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Show UTTIE SERMON ETTES I I i BY THE PASTOIt. I ''jionder therefore unto Caesar tho things that aro Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's." We feel suro the readers of The Tribune have agreed with uh in tho truths taught and the seutimenta expressed in the texts which wo have heretofore chosen, whether they agreed with us in tho exposition of' tho texts or not. But with this text we aro quite sure i there are somo who hold contrary views i to those of the Christ. The (jucs'tioii today, to-day, with many people, is the same as it was two thousand vears ago: -'Is it lawful to pay tribute or noti" The' Christ did not go into a judicial discussion dis-cussion of the case, but let tho querists ' nuswer their own question. -'Lot mo j see a picco 6f your money," said the I Christ. "When the mone was handed to him he asked, "Whose image and superscription super-scription is this?" They said, " Caesar Cae-sar :s." That was a most fatal answer. He did hot ask ihom what that meant for he was aware that they well knew tliat it meant that Caesar's government furnished their medium of exchange; that tho government guaranteed the value of it; that it meant that the Uo- man government stood for tho protce- ! (ion of the life and liberties of thono whoso privilege; it was to use that government's gov-ernment's medium of exchange. What else could any one expect than to contribute toward the maintaining of that which guaranteed those things nee-essarj nee-essarj lo their life and happiness, aud which Ihey were helpless to provide for. themselves as individuals, and, also, as a province. An army was maintained for the protection of the life and rights of citizenship; as well as for wars of ; territorial acquisition. ' What was true of governments in their attitude to their subjects two I thousand years ago is true in a larger sense today. The government that guarantees guar-antees to iis life, liberty and protection j in our pursuit of happiness, protecting our property and furnishing us with j a safe medium of exchange, with au , army of officers as well as soldiers to I carry out the legitimate demands of the I people, is entilled to receive coutribu- tions from us in the form of taxes or of tribute, with which to keep up the necessary expenses of the government. Now who of tho readers of The Tribune will disagree with the proposition proposi-tion of the Christ that men should render ren-der to their government that which is due for the rights guaranteed and maintained main-tained by it ? Citizenship in this republic of ours is a glorious heritage, and should be prized at its full worth, if indeed we may comprehend its full worth. Citizenship Citi-zenship is also a sacred trust, and every ev-ery oue enjo3'iug this citizenship should faithfully 'keep this trust and guard with jealous care his citizenship. Obedience Obe-dience .to law. whether it be the requirement re-quirement to pay taxes, or tle laws governing gov-erning the domestic and social relations, rela-tions, is the first, essential of good government. gov-ernment. " Bender therefore unto Caesar tho things that are Caesar's." , 6 'Thus far so good. - But why pay tribufo to God or render to him anything?" any-thing?" Here again we find many people peo-ple who maintain that they are under no obligation to God for anything which they have or enjoy. If they could be convinced that God had any title in them; if ho could establish his nwriorship, then indeed would they acknowledge ac-knowledge their allegiance to him. The Roman money had the imago of Caesar J stainped upon it, which determined its ownership. Alan has the image of God stamped upon him. The Bible tells us that God created man in his own imago and likeness. The trouble with so. many people is thev cannot see the image, possibly because they aro blinded, but tho image cannot be seen in mairy from the fact that the image has been so blurred br si that it is scarcely traceable. But that image is there and vou. iny brother, have that image hidden" hid-den" nwny somewhere, if it is not out to public gaze. w Henry "Van Dyke tells a beautiful slorv of the discovery of one of the most beautiful faces of Danto upon tho walls of the Bargello, at Florence. For vears the picture was supposed to have been destroyed. Tradition .told of its wonderful beauty, but no one could tell where it was. Some said it had been stolen; others said it had been destroyed. An Italian artjst determined deter-mined if possible to find it, and began the search. He went to the place where trad'tion sa'd it was nnd there sought the building in the most likely location. He selected his building and began his search from room to room. Finally ho came to a room that, in his judgment, would be most likely to contain the picture, pic-ture, but the room was full of rubbish and the walls wore covered with dust and smoko and grime and coats of w h i t e w a sh. He cleared the room nnd . I vm began tho work of cleaning the walls. IH Carefully he worked, live and bvo ho began lo see n dim outline of a face jH and soon he was rewarded with the de- tH velopmeut of the entire picture. The Bible' tells uk, tradition tells us, jH our own nature tells us. of the image of God stamped upon man. In our own experience, underneath the dust, and fl smoke, and grime, and whitewash of sin and evil we have discovered the like-iiess like-iiess of tho divine in our own life, and in our search for u innn we havo found IH many where that image has been dia- IH covered and restored. You havo ob- served a few. We believe there is good JH in every one. a serine of moral obliga- tM tion. It may be hidden away entirely IH out of sight, but dowu deep in the heart it may be found. And what wo want more than anvlhing else is to bring it out. Like the Italian artist. IH so the Christ came into the world to ll find the image of his Father, and after a most trying search and toilsome en-dcavor en-dcavor he found that image in every humau heart, and has in many, many cases restored it, if; its former beauty with the exception of now and then a. scar caused by the eorosiveness of siu. IH Surely ever3' one must acknowledge this, nnd in the acknowledgment of it wo arc put under obligation to ''"ren- IH dcr unto God the things that aro God 's. ' ' With the most of us that image is blurred enough as it is nnd iH yet we see men every day doing that which adds lo its defacement and ob-scuritv. ob-scuritv. u H We arc all dependent, upon God for life and yet there are many who will not acknowledge it. We are dependent upon God for the air that we breathe, for the water that we. drmk, for tho food that we eat and for his protecting care a thousand times and a thousand ways, aud yet how few acknowledge it. JBa We are dependent upon God through IBb the Christ for the complete restoration IBb of that image, and yet men go on de- facing it. rWhat shall I render unto HBV God for all his benefits to me? I will IHI take tho cup of salvation and praise HBV tho name of the Lord." HVJ |
