God’s strength never fails

He giveth power to the faint. The Prophet now applies to the present subject the general statements which he made; for we have said that his intention was to give warmer encouragement to the people, and to lead them to cherish better hope. Because the Jews were at that time weakened and destitute of all [...]

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Calvin’s final will and testament

I, John Calvin, servant of the Word of God in the Church of Geneva, weakened by many illnesses…thank God that he has not only shown mercy towards me, His poor creature, and…has suffered me in all sins and weaknesses, but, what is much more, that He has made me a partaker of His grace to [...]

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On the 2nd Commandment

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.
As in the first commandment the Lord declares that he [...]

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Our help comes from the LORD

I will lift up my eyes to the hills–where does my help come from? What then is the meaning of this unsettled looking of the prophet, who casts his eyes now on this side and now that, as if faith directed him not to God? The thoughts of the godly are never so stayed upon [...]

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Walking in the midst of trouble

Should I walk in the midst of trouble, etc. Here David declares the sense in which he looked flint God would act the part of his preserver — by giving him life from the dead, were that necessary. The passage is well deserving our attention for by nature we are so delicately averse to suffering [...]

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Madness of exchanging the Truth for a lie

"For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." [Jer 2:13]
If a reason is given here why the Prophet had bidden the heavens to be astonished and terrified, then we must render the words thus, “For [...]

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True piety in Worship

20Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21(Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? 23Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in [...]

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Gall and Travail

He hath builded against me, and encompassed me with gall and travail. He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. [lamentations 3:5-6]
The words, as translated, may seem harsh, yet they have no common beauty in Hebrew. The Prophet says he was blocked up and straitened as it were by [...]

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The Heavens declare the glory of God II

The heavens declare the glory of God.[Psalm 19]
Day unto day uttereth speech. Philosophers, who have more
penetration into those matters than others, understand how the stars
are arranged in such beautiful order, that notwithstanding their
immense number there is no confusion; but to the ignorant and
unlettered, the continual succession of days is a more undoubted
proof of the providence [...]

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