28 October 2005

A Quote from the Mighty Calvin


John Calvin, the great Christian reformer and theologian, lifted up humility as the cardinal Christian virtue.

A saying of Chrysostom’s has always pleased me very much, that the foundation of our philosophy is humility. But that of Augustine pleases me even more: “When a certain rhetorician was asked what was the chief rule in eloquence, he replied, ‘Delivery’; what was the second rule, ‘Delivery’; what was the third rule, ‘Delivery’; so if you ask me concerning the precepts of the Christian religion, first, second, third, and always I would answer, ‘Humility.’”

Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.2.11, 268-69.

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