John Calvin Quotes
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Wherefore all theology, when separated from Christ, is not only vain and confused, but is also mad, deceitful, and spurious; for, though the philosophers sometimes utter excellent sayings, yet they have nothing but what is short-lived, and even mixed up with wicked and erroneous sentiments.
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Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God's majesty.
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The human heart is a factory of idols...Everyon e of us is, from his mother's womb, expert in inventing idols.
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Because the will renewed is the Lord's work, it is wrongly attributed to man that he obeys prevenient grace with his will as attendant.
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Nothing is more dangerous than to be blinded by prosperity.
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I gave up all for Christ, and what have I found? Everything in Christ.
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We are not to reflect on the wickedness of men but to look to the image of God in them, an image which, covering and obliterating their faults, an image which, by its beauty and dignity, should allure us to love and embrace them.
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There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.
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Scripture is like a pair of spectacles which dispels the darkness and gives us a clear view of God.
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For what is idolatry if not this: to worship the gifts in place of the Giver himself?
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The more closely we see ourselves being watched by our enemies, the more time intent we should be to avoid their slanders.
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Unless God's Word illumine the way, the whole life of men is wrapped in darkness and mist, so that they cannot but miserably stray.
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All men were created to busy themselves with the labor for the common good.
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For it is better, with closed eyes, to follow God as our guide, than, by relying on our own prudence, to wander through those circuitous paths which it devises for us.
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The more we are oppressed by the cross, the fuller will be our spiritual joy.
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The Scriptures obtain full authority among believers only when men regard them as having sprung from heaven, as if there the living words of God were heard.
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If a preacher is not first preaching to himself, better that he falls on the steps of the pulpit and breaks his neck than preaches that sermon.
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The invention of the arts, and other things which serve the common use and convenience of life, is a gift of God by no means to be despised, and a faculty worthy of commendation.
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God promised by the mouth of Isaiah that queens should be the nursing mothers of the church.
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Those who set up a fictitious worship, merely worship and adore their own delirious fancies; indeed, they would never dare so to trifle with God, had they not previously fashioned him after their own childish conceits.
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All things being at God’s disposal, and the decision of salvation or death belonging to him, he orders all things by his counsel and decree in such a manner, that some men are born devoted from the womb to certain death, that his name may be glorified in their destruction.
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It having been said above that God bends all the reprobate, and even Satan himself, at his will, three objections are started. First, that this happens by the permission, not by the will of God. To this objection there is a twofold reply, the one, that angels and men, good and bad, do nothing but what is appointed by God; the second, that all movements are secretly directed to their end by the hidden inspiration of God.
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Without the Gospel everything is useless and vain.
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Can true repentance exist without faith? By no means. But although they cannot be separated, they ought to be distinguished.