II. _The_ MOTIVE _by which the Christian is to be actuated in the discharge of this duty._ Did the Christian look no higher than to his _worldly interests_, he would surely in these find a very powerful motive to comply with the exhortation in the text. Who can estimate the present blessing of a quiet and well ordered government? Who can tell what a privilege it is to be able, to sit, as many of us have done, in this hitherto happy land through a long series of years, "every one under his vine and under his fig-tree, no one making him afraid!" And who, on the other hand, can describe the horrors of a turbulent and disordered state of society? I would ask any well-disposed person, whether in the scenes of disorder and confusion which have prevailed around us for the last few weeks, he has not heard and seen enough to shew him the value of the precept, "Submit yourselves," &c. But these are not the grounds on which the submission of the Christian is founded--it is not from any consideration of mere worldly advantage that his motive to submission is drawn--the Christian has a _higher_ and _nobler_ motive to submission, and it is this which the apostle urges upon him in the text--"FOR THE LORD'S SAKE." _It is the command of him whom the Christian loves_--that he should submit. The Lord, to whom he owes his life with all its blessings, enjoins it; the Lord who came down from heaven, and "took upon him the form of a servant," "and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross," to "deliver him from the wrath to come," and to restore him to everlasting life and happiness, has commanded it; He who ever liveth interceding for him at the right hand of God, and who is continually procuring for him gracious supplies of his Spirit "to help his infirmities," and to enable him to "fight the good fight of faith," that he may "lay hold on eternal life;" He it is that says to him, "Submit to every ordinance of man." And can the Christian refuse the command of Him who has done, and continues to do, such great things for him? Must not the love he bears his Saviour constrain him to comply with his precepts? Can he think for a moment, that One who gave his life a ransom for him, would ever lay upon him a single command that was not conducive to his everlasting interests? No, brethren: if he has "tasted that the Lord is gracious," if he has felt any thing of his redeeming mercy, in blotting out his transgressions, and restoring him to that spiritual life, and that hope of everlasting life, which he had forfeited by the fall, he will no longer deem "his commandments grievous," but will count them "the joy and the rejoicing of his heart;" and finding this therefore among the number of them, he will be ready, with David, to say, "I delayed not, but made haste to keep thy commandments."[13]