Quotes from John Calvin

And surely it is an amazing counsel of God that when he had the whole earth in his hands he chose his people out of the contemptible folk, rather than out of the upper classes who might have brought the name of Christ greater credit through their own excellencies.

It   is a horrible thing to pour out seed besides the intercourse of man and   woman. Deliberately avoiding the intercourse, so that the seed drops on   the ground, is double horrible. For this means that one quenches the   hope of his family, and kills the son, which could be expected, before   he is born.

in the freest manner, and on no mercenary   grounds, does God bestow upon us his love and favor, just as, when we   were not yet born, and when he was prompted by nothing but his own   will, he fixed upon us his choice. [111]

But the secret counsel of God is something else. It is so deep and so high that no exploration can attain to it.

And surely since we have already seen how the apostles declare the Son of God to have been He whom Moses and the prophets declared to be Jehovah, we must always arrive at a unity of essence.

And if it be deemed a great wickedness to contaminate any thing that is dedicated to God, he surely cannot be endured, who, with impure, or even with unprepared hands, will handle that very thing, which of all things is the most sacred on earth. It is therefore an audacity, closely allied to a sacrilege, rashly to turn Scripture in any way we please, and to indulge our fancies as in sport; which has been done by many in former times

Not to dwell on this, let us here remember that on the whole subject of religion one rule of modesty and soberness is to be observed, and it is this, in obscure matters not to speak or think, or even long to know, more than the Word of God has delivered.

But we are not to forget that the stability of our salvation is not in us but in the secret election of God.

but that the necessity of being constantly engaged in learning is owing to our imperfection, he at the same time reminds us, that a subject which is of boundless extent cannot be comprehended by our feeble and narrow capacities.

Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.

Unless God himself had by his election redeemed us from ruin, there would have been nothing but ruin to foresee. .

we remain exposed to the judgment of God, we are bound by miserable   chains, and therefore our exemption from guilt, becomes an invaluable   freedom.

Without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God....Without knowledge of God there is no knowledge of self.

God did not look for a cause outside himself, but predestined us because it was his will to do it. But

Even the wicked themselves, therefore, are an example of the fact that some idea of God always exists in every human mind.

we must seek pure knowledge from the Law and the Prophets, in order that we may not be driven away from Christ by falsehoods invented by men.

Moreover, in the passages we have already quoted, the angels of children are said to behold the face of God, to defend us by their protection, to rejoice in our salvation, to admire the manifold grace of God in the Church, to be under Christ their head.

It is evident from this that people rage against Christ himself when they raise a hue and cry upon hearing that by the will of God some are freely chosen and others are rejected; they do it because they cannot bear to let God have his way.

For the more we are afflicted by adversities, the more surely our fellowship with Christ is confirmed!

Without Christ, on the   other hand, the whole world is a shapeless chaos and frightful   confusion. We

So long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods.

Anyone, therefore, who obscures the glory of God, puts himself in the position of striving to subvert the eternal purpose of God. .

But we must so cherish moderation that we do not try to make God render account to us, but so reverence his secret judgments as to consider his will the truly just cause of all things.

For nothing is more dangerous than to live   where the public license of crime prevails; yea, there is no pestilence   so destructive, as that corruption of morals, which is opposed neither   by laws nor judgments, nor any other remedies.