248 THE KING'S MIRROR 



honor the king and show him due obedience; for he 

 commanded his apostle Peter to draw fishes up from 

 the depth of the sea and to open the mouth of the fish 

 that he caught first, and said that he would find a penny 

 there, which he ordered him to pay to Caesar as tribute 

 money for them both. From this you are to conclude 

 thatfit jsthe duty of every one upon earth to respect and 

 ' honor the royal title which an earthly man holds from 

 Godftfor the very son of God thought it proper to honor 

 the royal dignity so highly that he, to the glory of king- 

 ship, made himself subject to tribute along with that 

 one of his disciples whom he made chief of all his apostles 

 and gave all priestly honors. 



XLIV 



THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED 



Son. There remains one thing, which, as usual, I 

 shall need to have explained further, as it is not very 

 clear to me. You stated, and it seems reasonable, that 

 the king holds a title of high honor and dignity from 

 God Himself; but I do not see clearly why God made 

 Himself subject to the tribute of an earthly king; since 

 He must, it seems to me, be above all kings, seeing that 

 He rules the earthly as well as the heavenly kingdom. 



Father. That God Himself has honored earthly kings 

 you will observe from the fact that, when He came down 

 tp^ earth from the loftiest pinnacles of heaven, He re- 

 garded Himself as having come among men as a guest 

 and did not wish to claim a share in the earthly king- 

 ship, though he might have done so. But He fulfilled the 



