The Conscience

According to John Calvin:

“The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul.”

“If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house, than in a field…it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light.”

The Spirit of Wisdom

According to John Calvin:

“There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence.”

“True wisdom consists in two things: Knowledge of God and Knowledge of Self.”

To the Overwhelmed

John Calvin writes:

“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”

“It behooves us to accomplish what God requires of us, even when we are in the greatest despair respecting the results”

The Freedom to Pray

 

Written by John Calvin:

 “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.”

 

Mercy and Justice

In the words of John Calvin:

“God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.”

The Kingdom

Quoting John Calvin:

“For though we very truly hear that the kingdom of God will be filled with splendor, joy, happiness and glory, yet when these things are spoken of, they remain utterly remote from our perception, and as it were, wrapped in obscurities, until that day.”

Divine Deposits and Dangerous Allurements

According to John Calvin:

“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.”

“Though Satan instills his poison, and fans the flames of our corrupt desires within us, we are yet not carried by any external force to the commission of sin, but our own flesh entices us, and we willingly yield to its allurements.”

Small Accomplishments

Quoting John Calvin:

“Let us not cease to do the utmost – that we may incessantly go forward in the way of the Lord; and let us not despair of the smallness of our accomplishments.”

The Gate of Salvation is Open

According to John Calvin:

“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 keeps us back from entering in, save only our own unbelief.”

A Fallen Man’s Firewall

Written by John Calvin:

“There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence.”

To Resist God

In the words of John Calvin:

“For there is no one so great or mighty that he can avoid the misery that will rise up against him when he resists and strives against God.”

God’s Blessings

Quoting John Calvin:

“However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts”

We Owe Everything To God

Quoting John Calvin:

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. (Institutes, 1, 2, 1)