“[God] daily discloses himself in the whole workmanship of the universe. As a consequence, men cannot open their eyes without being compelled to see him. Indeed, his essence is incomprehensible; hence, his divineness far escapes all human perception. But upon his individual works he has engraved unmistakable marks of his glory, so clear and so prominent that even unlettered and stupid folk cannot plead the excuse of ignorance. Therefore the prophet very aptly exclaims that he is ‘clad with light as with a garment’ (Psalm 104)” (Translated by Ford Lewis Battles, John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 52).

“Now there is nothing less in accord with God’s nature than for him to cast off the government of the universe and abandon it to fortune, and to be blind to the wicked deeds of men, so that they may lust unpunished” (Translated by Ford Lewis Battles, John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 48).

“For the blindness under which they labor is almost always mixed with proud vanity and obstinacy. Indeed, vanity joined with pride can be detected in the fact that, in seeking God, miserable men do not rise above themselves as they should, but measure him by the yardstick of their own carnal stupidity, and neglect sound investigation; thus out of curiosity they fly off into empty speculations. They do not therefore apprehend God as he offers himself, but imagine him as they have fashioned him in their own presumption” (Translated by Ford Lewis Battles, John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 47).

“For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, that he is the Author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond him — they will never yield him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him” (Translated by Ford Lewis Battles, John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 41).

“To be an effective minister of the gospel, [Van Til] told graduates, ‘one must be certain that this gospel is not some cunningly devised fable, but that it is true and that all truth everywhere springs from this gospel'” (John R. Muether, Cornelius Van Til: Reformed Apologist and Churchman, 209).

“In this ruin of mankind no one now experiences God either as Father or as Author of salvation, or favorable in any way, until Christ the Mediator comes forward to reconcile him to us” (Translated by Ford Lewis Battles, John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 40).

“Van Til’s early and penetrating critique of evangelical apologetics (classical or evidential) anticipated the collapse of Cartesianism and the rise of the role of interpretation, even though the writings of self-styled post-foundational evangelicals a half-century later rarely documents any acknowledgement of Van Til’s influence” ( (John R. Muether, Cornelius Van Til: Reformed Apologist and Churchman, 181).

“Again, it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself. . . . Suppose we but once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and to ponder his nature, and how completely perfect are his righteousness, wisdom, and power — the straightedge to which we must be shaped. Then, what masquerading earlier as righteousness was pleasing in us will soon grow filthy in its consummate wickedness. What wonderfully impressed us under the name of wisdom will stink in its very foolishness. What wore the face of power will prove itself the most miserable weakness. That is, what in us seems perfection itself corresponds ill to the purity of God” (Translated by Ford Lewis Battles, John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 37-38).

“Van Til noted that both Calvin and Machen, at the very end of their lives, were concerned with covenant faithfulness in the generations that followed them. It is no stretch to imagine that Van Til was filled with the same sense, and as he neared the end of his life, he admonished the next generation in the church to continue in covenant fidelity”  (John R. Muether, Cornelius Van Til: Reformed Apologist and Churchman, 207).

“For Van Til, creation did not merely establish the self-existence of God. The Creator-creature distinction, rightly understood, did not devolve into the Barthian skepticism of a “wholly other God” of pure transcendence. Just as integral to Van Til’s doctrine of creation was the Creator-creature relationship. As Van Til learned especially from his Princeton Seminary professor Geerhardus Vos, creation was synonymous with covenant. To be fashioned in the image of God was to be in covenant with God. All of God’s words and works entail his covenant relationship with humanity, and thus human beings were divided into two camps: covenant keepers who worshiped and served the Creator as his image bearers, and covenant breakers who worshiped and served the creature, in whose image they fashioned God. This way of articulating a philosophy of history, “baldly stated” by Van Til’s own admission, was foundational for a Reformed apologetic” (John R. Muether, Cornelius Van Til: Reformed Apologist and Churchman, 128).