A17698:2222
Sermons upon Deuteronomy
The sermons of M. John Calvin upon the fifth book of Moses called Deuteronomy faithfully gathered word for word as he preached them in open pulpit; together with a preface of the ministers of the Church of Geneva, and an admonishment made by the deacons there. Also there are annexed two profitable tables, the one containing the chief matters; the other the places of Scripture herein alleged. Translated out of French by Arthur Golding.The sermons of M. Iohn Caluin vpon the fifth booke of Moses called Deuteronomie faithfully gathered word for word as he preached them in open pulpet; together with a preface of the ministers of the Church of Geneua, and an admonishment made by the deacons there. Also there are annexed two profitable tables, the one containing the chiefe matters; the other the places of Scripture herein alledged. Translated out of French by Arthur Golding.
London: printed by Henry Middleton for George Bishop, 1583
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
So then, we have here the end of the Law that is set down here, and also the thing which the same commandeth. For like as God meant not that men should plead the seventh day, to the end they might be the better drawn to observe that feast, which was to gather men to God, and to cause them to rest in him: so meant he also concerning the seventh year: namely that the Jews should give themselves to upright dealing: insomuch that if it were not lawful to gather the fruits of the earth, and that the fruits which grew without tilth were common,1 so as the poor which had no possessions were partakers of them: it was much more reason that if a man were overpinched, he should not be pursued with rigour of Law. But in the year of Jubilee, which was every fiftieth year; there was a greater freedom, and such a one as extended much further.2 For if a man were in bondage, he was then made free, unless it were that he liked so well of his master, that he bound himself to be his slave for ever as long as he lived. Afterward, all possessions returned home again.3 True it is that the houses in Cities could not revert again, unless the sellers of them redeemed them within a year. But as for Farms, and other possessions in the country; the purchaser was to convey them back again at the fiftieth year, so as they returned home again to their former owners. And according to the nearness or farness of the year of Jubilee, men sold their possessions the dearer or the cheaper: insomuch that the lands so purchased were released again within thirty, twenty, or ten years after the purchasing of them. And of this dealing there was one special reason; which was that God having divided the Land of Canaan by lot, intended to have it continue in ⟨p. 574⟩that order for ever, to the end that mens possessions should not be intermingled together.
So then, we haue here the end of the Law that is set downe here, and also the thing which the same commaundeth. For like as God ment not that men shoulde pleade the seuenth day, to the end they might be the better drawen to obserue that feast, which was to gather men to God, and to cause them to rest in him: so ment he also cō cerning the seuenth yeare: namely that the Iewes shoulde giue themselues to vpright dealing: insomuch that if it were not lawfull to gather the fruites of the earth, and that the fruites which grewe without tilth were common,