Those who set up a fictitious worship, merely worship and adore their own delirious fancies; indeed, they would never dare so to trifle with God, had they not previously fashioned him after their own childish conceits.
men are undoubtedly more in danger from prosperity than from adversity. for when matters go smoothly, they flatter themselves, and are intoxicated by their success
We should ask God to increase our hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it when it is wavering, strengthen it when it is weak, and raise it up when it is overthrown.
It would be the height of absurdity to label ignorance tempered by humility “faith”!(Institutio III.2.3)
True wisdom consists in two things: Knowledge of God and Knowledge of Self.
It is now clear that faith is a singular pledge of paternal love, treasured up for the sons whom he has adopted.
There is no knowing that does not begin with knowing God.
Indeed, men who have either quaffed or even tasted the liberal arts penetrate with their aid far more deeply into the secrets of the divine wisdom.” – John Calvin
It is not the mere fear of punishment that restrains [man] from sin. Loving and revering God as his father, honouring and obeying Him as his master, although there were no hell, he would revolt at the very idea of offending Him.
Without the fear of God, men do not even observe justice and charity among themselves.
In forming an estimate of sins, we are often imposed upon by imagining that the more hidden the less heinous they are.
The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul.
The gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue, but of life. It cannot be grasped by reason and memory only, but it is fully understood when it possesses the whole soul and penetrates to the inner recesses of the heart.
All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors.
The salvation of all the elect is not less certain than the power of God is invincible.
When God descends to us he, in a certain sense, abases himself and stammers with us, so He allows us to stammer with Him
There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.
He who neglects to pray alone and in private, however assiduously he frequents public meetings, there gives his prayers to the wind.
Prayer unaccompanied by perseverance leads to no result.
He regards it as the highest insult for the wicked to boast of His covenant while profaning His sacred Name by their whole lives.
Men in prayer give greater license to their unlawful desires than if they were telling jocular tales among their equals.
We shall never arrive at true meekness by any other way than by humiliating ourselves and by honoring others from the depth of our hearts.
Man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.
[They] pervert the course of nature [by saying] the sun does not move and that it is the earth that revolves and that it turns.[John Calvin illustrating his opposition to heliocentrism in a sermon due to the Bible’s support of geocentrism]
He who has learned to look to God in everything he does is at the same time diverted from all vain thoughts.
There is no inconsistency when God raises up those who have fallen prostrate.
For very few persons are concerned about the way that leads to heaven, but all are anxious to know, before the time, what passes there.
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.
The worship of God is…the only thing which renders men superior to brutes, and makes them aspire to immortality.
How do you know yourself to be a son of God in fact as well as in name?”Answer: “Because I am baptized in the name of God the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” – John Calvin (from his catechism)
Is it faith to understand nothing, and merely submit your convictions implicitly to the Church?
Our true wisdom is to embrace with meek docility, and without reservation, whatever the holy scriptures have delivered.
The Must be worthless by our estimation or keep us enslaved by an intemperate love of it.
The cross of Christ only triumphs in the breast of believers over the devil and the flesh, sin and sinners, when their eyes are directed to the power of His Resurrection.
Prayers will never reach God unless they are founded on free mercy.
When the same qualities which we admire in ourselves are seen in others, even though they be superior, maliciously lower and carp at them.
We are not to reflect on the wickedness of men but to look to the image of God in them, an image which, covering and obliterating their faults, an image which, by its beauty and dignity, should allure us to love and embrace them.
We are not to look to what men in themselves deserve but to attend to the image of God which exists in all and to which we owe all honor and love.
We unlearn the art of speaking well when we cease to speak with God.
Faith consists not in ignorance but in knowledge and that not only of God but also of the divine will.
Faith is a knowledge of the benevolence of God toward us and a certain persuasion of His veracity.
The answer of our prayers is secured by the fact that in rejecting them God would in a certain sense deny His own nature.
Without knowledge of self there is no knowledge of God. Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true sound wisdom consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.
The knowledge of ourselves, therefore, is not only an incitement to seek after God, but likewise a considerable assistance towards finding him.
Knowledge of the sciences is so much smoke apart from the heavenly science of Christ.
There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence.
Yet consider now, whether women are not quite past sense and reason, when they want to rule over men.
A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.
No man is excluded from calling upon God, the gate of salvation is set open unto all men: neither is there any other thing which keepeth us back from entering in, save only our own unbelief.
However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts.
There is no work, however vile or sordid, that does not glisten before God.
Seeing that a Pilot steers the ship in which we sail, who will never allow us to perish even in the midst of shipwrecks, there is no reason why our minds should be overwhelmed with fear and overcome with weariness.
Is it faith to understand nothing, and merely submit your convictions implicitly to the Church?
God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escapes us – as, indeed, without this mercy there would be no freedom to pray.