posing it had been any hindrance to his status as a Christian. Moreover, it was before Cornelius was baptised that the Holy Ghost came upon him; and even before the discourse of St Peter that St Luke praises him as a righteous man, and does not blame him for being the captain of soldiers in the pay of a heathen emperor., We have a similar example in the Ethiopian eunuch,1 whom the evangelist Philip converted and baptised, permitting him to retain his office and to return home. And yet, without the power of the sword, the eunuch could not have been so efficient an officer to his queen. The same was likewise the case with Paulus Sergius, the deputy in Cyprus, whom Paul converted, and yet allowed to retain his military command over the heathen. The same was done by many holy martyrs who were obedient to the emperors at Rome, went to war under them, and doubtless also slew many in order to maintain peace, as is related of St Maurice, Achatius, Gereon, and many more under the Emperor Julian. But, over and above, here lies a clear and strong text of St Paul,3 who says, 'The powers that be are ordained of God;' likewise that the ruler beareth not the sword in vain, but is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath upon him who doeth evil. My friend, be not so impious as to say that a Christian ought not to engage in what is essentially a work commanded and instituted by God; for then must thou also affirm that a Christian should not eat and drink nor marry a wife. That is equally God's work and ordinance; and if it be so, then it is good: and it is also good that a man use it in a Christian way, and for his salvation, according to the saying of St Paul, 'Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused by those who believe and know the truth.' Among the things which God hath created you must not include merely meat and drink, and clothes and shoes, but also magistracy and subjection, protection and punishment; and to sum up all, seeing that St Paul here tells us that the ruling power is the minister of God, it must not be left to the heathen alone, but exercised by all men. When it

1 Acts, viii. 39. 2 Acts, xiii. 7, 12. 3 Rom. xiii. I. 4 1 Tim. iv. 4.

is said that it is the minister of God, what else is meant but that it is by nature of a kind capable of being used in His service? It would be a very unchristian style of speech were we to affirm that there was any way of serving God which a Christian man could not, or ought not to adopt, seeing that the service of God is proper for no one so much as for a Christian; and it were a happy and a needful thing if all princes were really good Christians-for to such, in preference to all other persons in the world, do the use of the sword and the exercise of power belong as a peculiar divine worship. And thus it stands indisputably firm and beyond all misapprehension that, For God's own word and Fatherland, 'Tis right to take the sword in hand."

Verse 5.

"Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake."

Inasmuch as the magistracy has been deemed worthy by God Himself of so high a vocation-inasmuch as they have not taken to themselves the sword, but have had it put into their hand by Almighty God, it is the more needful, for conscience' sake, to be subject to them. If thou wert subject to a robber who had unexpectedly got thee into his power, and shouldst obey his commands, thou wouldst do so from the mere fear of punishment, for into his hands Almighty God has not put the sword; nor is it in the service of divine justice that he wields it. If, however, thou permittest thy property to be taken by an unrighteous magistracy without lifting thy hand, thou doest it in the same way as a child submits to many an injustice on the part of his father when angry, and submits for this reason, that God hath given to his father a father's authority. And as Paul here requires us to be subject for conscience' sake, so does St Peter likewise exhort, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake." 1

1 1 Peter, ii. 13.

Verses 6, 7. "For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour."

This is the lesson which Christ the Lord also taught when He looked upon the penny imprinted with the emperor's image and said, "Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that are God's." And the drift of His words was this: The bit of metal on which the emperor has caused his image to be stamped testifies thereby that it is the emperor's, and may be given back to him; but a totally different image-the image of Almighty God-has been imprinted upon the human heart; and testifying as that does that it belongs exclusively to Him, the human heart is subject. to no other power, and must serve Him alone.

Oh how cheerfully will a faithful subject pay tribute and custom to the ruling powers when he reflects on all the care and watching which they must endure for him! And not only so, but he ought also to reflect that proportionally to their lack of care and watching will one day be the severity of the punishment which they shall suffer, for unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required. By thoughts like these the heart of subjects will no doubt be reverently and affectionately inclined towards the magistracy; and if not, then surely by a regard to their own interest, when they reflect how unspeakably great are the benefits they enjoy under an upright and judicious magistracy, as Luther writes in his Catechism, "It is above all things necessary that we should pray for civil magistrates and rulers, seeing that it is by them that God provides for the continuance of our daily bread and all our comfort in this life. For although we have received from Him all manner of good things in abundance, yet none of them can we keep, or safely and cheerfully use, unless He give us also a

1 Matt. xxii. 21.

steadfast and quiet government; because when there is dispeace, enmity, and war, our daily bread is taken away or wholly withheld. For this reason it would be a proper thing to set a loaf as an ensign upon the escutcheon of every pious sovereign, or to stamp it as a figure upon his money, in order to remind both sovereigns and subjects that it is through their office that we enjoy both protection and peace, and that without these we could neither enjoy, obtain, nor continue to possess daily bread!"

Yes, verily, ye princes of the earth! whoever considers how great and important is the trust committed to your hands, must needs heartily pray for you. And what is the boon that I ought to supplicate on your behalf? I would fain ask nothing more than that the Holy Spirit would give you fully to comprehend what the words, By the grace of God, which your hand so often indites, really signify. Then would all be well. This would make you little and it would make you great. It would give you an eye turned upwards to supplicate, and an eye turned downwards to bless. It would give you a kingly heart, serious and gentle, like that of the King of kings, by whom you have been enthroned.

Thou King of kings, on whose dread sceptre grow,
As shoots, the sceptres of all kings below,

The proud ones who their sovereign's rights disdain,
Curb and restrain.

Honour to monarchs! We shall be what they
Now are, and on the earth made new one day,
Of higher dignities than here are theirs,

Shall all be heirs.

If he with justice gird his loins, and sway
His sceptre for the public weal alway,
Down at the monarch's feet submissive fall
His brethren all.

Not to the throned and sceptred mortal bends
Their knee, but to the Infinite, who sends,

To guard the rights of His eternal crown,

His servant down.

Lord, on his heart, the elected of his race,

As with an iron pen this lesson trace,

That Thine the crowns, and Thine the wholesome dread
By sceptres bred.

Unite again the Shepherd and the sheep;
Rule Thou the rulers, and from evil keep;
To melt all hearts, and all in one to blend,
Thy Spirit send.

57.

Let every Man abide in his Calling.

A chamber may be mean and poor,
But if adorned with furniture
Selected with judicious taste,
The owner will not be disgraced.
And even so the humblest trade

Is high and honourable made

When all from LOVE to God is done,
And at HIS GLORY aimed alone.

"God created man in His own image, in

GEN. i. 27, 28. the image of God created He him. And said, Replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

I COR. vii. 20. "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called."

ECCLUS. xlii. 24, 25. "All things are double, one against another, and He hath made nothing imperfect. One thing establisheth the good of another, and who shall be filled with beholding His glory."

ECCLES. vi. 7. "All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled."