Friday, August 5, 2011

Calvin Had 21st Century America in Mind

"I told you at that place [a sermon on Deuteronomy 19:14] that if a man's lands are not kept secure, no man will be master of his own possessions, but all will go to spoil and chaos. And surely the maintenance of just weights and measures, of lawful money, and keeping boundaries unchanged, are things that are universally acknowledged. How can men buy and sell, or engage in any trade at all if the coin is not lawful? Again, if weights and measures are falsified, we shall be cheated. What purpose will justice serve any more? And we can say the same for boundaries and landmarks. So then, under this saying [Deuteronomy 27:17] God intended to show that it was necessary for us to observe equity and uprightness in dealing one with another." (John Calvin, Sermon on Deuteronomy)

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Let the saints be joyful in glory, let them sing aloud on their beds, let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind the kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron. Psalm 149:5-8