Fear of God and King: A Double Duty United

My son, fear thou the Lord and the king.—Proverbs 20:21

The command establishes a double duty, yet one comprehended within the other. Fear here is a comprehensive notion encompassing all duties owed to Elohim principally, and to the king subordinately.

To fear God is to hold awful apprehensions of Him in our thoughts and walk carefully before Him in our actions. This fear forms the bottom of all true spiritual wisdom; it is the security against all other fears, a preservative against sin and wilful offence, and a good preparative for the peace and welfare of society by restraining minds within due limits of subjection.

To fear the king obligates us both in conscience to Elohim and out of interest to ourselves, for he is the public guardian upon whose well-doing the welfare of the whole community depends. The sum of all religion is to be as pure in holiness as peaceable in righteousness—ordering ourselves piously to God and obediently to the magistrate.

The interests of religion and policy are so nearly twisted together they cannot be severed without utmost hazard to both. Rebellion and schism go hand in hand. The way to maintain this fear is to forbear the company of restless folk—those iterantes (men who go over things again), variantes (who vary their course through all points), detractors who speak evil of dignities, and declinantes (stragglers who leave God's and the king's highway). Mark such men and observe the dangerous mixture of their fine parts and foul designs.