the child; fresh kindness to the master, and diligence to the servant. The world should look to the church with this conviction, "Well, if social virtue were driven from every other portion of society, it would find an asylum, and be cherished with care, upon the heights of Zion." Then will religion have attained its highest credit upon earth, when it shall be admitted by universal consent, that to say a man is a Christian is an indisputable testimony to his excellence in all the relations he bears to society.

VI. There are duties to be discharged in reference to the world.

By the world I mean all those of every party and denomination who are destitute of true godliness. The apostle has summed up our obligations towards them under the comprehensive injunction, "Walk in wisdom towards them which are without."* In another place, we are commanded to "let our light shine before men, that they seeing our good works may glorify our Father which is in heaven."+ We are also exhorted "to have our conversation honest (this word signifies beautiful, honourable) amongst the Gentiles." In order to comply with this, we must act consistently with our profession; excel in the observance of social duties; abound in mercy; bear a prudent testimony against evil practices; be most punctiliously exact in fulfilling all our engagements, and performing all our promises; live in a most peaceable and neighbourly manner; perform every office of kindness and charity which can please or benefit; and set an example of industry, honesty, and generosity.

* Col. iv. 5.

† Matthew v. 16. E

1 Peter ii. 12.

VII. We should as professing Christians be exemplary in our obedience to the civil magistrate.

The Scriptures which enjoin this are too numerous to be quoted at length.* One only shall be given, but

that is a very striking one.

"Let every soul be subject to the higher powers; for there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation." This injunction must of course be understood as relating to matters purely civil; or in other words to those laws which are not in opposition to the spirit and letter of divine revelation. If rulers enjoin any thing which is condemned by the word of truth, it is the duty of a Christian, without hesitation, and at all hazards, to act upon the principles, and follow the example of the apostles, and "obey God rather than man.”

God forbid I should teach a doctrine so pernicious as that one of the first efforts of true piety when it enters the soul is to extinguish the love of civil liberty; or that having broken the fetters of vice, it immediately bows the regenerated soul into submission to the yoke of despotism. No such thing; religion is a noble, and sublime, and elevating principle. It expands, not contracts the mind; it is not a spirit of bondage which makes its possessor again to fear, it is a spirit of power, and of a sound mind; it lifts the soul from the dust, and does not chain it there; it has raised a noble army of martyrs, every one of whose

but

* Rom. xiii. 1, 2. Acts xxiii. 5. Titus iii. 1. 1 Peter ii. 13, 14. 1 Tim. ii. 1-3.

millions was a hero, that defied the tyrant's rage, and spurned his yoke; religion therefore is no friend of slavery, nor can any of its precepts be quoted by the tyrant as an excuse for his trampling on the liberties of mankind.

Avowing thus much, and admitting that the most spiritual Christian may take an interest, and ought to take an interest in public affairs; nay, that he ought to maintain a ceaseless jealousy over the constitution and freedom of his country, still I contend that a constant, and noisy, and factious meddling in party politics, is as injurious to his own personal religion as it is to the interest of piety in general. We do not cease to be citizens when we become Christians; but we are in danger of ceasing to be Christians when we become politicians. It is with politics, as with money; it is not the temperate use, but the immoderate love of it, that is the root of all evil. Thousands of professors of religion have made shipwreck of their faith and a good conscience, during the tempests of political agitation ; let us then, as we value our lives, be cautious how we embark on this stormy and troubled ocean.

There is one way in which many Christians offend against the laws of their country without scruple, and without remorse: I mean by endeavouring to evade the payment of taxes. Had there been no Christian statute to condemn this practice, the general principles of reason would be quite sufficient to prove its criminality. But the New Testament has added the authority of revelation to the dictates of reason; and thus made it a sin against God, no less than a crime against society to defraud the revenue. "Render un

Cesar the things that are Cesar's; tribute to whom tribute is due, and custom to whom'custom;" is the authoritative language of St. Paul, This precept derives great force from the consideration that it was delivered at a time and under a government, in which the taxes were not imposed by the people themselves, but by the arbitrary power of a despot. Certainly if under these circumstances, it was the duty of a Christian to pay the tribute money, any effort which we make to evade it, must be additionally criminal, since we are taxed by the will of our representatives. The excuses usually made in justification of this practice, only serve to show how far even some good people may be imposed upon by the deceitfulness of the human heart. Every time we have made a false return on the schedule which regulates our quota of taxation, or that we have purchased knowingly a contraband article of food, beverage, or dress, we have committed a fraud upon society, have assumed a power to dispense with the laws of our country, have violated the precepts of the New Testament, have brought the guilt of a complicated crime upon our conscience, and have subjected ourselves to the displeasure of God, and the discipline of his church.

CHAPTER V.

ON THE DUTIES OF CHURCH MEMBERS TO THEIR

PASTORS.

I. SUBMISSION to their just and scriptural authority. It is readily admitted that the unscriptural, and therefore usurped domination of the priesthood is the root from whence arose the whole system of papal tyranny; which, springing up like a poison tree in the garden of the Lord, withered by its shadow, and blighted by its influence, almost every plant and every flower of genuine christianity. It is matter of no regret therefore, nor of surprise, if a ceaseless jealousy should be maintained by those who understand the principles of religious liberty, against the encroachments of pastoral authority. Priestly dominion, as it appears in the Vatican, is the most detestable and the most mischievous of all tyranny; but when it appears in the pastor of an independent church, divested at once of the elements of power and the trappings of majesty, the mere mimicry of authority, it is rather ridiculous than alarming, and bears no nearer resemblance to its prototype at Rome, than the little croaking, hopping animal of the pond, did to the ox of the field, which his pride led him to emulate, until he burst.