Quotes from John Calvin

It is a beastly business when people start eating without prayer, and when they are full, they run out without as much as mentioning God's name.

God does not bind the ancient folk to outward doctrine as if they were learning their ABC's.

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

Therefore, as Paul testifies, election, which is the cause of good works, does not depend upon men.

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

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

Indeed, the holiest among us know they stand by God's grace and not by their own virtues. Yet they would nevertheless become too confident in their own courage and constancy if they weren't led to a more intimate knowledge of themselves by the testing of the cross.

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

But Jacob was divinely chosen and his brother, the first-born, was rejected.

Our faith in doctrine is not established until we have a perfect conviction that God is its author.

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

The Institutes is not only the classic of Christian theology; it is also a model of Christian devotion.