Now the tribute paid to the Romans had been a subject of great heartburning. It was the badge of subjection. Augustus, thirtythree years before, had caused the whole Empire to be laid under a poll tax, but Quirinus (or Cyrenius) had found the Jews so furious against it that he could not carry it out till after the death of Herod, and then there was a great rising against it under one Judas of Galilee. The tax was paid by every man in every conquered country who could not claim Roman citizenship, and went to maintain the Roman people themselves often in idleness, and it was viewed as a badge of subjection, and was a sign to the Jews that the "yoke of iron Iwas about their neck. As a matter of fact they could not reasonably doubt of the lawfulness of paying tribute to a heathen master, since they had done so (except for a very short space under the Asmoneans) ever since the time of Manasseh, and under their great prophets. But to say the tribute was right would have been most offensive to the turbulent people, who wanted our Lord to assume the kingdom, and to say it was wrong would have laid Him open to the charge of sedition against the Pomans. His reply was wonderful in the way it disconcerted the malice of His enemies, and at the same time laid down a great and general principle. He bade them bring a coin in common use. Whose were the stamp and legend? The Emperor's. The Emperor's money was in itself a proof that in State matters the country was the Emperor's. He who gave out coin to use had a right to demand a share of that coin. But all was said in the brief sentence, "Render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's." The earthly power must have its due from Christians. St. Peter and St. Paul expounded the "render unto Cæsar," with rules of life for the Christian as member of a state (1 Pet. ii. 13-17) :—

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;

Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:

As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

Honour all men.

Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

Such was the the lesson St. Peter had taken home, while St. Paul writes in his turn (Rom. xiii. 1—7) :—

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God : and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.

For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

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

For for this cause pay ye tribute also for they are God's ministers, attending continally 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.

But above all, if man has his due, let God have His. To the Jews the answer spoke of the desecration of the Temple. To us it speaks of the need that God should stand above all with us, and that what is God's, i.e.—our whole self, our hearts and minds, our ways and all else-should be His. The earthly law is obeyed for His sake. Man should have his due the more fully because God has His. Those who hold themselves God's own, and

strive to render to Him His due, never need to break into the sad cry, "Had I but served my God as I have served my king, He would not have forsaken me in my old age."

LESSON CV.

THE SADDUCEES' QUESTION

A.D. 30.-LUKE XX. 27-38.

Then came to him certain of the Sadducees, which deny that there is any resurrection; and they asked him,

Saying, Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man's brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

There were therefore seven brethren : and the first took a wife, and died without children.

And the second took her to wife, and he died childless.

And the third took her; and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children and died.

Last of all the woman died also.

Therefore in the resurrection whose wife of them is she? for seven had her to wife.

And Jesus answering said unto them, The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage :

But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:

Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.

Now that the dead are raised, even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto him.

They daily mistake my words,

All that they imagine is to do me evil.

They hold all together, and keep themselves close,

And mark my steps, when they lay wait for my soul.

Such had been the prophecy, and now even such foes as the Pharisee and Sadducee were united in laying snares for Him Whom they could not silence. The question prepared by the Sadducces would have angered and distressed any Pharisee in his usual state of mind by its endeavour to turn into ridicule the doctrine of the Resurrection, but all weapons were good to be used against that armour of proof of the Innocent One, "who had put on righteousness as a breastplate, and was clad with zeal as a cloak" (Isa. lix. 17).

It will be remembered that the sect of Sadoc had begun like the Stoic Greeks by declaring that virtue ought to be without view of reward, and that this had come to be a denial of the future life, and of all that was not in the Five Books of Moses. The question was founded on what was called the Levirate marriage, from levir, a brother-in-law. It was the common rule among all the Eastern nations that when a man died childless his wife should pass to the next brother, or nearest of kin, and that their first son should be

The

counted as the heir of the dead man instead of his real father. law, which is to be found in Deut. xxv. 8—9, regulated this habit, and a former law had forbidden marriage within these degrees, so so that in no other case were such marriages sanctioned.

But this was not the point of the question. What the Sadducees did was to suppose the almost impossible case of a woman who had married seven husbands all brothers, in succession, asking whose wife she would be in the next world. St. Mark adds the opening of our Lord's reply-" Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God?" (Mark xii. 24). It was their own wilful dulness and blindness to the Scripture and to all Divine truth that hindered them from seeing that no such difficulties could arise in a heavenly and spiritual world, where the life is that of angels. All the bodily inclinations that we share with the animals will then have ceased, and we shall be purified, refined, immortal, and equal to the ministering spirits round the Throne of God. That question of the Sadducees did in truth gain for us

some of the few hints God has vouchsafed us of how it will be with us in the unseen state, where each of us will be we know not how

soon.

Thereupon our Lord went on to prove to the Sadducees their error even from the Scriptures they did acknowledge. To Moses at the Burning Bush God proclaimed Himself as the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, as beings yet alive. though their bodies had lain in the cave of Machpelah two and three hundred years. He is not the God of the dead but of the living, and all these, all who have departed this life, are alive unto Him. It is an answer again that shows that our souls shall live in their separation from our bodies, even with the Resurrection, since "all live unto Him;" and that it will not be a sleep from death to judgment, but a conscious life unto God, as indeed it was with Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, and as St. John saw the great multitude whom no man could number standing in their white robes praising God and the Lamb.

LESSON CVI.

THE LAWYER'S QUESTION.

A.D. 30.—MATT. xxii. ; MARK xii. (collated).

But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,

Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord :

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and will all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth : for there is one God; and there is none other but he :

And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David?

For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son?

And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.

COMMENT.-Some of the Pharisees rejoiced in the discomfiture of the Sadducees, but the others only resolved upon another trial. A scribe as specially learned in the doctrine was selected to choose a question, and his inquiry was most cunningly devised, since to exalt one commandment at the expense of the rest would have been easily turned into an offence against the other commandments. But heavenly wisdom overcame every such futile attempt, and our Lord went back to the first principle of the whole law,