Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 2 Complete John Calvin (continued)
HARMONY OF THE LAW · VOLUME 2
18. I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
18. Denuntio vobis hodie, pereundo peribitis, non prorogabitis dies super terram ad quam transmisso Jordane pergis, ut possideas eam.
19. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live;
19. Testor contra vos hodie coelum et terram, quod vitam et mortem proposui, benedictionem et maledictionem: deligas ergo vitam, ut vivas tu, et semen tuum.
20. That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him; (for he is thy life, and the length of thy days;) that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
20. Diligendo Jehovam Deum tuum, obediendo voci ejus, adhaerendo ei: ipse enim est vita tua, et longitudo dierum tuorum, ut habites super terram quam juravit Jehova patribus tuis, Abrahm, Isaac et Jacob se daturum illis.
1. And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come. He again confirms what we have elsewhere seen, that God never so severely afflicts His Church as not to be ready to return to mercy; nay, that by their punishments, however cruel in appearance, the afflicted, who were destroying themselves as if their hearts were bent upon it, are invited to repentance, so as to obtain pardon. Although, therefore, cause for despair is everywhere besetting them from the burning wrath of God, still he bids them take heart and be of good hope. Still, we must bear in mind what I have already shewn from the words of Moses, that reconciliation is not offered to all indiscriminately, but that this blessing exists by peculiar privilege in the Church alone; and this we gather also from the special promise, 278 I will visit their iniquities with the rod; nevertheless I will not take away my loving-kindness from them. Now, however, it must also be added, that this is not common to all who profess to be members of the Church, but only belongs 279 to the residue of the seed,
2 Samuel 12:14, 15; Psalm 89:32, 33.