dence. He does not claim Divine right for any particular form of civil government, as distinguished from others; but reminds us that the existing form of government in any country has been established under the permission, at least, of Divine Providence, so that it is the duty of Christians to yield obedience to the ruling power. Resting on these principles, the Apostle enforces on magistrates the just and firm exercise of the authority with which they are invested. They are to be 'a terror' to evil men, while they are to protect and encourage those who do good' (vers. 3, 4). It is the design of God that magistrates should throw a shield over the innocent and deserving, and guard them from lawless violence. And to enable them to do so, they are to be armed with power to punish the wrong-doer. The remarkable words, 'He beareth not the sword in vain,' imply that the sovereign authority may even take away life in those cases in which the law of God requires it; while they imply also, that the magistrate is bound to guard the rights of the innocent, by the actual infliction of appropriate punishment on the wrong-doer, and that to omit to do so would be unfaithfulness to his sacred trust. On the same principle, that civil government is an ordinance of God, St. Paul enjoins on subjects the general duty of submission to constituted authority, as a matter of conscience, and the particular duty of the payment of tribute. Magistrates, also, are to be held in honour for the sake of their office. 'Wherefore ye must needs be in subjection, not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For this cause ye pay tribute also: for they are ministers of attending continually upon this very thing. : God's service, their dues tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour' (vers. 5--7). Here it is instructive to mark how the principles of Christianity elevate all the ordinary duties of life. Even the payment of tribute is connected with a recognition of God, and derives from such a recognition increased importance. And it is instructive also to mark the wide range of the last charge of the Apostle-honour to whom honour.' He calls upon us to treat with deference and respect those who, in the providence of God, are placed in the higher and more influential positions of human society. The thoughtful Christian will, indeed, 'honour all men'; he will treat even the humblest and poorest with respect, recognising the high value of our common human nature; but he will also recognise, in his whole deportment, the claims of the higher relations and offices of human life, thus acknowledging HIM who has constituted these relations, and who watches over the varied interests of human society. CHAPTER VI. IN OUR DUTIES TO OURSELVES. addition to the duties which relate immediately to God, and those which we owe to our fellow-men, there is a third class which respects ourselves, involving the due regulation and control of the appetites, desires, affections, and powers of our complex nature. These are all comprised in the Scriptural term 'sobriety'; and they form an important branch of that moral excellence after which we should strive. It must not, however, be imagined that these duties affect ourselves only, so that if they are neglected or violated we ourselves are the only persons injured. The observance of them is one part of our duty to God; and if we disregard them we do Him wrong. He has formed us with certain powers of body and mind, the proper regulation and government of which are necessary to secure the end of our existence; and if we enfeeble or pollute ourselves by violations of sobriety, we cannot cherish devotion towards Him, or give to Him the energies of our minds. We frustrate, as far as in us lies, His purpose in giving us being. So, too, the maintenance of sobriety is essential to the right discharge of our duties towards our fellowmen. If we do not properly govern our appetites and desires, we shall invade the rights, and injure the happiness, of others, and diffuse misery in every relation in which we stand. Some of the most atrocious crimes that darken the records of human society have been committed under the influence of drunken excitement; and unchecked passion has, in many instances, hurried on individuals to acts of violence, the remembrance of which, if any sensibility is left, must embitter the whole remainder of life. The term 'sobriety,' as it is used in the New Testament, denotes universal self-government. It may be properly distributed into two branches. 1. It implies the due regulation and control of the appetites of the body. These are to be strictly confined within the positive limits which the Divine law has marked out; and even the lawful and permitted indulgence of them is to be characterised by moderation. Sense is never to be gratified so as to enfeeble the mind, or unfit us for our varied duties. One of the most glaring and fearful violations of this branch of duty is that which is popularly termed intemperance. Against this we have frequent warnings in the New Testament. 6 Be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit' (Ephes. v. 18). They that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet the hope of salvation' (1 Thess. v. 7, 8). But in addition to the passages in which this vice is specially denounced, there are others in which it is placed in combination with other violations of sobriety, and in which all these are represented as the unfruitful works of darkness,' works which shun, or ought to shun, the light, and which yield no return of satisfaction or peace, but on the contrary induce suffering and anguish. It will suffice to refer to the charge of St. Paul to the Christians at Rome:- "The night is far spent, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in revelling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof ' (xiii. 12-14). 2. Christian sobriety implies the proper government of the desires, affections, and powers of the mind. Several particulars comprehended under this general statement require special notice. (1) Every Christian is bound to cultivate the strictest chastity of thought and feeling. The imagination is not to be occupied with foolish, dissipating, licentious thoughts, but rather with images of purity and moral goodness. Our Lord Himself affirmed, in His Sermon on the Mount, that the command delivered on Sinai, Thou shalt not commit adultery,' forbids all licentious desires, and He enforced the truth, that the cherished desire of any sinful indulgence involves, in the sight of God, the guilt of that indulgence, and must expose us to its penalty (Matt. v. 27, 28). Nor did He pause here. By two remarkable figures, the plucking out of the right eye, and the cutting off of the right hand,-He called upon His people to turn away at once, and with a fixed and decided purpose, from that which would allure them to sin,—to sacrifice that which might be allowable in itself, if it became to them the occasion of stumbling,—and to submit to any self-denial rather than sin against God and ruin their own souls. (2) The Christian is called upon to guard against the intrusion of pride, and to 'gird himself with humility.' Pride, when viewed in its aspect towards God, appears base and wicked. The proud man practically forgets, if he does not even renounce, his dependence upon God. He glories in his own supposed excellences as if they were altogether his own, as if there were no Higher Power to which he is subjected, and from which whatever good he possesses has been derived. The feeling of pride, too, tends to corrupt the views of the man who indulges it on moral subjects, by making himself, to a great extent, the standard of excellence. And this feeling often exerts a most injurious influence on those who come within the circle in which the proud man moves. It tends to destroy domestic comfort, and is the prolific source of strife and misery in human society. But every Christian seeks to banish it from his heart, and then to watch against its insidious approaches. He will habitually remember his entire dependence |