Quotes Dec 3

For 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 evils. It is the heavenly Father's will s to exercise them as to put his own children to a definite test. Beginning with Christ, his firstborn, he follows his plan with all his children. -Calvin Letters,I:230

God is himself a father and knows what is best for his children. - Calvin to Viret on the death of Jacques Calvin's son, Letters I:231

1 I greet thee, who my sure Redeemer art,
my only trust and Savior of my heart,
who pain didst undergo for my poor sake;
I pray thee from our hearts all cares to take.

2 Thou art the King of mercy and of grace,
reigning omnipotent in every place:
so come, O King, and our whole being sway;
shine on us with the light of thy pure day.

3 Thou art the life, by which alone we live,
and all our substance and our strength receive;
sustain us by thy faith and by thy power,
and give us strength in every trying hour.

4 Thou hast the true and perfect gentleness,
no harshness hast thou and no bitterness:
O grant to us the grace we find in thee,
that we may dwell in perfect unity.

5 Our hope is in no other save in thee;
our faith is built upon thy promise free;
Lord, give us peace, and make us calm and sure,
that in thy strength we evermore endure.
Attributed to Calvin, Sinclair B Ferguson, Some pastors and teachers, p.19