Lake Geneva on Calvin's 500th.

Today I circumnavigated it in 12 hours on one diesel boat and three steam paddle boats. Click on the link for the photos.

Happy 500th birthday, John Calvin, my favourite Frenchman. (Not a lot of competition :-( )

For though we very truly hear that the kingdom of God will be filled with splndour, 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 when he will reveanl to us his glory, that we may behold it face to face. JOHN CALVIN

God foreordained, 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.- John Calvin

God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escapes us -- as, indeed, without this mercy there would be no freedom to pray. John Calvin (1509-1564)

Grant, Almighty God, as at the present time thou dost deservedly chastise us for our sins, according to the example of thine ancient people, that we may turn our face to thee with true penitence and humility: May we throw ourselves suppliantly and prostrately before thee; and, despairing of ourselves, place our only hope in thy pity which thou hast promised. J. Calvin.

Having ingrafted us into his body, [Christ] makes us partakers, not only of all his benefits, but also himself. [Christ is not] received merely in the understanding and imagination. For the promises offer him, not so that we end up with the mere sight and knowledge of him, but that we enjoy a true communication of him. JOHN CALVIN

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 contrasted themselves with the majesty of God. -- JOHN CALVIN

I come now to our doctrine. Many people condemn it out of prejudice, without hearing or exploring it. They are to occupied with some opinion or other that totally dulls the sharp edge of their minds. I am not going to mention the insults and even criminal acts that are imputed to us in an effort to keep everyone from tasting our doctrine. Only one thing can be charged against us, that we strive to call back to their own banner (namely, the Word of God) all those who are counted as belonging to Christ but have been wandering about wretchedly. We are also bringing it about that all controversy over the worship of God is settled on the basis of his Word, so that each person may believe what is established as being from God. What of our adversaries? They are making a counterfeit church, a short shield of Ajax, so that they may hide behind its empty facade. The prophets and apostles faced the same situation when they had to deal with men who were usurping, by their wicked beliefs, the very name of the church and its highest authority. John Calvin

I eveywhere teach that no one can be justly condemned and perish except on account of actual sin; and to say that the countless mortals taken from life while yet infants are precipitated from their mother's arms into eternal death is a blasphemy to be universally detested.
John Calvin , in Augustus H. Strong "Systematic Theology", page 663.

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.- John Calvin (1509-64)

It behooves us to accomplish what God requires of us, even when we are in the greatest despair respecting the results.... John Calvin (1509-1564)

It is entirely by the intervention of Christ's righteousness that we obtain justification before God. This is equivalent to saying that man is not just in himself, but that the righteousness of Christ is communicated to him by imputation, while he is strictly deserving of punishment. John Calvin

Knowledge of the sciences is so much smoke apart from the heavenly science of Christ. John Calvin

[Justification is] the main hinge on which salvation turns. JOHN CALVIN

Let us always remember that the end of the resurrection is eternal happiness, of whose excellence scarcely the minutist part can be described by all that human tongues can say. For though we are truly told that the kingdom of God will be full of light, and gladness, and felcity, and glory, yet the things meant by these words remain most remote from sense, and as it were involved in enigma, until the day arrive on which he will manifest his glory to us face to face. JOHN CALVIN

Let us not cease to do the utmost, that we may incessantly go forward in the way of the Lord; and let us not despair of the smallness of our accomplishments. JOHN CALVIN

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 Godand forge some idol in his own brain. JOHN CALVIN

No true Christian is his own man. JOHN CALVIN

Now we shall possess a right definition of faith if we call it a firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit. John Calvin (1509-1564)

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. John Calvin

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 foolishlyshly, for only by faith can this be known. John Calvin (1509-1564)

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. -- John Calvin

The Creed sets forth what Christ suffered in the sight of men, and then appositely speaks of that invisible and incomprehensible judgement which he underwent in the sight of God in order that we might know not only that Christ's body was given as the price of our redemption, but that he paid a greater and more excellent price in suffering in his soul the terrible torments of a condemned and forsaken man. -- John Calvin (1509-1564)

The Fanaticism which discards the Scripture,under the pretence 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. John Calvin

The ground of discrimination that exists among men is the sovereign will of God and that alone; but the ground of damnation to which the reprobate are consigned is sin and sin alone. --JOHN CALVIN

The most perfect way of seeking God, and the most suitable order, is not for us to attempt with bold curiosity to penetrate to the investigation of His essence, which we ought more to adore than meticulously to search out, but for us to contemplate Him in His works, whereby He renders Himself near and familiar to us, and in some manner communicates Himself. ... John Calvin (1509-1564)

The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul. -- John Calvin

There is a communion of men with God by which, having entered the heavenly sanctuary, appeal to him in person concerning his promises in order to experience, where necessity so demands, that what they believed was not in vain, although he had promised it in word alone. John Calvin

There is not one blade of grass, there is no colour in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice. John Calvin

The world invents its own good works and persuades itself that they are good. But Paul declares that good and right according to the world are to be judged by the commandments of God. JOHN CALVIN

Those talents which God has bestowed upon us are not our own goods but the free gifts of God; and any persons who become proud of them show their ungratefulness. ... John Calvin (1509-1564)

We are continually tormented until God delivers us from misery and anguish by the remedy of His own love towards us. - John Calvin

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.
John Calvin (1509-1564)

We must remember that Satan has his miracles, too. John Calvin

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. JOHN CALVIN

M. Let us now see how far this command has reference to us.
S. In regard to the ceremony [the resting one day in seven], I hold that it was abolished, as the reality existed in Christ.
M. How?
S. Because, by virtue of his death, our old man is crucified, and we are raised up to newness of life.
M. What of the commandment then remains for us?
S. Not to neglect the holy ordinances which contribute to the spiritual polity of the Church; especially to frequent sacred assemblies, to hear the word of God, to celebrate the sacraments, and engage in the regular prayers, as enjoined.
M. But does the figure give us nothing more?
S. Yes, indeed. We must give heed to the thing meant by it; namely, that being engrafted into the body of Christ, and made his members, we cease from our own works, and so resign ourselves to the government of God.
Calvin's Catechism for the Church at Geneva. - on the Fourth Commandment

There is no other method of living piously and justly, than that of depending upon God. Calvin on Gen 17:1.

It is profitable for the pious to be unsettled on earth, lest, by setting their minds on a commodious and quiet habitation, they should lose the inheritance of heaven. -- Calvin on Gen 20:1

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. Calvin on Gen 22:1

True discrimination between right and wrong does not then depend on the acuteness of our intelligence, but on the wisdom of the Spirit. J Calvin on Luke 24:16

There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence. J Calvin on Luke 24:45

Since no man is excluded from calling upon God the gate of salvation is set open to all. There is nothing else to hinder us from entering, but our own unbelief. Calvin On Acts 1:21.

The violence of the wind had the effect of making them afraid. For we are never rightly prepared to receive the grace of God unless the vain confidence of the flesh has been mastered. For as by faith we have open access to Him, so it is that humility and fear open the door for Him to come to us. He will have nothing to do with proud and careless men who please themselves.
Calvin On Acts 1:2

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. Calvin Commentary on Acts 2:21

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. -- Calvin on 1Cor 1:20.

Lots more at http://www.christiansquoting.org.uk/quotes_by_author_c.htm