Quotes from John Calvin

The ultimate purpose of all sacrificial killing was to lead us to Christ; it was a testimony to the salvation of our souls in Christ, which alone is eternal. Therefore

for when any one understands this Epistle, he has a passage opened to him to the understanding of the whole Scripture.

We unlearn the art of speaking well when we cease to speak with God.

it is the peculiar privilege of the Church, to know what the   Divine judgments mean, and what is their tendency.

It is at this point that the gospel differs most from philosophy, since it teaches that the salvation of men is through the free remission of sins. It

The knowledge of faith consists in assurance rather than in comprehension. . . . We add the words "sure and firm" in order to express a more solid constancy of persuasion.

that it is better to limp in the way, than run with the greatest swiftness out of it.

And truly, God does   not make known his will to us, that the knowledge of it may perish with   us; but that we may be his witnesses to posterity and that they may   deliver the knowledge received through us, from hand to hand, (as we   say,) to their descendants.

For if one Father is common to us all, and every good thing that can fall to our lot comes from Him, there ought not to be anything separate among us that we are not prepared gladly and wholeheartedly to share with one another, as far as occasion requires.

For as the aged, or those whose sight is defective, when any books however fair, is set before them, though they perceive that there is something written are scarcely able to make out two consecutive words, but, when aided by glasses, begin to read distinctly, so Scripture, gathering together the impressions of Deity, which, till then, lay confused in our minds, dissipates the darkness, and shows us the true God clearly.

call "piety" that reverence joined with love of God which the knowledge of his benefits induces. For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, that he is the Author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond him—they will never yield him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him.

it is important to mark this circumstance, that at the very   time when the men of Sodom, having dismissed all fear of God, were   indulging themselves, and were promising themselves impunity, however   they might sin, God was taking counsel to destroy them, and was moved,   by the tumultuous cry of their iniquities, to descend to earth, while   they were buried in profound sleep.

He who is most deeply abased and alarmed, by the consciousness of his disgrace, nakedness, want, and misery, has made the greatest progress in the knowledge of himself.

Faithful is the Lord, who has made himself our debtor, not by receiving any thing from us, but by promising us all things," (August. in Ps. 32, 109, et alibi).

We are enjoined whenever we behold the gifts of God in others so to reverence and respect the gifts as also to honor those in whom they reside.

If a man does not hold on to Christ, his wisdom is mere folly, even though he comprehend heaven and earth; for all the treasures of heavenly wisdom are contained in Christ. Therefore

Christ, therefore,   died for our sins, in order to redeem or separate us from the world.

Those who, rejecting Scripture, imagine that they have some peculiar way of penetrating to God, are to be deemed not so much under the influence of error as madness.

In this respect the frailty of the human mind is surely proved: even when it seems to follow the way, it limps and staggers. Yet the fact remains that some seed of political order has been implanted in all men. And this is ample proof that in the arrangement of this life no man is without the light of reason.

The true structure of the church is the Kingdom of God, and this is neither frail nor like a tent in any way. But

So, too, David, after he has prayed the ways of God be made known to him so that he may walk in his truth, immediately adds, "Unite my heart to fear thy name" [Ps. 86:11; cf. Ps. 119:33]. By these words he means that even well-disposed persons have been subject to so many distractions that they readily vanish or fall away unless they are strengthened to persevere.

The salvation of all the elect is not less certain than the power of God is invincible.

God has so ordained and governed the Christian church that the cross has been the preparation for victory, and death the way to life. Such

Yet we flatter our strength unduly when we compare it even to a reed stick! For whatever vain men devise and babble concerning these matters is but smoke. Therefore Augustine with good reason often repeats the famous statement that free will is by its defenders more trampled down than strengthened.