John Calvin Quotes
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Pagan philosophers set up reason as the sole guide of life, of wisdom and conduct; but Christian philosophy demands of us that we surrender our reason to the Holy Spirit; and this means that we no longer live for ourselves, but that Christ lives and reigns within us (Rom 12:1; Eph 4:23; Gal 2:20).
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There are people who are known to be very liberal, yet they never give without scolding or pride or even insolence.
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Angels transcend every religion, every philosophy, every creed. In fact Angels have no religion as we know it... Their existence precedes every religious system that has ever existed on Earth.
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Without the fear of God, men do not even observe justice and charity among themselves.
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It is only the goodness of God sensibly experienced by us which opens our mouth to celebrate His praise.
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Scripture points out this difference between believers and unbelievers; the latter, as old slaves of their incurable perversity, cannot endure the rod; but the former, like children of noble birth, profit by repentance and correction.
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Faith has to do with things that are not seen and hope with things that are not at hand.
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If we believe heaven to be our country, it is better for us to transmit our wealth thither, than to retain it here, where we may lose it by a sudden removal.
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It is a very important consideration that we are consecrated and dedicated to God; it means that we may think, speak, meditate, or do anything only with a view to his glory.
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The one condition for spiritual progress is that we remain sincere and humble.
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To know God as the sovereign disposer of all good, inviting us to present our requests, and yet not to approach or ask of him, were so far from availing us, that it were just as if one told of a treasure were to allow it to remain buried in the ground.
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We must resist wandering thoughts in prayer. Raising our hands reminds us that we need to raise up our minds to God, setting aside all irrelevant thoughts.
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Things that are seen are temporal; things that are unseen are eternal.
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Nobody seriously believes the universe was made by God without being persuaded that He takes care of His works.
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The word "hope" I take for faith; and indeed hope is nothing else but the constancy of faith.
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If people mean that man has in himself the power to work in partnership with God's grace they are most wretchedly deluding themselves.
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I have never seen either a drop of piety or a grain of truth or ingenuousness - nay, I have never found common sense in any Jew.
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Doctrine is not an affair of the tongue but of the life.
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We unjustly defraud God of his right, unless each of us lives and dies in dependence on His sovereign pleasure.
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The Lord has given us a table at which to feast, not an altar on which a victim is to be offered; He has not consecrated priests to make sacrifice, but servants to distribute the sacred feast.
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Now the great thing is this: we are consecrated and dedicated to God in order that we may thereafter think, speak, meditate, and do, nothing except to his glory. For a sacred thing may not be applied to profane uses without marked injury to him.
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Involvement in public life provides the opportunity to shape our manners in accordance with civil justice.
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Elisabeth, again, while she praises her, is so far from hiding the Divine glory, that she ascribes everything to God. And yet, though she acknowledges the superiority of Mary to herself and to others, she does not envy her the higher distinction, but modestly declares that she had obtained more than she deserved.
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The pastor ought to have two voices: one, for gathering the sheep; and another, for warding off and driving away wolves and thieves. The Scripture supplies him with the means of doing both.