John Calvin Quotes
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Though Satan instils his poison, and fans the flames of our corrupt desires within us,we are yet not carried by any external force to the commission of sin, but our own flesh entices us, and we willingly yield to its allurements.
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The fact that the evil ones, as long as they live, can be corrected from their errors does not prohibit that they may be justly executed, for the danger which threatens from their way of life is greater and more certain than the good which may be expected from their improvement.
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But we have nothing of the Spirit except through regeneration. Everything, therefore, which we have from nature is flesh.
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Scripture will ultimately suffice for a saving knowledge of God only when its certainty is founded upon the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, these human testimonies which exist to confirm it will not be vain if, as secondary aids to our feebleness, they follow that chief and highest testimony. But those who wish to prove to unbelievers that Scripture is the Word of God are acting foolishly, for only by faith can this be known.
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God works in his elect in two ways: inwardly, by his Spirit; outwardly, by his Word.
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When we hear any mention of our mystical union with Christ, we should remember that holiness is the channel to do it.
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I exhort all, who reverence the Word of the Lord, to read it, and diligently imprint it on their memory.
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How do we know that God has elected us before the creation of the world? By believing in Jesus Christ.
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Those who fall away have never been thoroughly imbued with the knowledge of Christ but only had a slight and passing taste of it.
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The name of Christ excludes all merit of our own.
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The whole world is a theatre for the display of the divine goodness, wisdom, justice, and power, but the Church is the orchestra, as it were—the most conspicuous part of it; and the nearer the approaches are that God makes to us, the more intimate and condescending the communication of his benefits, the more attentively are we called to consider them.
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After 50 years, is it not clear that God has raised up new illnesses connected with fornication? From where do these things come if not from the hand of God? In response to these diseases. The world was astounded, and people were terrified for a time, but they have not, to this day, observed the hand of God.
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He makes this favor common to all, because it is propounded to all, and not because it is in reality extended to all; for though Christ suffered for the sins of the whole world, and is offered through God’s benignity indiscriminately to all, yet all do not receive him.
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The Lord commands us to do good unto all men without exception, though the majority are very undeserving when judged according to their own merits. But scripture here helps us out with an excellent argument when it teaches us that we must not think of man's real value, but only of his creation in the image of God to which we owe all possible honor and love.
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We are nowhere forbidden to laugh, or be satisfied with food...or to be delighted with music or to drink wine.
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Satan is an astute theologian.
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Holiness is not a merit by which we can attain communion with God, but a gift of Christ, which enables us to cling to him, and to follow him.
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But a most pernicious error widely prevails that Scripture has only so much weight as is conceded to it by the consent of the church. As if the eternal and inviolable truth of God depended upon the decision of men!
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If we are proud of our talents we betray our lack of gratitude to God.
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Now among the other things proper to recreate man and give him pleasure, music is either the first or one of the principal;and we must think that it is a gift of God deputed for that purpose'.
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Surely in Judas' betrayal it will be no more right, because God both willed that his Son be delivered up, and delivered him up to death, to ascribe the guilt of the crime to God than to transfer the credit for redemption to Judas.
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Every person, on coming to the knowledge of himself, is not only urged to seek God, but is also led as by the hand to find Him.
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Angels are the dispensers and administrators of the divine beneficence toward us.
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Those little children have not yet any understanding to desire His blessing; but when they are presented to Him, He gently and kindly receives them, and dedicates them to the Father by a solemn act of blessing.