Toward A Christian Worldview - Faith Presbyterian Church Reformed

Chapter 2: Christianity and the Basic Elements of Philosophy
The Protestant work ethic also includes a proper understanding of
the Sabbath principle. Man is to work six days a week, but he is to
realize that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it
you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your
manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger
who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens
and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh
day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it”
(Exodus 20:10-11).
Sixth: The Rule of Law. According to chapter 19 of the Confession,
a righteous nation must establish legal principles which are
founded upon the Ten Commandments and the “general equity” of the
Judicial laws which God gave to Israel. All substantive law is to be
founded on the teaching of Scripture. It is also mandatory that the settled
laws of the nation be applicable to all persons, including leaders.
No one within the nation is above the law. This is the Puritan principle
of lex rex (“the law is king”), rather than rex lex (“the king is law”).
William Symington sums up the obligation of the nations to adopt
the law of God as their national standard as follows: {22}
It is the duty of nations, as the subjects of Christ, to take
His law as their rule. They are apt to think it enough that they
take, as their standard of legislation and administration, human
reason, natural conscience, public opinion, or political expediency.
None of these, however, nor indeed all of them together,
can supply a sufficient guide in affairs of state. Of course, hea-
22. William Symington, Messiah the Prince (Edmonton: Still Waters Revival
Books, 1990), 234-235.
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