We recoil with horror from the conduct of these men, and we could denounce their villainous treachery in no measured terms; yet is not their sin a common one? Have not wicked men in all ages sought to work out wicked purposes by calling Christ, Master, and rendering to Him the mere tribute of words? Is not this the veil by which tyrants conceal their unrighteous, despotic, plans, and the robe in which priestcraft and hypocrisy wrap themselves, in order to impose upon the credulity of men and gain their selfish ends? Is not this the

string of that demon bow, from which sectarian bigots shoot forth their arrows of calumny and anathema upon all beyond their narrow pale? When the vilest men of Christendom seek to perpetrate the vilest deeds, they are most tempted to eulogize Christ and to call Him Master.

III. HERE YOU HAVE WICKED MEN PROPOUNDING A CRAFTY QUESTION, IN ORDER TO GAIN THEIR WICKED PURPOSE. "Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Cæsar, or not?" Because Julius Cæsar was the first to achieve the position of Emperor of Rome, all his successors to the imperial dominion were called by his name. All in the line of Roman Emperorships were Cæsars. Tiberius was at this time on the throne, and he was a Cæsar. The tribute which the Romans exacted from Judea, in common with the rest of their conquered provinces, being excessively galling to Jewish pride, it became a much agitated question, whether it was consistent with the Mosaic laws to pay this tribute or not. Josephus relates that Judas, a Galilean, (Acts xxxvii. 5.) raised a revolt, partly on this account;saying that the taxation was no better than an introduction to slavery. It was this question, with collateral and aggravated circumstances, which aroused the Jews into the last fatal conflict with Rome.

Now mark the craftiness of their question. Nothing as far as they were concerned, could be better invented to entrap Christ in a dilemma from which He could not extricate Himself. He could not answer the question negatively or

affirmatively, without, to all appearance, involving Himself in fatal and overwhelming difficulties. If He answered

negatively, and said, It is not lawful to give tribute to Cæsar, He would incur the charge of sedition against the Roman power, and thus wake the crushing thunders of Rome against Him;-He would be tried, condemned, and executed as a political traitor. Thus His fate would soon be sealed. But if He answered in the affirmative, and said it was lawful for the Jew to pay tribute to Cæsar, He would rouse the vengeance of the Jewish nation against Him;—the Jewish Sanhedrin would soon convict Him as the transgressor of the law of Moses. (Deut. vii. 15.) Talk about intellectual cleverness! here it is. A question more sagely suggested, and more adroitly put for the purpose, you cannot conceive. Herodians and Pharisees alike wanted to crush Christ;to bring His life and influence to a speedy end, an end too which legal authorities would sanction; and what plan could they have hit on better than this? Wickedness and craft are often associated. Wickedness requires a clever, scheming, acute intellect to work out its purposes and to get on. It was by craft wickedness gained a footing first in our world, and by craft it has been working from that day to this.

IV. HERE YOU HAVE WICKED MEN OVERCOME IN THE PURSUIT OF A WICKED PURPOSE. "But Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?" &c. Christ did four things now, which not only baffled their intellects and confounded their projects, but must have touched their consciences also to the very quick. First: He detected their malignant motives. "Jesus perceived their wickedness." They could not impose upon Him. Solomon says, "In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird." Truly in vain do men spread their crafty nets before Omniscience. Christ's eye penetrated through all the covering with which they attempted to conceal their malignant designs. His all-piercing eye looked down into the deepest depths of their nature, and saw as in the light

of day every corrupt principle there at work. The craftiness of a devil's intellect cannot impose upon Him. He not only "knows what is in man," but "hell and destruction are before him."

"He disappointeth the devices of the crafty,

So that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
He taketh the wise in their own craftiness:

And the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.

They meet with darkness in the day-time,

And grope in the noonday as in the night."-Job. v. 12-14.

Secondly: He denounced their hypocrisy. "Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?" There is a spirit of invincible boldness in this appeal. The Pharisees and the Herodians, were influential parties in the state. In their antagonism to Christ, and their efforts to destroy Him, they were backed by the authorities of the country, and the spirit of their age. Christ knew this right well; yet no amount of hostile power could intimidate Him, or prevent Him from discharging His conscience. Though poor, lonely, despised, and with the world against Him, He was unconquerable in the energy within. He confronts these hypocrites, looks them in the eye, and sends His reproving glance through every fibre of their souls. There is a spirit of righteous indignation also in this appeal. Justice seemed to burn in these words. No evil seemed so abhorrent to the pure nature of Christ as hypocrisy. sight of it fired His spirit with holy antagonism. Against no evil did He fulminate more terrible denunciations. "Woes" against hypocrisy rolled from His lips in successive thunderbolts. (Matt. xxiii. 13-29.) Hypocrisy is sin in its worst form; it is sin becoming too hideous to show itself; sin stealing the garb of virtue, and thus daring to impose upon the credulousness of men, and to insult the Omniscience of heaven.

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Thirdly: He thwarted their intent. "Shew me," said Christ, "the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and su

perscription? They say unto him, Cæsar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's; and unto God the things that are God's." The "tribute money" was the coin in which the tax was paid; the penny being a Roman silver piece, of the value of sevenpence three farthings of our money. This coin always bore an image of the Emperor's head. It is said that Julius Cæsar first stamped his image on the coin, and that the custom originated in Persia. Christ drew His answer from the coin itself; the coin had the image and inscription of the Emperor, and was the current coin of the country, and therefore proved that they were subjects of Rome. Christ had the coin in His hand, He seemed to say to them, This proves that you are under the government of Rome ;therefore be loyal. He thus silences the seditious Pharisees, who were opposed to acknowledging their subjection to Rome, and adds a sentence that condemns also the irreligious Herodians, who were in favor of sacrificing their religion to their master. Thus He extricated Himself and confounded them. He plainly

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Fourthly He commanded their conscience. taught what must ever be clear to all unsophisticated consciences, that there is a line that divides the political from the religious, and that both have their respective claims,-between which there is no real opposition; and that the duty of man is to render a right attention to each. These are truths clearly taught in the scriptures. Render to all their dues. "Tribute to whom tribute is due. Custom to whom custom," &c.* The three Hebrew youths clearly recognised, and acted upon the distinction between the claims of Cæsar and the claims of God. And they said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter." So also did Daniel, when his Sovereign makes a command, that "Whoso shall ask a petition of any God or man, shall be cast into the den of lions." No sooner does Daniel hear that such a command is signed, than he enters his house, falls upon his knees, and prays three times a day as usual. The apostles * See Homily on Civil Government, Divine Institution, &c.

acted on the same principle. Standing before the authorities of their nation, they said, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.” And again, "We ought to obey God rather than men." "Let Cæsar's due be ever paid,

To Cæsar and his throne;

But conscience and souls were made

To be the Lord's alone."

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The principle which our Saviour thus enforced upon them, was so self-evidently reasonable, and just, that it bore down with a crushing weight upon their consciences. "And they marvelled, and left him, and went their way." Luke says, "And they marvelled at his answer, and held their peace.' Such is the result of this malignant and crafty attack of the Pharisees and Herodians upon Christ. Their iniquitous motives were detected, their hypocrisy exposed and denounced; their calculations were baffled, and their purposes thwarted. Their reason and their conscience so struck with the force of its truth, that they had no further word to say. They held their peace." Thus for ever it must be. "There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord." Prov. xxi. 30.

Germs of Thought.

SUBJECT:-The Unsearchable Riches of Christ.

"Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."—Eph. iii. 8.

Analysis of Homily the Five Hundred and Twenty-sixth.

RICHES of one kind or another are what every one either possesses, or desires to possess. This desire is an instinct of our nature; of our nature even before the fall. It is the perversion of this faculty that constitutes its evil; in its right exercise

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