Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1904-07-28
"DEBTTOCAESARA GOD
A Brilliant Sunday Sermon By Rev. A.
B. KilSOlving.
We Must Not Permit the "fiuge Mundane Ma
chine" to Run Over Our Souls.

| from st. Matthew XXll:Zi: hehder Ihsre
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 calmly
| self-evidcncing? Could any disentangle'
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 tried
through years to crush out the lite OF the
| Christian martyrs for simply doing theI
| duty to God, and then in turn, when the
empire had been conquered by che church
and the papacy was seated upon its throne
| and had erected it's paatial 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 subservlcnt the things of Caesar!
You are familiar, doubtless, with the way
| Tee saving was brought about. A party OF
" retired in confusion-had joined with
some Herodlans or Jewish nationalists tc
put to Jesus catch question to ensnaree
Him. MASTER said they with feigned
carncstness, 1--WE know that Thou art true,
and teachest the way of God in truth,
neither carest Thou for any man, for Thou
regardest not the person of men. Tell us,
therefore: What thinkest Thou? Is il
tax or no."
| If He had answered eyes" He would
have been at once discrcdited as the Mes.
! siah-King of Israel. If no 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
| complexitv in life wherever it may possibly
occur. "Why tempst Me, We hypocrites!
Show Me the tribute money. Whose image
is this stamped on your current coin!
Caesars Very we'll. Then what is Cac'
sars 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 marveed and left
| Him and went their way He had lifted
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-, RENDER therefore unto caesar the things
that are taesar $. NOT great deai OF
time, take it,, needs to be spent in en-
forcing this behest. 1t marks the sanity,
the wholesomeness OF ChriStS religion. III
is no star-gazlng cult. Inc charge against
1t OF lnVeterate other WorldlnesS Is nDei.
Christianity has always taught man to 90
nobly, patiently, herolcally his tull duty 10
the State, to rulers, to society. we are part
OF social system winch has already taken
shape. we are IN DEBT TO 1t IN many ways
we pass us COINS freely; we ENJOY lts en-
dowments" ", Its image and superscrlption
are on us: we belong OF right TO our age;
our era OF CIVILIZATION, our nation, state,
city, community. An that Is around us Is
but the proVldentlal setting ana ENVIRON
ment OF our lives. 1t Is never perfect.
There Is, and TOR great while TO come Is
likely to be vast deal that Is faulty about
1t. But we have no charter from CHRIST TO
he 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
deep'hlddch, interior principles Which, III
| cooperation with those speclai ana power
Jul incentives which GOD brings TO bear
from above are steadily bringing the KING
dom OF Caesar to some better tulfllment
OF itself. SO then, even when we see
things IN the nation. the municipality the
nelghborhood, go wrong; even when we
see tyranny and corruption and abuses we
are not permitted to turn away III despair
aloof as II our hands would be contamln-
ated by any contact with 1t. Our duty IS
to go bravely IN and try to discharge our
duty to the civil and secular powers, re.
spectlhg the morai worm OF the thihgS oi
caesar ana confidently trusting truVh anu
Sod ana humanity LOT the naWhimg OF 'he
brighter DAY we are set as 'hrlSit'ahs
not 10 pu'ld daa1hhg vls'nle chutcH.'i
1od upon the ruins OF lhe "ShhSt'eS -
governments OF earth, as was dreamed by
the medieval popes ana doctors. NO, out
rather Is our book TO muse INTO otga9|Sa
human society the health!ul spirit OF the
kingdom OF Jesus CHRIST, and meanWmIe,
as Christ words here clearly teach us, to
keep the two spheres distinct. -,
And on the same principle precisely |
think our Lord would have us deal with
entire honesty with the facts OF science.
10 presume to use religious authority to
deny the ascertained and verified concu'
eions of genuine scicnce-as was done,
for instance, in the case of Calico, and has
often been urged since, is to break Christ's
command. Natural science must proceed
along its own distinct and separate lines,
1t cannot go out of its sphere to teach the
world religion. Its function Is to search
out and interpret material facts. But in
its own proper sphere we must respect it,
We owe it the tribute of our sincerity,
We must render to Caesar the things that
are Caesars, and there will be no sort Of
| peril to us if we are at pains at the same
time to ''render to God the things that are
Gods"
But is it in the point that / have been
urging that most men fail nowadays? Is
it here that we need to throw our empha.
| sis on this Render to Caesar" Are there