THE HEAVENS DECLARE

'After the world had been created, man was placed in it as in a theatre, that he, beholding above him and beneath the wonderful works of God, might reverently adore their Author.'

John Calvin in Matthew Bingham, A Heart Aflame for God, p.236.

GRADUAL SANCTIFICATION

'...it pleases God gradually to restore his image in us, in such a manner that some taint always remains in our flesh.' 

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.20.25 (Editor John T McNeill), p.911.

HOW TO CHEER YOURSELF UP

'It is the word of God alone which can first and effectively cheer the heart of any sinner. There is no true or solid peace to be enjoyed in the world except in the way of reposing upon the promises of God.' 

John Calvin in J Todd Billings, Rejoicing in Lament, p.47.  

THE GOSPEL IS DEIFICATION

'The purpose of the gospel [is] to make us sooner or later like God; indeed it is, so to speak, a kind of deification.' 

John Calvin in Rankin Wilbourne, Union with Christ, p.165. 

THE CROSS

'There is no tribunal so magnificent, no throne so stately, no show of triumph so distinguished, no chariot so elevated as is the gibbet on which Christ has subdued death and the devil and trodden them under his feet.' 

John Calvin in Michael Green, I Believe in Satan's Downfall, p.94. 

PREACHING

'The Word of God is not distinguished from the word of the prophet. God does not wish to be heard but by the voice of his ministers. Christ acts by them in such a manner that he wishes their mouth to be reckoned as his mouth, and their lips as his lips.' 

John Calvin in Belden C Lane, Ravished by Beauty, p.80. 

OUR FATHER GOD

'God of his nature is inclines to allure us to himself by gentle and loving means, as a father goes about to win his children, by laughing with them and giving them all they desire. If a father could always laugh with his children and fulfill all their desires, all his delight would surely be in them. Such a one does God show himself to be towards us.' 

John Calvin in Belden C Lane, Ravished by Beauty,. p.71. 

GOD'S INTOXICATING CREATION

'We see, indeed, the world with our eyes, we tread the earth with our feet, we touch the innumerable kinds of God's works with our hands, we inhale a sweet and pleasant fragrance from herbs and flowers, we enjoy boundless benefits; but in those very things of which we attain some knowledge, there dwells such an immensity of divine power, goodness, and wisdom, as absorbs all our senses.' 

John Calvin in Belden C Lance, Ravished by Beauty, p.69. 

FORETASTES OF HEAVEN

'For in this world God blesses us in such a way as to give us a mere foretaste of his kindness, and by that taste to entice us to desire heavenly blessings with which we may be satisfied.' 

John Calvin in Belden C Lane, Ravished by Beauty, p.69.  

CALVIN THE CHARISMATIC

'We are cold when it comes to rejoicing in God! Hence, we need to exercise ourselves in it and employ all our senses in it - our feet, our hands, our arms and all the rest - that they all might serve in the worship of God and so magnify him.' 

John Calvin in Beldon C Lane, Ravished by Beauty, p.69 

THE CHURCH

'The whole world is a theater 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.' 

John Calvin in Belden C Lane, Ravished by Beauty, p.67. 

FORGIVENESS

'....willingly to cast from the mind wrath, hatred, desire for revenge, and willingly to banish to oblivion the remembrance of injustice.' 

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Ed; John T McNeill), p.912. 

PRAYER IS LOVE

'...there is nothing in which we can benefit our brethren more than in commending them to the providential care of the best of fathers; for if he is kind and favorable, nothing at all else can be desired. Indeed, we owe this very thing to our Father. Just as one who truly and deeply loves any father of a family at the same time embraces his whole household with love and good will, so it becomes us in like measure to show his people, to his family, and lastly, to his inheritance, the same zeal and affection we have toward this heavenly Father.' 

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Ed: John T McNeill), p.901. 

CALVIN & NATURE

'We have been placed here, as in a spacious theater, to behold the works of God, and there is no work of God so small as we ought to pass by it it lightly, but all ought to be carefully and diligently observed.' 

John Calvin in Belden C Lane, Ravished by Beauty, p.21. 

EARLY ENVIRONMENTALISM

'The custody of the garden was given in charge to Adam, to show that we possess the things which God has committed to our hands, that being content with a frugal and moderate use of them, we should take care of what shall remain. Let him who possesses a filed, so partake of its yearly fruits, that he may not suffer the ground to be injured by his negligence; but let him endeavour to hand it down to posterity as he received it, or even better cultivated. Let him so feed on its fruits, that he neither dissipates it by luxury, nor permits it to be marred or ruined by neglect. Moreover, that this economy, and this diligence, with respect to those good things which God has given us to enjoy, may flourish among us; let every one regard himself as the steward of God in all things which he possesses. Then he will neither conduct himself dissolutely, nor corrupt by abuse those things which God requires to be preserved.' 

John Calvin in Craig G Bartholomew, Where Mortals Dwell, p.215. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF APPLICATION

'We have given the first place to the doctrine in which our religion is contained, since our salvation begins with it. But, it must enter our hearts and pass along to our daily living, and so transform us into itself that it may not be unfruitful for us...'

John Calvin in Timothy Lane, Living without Worry,  p.115. 

UNION WITH CHRIST

'As long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value to us.' 

John Calvin in Rory Shiner, One Forever, p.46. 

TRUE FAITH

'For the Word of God is not received by faith as it flits about in the top of the brain, but when it takes root in the depth of the heart.' 

John Calvin in Timothy Keller, Prayer, p.165. 

GRACE

'Christ was given to us by God's generosity, to be grasped and possesed by faith. By partaking of him, we principally receive a double grace: namely, that being reconciled to God through Christ's blamelessness, we may have in heaven instead of a Judge a gracious Father; and secondly, that sanctified by Christ's Spirit we may cultivate blamelessness and purity of life.'

John Calvin in John Webster, Holiness, p.85.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

'...the secret energy...by which we come to enjoy Christ and all his benefits.'

John Calvin in John Webster, Holiness, p.83.