I counsel thee to keep the king’s commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God.
The counsel is to keep the ruler's command out of regard for an oath made before God. The divine oath is a solemn and sacred bond. It binds the citizen to loyalty and the magistrate to fidelity and faithful duty.
Those who urged a religious amendment applied this oath to the national Constitution. They claimed the Constitution lacked an oath binding citizens to loyalty and magistrates to fidelity. They used that claimed absence to argue for religious amendments and for Sunday laws. The Constitution was understood to require no such oath and to establish no religious observance. To amend it to enforce Sunday observance would make civil government impose a religious duty.
The counsel is to keep the ruler's command out of regard for an oath made before God. The divine oath is a solemn and sacred bond. It binds the citizen to loyalty and the magistrate to fidelity and faithful duty.
Those who urged a religious amendment applied this oath to the national Constitution. They claimed the Constitution lacked an oath binding citizens to loyalty and magistrates to fidelity. They used that claimed absence to argue for religious amendments and for Sunday laws. The Constitution was understood to require no such oath and to establish no religious observance. To amend it to enforce Sunday observance would make civil government impose a religious duty.