Christian Voting Responsibilities

The following paragraph (sentences separated for readibility) is from Messiah the Prince or, The Mediatorial Dominion of Jesus Christ by William Symington, D.D., 1884 Edition, Chapter VIII The Mediatorial Dominion Over the Nations, Part Three: Moral and Religious Qualifications:

"But is it to be supposed that the people, who are invested with the right of election, are left without all control in the exercise of this right; that they are at liberty, acting from mere prejudice, self-interest, or caprice, to choose whom they will; and that the objects of their choice are forthwith, in consequence of being so chosen, invested with lawful and indisputable authority?

So far from this being the case, the people are bound to use their elective power discreetly and wisely; they are under obligation to fix upon men posessed of qualifications fitting them for office; nor are they themselves constituted the sole judges of what these qualifications may be.

God has given them in his Word a supreme rule of direction, in which the character of civil rulers is described, and only such as seem to them to be posessed of this character are they at liberty to appoint.

If the people were under no restriction of this nature, it is fearful to think of the consequences that would ensue.

As the power of the magistrate is not an absolute power which he is at liberty to employ as he chooses, so neither is the right of the elector an absolute right which he is at liberty to exercise as he chooses.

Both the one and the other are placed under the limiting control of the Divine Law; and it is only when they are used according to this law that they are used aright."