In

laden, and I will give you reft (g). Have faith in God. Thou wilt keep him, O Lord, in perfect peace; whofe mind is ftayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee. Trust in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting ftrength. Caft all your care upon Him: for He careth for you (b). He careth for you the more, because you feel your need of His care. Mark how St. Paul was fupported through all his manifold trials, because he was careful for nothing, but in every thing by prayer and fupplication with thanksgiving made his requests known unto God. whatever ftate he was placed, he was enabled therewith to be content. In tribulation he could always rejoice. Though troubled on every fide, he was not distressed. Under every circumftance he found the grace of Chrift fufficient for him. He could do all things through Christ, who ftrengthened him. The peace of God, which paffeth all understanding, kept his heart and mind through Chrift Jefus. Be animated and cheered, for web you may, by the encouraging inftruction specially ad

(g) Matth. v. 4. xi. 28.

(b) Ifaiah, xxvi. 3, 4. 1 Pet. v. 7.

dreffed

dreffed to you by the Apostle in the text; and by the comfort which his own example, in confequence of being correfpondent to that inftruction, holds out to you. Thofe things which you have both learned and received and heard and feen in him, do: and the God of peace fhall be with you (i).

To conclude: let the minister of the gofpel, in declaring the fcriptural promises of peace, let the private Chriftian in applying these promises to himself, beware of speaking peace where there is no peace. There is no peace, faith my God, to the wicked (k). The peace of God the wicked cannot possess. And without that peace, all other peace is delufion. It is the calm which forebodes a tempeft; the lethargy which is the forerunner of death. If you are not a real servant of the Lord Jefus Christ, you are the enemy of your neighbour: you are your country's enemy, and your own. You are aggrieving your neighbour by evil conduct: you are corrupting him by unchriftian example. You are adding by your unrighteousness to your country's danger: you are heaping condemnation upon yourself. A kingdom may be fpared from fubversion: but an unrepenting finner shall not escape judgement. Your (i) Philipp. iv. 9. (k) Ezek. xiii. 10—16. If. lvii. 23. country

country may be permitted to stand in the earthly conflict: but you fhall perish in the great day of the Lord. Do you love your neighbour? Seek for grace to be righteous. Do you love your own foul? Seek for grace to be righteous. Do you love your Redeemer? Seek for grace to be righteous. Lay the foundation of religion in a deep conviction of the natural corruption of the heart; and of the entire change which must be wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost in the heart of every man, before he can fee the kingdom of God (1). Proceed through unfeigned felf-abafement and repentance to living faith in the only Saviour. Prove your faith to be the faith which juftifies, by manifefting it to be the faith which worketh by love. Acting on Christian principles, to the Lord and not unto men, demonstrate their fuperiority by the practical holiness which they produce. Glorify the master whom you ferve by adorning His gospel in all things, and by leading others to give him glory. Then fhall the peace of God through Chrift Jefus reft upon you throughout eternity.

(?) John, iii. 3,

SER.

SERMON XIII.

On CHRISTIAN OBEDIENCE to CIVIL

RULERS.

MATTH. Xxii. 21.

Then faith He unto them; Render therefore unto Cæfar the things which are Cæfar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

MANY years before our Saviour com

menced his public miniftry, the Romans had rendered themselves mafters of the land of Ifrael. They established a governor in Jerufalem: and required the Jewish nation to pay tribute to Cæfar. To the people in general this demand was extremely odious: and nothing but fuperior force awed them into compliance. The tribute was a mark of national fubjection; a tax paid to a victorious adverfary. On that account it was highly offenfive to the Jews. But there was another circumstance which poffeffed great weight. A religious fcruple came in aid of the public

feeling.

feeling. A paffage in the book of Deuteronomy (a) forbade the Ifraelites to appoint a stranger to be King over them.. This prohibition indeed related only to their voluntary choice of a fovereign. It never was intended to be applied to the case of their being conquered by enemies. But as Cæfar was a foreigner, and also an idolater; many perfons appear feriously to have apprehended that to pay tribute to him would be to difobey that precept of the law, and to violate their allegiance to God. And this fentiment accorded fo well with the proud and refractory fpirit of the Jews, that it obtained extenfive influence among them and was patronised by the Pharifees, who affected extraordinary zeal for the law. Among those who contended for the lawfulness of paying tribute to Cæfar, the Herodians were distinguished. These were men who had attached themselves to the interests of Herod, the King of Galilee. Herod was countenanced and protected by the Romans. Hence his adherents, who were an unprincipled fet of partisans, embraced that fide of the queftion which was the most acceptable to the Romans, and the moft conducive to the authority of their Emperor.

(a) Deut. xvii. 14, 15.

2

Of