is true that Jesus still submitted to an existing authority, albeit ecclesiastical rather than political, but even here according to the narrative, not altogether without certain limitations. At any rate, the illustration would far better serve as an argument for tithes than for taxes. But the whole incident reads quite as much as anything else like a rebuke for the over-zealous haste with which Peter promised to pay the temple tax. It is a most astonishing exegesis that finds in it an argument for freeing the clergy from taxation!
More distinct is the answer given by Jesus to the well meant boast of Pilate[1] that he had the power of punishing or acquitting: "Thou wouldst have no authority against me, except it were given thee from above." At the first glance it would appear as if these words are to be taken according to their historical interpretation, and so to commit Jesus to the theory of the divine right of kings, not to mention the whole mass of pusillanimity and casuistry known as the doctrine of Passive Obedience. But it seems somewhat strange to think of Jesus at this supreme hour setting forth a political theory. It is much more natural to regard these words as a part of his philosophy of providence.[2] They do indeed justify Pilate as a judge, and express submission to a government as to any fact of society, but they by no means make the right of kings any more divine than a myriad other rights. The song of Browning,
"God's in His heaven,
All's right with the world,"
would come far nearer expressing the attitude of Jesus than the sermons of Bishop Berkeley.
3. Nor when we pass from the search for definite statements to a consideration of the implications and the comparisons of the teachings of Jesus do we gain any more definite results. He frequently uses certain phases of royal life to illustrate his teachings: the kingdom of God in some respects he said was like a would-be king who had rebellious subjects;[3] or a king who gave a marriage supper to his son, only to find himself insulted;[4] or a king
