John Calvin

Hence it appears that to pray aright is a special gift.

Nothing is more accordant to the nature of prayer than to lay it down as a fixed rule, that it is not to come forth at random, but is to follow in the footsteps of faith. In short, it is faith which obtains everything th…

To know God as the sovereign disposer of all good, inviting us to present our requests, and yet not to approach or ask of him, were so far from availing us, that it were just as if one told of a treasure were to allow it…

For as the surest source of destruction to men is to obey themselves, so the only haven of safety is to have no other will, no other wisdom, than to follow the Lord wherever he leads.

On the other hand, it is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself.

Hence, if he would obtain succour in his necessity, he must go beyond himself, and procure it in some other quarter.

Faith consists not in ignorance, but in knowledge—knowledge not of God merely, but of the divine will.

To prayer, then, are we indebted for penetrating to those riches which are treasured up for us with our heavenly Father. … prayer digs up those treasures which the Gospel of our Lord discovers to the eye of faith.

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.

Again, as the kingdom of God is continually growing and advancing to the end of the world, we must pray every day that it may come: for to whatever extent iniquity abounds in the world, to such an extent the kingdom of G…

We must resist wandering thoughts in prayer. Raising our hands reminds us that we need to raise up our minds to God, setting aside all irrelevant thoughts.

No religion is genuine unless it be joined with truth.

THE GOAL OF God's work in us is to bring our lives into harmony and agreement with His own righteousness, and so to manifest to ourselves and others our identity as His adopted children.

Such nominal Christians demonstrate their knowledge of Christ to be false and offensive no matter how eloquently and loudly they talk about the gospel. For true doctrine is not a matter of the tongue, but of life; neithe…

So, too, David, after he has prayed the ways of God be made known to him so that he may walk in his truth, immediately adds, 'Unite my heart to fear thy name' [Ps. 86:11; cf. Ps. 119:33]. By these words he means that eve…

Man stands under the devil's power, and indeed willingly.

Origen, and many others along with him, have seized the occasion of torturing Scripture, in every possible manner, away from the true sense.

Whoever wishes to have the half of Christ, loses the whole.

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

In contrast, the rule of godliness is to recognize that God's hand is the sole judge and governor of every fortune, and because His hand is not recklessly driven to fury, it distributes to us both good and ill according…

If you shall be paid what you deserve, you must be punished. What then happens? God has not rendered you the punishment you deserve, but bestows undeserved grace. If you would be estranged from grace, boast of your own m…

A real king is the one who recognizes that, in governing his kingdom, he is a true minister of God. Conversely whoever does not reign with a view to serving God's glory acts not as a ruler but as a robber.

The characteristic of a true sovereign is, to acknowledge that, in the administration of his kingdom, he is a minister of God. He who does not make his reign subservient to the divine glory, acts not the part of a king,…

For what accords better and more aptly with faith than to acknowledge ourselves divested of all virtue that we may be clothed by God, devoid of all goodness that we may be filled by him, the slaves of sin that he may giv…

When wicked men attack us with a view to overwhelm us, either by force or fraud, we know how difficult it is to preserve always the same fortitude. We place our hope of victory in endeavoring resolutely and vigorously to…

Every person, therefore, on coming to the knowledge of himself, is not only urged to seek God, but is also led as by the hand to find him.

For (such is our innate pride) we always seem to ourselves just, and upright, and wise, and holy, until we are convinced, by clear evidence, of our injustice, vileness, folly, and impurity.

Hence that dread and amazement with which as Scripture uniformly relates, holy men were struck and overwhelmed whenever they beheld the presence of God.

For if we see that the sun, in sending forth its rays upon the earth, to generate, cherish, and invigorate its offspring, in a manner transfuses its substance into it, why should the radiance of the Spirit be less in con…

One advice I give: Beware of Antichrist; for, unhappily, a love of walls has seized you; unhappily, the Church of God which you venerate exists in houses and buildings; unhappily, under these you find the name of peace.…

The abettors of this error would see a still better refutation of it, if they would attend to the source from which the apostle derives the glory of the saints, - Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called;…

Augustine is so wholly with me, that if I wished to write a confession of my faith, I could do so with all fullness and satisfaction to myself out of his writings.

But our doctrine must stand sublime above all the glory of the world, and invincible by all its power, because it is not ours, but that of the living God and his Anointed, whom the Father has appointed King, that he may…

Still, in studying their writings, we have endeavoured to remember (1 Cor. 3:21-23; see also Augustin. Ep. 28), that all things are ours, to serve, not lord it over us, but that we axe Christ's only, and must obey him in…

In this respect, he has set an example to all such as may have sinned against God, teaching them the duty of humbly complying with the calls to repentance, which may be addressed to them by his servants, instead of remai…

For if one Father is common to us all, and every good thing that can fall to our lot comes from Him, there ought not to be anything separate among us that we are not prepared gladly and wholeheartedly to share with one a…

For when any one understands this Epistle, he has a passage opened to him to the understanding of the whole Scripture.

Christ, therefore, died for our sins, in order to redeem or separate us from the world.

The majesty of God is too high to be scaled up to by mortals, who creep like worms on the earth.

...this insolence was turned by the providence of God to a very different purpose; for the face of Christ, dishonoured by spitting and blows, has restored to us that image which had been disfigured, and almost effaced, b…

It is therefore faith alone which justifies, and yet the faith which justifies is not alone.

This being admitted, it is certain that not a drop of rain falls without the express command of God.

By the blessing of God, sometimes meditating on the soul, methinks, I find in it as it were two contraries. When I look at it as it is in itself and of itself, the truest thing I can say of it is, that it has been reduce…

Those who, rejecting Scripture, imagine that they have some peculiar way of penetrating to God, are to be deemed not so much under the influence of error as madness.

All other comforts are temporary and illusory unless we depend wholly upon Christ.

There would be no communion between him and us if he did not first come to us with his grace.

In vain do Papists, Mahometans, and other sects, boast of their antiquity, while they are mere counterfeits of the true, the pure religion.

We see how many tricks they try, how many pursuits they exhaust themselves with in order to secure the objects of their ambition or greed, while trying to avoid, on the other hand, poverty and humility.

First, since by God's command all the saints daily ask for their sins to be forgiven (Matt.6:12), they confess themselves sinners. They do not ask in vain, for the Lord Jesus never bade us ask for something which he woul…

The frequent mention of the glory of God ought not to be regarded as superfluous, for what is infinite cannot be too strongly expressed.