A Nearly Suspense-Free "Who Said It?"

Other bloggers do "Who Said It?" posts from time-to-time and I never get them. In fact, I sometimes fail to see who got the reference right in the comments because the blogger doesn't ever spill the beans. I won't cause you much anxiety. Below is a quote from a famous person. In this very post, I will reveal where the quote comes from. Before that, however, let me do a little back-story.

I brought this quote to a Bible-study several years ago. We had been "beating up" on the Pentecostals a little too much, I thought, so I brought this quote as a bit of balance. I handed it out and read it and asked, "Who said it?" The answers were interesting. Someone said that it sounded like some subjective mystic, but language was old, so it probably wasn't a modern Pentecostal. They were surprised when I told them who wrote this.

The quote:

“And here again we ought to observe that we are called to a knowledge of God: not that knowledge which, content with empty speculation, merely flits in the brain, but that which will be sound and fruitful if we duly perceive it, and if it takes root in the heart. Consequently, we know the most perfect way of seeking God, and the most suitable order, is not for us to attempt with bold curiosity to penetrate to the investigation of his essence, which we ought more to adore than meticulously to search out, but for us to contemplate him in his works whereby he renders himself near and familiar to us, and in some manner communicates himself. For each man’s mind is a labyrinth.”

I think this is a great quote. Adoration is indeed the right response to God as we receive what He has revealed about Himself in His Word and in creation. Getting God's truth into our hearts is also absolutely essential so that we may be fruitful, worshipping Christians. Sure, the Emergents and the Charismatics often go too far, but there is much mystery in God and His ways!



So ...

who

said

it?

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-- John Calvin (Institutes, 1.5.9,12)