John Calvin Quotes
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So great and boundless is God's wisdom that he knows right well how to use evil instruments to do good.
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But the present life should never be hated, except insofar as it subjects us to sin, although even that hatred should not properly be applied to life itself.
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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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Prayers belong strictly to the worship of God. Fasting is a subordinate aid, which is pleasing to God no farther than as it aids the earnestness and fervency of prayer.
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Where is our acknowledgement of God if our thoughts are fixed on the glamour of our garments?
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There is also an old proverb, that they who pay much attention to the body generally neglect the soul.
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When we come to a comparison of heaven and earth, then we may indeed not only forget all about the present life, but even despise and scorn it.
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True faith is ever connected with hope.
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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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The happiness promised us in Christ does not consist in outward advantages-such as leading a joyous and peaceful life, having rich possessions, being safe from all harm, and abounding with delights such as the flesh commonly longs after. No, our happiness belongs to the heavenly life!
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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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All truth is God's truth.
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Against the persecution of a tyrant the godly have no remedy but prayer.
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When we see that the whole sum of our salvation, and every single part of it, are comprehended in Christ, we must beware of deriving even the minutest portion of it from any other quarter.
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There is no wisdom but that which is founded on the fear of God, which Solomon also declares to be the chief part of wisdom.
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It is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God's face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself.
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There is within every soul a thirst for happiness and meaning.
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Hatred grows into insolence when we desire to excel the rest of mankind and imagine we do not belong to the common lot; we even severely and haughtily despise others as our inferiors.
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For though we very truly hear that the kingdom of God will be filled with splendor, joy, happiness and glory, yet when these things are spoken of, they remain utterly remote from our perception, and as it were, wrapped in obscurities, until that day.
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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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The principle exercise which the children of god have is to pray. For in this way they give true proof of their faith.
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The sum is, that the worship of God must be spiritual, in order that it may correspond with His nature. For although Moses only speaks of idolatry, yet there is no doubt but that by synecdoche, as in all the rest of the law, he condemns all fictitious services which men in their ingenuity have invented.
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True peace consists in not separating ourselves from the will of God.
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A perfect faith is nowhere to be found, so it follows that all of us are partly unbelievers.