itutions. (1 Pet. ii. 13-17;
Rom. xiii. 1-7; 1 Tim. ii. 1-4.) It is God's institution. He sustains
it; He, through the ruler, claims your tribute; the result, the order
and progress of society, is His work. Innocent III. was right, though in
a sense of which he little dreamed. The moon has its own relation to the
earth; but they have a common relation to the sun. The moon's orbit is
included in the earth's orbit; but the sun sways and balances both of
them, and there is not a movement of the moon in obeying the inferior
earthly attraction which is not also an act of obedience to the superior
sphere. So God has set us under rulers, in societies, as a kind of
interior province of His kingdom; but our loyalty as subjects, our duty
as citizens, are alike part of the one duty which we owe to God. There
is no schism in the body of our service, no double authority in our
Lord's realm. The two worlds, the two services, the two spheres, are one
in Christ. "_One is your Master, even Christ._" "_Thou shalt worship
Him, and Him, only shalt thou serve._"

2. It is needful to inquire how far this principle of obedience is to
carry us.

If the money has Caesar's image and superscription, let him have it; he
has a right to it, and in recognising that right we are fulfilling so
far our duty to God. Here is a clear and simple principle: but is it a
sufficient guidance? does it provide for all the possible exigencies of
social and political life? How about the right of resisting Caesar, when
he rules unrighteously? How about John Hampden's refusal of the
ship-money, and the grand and glorious struggle which it inaugurated, by
which our liberties were won? This is a very grave and important
question, and one which, having voluntarily selected such a subject as
this, we have no right to pass by. There is a Divine precedent here. (1
Kings xii. 12-24.) What is it which is ordained of God in government?
Not any particular king, nor any particular form or institution, but the
good of men in the order of civil society. This it is at which God aims,
and to this end kings and institutions are His ministers. The king or
institution which may best assure this end is the open question in the
settlement of which God demands the concert and co-operation of mankind.
Every king, every magistrate, every political institution, has a certain
Divine sanction, inasmuch as it is the keystone of the arch which He has
built, and under whose sheltering dome we l