se, and occasions the ruler's
spirit justly, and so not sinfully, to rise against him--thus, one may
be guilty of many criminal mismanagements in the discharge of his public
trust, guilty of profaning the name of God or his day, or of riot,
excessive drinking, &c, without having any thought of casting off the
authority of his ruler--so, when a person has hereby provoked the spirit
of his ruler, this divine precept teaches the party offending not to
aggravate his offense, by attempting (though able) to make good his
part, or rebel against his sovereign, but to yield, acknowledge his
guilt and trespass, and submit to such punishments as the lawful ruler
shall justly inflict, according to the degree and quality of the
offense; whereby only, the ruler will be satisfied. 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. It is
beyond doubt, that the question was captious, and that the design of the
Scribes and Pharisees, in proposing it to Christ, was to have him
ensnared in his words. This they thought themselves sure of, whether he
should answer positively or negatively. For if positively, and so
recognize and acknowledge _Caesar's_ title, then they would have
occasion to accuse him to the people, as an enemy to the laws, liberty
and honor, of the _Jewish_ nation. This is evident from ver. 26: "And
they could not take hold of his words before the people." And then, if
he should deny that it was lawful, t