Quotes from John Calvin

And so long as we give ourselves to faith in him, with calm and quiet minds, he will not permit the wicked to injure us with impunity.

When God descends to us he, in a certain sense, abases himself and stammers with us, so He allows us to stammer with Him

He who lives by faith does not have life in himself; he flees to God because he does not possess it. The

men are justified by believing, not by what they do. It is by faith they obtain grace: and grace cannot be earned as a payment for works. Since

We are superstitiously timid, I say, if whenever creatures threaten us or forcibly terrorize us we become as fearful as if they had some intrinsic power to harm us, cor might wound us inadvertently and accidentally, or there were not enough help in God against their harmful acts.

Ps. 126:1). God has done a stupendous and incredible work in us who bear Christ's name.

However much the devil and wicked men may rage, however much they boil with their own unrestrained anger, there is no doubt that God checks and curbs their madness with a hidden bridle.

The will of God is the rule of righteousness; whatever does not agree with his will is unrighteous; and if unrighteous, it is at the same time deadly. When

we cannot aspire to Him in earnest until we have begun to be displeased with ourselves. For

In one word, not to dwell longer on this, give heed, and you will at once perceive that ignorance of Providence is the greatest of all miseries, and the knowledge of it the highest happiness.

unless they place their entire happiness in him, they will never yield up their whole selves to him in truth and sincerity.

Christ does not make new laws; he rectifies the wrong interpretations of the scribes which had vitiated the purity of the law of God.

where Christ does not reign men are wolves to men. Each

This was why I published the Institutes — to defend against unjust slander my brothers whose death was precious in the Lord's sight. A

Greeks receives the name of   ethelobreskeia -- the term which Paul here makes use of. He has,   however, an eye to the etymology of the term, for ethelobreskeia   literally denotes a voluntary service, which men choose for themselves   at their own option, without authority from God.

Therefore they escape by the shift that this is done only with God's permission, not also by his will;3 but he, openly declaring that he is the doer, repudiates that evasion. However, that men can accomplish nothing except by God's secret command, that they cannot by deliberating accomplish anything except what he has already decreed with himself and determines by his secret direction, is proved by innumerable and clear testimonies. What

Indeed in all ages Satan seems to have fought more violently against free justification by faith than against any other teaching, striving to extinguish it and smother it.

No sooner are some false prophets put down than others pop up in all directions.

Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.

For unless we realize our own helpless misery, we shall never know how much we need the remedy which Christ brings, nor come to him with the fervent love we owe him. But

They who take it amiss that the world was not sooner   created, may as well expostulate with God for not having made   innumerable worlds.

The   providence of God, I grant, does not indeed preclude the faithful from   caring for themselves; but let them do it in such a way, that they may   not overstep their prescribed bounds.

I do not say with Cicero, that errors wear out by age, and that religion increases and grows better day by day. For the world (as will be shortly seen) labours as much as it can to shake off all knowledge of God

For if by natural instinct or wisdom we could bring ourselves back to the road and escape from error, we would have no need for Christ. But