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Calvinism: The Origin and Safeguard of our Constitutional Liberties

Courtesy of the Hultink Family Foundation, the Cántaro Institute is now the new home for the Reformational Digital Library (formerly known as the Reformational Publishing Project). All rights reserved.

Document: Abraham Kuyper, The Bibliotheca Sacra: Calvinism: The Origin and Safeguard of our Constitutional Liberties (1895).

Excerpt: The ability of a plant to live depends on the root from which it springs. He who would guarantee our liberty to us should know where it originated and be able to tell whence it came. This requires a simple knowledge of history; hence the character of this paper is purely scientific. Our field of inquiry is determined by general and well-known facts. It needs no proof at our hand, that in comparison with Europe liberty has no name in Africa or Asia. In Europe no one will look for the cradle of liberty in Russia or in Turkey, in Spain or Austria. Our Calvinists call themselves anti-revolutionists. How are we to understand this term? Is it right that this tendency be identified with the Prussian party of Stahl or the ultramontanic world party? In one way it certainly is. When the question is put: Whether the state can flourish without the root of the faith, our answer is the same with theirs.

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The Bibliotheca Sacra: Calvinism: The Origin and Safeguard of our Constitutional Liberties – A. Kuyper.pdf