How Did John Calvin's Form Of Government

John Calvin’s theories about government, which helped lay the foundations for the development of constitutional monarchies and democracies, were based, in large part, off of an aristocratic form of government. He believed that it was better for several men to govern and rule a nation, with the understanding that they are all of equal status, than for one man to have absolute power and make his people subject to his every whim. As Calvin states in his Institutes of the Christian Religion: “Owing, therefore, to the vices or defects of men, it is safer and more tolerable when several bear rule, that they may thus mutually assist, instruct, and admonish each other, and should [anyone] be disposed to go too far, the others are censors and masters to curb his excess.” (Calvin, Instit. 4.20.8)
To prove his point, Calvin exemplified the governmental structure of the Israelite nation up until King David’s reign. He also emphasized that God put them under one form of government, according to His plan for the Israelites, then He put them under a monarchical government to prepare them for the coming of Christ, several centuries later. “This has already been proved by experience, and confirmed also by the authority of the Lord himself, when he established an aristocracy bordering on popular government among the Israelites, keeping them under that as the best form, until he exhibited an image of the Messiah in David.” (Calvin, Instit. 4.20.8) In conclusion, Calvin firmly believed that a nation, must submit to its ruler, be he good or bad, for that is the authority that God but over the nation, and all God does will work out for good. As Calvin puts