John Calvin Quotes
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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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There is no golden mean between these two extremes; either this early life must become low in our estimation, or it will have our inordinate love.
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Angels are the dispensers and administrators of the divine beneficence toward us.
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Against the persecution of a tyrant the godly have no remedy but prayer.
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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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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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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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Accursed is that peace of which revolt from God is the bond, and blessed are those contentions by which it is necessary to maintain the kingdom of Christ.
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There is but one Church in which men find salvation, just as outside the ark of Noah it was not possible for anyone to be saved.
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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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Warned by such evidences of their spiritual illness, believers profit by their humiliations. Robbed of their foolish confidence in the flesh, they take refuge in the grace of God. And when they have done so, they experience the nearness of the divine protection which is to them a strong fortress (Ps 30:6-7).
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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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There is also an old proverb, that they who pay much attention to the body generally neglect the soul.
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Nevertheless, our constant efforts to lower our estimate of the present world should not lead us to hate life or to be ungrateful toward God. For this life, though it is full of countless miseries, deserves to be reckoned among the divine blessings which should not be despised. Therefore, if we discover nothing of God's goodness in it, we are already guilty of no small ingratitude toward him.
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Whensoever God's truth is defaced or when any man turns away from the pure simplicity of the Gospel, we must not in any wise spare him, but although the whole world should set itself against us, yet must we maintain the case with invincible constancy, without bending for any creature.
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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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Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do.
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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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First of all, Scripture draws our attention to this, that if we want ease and tranquility in our lives, we should resign ourselves and all that we have to the will of God, and at the same time we should surrender our affections to him as our Conqueror and Overlord.
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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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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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Life is not found in commandments or declarations of penalties, but in the promise of mercy and only in a gratuitous promise.
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All truth is God's truth.
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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.