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Piety Quotations

Give Us Repentance

John Calvin, Commentary on the Prophet Amos, Prayer at the close of Lecture Fifty-Six

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Grant, Almighty God, that since by thy word thou kindly invitest us to thyself, we may not turn deaf ears to thee, but anticipate thy rod and scourges; and that when, for the stupidity and thoughtlessness by which we have become inebriated, thou addest those punishments by which thou sharply urgest us to repent, � O grant, that we may not continue wholly intractable, but at length turn our hearts to thy service and submit ourselves to the yoke of thy word, and that we may be so instructed by the punishments, which thou hast inflicted on us and still inflictest, that we may truly and from the heart turn to thee, and offer ourselves to thee as a sacrifice, that thou mayest govern us according to thy will, and so rule all our affections by thy Spirit, that we may through the whole of our life strive to glorify thy name in Christ Jesus, thy Son our Lord. Amen.

3 replies on “Give Us Repentance”

The lion is an amazing animal.

It was when I was reading Calvin’s prayers from an edited anthology of his writings on pastoral piety that I realized how little I knew about the essence of Calvinism/Reformed theology.

The lion is singularly appropriate for comments on Amos. I like the way Calvin ends his sermons:
“Let us bow before the majesty of our God.”
Must go –curtain rods are clanging.

“sharply urgest us to repent” I think is the key to faith and knowing our debt to God for it and our continual reliance on him for it.

Enjoy the view from those curtains, Laura!

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