.
cause he was Christian. The political
II or social accidents of his position could
S not touch that unimpeded movement OF
e his highest life in which his true freedom
n consisted.
f 1t has often been alleged, and it may
e have occurred to you, that, as a matter OF
t fact, our Lord left the great despotisms
/, of the world for while untouched,
o Jesus Christ taught, He was crucitied
i He rose, lie assembled. But the Cesar
S Tiberius still sat upon the throne of tn,
V Roman world. There never was more
l. odious system of personal government
l. than that of the Roman Emperors; tn,
It surviving forms of the extinct republic
+ only made the actual tyranny which hat
succeeded it more hard to bear. Yet i
/ was of such an Emperor as Nero that S
" Paul wrote. .'Let every soul be subject
II to the higher powers, for there is nc
! power but of God and s. Peter, Sub
II nit yourself to every ordinance of mal
j. for the Lords sake, whether it be to tht
e emperor as supreme, or unto governors,
It that is proconsuls and praetors, as they
e were termed. "who are sent by him
= into the provinces of the empire "for tht
is punishment of evil doers, and for the
e. praise of them that do we'll" And il
II the same way Apostles advise Christian
1t slaves to give obedience to their masters
" as unto the Lord; to obey not with ey'
e. service, as if they had only to do a
d much as might ke insisted on by jeal
II ous owner, but with singleness of heart
+; as men who throw every energy int
ot their work. 1t may be asked, How ar
h. such precepts as these, such advice Il
1t this, compatible with the assertion tina
r. Christ gave us political freedom 2, Th
v, answer is that He gave us a moral fore
'e which did two things. First, it mad
,e every Christian independent of outwar,
j. circumstances and secondly, it made tn
ID creation of new civil institutions only
?; question of time. The slave who coul,
Sc not speak to fellow-slave except whel
Is he was spoken to; who could not NOV
s. as he would even once throughout tn
II day; whose every look and gesture wa
d regulated by an implacable etiquette
rs whose life was, at least through lon
periods of Roman history, entirely at tn
II disposal of the owner was yet, if
in Christian inwardly free. lie had Il sens
al of freedom, of power, of living accordin
Or to the higher law of his being, which tn
a Caesar on his throne knew not of. Tha
In was enough for him, at least at present
C. if he knew his own happiness and tn
will of his Lord. BY and by the mora
seed which had been sown would bea
Il. fruit in his emancipation; i'll new pull
OF lie institutions: in a CHANGED face of tn