CHAPTER V.

THE SUBJECT OF MORAL RESPONSIBILITY FURTHER

CONSIDERED.

THE Bible, it may truly be said, contains instances innumerable of a similar kind to those just related.

The voice of the inspired volume is throughout the same to all who will listen to what it really says, not in the letter of particular texts, not in words without their context, but in spirit and in truth. And if, in the illustration of a doctrine which teaches us, as moral beings, that there are certain conditions annexed to the attainment of every desirable end, I have been led to the consideration of remote examples, not only apposite, but of great historical interest; still, it will not be doubted by any attentive reader of the Bible, that, in proportion as we draw nearer and nearer to the perfect day, lessons of the same stamp, and of still higher authority, present themselves to our notice; falling, as they do, from the lips of our blessed Saviour himself, and not from those of any mere man, however prompted by the Holy Spirit.

I might almost fear the imputation of trifling, if I were addressing myself to reflecting Christians only;

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but my earnest hope is, that I may draw the attention of less fortunate individuals to historical incidents, in which there is a direct light from heaven shining. One instance more, therefore, I must claim permission to bring forward from the New Testament, which, if not precisely parallel with the preceding, is, equally with them, calculated to shew that we are not blind agents, but rational and responsible creatures.

When our Saviour was tempted by the Pharisees to commit himself by an incautious assertion of independence, his conduct, which at first sight may almost appear trivial, will be found, if duly weighed, not simply to illustrate the doctrine in question, but to afford evidence, if such were wanting, of the very truth ⚫ of our religion itself. For it both shows that there was, at that time, at Jerusalem, such a person as our Saviour, and that the sensation produced by him there was great indeed; that he, in fact, spoke as "one having authority," and not as ordinary men speak. Pharisees appear to have thought that, disdaining to truckle to any earthly prince, such as Cæsar, he would have obstinately denied the lawfulness of claiming tribute of the Jews, who, in a religious sense, were bound to acknowledge no other sovereign but God. But the Saviour of the world was not to be so entangled. And he who, upon a former occasion, rebuked the Devil by telling him that it was written, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt

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thou serve," not only put his insidious interrogators, upon the present occasion, to silence, by telling them, with admirable address, that they should "render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's," as well as "unto God the things that are God's," but likewise taught them, and all succeeding generations of men, the important lesson that a ready submission to the government under which we live, is no inconsiderable pledge that our hearts are right towards the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

If, instead of asking whether it were lawful to pay Cæsar tribute, they had demanded to know whether it were lawful to pay him divine honours, can we doubt that, regardless of consequences, he would again have said, "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." We have here therefore a lesson for enthusiasts generally; not for such only as, from some mistaken notions of the divine majesty, have refused to pay the customary homage to earthly superiors, but for all who, from wrong impressions concerning religious obligation, have been guilty of unnecessary extravagancies; fancying that they were doing God honour, when, in fact, they were dishonouring Him by acting in direct opposition to the suggestions of common sense, which is never at variance with sound religion. What we seem bound, by our religion, to do, is this, not to suffer any consideration of self-defence or

of worldly interest to stand in opposition to an acknowledged duty-not to balance betwixt God and mammon; to walk in fact circumspectly, not trusting to our own uprightness, as if it entitled us to some extraordinary interposition of Providence, but endeavouring, in the words and spirit of Scripture, to combine the wisdom of the serpent with the innocency of the dove.

No real Christian can for a moment doubt that our Saviour could at any time have rescued himself from impending danger by miraculous means; he has himself told us, upon one occasion, that he could, if he pleased, have commanded legions of angels to come to his assistance-but it was his good pleasure to set an example, as man, to fellow men, for whose sake he took their nature upon him; and those who fail not to see the Godhead through this veil of flesh will not fail to perceive that, perfect God as he was, to have acted otherwise than he did, would have been inconsistent with that state of humanity to which he had submitted. Accordingly we find that, as in the case to which I have just alluded, so in all others of a similar nature, in escaping from the snares with which his ministry was beset, he merely acted with consummate prudence! "Ever taking heed to his ways, that he might not sin with his tongue; he kept his mouth as it were with a bridle while the ungodly was in his sight."-Ps. xxxix. 1.

Enthusiasm is nowhere countenanced in Holy Writ-nowhere are we led to expect extraordinary interference in our behalf; but, taking the Scriptures for our guide, we are taught, in one of the beautiful collects of our Church,* to pray "that we may both perceive and know what things we ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Great indeed is the mystery of godliness; but, the better informed our minds are as to matters of religion, the less will be the danger of our being betrayed, by our faith, into enthusiastic errors.

If our Saviour, in the miracles which he performed, evinced the power of the Godhead, and made manifest his claim to the Messiahship, his conduct was, as I have said, in other respects, only conformable with the most enlightened reason; and if, upon spiritual subjects, he spake as never man did, or could, speak— yet, on all ordinary occasions, he spake and acted as every wise man ought to do, and as every man would do, with whose wisdom there was no alloy of sin. There is nowhere recorded a more memorable or pitiable instance of apostacy in the hour of trial than that of the Apostle Peter. He who, when his faith became fixed, would, in confirmation of it, have suf*First Collect after Epiphany.