nor is DUE TO THE SOLDIERS WHO [were] QUARTERED UPON THE PERSONS POYNDED [for] THE SAME.'

"15th October, 1684.— The Council appoints a proclamation to pass through this city, intimating to the hail inhabitants that are defective in payment of their Annuitie, from whom John Kinnear, collector, has poynded severall poynds, that they come to the said collector and relieve their poynds by payment of their bygaine Annuitie, betwixt and Martinmas next, certifying these that shall not relieve them, they shall be disposed upon by the collector, and they shall pay their Annuitie notwithstanding thereof.'†

"26th February, 1686. The Council appoints a proclamation to pass by tuck of drum through the citie, intimating to the whole inhabitants from whom the collector of the Anuitie has taken poynds, upon the amount of their deficiency in payment of their bygane Annuity, that they repair to the collector's office, within eight days after the said intimation, certifying such as shall fail in relieving of their poynds, within the said space, by payment of their bygane Annuity, the collector is to dispose upon the said poynds by rouping the same.” ‡—M‘Laren's History of the Resistance to the Annuity Tax, pp. 37-39.

NOTE XLI.

THE CORRELATIVE DUTIES OF GOVERNORS AND SUBJECTS, AND THE ETHICS OF TRIBUTE.

My readers will, I am persuaded, feel indebted to me for transferring from the ephemeral columns of a newspaper to, it may be, the not much more enduring pages of this work-the two articles bearing the above titles. The first is from the Birmingham PHILANTHROPIST; the second is from that Journal, which has been one of the ablest and most efficient promoters of the cause of civil and religious liberty in this country-The ScOTSMAN. Both are valuable; but, of the last, it is but justice to say, that so much important truth has very seldom been so clearly, and accurately, and forcibly stated, in so

* Records of the Town Council, vol. xxix. page 55. + Records of Town Council, vol. xxxi. p. 85.

Ibid. p. 289.

few and so well-chosen words. I believe it to be the production of my esteemed brother and friend, the Rev. W. L. ALEXANDER, pastor of the Congregational Church assembling in Argyle Square Chapel, in this city.

CORRELATIVE DUTIES OF GOVERNORS AND SUBJECTS.

"The Scriptures have treated this matter with such clearness and accuracy, that no one who is disposed to learn, and has the means of reading and considering his Bible, needs to be informed of any thing more than the places where to look. First, Let us state, that the submission to governors is required by Scripture in the most absolute manner, in all things which are not forbidden by God. 'Render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's,' is a maxim and command of the Saviour's. Yet he followed it by another as solemn and important, on the other side of the question. Render unto God the things which are God's.' It may not always be clear which is Cæsar's and which is God's: but wherever it is clear, Cæsar has no more right to God's, than the people have to Cæsar's.

"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers,' says the Apostle Paul: 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 (con)demnation.' Here is most clearly laid down, the most absolute submission to the powers that be, as far as their office goes. But the same apostle who wrote this to his disciples, was all his life engaged in preaching doctrines which were forbidden by the powers that be: and he died at last as a criminal against the laws of the 'powers that be.'

"When the apostles had received the authority from the Saviour to preach the gospel, they were frequently forbidden to do so by the powers that be;' and they persevered in opposition to these powers, unto death itself. The powers' were evidently in the wrong-since the apostles did nothing to excite confusion and tumult in the state, and only occupied themselves in teaching what, to say the worst of it, was harmless truth: and therefore they were not called upon by the necessity of the case to punish. The apostles did not resist,' but they did most unequivocally disobey' these 'powers,' and they have left their martyrdom behind them as a proof of their sincerity, and their governors' cruelty.

"When a government does wrong to us, we are required to submit rather than resist-but we may appeal and remonstrate, and try to

change the government, or have the perpetrators punished if there be any law to which we can appeal. When a government requires wrong from us, we have no occasion or right to consider the consequences. At all hazards, we must not do wrong."-Philanthropist— Voluntary Church Magazine for Jan. 1838, pp. 42, 43.

ETHICS OF TRIBUTE-PAYING.

"As considerable confusion of thought seems to pervade the minds of many respecting the moral aspect of tribute-paying, perhaps it may, at the present time, serve an important end to state a few leading principles on this subject. These may be comprised in the following propositions :

"1st, Tribute is that proportion of property which each individual in a community pays for the support of that government under which he lives.

"2d, This proportion every member of the community is morally bound to pay, because, first, It lies in the very nature of the civil relation that every subject should contribute (i. e. pay in tribute) his share towards the support of that government of which he reaps the benefits; and, second, God has expressly commanded us to be subject to the higher powers in this way, viz. by rendering to them tribute.

"3d, This moral obligation is not destroyed by the knowledge that many of the purposes to which government may apply the money thus contributed are improper and inexpedient; because all that in a moral point of view the subject has to do with, is the object for which the tribute is paid, and, where this is right in itself, the contributor is morally exempt from further inquiry into the uses to which his money may be put.

4th, The same moral obligation does not attach itself to the payment of taxes levied not for the support of government, but for the benefit of a particular class in the community; because, first, There is nothing in the civil relation to render it obligatory on the nation at large to pay for the advantage of a particular class; and, second, God expressly limits the general command to pay tribute, by the condition that it is to be paid only to those to whom it is due (Rom. xiii. 7), i. e. as the context shows, not to every one that asks it, nor to every one for whom the legislature may choose to ask it, but to those only to whom we owe it, viz. the government under which we live.

"5th, When a man, therefore, refuses to pay such a tax, he may

subject himself to certain legal penalties, but he commits no moral offence.

"6th, As a general rule, however, it is proper, both for peace's sake, and because it is a less evil, to pay a tax which we may deem unequal and unjust, than to suffer the legal penalties consequent on refusal, to pay what is demanded.

"7th, But this general rule is to be qualified by the condition, that the object for which the tax is levied be not directly opposed to thể will of God; in which case, we are not only not bound to pay it, but. bound not to pay it; for, as no act of the legislature can make it right to support what God has forbidden us to support, to pay such a tax would be to rebel against God, and become guilty of sin in his sight.

66

8th, We must distinguish between paying this tax, and respecting the authority by which it is levied. It is always our duty to do the latter; but sometimes our duty not to do the former.

66 9th, As every law proposes an alternative, by acquiescence, in either part of which the law is obeyed, and the authority of the lawgiver reverenced, the man who peaceably submits to the penalty of the law when his conscience forbids him to follow its prescription, as truly respects the law, and submits to the power, as the man who chooses the other part of the alternative.

10th, These principles admit of an easy and obvious application to the case of Dissenters, in regard to the annuity tax. Four things they establish on this head :-1st, No Dissenter is morally bound to pay this tax, for no tribute is due from him to the city clergy: he owes them nothing. 2d, As they occupy a position, and support a system, which the Dissenter believes to be contrary to the will of God, he cannot support that system without sin. 3d, As a subject, he is nevertheless bound to submit to the laws of his country. And, 4th, He can comply with both these conditions only by pursuing one course, viz. by peaceably submitting to the penalty of the law, while he resolutely and conscientiously declines to follow its prescription." -A.-Scotsman.

D d

NOTE XLII.

MR HALDANE'S OPINIONS RESPECTING CIVIL ESTABLISHMENTS OF RELIGION STATED BY HIMSELF AND DR ANDREW THOMSON.

From Mr Haldane having pronounced the author guilty of “rebellion against Christ," for not paying the tax imposed for the support of the Established clergy, it might be inferred by one ignorant of that gentleman's opinions, that he considered a tax by the civil government for the maintenance of the gospel ministry, one of the ordinances of Christ. But such an inference, however plausible, would be very remote from the truth.

Mr Haldane's views of civil Establishments of religion are thus given by himself—" Civil government cannot be a divine ordinance to regulate men in matters of religion and conscience-with these it has nothing at all to do.”—“ When the laws of man run counter to the laws of God, they cease from that moment, in as far as they do so, to be binding, and with the Apostles Peter and John, we may appeal to all Rulers, Elders, Scribes, and Priests, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.'”"The civil magistrate then, as such, has nothing to say in matters purely of a religious nature.”—“ I do not consider civil government to be an ordinance of God to man for religion:-the Holy Scriptures contain every rule of duty which in religion mankind are bound to observe. In the church of Christ, the civil magistrate as such can never, according to Scripture, under the New Testament dispensation, have any place. When he enters there, he must come not as a magistrate, but as any other disciple. He must submit to the rules already prescribed by Jesus Christ, and he must assume no pre-eminence or authority, from his official civil situation, over others, even the meanest slave upon earth."-" Not a hint is given in the word of God, that the regulation of any thing belonging to the churches of Christ, forms a part of the object of civil government; but, on the contrary, every thing is already settled and published in the Scriptures, respecting church communion and religious conduct, individually and collectively, to direct the Christian or Christian societies, by the paramount authority of God himself."

* Address to the Public, by Robert Haldane, concerning Political Opinions, &c.-2d Edit. 12mo. Edin. 1800. pp. 76, 97, 98.