John Calvin Quotes
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Assuredly there is but one way in which to achieve what is not merely difficult but utterly against human nature: to love those who hate us, to repay their evil deeds with benefits, to return blessings for reproaches. It is that we remember not to consider men's evil intention but to look upon the image of God in them, which cancels and effaces their transgressions, and with its beauty and dignity allures us to love and embrace them.
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We can experience joy in adverse circumstances by holding God's benefits in such esteem that the recognition of them and meditation upon them shall overcome all sorrow.
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Without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God.
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In the maxims of the law, God is seen as the rewarder of perfect righteousness and the avenger of sin. But in Christ, His face shines out, full of grace and gentleness to poor, unworthy sinners.
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Without Christ, sciences in every department are vain....The man who knows not God is vain, though he should be conversant with every branch of learning. Nay more, we may affirm this too with truth, that these choice gifts of God -- expertness of mind, acuteness of judgment, liberal sciences, and acquaintance with languages, are in a manner profaned in every instance in which they fall to the lot of wicked men.
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Human will does not by liberty obtain grace, but by grace obtains liberty.
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Involvement in public life provides the opportunity to shape our manners in accordance with civil justice.
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No one will calmly and quietly submit to bear the cross except those who have learned to seek their happiness beyond this world.
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This is what entertainment is all about- idiots, explosives and falling anvils.
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I have not so great a struggle with my vices, great and numerous as they are, as I have with my impatience. My efforts are not absolutely useless; yet I have never been able to conquer this ferocious wild beast.
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To bear with patience wrongs done to oneself is a mark of perfection, but to bear with patience wrongs done to someone else is a mark of imperfection and even of actual sin.
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No one in this earthly prison of the body has sufficient strength of his own to press forward with a due degree of watchfulness, and the great majority of Christians are kept down with such great weakness that they stagger and halt and even creep on the ground, and so make very slight advances.
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Without the fear of God, men do not even observe justice and charity among themselves.
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If God were not to test us, there would be no patience.
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While all men seek after happiness, scarcely one in a hundred looks for it from God.
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When the Bible speaks, God speaks.
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Prayers will never reach God unless they are founded on free mercy.
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Prayer doesn't change things - God changes things in answer to prayer.
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We must not think that God takes no notice of us, when He does not answer our wishes: for He has a right to distinguish what we actually need.
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If everything proceeded according to their wishes, they would not understand what it means to follow God.
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Because I know that I am not my own master, I offer my heart as a true sacrifice to the Lord.
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God is undoubtedly ready to pardon whenever the sinner turns. Therefore, he does not will his death, in so far as he wills repentance. But experience shows that this will, for the repentance of those whom he invites to himself, is not such as to make him touch all their hearts. Still, it cannot be said that he acts deceitfully; for though the external word only renders, those who hear it, and do not obey it, inexcusable, it is still truly regarded as an evidence of the grace by which he reconciles men to himself.
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There is no place for faith if we expect God to fulfill immediately what he promises.
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In our good works nothing is our own.