“Tom swallowed, saying nothing. He thought, involuntarily and somewhat guiltily, about one of them, whose heart he personally believed to be about as black as his grandfather’s leather Bible, which was pretty black.”
The Living Word of God
“Calvin is not telling the people that must remind themselves that God has spoken in Scripture but that, while listening to a sermon, they must ask themselves whether they are listening to God or a man. If the teaching is faithful to Scripture, then it is God who is speaking.”
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p. 24
Deep Calls to Deep
“They also want you to believe that their pockets are as deep as the all-round generosity and goobyness of the American taxpayer. Which is, let us be frank, pretty deep on both counts.”
For the Children, Aye
“Not only do these people know how to bust your kneecaps, they know how to do it in a way that makes all the major media acclaim them for their altruistic zeal to save the children. They always want to do it for the children.”
Humbled Glory
“It is the humble position of preaching as derivative and subordinate that is precisely its glory.”
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p 23
The Devil Is Way Nicer
“Those who cannot bear to be reproved had better look for another school-master than God. There are many who will not stand it: ‘What! is this the way to teach? Ho! we want to be won by sweetness.’ ‘You do? Then go and teach God his lessons!’”
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p. 14
Dry Loose Gravel
“He was about sixty, but his time in the Alaskan oil fields had made him seem about ten years older than that. ‘Thank you so much,’ he said, as he went through. His voice sounded like loose gravel being stirred with a stick.”
The Sermon as Spear
“Teaching on its own is not sufficient, for we are cold and indifferent to God’s truth We need to be pierced. The preacher has to use vehemence, so that we may know that this is not a game.”
Parker, Calvin’s Preaching, p. 12
Though It Didn’t
“So he tried his first line again. ‘Christ is the Lord of the nations in a spiritual sense,’ he said. A number of pony tails in the front rows bobbed because they saw that this was intended to make sense.”
Not Friendly at All
“He felt like a quarterback who had just been ear-holed by a linebacker with poor manners and a bad attitude.”