We become impatient because we focus on the creatures that oppose us rather than on God, who does these things to us not as our adversary but as our Father.

Caspar Olevianus, An Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, 48.

The doctrine of God’s providence ought to spur us on to the glorification of God and true gratitude of mind, especially in times of prosperity, when we see the bright face of God more clearly than in times of adversity. For whenever things go well and the way we would like, a godly person should give all the credit to God, whether he experience God’s beneficence through the ministry of other people or be helped by inanimate creatures. For this is what the godly person will think: Surely it is the Lord who has inclined their minds toward me, and it is He who has infused and does infuse other creatures with His power in such a way that they become instruments of His goodness toward me (Jer. 5[:24]; Acts 3[:1-16], 14[:17]).

Caspar Olevianus, An Exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, 48.

Before we converse, we should consider where, when, and to whom we will speak, that we may speak suitably (Prov. 25:11) and not undertake a topic that exceeds our capacity (Ps. 131:1).

PETRUS VAN MASTRICHT, THEORETICAL-PRACTICAL THEOLOGY, VOLUME 1: PROLEGOMENA, 371.

God is not simply the subject of contemplation in the sense that a metaphysical philosopher undertakes to reflect upon God and in the way God truly knows himself, and as we in the next life shall come to know God more fully (1 Cor 13:9, etc.; 2 Cor 12:4); but in the sense that to know Him in this life is what we have to do in order to obtain eternal life by truly knowing Him (John 17:3).

Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Vol. 1, 55.

Those who cite the success of the early church as an argument against state-supported churches should — in order to be logically (and historically) consistent — also call for full-blown persecution of the church by modern-day governments. But this is absurd.

Messiah the Prince (Modernized Abridgment by J. K. Wall), 144.

Christ’s mediatorial reign is not a temporary stage in the plan of God’s moral government. It is rather the last and greatest of his works, the climax of his wise and holy administration.

Messiah the Prince (Modernized abridgment by J. K. Wall), 155.

Our love of the Word should be such that it (1) propels us to gratitude toward God on account of the abundant supply of his Word that he has conferred to us, a gratitude in which we recognize from our heart the mercy of our benefactor and the excellence of his benefits (Ps. 147:19–20), we praise both with our mouth (Ps. 147:19–20; all of Ps. 119), and we repay them with our work, that is, with faith and observance of things revealed in the Word (Heb. 4:2; Jer. 42:5–6). (2) Next, such a love urges us to study the divine Word (Ps. 1:2), which consists in its religious reading, hearing, meditation, and observance (we will treat each of these individually in what follows). (3) Then, it kindles in us a love, honor, and support for those who deliver and explain the Word of God to us (1 Thess. 5:12; 1 Tim. 5:17; Gal. 6:6).

PETRUS VAN MASTRICHT, THEORETICAL-PRACTICAL THEOLOGY, VOLUME 1: PROLEGOMENA, 356.

It is made clear to us that the authority of Holy Scripture is much greater than that of the Church by the fact that the Church is capable of erring while Scripture cannot.

Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Vol. 1, 16.

Clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ, believers may have confidence in the presence of God. They know that the punishment, which their sins merited, was fully paid by Christ. They know that their obligation to perfect obedience was perfectly fulfilled by Christ. They know that Christ continues to intercede for them as their Advocate before God. In short — being found in Christ, they know with the confidence of faith that ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Rom. 8:1).

CORNELIS P. VENEMA, THE GOSPEL OF FREE ACCEPTANCE IN CHRIST: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE REFORMATION AND NEW PERSPECTIVE ON PAUL, 250.

Thought it is sometimes claimed that this terminology artificially separates the obedience of Christ into two disparate parts, the real interest of the distinction between the active and passive obedience is to underscore the richness of Christ’s seamless life of obedience ‘under the law’ (Gal. 4:4). . . . The traditional distinction between the active and passive obedience of Christ, therefore, articulates significance of the full scope of Christ’s obedience under the law. The Saviour’s death upon the cross by which he made atonement for sin was not an isolated act of obedience, but the epitome of an obedience that began with his readiness to ‘take the form of a servant’ for the sake of his people (Phil. 2:6-11). Believers who are united to Christ by faith receive the fullness of his righteousness, which includes his faithful obedience to the law and willing payment of its curse.

CORNELIS P. VENEMA, THE GOSPEL OF FREE ACCEPTANCE IN CHRIST: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE REFORMATION AND NEW PERSPECTIVE ON PAUL, 247-249.