Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1902-07-04
THE TRUE PATRIOT.
Fourth of July Sermon by High
way and Byway" Preacher.
I'm the Light of Gods Word and the
Experience of Man, Patriotism
and Goodness Are Found
Linked Together

Copyright, 1902. by A. n. kellogg News
paper Coz
Chicago, June g. 1902.
Text: Render therefore unto Caesar the
things which are Caesars; and unto God
the things that are God's.-Matt. 22:21-
The Text Setting-The words of our
text were spoken by Jesus in answer
to a catch question put to Him by the
Pharisees who sought to 'entang1e
Him in His talk" They ask whether it
is lawful to give tribute unto Caesar
or not, believing that loyalty to His
own nation, of which He claimed to be
the Compromised Messiah and King,
would compel Him to take a stand
against the Romans, who at this time
were the rulers and oppressors of the
Jewish nation. And they reasoned
that if such should be His reply 1T
would be case for the Roman govern
or to deal with and their base purpose
of causing His downfall would be &C
complished. On the other hand, if He
counseled the paying of the tribute
money surely He no longer could claim
to be the Deliverer and King of His ma
ton. In the blindness of their own I'M
believing hearts they thought they had
sea-" and whichever way He turned
they had Him in their power. But, as
at Nazareth when His angry towns
people sought to dash Him over the
brow of the hill, and the unseen hand
of God had stayed their murderous
purpose and He walked out of their
midst unframed, so now by the simple
vet infinite wisdom of God He faces
the issue squarely and puts His enc
mics to rout. "Render unto Caesar
the things which are Caesars and
unto God the things that are
Gods" How simple, yet how pro-
found. In their narrow partisanship
they had not reasoned that Caesar had
any claim whatever upon them. 1t had
never occurred to them before that God
seeks harmony in His universe, and
that even Caesar had rights which God
was bound to respect. And these
words of Jesus give us the one plank
platform broad enough and long
enough for the true patriot to stand
upon and at the same time give full
scope to his powers and his devotion
to his country and his God.
The True Patriots Platform.-And
if here in these words of Jesus we have
the fundamental principles upon which
can be safely and righteously based the
attitude and conduct of the loyal citi-
zen. as well as the -devout Christian.
let us examine the words more closely
to discover their full import and mean
ing, and then seek to find the way in
which they can be applied in practical
manner to human life. First of al,
God has but one standard, and mans
ability to measure up to that stand
ard is proportionate to the degree by
which that man is actuated and direct
ed by the Spirit of God. Failure to at
tain the one standard fixed by God in
His infinite righteousness and equity
is responsible for all the discord and
misery in the world to-day. for all the
z clashing of nation with nation, and in
dividual with individual. and individual
with the nation. If the complex rela-
tions of human life were perfectly adj
justed according to the will and pur-
pose of God, if the things belonging %
Caesar were exactly rendered unto
Caesar, and the things belonging to
God were exactly rendered unto God,
we should find that friction and discord
would cease and the harmony of the
millennial age would break like sweet
music upon the ear of this distracted
old world.
There are two divisions to our text;
two halves of one perfect whole:
Caesars things and Gods things. The
things of Caesar cannot belong to
God, neither can the things of God be-
long to Caesar. The spirit and thought
of the text, however, is in no least de-
gree in conflict with the declara ton of
Scripture that all things were created
by God and that all things belong to
Him. In this sense Caesars things and
the things which are not Caesars all
belong to God and exist because of God.
But just as you, my dear reader, in the
broad, universal sense belong to God,
and your houses and your lands, your
bank account and your weekly salary
belong to God, still as regards your re-
lations to others and your responsible
ties and obligations in the world the
things which you possess belong to
you. God through you would admins
ter your affairs and your possessions
in such a way as to observe to a nicely
the admonition of the text of render
ing to the world its due and to God
tndt which IN Speclal sense DelOnSS
to Him. So when Christ, who created
all things and to whom all things be-
long, spoke these words He gave beau
tiful recognition to Gods plans in
making man a responsible agent in the
administration of the affairs of the
world. Between Caesars things and
Gods things there is no conflict or con-
fusion except as man has failed to un-
derstand Gods classification and has
rendered unto Caesar the things which
belong to-God and unto God the things
,ioI h TO ca