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If We Believe Heaven To Be Our Country, It Is Better For Us To Transmit Our Wealth Thither, Than To Retain It Here, Where We May Lose It By A Sudden Removal.

-John Calvin

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If We Believe Heaven

John Calvin

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If We Believe Heaven To Be Our Country, It Is Better For Us To Transmit Our Wealth Thither, Than To Retain It Here, Where We May Lose It By A Sudden Removal.

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Is It Faith To Understand Nothing, And Merely Submit Your Convictions Implicitly To The Church?

We Ought Always To Beware Of Making The Smallest Claim For Ourselves.

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

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

After 50 Years, Is It Not Clear That God Has Raised Up New Illnesses Connected With Fornication? From Where Do These Things Come If Not From The Hand Of God? [in Response To These Diseases] The World Was Astounded, And People Were Terrified For A Time, But They Have Not, To This Day, Observed The Hand Of God.

He Who Has Learned To Look To God In Everything He Does Is At The Same Time Diverted From All Vain Thoughts.

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

If A Preacher Is Not First Preaching To Himself, Better That He Falls On The Steps Of The Pulpit And Breaks His Neck Than Preaches That Sermon.

Faith Does Not Proceed From Ourselves, But Is The Fruit Of Spiritual Regeneration.

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.

It Is Faith Alone That Justifies, But Faith That Justifies Can Never Be Alone.

Humility Is The Beginning Of True Intelligence.

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

Prayer Is The Chief Exercise Of Faith.

The Cross Of Christ Only Triumphs In The Breast Of Believers Over The Devil And The Flesh, Sin And Sinners, When Their Eyes Are Directed To The Power Of His Resurrection.

Surely In Judas' Betrayal It Will Be No More Right, Because God Both Willed That His Son Be Delivered Up, And Delivered Him Up To Death, To Ascribe The Guilt Of The Crime To God Than To Transfer The Credit For Redemption To Judas.

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.

No Task Will Be So Sordid And Base, Provided You Obey Your Calling In It, That It Will Not Shine And Be Reckoned Very Precious In God's Sight.

But A Faithful Believer Will In All Circumstances Mediate On The Mercy And Fatherly Goodness Of God.

There Is No Knowing That Does Not Begin With Knowing God.

Let Us Fall Before The Majesty Of Our Great God, Acknowledging Our Faults, And Praying That He Will Make Us Ever More Conscious Of Them.

If God Were Not To Test Us, There Would Be No Patience.

Christians Rejoice Even While They Truly Sorrow - Because Their Rejoicing Is In The Hope Of Heaven... While Joy Overcomes Sorrow, It Does Not Put An End To It.

Faith Alone Saves, But The Faith That Saves Is Not Alone.

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

It Is A Sign Of A Perverse And Treacherous Disposition To Wound The Good Name Of Another, When He Has No Opportunity Of Defending Himself.

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.

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 Keepeth Us Back From Entering In, Save Only Our Own Unbelief.

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.

For Astronomy Is Not Only Pleasant, But Also Very Useful To Be Known: It Cannot Be Denied That This Art Unfolds The Admirable Wisdom Of God.

There Are People Who Are Known To Be Very Liberal, Yet They Never Give Without Scolding Or Pride Or Even Insolence.

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

It Must Be Plain Also That We Should Not Anxiously Strive For Riches And Honors By Relying On Our Own Diligence Or Cleverness Or By Depending On The Favor Of Men Or By Trusting In The Notion Of Good Luck, But That We Should Always Expect The Lord To Direct Us To The Lot He Has Provided For Us.

The Whole World Is A Theatre For The Display Of The Divine Goodness, Wisdom, Justice, And Power, But The Church Is The Orchestra, As It Were—the Most Conspicuous Part Of It; And The Nearer The Approaches Are That God Makes To Us, The More Intimate And Condescending The Communication Of His Benefits, The More Attentively Are We Called To Consider Them.

Whoever Is Not Satisfied With Christ Alone, Strives After Something Beyond Absolute Perfection.

The Surest Source Of Destruction To Men Is To Obey Themselves.

Without The Gospel Everything Is Useless And Vain.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

But The Present Life Should Never Be Hated, Except Insofar As It Subjects Us To Sin, Although Even That Hatred Should Not Properly Be Applied To Life Itself.

God Is Undoubtedly Ready To Pardon Whenever The Sinner Turns. Therefore, He Does Not Will His Death, In So Far As He Wills Repentance. But Experience Shows That This Will, For The Repentance Of Those Whom He Invites To Himself, Is Not Such As To Make Him Touch All Their Hearts. Still, It Cannot Be Said That He Acts Deceitfully; For Though The External Word Only Renders, Those Who Hear It, And Do Not Obey It, Inexcusable, It Is Still Truly Regarded As An Evidence Of The Grace By Which He Reconciles Men To Himself.

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

Men Will Never Worship God With A Sincere Heart, Or Be Roused To Fear And Obey Him With Sufficient Zeal, Until They Properly Understand How Much They Are Indebted To His Mercy.

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.

We Must Remember That Satan Has His Miracles, Too.

Christian Inspirational

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.

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.

We Explain Justification Simply As The Acceptance With Which God Receives Us Into His Favor As Righteous Men. And We Say That It Consists In The Remission Of Sins And The Imputation Of Christ’s Righteousness.

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!

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.

Things That Are Seen Are Temporal; Things That Are Unseen Are Eternal.

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.

The Blindness Of Unbelievers In No Way Detracts From The Clarity Of The Gospel; The Sun Is No Less Bright Because Blind Men Do Not Perceive Its Light.

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.

The Creation Is Quite Like A Spacious And Splendid House, Provided And Filled With The Most Exquisite, And At The Same Time, The Most Abundant Furnishings. Everything In It Tells Of God.

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

God Promised By The Mouth Of Isaiah That Queens Should Be The Nursing Mothers Of The Church.

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.

When Pain And Suffering Strike, Our Faith Is Well Founded If It Is Standing On The Promises Of God. For All Of God's Promises Have Strong Confirmation In Christ.

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

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.

Concerning Our Lord Jesus Christ, We Must Also Be Aware That He Is Our Advocate, And That Without Him We Cannot Approach God.

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.

Unless God's Word Illumine The Way, The Whole Life Of Men Is Wrapped In Darkness And Mist, So That They Cannot But Miserably Stray.

The Denial Of Ourselves Which Christ Has So Diligently Commanded His Disciples From The Beginning Will At Last Dominate All The Desires Of Our Heart.

Unless We Endeavor To Do Good To Our Neighbor, Through Our Cruelty We Transgress This Law

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

The Lord Commands Us To Do Good Unto All Men Without Exception, Though The Majority Are Very Undeserving When Judged According To Their Own Merits. But Scripture Here Helps Us Out With An Excellent Argument When It Teaches Us That We Must Not Think Of Man's Real Value, But Only Of His Creation In The Image Of God To Which We Owe All Possible Honor And Love.

There Is No Erratic Power Or Action Or Motion In Creatures But They Are Governed By God's Secret Plan In Such A Way That Nothing Happens Except What Is Knowingly And Willingly Decreed By Him.

If It Seems More Horrible To Kill A Man In His Own House, Then In A Field,...it Ought Surely To Be Deemed More Atrocious To Destroy A Fetus In The Womb Before It Has Come To Light.

To 'justify' Means Nothing Else Than To Acquit Of Guilt Him (her) Who Was Accused As If His Own Innocence Were Confirmed.

Hence That Dread And Amazement With Which As Scripture Uniformly Relates Holy Men Were Struck And Overwhelmed Whenever They Beheld The Presence Of God. Men Are Never Duly Touched And Impressed With A Conviction Of Their Insignificance Until They Have.

We Shall Never Be Clothed With The Righteousness Of Christ Except We First Know Assuredly That We Have No Righteousness Of Our Own.

For Scripture Is The School Of The Holy Spirit, In Which, As Nothing Is Omitted That Is Both Necessary And Useful To Know, So Nothing Is Taught But What Is Expedient To Know. Therefore We Must Guard Against Depriving Believers Of Anything Disclosed About Predestination In Scripture, Lest We Seem Either Wickedly To Defraud Them Of The Blessing Of Their God Or To Accuse And Scoff At The Holy Spirit For Having Published What It Is In Any Way Profitable To Suppress.

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

Whenever The Lord Holds Us In Suspense, And Delays His Aid, He Is Not Therefore Asleep, But, On The Contrary, Regulates All His Works In Such A Manner That He Does Nothing But At The Proper Time.

The Pastor Ought To Have Two Voices: One, For Gathering The Sheep; And Another, For Warding Off And Driving Away Wolves And Thieves. The Scripture Supplies Him With The Means Of Doing Both.

The Sufferings Of Christ Are The Means Of Forgiveness Of Sin And Eternal Glory

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.

For The Fetus, Though Enclosed In The Womb Of Its Mother, Is Already A Human Being, And It Is A Monstrous Crime To Rob It Of The Life Which It Has Not Yet Begun To Enjoy. If It Seems More Horrible To Kill A Man In His Own House Than In A Field, Because A Man's House Is His Place Of Most Secure Refuge, It Ought Surely To Be Deemed More Atrocious To Destroy A Fetus In The Womb Before It Has Come To Light.

Let Our Chief Goal, O God, Be Your Glory, And To Enjoy You Forever.

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

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

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?

The Fire Of Affliction Reveals The Quality Of Our Faith

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

Wherever We See The Word Of God Purely Preached And Heard, There A Church Of God Exists, Even If It Swarms With Many Faults.

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

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

There Is Nothing In Afflictions Which Ought To Disturb Our Joy.

Without Knowledge Of Self There Is No Knowledge Of God.

Knowledge Of God

Nearly All The Wisdom We Possess, That Is To Say, True And Sound Wisdom, Consists Of Two Parts: The Knowledge Of God And Of Ourselves.

Knowledge Of God

For Even If The Word In His Immeasurable Essence United With The Nature Of Man Into One Person, We Do Not Imagine That He Was Confined Therein. Here Is Something Marvellous: The Son Of God Descended From Heaven In Such A Way That, Without Leaving Heaven, He Willed To Be Borne In The Virgin's Womb, To Go About The Earth, And To Hang Upon The Cross; Yet He Continuously Filled The World Even As He Had Done From The Beginning.

The Gospel Is Not A Doctrine Of The Tongue, But Of Life. It Cannot Be Grasped By Reason And Memory Only, But It Is Fully Understood When It Possesses The Whole Soul And Penetrates To The Inner Recesses Of The Heart.

When The Bible Speaks, God Speaks.

True Wisdom Consists In Two Things: Knowledge Of God And Knowledge Of Self.

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 Have Not So Great A Struggle With My Vices, Great And Numerous As They Are, As I Have With My Impatience. My Efforts Are Not Absolutely Useless; Yet I Have Never Been Able To Conquer This Ferocious Wild Beast.

This Is What Entertainment Is All About- Idiots, Explosives And Falling Anvils.

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.

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

The Holy Spirit Is The Bond By Which Christ Efficaciously Unites Us To Himself.

Free Will Does Not Enable Any Man To Perform Good Works, Unless He Is Assisted By Grace; Indeed, The Special Grace Which The Elect Alone Receive Through Regeneration. For I Stay Not To Consider The Extravagance Of Those Who Say That Grace Is Offered Equally And Promiscuously To All

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

But As A Heathen Tells Us, There Is No Nation So Barbarous, No Race So Brutish As Not To Be Imbued With The Conviction That There Is A God.

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

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.

Nothing, Including Human Suffering, Happens By Chance.

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

If People Mean That Man Has In Himself The Power To Work In Partnership With God's Grace They Are Most Wretchedly Deluding Themselves.

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.

If True Religion Is To Beam Upon Us, Our Principle Must Be, That It Is Necessary To Begin With Heavenly Teaching, And That It Is Impossible For Any Man To Obtain Even The Minutest Portion Of Right And Sound Doctrine Without Being A Disciple Of Scripture.

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

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.

While Sin Is Overflowing, [grace] Pours Itself Forth So Exuberantly, That It Not Only Overcomes The Flood Of Sin, But Wholly Absorbs It.

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.

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

Whensoever God's Truth Is Defaced Or When Any Man Turns Away From The Pure Simplicity Of The Gospel, We Must Not In Any Wise Spare Him, But Although The Whole World Should Set Itself Against Us, Yet Must We Maintain The Case With Invincible Constancy, Without Bending For Any Creature.

There Is No Worse Screen To Block Out The Spirit Than Confidence In Our Own Intelligence.

Christian Inspirational

Because The Will Renewed Is The Lord's Work, It Is Wrongly Attributed To Man That He Obeys Prevenient Grace With His Will As Attendant.

There Are Babies A Span Long In Hell.

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

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.

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.

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.

It Is No Small Honour That God For Our Sake Has So Magnificently Adorned The World, In Order That We May Not Only Be Spectators Of This Beauteous Theatre, But Also Enjoy The Multiplied Abundance And Variety Of Good Things Which Are Presented To Us In It.

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.

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.

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.

Faith And Patience Are Exceptional Virtues In Those That Suffer. Patience Is The Fruit And Evidence Of Faith.

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.

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

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

Yet Consider Now, Whether Women Are Not Quite Past Sense And Reason, When They Want To Rule Over Men.

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

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.

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

The Only Right Stewardship Is That Which Is Tested By The Rule Of Love.

God Orders What We Cannot Do, That We May Know What We Ought To Ask Him.

When A Certain Shameless Fellow Mockingly Asked A Pious Old Man What God Had Done Before The Creation Of The World The Latter Aptly Countered That He Had Been Building Hell For The Curious.

If We Are Proud Of Our Talents We Betray Our Lack Of Gratitude To God.

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

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.

Satan Is An Astute Theologian.

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.

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.

I Have Never Seen Either A Drop Of Piety Or A Grain Of Truth Or Ingenuousness - Nay, I Have Never Found Common Sense In Any Jew.

It Is A Most Blessed Thing To Be Subject To The Sovereignty Of God.

Sovereignty Of God

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.

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

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

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.

All True Knowledge Of God Is Born Out Of Obedience.

Knowledge Of God

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

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.

To Will Is Human, To Will The Bad Is Of Fallen Nature, But To Will The Good Is Of Grace.

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.

The Whole Life Of Christians Ought To Be An Exercise Of Piety, Since They Are Called To Sanctification. It Is The Office Of The Law To Remind Them Of Their Duty And Thereby To Excite Them To The Pursuit Of Holiness And Integrity. But When Their Consciences Are Solicitous How God May Be Propitiated, What Answer They Shall Make, And On What They Shall Rest Their Confidence, If Called To His Tribunal, There Must Then Be No Consideration Of The Requisitions Of The Law, But Christ Alone Must Be Proposed For Righteousness, Who Exceeds All The Perfection Of The Law.

A Man That Extols Himself Is A Fool And An Idiot

In Knowing God, Each Of Us Also Knows Himself.

Moreover, A True Christian Will Not Ascribe Any Prosperity To His Own Diligence, Industry, Or Good Fortune, But He Will Acknowledge That God Is The Author Of It.

Only Those Who Have Learned Well To Be Earnestly Dissatisfied With Themselves, And To Be Confounded With Shame At Their Wretchedness Truly Understand The Christian Gospel.

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.

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.

When We Hear Any Mention Of Our Mystical Union With Christ, We Should Remember That Holiness Is The Channel To Do It.

If Grace Acts In Us, Grace, And Not We Who Do The Work, Will Be Crowned.

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.

Faith Is The Evidence Of Divine Adoption.

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

Now The Great Thing Is This: We Are Consecrated And Dedicated To God In Order That We May Thereafter Think, Speak, Meditate, And Do, Nothing Except To His Glory. For A Sacred Thing May Not Be Applied To Profane Uses Without Marked Injury To Him.

Men Are Idol Factories.

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

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.

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 One Will Calmly And Quietly Submit To Bear The Cross Except Those Who Have Learned To Seek Their Happiness Beyond This World.

Nothing Is More Dangerous Than To Be Blinded By Prosperity.

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.

You Must Submit To Supreme Suffering In Order To Discover The Completion Of Joy.

Nevertheless, Our Constant Efforts To Lower Our Estimate Of The Present World Should Not Lead Us To Hate Life Or To Be Ungrateful Toward God. For This Life, Though It Is Full Of Countless Miseries, Deserves To Be Reckoned Among The Divine Blessings Which Should Not Be Despised. Therefore, If We Discover Nothing Of God's Goodness In It, We Are Already Guilty Of No Small Ingratitude Toward Him.

All Men Were Created To Busy Themselves With The Labor For The Common Good.

Let This Point Therefore Stand: That Those Whom The Holy Spirit Has Inwardly Taught Truly Rest Upon Scripture, And That Scripture Itself Is Self-authenticated. . . . Therefore, Illumined By His Power, We Believe Neither By Our Own Nor By Any One Else's Judgment That Scripture Is From God; But Above Human Judgment We Affirm With Utter Certainty (just As If We Were Gazing Upon The Majesty Of God Himself) That It Has Flowed To Us From The Very Mouth Of God By The Ministry Of Men.

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.

The Whole Comes To This, That Christ, When He Produces Faith In Us By The Agency Of His Spirit, At The Same Time Ingrafts Us Into His Body, That We May Become Partakers Of All Spiritual Blessings.

To Crave Wealth And Honor, To Demand Power, To Pile Up Riches, To Gather All Those Vanities Which Seem To Make For Pomp And Empty Display, That Is Our Furious Passion And Our Unbounded Desire.on The Other Hand, We Fear And Abhor Poverty, Obscurity, And Humility, And We Seek To Avoid Them By All Possible Means.

Whoever Shall Now Contend That It Is Unjust To Put Heretics And Blasphemers To Death Will Knowingly And Willingly Incur Their Very Guilt.

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

Who Will Venture To Place The Authority Of Copernicus Above That Of The Holy Spirit?

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).

Lawful Worship Consists In Obedience Alone.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Vices Of Which We Are Full We Carefully Hide From Others, And We Flatter Ourselves With The Notion That They Are Small And Trivial; We Sometimes Even Embrace Them As Virtues.

If The Gospel Be Not Preached, Jesus Christ Is, As It Were, Buried.

Doubtful Prayer Is No Prayer At All.

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