god’s view of rebellion. 11 said of this fierce despotic government to its subjects : “ They that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Another question now springs up in every American breast: “ What do you say, then, of the American Revolution ? Was that unjustifiable and wrong ?” By no means. That war is rightly called a revolution and not a rebellion. The British Government did not attempt to exercise its own authority over the American Colonies, but the British monarch endeavored to annul the British Constitution and Government as far as the Colonies were concerned. The Colonies rose to arms, not to inaugurate a new order of things (which is the object of rebellion), but to resist such a new order of things which the King of England wished to inaugurate. The Colonies stood by their time-honored legitimate Government, and never would have sought independence had not the British King actually withdrawn the British Constitution from them. There is no analogy between such a manly adherence to law by a whole people, and the secession of a portion of a nation from a righteous Government, in order to erect a new empire, antagonistic in its principles and position to the nation from which it secedes. Now, in the light of our text, let us seek the answer to two questions. 1. What is the duty of every Christian citizen in regard to this rebellion ? I reply, to stand by the side of Almighty God and denounce it utterly, and to uphold the Govern-
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4ODY=