“The theologian’s task is not to divert the ears with chatter, but to strengthen consciences by teaching things true, sure, and profitable” (Translated by Ford Lewis Battles, John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 164).

“For the church is ruled by the Spirit of God, and Rom. 8 tells us that the saints are led by the Spirit of God (v. 14). And Christ abides with His church till the end of the world (Matt. 28.20). And the church is the pillar and ground of the truth (I Tim. 3:15). This we know; for the Creed which we all hold runs thus, ‘I believe in the holy catholic church.'” (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will, 119-120).

“God has no time for your practitioners of self-reformation, for they are hypocrites. The elect, who fear God, will be reformed by the Holy Spirit; the rest will perish unreformed” (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will, 99).

“The Manichees [heretics] have only one foundation: that it is wrong to ascribe to the good God the creation of any evil things. This does not in the slightest degree harm the orthodox faith, which does not admit that any evil nature exists in the whole universe. For the depravity and malice both of man and of the devil, or the sins that arise therefrom, do not spring from nature, but rather from the corruption of nature” (Translated by Ford Lewis Battles, John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 163).

“But, if you are still in ignorance, I must tell you again: men’s ordinances cannot be observed together with the Word of God, because the former bind consciences and the latter looses them. The two things are as much opposed to each other as fire and water” (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will, 96).

“In short, let us remember that that invisible God, whose wisdom, power, and righteousness, are incomprehensible, sets before us Moses’ history as a mirror in which his living likeness glows. For just as eyes, when dimmed with age or weakness or by some other defect, unless aided by spectacles, discern nothing distinctly; so, such is our feebleness, unless Scripture guides us in seeking God, we are immediately confused” (Translated by Ford Lewis Battles, John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 160-161)).