121 quotes
The ceremony of lifting up our hands in prayer is designed to remind us that we are far removed from God, unless our thoughts rise upward.
Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)
All nations before thee are as nothing. Observe, before thee; not within thee. Such are they in the judgment of thy truth, but not such in regard to thy affection.
Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)
Faith has no less need of the word than the fruit of a tree has of a living root; because, as David testifies, none can hope in God but those who know his name [Psalm 9:10].
Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)
But this we may positively state, that nobody has made any progress in the school of Christ unless he cheerfully looks forward to the day of his death and to the day of the final resurrection.
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.
Since God has revealed himself as a Father, we would be guilty of the basest ingratitude if we did not behave as his children.
Being humbled, we learn to call upon his strength which alone makes us stand up under such a load of afflictions.
When we hear any mention of our mystical union with Christ, we should remember that holiness is the channel to do it.
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.
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.
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.
We not only do not believe that any are foreordained to evil by the power of God, but even state with utter abhorrence that if there are those who want to believe so evil a thing, they are anathema.
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.
The apostle denies that anyone actually knows Christ, who has not learned to put off the old man, corrupt with deceitful lusts, and to put on Christ.
There is deliverance in store only for the man who gives up his selfishness, and whose sole aim is to please the Lord and to do what is right in his sight.
We condemn those who affirm that a man once justified cannot sin. ... As to the special privilege of the Virgin Mary, when they produce the celestial diploma we shall believe what they say.
Antidote to the Canons of the Council of Trent, Canon 23 (1547)
The wicked do not fear God from any unwillingness to offend him, provided they could do so with impunity. ... But believers, as has been said, dread the offense even more than the punishment.
Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)
Now among the other things proper to recreate man and give him pleasure, music is either the first or one of the principal;and we must think that it is a gift of God deputed for that purpose'.
It is certain that no man can embrace the grace of the Gospel without retaking himself from the errors of his former life into the right path, and making it his whole study to practice repentance.
Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)
Is it faith to understand nothing, and merely submit your convictions implicitly to the Church?