by any one who can suppose that they meant to be understood by the Roman magistrates as merely disclaiming all interference with civil government, till they should become numerous enough to enforce the claim ;-all resort to secular coercion in religious matters, till they should have strength to employ it effectually ;all political monopoly, till they should be in a condition to maintain it by a strong hand.

Jesus then it is plain, when He said "My kingdom is not of this world" could not have meant to be understood as implying that it should be so hereafter.

hidden

our Lord's

tion.

§ 11. But had He then some hidden meaning, Supposed which He did not intend to be understood at the meaning of time? Did He design to convey one sense to declarathe Roman governor, and another to his own disciples?—to reserve for his followers in future times, that power to enforce the acknowledgment of his gospel, which He pretended to disclaim.

It seems almost too shocking even to ask such a question: and yet it is but too true, that such, in substance, (however glossed over in words) must be the meaning attributed to our blessed Lord by those who would reconcile his declarations before Pilate with that which they represent as the right and the duty of every Christian

Governor. "The magistrate" they say (I am giving the very words that have been employed) "who restrains, coerces, and punishes any one who opposes the true faith, obeys the command of God:" and they contend that a Christian Governor is not only authorized, but bound, to secure to the professors of the true faith a monopoly of political power and civil rights. Now, to reconcile such doctrines with the declarations of Christ and his Apostles, a meaning must be attributed to those declarations which it would have been madness for them to have avowed at the time ;-in short, a hidden meaning.

It is recorded of an ancient king of Egypt,one of the Ptolemies-that he employed a celebrated architect to build a magnificent LightHouse, for the benefit of shipping, and ordered an inscription in honour of himself to be engraved on it: the architect, it is said, though inwardly coveting the honour of such a record for himself, was obliged to comply; but made the inscription on a plaster resembling stone, but of perishable substance: in the course of years this crumbled away; and the next generation saw another inscription, recording the name, not of the King, but of the architect, which had been secretly engraved on the durable stone below.

of a double

Now, just such a device as this is attributed Dishonesty to our Lord and his Apostles by those who meaning. believe them to have designed that secular power should hereafter be called in to enforce the Christian Faith, though all such designs were apparently disavowed, in order to serve a present purpose. According to such interpreters, "My kingdom is not of this world," was only an inscription on the perishable plaster: the design of " coercing and punishing" by secular power all opponents of the true faith, was, it seems, the engraving on the stone beneath. "Render unto Cæsar the things that be Cæsar's,' was but the outward part of the inscription; the addition was an inner hidden engraving, directing that Christians, when become strong enough, should compel both Cæsar and his subjects,all Rulers and all citizens-either to acknowledge the true faith, or to forfeit their civil rights. It was the outside inscription only that ran thus, “ Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man ;* * * the powers that be, are ordained of God:" the secret characters on the stone said, "Take care as soon as possible to make every ordinance of man submit to you," and to provide that none but those of your own Body shall be in authority; and that they shall use that authority in enforcing the profession of your religion.

It might seem incredible, did we not know it

Impiety of attributing doubledealing to

to be the fact, that persons professing a deep reverence for Christ and his Apostles as heavensent messengers, should attribute to them this double-dealing ;-should believe them to have secretly entertained and taught the very views of which their adversaries accused them, and which they uniformly disclaimed: that the blessed Jesus Himself, who rebukes hypocrisy more strongly than perhaps any other sin, should be regarded by his professed followers as having pretended to disavow that which was his real design, and which He imparted to his Apostles; teaching them in like manner to keep the secret till they should be strong enough to assert the political supremacy of the Gospel, and to extirpate, or hold in subjection as vassals, all professors of false religions.

All this I say, might seem hardly credible, did not daily experience show us how easily (not our Lord. only in this but in other cases also) even intelligent men are satisfied with the slightest pretences of argument-with the most extravagant conclusions when they are seeking not really for instruction as to what they ought to do, but for a justification of what they are inclined to do. Such a bias of inclination, is like the magnet which is said to have been once secretly placed near a ship's compass, by a traitor who purposed to deliver the crew into the enemy's hands. All

their diligence and skill in working the ship and steering by this perverted compass, served only to further them on the wrong course.

Without presuming to pronounce judgment on the general moral character of others, I cannot forbear saying, for myself, that if I could believe Jesus to have been guilty of such subterfuges as I have been speaking of, I not only could not acknowledge Him as sent from God, but should reject Him with the deepest moral indignation.

How far this indignant disgust may have been excited in the breasts of some who have taken for granted, on the authority of learned and zealous divines, that the interpretation I have been reprobating is to be received, and who may in consequence, have rejected Christianity with abhorrence, it is for those who maintain such an interpretation carefully to consider.

arguments

generally

men.

§ 12. It is in many respects important to Fallacious observe and to keep in mind, to how great an adduced by extent both our obliquity of moral judgment, intelligent and a deficiency in the reasoning-powers, will often affect, on some one or two particular points, a man who may be, on the whole, and in other points, where his particular prejudices have not gained dominion, a person both morally and intellectually above the average. In the present