The one condition for spiritual progress is that we remain sincere and humble.
We both felt that the chief virtue of an interpreter consists in clarity combined with brevity. And.
The majesty of God is too high to be scaled up to by mortals, who creep like worms on the earth.
Since he has so chosen us, we belong to him, more especially because he has bought us by the blood of his Son.
For as the aged, or those whose sight is defective, when any books however fair, is set before them, though they perceive that there is something written are scarcely able to make out two consecutive words, but, when aided by glasses, begin to read distinctly, so Scripture, gathering together the impressions of Deity, which, till then, lay confused in our minds, dissipates the darkness, and shows us the true God clearly.
He who is most deeply abased and alarmed, by the consciousness of his disgrace, nakedness, want, and misery, has made the greatest progress in the knowledge of himself.
It is a beastly business when people start eating without prayer, and when they are full, they run out without as much as mentioning God’s name.
This being admitted, it is certain that not a drop of rain falls without the express command of God.
There would be no communion between him and us if he did not first come to us with his grace.
But Jacob was divinely chosen and his brother, the first-born, was rejected.
All other comforts are temporary and illusory unless we depend wholly upon Christ. Therefore.
Christ is known rightly nowhere but in Scripture. If.
Scripture is also called gospel, that is, new and joyful news, because in it is declared that Christ, the sole true and eternal Son of the living God, was made man, to make us children of God his Father, by adoption. Thus.
God neither wills nor decrees anything without having long before directed it to its proper end. People.
We see how many tricks they try, how many pursuits they exhaust themselves with in order to secure the objects of their ambition or greed, while trying to avoid, on the other hand, poverty and humility.
We unlearn the art of speaking well when we cease to speak with God.
It is at this point that the gospel differs most from philosophy, since it teaches that the salvation of men is through the free remission of sins. It.
Those who, rejecting Scripture, imagine that they have some peculiar way of penetrating to God, are to be deemed not so much under the influence of error as madness.
Believers are also trained in obedience by means of the cross. For thus they are taught to live according to God’s will rather than their own. If everything went according to their own plans, they would never know what it means to follow God.
Therefore, in reading profane authors, the admirable light of truth displayed in them should remind us, that the human mind, however much fallen and perverted from its original integrity, is still adorned and invested with admirable gifts from its Creator. If we reflect that the Spirit of God is the only fountain of truth, we will be careful, as we would avoid offering insult to him, not to reject or condemn truth wherever it appears. In despising the gifts, we insult the Giver.
The frequent mention of the glory of God ought not to be regarded as superfluous, for what is infinite cannot be too strongly expressed.