LECTURE CIII. ALLEGIANCE DUE TO CESAR AND TO GOD. MARK Xii. 13-27. (Matt. xxii. 15-33. Luke xx. 20-38.) 13. And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. 14. And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man : for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, or not ?1 15. Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it. 16. And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Cæsar's. 17. And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him. It was not our Lord's business to decide, whether Cæsar had a right to exercise authority in Judea. But it was a strong presumption in his favour, that his coin circulated in the land. This, however, was a fit occasion for issuing a 1 Some of the Pharisees argued that this was not law, on the principle, "We be Abraham's children, and were never in bondage to any man." We have no king but God. The Herodians, probably, as followers of Herod, took the opposite side. general precept. Render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's. He who bears sovereignty in a land, has a claim to allegiance, and to tribute as a part of allegiance. And St. Paul declares the grounds on which this duty rests. (Rom. xiii. 1, &c.) "The powers that be are ordained of God." "Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God;" whose will it is, for the maintenance of peace and quietness, that power and authority should be delegated to some, for the security of the whole. Christians are, in the most important sense, free; and they are often reminded of this by the apostles: they are "the Lord's freemen;" and they are free from many tyrants to which the rest of the world is in slavery. But they are also as constantly reminded, that this spiritual freedom does not exempt them from due subordination to kings and magistrates and all in authority; to these they are to "submit themselves for the Lord's sake." Not to "use their liberty for a cloak of maliciousness," which would sufficiently prove them not to be "servants of God." All this is implied in the sentence, Render to Cæsar the things that are Caesar's. But it was a fit occasion to inculcate another duty. Render to God the things that are God's. He had a certain claim to their obedience. Their coin bore the image and superscription of Cæsar. But their country bore the image and superscription of God. His name was written upon their nation. He had chosen them to be a peculiar people he had given them his laws, and prescribed 2 See 1 Pet. ii. 13, &c. their ordinances; he had supported, instructed, protected them; and in return, they were to pay him the honour and service which he demanded; they were to love the Lord their God with all their heart and all their soul and all their mind. This sentence, therefore, was well suited to convict and humble them. Render to God the things that are God's. Does it condemn us also? "A If the kings of this world have a right to allegiance, much more has He, who is King of kings, and Lord of lords. Yet might not a prophet still remonstrate in the words of Malachi, (i. 6,) son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear?" One tribute is especially due to God, which if it be rendered, will lead to all the rest. "God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it." He has separated for himself the seventh part of time, as that which is to be reserved from worldly business and exempted from ordinary labour, and devoted to Himself. "Will a man rob God?" Yet too often does he "rob God," misapplying to common and secular purposes the day which God has hallowed as his own. Still the Sabbath is spoken of by the prophets in language which cannot be misunderstood. (Isaiah lviii. 13.) "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord." The argument implied in this passage is unalterable; not limited to man under the Jewish dispensation as the disciple of Moses, but belonging to man as the creature of God. The Sabbath is his holy day. The heathen have lost the knowledge of this. But we know it, to whom his word is revealed. And therefore we are to honour him, by removing from us, as far as possible, whatever may tend to make the day less holy of the Lord;" whatever might interfere with his worship or divert our thoughts from him: we are not to do our own ways, or find our own pleasure, or speak our own words; but to turn our words to his glory, to find pleasure in his service, and to direct our ways to the places where he has "recorded his name." 66 And as the reasons are of universal application, so also is the reward of this duty. Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. This obedience to the command of God, this conformity to his will, shall be recompensed by that increasing love of Him which is the highest dignity of man, and which his Spirit alone can shed abroad in the heart. That service, which may have had its beginning in obedience, in a desire to render unto God his own, shall be continued in love, and shall terminate in glory. For "blessed is the man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it." The experience of every country, and every family, and every individual, furnishes proof that this blessing was not limited to Judea, and was not cancelled together with the law of Moses. Let every one, therefore, study in his practice the spirit of Isaiah's words, and, considering the seventh day as the property of God, render unto God his own. 18. Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, 19. Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. 20. Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. 21. And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed and the third likewise. 22. And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. 23. In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife. 24. And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? 25. For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. 26. And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? 27. He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. How inspiriting is the prospect thus opened to our minds, and, if we continue stedfast unto the end, to our hopes! When they shall rise from the dead, they are as the angels which are in heaven. And this thought suggests another, connected |