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OUR DUTY TO CESAR.

"Render, therefore, unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's."- ST. MATT. xxii. 21.

Thus did Jesus Christ

OUR duty to Cæsar. define it. Being urgently invited by members of the two chief political parties of his day to speak his mind upon the question which they had under discussion - thus he answered.

These two parties, the Herodians and the Pharisees, were set the one against the other with more than the usual partisan blindness and bitterness. The conditions were peculiar. There had never been much separation in Judea between politics and religion. The Jewish church was the Jewish nation. The prophets were patriot orators who preached politics with vehemence, and entered might and main into public life. It is impossible to think of Isaiah as a quiet parish priest, living at the centre of a narrow circle, letting the great world outside go uninterrupted on its own mistaken way. In New York, in Boston, Isaiah would have been

the heart and soul of a great, outspoken, radical, independent, righteous newspaper. Amos and Hosea would have put themselves in peril of the police by inflammatory speeches on the street-corners and in the parks. All these men were interested in public questions, profoundly and supremely.

The saints of that old time were the national heroes. They were the men who had done conspicuous service for the country. St. Abraham, the founder of the nation; St. Moses, the leader of the revolution in Egypt, who had brought the people into the blessings of independence; St. Joshua, who had fought their battles and won splendid victories; St. David, who had ruled. them prudently with all his power. These were the sacred names upon their church calendar. The leaders of the synagogue had been the guides of the national councils; and their sons who sat upon the front seats in their fathers' places were eager to emulate their patriotism and their valor. There was no difference between a parliament and a prayer-meeting. Any political question was also a religious question; into which excellent condition, though in a more Christian spirit, may we come, ourselves.

The point which was just then at issue was the sovereignty of Cæsar. The Herodians were the party of the government; the Pharisees were the party of the opposition. To the Pharisees it was so grievous a matter that a Gentile conqueror should sit upon the sacred throne of Israel, and a heathen reign over the chosen people, that it seemed an insult to Almighty God. It was as if a Mohammedan were to be brought into the place of the Archbishop of Canterbury. They prayed for revolution. They hated both Cæsar and his viceroy Herod with a fierce religious hatred. Choose, they cried, between us and the Herodians, between God and Cæsar.

These were the men who came together to listen to a sermon upon the political situation. In one point only they agreed; they were alike in opposition to the Teacher whom they came to question. Instinctively they felt that he belonged to neither side, that he somehow stood off by himself, alone, independent, a third party of one, looking at the whole matter from a point of view different from theirs. His kingdom was not of this world; his politics were neither Herodian nor Pharisaic, but of a new sort, celestial, Christian, and they hated

him for it, as the partisan instinctively detests the man who stands upon a plane above his head.

They introduced themselves, however, in as polite a fashion as they could, beginning with a compliment. "Master," they said, "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." This was a tribute to the absolute frankness of Jesus. They were quite right when they said that what he cared for was the honest truth alone, and that his utterance was not in any way affected by the standing, the influence, or the money of those from whom he differed.

But this was altogether for the purpose of tempting him in that subtle and commonly successful manner of the devil with which we are most of us acquainted to our cost-into some rash speech of unusual and dangerous boldness. "Tell us, therefore, what thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, or not?

To this question Jesus returned his wonderfully wise answer. He replied neither yes nor no. How, indeed, could he?

For every partisan has a certain amount of

truth and right upon his side. No man goes heartily into a cause which does not somehow commend itself to his good judgment. There was a great deal to be said for the Herodians, and there was a great deal to be said for the Pharisees. A categorical settlement of the discussion could not fail to be mistaken. Yes, or no; either would be false. Qualifications, explanations, must precede any adequate reply. There is always a deal of preaching upon matters which are under present partisan discussion. The parson will have his say in the debate between the scientists and the religionists, between labor and capital, between the reformers and the ringsters. And why not? So he speaks the will of God, and in the spirit of Jesus, the Holy Ghost teaching by his voice - why not? Politics in the pulpit? Anything in the pulpit that will help men, uplift the neighborhood, defeat the devil, save souls, bring earth and heaven nearer together.

One difficulty with such preaching is that it is often ignorant. The teacher does not know what he is talking about. The details are so many, the need of technical information is so great, the actual conditions and the real rights and wrongs are so hard to get at, that

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