Year: 1860

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ends and objects, are ali moral and spiritual.


With civil laws, and all the machinery o


government, which at best can do more thar


restrain and regulate the hands, and determine


in measure social and temporal relations, bu


can never approach the heart, they do not thinl


the Christian pulpit has much to do. 1t deals
and should deal, with the affections and the
heart. They believe that Christianity is de
government as selfgovernment-not so much
to teach us how to construct, and mould and
guide the car Of human government, as to teach
the individual soul how to live under any anC
all forms of government. Hence the Christian
pulpit is not so much the conservator, or the
judge Of the government, in its worldly policy
as it is the monitor Of the individual, and the
teacher of divine truth. When the fever Of ex-
citement is up the public mind is stirred to it'
depths, and the boisterous passions are so rous
ed that men forget their brotherhood, they think
the pulpit best fulflls its duty by pouring oil
upon the troubled waters, and calling in the
name of God, and his Christ, to the angry null
ttude who are ready te worry and devour
each other, 'Ye are all brethren; why bite ye
one another" | am free to confess that | count
myself among those who hold the latter Of these
opinions, and have few words to say Of the
former.


There is a growing passion for denunciation
amongst us, so that uministers claim the right
to denonnce as one of the dearest rights of the
pulpit. am dubious about this matter. am
not quite certain thas the attitude of denunci.
alton we'll becomes the pulpit devoted to Him
| in whom we trust, and who was meek and
lowly of heart so that when reviled he reviel-
ed not rgain, and who, when smitten and spat
upon, answered not word. have not much
faith in this denunciatory style ofpreaching.
do not think that Satan can we'll be expected
to cast out Satan; and Judge if there were in
the pulpit all over the land less ofdenunciatiop,
and more of the love of God and man, it would
at least, be improved in manners if not in NOR
ais. But, leaving this point, it appears to me
that the example of Christ, as regards the duty
of the pulpit to the State, is very clear and
deeply significant.


There was great national wrong committed
under the sanction Of law. The colossal pow
er of Rome had robbed Israel OF his nationality,
and made him dependent upon Caesar. An
oppressive, an unjust and burdensome taxa
tax as oppressive and unjust as that upon tea
and paper, which led to the American Revou-
tion-had been levied upon the people. II
Jesus had been as tenacious of his freedom Of
speech, as some men are in these days, he
would have had hand in that discussion. He
would have claimed that it was his province
and his duty to denounce all wrong in general,
and this great and monstrous wrong in par
ticular, and to vindicate the rights of his peo-
pie against the expressions of Cesar. There
was the best opportunity in the world for him
to have wa1ed eloquent and putriotic in the
premises; and | have no doubt that, had he re-.
ally set himself about it, he could have raised
respectable army and led them to the battle for
the deliverance OF his people from the yoke OF
bondage that CALLED upon their necks I do
not pretend to say that, as civ1 leader, he
would not have been justified in an effort of this
sort. In the ethics of the world resistance to
tyrants is counted a virtue. So it may be in
the sense that courage is virtue on the bat
tie field. But it is not a Christian virtue, for
Jesus forbids his servants to fight. IT. said
he, my kingdom were of this world, then would
my servants fight and what l now note is the
clearness with which his example, in the case
of the text, illustrates his declarations that his
kingdom is not Of the world.' Here was a
grave and serious poltfca question orgreat mo
ment, but he would have no part or lot in that
controversy. He would not give decision or
express an opinion in the premises involving the
political rights OF his contry and people. He
would only give them the principle on which it
should be settled, and leave them to settle it
for themselves. Show me the tribute money.
And they brought him penny. There was
an image and superseription upon it. Whose
were these? C@sa'r said they, Very we'll,
what have to do with it? Ifthat belongs to
Caesar, let him have it, Of course If that pal
try penny has got Casar's mark upon it. then
let Caesar have it. Settle that matter for your
selves. My kingdom is not of this world;
have other and higher interests committed to
my charge, and must be about my Fathers
business. Attend to your own relations to the
Government. Render to the State what be-
longs to it, and unto God what belongs to him.


Such seems to me to be the purport of his
example; and iii is enough for the disciple to
be az his Lord, think that example might well
be followed by those that occupy the Christian
pulpit and profess to preach in Christ's name
Why did Jesus decline to enter the arena of
discussion Of this monstrous wrong? wrong
that touched the great question of a nations
liberty, and the indeensible right of every


man to enjoy the fruit of his own labor?-
1t was not pusillanimity or lack of moaa
courage. He who stood unawed before the
chief priests and the rulers, and gave his back
to the scourge and his body to the GROSS, with


out finching, was no coward! Why, then,
did he ignore this question Of law aud civil
government? Fol- no other reason than that
his business on earth was not with civil govern
ments or their laws. He wrought not with the
sword or the secular arm. His was moral
enterprise, and the captives he sought to deliy-
er were those that were in the bondage of sin
and error. The chains he sought to smite off.
were those that bound the souls Of men, for well
most CALLING; and that the spirit may be free.
though the body is in bondage, on the one hand;
and, on the other, that the body may be at lib,
ia al ~.