Quotes from John Calvin

We are not our own, therefore let us forget ourselves and our own interests as far as possible.

And, as Augustine expresses it (in Psalm cxliv.), since we are unable to comprehend Him, and are, as it were, overpowered by his greatness, our proper course is to contemplate his works, and

Accordingly, we shall find   angels and men to be dry, heaven to be empty, the earth to be   unproductive, and, in short, all things to be of no value, if we wish   to be partakers of the gifts of God in any other way than through   Christ.

For, quite clearly, the mighty gifts with which we are endowed are hardly from ourselves; indeed, our very being is nothing but subsistence in the one God.

Desire is bridled when we acknowledge that all thing given to us are given in order that we might know their author.

Therefore, men get nothing from the law but condemnation, for in the law God demands his due, but does not confer the power to pay it properly. The

looked for away from him, they will never submit to him in voluntary obedience; nay, unless they place their entire happiness in him, they will never yield up their whole selves to him in truth and sincerity.

we cannot have a clear and complete knowledge of God unless it is accompanied by a corresponding knowledge of ourselves. This

because life is not stable except by faith. Let

When the Son of God chose to submit to this trial in his own person, he became an example to all believers, so that they may carefully avoid falling into Satan's snares by a wrong use of Scripture. And

Shall we, indeed, distinguish between right and wrong by that judgment which has been imparted to us, yet will there be no judge in heaven?

God does not defer his help any longer than fits his purpose. Unlike

Mohammed and the pope have this principle of religion in common: they pretend that Scripture does not contain perfect doctrine, and that they receive a higher revelation from the Spirit. The

I say therefore that he sins against the Holy Spirit who, while so constrained by the power of divine truth that he cannot plead ignorance, yet deliberately resists, and that merely for the sake of resisting.

But, as a heathen tells us,[54] there is no nation so barbarous, no race so brutish, as not to be imbued with the conviction that there is a God.

Assuredly, when the word of God is despised, all reverence for Him is gone. His majesty cannot be duly honoured among us, nor his worship maintained in its integrity, unless we hang as it were upon his lips.

See, then, the nature of pure and genuine religion. It consists in faith, united with a serious fear of God, comprehending a voluntary reverence, and producing legitimate worship agreeable to the injunctions of the law. And this requires to be the more carefully remarked, because men in general render to God a formal worship, but very few truly reverence him; while great ostentation in ceremonies is universally displayed, but sincerity of heart is rarely to be found.

How detestable, I ask you, is this madness: that man, finding God in his body and soul a hundred times, on this very pretense of excellence denies that there is a God?

Is it not rather meant that it was placed far above us, in order to convince us of our utter feebleness?

For we always seem to ourselves righteous and upright and wise and holy—this pride is innate in all of us—unless by clear proofs we stand convinced of our own unrighteousness, foulness, folly, and impurity.

the Church may exist without any apparent form, and, moreover, that the form is not ascertained by that external splendour which they foolishly admire, but by a very different mark, namely, by the pure preaching of the word of God, and the due administration of the sacraments.

the living voice of God does not sound, pomp and ceremony, however elaborately observed, are like empty phantoms. So, we should see that papacy is so much wind.

If everything went according to their own plans, they would never know what it means to follow God.

We are in no position to rely upon God's promises unless we obey his commandments. Now