Church History II Lecture #3

hello Heroes we're going to be looking at lecture three for Church History 2 and our subject will be John Calvin has anyone ever made a caricature of you has someone put you in a box that did not fully Express whom you are over and over people falsely accuse Christians Through the Ages and to this day Christians are misrepresented and denigrated they're put down and that is the case with John Calvin and Calvinists or reformed Believers others Focus only on his views on predestination yes that is an important part of his teachings but he is so

much more as you will learn in this lecture he loved God he loved God's people as especially seen when he became a pastor to French Protestants who fled persecution he worshiped God and he led God's people in worship he based all of this and the rest of his life on the Bible's teachings and a relationship with Christ and may that be the case with us so that's the devotional let's look at Calvin and his early years John Calvin was born as Jahan calvan I apologize for any of you who know French if I didn't say

that very well on July 10th 1509 at noon a town in piery a province of the kingdom of France he was the second of three sons who survived infancy his mother jeene lefran was the daughter of an inkeeper from comry she died of an unknown cause in Calvin's childhood after she gave birth to four more children Calvin's father Gerard had a prosperous career as the cathedral notary and registar to the ecclesiastical Court Gerard intended his three sons Charles Jean and antoan for the priesthood and this is from Wikipedia continuing young Calvin was particularly precocious by

age 12 he was employed by the bishop as a clerk and received the toner cutting his hair to symbolize his dedication to the church he also won the pr patronage of an influential family the MMOs through their assistance Calvin was able to attend the College of marhe in Paris where he learned Latin from one of its greatest teachers mathin cordier once he completed the course he entered the College of monague as a philosophy student in 1525 or 26 Gerard withdrew his son from the College of montigue and enrolled him in the University of Orleans to

study law according to contemporary biographers Theodor basa and Nicholas kodone Gerard believed that Calvin would earn more money as a lawyer than as a priest after a few years of quiet study Calvin entered the University of G in 1529 he was intrigued by Andreas alate a humanist lawyer humanism was a European intellectual movement which stressed classical studies which you can imagine if you were which you were in uh church history 1 uh that that influence came from the Renaissance which was just before the reformation and some overlap during his 18th month stay in borish kelvin

learned coin Greek you know the marketplace the common Greek which is what the New Testament is in and so it's a necessity for studying the Greek New Testament now as far as calin's conversion goes we don't know too much actually there's two theories about it alternative theories have been suggested regarding the date of his religious conversion some have placed the date of his conversion around 1533 shortly before he resigned from his chaplaincy in this view his resignation is the direct evidence for his conversion to the Evangelical faith meaning he did not want to be a

Roman Catholic priest however THL Parker and you can see his book portrait of Calvin in the recommended reading argues that although this date is a Terminus for his conversion the more likely date is in late 1529 or early 1530 the main evidence for his conversion is contained in two significantly different accounts of his conversion in the first found in his commentary on the book of Psalms Calvin portrayed his conversion as a sudden change of mind brought about by God and he wrote God by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame

which was more hardened in such matters than might have been expected from one at my early period of Life having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness I was immediately inflamed with so intense a desire to make progress therein that although I did not altogether leave off other studies yet I pursued them with less ardor in other words he fell in love with Jesus and wanted to get closer to him study his word it was somewhat of a quiet conversion uh mine was a relatively quiet conversion though it came through tears one evening

when I was 15 years old at a high school home Bible study that I might have told you about before but in the second account Calvin wrote of a long process of inner turmoil followed by spiritual and psychological anguish being exceedingly alarmed at the misery into which I had fallen and much more at that which threatened me in view of Eternal death I Duty bound made it my first business to betake myself to your way condemning my past life not without groans and tears and now oh Lord what remains to a Wretch like me but

instead of Defense earnestly to supplicate you not to judge that fearful abandonment of your word according to its desserts from which in your wondrous goodness you have at last delivered me and that sounds more like uh the struggles of Martin Luther but did not seem to last as long as Luther's Agony returning to Wikipedia Scholars have argued about the precise interpretation of these accounts but most agree that this conversion corresponds with his break from the Roman Catholic Church the Calvin biographer Bruce Gordon has stressed that the two accounts are not opposites they are not antithetical

revealing some inconsistency in Calvin's memory but rather are two different ways of expressing the same Reality by 1532 Calvin received his licentiate in law in other words he was licensed to be a lawyer and published his first book a commentary on senica's day clementia after uneventful trips to Orleans in his hometown of noon Calvin returned to Paris in October 1533 during this time tensions Rose at the Royal College later to be called the College of France between the humanist reformers and the conserv ative senior faculty members conservative Catholic faculty members I believe one of the

reformers Nicolas cup was Rector of the university on November 1st 1533 he devoted his inaugural address to the need for reform and renewal in the Roman Catholic Church the address provoked a strong reaction from The Faculty who denounced it as heretical forcing cop to flee to Basil Switzerland Calvin a close friend of cop was implicated in the offense and for the next year he was forced into hiding he remained on the Move Sheltering with his friend Lou dle in angulam and taking refuge in noong and Orleans he was finally forced to free flee France during

the affair of the placards in mid October 1534 in that incident unknown reformers had posted placards in various cities criticizing the Roman Catholic Mass to which adherence of the Roman Catholic Church responded with violence against the wouldbe reformers and their sympathizers in January 1535 Calvin joined cop and Basel a city under the enduring influence of the late reformer johanes okol lampad so he started his reform work at this point in March of 1536 Calvin published the first edition of his Instituto Christian religionis or Institutes of the Christian religion so it was in Latin the work

was an apologia or defense of his faith the book was the first expression of his theology Calvin updated the work and published new editions throughout his life shortly after its publication he left basil for Ferrara Italy where he briefly served as Secretary to princess Renee of France by June he was back in Paris with his brother Antoine who was resolving their father's Affairs following the Edict of Susi which gave a limited six-month period for Heretics to reconcile with the Catholic faith Calvin decided that there was no future for him in France in August he set

off for strawberg a free Imperial City of the home Holy Roman Empire and a refuge for reformers this was in the far north of what is today France due to military maneuvers of Imperial and French forces he was forced to make a detour to the South bringing him to Geneva Calvin had intended to stay only a single night but William frell a fellow French reformer residing in the city implored him to stay and assist him in his work of reforming the church there Calvin accepted his new role without any preconditions on his tasks or duties

the office to which he was initially assigned is unknown he was eventually given the title of reader which mostly meant that he could give EXP repository lectures on the Bible sometime in 1537 he was selected to be a pastor although he never received any pastoral consecration for the first time the lawyer Theologian took up pastoral duties such as baptisms weddings and church services reading from the first chapter of Institutes of the Christian religion in the Original Latin with English subtitles and I'll get to that later during late 1536 phell drafted a confession of faith and

Calvin wrote separate articles on reorganizing the church in Geneva on January 16th 1537 frell and Calvin presented their articles concerning the organization of the English church and city of Geneva worship at Geneva to the city council the document described the manner and frequency of their celebrations of the Eucharist the reason for and the method of excommunication the requirement to subscribe to the confession of Faith the use of congregational singing in the Liturgy and the revision of marriage laws the council accepted the document on the same day as the year progressed Calvin and Pharaoh's reputation with

the council began to suffer the council was reluctant to enforce the subscription requirement as only a few citizens had subscribed to their confession of faith on November 26 the two ministers hotly debated the council over the issue furthermore France was taking an interest in forming an alliance with Geneva and as the two ministers were Frenchmen counselors had begun to question their loyalty finally a major ecclesiastical political Corral developed when the city of burn Switzerland Geneva's Ally in the Reformation of the Swiss churches proposed to introduce uniformity in the church ceremonies one proposal required the use

of unleavened bread for the Eucharist the two ministers were unwilling to follow Baron's lead and delayed the use of such bread until a senate in Zurich could be convened to make the final decision the council ordered Calvin and frell to use unleavened bread for the Easter Eucharist in protest they refused to administer communion during the Easter Service this caused a riot during the service can you imagine that at your church the next day the council told phell and Calvin to leave Geneva phell and Calvin then went to burn and Zurich to plead their case the

result Senate in Zurich placed most of the blame on Calvin for not being sympathetic enough toward the people of Geneva it asked Baron to Med the city of Baron to mediate with the aim of restoring the two ministers the Geneva Council refused to readmit the two men who then took refuge in basil subsequently Pharaoh received an invitation to lead the church in New chatel Calvin was invited to lead a church of French refugees in sturg by the city's leading reformers Martin buser about whom you heard in lecture one and wolfgong capato initially celvin refused because

FAL was not included in the invitation but relented when Boer appealed to him by September 1538 Kelvin had taken up his new position in strawberg fully expecting that this time it would be permanent a few months later he applied for and was granted citizenship of the city again can you imagine having to apply to be a citizen of a city but that's how it worked back then so Calvin became a pastor to persecuted Refugee French hugenots from Western France um I would like to talk at this point some about the additions of his Christian religion

he dedicated it to King Francis of France it was his basic seminal work of systematic theology though technically it's not a full Systematic Theology because it does not talk about eschatology or end times it is regarded as one of the most influential works of protestant Theology and I would encourage you to try to find the time maybe when school is not in session uh to read as much of Calvin's institutes hopefully it's in Portuguese I think it is I read it when I was in seminary and I was blessed by it I believe it is

about the most biblical theological presentation out there for its time it was published in Latin in 1536 at the same time as Henry VII of England's disillusion of the monastery so a lot was going on and it was published in his native French language in 1541 and the definitive revised editions appeared in 1559 in Latin and in 1560 in French this book was written as an introductory textbook on the Protestant Creed for those with some previous knowledge of Theology and covered a broad range of theological topics from the doctrines of church and sacraments to justification

by faith alone and Christian Liberty it vigorously attacked the teachings of those Calvin considered unorthodox particularly Roman Catholicism to which Calvin says he had been strongly devoted before his conversion to protestantism The Institute is a core reference for the system of Doctrine adopted by the reformed churches usually called Calvinism and like I said earlier it's called a Systematic Theology but it's not fully systematic because it does not include a discussion of eschatology a major section of a Systematic Theology and here are some of kelvin's comments on his 1536 preperatory addressed to King Francis and in

the PDF you can see the uh website or the URL that I took it from Calvin dedicated his institutes to King Francis I of France he wrote a preperatory address urging the French Catholic King to take seriously the theological principles of the Protestant reformers that a king is a kind of protestant confession of faith in this rather lengthy prefatory address Calvin spells out the unfair treatment that they were receiving at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church quote for the sake of this hope the gospel some of us are Shackled with irons some beaten with

rods some Led about as Laughing stocks some prescribed that is condemned some most savagely tortured some forced to flee unquote does that sound like Paul and the early church to you he pleads with the King to give them a fair hearing quote it is sheer violence that Bloody sentences are Meed out against this Doctrine without a hearing close quote in addition Calvin JX opposes Roman Catholic Doctrine with Protestant Doctrine clarifying that scripture must be the sole rule of faith and practice you remember solos scriptura with Martin Luther to be sure tradition that is councils and

the writings of the church fathers are not to be ignored but they do not have the same Authority as that of scripture Calvin says that their Roman Catholic persecutors unjustly set the ancient fathers against us these fathers that is the church fathers have written many wise and excellent things the good things that these fathers have written they either do not notice or misrepresent or pervert you might say that their only cares together dung amid gold close quote and other words celvin is stating that tradition is good as long as it is in conformity with God's

written word the French reformer concludes his address by urging King Francis I first to quote give a hearing to the actual presentation of our case close quote and not to believe the slanderous lies of their incredulous enemies one should not pass over this stirring address when coming to the institutes indeed it provides a historical context that sets the stage for Christ for the Christ centered theology that follows a theology that led many to lay down their very lives for the sake of the Gospel you can see that Calvin did not write his institutes in the

vacuum he was not in an ivory Tower an academic Tower when he wrote These biblically based Essentials of the Christian faith as with Luther Calvin holds up the Bible as the Authority for Christians and Protestants still had their lives on the line here's more on the institutes the Latin word institutio translated in the title as institutes may also be translated instruction as it was in titles of German translations of the work and was commonly used in the titles of legal Works remember Calvin's also a trained lawyer as well as other summary Works covering a large

body of knowledge the title of arasmus is institutio principis christiani the teaching of the principles of Christianity with which Calvin would have been familiar is usually translated the education of a Christian Prince the form of the short title of the first edition of Calvin's work published in 1536 is Christian religionis institutio teachings of the Christian religion are you sitting down you need to keep breathing because I'm going to give you the whole title of the institutes now it may be translated The Institute of the Christian religion containing almost the whole sum of piety and whatever

it is necessary to know in the doctrine of salvation the title continues a work very well wor wor reading by all persons zealous for piety and lately published a preface to the most Christian King of France in which the book is presented to him as a Confessor confession of Faith author John Calvin of noon basil in 1536 it's in Roman numerals that's the whole title in the 1539 Edition the title is just the short Institute suo Christian religionis possibly to emphasize the fact that this is a new considerably expanded work okay shorter title longer book

this is followed by at length truly corresponding to its title a play on the grandiosity of the title and an indication that the new work better lives up to the expectation created by such a title I'm going to look just a little bit at the first part of the contents despite the dependence on earlier writers institutes was felt by many to be a new voice and within a year there was a demand for a second addition this came in 1539 amplifying especially the treatment of the fall of Man of election and of reprobation as well

as that of the authority of scripture it showed also a more conciliatory temper toward Luther in the section on the Lord's Supper the first chapter of The Institute of Christian religions read in the Original Latin with English subtitles the opening chapter of The Institute is perhaps the best known in which Calvin presents the basic plan of the book there are two general subjects to be examined the Creator and his creatures above all the book concerns the knowledge of of God the Creator but quote as it is in the creation of man that the Divine Perfections

are best displayed there is also an examination of what can be known about Mankind after all it is Mankind's knowledge of God and of what he requires of his creatures that is the primary issue of concern for a book of theology in the first chapter these two issues are considered together to show what God has to do with Mankind and other creatures and especially how knowing god is connected with human knowledge I turn now to looking at Calvin's reply to sadet or stiletto while Calvin was pastoring in sturg Cardinal jacobo sadoleto thought he might be

able to get the city of Geneva back into the Catholic fold the congregation Geneva had been declining after Calvin's departure when the Geneva Council received sello's letter they did not know what to do with it so they sent it off to Calvin here is some of what Calvin writes about true Unity quote why should I have hesitated to separate myself from persons whom they forewarn me to hold his enemies I had before my eyes the examples of the prophets who I saw had a similar contest with the priests and Prophets of their day though these

were undoubtedly the rulers of the church among the israelitish people but thy prophets are not regarded as schismatics when they wish to revive religion which had fallen in into Decay they did not desist although opposed with the utmost violence they still remained in the unity of the church though they were doomed to predition by Wicked priests and demons Unworthy of a place among men not to say Saints confirmed by their example I too persisted though denounced as a der deserter of the church and threatened I was in no respect deterred or induced to proceed less

firmly and boldly in opposing those who in the character of pastors wasted thy church with the more than impious tyranny my conscience told me how strong the seal was with which I burned for the unity of the church provided thy truth were made the bond of Concord as the commotions which followed were not excited by me so there is no ground for imputing them to me I urge you to read Calvin's entire response it is a masterful and Powerful piece of writing for God's kingdom and one point there is a part that I had trouble

finding where Calvin is accused of being a schismatic IC which is a serious accusation and he basically says if carrying the Lord's Banner in front of the Lord's troops into battle is being schismatic then I am guilty but that was very powerful and I used those quotations when a church that I served decided to leave a denomination that was that had left the historic Christian faith and decided to join one that was very much part of the historic Christian faith so Calvin was invited to return to Geneva and he had many Publications uh he Consolidated

his power in Geneva did not leave again and here are three things about Calvin and writing that I found online and you can see the uh https Ford if you want to read the in the entire uh writing which I found very help helpful remarkably when John Calvin became Pastor in Geneva in 1536 he still lacked an official degree in theology from an academic institution neither had he submitted to any kind of ecclesiastical examination nevertheless in addition to his studies in logic languages and civic law the French reform for mer was also a master of

communication his style was so fluid that many scholars have even identified him as the inventor of modern French sentence structure and like Luther's Bible in German Calvin's institutes were equally influential for the French language in his book John Calvin a Pilgrim's life Herman J silder hoist described Calvin as a sort of verbal de cathete modeled after the Old Testament Prophet as a civil leader Pastor Theologian apologist Statesman and Ambassador he wrote concisely and precisely apart from his Sublime theology John Calvin's writings remains a homic standard for those seeking to convey deep theological truths in a

prosaic style that is in Pros not po poetry the following are three principles of theological writing pastors and theologians can glean from the man Wulf Kang musculus once described as a bow always strung though I I'm Dr core is breaking in here to the quotation saying that the Apostle John warned against B bows always strung being unable to work when they were actually needed so so I work to the three points return to the three points here number one write with brevity it was John Calvin's belief that the chief virtue of an interpreter lies in

clear brevity the craft and skill of a theologian lies not in the length of an argument but in its content and persuasive power Calvin's language was rarely ostentatious for this reason he once wrote to Zurich reformer and wingley prote Henrik Hinrich buinger I have always loved Simplicity and never cared much for cleverness and I will also point out that John stot said preach as though the people think you have spoken for 20 minutes even if it's 40 minutes and also you've probably heard the expression keep it short and there's one more word that goes with

that number two write with clar ity according to Parker Calvin's greatest quality as a commentator was his self-disciplined subordination to the text Above All Else scripture must be heard therefore Calvin's theological writing is rarely obscured with Gody or incomprehensible language the likes of which could be argued against his Scholastic descendants his use of the Latin and French languages was direct and unequivocal for example for Calvin Clarity was essential for the catechism of genevan Youth there should be a brief and easy outline of the Christian faith which should be taught to all children and the third

point is right with a single purpose in his book Calvin Bruce Gordon reminds his readers despite his dominant personality Calvin rarely and reluctantly Drew ATT attention to himself in his writing he spoke Through the Bible and its major characters Calvin's reticence to speak about his own personal affairs was such that we know relatively little about his marriage and even his own conversion which appears exclusively in his preface to the Psalms Calvin's humility is perhaps most demonstrated remarkably enough in his insistence on being buried in an unmarked grave in a common Geneva Cemetery contrasting strongly with

for example of Martin Luther Calvin was more of a biblicist than a Storyteller Calvin was a prolific writer that such a prolific writer that he us scribes at the same times he would walk around the room dictating to different people about different subjects commentaries and sermons Wikipedia says that during his ministry in Geneva Calvin preached over 2,000 sermons by comparison I believe in my most recent Church of nine years I gave approximately 800 of my own sermons and used with attribution sermons by other people on occasion but at least 800 were my own initially Calvin

tree preached twice on Sunday and three times during the week this proved to be too heavy a burden and late in 1542 the council allowed him to preach only once on Sunday in October 1549 he was again required to preach twice on Sundays and in addition every weekday of alternate weeks his sermons lasted more than an hour and he did not use notes an occasional secretary tried to record his sermons but very little of his preaching was preserved before 1549 in that year the professional scribe Deni Ragan who had learned or developed a system of

shorthand was assigned to record all of Calvin's sermons an analysis of his sermons by THL Parker suggests that Calvin was a consistent preacher and his style changed very little over the years years John Calvin was also known for his thorough manner of working his way through the Bible in consecutive sermons maybe a bit like Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel from March 1555 to July 1556 Calvin delivered 200 sermons on the book of Deuteronomy okay that's pretty thorough and his teachings about the Bible again returning to Wikipedia John Calvin believed that scripture is necessary for human

understanding of God's revelation that it is the equivalent of direct Revelation and that it is both Majestic and simple Calvin's General explicit exposition of his view of scripture is found mainly in his Institutes of the Christian religion Calvin viewed scripture as being equivalent to an utterance of God given from Heaven since no daily responses are given from Heaven and the scriptures are the only records in which God has been pleased to consign his truth to Perpetual remembrance the full Authority which they ought to possess with the Faithful is not recognized unless they are believed to

have come from Heaven as directly as if God had been heard giving utterance to them scripture according to Calvin also has an unpolished Simplicity it is not particularly eloquent for that would detract from its message the sublime Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven have for the greater part been delivered with a contemptible meanness of words had they been adorned with the more Splendid eloquence the wicked might have caved or kind of wondered and alleged that this has constituted all their Force but now when an unpolished Simplicity almost bordering on rudess makes a deeper impression than

the loftiest flights of oratory what does it indicate if not that the holy scriptures are too Mighty in the power of Truth to need the rhor edition's art at this point I would like to talk a little bit about predestination which is one of the things that people tend to argue about Calvin writes uh in the institute's book 3 chapter 23 paragraph 1 quote therefore Those whom God passes over he condemns and this he does for no other reason than he that he Wills to exclude them from The Inheritance which he predestines for his own

children what I would like to point out is that nobody deserv deserves to go to heaven God In His Infinite Mercy chooses to uh not send some people to hell I don't deserve it I cannot understand God's design but I'd also like to share that the invitation is universal it's up to God to know whom he has predestined it's not up to me people give evidence in their life but ultimately it is all about God and also I've heard this paraphrase which is very helpful when we look heavenward we hear God say whosoever will may

come that's the universal invitation and when God looks at Earth he says I know those whom I have called here is what Colin Brown says about Calvin and classical philosophy although philosophy recedes into the background in the writings of the reformers it certainly does not disappear Scholars continue to ponder the writings of Aristotle and weigh his merits against those of Plato and other writers of antiquity Aristotelian philosophy continued to feature in the curricula of the European universities the age of the Renaissance and the Reformation witnessed a decline in medieval Scholastic I ISM and A Renewed

interest in the writers of antiquity in the early Christian ERA this phenomenon left its mark on the mind of Calvin a glance at the index of the 1559 version of the institutes reveals a handful of references to Bonaventure scotus Beal and aam but rather more to Aristotle Plato and cisero of classical antiquity ainus and Peter Lumbard figure more prominently but Augustine vastly outnumbers them all Luther was wrestling with the problems inherited from the medieval Church Calvin was doing this too but he was also seeking to State the Christian faith in the wider context of a

culture which maintained a continuity with the world of classical Antiquity and brown continues Calvin's approach was less colorful but more systematic than Luther's in Essentials it was however the same Calvin spoke of a two-fold knowledge of God on the one hand there is an awareness of God which is shared by human beings in general this is not a matter of Scholastic proofs that can be followed by those who have the necessary philosophical background it is a profound inner awareness of God which Calvin described as a sense sense of deity or a sense of divinity it

may not be well defined or easy to pin down nevertheless it is there furthermore the glory of the created order reflects God's Own Glory but in spite of all this human beings are so far gone in sin that their spiritual sense has become blunted this knowledge is at best a knowledge of the Creator though an account of sin it does not amount to very much on account of sin on the other hand God has revealed himself through scripture not only as the Creator but as the Redeemer in Christ in scripture God has spoken and revealed

himself in a way which is significant for all ages to Calvin scripture not only provided information which could not be found elsewhere but also was like spec Les which put things into Focus the value and use of spectacles can best be appreciated by using them so it is with Scripture its value emerges in the light of its capacity to convey knowledge of God and to see ourselves in his sight here is just a little bit more of what Colin Brown wrote about Calvin in scripture for Calvin the Bible was the word of God and therefore

all our thinking about God must be based on the Bible Calvin would even say that we owe to scripture the same reverence that we owe God because it is proceeded from him alone and has nothing belonging to man mixed with it close quote I would say though that we are not to worship the Bible we worship God alone and Jesus says you search the scripture hoping that in them you might find eternal life but it's Jesus who is the way the truth and the life but I agree that we need to show reverence non worshipful

reverence to scripture because it is our inherent Authority for all matters of faith and practice and Calvin's Legacy could take another lecture but here's just a little bit the Dutch reform theologians came up with an acrostic to kind of describe or summarize and in some ways it's it doesn't do Calvin justice but it's helpful nevertheless the word tulip you know how they have tulips in Holland so T stands for total depravity sin separates us from God and Mars the image of God unmar favor we do not deserve God's mercy but he offers It Anyway limited

atonement study the scriptures prayerfully about that and consider how the church is the new Israel and how that affects you had Adam then it went out and then it came into Abraham and then it went down and then the line of David and then Jesus is born miraculously of the Holy Spirit and Mary and then it comes out to the church again the new Israel so before you dismiss limited atonement study the scriptures I'm not telling you what to believe but consider it as a possibility I is irresistible Grace I have some trouble explaining it

scripturally I'm sure I could find passages but in my own life I if people looked at me growing up they wouldn't view me as a candidate for a trophy of God's grace and mercy but he irresistibly drew me to himself I can't explain it but he did so maybe subjectively I do believe in irresistible Grace and perseverance of the Saints and the pastor at the church where I attend did a great job of saying it's God who does the preserving we cannot Grunt and groan and persevere but God preserves us and another person is Charles

Spurgeon a great Reformed Baptist preacher of the 19th century if you have not come across his sermons and his writings I encourage you to dip into them uh you'll have trouble putting them down when he wasn't able to preach he had some kind of illness or something he put together a three volume work on the Psalms he called it the treasury of the Psalms he pulled together what other people had put together and it it's just an amazing work ji Packer was an Anglican Puritan reformed writer I encourage you to read his evangelism and the

sovereignty of God and many other works especially knowing god and then one that you may know about John Piper a great reformed pastor and preacher I'm told by my wonderful videographer Nick that he did speak at a funeral of Dr Fuller double PhD um in this church where we're recording this he wrote a book called John Calvin and his passion for the Majesty of God and I hope you have the same sense of the Majesty of God my heroes until next time God be with you