Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-08-04
THE DEBT TO CAESAR
OUR REGULAR SUNDAY SERMON
Sacred Obligations We Owe Our
Country. Our Fellow Man, OUR
selves and Our God.

u AV
Country. Our Fellow Man, Our
selves and Our God.
SOUTHAMPTON, T.. L.-Dr. A. 3. kinsol-
wing, rector of Christ Church, Clinton
street, Brooklyn, preached mere Sunday
morning in st. Andrews Dune Church;
His subject was as Our : ne neD 4ef TO w wasSe Chosen aen
from ST. Matthew xxii:2l: Render there
fore unto Caesar the things which are
Caesars; and unto God the things which
are Gods" DR.. Kinsolving said:
Were ever words more palpably just and
fair? Could any statement be more ca'miy
self-evidencing? Could any dlsentangle-
ment Of the provinces Of God and Caesar
be more distinct, or any declaration OF our
respective duty be more lucid! Men have
always been confusing these two things
their debt to Caesar and their debt to God
mixing up in some clumsy fashion the one
with the other, fancying that when they
have discharged one they have done the
other also. finding the one to conflict with
the other through some misunderstanding
Of the dignity and weight of the respective
obligations.
And not only in private life, but in the
history of peoples and States what confu-
sion, what laundering has there been;
Look how the cruel Roman empire tired
through years to crush out the life OF the
Christian martyrs for simply doing their
duty to God, and then in turn, when the
empire had been conquered by che church
and the papacy was seated upon It's throne
and had erected it's palatial Vatican amid
the ruins of the old order, see how the
naughty earthly embodiment of the heav-
emily autocracy sought to bring low and
make subservient the things Of Caesar!
You are familiar, doubtless, with the way
the saying was brought about. A party OF
young Pharisees-the old hacks had recent
ly retired in confusion-had joined with
some Herodians or lewis nationa lists to
Him. Master" said they with feigned
earnestness, eve know that Thou art true,
and teachest the way of God in truth,
neither carest Thou for any mar for Thou
regardest not the person of men. Tell lis,
therefore: What thinkest Thou? Is it
tax or MOI"
If He had answered eyes" He would
have been at once discredited as the Mes
Stalking of Israel. If nc" it would
have been treason and rebellion against
Rome. So instead of falling into the trap
set for Him, with a complete, a divine
grasp of the whole situation, He declares a
principle which is the key to this whole
complexity in life wherever it may possibly
Show Me the tribute money. Whose image
is this stamped on your current coin?
Caesars. Very well. Then what is Gaze
sar's give back to Caesar, and what is
Gods to God"
The impression it produced at the mo-
ment was profound. ~"When they had
heard these words they marveled and left
the whole controversy out of the imme-
date and passing circumstances into the
region Of largest and widest craftsmanship.
and all the centuries of human history that
have rolled by since have not exhausted its
wisdom.
"Render therefore unto Caesar the things
that are Caesars" Not a great deal Of
time, 1 take it, needs to be spent in en-
forcing this behest. It marks the sanity,
is no star-gazing cult. The charge against
it of inveterate other worldliness is a libel.
Christianity has always taught man to do
nobiy, patiently, heroically his full duty to
the State, to rulers, to society. We are part
of a social system which has already taken
shape. We are in debt to it in many ways.
owe pass it's coins freely; we enjoy it's en-
dowments." Its image and superscription
are on u.s.: We belong of right to our age;
our era of civilization, our nation, State,
| city, community. All that is around us is
but the providential setting and environ
meat of our lives. It is never perfect.
There is, and for a great while to come is
dAOlJ y NC a. NdSO uCdl tudC Is ldulCy ABOUT
it. But we have no charter from Christ to
be hopelessly sour in our attributes toward
1t. We are to trust, you and [, the upward
growth, the slow and painful evolution OF
human civilization. We are to believe that
at the heart of the movement there are
deep-hidden, interior principles which, in
cooperation with those special and power
from above, are steadily bringing the king
dom Of Caesar to some better fulfllment
OF itself. So then, even when we SEE
things in the nation, the municipality, the
neighborhood, 60 wrong; even when W.
see tyranny. and corruption and abuses, W,
are not permitted to turn way in despair
and disgust. We nave no right to stane
aloof as if our hands would be contamin
ated by any contact with it. Our duty i
to go bravely in and try to discharge on
duty to the civil and secular powers, re
speeding the moral worth of the things o
Caesar, and confidently trusting truth an
LOO and humanity for the dawning Of tn
not to build a dazzling visible church~o
God upon the ruins Of the dynasties &
governments of earth. as was dreamed b
the medieval popes end doctors. No, bu
rather IS our book to infuse into organize
human society the healthful spirit of til
kingdom of Jesus Christ, and meanwhil,
as Chrlst's words here clearly teach us, t
keep the two spheres distinct.
And on tie same principle precisely
hin our Lord would have us deal wit
entire honesty with the facts of scienc,
10 presume to use religious authority t
deny the ascertailed and verified concl,
!. sions of a genuine science-as was don,
for instance, il the case of Calico, and h;
| often been urged since, is to break Christ
command. Natural science must procee
. along its own distinct and separate line
: 1t cannot go out of it's sphere to teach Il
} world religion. Its function is to scare
! out and interpret material facts. But
! ITS W proper sphere we must respect i
) We owe it the tribute of our s%incerit
} We must render to Caesar the things tn;
! are Caesars, and there will be no sort
I peril to us if we are at pains at the SAN
! time to render to God the things that a
! Gods"
/ But is it in the point that I have bee
: urging that most men fail nowadays?
} 1T here that we need to throw our emnh
} sis on this Render to Caesar?' Are the
Z not certain forces il the realm of Caes
Z which of themselves exact the payment
I what is due there? Does not this tribu
) get itself paid in as do the State taxes
a / n sort Of coITo of1o. rooo.