Against the persecution of a tyrant the godly have no remedy but prayer.
John CalvinRead
Whomever the Lord has adopted and deemed worthy of His fellowship ought to prepare themselves for a hard, toilsome, and unquiet life, crammed with very many and various kinds of evil.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the challenges that come with divine calling and the moral responsibilities it entails.
John Calvin suggests that those chosen by God are expected to face numerous trials and adversities. This acknowledgment of hardship aligns with the belief that a virtuous life involves perseverance through struggles and a commitment to righteousness, reinforcing the notion that true fellowship with the divine comes with significant challenges.
In practice
During a church sermon about the struggles of faith.
Against the persecution of a tyrant the godly have no remedy but prayer.
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.
Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God's majesty.
For as the aged, or those whose sight is defective, when any book, 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.
When God wants to judge a nation, He gives them wicked rulers.
Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, there a church of God exists, even if it swarms with many faults.
We are not merely passive pawns of historical forces; nor are we victims of the past. We can shape and direct history.
I hope corporations will dedicate a percentage of their top innovators' time to issues that could help people left out of the global economy. This kind of contribution is even more powerful than giving cash or offering employees' time off to volunteer. It is a focused use of what your company does best. It is a great form of creative capitalism, because it takes the brainpower and makes life better for the richest, and dedicates some of it to improving the lives of everyone else.
There will be no war, but in the pursuit of principle no stone will be left standing.
Our brain accepts what the eyes see and our eye looks for whatever our brain wants.
Bodies do not produce sensations, but complexes of elements (complexes of sensations) make up bodies.
We all have some experience of a feeling, that comes over us occasionally, of what we are saying and doing having been said and done before, in a remote time - of our having been surrounded, dim ages ago, by the same faces, objects, and circumstances.
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