But  to  say  that  civil  rulers  cannot  officially  and  legisla-
tively set  forth  the  claims  of  Christ,  of  His  truth  and  king-
dom, to  universal  acceptance,  without  resorting  to  such
compulsion,  is  to  contradict  reason  and  observation,  as  well
as  scripture.     To  say  that  civil  government  caimot  use  its


National  Duty  to  Christ.  319

moral  influence  alone,  for  any  purpose,  is  to  shut  our  eyes
to  as  plain  a  fact  as  that  the  sun  shines.  Even  in  political
matters,  it  often  uses  its  mere  moral  influence  with  nations
abroad,  and  with  its  people  at  home,  to  secure  the  adoption
of  sound  principles  and  courses  of  action,  in  cases  in  which
it  has  and  claims  no  power  to  enforce  its  counsels.  And
surely  what  civil  government  does  even  in  political  matters,
it  can  do  in  reference  to  those  higher  truths  and  interests
in  which  it  is  bound  to  take  the  deepest  concern.
If  a  national  testimony  on  behalf  of  peace  throughout  the
world,  as  against  the  guilty  designs  of  the  nations  that  are
arming  for  war,  if  such  a  testimony  can  be  nobly  borne  by
a  nation  like  this,  and  that  when  no  power  is  claimed  or  to
be  exercised  to  enforce  it,  on  what  ground  can  it  be  denied,
that  a  national  testimony  in  favour  of  the  truth  and  king-
dom of  Christ  may  be  borne,  without  exercising  or  claiming
any  power  or  right  physically  to  enforce  that  testimony.
That  witness-bearing  to  the  truth,  which  is  the  echo  of
Christ's  own  witness-bearing,  may  come  from  a  thousand  as
well  as  from  one,  and  from  millions  as  well  as  from  thou-
sands, and  from  the  collective  body  of  a  people  as  well  as
from  them  individually,  and  from  their  rulers  and  their  laws
as  well  as  from  themselves.
