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For As The Aged, Or Those Whose Sight Is Defective, When Any Book, However Fair, Is Set Before Them, Though They Perceive That There Is Something Written, Are Scarcely Able To Make Out Two Consecutive Words, But, When Aided By Glasses, Begin To Read Distinctly, So Scripture, Gathering Together The Impressions Of Deity, Which, Till Then, Lay Confused In Our Minds, Dissipates The Darkness, And Shows Us The True God Clearly.

-John Calvin

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For As The Aged,

John Calvin

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For As The Aged, Or Those Whose Sight Is Defective, When Any Book, However Fair, Is Set Before Them, Though They Perceive That There Is Something Written, Are Scarcely Able To Make Out Two Consecutive Words, But, When Aided By Glasses, Begin To Read Distinctly, So Scripture, Gathering Together The Impressions Of Deity, Which, Till Then, Lay Confused In Our Minds, Dissipates The Darkness, And Shows Us The True God Clearly.

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Nor, In Truth, Is It Of Little Importance To Prevent The Suspicion Of Any Difference Having Arisen Between Us From Being Handed Down In Any Way To Our Posterity; For It Is Worse Than Absurd That Parties Should Be Found Disagreeing On The Very Principles, After We Have Been Compelled To Make Our Departure From The World.

This Is Plainly To Ascribe Divinity To 'free Will.'

There Can Be No Courage In Men Unless God Supports Them By His Word.

Free Will Is An Empty Term.

Whenever Our Sins Press Hard Against Us, Whenever Satan Would Drive Us To Despair, We Must Hold Up This Shield, That God Does Not Want Us To Be Overwhelmed In Everlasting Destruction, For He Has Ordained His Son To Be The Salvation Of The World.

I Consider Looseness With Words No Less Of A Defect Than Looseness Of The Bowels.

In Vain People Busy Themselves With Finding Any Good Of Man's Own In His Will. For Any Mixture Of The Power Of Freewill That Men Strive To Mingle With God's Grace Is Nothing But A Corruption Of Grace. It Is Just As If One Were To Dilute Wine With Muddy, Bitter Water.

When We See That The Whole Sum Of Our Salvation, And Every Single Part Of It, Are Comprehended In Christ, We Must Beware Of Deriving Even The Minutest Portion Of It From Any Other Quarter.

The Torture Of A Bad Conscience Is The Hell Of A Living Soul.

The Human Heart Has So Many Crannies Where Vanity Hides, So Many Holes Where Falsehood Works, Is So Decked Out With Deceiving Hypocrisy, That It Often Dupes Itself.

When I Took The Leap, I Had Faith I Would Find A Net; Instead I Learned I Could Fly.

The Lord Has Not Redeemed You So You Might Enjoy Pleasures And Luxuries Or So That You Might Abandon Yourself To Ease And Indolence, But Rather So You Should Be Prepared To Endure All Sorts Of Evils.

Peace And Friendship Are An Amiable Thing Among Men. They Be So Indeed, And We Ought To Seek Them To The Uttermost Of Our Power. But Yet For All That, We Must Set Such Store By God's Truth, That If All The World Should Be Set On Fire For The Maintenance Thereof, We Should Not Stick At It.

Our True Wisdom Is To Embrace With Meek Docility, And Without Reservation, Whatever The Holy Scriptures Have Delivered.

Now We Must Remark, That There Are Two Parts In The Commandment-the First Forbids The Erection Of A Graven Image, Or Any Likeness; The Second Prohibits The Transferring Of The Worship Which God Claims For Himself Alone, To Any Of These Phantoms Or Delusive Shows.

The Angels Are The Dispensers And Administrators Of The Divine Beneficence Toward Us. They Regard Our Safety, Undertake Our Defense, Direct Our Ways, And Exercise A Constant Solicitude That No Evil Befall Us.

Pagan Philosophers Set Up Reason As The Sole Guide Of Life, Of Wisdom And Conduct; But Christian Philosophy Demands Of Us That We Surrender Our Reason To The Holy Spirit; And This Means That We No Longer Live For Ourselves, But That Christ Lives And Reigns Within Us (rom 12:1; Eph 4:23; Gal 2:20).

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.

A Man Will Be Justified By Faith When, Excluded From Righteousness Of Works, He By Faith Lays Hold Of The Righteousness Of Christ, And Clothed In It, Appears In The Sight Of God Not As A Sinner, But As Righteous.

Let That Ethical Philosophy Therefore Of Free-will Be Far From A Christian Mind.

The Blood Of Christ Is Necessary To Purge The Faults Clinging To Our Best Works.

Original Sin, Therefore, Appears To Be A Hereditary, Depravity And Corruption Of Our Nature, Diffused Through All The Parts Of The Soul, Rendering Us Obnoxious To The Divine Wrath And Producing In Us Those Works Which The Scripture Calls 'works Of.

Prayers Will Never Reach God Unless They Are Founded On Free Mercy.

If Everything Proceeded According To Their Wishes, They Would Not Understand What It Means To Follow God.

The More We Are Oppressed By The Cross, The Fuller Will Be Our Spiritual Joy.

Nothing, Including Human Suffering, Happens By Chance.

The Marks Of Jesus Are Imprisonment, Chains, Scourgings, Blows And Stoning In Bearing Testimony To The Gospel. Galatians 6:17 - 17 Finally, Let No One Cause Me Trouble, For I Bear On My Body The Marks Of Jesus.

It Is Not Lawful For You To Make A Compromise With God: To Try To Fulfill Part Of Your Duties And To Omit Others At Your Own Pleasure.

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 Is A Promise Which Eminently Deserves Our Observation That All Who Are United To Christ And Acknowledge Him To Be Christ And Mediator Will Remain To The End Safe From All Danger, For What Is Said Of The Body Of The Church Belongs To Each Of Its Members Since They Are One In Christ.

Acknowledge Him

Thus The Woman, Who Had Perversely Exceeded Her Proper Bounds, Is Forced Back To Her Own Position. She Had, Indeed, Previously Been Subject To Her Husband, But That Was A Liberal And Gentle Subjection; Now, However, She Is Cast Into Servitude.

Can True Repentance Exist Without Faith? By No Means. But Although They Cannot Be Separated, They Ought To Be Distinguished.

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.

At This Day . . . The Earth Sustains On Her Bosom Many Monster Minds, Minds Which Are Not Afraid To Employ The Seed Of Deity Deposited In Human Nature As A Means Of Suppressing The Name Of God. Can Anything Be More Detestable Than This Madness In Man, Who, Finding God A Hundred Times Both In His Body And His Soul, Makes His Excellence In This Respect A Pretext For Denying That There Is A God? He Will Not Say That Chance Has Made Him Different From The Brutes; . . . But, Substituting Nature As The Architect Of The Universe, He Suppresses The Name Of God.

Those Little Children Have Not Yet Any Understanding To Desire His Blessing; But When They Are Presented To Him, He Gently And Kindly Receives Them, And Dedicates Them To The Father By A Solemn Act Of Blessing.

Unless Men Establish Their Complete Happiness In God, They Will Never Give Themselves Truly And Sincerely To Him.

However Many Blessings We Expect From God, His Infinite Liberality Will Always Exceed All Our Wishes And Our Thoughts.

The Lord Has Given Us A Table At Which To Feast, Not An Altar On Which A Victim Is To Be Offered; He Has Not Consecrated Priests To Make Sacrifice, But Servants To Distribute The Sacred Feast.

Scripture Points Out This Difference Between Believers And Unbelievers; The Latter, As Old Slaves Of Their Incurable Perversity, Cannot Endure The Rod; But The Former, Like Children Of Noble Birth, Profit By Repentance And Correction.

The Majesty Of God In Itself Goes Beyond The Capacity Of Human Understanding And Cannot Be Comprehended By It.. We Must Adore Its Loftiness Rather Than Investigate It, So That We Do Not Remain Overwhelmed By So Great A Splendor.

Without The Fear Of God, Men Do Not Even Observe Justice And Charity Among Themselves.

There Is No Group Or Type Of People Anywhere In The World That Is Excluded From Salvation, Because God Desires That The Gospel Be Proclaimed To All Without Exception.

We Are Nowhere Forbidden To Laugh, Or Be Satisfied With Food...or To Be Delighted With Music Or To Drink Wine.

When God Designs To Forgive Us He Changes Our Hearts And Turns Us To Obedience By His Spirit.

You Cannot Imagine A More Certain Rule Or A More Powerful Suggestion Than This, That All The Blessings We Enjoy Are Divine Deposits Which We Have Received On This Condition That We Distribute Them To Others.

To Have A Proper Understanding Of The Gospel, We Must Recognise That We Need To Lean Entirely Upon The Lord Jesus Christ And His Mercy Alone As Our Only Hope Of Salvation. ... No One Can Be Justified By The Law; Justification Is Through Faith Alone.

Unless We Ardently And Prayerfully Devote Ourselves To Christ's Righteousness We Do Not Only Faithlessly Revolt From Our Creator, But We Also Abjure Him As Our Savior.

The Bible Is The Sceptre By Which The Heavenly King Rules His Church.

It Would Be The Height Of Absurdity To Label Ignorance Tempered By Humility "faith"! (institutio Iii.2.3)

The Scriptures Obtain Full Authority Among Believers Only When Men Regard Them As Having Sprung From Heaven, As If There The Living Words Of God Were Heard.

Our True And Genuine Wisdom Can Be Summed Up As The Knowledge Of God And The Knowledge Of Ourselves.

Knowledge Of God

No One Has Rightly Denied Himself Unless He Has Wholly Resigned Himself To The Lord And Is Willing To Leave Every Detail To His Good Pleasure. If We Put Ourselves In Such A Frame Of Mind, Then, Whatever May Happen To Us, We Shall Never Feel Miserable Or Accuse God Falsely Because Of Our Lot.

Prayer Is The Chief Exercise Of Faith.

All Things Being At God's Disposal, And The Decision Of Salvation Or Death Belonging To Him, He Orders All Things By His Counsel And Decree In Such A Manner, That Some Men Are Born Devoted From The Womb To Certain Death, That His Name May Be Glorified In Their Destruction.

The Flesh Is Willing To Flatter Itself, And Many Who Now Give Themselves Every Indulgence, Promise To Themselves An Easy Entrance Into Life. Thus Men Practice Mutual Deception On Each Other And Fall Asleep In Wicked Indifference.

Every One Of Us Is, Even From His Mother's Womb, A Master Craftsman Of Idols.

Our Prayer Must Not Be Self-centered. It Must Arise Not Only Because We Feel Our Own Need As A Burden We Must Lay Upon God, But Also Because We Are So Bound Up In Love For Our Fellow Men That We Feel Their Need As Acutely As Our Own. To Make Intercession For Men Is The Most Powerful And Practical Way In Which We Can Express Our Love For Them.

Let Us Be Peaceable As Near As We Can: Let Us Relent Of Our Own Right: Let Us Not Strive For These Worldly Goods, Honour And Reputation: Let Us Bear All Wrongs And Outrages, Rather Than Be Moved To Any Debate Through Our Own Fault. But In The Meanwhile, Let Us Fight For God's Truth With Tooth And Nail.

The World Was No Doubt Made, That It Might Be A Theatre Of The Divine Glory.

Indeed, A Christian Ought To Be Disposed And Prepared To Keep In Mind That He Has To Reckon With God Every Moment Of His Life.

There Is Also An Old Proverb, That They Who Pay Much Attention To The Body Generally Neglect The Soul.

When Our Faith Is Tested By Suffering "as Gold Is Tried In A Furnace" And We Depend With Confidence On God And Rely Entirely On His Help, We Will Be Granted The Most Excellent Gift Of Patience And Through Faith We May Victoriously Persevere To The End.

But We Have Nothing Of The Spirit Except Through Regeneration. Everything, Therefore, Which We Have From Nature Is Flesh.

There Are Babies A Span Long In Hell.

There Is No Wisdom But That Which Is Founded On The Fear Of God, Which Solomon Also Declares To Be The Chief Part Of Wisdom.

Christian Inspirational

This Is The Highest Honour Of The Church, That, Until He Is United To Us, The Son Of God Reckons Himself In Some Measure Imperfect. What Consolation Is It For Us To Learn, That, Not Until We Are Along With Him, Does He Possess All His Parts, Or Wish To Be Regarded As Complete! Hence, In The First Epistle To The Corinthians, When The Apostle Discusses Largely The Metaphor Of A Human Body, He Includes Under The Single Name Of Christ The Whole Church.

Though Satan Instils 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.

No One Can Travel So Far That He Does Not Make Some Progess Each Day. So Let Us Never Give Up. Then We Shall Move Forward Daily In The Lord's Way. And Let Us Never Despair Because Of Our Limited Success. Even Though It Is So Much Less Than We Would Like, Our Labour Is Not Wasted When Today Is Better Than Yesterday!

While All Men Seek After Happiness, Scarcely One In A Hundred Looks For It From God.

The Highest Honor In The Church Is Not Government But Service.

Joy And Thanksgiving Expressed In Prayer And Praise According To The Word Of God Are The Heart Of The Church's Worship.

...nothing Good Can Proceed From Our Will Until It Be Formed Again, And That After It Is Formed Again In So Far As It Is Good, It Is Of God, And Not Of Us.

Scripture Will Ultimately Suffice For A Saving Knowledge Of God Only When Its Certainty Is Founded Upon The Inward Persuasion Of The Holy Spirit. Indeed, These Human Testimonies Which Exist To Confirm It Will Not Be Vain If, As Secondary Aids To Our Feebleness, They Follow That Chief And Highest Testimony. But Those Who Wish To Prove To Unbelievers That Scripture Is The Word Of God Are Acting Foolishly, For Only By Faith Can This Be Known.

Nobody Seriously Believes The Universe Was Made By God Without Being Persuaded That He Takes Care Of His Works.

Hypocrisy Can Plunge The Mind Of A Man Into A Dark Abyss, When He Believes His Own Self-flattery Instead Of God's Verdict.

The Effect Of Our Knowledge Rather Ought To Be, First, To Teach Us Reverence And Fear; And, Secondly, To Induce Us, Under Its Guidance And Teaching, To Ask Every Good Thing From [god], And, When It Is Received, Ascribe It To Him. For How Can The Idea Of God Enter Your Mind Without Instantly Giving Rise To The Thought, That Since You Are His Workmanship, You Are Bound, By The Very Law Of Creation, To Submit To His Authority?-- Hat Your Life Is Due To Him?-- Hat Whatever You Do Ought To Have Reference To Him.

Without Knowledge Of Self There Is No Knowledge Of God 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. But As These Are Connected Together By Many Ties, It Is Not Easy To Determine Which Of The Two Precedes And Gives Birth To The Other.

Each Eye Can Have Its Vision Separately; But When We Are Looking At Anything Our Vision, Which In Itself Is Divided, Joins Up And Unites In Order To Give Itself As A Whole To The Object That Is Put Before It.

Christ's Intercession Is The Continual Application Of His Death To Our Salvation.

The True Wisdom Of Man Consists In The Knowledge Of God The Creator And Redeemer.

Knowledge Of God

We Are Surrounded By God’s Benefits. The Best Use Of These Benefits Is An Unceasing Expression Of Gratitude.

All Our Words Ought To Be Filled With True Sweetness And Grace; And This Will Be So If We Mingle The Useful With The Sweet.

Let It Stand, Therefore, As An Indubitable Truth, Which No Engines Can Shake, That The Mind Of Man Is So Entirely Alienated From The Righteousness Of God That He Cannot Conceive, Desire, Or Design Any Thing But What Is Wicked, Distorted, Foul, Impure, And Iniquitous; That His Heart Is So Thoroughly Envenomed By Sin That It Can Breathe Out Nothing But Corruption And Rottenness; That If Some Men Occasionally Make A Show Of Goodness, Their Mind Is Ever Interwoven With Hypocrisy And Deceit, Their Soul Inwardly Bound With The Fetters Of Wickedness.

I Don't Need To Compromise My Principles, Because They Don't Have The Slightest Bearing On What Happens To Me Anyway.

The Church Is The Gathering Of God's Children, Where They Can Be Helped And Fed Like Babies And Then Guided By Her Motherly Care, Grow Up To Manhood In Maturity Of Faith.

Because I Know That I Am Not My Own Master, I Offer My Heart As A True Sacrifice To The Lord.

Satan, Who Is A Wonderful Contriver Of Delusions, Is Constantly Laying Snares To Entrap Ignorant And Heedless People.

Prosperity Inebriates Men, So That They Take Delights In Their Own Merits.

Whether Each Of The Faithful Has A Particular Angel Assigned Him For His Defence, I Cannot Venture Certainly To Affirm... Not One Angel Only Has The Care Of Every One Of Us, But That They All With One Consent Watch For Our Salvation.

For We Are Not All Equally Afflicted With The Same Disease Or All In Need Of The Same Severe Cure. This Is The Reason Why We See Different Persons Disciplined With Different Crosses. The Heavenly Physician Takes Care Of The Well-being Of All His Patients; He Gives Some A Milder Medicine And Purifies Others By More Shocking Treatments, But He Omits No One; For The Whole World, Without Exception, Is Ill (deut 32:15).

Rejoicing Refers To Moderation Of Spirit When The Mind Keeps Itself In Calmness Under Adversity And Does Not Give Indulgence To Grief. Constant Praying Is The Way Of 'rejoicing Perpetually', For By This Means We Ask From God Alleviation In Connection With All Our Distresses.

As By The Revolt Of The First Man, The Image Of God Could Be Effaced From His Mind And Soul, So There Is Nothing Strange In His Shedding Some Rays Of Grace On The Reprobate, And Afterwards Allowing These To Be Extinguished.

Man's Nature, So To Speak, Is A Perpetual Factory Of Idols.

... Let Everyone Regard Himself As The Steward Of God In All Things Which He Possesses.

Prayer Unaccompanied By Perseverance Leads To No Result.

The Word "hope" I Take For Faith; And Indeed Hope Is Nothing Else But The Constancy Of Faith.

Christian Inspirational

Knowledge Of The Sciences Is So Much Smoke Apart From The Heavenly Science Of Christ.

As Far As Sacred Scripture Is Concerned, However Much Froward Men Try To Gnaw At It, Nevertheless It Clearly Is Crammed With Thoughts That Could Not Be Humanly Conceived. Let Each Of The Prophets Be Looked Into: None Will Be Found Who Does Not Far Exceed Human Measure. Consequently, Those For Whom Prophetic Doctrine Is Tasteless Ought To Be Thought Of As Lacking Taste Buds.

The Fanaticism Which Discards The Scripture, Under The Pretense Of Resorting To Immediate Revelations Is Subversive Of Every Principle Of Christianity. For When They Boast Extravagantly Of The Spirit, The Tendency Is Always To Bury The Word Of God So They May Make Room For Their Own Falsehoods.

My Heart I Give You, Lord, Eagerly And Entirely.

We Must Not Think That [god] Takes No Notice Of Us, When He Does Not Answer Our Wishes: For He Has A Right To Distinguish What We Actually Need.

When God Wants To Judge A Nation, He Gives Them Wicked Rulers.

In Truth We Know By Experience That Song Has Great Force And Vigour To Move And Inflame The Hearts Of Men To Invoke And Praise God With A More Vehement And Ardent Zeal.

The Unborn Baby, Though Enclosed In The Womb Of Its Mother, Is Already A Human Being, And Should Not Be Robbed Of The Life Which It Has Not Yet Begun To Enjoy.

Hatred Grows Into Insolence When We Desire To Excel The Rest Of Mankind And Imagine We Do Not Belong To The Common Lot; We Even Severely And Haughtily Despise Others As Our Inferiors.

All The More Vile Is The Stupidity Of Those Persons Who Open Heaven To All The Impious And Unbelieving Without The Grace Of Him Whom Scripture Commonly Teaches To Be The Only Door Whereby We Enter Into Salvation.

For, Since The Fall Of Adam Had Brought Disgrace Upon All His Posterity, God Restores Those, Whom He Separates As His Own, So That Their Condition May Be Better Than That Of All Other Nations. At The Same Time It Must Be Remarked, That This Grace Of Renewal Is Effaced In Many Who Have Afterwards Profaned It

We Must Observe That The Knowledge Of God Which We Are Invited To Cultivate Is Not That Which, Resting Satisfied With Empty Speculation, Only Flutters In The Brain, But A Knowledge Which Will Prove Substantial And Fruitful Whenever It Is Duly Perceived And Rooted In The Heart.

Knowledge Of God

Many People Have Accused Me Of Such Ferocious Cruelty That (they Allege) I Would Like To Kill Again The Man I Have Destroyed. Not Only Am I Indifferent To Their Comments, But I Rejoice In The Fact That They Spit In My Face.

I Exhort All, Who Reverence The Word Of The Lord, To Read It, And Diligently Imprint It On Their Memory.

Even If This Earth Is Only A Vestibule, We Ought Undoubtedly To Make Such A Use Of Its Blessing That We Are Assisted Rather Than Delayed In Our Journey.

Involvement In Public Life Provides The Opportunity To Shape Our Manners In Accordance With Civil Justice.

Augustine Does Not Disagree With This When He Teaches That It Is A Faculty Of The Reason And The Will To Choose Good With The Assistance Of Grace; Evil, When Grace Is Absent.

We Must Always Speak Of The Efficacy Of The Ministry In Such A Manner That The Entire Praise Of The Work May Be Reserved For God Alone.

It Is Therefore Faith Alone Which Justifies, And Yet The Faith Which Justifies Is Not Alone.

Joy And Patience Are Far Above Our Strength... We Must Persevere In Prayer That He May Not Permit Our Hearts To Faint... Prayer And Perseverance Are Necessary In Our Daily Conflicts. The Best Remedy To The Weariness Is Diligence In Prayer.

When We Know God To Be Our Father, Should We Not Desire That He Be Known As Such By All? And If We Do Not Have This Passion, That All Creatures Do Him Homage, Is It Not A Sign That His Glory Means Little To Us?

When We Recognize The Rod Of A Father, Should We Not Show Ourselves Docile Children Rather Than Rebelliously Desperate Men Who Have Been Hardened In Their Evil Doings?

Faith Is Not A Distant View, But A Warm Embrace Of Christ.

To Be Pure In Heart Is To Take No Delight In Cunning, But Converse Sincerely With Men, And Express Nothing, By Word Or Look, Which Is Not Felt In The Heart.

Seeing God Hath Thus Set Us At Liberty, What Rashness It Is For Worms Of The Earth To Make New Laws; As Though God Had Not Been Wise Enough.

We Shall Never Be Fit For The Service Of God, If We Look Not Beyond This Fleeting Life.

Again I Ask Whence It Happened That The Fall Of Adam Involved, Without Remedy, In Eternal Death So Many Nations, Together With Their Infant Children, Except Because It So Seemed Good To God? A Decree Horrible, I Confess, And Yet True.

So Great And Boundless Is God's Wisdom That He Knows Right Well How To Use Evil Instruments To Do Good.

There Is No Inconsistency In Saying That God Rewards Good Works, Provided We Understand That Nevertheless Men Obtain Eternal Life Gratuitously.

Creatures Are So Governed By The Secret Counsel Of God, That Nothing Happens But What He Has Knowingly And Willingly Decreed.

Scripture Is Like A Pair Of Spectacles Which Dispels The Darkness And Gives Us A Clear View Of God.

We Can Experience Joy In Adverse Circumstances By Holding God's Benefits In Such Esteem That The Recognition Of Them And Meditation Upon Them Shall Overcome All Sorrow.

It Is Certain That Man Never Achieves A Clear Knowledge Of Himself Unless He Has First Looked Upon God's Face, And Then Descends From Contemplating Him To Scrutinize Himself.

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.

The One Condition For Spiritual Progress Is That We Remain Sincere And Humble.

They Babble And Talk Absurdly Who, In The Place Of God's Providence, Substitute Bare Permission - As If God Sat In A Watchtower Awaiting Chance Events , And His Judgments Thus Depended Upon Human Will.

Our Assurance, Our Glory, And The Sole Anchor Of Our Salvation Are That Christ The Son Of God Is Ours, And We In Turn Are In Him Sons Of God And Heirs Of The Kingdom Of Heaven, Called To The Hope Of Eternal Blessedness By God's Grace, Not By Our Worth.

Let This Be Our Rule For Goodwill And Helpfulness, That Whenever We Are Able To Assist Others We Should Behave As Stewards Who Must Someday Give An Account Of Ourselves.

In Forming An Estimate Of Sins, We Are Often Imposed Upon By Imagining That The More Hidden The Less Heinous They Are.

They Who Prematurely Put Themselves Forward To Root Out Whatever Is Displeasing To Them Overthrow The Judgment Of God And Rashly Intrude Upon The Office Of Angels.

If God Does Nothing Random, There Must Always Be Something To Learn.

Men Are Indeed To Be Taught That The Favour Of God Is Offered, Without Exception, To All Who Ask It; But Since Those Only Begin To Ask Whom Heaven By Grace Inspires, Even This Minute Portion Of Praise Must Not Be Withheld From Him. It Is The Privilege Of The Elect To Be Regenerated By The Spirit Of God, And Then Placed Under His Guidance And Government.

Without Knowledge Of Self There Is No Knowledge Of God.

Knowledge Of God

We Unjustly Defraud God Of His Right, Unless Each Of Us Lives And Dies In Dependence On His Sovereign Pleasure.

God Does Not Bestow His Spirit On His People In Order To Set Aside The Use Of His Word, But Rather To Render It Fruitful.

It Is A Very Important Consideration That We Are Consecrated And Dedicated To God; It Means That We May Think, Speak, Meditate, Or Do Anything Only With A View To His Glory.

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.

Sometimes It Seems Things Go By Too Quickly. We Are So Busy Watching Out For What's Just Ahead Of Us That We Don't Take The Time To Enjoy Where We Are.

There Cannot Be A Surer Rule, Nor A Stronger Exhortation To The Observance Of It, Than When We Are Taught That All The Endowments Which We Possess Are Divine Deposits Entrusted To Us For The Very Purpose Of Being Distributed For The Good Of Our Neighbour.

By Predestination We Mean The Eternal Decree Of God, By Which He Determined With Himself Whatever He Wished To Happen With Regard To Every Man

Free-will Cannot Will Good And Of Necessity Serves Sin.

The Most Accomplished In The Scripture Are Fools, Unless They Acknowledge That They Have Need Of God For Their Schoolmaster All The Days Of Their Life.

Without The Gospel Everything Is Useless And Vain.

The Human Heart Is A Factory Of Idols...everyon E Of Us Is, From His Mother's Womb, Expert In Inventing Idols.

Wherever We Find The Word Of God Surely Preached And Heard, And The Sacraments Administered According To The Institution Of Christ, There, It Is Not To Be Doubted, Is A Church Of God.

Justification By Faith Is The Hinge On Which All True Religion Turns.

The Principle Exercise Which The Children Of God Have Is To Pray. For In This Way They Give True Proof Of Their Faith.

All Truth Is God's Truth.

Man's Mind Is Like A Store Of Idolatry And Superstition; So Much So That If A Man Believes His Own Mind It Is Certain That He Will Forsake God And Forge Some Idol In His Own Brain.

First Of All, Scripture Draws Our Attention To This, That If We Want Ease And Tranquility In Our Lives, We Should Resign Ourselves And All That We Have To The Will Of God, And At The Same Time We Should Surrender Our Affections To Him As Our Conqueror And Overlord.

Whomever The Lord Has Adopted And Deemed Worthy Of His Fellowship Ought To Prepare Themselves For A Hard, Toilsome, And Unquiet Life, Crammed With Very Many And Various Kinds Of Evil.

Prayers Belong Strictly To The Worship Of God. Fasting Is A Subordinate Aid, Which Is Pleasing To God No Farther Than As It Aids The Earnestness And Fervency Of Prayer.

A Soul, Therefore, When Deprived Of The Word Of God, Is Given Up Unarmed To The Devil For Destruction

God Is Not Limited To Any Person, But Calls Freely Whomsoever He Pleases, And Bestows On Those Who Are Called Whatever Rewards He Thinks Fit.

Joy Is A Quiet Gladness Of Heart As One Contemplates The Goodness Of God's Saving Grace In Christ Jesus.

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.

Bien Que Les étoiles Ne Parlent Pas, Même En étant Silencieux, Ils Crient. Although The Stars Do Not Speak, Even In Being Silent They Cry Out.

Tears That Are Shed In Time Of Affliction Are Rarely Tears Of Penitence, But More Likely They Are Shed Out Of Self Pity And Pain Or Sorrow.

Faith Is The Evidence Of Divine Adoption.

Prayer Doesn't Change Things - God Changes Things In Answer To Prayer.

The Invention Of The Arts, And Other Things Which Serve The Common Use And Convenience Of Life, Is A Gift Of God By No Means To Be Despised, And A Faculty Worthy Of Commendation.

Since No Daily Responses Are Given From Heaven, And The Scriptures Are The Only Record In Which God Has Been Pleased To Consign His Truth To Perpetual Remembrance, The Full Authority Which They Ought To Possess With The Faithful Is Not Recognized Unless They Are Believed To Have Come From Heaven As Directly As If God Had Been Heard Giving Utterance To Them.

On The Contrary, Therefore, Christ Declares That The Doctrine Of The Gospel, Though It Is Preached To All Without Exception, Cannot Be Embraced By All, But That A New Understanding And A New Perception Are Requisite; And, Therefore, That Faith Does Not Depend On The Will Of Men, But That It Is God Who Gives It.

In The Maxims Of The Law, God Is Seen As The Rewarder Of Perfect Righteousness And The Avenger Of Sin. But In Christ, His Face Shines Out, Full Of Grace And Gentleness To Poor, Unworthy Sinners.

Where God's Spirit Does Not Reign, There Is No Humility, And Men Ever Swell With Inward Pride.

We Must Remember That Satan Has His Miracles, Too.

Christian Inspirational

Faith Consists Not In Ignorance, But In Knowledge - Knowledge Not Of God Merely...but When We Recognize God As A Propitious Father Through The Reconciliation Made By Christ, And Christ As Given To Us For Righteousness, Sanctification, And Life.

For It Was Not After We Were Reconciled To Him By The Blood Of His Son That He Began To Love Us, But He Loved Us Before The Foundation Of The World, That With His Only Begotten Son We Too Might Be Sons Of God Before We Were Anything At All.

Whatever A Person May Be Like, We Must Still Love Them Because We Love God.

There Is No Golden Mean Between These Two Extremes; Either This Early Life Must Become Low In Our Estimation, Or It Will Have Our Inordinate Love.

Man Is Never Sufficiently Touched And Affected By The Awareness Of His Lowly State Until He Has Compared Himself With God's Majesty.

For It Is Better, With Closed Eyes, To Follow God As Our Guide, Than, By Relying On Our Own Prudence, To Wander Through Those Circuitous Paths Which It Devises For Us.

To Search For Wisdom Apart From Christ Means Not Simply Foolhardiness But Utter Insanity.

Christ Is Much More Powerful To Save, Than Adam Was To Destroy.

When We Come To A Comparison Of Heaven And Earth, Then We May Indeed Not Only Forget All About The Present Life, But Even Despise And Scorn It.

Man With All His Shrewdness Is As Stupid About Understanding By Himself The Mysteries Of God, As An Ass Is Incapable Of Understanding Musical Harmony.

It Is Permissible To Use Wine Not Only For Necessity, But Also To Make Us Merry...... [it Must Be Moderate] Lest Men Forget Themselves, Drown Their Senses,.....in Making Merry [those Who Enjoy Wine] Feel A Livelier Gratitude To God.

The First Part Of A Good Work Is The Will, The Second Is Vigorous Effort In The Doing Of It. God Is The Author Of Both. It Is, Therefore, Robbery From God To Arrogate Anything To Ourselves, Either In The Will Or The Act.

If God Contains The Fullness Of All Good Things In Himself Like An Inexhaustible Fountain, Nothing Beyond Him Is To Be Sought By Those Who Strike After The Highest Good And All The Elements Of Happiness.

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.

Elisabeth, Again, While She Praises Her, Is So Far From Hiding The Divine Glory, That She Ascribes Everything To God. And Yet, Though She Acknowledges The Superiority Of Mary To Herself And To Others, She Does Not Envy Her The Higher Distinction, But Modestly Declares That She Had Obtained More Than She Deserved.

Where Is Our Acknowledgement Of God If Our Thoughts Are Fixed On The Glamour Of Our Garments?

Mingled Vanity And Pride Appear In This, That When Miserable Men Do Seek After God, Instead Of Ascending Higher Than Themselves As They Ought To Do, They Measure Him By Their Own Carnal Stupidity, And Neglecting Solid Inquiry, Fly Off To Indulge Their Curiosity In Vain Speculation.

We Are Nowhere Forbidden To Laugh.

Christian Inspirational

In Our Good Works Nothing Is Our Own.

We Must Make The Invisible Kingdom Visible In Our Midst.

It Is Only The Goodness Of God Sensibly Experienced By Us Which Opens Our Mouth To Celebrate His Praise.

It Is Entirely The Work Of Grace And A Benefit Conferred By It That Our Heart Is Changed From A Stony One To One Of Flesh, That Our Will Is Made New, And That We, Created Anew In Heart And Mind, At Length Will What We Ought To Will.

Wherefore All Theology, When Separated From Christ, Is Not Only Vain And Confused, But Is Also Mad, Deceitful, And Spurious; For, Though The Philosophers Sometimes Utter Excellent Sayings, Yet They Have Nothing But What Is Short-lived, And Even Mixed Up With Wicked And Erroneous Sentiments.

Holiness Is Not A Merit By Which We Can Attain Communion With God, But A Gift Of Christ, Which Enables Us To Cling To Him, And To Follow Him.

To Make Intercession For Men Is The Most Powerful And Practical Way In Which We Can Express Our Love For Them.

Doctrine Is Not An Affair Of The Tongue But Of The Life.

To Be Christians Under The Law Of Grace Does Not Mean To Wander Unbridled Outside The Law, But To Be Engrafted In Christ, By Whose Grace We Are Free From The Curse Of The Law, And By Whose Spirit We Have The Law Engraved Upon Our Hearts.

True It Is, That He Who Has Taken Off His Affection From The Goods Of This World Has Already Sold All, And Has Made Himself Poor, So Far As Depends Upon Himself; But The Fruit And The Proof Of This Spiritual Poverty Are, Patiently To Endure The Loss Of Worldly Goods, And Without Any Regret, When It Pleases Our Heavenly Father That We Should Be Despoiled Of Them.

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