John Calvin Quotes
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Seeing God hath thus set us at liberty, what rashness it is for worms of the earth to make new laws; as though God had not been wise enough.
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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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You cannot imagine a more certain rule or a more powerful suggestion than this, that all the blessings we enjoy are divine deposits which we have received on this condition that we distribute them to others.
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A man that extols himself is a fool and an idiot.
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The excellence of the Church does not consist in multitude but in purity.
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The world was no doubt made, that it might be a theatre of the divine glory.
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Unless we endeavor to do good to our neighbor, through our cruelty we transgress this law.
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The flesh is willing to flatter itself, and many who now give themselves every indulgence, promise to themselves an easy entrance into life. THus men practice mutual deception on each other and fall asleep in wicked indifference.
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Prayers will never reach God unless they are founded on free mercy.
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If God were not to test us, there would be no patience.
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For it was not after we were reconciled to him by the blood of his Son that he began to love us, but he loved us before the foundation of the world, that with his only begotten Son we too might be sons of God before we were anything at all.
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My heart I give you, Lord, eagerly and entirely.
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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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The surest source of destruction to men is to obey themselves.
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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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Faith is the evidence of divine adoption.
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Original sin, therefore, appears to be a hereditary, depravity and corruption of our nature, diffused through all the parts of the soul, rendering us obnoxious to the divine wrath and producing in us those works which the scripture calls 'works of.
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Even if this earth is only a vestibule, we ought undoubtedly to make such a use of its blessing that we are assisted rather than delayed in our journey.
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The true wisdom of man consists in the knowledge of God the creator and Redeemer.
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Mingled vanity and pride appear in this, that when miserable men do seek after God, instead of ascending higher than themselves as they ought to do, they measure him by their own carnal stupidity, and neglecting solid inquiry, fly off to indulge their curiosity in vain speculation.
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God orders what we cannot do, that we may know what we ought to ask him.
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Prayer is the chief exercise of faith.
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It would be the height of absurdity to label ignorance tempered by humility "faith"! (Institutio III.2.3)
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For our hearts are enfeebled by prosperity, so that we cannot make the effort to pray.