Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Calvin's Prayer After His First Lecture on Hosea

I preached the first message Sunday in our current afternoon service through "The Book of the Twelve" on The Message of Hosea:  Repent  I closed the message by reading Calvin's prayer with which he ended his first lecture on the book of Hosea:


Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast once adopted us, and continue to confirm this thy favor by calling us unceasingly to thyself, and dost not only severely chastise us, but also gently and paternally invite us to thyself, and exhort us at the same time to repentance,---O grant that we may not be so hardened as to resist thy goodness, nor abuse this thy incredible forbearance, but submit ourselves in obedience to thee; that whenever thou mayest severely chastise us, we may bear thy corrections with genuine submission of faith and not continue untameable and obstinate to the last, but return to thee, the only fountain of life and salvation, that as thou hast once begun in us a good work, so thou mayest perfect it to the day of our Lord. Amen.

--Calvin's Commentaries

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