Nothing is more dangerous than a Calvinist just off his knees.. - James Luther Adams quoted by Max Stackhouse, in his preface to, Religion, Pluralism and Public Life, ed Luis E Lugo, Eeerdmans, 200O.
[The Confession of Faith] infused enduring elements into the institutions of Geneva, and made it for the modern world, the impregnable fortress of popular liberty--the fertile seed-plot of Democracy.-- George Bancroft
There is no system which equals Calvinism in intensifying, to the last degree, ideas of moral excellence and purity of character. It has always worked for liberty. There never was a system since the world began, which puts upon man such motives to holiness, or builds batteries which sweep the whole ground of sin with such horrible artillery. -- Henry Ward Beecher
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
That God works half and man the other half is false; that God works all and man does all is true. -- John Duncan
The promulgation of Calvin's theology was one of the longest steps that mankind has taken toward personal liberty. -- John Fiske
To the Calvinists, more than to any other class of men, the political liberties of Holland, England, and America are due. -- John L. Motley
I am a five point Calvinist and all the points are sharp! -- Ian Paisley
The strength of that heretic (John Calvin) consisted in this, that money never had the slightest charm for him. If I had such servants my dominion would extend from sea to sea. -- Pope Pius IV (1559-1565)
The Calvinist has said, and said right bravely, that salvation is of grace alone; and the Arminian has said, and said most truthfully, that damnation is of man's will alone, and as the result of man's sin, and of that only. Then they have fallen out with one another. The fact is, they had each one laid hold of a truth, and if they could have put their heads together, and accepted both truths, it might have been greatly for the advantage of the Church of Christ. These two doctrines are like tram lines that you can travel on with safety and comfort, these parallel lines-ruin, of man; restoration, of God: sin, of man's will; salvation, of God's will: reprobation, of man's demerit; election, of God's free and sovereign grace: the sinner lost in hell through himself alone, the saint lifted up to heaven wholly and alone by the power and grace of God. Get those two truths thoroughly engraven upon your heart, and you will then hold comprehensively the great truths of Scripture. You will not need to crowd them into one narrow system of theology, but you will have a sort of duplicate system - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
When my spirit gets depressed, nothing will sustainit but the good old-fashioned Calvinistic doctrine. --Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) _Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit_ Vol. 58 [1912]
I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified unless we preach what is nowadays called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the Gospel and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the Gospel...unless we preach the sovereignty of God in his dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah. Nor do I think we can preach the Gospel unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of his elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend the Gospel which allows saints to fall away after they are called. Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)
I must confess I never would have been saved if I could have helped it. As long as I could, I rebelled and revolted and struggled against God. When he would have me pray, I would not pray. When he would have me listen to the sound of the ministry, I would not. And when I heard, and the tear rolled down my cheek, I wiped it away and defied him to melt my heart. Then he gave me the effectual blow of grace, and there was no resisting that irresistible effort. It conquered my depraved will and made me bow myself before the scepter of his grace.
And so it is in every case. Man revolts against his Savior, but where God determines to save, save he will. God never was thwarted yet in any one of his purposes. Man does resist with all his might, but all the might of man, tremendous though it be for sin, is not equal to the majestic might of the Most High.--Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892)_New Park Street Pulpit_ Vol. 4 [1858]
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