Agreeable to this,
is that parallel text, _Eccles._ viii, 2, 3: "I counsel thee to keep the
king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God: Be not hasty
to go out of his sight; stand not in an evil thing." On the whole, it
must be a great abuse of Scripture, to wrest a divine precept, which
directs subjects to submit to such punishments as their lawful ruler
shall justly lay them under for their offenses, to the support of this
anti-scriptural notion, viz., that every wicked person, whom the
majority of a nation advances to the supreme rule, is the minister of
God, to whom obedience is due, under pain of eternal damnation, as is
done with this text.
A _third_ scripture, perverted to support the above principle, is _Luke_
xx, 25: "Render therefore to _Caesar_ the things which be _Caesar's_,
and unto God the things which be God's." From this, _Seceders_ imagine
strongly to fortify their cause. But, from a just view of the text, it
will appear, that the answer given by Christ contains no acknowledgment
of _Caesar's_ title to tribute, or of his authority as lawful.
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