The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1902-07-04

scrlptlon ana thenpay TRIBUTE to whom
tribute is due. In determining our OBJ
legations to the world and to God it is
not always as easy to distinguish the
image and superscription as it was on
the penny which was held out to our
Lord, but the distinguishing mark is
there somewhere, and should your eyes
not be sharp to see it, if you will but
show it to the Lord He will help you,
for eff any of you lack wisdom let him
ask of God, that giveth to all men lib
orally and upbraideth not; and it shall
be given him." Failure to distinguish
the image and superscription may rob
Caesar or may rob God, which in either
case results in confusion, and discord,
and distress, and ruin. Individual lives
have been rendered useless if not posi-
lively harmful and nations have gone
to decay and ruin through failure to
render unto Caesar the things which
are Caesars and unto God the things
which are Gods. The true patriot is
the one who, avoiding partisanship of
every kind and blind national pride,
seeks to give Caesar his due while at
the same time he renders to God that
which it is His right.to expect and de-
mand. tits so easy to rob God through
a misdirected and intense patriotism.
1t is possible to rob Caesar through in
tense religious fervor and misdirected
service to God. The perfect adjust
ment of the affairs of nations and in
dividuals demands that neither Caesar
nor God shall be robbed, and the true
patriot recognizing this underlying
principle of all government and the
true religion seeks with Divine guild
ance and wisdom to realize it in
his relations to his country and his
God.
Robbing Caesar.-There are many
ways in which Caesar may be robbed
of his just tribute. Almost innumera-
BILE are the causes and forces which
lower and vitiate the privileges and
responsibilities of citizenship. The ma
ton, the community, the home are be-
ing robbed of their just tribute by self
ish love of ease, by greed for gold, by
mad rush after pleasure. Space will not
permit us to enumeTate the long list
which will readily suggest itself to
one upon a moments thought. We
wish to speak of just one way in which
Caesar may be robbed, and which per-
haps would not readily occur to your
mind. Caesar is being robbed in some
cases to-day, if not in many, by mis-
taken devotion to God and zeal in His
service. When we get too much reli-
gion for the world, God will translate
us as He did EnOch. Jesus prayed not
tho x.-n,1I1 tal-a His Fol
lowers out of the world, but that He
would keep them from the evil. As
a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who came into the world to save it,
you have a responsibility towards the
nation under whose flag you rest i'll
peace and safety, towards the cOmmu-
nifty in which you rear your family,
in the home which should be to you
the dearest, the best and brightest spot
on earth, which will not cease until
your spirit has departed to be with
its Lord or the trumpet has sounded
and you have been caught up into the
air to meet your Lord as He comes
in the clouds of glory with His saints.
Read the thirteenth chapter of Ro-
mans, the third chapter of Titus, the
second chapter of I. Peter and other
portions of Gods Word to which these
chapters will lead in thought, if you
do not realize and believe that the
Christian has responsibilities and sol
emn obligations towards the home, the
the nation.
come out and be separate from the
world. 1 know John writes with
the finger of God: "Love not the
world, neither the things that are
in the world" l know that the
world is under condemnation for sin.
md that Satan, like a roaring lion,
yoeth about seeking whom he may
1evour. 1 know that spiritually we
ire to dwell in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, here and now, but l don't find
4 line which tells me to go about in
he world with my head in the clouds. |
the paying of my just tribute |
% Caesar, and forgetting the world |
ost in sin, and which Jesus is able |
% save through you and me. There |
$ a spiritual ecstasy which is selfish |
n it's enjoyment and destructive to |
practical, Christlike contact with the |
world. Paul got away up into the !
with Christ, but l notice he |
lidn't stay there. He tells the CORN |
hians that he determined not to know |
among them but Jesus Christ |
md Him crucified; and as the crucified |
Iord he sees Him hanging on the tree !,
With the sins of the world rolled upon
linn, and he goes forth and becomes !!
Mt nj ha icrhf
he more for Christ. Unto the Jews
lie becomes as a Jew, that he might
a in the Jews. To them that were with
nut law, as without law, that he might
ain them that were without law. He
ecame all things to all men, that he
hight by all means save some. Pulls
oul may have lived in the heavenly
,laces in Christ Jesus, but his great
cart, bursting with the worldwide
owe of Christ, worked in the earthly
laces of sin and need, and he never
eased until Roman brutality set his
oul free in the arena at Rome. The |
act that belong to the Lord, bought
v His precious blood; the fact that l
m one of His ambassadors in this
7orld, should make me better father
nd citizen, a more loyal patriot. If
the powers that be are ordered of
od,' 1 want to cooperate with Him
ody, soul and spirit in bringing bout
lis righteous purposes. If the Holy
pirit. who is in the heart of every true
clever, enables me, as / submit my
ill and purpose to Him, to discern all
Kings, surely 1 am better equipped
han ever before to fulfill my obliga-
ons as citizen of the nation, as
l,a,- Of the com r1,11nitr a the had |