religious sense, are the free, and who are the strangers? The free are the children, the tributaries are strangers. The Lord, it is certain, considered his followers as the children, and the mere worldly as strangers. Yes! it is the receivers and doers of Divine Truth, the faithful followers of Jesus, who are the free children of the land of promise; while mere world-loving men are as tributaries and strangers. The true followers of Jesus are those in whom faith, love, and obedience, make one;—these are the good, the wise, intelligent, the meek, the just, and the salt of the earth. In every well-regulated mind, the supreme affections and thoughts provide comforts and pleasures for the lower; while these in return pay the tribute, are obedient to, and serve the higher. Thus, to instruct us in this great truth, it was provided and effected that neither the Lord nor Peter should pay tribute, but a fish; by which is signified the external or natural man with all his science and knowledge.
The sea, as the boundary of the land, is a Scripture emblem, denoting the extreme boundary of human knowledge. In this mighty deep are contained all the living principles of science and human learning, which are represented by the fishes of the sea, and which connect us with the world and its multifarious forms. Every true science—the spiritual fish in the mighty deep of human knowledge—will be found, when its mouth is opened, or its doctrine explored, to contain within itself the tribute which it owes to true religion, and which it willingly pays at its holy shrine.
Religion teaches the existence of One God, and but One; who, as the central Sun of Righteousness, diffuses his love and wisdom impartially to all his
