PUBLIC SPIRIT 



his kind and dying for them if need is. Even 

 to Caesar we are to render what is his, never 

 grudging. The disaffection toward human 

 government which the church of the sec- 

 ond and the third century betrayed, lead- 

 ing some to identify the Roman empire 

 with Satan's kingdom, was not from but 

 diametrically opposed to Jesus Christ's 

 teaching. 



The Apostle Paul knows this. He 

 preaches that whoso resisteth the power 

 which then was the Roman power resist- 

 eth the ordinance of God; and he suits his 

 action to his doctrine. When pressed by 

 the bloodthirsty bigots of his race and re- 

 ligion, he appeals to Caesar. In Elisha's 

 creed, making religion holily secular, 

 prophet, apostle and Great Teacher agree. 



This view of righteousness is in our time 

 exceedingly rare. With many the church 

 is the only field of God's immediate activ- 

 ity. The state, society, the busy life of man- 

 kind, they despise as of trifling consequence 

 if not the devil's affairs out and out. Less 

 serious men are by this example confirmed 



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