A Puritan at Heart

Our life shall always be full of disorder and confusion, until we have yielded so much authority unto God over us as to have the [whole] guiding of us, and that we have made our account to rest simply upon his word. To be short, we be taught here, to rid ourselves of all selfweening, and that when the case concerneth how to live well, we must not step upon our own head, and after our own fancy, to say, this seemeth good to  me. Whereat must we then begin? At learning, as Moses declareth. And therefore he that giveth ear unto God, to recieve whatsoever is told him from him, shall be well-learned. but on the contrary part, until such time as we have heard our GOD speak, and that he have performed the office of teacher towards us: it is certain that our life shall be quite out of order. We may well flatter ourselves as ignorant wretches do, who bear themselves in hand that the world goes as well with them as is possible, when in the mean while they be no better than bewitched, so as there is neither wit nor discretion in them. Ye see then that the thing which we have to mark upon this text, is that if we mean not to lead a disordered life, and such a one as God utterly misliketh: we must hearken unto him. And here it appeareth of what value good intent (as they term them) are: For if it behove us to hear God speak, before we lift up one foot to go forward: what will become of us when everyone of us is wedded to his own fancy, and when our lusts are so wild? Doth it not appear that God  refuses all such things in one word? Moses tells us that God on his side, will teach us faithfully and soundly, and perfectly: conditionally that we refuse not to be ruled by him and obey him. [John Calvin--sermon on Deut 4:1]

That is the principle that distinguishes our religion from all others, that we know that God has spoken to us and are fully convinced that the prophets did not speak of themselves, but as organs of the Holy Spirit uttered only that which they had been commissioned from heaven to declare. All those who wish to profit from the Scriptures must first accept this as a settled priniciple, that the Law and the prophets are not teachings handed on at the pleasure of men or produced by men’s minds as their source, but are dictated by the Holy Spirit. [John Calvin]

Whatever wisdom a person has of himself, is pure folly with regard to God; and when self-confidence is added it becomes madness.[ John Calvin]

The glory of the faithful is not in their learning or fine speech, but in a pure conscience. [John Calvin]

He is not said to lead a happy life who, after infinite difficulties during a long period, at last laboriously works out his escape, but he who calmly enjoys present blessings without any alloy of suffering. [John Calvin]

It is divine election which distinguishes among men. We have not the least hesitation to admit what Paul strenuously maintains, that all, without exception, are depraved and given over to wickedness; but at the same time we add, that through the mercy of God all do not continue in wickedness. Therefore, while we all labor naturally under the same disease, those only recover health to whom the Lord is pleased to put forth his healing hand. The others whom, in just judgment, he passes over, pine and rot away till they are consumed. And this is the only reason why some persevere to the end, and others, after beginning their course, fall away. Perseverance is the gift of God, which he does not lavish promiscuously on all, but imparts to whom he pleases. If it is asked how the difference arises — why some steadily persevere, and others prove deficient in steadfastness, we can give no other reason than that the Lord, by his mighty power, strengthens and sustains the former, so that they perish not, while he does not furnish the same assistance to the latter, but leaves them to be monuments of instability. [John Calvin]

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. [John Calvin]

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. [John Calvin]

These things which I set before you are not those which I have meditated with myself and my shady nook. But those which the invincible martyrs of God realized amid gibbets and flames and ravenous beasts. Had not their courage been not sweated, they would in an instant have been perfidiously abjured the eternal truth which they intrepidly sealed with their blood. They did not set us an example of constancy in asserting the truth, that we should now dessert it when handed down to us so signed and sealed, but they taught us the art by which, trusting in the Divine protection we stand invincible by all powers of death, hell, the world, and Satan. [John Calvin]

Let us remember therefore this lesson: That to worship our God sincerely we must evermore begin by hearkening to His voice, and by giving ear to what He commands us. For if every man goes after his own way, we shall wander. We may well run, but we shall never be a whit nearer to the right way, but rather farther away from it. [John Calvin, Sermon 155: Deut. 28:9-14, "Separation unto Blessing", Thursday, March 12, 1556]

For it seemed to you that you should never have come soon enough into the land of blessing: what God made you to retire from it and it ought to have been yet long time ere before you had come there Think upon it and consider it was God’s hand that held you there as it were shut up in a close prison. Now then, although God has delivered you from it yet must you bare it in mind still according as we see how King Hezekiah speaks thereof in his song saying he will bethink of the years the past with heaviness and grief of heart and call to mind the chastisement had received at God’s hand thereby to hold himself in awe, that he shall not back again into the same faults for which he had been punished. Thus you see how we ought to think upon the corrections that God shall have sent us that we may profit ourselves by them. [John Calvin]

For it seemed to you that you should never have come soon enough into the land of blessing: what God made you to retire from it and it ought to have been yet long time ere before you had come there Think upon it and consider it was God’s hand that held you there as it were shut up in a close prison. Now then, although God has delivered you from it yet must you bare it in mind still according as we see how King Hezekiah speaks thereof in his song saying he will bethink of the years the past with heaviness and grief of heart and call to mind the chastisement had received at God’s hand thereby to hold himself in awe, that he shall not back again into the same faults for which he had been punished. Thus you see how we ought to think upon the corrections that God shall have sent us that we may profit ourselves by them. [John Calvin]

I insist not that the life of the Christian shall breathe nothing but the perfect Gospel, though this is to be desired, and ought to be attempted. I insist not so strictly on evangelical perfection, as to refuse to acknowledge as a Christian any man who has not attained it. In this way all would be excluded from the Church, since there is no man who is not far removed from this perfection, while many, who have made but little progress, would be undeservedly rejected. What then? Let us set this before our eye as the end at which we ought constantly to aim. Let it be regarded as the goal towards which we are to run. For you cannot divide the matter with God, undertaking part of what his word enjoins, and omitting part at pleasure. For, in the first place, God uniformly recommends integrity as the principal part of his worship, meaning by integrity real singleness of mind, devoid of gloss and fiction, and to this is opposed a double mind; as if it had been said, that the spiritual commencement of a good life is when the internal affections are sincerely devoted to God, in the cultivation of holiness and justice. But seeing that, in this earthly prison of the body, no man is supplied with strength sufficient to hasten in his course with due alacrity, while the greater number are so oppressed with weakness, that hesitating, and halting, and even crawling on the ground, they make little progress, let every one of us go as far as his humble ability enables him, and prosecute the journey once begun. No one will travel so badly as not daily to make some degree of progress. This, therefore, let us never cease to do, that we may daily advance in the way of the Lord; and let us not despair because of the slender measure of success. How little soever the success may correspond with our wish, our labour is not lost when to-day is better than yesterday, provided with true singleness of mind we keep our aim, and aspire to the goal, not speaking flattering things to ourselves, nor indulging our vices, but making it our constant endeavour to become better, until we attain to goodness itself. If during the whole course of our life we seek and follow, we shall at length attain it, when relieved from the infirmity of flesh we are admitted to full fellowship with God.[John Calvin]

If we were well advised we would not need to be taught to act reverently toward, God, for nature ought to bring us to that end. For [after all] what reason are we created in this world? Why do we live here if it isn’t for the purpose of paying homeage to him from whom we received every good and to apply ourselves to glorify His majesty? That is the end and whole sum of this life. nevertheless, instead of honouring our God and applying ourselves to that end, it appears that we have conspired the very opposite. For some would like to see all memory of God blotted out; others despise and make light of Him; still others blatantly blaspheme Him: all to the extent that we sufficiently show that we do not know why we live and enjoy life
Now because our life is marked by such vice, God wants us to remedy it and show us that at least we must refrain from abusing His holy name, for that is how we profane Him. And that is why He has commanded us that his name shall not be taken in vain. By these words He means that we must carefully recognize the proper and lawful usage of His name. It is true that we are not worthy under any circumstance to take the name of the Lord in our mouth, for we need to consider what the prophet Isaiah said in the six chapter: “Lord, my lips are unclean and I live in the midst of a people who are totally unclean.” Seeing then that we possess only infection and filth in ourselves, it is certain that we cannot make use of God’s name except for the fact that God still wants us to use His name on condition that we glorify Him. Therefore, let us take careful note when it is said that we may not take the name of God in vain, that our Lord holds us responsible for our ingratitude unless we know how to use His name as he has permitted us and follow the rule which is contained in the Word: Which is the lawful means for being able to use the name of God.[John Calvin]

It is a matter of common agreement that without true religion we live a most miserable life, not above the level of brute beasts, and consequently there is no one who wishes to appear more completely alien to piety and the worship of God. Yet, there is a great difference in the way men declare there religion, for the majority goes by an earnest fear of God. But, whether they want to or not, they are repeatedly bought up short by this thought, that there is a divinity, by whose decision they stand or fall. Consequently, struck by that notion of such great power, they venerate it after a fashion in order not to call it down upon themselves by excessive contempt.

Yet, in the meantime they lead a most depraved life completely devoid of all zeal for uprightness, and display utter nonchalance in their contempt for God’s judgment. Then, because they measure God not by His infinite majesty but by the foolish and stupid vanity of their own nature, they fall away from the true God. Accordingly, with however much they afterward weary themselves over worshipping God, they get nowhere, since it is not the eternal God but the dreams and ravings of their own heart they are adoring as God. But true Godliness does not consist in a fear of which willingly indeed flees from God’s judgements, but since it cannot escape is terrified. True Godliness consists rather in a sincere feeling which loves God as Father as much as it fears and reverences him as Lord, embraces his righteousness and dreads offending Him worse than death. And whoever have been endowed with this Godliness dare not fashion out of their own rashness any God for themselves. Rather they seek from him the knowledge of the true God, and conceive him just as he shows and declares himself to be. [John Calvin]

It is right and holy therefore, men and brethren, rather to obey God than to follow those who, through pride and sedition, have become the leaders of a detestable emulation. For we shall incur no slight injury, but rather great danger, if we rashly yield ourselves to the inclinations of men who aim at exciting strife and tumults, so as to draw us away from what is good. Let us be kind one to another after the pattern of the tender mercy and benignity of our Creator. For it is written, “The kind-hearted shall inhabit the land, and the guiltless shall be left upon it, but transgressors shall be destroyed from off the face of it.”57 And again [the Scripture] saith, “I saw the ungodly highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon: I passed by, and, behold, he was not; and I diligently sought his place, and could not find it. Preserve innocence, and look on equity: for there shall be a remnant to the peaceful man. [John Calvin]

Dreadful are those descriptions in which Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Habbakuk, and others, deplore the disorders of the church of Jerusalem. There was such general and extreme corruption in the people, in the magistrates, and in the priests, that Isaiah does not hesitate to compare Jerusalem to Sodom and Gomorrah. Religion was partly despised, partly corrupted. Their manners were generally disgraced by thefts, robberies, treacheries, murders, and similar crimes. Nevertheless, the prophets on this account neither raised themselves new churches, nor built new altars for the oblation of separate sacrifices; but whatever were the characters of the people, yet because they considered that God had deposited his word among that nation, and instituted the ceremonies in which he was there worshipped, they lifted up pure hands to him even in the congregation of the impious. If they had thought that they contracted any contagion from these services, surely they would have suffered a hundred deaths rather than have permitted themselves to be dragged to them. There was nothing therefore to prevent their departure from them, but the desire of preserving the unity of the church. But if the holy prophets were restrained by a sense of duty from forsaking the church on account of the numerous and enormous crimes which were practiced– not by a few individuals but almost by the whole nation — it is extreme arrogance in us, if we presume immediately to withdraw from the communion of a church where the conduct of all members is not compatible either with our judgment, or even with the Christian profession. [John Calvin]

At this day, the earth sustains on her bosom many monster minds, minds which are not afraid to employ the seed of Deity deposited in human nature as a means of suppressing the name of God. Can anything be more detestable than this madness in man, who, finding God a hundred times both in his body and his soul, makes his excellence in this respect a pretext for denying that there is a God? He will not say that chance has made him different from the brutes; but, substituting Nature as the architect of the universe, he suppresses the name of God.[John Calvin]

Musical Instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law. The Papists therefore, have foolishly borrowed, this, as well as many other things, from the Jews. Men who are fond of outward pomp may delight in that noise; but the simplicity which God recommends to us by the apostles is far more pleasing to him. [John Calvin]

“As much as we be frail and have a rough and thorny way to go, yea and there be many stops to bar us, so as it will seem that there be great mountains to make us turn back again; let us pray to our God to give us strength to go on still forward. For if he strengthened Caleb and Joshua; let us assure ourselves he will do the like to us. And therewithal if we see that the world hinder us, and there is a store of stumbling blocks on all sides, let us pray to God that He suffer us not to be corrupted with others, but that we may bear him the honour to stick unto him and to yield ourselves wholly to his word, giving them leave to perish that needs will perish, and in the mean while staying ourselves by the promise of salvation which he has given us accordingly also as it is by his will that we should attain thereto any such knowledge.”John Calvin

We must not only judge our neighbours doings by the law, but also examine our own lives by it. And when we find ourselves to have swerved from God’s commandments, we must willingly condemn ourselves, and allow no further of our own doings, than they agree with God’s will. Although they seem good to ourselves, yet let us not stand upon that. For our eyes are so troubled and weak, that oftentimes one sin escapes and a hundred follow out after it; and that is because we be not sharp-sighted enough, to spy out the things that God perceives, and which are hid from us. And that is the case why Paul says, that although he had walked purely in his office, yet was he not justified for all that. For God requires another manner of perfection than we can see. So then, seeing we have so weak and dim a light, let us learn to refer ourselves unto God, and let everyone of us put that thing in use in himself, which is showed us by David when he says: Who is he that knoweth his faults? Lord forgive me the evil which I perceive not. We must not only ask God forgiveness of the sins that sting us, and whereof we have proof in ourselves, but we must also acknowledge that we have many sins which we know not of. [John Calvin]

We must not only judge our neighbours doings by the law, but also examine our own lives by it. And when we find ourselves to have swerved from God’s commandments, we must willingly condemn ourselves, and allow no further of our own doings, than they agree with God’s will. Although they seem good to ourselves, yet let us not stand upon that. For our eyes are so troubled and weak, that oftentimes one sin escapes and a hundred follow out after it; and that is because we be not sharp-sighted enough, to spy out the things that God perceives, and which are hid from us. And that is the case why Paul says, that although he had walked purely in his office, yet was he not justified for all that. For God requires another manner of perfection than we can see. So then, seeing we have so weak and dim a light, let us learn to refer ourselves unto God, and let everyone of us put that thing in use in himself, which is showed us by David when he says: Who is he that knoweth his faults? Lord forgive me the evil which I perceive not. We must not only ask God forgiveness of the sins that sting us, and whereof we have proof in ourselves, but we must also acknowledge that we have many sins which we know not of. [John Calvin]