Quotes from John Calvin

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.

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

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.