Жан Кальвин цитаты

„Мы всегда должны помнить, что у дьявола есть свои чудеса.“

„Не существует ни одной травинки, ни одного цвета в этом мире, что не предназначены нести радость людям.“

„Так обстоит дело с реликвиями; тут все так туманно и запутанно, что нельзя было бы почитать кости того или иного мученика без того, чтобы не рисковать поклониться костям какого-либо разбойника или грабителя или, скорее того, осла, или собаки, или лошади. Нельзя почитать кольцо Богородицы или ее гребень, чтобы не рисковать поклониться украшениям какой-нибудь распутницы. Потому, кто пожелает, пусть остерегается этой опасности, потому что никто отныне не будет вправе ссылаться в оправдание на своё незнание.“

„Таким образом, или мы распространяем лживые истории, или то, что мы сегодня считаем подлинным крестом, есть мнение тщетное и легкомысленное. Теперь, с другой стороны, рассмотрим, сколько там по всему миру его фрагментов. Если бы я хотел лишь перечислить все источники, что прочёл по этому вопросу, этого хватило бы, чтобы заполнить целую книгу. Нет ни одного городишки, где бы их не было, ни одного собора, ни даже приходской церкви. Точно так же нет ни одного аббатства, где нельзя было бы взглянуть на них. А в нескольких местах имеются довольно большие осколки, например, в Сент-Шапель в Париже, а в Пуатье и в Риме есть большие распятия, как говорят, целиком сделанные из остатков христова креста. Короче говоря, если бы кто-то захотел собрать всё, что сможет найти, можно было бы построить грузовое судно. Евангелие же сообщает, что крест мог нести один человек.“

“True wisdom consists in two things: Knowledge of God and Knowledge of Self.”

“There is no knowing that does not begin with knowing God.”

“Without the fear of God, men do not even observe justice and charity among themselves.”

“It is better to limp in the way, than run with the greatest swiftness out of it.”

“A dog barks and stands at bay if he sees any one assault his master. I should be indeed remiss, if, seeing the truth of God thus attacked, I should remain dumb, without giving one note of warning.”

“We should ask God to increase our hope when it is small, awaken it when it is dormant, confirm it when it is wavering, strengthen it when it is weak, and raise it up when it is overthrown.”

“If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house, then in a field,… it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light.”

“The gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue, but of life. It cannot be grasped by reason and memory only, but it is fully understood when it possesses the whole soul and penetrates to the inner recesses of the heart.”

“It would be the height of absurdity to label ignorance tempered by humility "faith"!
(Institutio III.2.3)”

“A perfect faith is nowhere to be found, so it follows that all of us are partly unbelievers.”

“There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence.”

“The torture of a bad conscience is the hell of a living soul.”

“A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent”

“Man's nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.”

“The pastor ought to have two voices: one, for gathering the sheep; and another, for warding off and driving away wolves and thieves. The Scripture supplies him with the means of doing both.”

“men are undoubtedly more in danger from prosperity than from adversity. for when matters go smoothly, they flatter themselves, and are intoxicated by their success”

“… a man will be justified by faith when, excluded from righteousness of works, he by faith lays hold of the righteousness of Christ, and clothed in it, appears in the sight of God not as a sinner, but as righteous…”

“God preordained, 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, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.”

“However many blessings we expect from God, His infinite liberality will always exceed all our wishes and our thoughts.”

“If we cover and obliterate man’s faults and consider the beauty and dignity of God’s image in him, then we shall be induced to love and embrace him (Heb 12:16; Gal 6:10; Isa 58:7; Matt 5:44; Luke 17:3-4)”

“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. Though we fall short, our labour is not lost if this day surpasses the preceding one.”

“All the arts come from God and are to be respected as divine inventions”

“Those who set up a fictitious worship, merely worship and adore their own delirious fancies; indeed, they would never dare so to trifle with God, had they not previously fashioned him after their own childish conceits.”

“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.”

“Is it faith to understand nothing, and merely submit your convictions implicitly to the Church?”

“In forming an estimate of sins, we are often imposed upon by imagining that the more hidden the less heinous they are.”

“For there is no one so great or mighty that he can avoid the misery that will rise up against him when he resists and strives against God”

“Faith is ultimately 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 by the Holy Spirit”

“There are people who are known to be very liberal, yet they never give without scolding or pride or even insolence.”